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.
Dear Saving Country Music readers, country music listeners and lovers, fellow journalists, and especially fans of Walker Hayes and the work of country music producer, Shane McAnally . . . On December 18th, 2017, I wrote a “rant” entitled, “‘Boom’ By Walker Hayes Is The Worst Album In ‘Country’ Music History. Full Stop.” . . .
Though we don’t have a proper release date yet or a full song to digest, the prospects for The Mountain at this point are very promising. Dierks wrote and recorded the record in Telluride, Colorado, which is the Rocky Mountain State’s bluegrass haven. He was inspired to make the record there when performing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
The announcement of the main stage lineup at the Houston Rodeo is an annual head scratcher for many across the Lone Star State and beyond who actually pay attention to the music native to Texas and Houston, and wonder why one of the biggest events in Texas all year chooses to import most of its talent from out of the state.
Yeah, everybody just chill the hell out for just a second. This is only one song from a release that could have a dozen or more tracks. And Justin Timberlake is a pop star, so of course he’s going to release the most pop-sounding, commercially-viable song from the record first.
When you think of music towns and songwriting havens, your head naturally gravitates toward Nashville and Austin, Bakersfield and L.A. and such. You rarely think of Key West in Florida as a musical destination for songwriting or anything else musical, unless you have a Parrothead sticker on the back of your SUV.
Kentucky has always been the fertile crescent of country music. It just happens to be that lately it has kicked its output into overdrive, and more than any other state at the moment, it’s Kentucky’s sons and daughters fueling the country music insurgency turning the mainstream on its head.
Country music needs Carrie Underwood right now. I don’t know that I would ever have fathomed typing those words a few years ago. But over the years, Carrie Underwood has gone from defining the edge of pop in country, to being one of the final remaining bright spots of talent in the mainstream.
Netflix released the latest season of its comedy drama ‘The Ranch’ on December 15th, and just like the first three seasons, country music plays a big role in both the dialog and the soundtrack. Apparently the creators want to make discovering the songs part of the fun of the series, because they keep their soundtrack close to the vest.
As the end of the year draws near, it comes time to reflect on all the country music greats big and small, superstars and sidemen, session players and songwriters, who passed away in the past year, and pay our respects to the contributions they made to country music, and to us as fans through the music they shared.
On Tuesday (12-19), Billboard, the worldwide leader in chart publishing, announced they would be changing the posted dates on their weekly charts from one arbitrary day that doesn’t reflect the true nature of the chart, to another arbitrary day that doesn’t reflect the true nature of the chart, but that is slightly closer to the day the charts are published.