The Best Mainstream Country Albums of 2025
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Irrespective of the definitions, the point of highlighting the best “mainstream” albums each year is to reward artists and the industry when they get it right within the closest proximity to Music Row.
Perilous Future for Twitter & Tik-Tok Presents Challenges for Music
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Platforms like Twitter and Tik-Tok have been instrumental to the rise of artists outside of the musical industrial complex by connection them directly with fans, and circumventing the need for major labels or mass media to help performers find a sustainable audience in many instances.
Album Review – Robbie Fulks – “Bluegrass Vacation”
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Despite his punk country popularity, Fulks actually started out as a folk and bluegrass musician who was raised in the Blue Ridge of Virginia and the Piedmont of North Carolina. And after performing in the club scene in Greenwich Village and attending Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk, joined Special Consensus.
Granger Smith Is Quitting Country Music to Pursue Ministry
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Country artist Granger Smith and his alter ego Earl Dibbles Jr. will be calling it quits after an upcoming summer tour so that Smith can pursue a life in ministry. Smith made the announcement in a video to his fans published on Tuesday (4-11) afternoon. “This summer is my last ever tour.”
Gimme Radio & Gimme Country are Coming to an End
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Tyler Lenane started Gimmie Radio with co-founders Jon Maples, Andy Gilliland, and David Rosenberg, who all previously worked for companies like Beats, Apple, and Google. The company was based in San Francisco. The format attracted hundreds of thousands of fans in total.
Finally Some News on the William Michael Morgan Front
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You can almost forget with the rise of so many neotraditional country artists lately about ol’ William Michael Morgan. In many ways, he was personally responsible for helping to set off the neotraditionalist movement in the mainstream when his super traditional debut single “I Met A Girl” hit #2.
The CMT Awards were NOT the CMA Awards, or Indicative of Country
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The 2023 CMT Awards could very well go down in country music history as a significant moment, but it won’t be for the reasons the producers of the presentation or their proponents in the media hoped for, or will purport it to be. And no, we’re not just talking about the polarizing political moments…
Album Review – Josie Toney’s “Extra”
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Extra is everything you were hoping Josie Toney’s debut album would be. When she sings, Toney evokes the ghosts of the classic country era by mixing old-school country with old-school blues indicative at times of Hank One. You may think of her as an instrumentalist first, but the album showcases…
Newest Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#117)
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The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats, or you can just use the song, artist, and album recommendations.
Amid Meteoric Rise, 49 Winchester Plays Packed Pittsburgh Show
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Friday night (4-7), 49 Winchester rolled into Pittsburgh, a.k.a the Paris of Appalachia, and played the newly renovated Thunderbird Cafe on a hot sell-out streak. After warming up the crowd with the road weary anthem “All I Need” and a soaring rendition of “Second Chance,” the crowd really got rocking…
Melonie Cannon & Friends to Pay Tribute to Vern Gosdin
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Melonie Cannon owes a special debut of gratitude to Vern Gosdin. She’s gives Vern credit for believing in her as a singer even before her own father did. Gosdin took Melonie under her wing when she was a teenager, and got her father to pay attention to her as a serious country vocalist.
Album Review – Jake Worthington (Self-Titled)
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If you want to hear true traditional country in its most pure form in 2023, listen to Jake Worthington. We’re talking Mark Chesnutt, Daryle Singletary country, where you can’t fit an index card between the true definition of “country music,” and what Worthington turns in here.
10 Years Ago Today: George Jones Plays His Final Concert
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It’s something that most of us mere mortals can’t comprehend. But for our country legends, they would have it no other way. Willie Nelson has regularly said that he wants to die on stage. And as morbid as a prognosis as that might be, it speaks to how important music and performance is to these legends.