2015 was supposed to be a year for new arrivals and big surprises from the ravenesque throwback bluesy country maven Rachel Brooke, and lo and behold, it was. The new arrivals and big surprises just weren’t all of the music variety. In April, Rachel released her long-anticipated second collaboration with Lonesome Wyatt of Those Poor Bastards called “Bad Omen.”
Throughout the history of country music, artists with strong ties to the land and the working class have used music to pull themselves out of poverty, and to turn around and help instill a sense of pride in the people who put such hard work into powering America. Now that these two once struggling musicians find themselves on top, they’re taking of their hard-earned prosperity to give back . . .
On November 12th, an employee of the Ryman Auditorium’s recently-opened Café Lula named Kimber Engstrom was fired after she attempted to set up a prayer vigil in the historic concert venue for the ailing Joey Feek of the singing duo Joey + Rory. Now Ryman management is saying they were too harsh on Kimber Engstrom, and even offered to rehire her.
“I Hope You Dace” written by Mark Sanders and Tia Sillers was a #1 song in country, won the 2001 CMA and ACM awards for Song of the Year, the Grammy Award for Best Country Song and was nominated for the Grammy’s Song of the Year. But even more than that, it touched people’s lives in very specific ways, which this new film explores.
Old-time fiddler, mandolin and guitar player, and personality of Hee-Haw Ramona Jones has died. The long-time singing partner and comedic foil to Grandpa Jones passed away Tuesday, November 17th in Goodlettsville, TN, just north of Nashville. The two were married for 52 years until Grandpa Jones passed away in 1998.
In mid October, country legend Willie Nelson unexpectedly canceled a few upcoming concert dates in Virginia and Pennsylvania due to an undisclosed medical issue. At 82-years-old, any time there’s news of a medical issue with Willie, it can be a cause for concern. Now the medical issue has been revealed.
The long wait for a new Vince Gill solo record is about to be over. Announced Thursday morning (11-19), Vince Gill will release his twentieth official album over his 30-plus year career, and last solo album since 2011. Down To My Last Bad Habit will arrive in stores on on February 12th, and ahead of the new record, Vince has released a new single called “Take Me Down”
Justin Timberlake is going country, and you’d have to be stuck on Mars with blinders and earplugs not to notice this. The only reason the complicit country and entertainment media have yet to report it is because they’re paralyzed unless someone hands them a press release and gives them marching orders. Now long-time Justin Timberlake producer and collaborator Timbaland has confirmed this.
This week was the first week Something More Than Free has not graced the #1 spot on the Americana Radio Airplay chart in the last 20—an all-time record. The only other records to come close to the accomplishment were Isbell’s previous release Southeastern from 2013, and Robert Plant’s Band of Joy album, which both spent 15 weeks at the top of the charts.
Kimber Engstrom, an employee of the Ryman Auditorium’s recently-opened Café Lula, has been fired after she attempted to set up a prayer vigil in the Country Music Mother Church for Joey Feek of the singing duo Joey + Rory. Joey Feek was diagnosed with abdominal Cancer in 2014, and is currently in hospice care after receiving a terminal diagnosis from doctors in late October and deciding to cease treatment.
So here’s some North American dates the Dixie Chicks just announced to go along with some European dates announced previously. I guess that means the Dixie Chicks are officially back. So be joyous, or dress up three old Cabbage Patch dolls like them and burn them in your driveway in effigy while you blare Toby Keith like it’s still 2002. Just keep my comments section clean of your crap.
Another week, and another #1 showing for Chris Stapleton’s debut album Traveller as the songwriter and performer continues to ride a wave of momentum after a massive showing at the CMA Awards on November 4th. A sweep of New Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year categories, and a high-profile performance with Justin Timberlake put Stapleton on the map of mainstream fans in a big way.
Germany’s Bear Family Records is releasing ‘One Long Saturday Night’—a 23-song CD and companion DVD capturing the original lineup of the band at the height of their powers as they perform classic country hits and a handful of originals live for the German TV show Ohne Filter. The CD also includes four tracks from a concert in Japan the band played the week after.
The 3rd Annual, 2016 Ameripolitan Awards have announced their 2016 nominees. Scheduled to transpire on February 16, 2016 at the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin, it will be hosted by Western Swing legend Ray Benson, and feature performances by many of the nominees and other notables from the “Ameripolitan” realm.
After the flop of The Band Perry’s debut single “Live Forever” from their new album Heart + Beat, the family trio signed to Republic Nashville has delayed the release of the new album until 2016. ‘Heart +Beat’ was originally scheduled to be released on November 20th, but the band has decided to re-rack, and is touting a new collaboration in the works with a big-named artist as the impetus for the delay.
For the past few years, if you truly wanted to get a snoot full of an authentic Texas country experience, you sought out a show from the Austin-based country-fried Outlaw Conjunto band called the Crooks. Originally formed as a two piece in 2007 around the songs of frontman Josh Mazour, over the years it has slowly morphed into one of the coolest live country music experiences you can find.
Over the past eight years, Loretta has been working on the new music at Johnny Cash’s famous Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, TN with producers Patsy L. Russell, and John Carter Cash. Russell is Loretta’s daughter, and John Carter is the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter, and the operator/caretaker of the Cash Cabin Studios.
Mainstream country artist Jason Aldean becomes the latest to think it is socially acceptable to paint your face black (or in his case, dark brown) as part of a Halloween costume or comedy skit. In a photo discovered on Instagram, Jason Aldean can be seen hanging out with his wife Brittany Kerr and other friends on Halloween, clearly wearing color-altering makeup on his face.
There’s a awards show bump, and then there’s Chris Stapleton’s awards show bump. After shocking the country music world by walking away with wins for New Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year at the 49th Annual CMA Awards, sales for his debut release Traveller have positively exploded to unprecedented levels, especially considering the general malaise album sales are in across music.
Esteemed country and western songwriter and performer Chuck Pyle has passed away. According to his long-time manager, Pyle died unexpectedly Friday evening (11-6) in Palmer Lake, Colorado, where he lived in a historic cabin. He was 70-years-old. Known as the “Zen Cowboy,” Chuck had just released a new album this year, and had numerous dates booked on his touring schedule when he passed.
An Opry member for going on six decades, Shepard is set to celebrate her 60th Anniversary on the stage show November 21st. Ahead of the special night, she sat down with The Tennessean’s Juli Thanki to talk about how she helped open doors for the women of country music. Shepard was also very outspoken about how she feels about the country music of today.
Though there’s no guarantee Timberlake will be using the studio time to make a country record, when you line up the news with quotes like “I still got my eyes set on a Best Country Album. There is time for that,” which Timberlake said to Sirius XM in 2013, all indications are that Timberlake is looking to record at least country flavored music.
Joey Feek of the country duo Joey + Rory is in the final stages of life after receiving a terminal diagnosis following surgery and treatment for Cancer, and her husband and singing partner Rory has asked for a moment of prayer on Thursday evening (11-5) at 8:00 p.m. Central from fans, friends, family, and concerned individuals.
Despite an incredible amount of publicity for the CMA Awards through ABC, including high-profile appearances all week on the network’s morning show Good Morning America, television ratings for the show took a tumble in 2015. High profile appearances by non country stars such as John Mellencamp, Fall Out Boy, and even the current king of pop Justin Timberlake, could not salvage a night of growth in viewership.