Saving Country Music’s 2025 Essential Albums List
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This year, using the term “essential” has never felt more important. As AI threatens to upend the music industry in the new year, it’s critical we underscore just how essential music is to all of us.
A Year After His Death, Luke Bell is Not Forgotten
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What the reaction to Luke Bell’s death certified was that he was a candidate to have a posthumous career in the same vein as Townes Van Zandt, Blaze Foley, and other singer/songwriters whose music feels so elemental.
Blackberry Smoke Reveals New Album “Be Right Here” & New Song
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Those who are generally timid of nature, go ahead and turn back now. But for the rest of you who love their music loud and Southern, it’s time to celebrate the announcement of a brand new album from Blackberry Smoke.
Album Review – The Turnpike Troubadours – “A Cat in the Rain”
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The story of the Turnpike Troubadours is one of a victory, where the better angels of a bunch of friends from Tahlequah, Oklahoma refused to allow some moments of weakness and the outside noise to tear asunder something…
Track List Revealed for New Tyler Childers Album “Rustin’ In The Rain”
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On Thursday (8-24), the track list for Tyler Childers’ “Rustin’ In The Rain” was revealed on Spotify’s poorly-named but pretty good “Indigo” playlist. Childers says that the album is mostly love songs, with the deeper tie-in being the mules.
On The Sara Evans Grand Ole Opry Invitation
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Beyond the big headlines and the culture war back-and-forths, the regular rhythms of country music continue on, like the rare but vaunted invitations to join country music’s most storied institution.
Despite Multiple Rape Allegations, Nelly Invited to ACM Honors
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Not only is Nelly not a country artist, his very troubling record with sexual assault accusations makes him the antithesis of the type of person the ACM Honors should be highlighting.
Officially Declaring August 25th, 2023 a Country Music Holiday
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Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. I unilaterally declare that August 25th in the Year of Our Ford 2023 will be officially recognized as a country music holiday, with all right and privileges thereof.
Shot Through The Door: The Police Killing of Mark Capps
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It came as quite a shock in the country music community and beyond on January 5th when the news broke that 4-time Grammy-winning engineer Mark Capps was killed by Nashville SWAT Officers.
Separating Truth from Fiction in Oliver Anthony’s Ascent
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Ever since Oliver Anthony and “Rich Men North of Richmond” went viral, the accusations that he’s an “industry plant” or that his meteoric rise has been the product of “Astroturfing” have been pervasive.
Album Review – Ryan Bingham’s “Watch Out For The Wolf”
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Bingham’s still out there packing venues and headlining festivals as one of the premier acts in the independent country scene. That’s why it’s pretty disappointing that “Watch Out For The Wolf” is so low effort.
Charley Crockett Reveals “Live From The Ryman” Album & Film
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On Monday, November 14th, 2022, Charley Crockett took the stage at the Ryman Auditorium for his first ever headlining performance at the Mother Church to a sold-out crowd, and put on a show for the ages.
50 Years Ago: Jerry Jeff Walker Records “Viva Terlingua”
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There was country music before ‘Viva Terlingua,’ and then there was country music after it. It’s legacy is so rich, deep, and stratified across a host of important and influential lines, it’s like its own institution.