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The Deep Blues Festival LIVES!

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There are a few important events in the history of the music that led to the strong grassroots and sonic diversity that you can find linked together in the robust roots music underground. There was the revitalization of lower Broadway in Nashville in the 90’s, that meshed punk kids from all over the country in their appreciation for authentic country and blues. There was the formation of Fat Possum & Bloodshot Records. And there was the Deep Blues Festivals.

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Charlie Louvin, Bob Wayne, Lucky, More to Muddy Roots

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The Muddy Roots Festival happening this September 3rd & 4th in Cookeville, TN has just announced a new slew of names to their lineup, and they might be just as impressive as the initial list. Marquee names for me were the country music throwback and hillbilly royalty blood of Lucky Tubb and his Modern Day Troubadours, the Outlaw Carnie Bob Wayne, and the legendary Charlie Louvin.

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Stream New Wanda Jackson & Social Distortion

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Man. The new music news/albums/videos/whatever for January just won’t let up, and none might be bigger than Wanda Jackson’s collaboration with Jack White The Party Ain’t Over. Wanda AND Jack will be on David Letterman TONIGHT (1-20), and you can now hear the album streaming in its entirety on NPR’s First Listen.

The growl is still there folks, and Jack White may have never been better!

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Wayne Hancock & Bob Wayne on Tour / New EPK

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A month or so ago when I attended a JB Beverley show here in Austin, it occurred to me how much Wayne “The Train” Hancock has emerged as a leader and true elder of the music in the last year. That night he made his way on stage with The Wayward Drifters, and later collaborated with them on a song back at his house. And now on the upcoming Bob Wayne release from Century Media, “The Train” has lent his name once again to an emerging star.

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Eddie Spaghetti Readies “Sundowner” Release

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The sometimes rocking, sometimes countrified front man of the legendary Pacific Northwest band The Supersuckers, one Eddie Spaghetti, is ready to go with a new album release through Bloodshot Records called Sundowner on Feb. 15th. As one of the first bands to mix 80’s-style punk rock with country, The Supersuckers and Eddie Spaghetti live in a unique world where they have skins on the wall and respect from both the country and punk world.

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Exclusive Interview with Shooter Jennings About XXX

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Shooter Jennings’ talk of forming a new genre of music called XXX has been all the talk of this website and others, and a few days ago he offered up an exclusive an extensive interview with Jashie P of Outlaw Radio Chicago about the XXX idea, about his latest and controversial album (to some) Black Ribbons, his feelings on country music and if he has “turned his back on it,” and about his long-standing, one-sided feud with Hank Williams III.

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Curb To Release Hank III ‘Hillbilly Joker’ Album

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Sitting on a shelf somewhere inside the Curb Records complex was an album called This Ain’t Country that Hank III had turned into them for release. The ensuing legal battle over the release of the album is where the cold war between Curb and Hank III became hot. Curb sat on the album, never releasing it, and refusing to allow Hank III to release it independently or on another label. Now Curb has decided to release it many years later, as well as possibly other shelved recordings …

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Charlie Louvin Home From Hospital – Updated

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Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member Charlie Louvin is in the hospital, and the prognosis is not good. According to his son Charlie Louvin Jr., who also goes by Sonny, Charlie was admitted to the hospital in Tullahoma, TN for a urinary tract infection and dehydration on Monday. He has been fighting pancreatic cancer.

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January 2011 BIG Month For New Releases

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As much as we’ve been ballyhooing what a big year 2010 was for great music from independent and up-and-coming artists we love to champion around here, January 2011 might be a bigger month than any one 2010 can boast about. And it is especially big for the female artists, and artists taking a step up from burning CD’s out of the back of their car to more legitimate and professional releases.

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Willie, Merle, and Kris Plan “Musketeers” Project

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Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson were part of the recent Kennedy Center Honors festivities honoring Merle Haggard in Washington, and during the numerous functions, the three country music legends apparently had some time to discuss the possibility of a supergroup. Previously Merle had discussed plans of doing an album with Willie . . .

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2011 Muddy Roots Music Festival Dates, Lineup & Location

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By all accounts, last year’s inaugural Muddy Roots Festival was an overwhelming success. The lineup was amazing, the performances were spectacular, and all the brave people that made the trek to Cookeville in middle Tennessee said the experience measured somewhere between a life changing event and a religious experience. Good times, good people, good food, and of course, good music. The only thing missing was YOU.

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Merle Haggard On Kennedy Center Honors / Willie’s Arrest

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Tonight the Poet of the Common Man, Merle Haggard will be honored with a Kennedy Center Honors award for his contributions to American music. Well, actually he received the award on December 5th, but the ceremony itself from December 5th in Washington DC will air tonight on CBS (as they say, check local listings for times).

