Just announced, Hank Williams III’s next album will be called Brothers of the 4X4. The album will contain 16 tracks, and be released on Hank3’s own record label distributed by Megaforce Records. The release will also be accompanied by a “hellbilly/punk” album called A Fiendish Threat that will include 13 tracks.
Texas music is becoming hard wired and institutionalized, and this creates a few game-changing, long-term effects on the overall country music landscape. It is offering a template to the rest of the music world, and not just country music, of how to regionalize and organize a group of like-minded musicians and fans together to where they’re not dependent on corporate America’s traditional musical industrial complex.
Few, if any can give perspective on George Jones that 90-year-old Don Maddox can–the last surviving member of the pioneering and influential band The Maddox Brothers & Rose. Many artists can speak about how George Jones helped them get their start in the music business, but Don Maddox can speak about how The Maddox Brothers & Rose helped George Jones get his start in the mid 50’s.
Have you ever had a dessert that’s just too rich? A girlfriend or boyfriend that’s just too damn hot? That’s how it feels with Sturgill Simpson’s music. This stuff is so good, it hurts. Any new material from Sturgill demands an immediate stop down of one’s life to pay attention. Seriously Sturgill, we’ve got shit to do.
Valerie June, the self-proclaimed purveyor of “Organic Moonshine Roots Music,” had her fans in sheer disbelief, while the rest of the audience was wondering, “Who is this astounding singer?” when she unexpectedly appeared on national television singing an intimate, stripped-down version of the song “Like Jesus Does” with Eric Church at the ACM Awards a few weeks ago.
Let’s Face The Music & Dance is an album of classic standards, performed with Willie’s “Family Band” that now principally includes sister Bobbie on piano, and Mickey Raphael on harp. It is not a country album in the traditional sense of the term. But the music hearkens back so far, and this entire album is so awash in those well-recognizable Willie tones, it still has plenty of country feel to it.
We’ve talked about 7 Men Who Could Immediately Make Country Music Better, now let’s take a look at 9 women who could do the same. It’s been well documented that here in 2013, the women of country are outpacing the men when it comes to the quality of music–women like Kacey Musgraves who’ve seen breakout commercial success.
Whether you want to go as far as to say Braxton Schuffert “discovered” Hank Williams depends on your perspective, but that Hormel delivery driver was certainly seminal to setting Hank Williams on the path to super stardom, shepherding the young man as a musician and songwriter, making critical contributions to the rise of Hank, and helping Hank as a close friend all the way up to his death in 1953.
The most notorious George Jones drinking story involves the country music legend and a John Deere lawnmower, but what a lot of folks don’t know is that George Jones chose this slow-moving mode of transportation to procure alcohol more than once. As entertaining as the lawnmower incidents may be, they underlined the seriousness of the alcohol issues George Jones was facing.
George Jones, aka, The Possum, has died at age 81. While in the midst of his 60-date farewell tour, Jones was hospitalized for running a slight fever and for having irregular blood pressure, canceling shows in both Atlanta, and Salem, VA. His next show was to be tomorrow, April 27th, in Huntsville, AL. The official cause of death has been named ‘Hypoxic Respiratory Failure.’
On the behalf of the people of country music, I’d like to graciously request that you keep your woman-beating, Auto-tuning, lip-syncing, shitty-music making, metrosexual-doucher, getting-in-fights-in-swanky-nightclubs-over-idiotic-rap-turf-wars ass the hell away from anything that could ever be associated or construed with or even misrepresented as country music.
One problem with Billboard’s new system, and many digital metrics we use to gauge popularity these days, is their ability to measure intent. One of the new paradigms of digital music is that sometimes songs are not popular because people like them, they’re popular because people don’t. It’s not uncommon these days for a song to become heavily buzzed, and a viral event to ensue because of either the curiosity or car crash factor.
There’s been much talk so far this year about how the women of country are outpacing the men when it comes to the quality of music, we’ve talked about possible reasons why that is. But we haven’t talked about some of the men that if simply given a chance, could shoot an immediate injection of substance into the country music format. They just need similar chances to their female counterparts.
The April 28th issue of Country Weekly features Saving Country Music’s 2012 Artist of the Year Marty Stuart and his legendary 20,000-piece archive of country music collectibles, clothing, instruments, and other memorabilia. As Marty Stuart tells the magazine, his passion for preserving artifacts led to his career in country music.
As evidenced by Ashes & Angels, Fifth on the Floor doesn’t need to piggy back off of any name. They are a tight knit group of musician friends with formidable musical skills and a top notch ear for arrangement and composition. Despite the average songwriting effort– an effort that still boast some elevated moments–the appeal for this band rests in their ability to get you to lose yourself in the music.
“Leavin’ Yesterday” is a brilliantly-written, steadfastly country old school tearjerker that doesn’t relent on the heartaches once in the album’s 13 stellar tracks. Just a glance at song titles like “I’m So Happy I Could Cry” and “That Makes 3 Of Us” lets you know you’re in store for a stone cold and felonious hard country heart stabbing.
Reno, Nevada’s Hellbound Glory has just come off two legs of arena shows opening for Kid Rock on his nationwide Rebel Soul tour, and are recovering now to get ready for their own tour in early summer. Saving Country Music talks with Hellbound front man Leroy Virgil about the tour, the potential for new music, and about the new single “The Feud.” Leroy releases an alternative version of the song through SCM.
The objective of the joint venture is “to allow the two companies to co-publish songwriters with the goal of bringing country and pop writers into each other’s realm.” In other words, the deal will likely mean even more pop on country radio, as pop songwriters and producers collaborate more intimately with Big Machine’s growing roster of country talent.
I remember a few years ago I was at the Hole in the Wall bar in Austin, TX, right by the UT campus, watching songwriting couple Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay performing. Brennen Leigh told the crowd that right after the show, her and Noel had to drive to Nashville, and how she was dreading the trip. “But then Noel reminded me that since we’re going north, we get to stop in West for kolaches, and so now I’m super excited.”
Earlier today the bawdy trio launched an interactive, animated, content-unlocking, grab-your-contact-info-so-they-can-bombard-you-about-sparkly-pink-merch-in-the-future internet timewaste as part of the advertising run up to their upcoming album “Annie Up.” I quickly awoke to the realization that I’m a grown ass adult and have better things to do than oogle at comics during the middle of a Wednesday.
A little under a year ago, Earl Dibbles Jr., the alter ego of Texas country music star Granger Smith, released a song and video called “The Country Boy Song” that had us all in stitches. Then in mid-October of 2012, Granger Smith released the single “We Do It In A Field” from his new album just released today called Dirt Road Driveway, and all of a sudden we had to re-write what we thought about Granger Smith.
This Saturday, April 20th is the 2013 installment of Record Store Day. 2013 has some juicy releases, including some super rare Willie Nelson demo sessions, a split with Waylon Jennings and the Old 97’s, some cool live albums from Gram Parsons and Sarah Jarosz, and a re-issue of Justin Townes Earle’s first album, the Yuma EP.
When it comes to country music, it is the best of times, and the worst of times depending on if you’re talking about male or female artists. While it’s easy to focus on the awful, inane music from mainstream country’s male-dominated ruling class, there is an inspiring sect of female performers attempting to emerge from the heavy shadows of towering males and their tiring musical pap. So why the gender gap?
Separating themselves from those with only a half-sense for the early 70’s vibe and hipsters who see it as trendy, the Deadstring Brothers have been proving they have an unadulterated sense for that coveted heroin sweat sound and how to mix it with their own original expression since their first album on Bloodshot Records in 2003. Simply put, Cannery Row is a pleasure to listen to.
