Alan Jackson isn’t one to pull punches, or to not say what’s on his mind when somebody asks him. His Hall of Fame career has been marked by taking hard stances for the cause of real country music. Alan Jackson was recently interviewed as part of a GQ feature, and had some interesting things to say about Chris Stapleton.
Once again as spring nears, it becomes time for the annual exercise to ponder who perhaps the CMA will deem worthy for induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. About this time the secret CMA-approved committee is going over their final ballots and whittling down the precious names to the few who will make it.
“Just book more women! Why is this so hard?” This is often the simplified answer to the complex question of how to deal with the lack of equilibrium between the sexes being represented on the lineups of music festivals and other events throughout the music world.
So here we are once again staring at a list of the nominees for the ACM Awards, with few surprises, lots of predictable stuff, and finding ourselves full of self-reflection on if we should even care about the annual country music gala that is most susceptible to bloc voting and horse trading.
Most major labels treat artist’s careers like bottle rockets. Either they blast off, or you get a dud and throw it out, and reach for another one. And there’s no in between. There’s no career development, no strategy beyond radio. Luckily for Scotty, some folks doing it for the love finally showed up.
So we finally received the info on Kacey Musgraves’ new album ‘Golden Hour.’ But where is a single from the new Kacey Musgraves album for country radio? “Space Cowboy” would be a great country radio single. The song has already received over 500,000 spins on Spotify. The television performance now gives it an extra boost.
Dale Watson was the face of the music scene, and not just in country and roots. Whenever there was a charity function involving music, a car dealership opening, or just about anything having to do with the city, Dale Watson seemed to be there. He was Austin’s music’s mascot.
So there was a little drama last week. And though the result was not much more than a tempest in a teapot that probably most of you were perfectly unaware of since it was primarily relegated to the purview of media personalities, unfortunately some fallacious and irresponsible accusations were laid at the feet of Saving Country Music.
Joshua Hedley already has our anticipation sky high for his debut record Mr. Jukebox to be released April 20th via Third Man Records after years of playing traditional country music at Robert’s Western World on lower Broadway in Nashville. Hedley stoked anticipation even more when he released the title track to the record.
When you think of the modern country music landscape, you think of a clear delineation line between the independent and mainstream. However the songwriting credits for Miranda Lambert are the one clear exception. Looking through her list of collaborators, it’s pretty incredible.
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 2018 Ameripolitan Awards LIVE blog from the Guest House at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. For the first time the awards will transpire outside of Austin to celebrate its 5th year. Also for the first time, the plan is for the awards to be streamed as long as the stream holds up.
Daryle Singletary wasn’t just a “90s country star” as some have characterized. Yes, the mid-90s were the period when Singletary he enjoyed his commercial apex. But his career was so much more, and was arguably the most critically important and impacting in the here and now.
So you want to change the world through music. First off, congratulations and thank you. You’ve decided to do something with your music beyond just entertain people, and this is an important and charitable deed. Not that entertaining people in itself is an ignoble call and can’t change the world in its own right.
Most importantly, Chis Janson has proven that he cares, because you don’t play the Opry for the money. Ans as soon as the Opry membership is refreshed with names of artists who show passion for the Opry, then perhaps a renewed passion for the Opry itself will also appear in fans and other artists
Hey mom, look! I made Texas Monthly! …wait, what? Well you know what they say, always attack up. I just wish that if they were going to devote nearly their entire article to reefing little ol’ Saving Country Music in the nuts when I was nothing more than a bit player in a much bigger issue, they could have at least put my name in the headline.
As much of the country music nervous system was affixed to the 60th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (1-28), another high-profile event was happening down in Tampa, Florida where the NHL was holding their annual All-Star Game. “Country” artist Brett Young is a native of the area and was tapped to sing the National Anthem.
Cody Jinks will release a new record in 2018. It will be named Lifers and it will be delivered in “no later than June.” And we also know it will be Cody Jinks, because that is who he is, and what he does. The other thing Cody Jinks has is a plan, and a fan base.
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 2018 installment of Saving Country Music’s Grammy Awards LIVE blog! As the night goes on I’ll be peppering you with my observations and rolling commentary as we all watch along together, adding some incendiary snark where possible, and showing others with accolades if they deserve it.
All of the information to get you prepared for the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, including the performances, the presenters, the nominees, and what to watch for in regards to the greater country music realm. It could be a big night for Chris Stapleton and others, and country performers will get some of the marquee performances.
It’s hard enough to have an album go platinum these days. Even when you’re a superstar with smash hits and spend a million+ on an advertising campaign. Now take into consideration not just forgoing all of those pre-release formalities, but starting off your release cycle by outright giving your record away to your fans.
The legendary and Hall of Fame country music career of Alan Jackson has been marked by two underlying things: his ability to write and sing songs that stay true to country’s roots and ultimately become mega-hits (he had 26 #1’s overall), and his propensity to step up at critical moments and say or do whatever he can to help preserve the music.
Earlier this week, Rolling Stone published an in-depth report about the prevalent culture in country radio systemically looking the other way when young artists—mostly women—are taken advantage of, harassed and often expected to be receptive to inappropriate behavior by older men in the radio industry.
No. We’re not going here. I’m sorry. Consider this a line in the sand. Consider this an ultimatum. Nobody’s mother is being threatened here, mind you. We’re not veering off the rails or anything. But if there was ever a moment where dramatic action was called for in country music matters, this would be it.
Let’s face it. For a host of reasons, it’s pretty rare to see African Americans making country and roots music. But when they do, more often that not, they’re doing it the right way, pushing the music forward creatively while fiercely helping to preserving the past, becoming part of the solution instead of prolonging the problem.