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Shooter Jennings Offers Free “Missed The Boat” Album

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For the birthday of baby Jesus, Shooter Jennings is offering up a free album Missed The Boat: A Collection of Demos and Rarities in exchange for your email addy. The album covers a wide swath of Shooter’s career, including demos as far back as 1998, a few remixes and leftovers from his recent Black Ribbons album, and a few live recordings as well.

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Amazon Offers 75 Country Albums for $5 thru January

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When Amazon.com offered up 50 country MP3 albums for only $5 in August, September, and October I was hoping that was a promotion that would continue on a monthly basis, but unfortunately November came with no new set. We are in luck now though, because Amazon has just put up 75 country albums that will be available for $5 all the way till the end of January, and there’s some real gooduns.

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Hank III Planning “The New Beginning” Post Curb

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Today is Hank Williams III’s birthday, but I’m sure it won’t be nearly as special as New Years, when he will finally be contractually free from Curb Records. In a few recent interviews, Hank III has been dropping hints of what’s to come, and the phrase he continues to utter is “The New Beginning,” like there is a concerted effort to wipe the slate clean and put a period after the long-winded, turbulent, run-on sentence that was the Curb Records era.

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Ray Wylie Not Proud of Last Rites of Ransom Pride Movie

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When I first caught wind that a movie written by legendary Texas songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard was in the works, and that it starred Kris Kristofferson and Dwight Yoakam, my ears perked to say the least. But as the movie neared release, it was clear something about Last Rites of Ransom Pride was off. Information about the film was sketchy at best, and despite my best efforts to obtain more, emails and phone calls weren’t returned.

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Jayke Orvis Debuts New Video For “Dreadful Sinner”

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Jayke Orvis isn’t just a songwriter and mandolin player, he is a composer. When I first heard the song “Raise the Moon” on .357 String Band’s first album, I knew this was more than mere throwing words and chords together. “Dreadful Sinner” from his new album Its All Been Said is in the same vein, with tight arrangements in a composition-based approach that is more like classical music than anything.

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Michelle Branch’s Music Is Murdered on Music Row

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Everything seemed to be going right for Michelle, until she headed to Nashville to make the solo country album Everything Comes and Goes for Warner Music Nashville; “Nashville” being the optimum word. Suddenly a young woman who prided herself in writing her own songs and forging her own style had to become aware that country music works differently, much differently.

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Jayke Orvis and the Broken Band To Hit The Road

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Mandolin maestro Jayke Orvis is hitting the road once again as his own man, with help from some familiar faces. The former .357 Sting Band member, and occasional member of The Goddamn Gallows has roped in the greatness of James Hunnicutt, along with Joe Perreze on banjo and Fishgutz (The Goddamn Gallows) on bass, aka ‘The Broken Band’ for a tour through the South and Midwest starting mid January.

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Justin Townes Earle Drunk in Indy? “F%@# Yeah I Was”

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But he insists other reported incidents from that night didn’t happen. Earlier this week Justin Townes Earle started out on his first tour after a rehab stint following an altercation in Indianapolis in September that ended in Earle being arrested for assault, public intoxication, and resisting arrest. Earle has insisted that some of the accounts of the incident that night have been false, a few of which recounted a drunken Earle publicly looking for drugs.

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World Premier of Joe Buck EPK “Piss & Vinegar”

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Joe Buck is the nexus of where punk and country meet. Former bass player for Hank III, former everything for Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, Joe Buck is now a one man wrecking crew, hell bent on pounding and screaming his message of a world gone mad to the masses. After years of touring and putting out low-fi homespun projects ripped in the back of his motorhome, Joe Buck hooked up with legendary producer Jack Endino to record his first serious project, Piss & Vinegar.

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Lady Antebellum’s CMA Single Rips Off Alan Parsons?

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After the 2010 CMA’s some wanted to hang a “Mission Accomplished” banner for saving country music because folks like Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert walked away with big awards while the usual cast of pop country performers got the razz. Little they know this is all theater to keep us purists from not getting to restless, and setting up Taylor Swift to sweep the awards in 2011.

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Joe Huber of .357 Releases “Bury Me Where I Fall”

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Joseph Huber, one of the primary songwriters and banjo/fiddle player for the high-octane bluegrass outfit The .357 String Band has released a solo album called Bury Me Where I Fall. This album marks a completely different direction from the punk-inspired string music Joe & .357 are known for, but not in the emphasis on top-notch songwriting. Joe takes a more poetic, Townes Van Zandt approach to the lyrics, and a more artistic approach to the music.

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