Introducing The Hook: A Forum for Songs and Songwriters
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If you’re a fan of great music, you’ve probably been perpetually frustrated how it seems like the best songs, and the best songwriters of our time slide scandalously under-the-radar.
Dailey & Vincent to Release First Ever Country Album
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It’s always exciting when one of your favorite country artists like Dwight Yoakam, Alan Jackson, or Sturgill Simpson decides to cut a bluegrass album. It’s pretty rare to have a bluegrass outfit decide to flip the script and make a country album. But that’s exactly what long-time bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent have decided to do.
Robert Earl Keen’s Tour Bus Catches Fire in New Orleans
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On Tuesday, August 2nd, Robert Earl Keen and his band were in New Orleans performing at the House of Blues. After the show and on their way back to Texas, the tour bus started moving very slow. The driver pulled over to check the engine, and when he opened the engine door, the bus ignited into flames.
Key West Now Offering Two Consecutive Country Music Festivals
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There are now two consecutive country music festivals planned for Key West, Florida for the Winter of 2023: The 6th Annual Mile 0 Fest featuring Red Dirt, Texas, and Americana, and the 90s-centric Key Western Festival, happening the very next week.
Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton Helping Kentucky Flood Victims
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Though you won’t see any press releases about it, or social media posts about it from their personal accounts, both Tyler Childers and Chris Stapleton have been spotted in the region with their boots on the ground in Kentucky directly helping local residents after the historic flooding.
Album Review – Whiskey Myers – “Tornillo”
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With their sixth album, Whiskey Myers chose to do the producing themselves, and more so than any of their previous releases, lean heavy in the Southern rock direction almost exclusively, including springing for the horn section and a backup chorus. Yes, this is at the expense of some country tracks.
The Big Opportunities Keep Coming for Kaitlin Butts
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Don’t look now, but we’re gonna have to stop complaining about how how all the losers in the country music industry keep criminally overlooking Kaitlin Butts, and start recognizing that she’s finally getting the recognition she has deserved for years thanks to the strength of her 2022 album “What Else Can She Do.”
End of an Era: Joanna Cotten Leaves Eric Church’s Band
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Since 2013, vocal powerhouse and larger-than-life performer Joanna Cotten has been helping Eric Church instill passion, soul, and energy into his music, both in the studio and on stage. She’s been Eric Church’s secret weapon, and right-hand woman on many of his most landmark and powerful performances.
Gary Allan Leaving UMG Nashville Can Only Be a Good Thing
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After a quarter century, and a very messy last eight years or so, Gary Allan has just made it official: he’s leaving his long time label home of Universal Music Group Nashville. And though we won’t know for a while just where he’ll land or how everything will shake out, it feels like it can only be a positive development.
Album Review – Ronnie Dunn’s “100 Proof Neon”
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Everybody wants to be 90s country these days, but nobody wants to live through an era without the wide proliferation of the internet, and when cell phones looked like carry-on luggage. But if you want the real stuff, you’re always best going directly to the source, like Ronnie Dunn.
UPDATED: Sam Hunt Denied Entry to Canada to Perform
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Sam Hunt was scheduled to headline the Boots & Hearts Music Festival Friday, August 5th in Burl’s Creek, Ontario in Canada, but he will no longer be attending after he announced he is not being allowed into the country. Jake Owen has instead been tapped as the Friday night headliner.
Ernest Tubb Record Shop Property Sold, Hope For Preservation Renewed
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The iconic Ernest Tubb Record Shop on Lower Broadway in Nashville has officially been sold to a group of investors for $18.3 million, as well as the current contents of the Record Shop including the inventory and fixtures in a separate deal. The new owners include Ernest Dale Tubb III, musician Ilya Toshinskiy, and investor Brad Bars.
It’s Not Just Another Year for the Bluegrass Music Awards
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The International Bluegrass Music Awards, or IBMA’s announced the nominees earlier this week, and it felt anything but perfunctory. In previous years you had the usual suspects up for all the major awards. It feels completely different here in 2022, and for good reason. Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, and more.