So many other artists and bands, to take this same selection of covers and originals and record them, it would just come across as cheesball retro country with it’s anachronistic language and outmoded style. But Lucky Tubb has a swagger that makes him immune to such concerns. To him, this isn’t playing country like it used to be done, this is playing country like it is supposed to be done.
The nominations for the 45th Annual CMA Awards were announced this week, with one of the big winners being Jason Aldean. If the voting falls in line with sales numbers, there’s a very good chance Aldean could virtually sweep the awards show. But Jason Aldean seems quick to forget that less then a year ago, just before the 2010 CMA’s, he was panning the CMA’s and their nomination process, calling it rigged.
The idea of sitting down in front of a keyboard to try and describe an experience as epic as this last weekend’s Muddy Roots Festival seems like the essence of fools errand. However I feel inclined to attempt to tackle this impossible task and hopefully somehow attempt to chronicle the magic that went down at the June Bug ranch, just north of Cookeville, TN on Labor Day weekend, 2011 for future reference.
The first record in the 4 record salvo from Hank3 Ghost to a Ghost felt very much like business as usual in the post-Straight to Hell era. But Guttertown is where Hank3 gets it right by doing the same thing he did in the early and mid oughts, following his heart, defying any expectations for sound and genre, and letting his creative passion flow. Simply put, this is the best album Hank3’s put out since his 2006 opus
Some, including myself, had opined that Hank3 was possibly squirreling back songs during the late Curb era, not wanting to give his arch nemesis his best material. Instead it feels like we got what was left on the cutting house floor, and a few songs that reek of self-parody. Folks hoping for a return to the golden era of Hank3’s country music creativity will have to keep waiting.
Unless you frequent a few small music circles in the underground world, you may have never heard of the artist Olds Sleeper, but that doesn’t diminish the argument one can make for him being one of the best songwriters of our generation. Of course, saying anyone is the “best” of anything is always disputable, but numbers are not, and by the numbers, Olds is indisputably one of the most prolific songwriters out there.
In about a week, Hank Williams III will be releasing an unprecedented 4 albums via his own label, and then heading out on tour. Ahead of this, I talked with the head hellbilly himself about the new albums, the legacy of fatherhood in the Hank Williams lineage, his role as a founding father of the country music underground, Shooter Jennings and his XXX movement, and how he feels about the unfinished songs of Hank Williams.
On August 17th, Shooter Jennings fired a shot across the bow of Music Row and the “new Outlaw” country movement by releasing the song “Outlaw You” on CMT. Now with the help of JuddFilms, Shooter has released a more fleshed out, viral-style video for the song. It was released today, once again with the help of CMT.
The One Man Band’s of the world are the soldiers on the front lines of the cultural war. With such sonic limitations, there is no opportunity for subtly. Instead their charge is to rattle and shake awake the sleeping potential in all of us, to right the skewed priorities that the indoctrination of modern society has gilded us with, to release us from the want of the wealth and shiny things that weigh down the human spirit …
On the heels of the news of the release of the Lost Notebook of Hank Williams project, a new project has just been announced, taking the same concept to some unfinished transcripts from the late Johnny Cash, slated to be called Johnny Cash’s Forgotten Files. Before the album is even released it is stirring up some controversy, because of who has been chosen to head the project: none other than “Weird” Al Yankovic.
Late last week, Willie Nelson released a new song “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die”. It’s a good, catchy song, just like his recent collaboration with Snoop Dogg called “Superman”, that starts out, “Too many pain pills, too much pot. Trying to be something that I’m not.” And we can’t forget (though many of us have tried) the Toby Keith joke song “I’ll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again.”
With Nick 13’s first self-titled release, the long-time frontman and principal member of psychobilly band Tiger Army hasn’t just stuck his foot in the door of country music, he’s kicked the door down. This is a good one folks! The California native’s brand of country is hard, with a lot of Western influences mixed in to the instrumentation and lyrics, contrasted with his soft and delicate, but deliberate voice.
Wow. I’m not exactly sure where this came from, and I don’t care who it came from. The simple fact is that it came, and country music is better off for it. Ahead of Shooter Jennings’ January release of his new album Family Man, he has released the song an accompanying video for the composition “Outlaw You”. Simply put, this is a shot right to the gut of Music Row, and specifically, this crop of “New Outlaws”.
Well hello there American Idol winner Scotty McCreery, my name’s The Triggerman, and I want to formally welcome you to country music. Don’t worry, just because I’m a hardliner, doesn’t mean I’m gonna rip into you just because you’re an Idol alum. Teeming masses of 14-year-old glitter-faced girls high on Spree and voting en masse on cell phones seem to be a better judge of talent than boardrooms full of business and marketing majors.
When Hank Williams III started his country music career, his neo-traditionalist sound and spitting image of his grandfather awakened the imagination of country music traditionalists that we were seeing the resurrection of the King of country music himself. That is why when the Lost Notebook of Hank Williams project was announced, many Hank 3 fans were wondering where his name was in the track list.
The one-of-a-kind two-piece country bluesy duo from Austin, TX known as The Boomswagglers’ freshman release has been like the Chinese Democracy of the country music underground for some time now, with delays and rumors of an impending release leaving fans on the edge of their seat, salivating at getting their hands on their raucous and authentic music. Well now the wait is over…
Certainly Pickathon is an expensive festival in a severe corner of the country (just outside of Portland, OR), and these natural barriers will always keep some from being able to attend. But as far as creating the best environment to allow creativity to happen, and a model for other festivals and public events to learn and be inspired from, Pickathon has no peer…
On October 4th, The Lost Notebook of Hank Williams will be released. As far back as October of 2008, I’ve had serious questions about the origins of these songs, the ethics behind the project, and the artists chosen to flesh out songs that do not include music. Now I have a new concern: why we are being given wrong information.
First country sold its taste, then its heritage to keep the dinosaur corporations that run country music afloat. Now it has sold it’s greatest the asset that has always given country music a distinction from the rest of popular music. It has sold its values, and is creating a generation of knuckle-chucking assholes in Affliction T-Shirts, and the girls who love them.
The Rolling Stone has just reported that a long-rumored project pairing Bob Dylan and Jack White together to oversee the recording of an album of Hank Williams songs that were found without music in a briefcase will be released on October 4th. The title is The Lost Notebook of Hank Williams . It is being released on Dylan’s Egyptian Records imprint…
As the name implies, Field Songs evokes the rhythms and weary textures of labor. He trances you into feeling the theme of the music by employing the chants, the rhythms men have hummed as they toiled away since the invention of work to ease the burden and boredom. That rhythm is what ties this album to an inherent, universal language of the human condition and prickles the soul.
The Muddy Roots Festival being held in Cookeville, TN this September 3rd & 4th is about a month away now, and Saving Country Music is proud to present to you the complete festival schedule. Please note times, stages, and performers are subject to change. Also, Muddy Roots is looking for workers, volunteers, people willing to lend music gear, transport vehicles, stages, hay bales, etc.
By sea, by plane, by land (or as Pickathon would prefer it, by carpool or public transportation) if you can make it to the Pendarvis Farm just outside of Portland, OR, you should make being a participant in this year’s Pickathon Festival a priority this weekend. But if you can’t, you can still participate, and still be insipred by the sustainable model Pickathon has created for it’s patrons, performers, and community.
The grassroots petition to attempt to get country music legend Hank Williams reinstated into the Grand Ole Opry, also known as Reinstate Hank, has reached an important milestone, as the online petition has now crested the 50,000 signature mark. In 1952, Hank Williams was dismissed from the Opry with the understanding that he would sober up and then return to the stage that he loved so much.
