Upcoming country starlet Maren Morris, who’s been making waves of her own, was supposed to appear on Wheeler Walker’s duet. Maren even recorded the track with Wheeler, and Sony Nashville originally signed off on the collaboration. But at the last minute, the label apparently got cold feet, and permission was pulled.
Cale Tyson has been one of the hottest names in independent country and Americana for the last couple of years, yet with no full-length album to back it up. Usually it’s the other way around—an independent artist riding rave reviews of a debut LP to big opportunities.
Two legends of country music will join forces for one album on July 7th when traditional country artist Daryle Singletary, and the “Queen of Bluegrass” Rhonda Vincent release a duets album called American Grandstand via Upper Management Music. Along with the album, the duo will also make a round of public performances together.
After rumor and speculation ran rampant for nearly 36 hours about why Chris Stapleton had suddenly decided to postpone eight shows and cancel his appearance at the upcoming CMA Fest in Nashville without any explanation, the award-winning singer and songwriter finally addressed the issue on Thursday (6-1) night.
Ray Wylie Hubbard will add to his legacy of bone-rattling grit and groove, and hymnals that speak to a weary soul torn between the battle of good and evil when he releases his latest record ‘Tell The Devil I’m Gettin’ There As Fast As I Can’ on his own Bordello Records via Thirty Tigers.
Chris Stapleton fans were greeted with the unfortunate news Wednesday morning (5-31) that Chris Stapleton will not be making scheduled appearances at eight separate shows, and has also canceled his appearance at the upcoming CMA Fest in Nashville.
The Tumbleweed Festival, which is set to transpire in Sugar Creek, MO, just outside of Kansas City on July 28th and 29th, has just launched the always dicey proposition of an online poll to see what band will fill the festival’s final slot for their 2nd season beside headliners such as Jamey Johnson, Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, and Billy Joe Shaver.
Gregg Allman, a towering pioneer of Southern rock, roots jazz, and country, has died at the age of 69. Along with his brother Duane who died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1971, they fronted one of the most pioneering bands in American music history, straddling the lines between rock, improvisational jazz, blues, and country.
The Outlaw Country Cruise has just announced the lineup for their 3rd Annual voyage, and it’s a doozy. As opposed to leaving from Florida this year, the Outlaw Country Cruise’s Norwegian Pearl will set sail from New Orleans on its way to Costa Maya, Mexico and back, leaving on January 22nd, and returning January 28th.
The Americana Music Association has just announced the initial 100 names of showcasing artists who will be gracing stages all around Nashville September 12th-17th for the 2017 AmericanaFest. Eventually the names of performers will likely swell to over 200, but this first batch already is enough to salivate over.
In yet another sign that Sturgill Simpson is moving up in the world, it has been announced he will be opening select tour dates on the Guns & Roses’ “Not In This Lifetime” stadium tour that has been extended well into the summer.
Hank Williams III, the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Williams Jr., has been named as one of the principal defendants in a lawsuit by a concertgoer who is claiming he was assaulted by the crowd at a concert for the heavy metal band Superjoint, formerly known as Superjoint Ritual. The fan claims the band incited the crowd to assault him.
The husband, manager, and long-time right hand man of the Queen of Rock and Rockabilly has died. Wendell Goodman, who married Jackson in 1961, passed away on Sunday, May 21st after Wanda Jackson performed Saturday evening at the club Saturn in Birmingham, Alabama.
It’s like 2016 all over again, only centralized in its grief in the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin, Texas. In a span of a few hours, the city, and music, lost two titans that may not rise to the recognition of household names across America, but were seminal to the sound and influence that Austin music is known for.
2017 is turning out to be a banner year for country and roots music, and we still have some of the most highly-anticipated titles still yet to be released. In an attempt to keep up and help you sift through the musical selection process, Saving Country Music has just juiced its Top 25 Current Spotify Playlist with some new selections.
On Thursday, May 18th, George Strait will be officially recognized by the Texas State Legislature as the 2017 State Musician of the Year for Texas. George, along with other candidates, were nominated for the distinction by the general public, and then sent to the Texas Commission on the Arts, which decides the final recipient.
For the better part of two years now, country music fans with any sort of taste have been waiting not-so-patiently for the long-awaited arrival of the Dave Cobb-produced fourth album from 3rd generation performer Holly Williams. You can’t blame fans for their impatience after the performance she turned in on her 3rd record, ‘The Highway.’
Chris Stapleton’s sophomore album ‘From A Room: Vol. 1’ is the #1 selling record this week in pure album sales across all genres, beating out rapper Logic’s new album ‘Everybody.’ However due to new chart rules that consider streaming data, Stapleton will come in #2 in the major charts.
Lucinda Williams already has a host of accolades to her name, including hit songwriter for her penning of “Passionate Kisses,” multiple Grammy Award winner, a founding partner in the alt-country and Americana movements in the 80’s and 90’s, and now you can add an honorary doctorate to her resume.
Though publicity has been somewhat light for the record, Stapleton did sit down with Charlie Rose on Thursday (5/12) for a lengthy discussion, and to perform the acoustic “Either Way.” In the interview, Charlie Rose tried to portray Chris Stapleton as “Country’s Reigning Outlaw.”
The 5th Annual Medicine Stone Music Festival focusing on the best of Red Dirt music and sponsored by the Turnpike Troubadours, and Jason Boland & The Stragglers will once again commence at the Diamondhead Resort in Talequah, Oklahoma. This year the event will be held on September 21st-23rd, and they have just revealed the fest’s initial lineup.
There’s just something about the 5-piece collective of New Orleans country and roots songwriters traveling under the combined name The Deslondes that fills the heart with a renewed spirit when they take the stage and perform. It’s the feeling that you’ve been invited into someone’s living room to watch and intimate and heartfelt gathering.
The Americana Music Association announced the nominees for their 2017 awards on Tuesday afternoon (5-9) via a live press conference from the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater. Along with announcing the nominees, the presentation included performances from multiple Americana artists.
Notch yet another #1 for Willie. 84 years of age, and Billboard’s new rules that register streaming data in the album tabulations can’t keep Willie Nelson from topping the charts this week with his first record of original material in three years, God’s Problem Child. Willie also notches another Top 10 on the all-genre Billboard 200.