For 10 years now, The SteelDrivers have been a preeminent bluegrass band of the hard-charging variety and a proving ground of talent that includes Chris Stapleton as an alumni. After announcing the newest member to take what was once Stapleton’s spot in guitar player and singer Kelvin Damrell, the 5-piece outfit is ready to hit the road.
Legendary bluegrass fiddle player and singer Alison Krauss and country legend Willie Nelson have just announced a co-headlining tour for 2018 to go along with Willie’s already announced Outlaw Fest dates and annual 4th of July Picnic this summer, while a much more extensive touring schedule has been announced for Alison Krauss.
If you know Gothic country, then you know Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, or at least you should. The seminal Gothic country band that has been helping define Gothic country for over two decades with it’s strange mix of mad roots and wild stage shows. The Denver, CO outfit will be hitting the road hard and heavy in 2018.
Grammy Award winning songwriter and performer Kenny O’Dell passed away on Wednesday (3-28) at the age of 73. A prolific songwriter who was also a strong advocate for the craft, he wrote such memorable country standards as 1973’s “Behind Closed Doors” made popular by Charlie Rich, and the #1 “Mama He’s Crazy.”
Kacey Musgraves says a woman would never be allowed to walk around in sunglasses as an image accessory, but Eric Church “…wears his fucking sunglasses all the time.” But what some Eric Church fans are wondering is why she had to single out Church with especially pointed language.
As first reported by Saving Country Music, the heavy metal band DevilDriver has been working on an Outlaw country tribute record that will include special guests and a heavy metal influence. Now we have the details on the project called ‘Outlaws ‘Til The End.’ From the country world, Hank Williams III and John Carter Cash will participate.
Dottie West was both a pioneering woman in country music, as well as a superstar in her era. She broke ground for women in the genre, and was the woman most responsible for making the men sound better as one of the genre’s most recognized duet partners for decades. Her legacy had long been overlooked, but not anymore.
Ricky Skaggs is the new “Modern Era” inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The 63-year-old Cordell, Kentucky native has experienced as diverse of a country music career as anyone, and certainly earns this distinction both from his commercial success, and his commitment to country music throughout his life.
Fiddle legend Johnny Gimble is the newest inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. This was the news coming out of the press conference Tuesday morning (3-27) from the Country Music Hall of Fame rotunda, hosted by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. Gimble was inducted in the rotating musician category.
Well damn, it’s less than a week since the last Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist update, but the badass songs have been rolling out so hard and heavily lately, it’s worth calling a audible and adding them to the playlist post haste. Leading the pack are a couple of new songs from new artists who were already on the playlist.
Tami Neilson is a full tilt badass monster of music, and I will puff my chest out and challenge any man, woman, or beast who dares questions the full-throated pronouncement that she is the one of the best living singers in all of roots music and beyond. Now she is back with a new selection of songs compiled under the name “SASSAFRASS!”
For those fans of classic Bakersfield-style country, excellent songwriting from alt-country Gods, and unnatural illicit psychedelic substances, Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams, and Steve Earle have banded together in a slightly-unintuitive, but nonetheless seductive lineup, and branded it the “LSD Tour.”
Country revivalist Cody Jinks and his management are planning to launch a new festival this August that will be curated by Jinks himself. The news comes out of the announcement earlier this week that the management and booking apparatus behind Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, Ward Davis, and Sunny Sweeney is being revamped.
Want to see Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Colter Wall, and Jason Isbell all on the same bill? Perhaps add Charlie Parr, Courtney Barnett, and JD McPherson on top of that? Well you’ll get your chance this summer at one of America’s longest-running live institutions, The Newport Folk Festival this summer.
Sturgill Simpson is now officially a Kentucky Colonel after being honored on Tuesday (3-20) in the Kentucky capital of Frankfort by both the House and Senate of the Kentucky legislature for being a “Man of the people,” and for his accomplishments in music and beyond.
Fresh horses have just been added to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist, hoping to do battle with Spotify’s ridiculous portrayal of country music on their mainstream playlists bought and sold via the streaming version of payola.
There were many performing artists, side players, roadies and managers that played a major part in the country music insurgency in the 70’s that came to be known as “Outlaw,” but only one can rightfully claim they coined the phrase, or saw the revolution happen from its early incarnation to its Platinum-selling peak.
Of course the health and well being of Loretta Lynn is the most pressing concern for fans. But the continued health issues for the 85-year-old have also resulted in continued delays in the release of her latest record, “Wouldn’t It Be Great.”
Those looking for a way to show their final respects and remember the legacy of Daryle Singletary will have their opportunity at a open-to-the-public and free tribute concert and memorial Tuesday, March 27th and the Country Music Mother Church in Nashville.
The Jack White-owned Third Man Records is facing some financial difficulties. This is the news coming out of the company’s Nashville headquarters in the SoBro neighborhood just south of downtown where they operate a record store, venue, as well as house label offices.
You may not be into attending big arena shows, but it’s hard to not be happy for the big opportunity being bestowed to the Turnpike Troubadours, Southern rock revivalists The Steel Woods, high caliber songwriter Natalie Hemby, and Tenille Townes who have all been tapped as openers on Miranda Lambert’s “Bandwagon Tour.”
The Outlaw Fest Tour curated by Blackbird Presents has announced its 2018 dates, locations, and participants. The nine separate dates this summer will include stops in Dallas, Detroit, Bristow, Cincinnati, Noblesville in Indiana, the Woodlands, TX just outside of Houston, and two shows in North Carolina.
The inaugural “Nashional” music festival set to transpire in just over a month at Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall on April 20th and 21st has been cancelled. It was planned, curated, and set to be headlined by genre-bending “country” star Sam Hunt.
“We’ve always just wanted to entertain ourselves and put out music that would be a part of people’s lives, not just something passing to them,” says Jason Boland. “We want to be something more monolithic. We’re just a social experiment at this point .”