One of the great things about the now disbanded .357 String Band from Milwaukee, WI was that it really didn’t have a frontman. However guitar player and songwriter Derek Dunn did feel like the primary spokesman throughout its 7 years, and the fulcrum that the rest of the band rotated around.
Michigan songbird Rachel Brooke has a new project on the way that can now be pre-ordered called Late Night Lover. It is a 7″ vinyl release that will only be sold in a limited-edition 500 numbered quantity accompanied by a digital download card. Late Night Lover features just Rachel and her guitar.
When people talk about the “manufactured” pop star, what they mean is taking a pretty face, and pushing all the right buttons to make an artist that has mass appeal at the expense of soul and creativity. It is very easy to pigeon hole Taylor into this lot. But in truth Taylor Swift’s success has nothing to do with her following all the rules. She broke all of them.
When you’re compiling your list of most-anticipated albums for 2012, you’ve got another one to add to the top of the heap. Ray Wylie Hubbard has announced he’s got a new one ready for 2012 called Grifter’s Hymnal, and he’s got an interesting cast of characters helping him, including Ringo Starr, long-time drummer Rick Richards, George Reiff, and his son Lucas Hubbard.
The Carper Family illustrates the unfair, unreasonable amount of talent, and specifically female talent, that can be found in Austin, TX on any given night. And that is what The Carper Family does; they are a working, local band, playing many nights a week at various Austin venues. Back When proves that this local band deserves more national, and international attention.
In a very alarming story, fiddle phenom Ruby Jane and her mom JoBelle Smith were carjacked and held at gunpoint in Houston Thursday night (12-8-11) around midnight after a show at Dosey Doe. The man fled in their 2004 Chevy Trail Blazer, with all of Ruby Jane’s music gear. Below please find a list of the stolen instruments to be on the lookout for.
Saving Country Music is very sad to report that Bee Spears, the perennial bassist for Willie Nelson, who played in Willie Nelson’s “Family Band” for 40 years, died on Thursday, 12/8/2011 after falling outside of his home in Nashville and being exposed to the elements overnight.
So here it is, the list of albums Saving Country Music deems essential for 2011 listening. Please note this list only includes albums that have been reviewed so far. And as always, your feedback is encouraged. What are your essential albums? What did we miss? What was released in 2011 that deserves a review?
As Nashville and Nashville-based entities are erecting what will be landmarks, before taking money from Mike Curb, maybe they should take to heart the headlines that have hounded the Mike Curb name over the last few years, and ask themselves if that name is a legacy their building, their institution, or the City of Nashville wants to tie their future to.
I am tired of being embarrassed by being associated with country music. “Country” is our term, and our music. The “American Country Awards” have no right to it. Even more artists should boycott the awards next year, especially the beautiful and talented female artist who was dismissed by their “decade” award, and allow this thing to whiter on the vine.
In yet another crazy twist in the unraveling story of country star Mindy McCready, she has now been accused of kidnapping the reigning American Idol champion with a similar-sounding last name. McCreery was last seen lip syncing at a parade in Nashville, when right after his performance, witnesses say he was lured into an unmarked white cargo van…
When I sat down to name the top 10 live performances of 2011 as seen through my eyes, I didn’t know what a mess I was making for myself, and it wasn’t until then that I realized what a power packed year for live music it has been. My 10 stretched to 15 fast, and I’m still leaving many live acts out.
Before we get too far, I’ll reveal that my take on this album is somewhat contrary from the others you will find. Many folks will preach to you how this is one of the standouts in the roots world for 2011, and though I like this album and it has some great elements, I find myself in a position I never enjoy: attempting to balance the hype.
After a court win on Wednesday that allowed McGraw to be able to record new music and pursue another label, Curb has apparently capitulated their previous stance that the music on his album Emotional Traffic is not “topical,” and has decided to finally give the album a release date of January 17th, 2012.
The two common threads that run through most of the candidates this year, is a progressive approach to the music, and poignancy in the message. These are changing and troubled times, and the songs that speak to us the deepest will act as the soundtrack for our 2011 memories for years to come.
Whatever Curb’s motivations or plans, it looks like the tide has turned for Tim McGraw. However the battle is far from over, and fans should not be happy about the single release, they should be wary of its motivations. Mike Curb is shrewd if he is anything, and no doubt this move was pre-calculated to coincide with the court order.
Over the weekend the .357 String Band said farewell in the form of a pair of shows in their home state of Wisconsin. Regardless of how obscure they were, along with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, Flatt & Scruggs, and a few others, the .357 String Band was one of the greatest, most groundbreaking, and influential bluegrass bands of all time.
So. The official country music douche Brantley Gilbert has himself a #1 song in the form of “Country Must Be Country Wide.” Our enemy has a new face friends and neighbors, and that face has a penciled-on beard and hoop earrings. Gilbert, his rising fame, and this song’s success are due in large part to the blurring of genre lines between popular music.
There is nothing I take more seriously than naming what I think is the best album of any calendar year. The Album of the Year offers a guidepost for future generations to find the best music that was forgotten by the mainstream, while at the same time being a current ambassador to the mainstream to illustrate what great music they are overlooking.
On Tuesday, Tim McGraw will be in a Tennessee courtroom as part of the opening salvo in his bid to leave his contract with Curb Records. I’m no Perry Mason, but I thought I would offer the Tim McGraw defense team a little pro bono research work on how Curb Records itself has set a legal precedence that disproves it’s own case.
The greatest element of this film is that it captures with great wisdom that Charlie Louvin’s life was a victory. The epitaph that it conveys with a bold starkness is simply “He won.” The moral of the story is that victory is within anyone’s reach. That is the everlasting message to go with Charlie Louvin’s everlasting influence on American music.
If you’re a tragic, tragic audiofile like myself, then you understand just what a blessing it is when out of the blue you discover an artist that really speaks to you, and it opens a brand new vein of music for you to enjoy for years to come. This is the experience most people come away with when hearing Willy Tea Taylor for the first time.
You know, it’s not very becoming to gloat. But sometimes you just can’t help it, like after you’ve been attacked by a mob of very angry (and curiously, very Asian) Scotty McCreery fans who told me that their beloved American Idol alum Scotty would NEVER lip sync, as I asserted he did on The CMA Awards a couple of weeks back.
Muddy Roots isn’t just a festival my friends. No. It’s an act of solidarity. It is a force of the collective Will of real roots fans united from disparate backgrounds, coming together to say “We are here, and things can work differently.” The Muddy Roots Festival isn’t just a big party, it is principles and philosophies in action; it just happens to be one hell of a good time as well.
