Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 2021 CMA Awards LIVE blog. For the entirety of the decreasingly-relevant broadcast, thoughts pointed remarks, keen observations, outright snark, and probably a few swear words and errant typos will be presented in real time.
“I feel like I’m just getting started. ’29’ is the album I’ll always look back on in my career and say that was the turning point for me in the way I want to be looked at in country music. I hope when people look at my music and my little legacy, I hope they say, ‘She was a country music purist.’”
The latest album from Kacey Musgraves called ‘Star-Crossed’ is more pop than country. Nonetheless, in the polarizing time we live in, the recent decision by the Grammy Awards to move Star-Crossed from consideration in the country category has set off a firestorm.
A Grammy Awards screening committee who must make the tough decisions of which albums are considered “country” in the ever-mutating world of popular music has deemed that the latest album from Kacey Musgraves called Star-Crossed should not be eligible for ‘Best Country Album.’
Sure, if you’ve been working all week and were looking forward to getting your face rocked off this weekend by the kind of raucous show Eric Church brings live, you may be feeling a sense of disappointment at this news. But I’m here to tell you, you’ve lucked out.
Once again it is a television series that is stepping up to deliver what mainstream country radio and other conventional music mediums often don’t, which is the music from independent artists that is resonating with the public despite commonly being overshadowed.
During his speech to the black tie National Cowboy & Western Heritage crowd, George Strait told a story about when he first signed a major label deal and landed in Nashville, and what MCA Records tried to get George Strait to do to make him more marketable.
Jason Aldean’s wife’s Instagram account has about as much to do with country music as Dog The Bounty Hunter, which is absolutely positively nothing, despite country media’s strange and lingering obsession with these subject matters. And now for the second time…
The fourth season of the Paramount Network’s neo-Western Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner and created by Taylor Sheridan is finally set to premier on November 7th. And along with it, you can also expect a big boost for the independent country artists and songs…
Comedian, Canadian, and true country music fan Norm MacDonald died on Tuesday (9-14) after a private battle with Cancer. The long-time stand-up performer, comedic writer, and host of Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” along with podcasts and a Netflix program was 61.
Alan Jackson didn’t want to capitalize off the tragedy, and admitted being reluctant to record and perform it at all. Jackson said that after September 11th, he immediately wanted to write a song about it, if not for the public, then maybe just for himself—to externalize his thoughts.
Earlier this week, Cody Jinks finally got his plaques for the achievement, and took to social media to show them off. But this wasn’t just about him. This was a family affair. After all, Cody’s son is a co-writer on “Loud and Heavy,” meaning he gets his own Platinum record as well.
lol, wut? The 2021 CMA Award nominations were announced this morning? Did anyone have this on their calendar? No Robin Roberts pulling envelopes out of Dan + Shay’s seersucker jackets to reveal the nominees live on television? No Hoda Kotb mispronouncing names?
So now the biggest radio personality in mainstream country—the grandiose and bespectacled Bobby Bones—who is always laboring to be the undivided center of attention, took to TikTok to say the quiet part out loud, and is now drawing the ire of many in the industry.
Some feel the legacy of Conway Twitty is ripe for revitalization, and are working hard to see that happen. While monitoring the latest certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA, three popular Conway Twitty singles showed up as being Certified Gold.
A new study from Oxford underscores the dangers of vaccinated carriers of the disease, making it important to question if vaccine mandates truly are the best path forward as positive cases continue to push near record levels, and local hospitals are pushed to capacity.
He was the envy of every other rock band—a drummer that didn’t perpetually harbor envy for more attention, and seize every opportunity to receive it. He made an art form out of not complimenting a song, but completing it. He was the consummate back line musician.
The outrage shouldn’t be toward Carrie Underwood, it should be at the way public fervor can result in such a complete detachment from perspective that a liked tweet can launch a viral moment and scores of articles in major periodicals authored by political apparatchiks.
With his 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and Volume 2 released later, Ray Charles opened up the gift and the joy of country music to an entirely new audience that may have otherwise not have been exposed to it. It wasn’t just the contributions of Ray Charles….
Sometimes when the late Charlie Daniels spoke it was like hearing a shotgun go off in the woods. That voice, deep and searing, rounded by a lingering drawl—firing fast then settling over things, like buckshot scattering through the trees. That’s how he sounded when I picked up the phone in 2010.
The biggest concern with these vaccine requirements as they proliferate throughout the music industry is how they call back to an era when individuals in the United States were refused service or restricted from entering certain businesses due to discrimination.
The independent music revolution in both country and in the greater music ecosystem in many was born off the back of vinyl record purchases. Where many mainstream fans only cared enough to stream the latest single, independent fans made that extra financial commitment and connection with their favorite artists by purchasing vinyl copies, or sometimes […]
Country music traditionalist Jamey Johnson has become known over the last few years more and more for filling the majority of his concerts with classic country songs written by others, along with pulling from his catalog of originals. For some this approach to his concerts feels strange.
Crockett said that while the backstories of many musicians is embellished, if anything, his has been toned down. As a guy that rode trains and played street corners for years before anyone propped a microphone in in front of him, he has plenty of stories to tell.