Major Layoffs Hit ACM Awards, MCA Nashville
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Is something amiss in the major label world? Two of country music’s major entities are cutting staff, and no matter how they spin it, when you’re downsizing as opposed to growing, it’s usually not a good sign.
Triumphant Update #100 to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Playlist
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When this playlist was first started as a simple collection point for the top songs in the current moment in country, who knew it would still be around nearly five years later, and garner over 7,700 followers on Spotify alone? Since then it’s helped launch songs and artists.
Dwight Yoakam’s ‘Guitars, Cadillacs’ Reappears After Legal Dispute
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“Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.” has finally returned to the digital world. It was over a year ago that Dwight Yoakam’s iconic debut album disappeared from music streaming and download services amid a copyright dispute with the album’s original label, Warner Music.
American Aquarium Shares Details of New Album “Chicamacomico”
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Named after a former life-saving station built in 1874 on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Chicamacomico will be the North Carolina-based band’s ninth studio record, and they promise that this one will not necessarily be the rancorous country rock affair.
Album Review – Kaitlin Butts – “What Else Can She Do”
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Fans of Kaitlin Butts have been waiting like patience on a monument for a new album. But maybe the release of ‘What Else Can She Do?’ will finally be her moment. Taking a critical assessment of the record, it’s hard to argue why it shouldn’t be.
Loretta Lynn at 90, and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop
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With so many of the artists that reach superstar status, there is a “moment” that put them there. Sometimes, it’s a number of these moments. For Loretta Lynn, that moment came through Ernest Tubb, and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop’s Midnite Jamboree.
Willie Nelson Joins Tami Neilson for “Beyond The Stars”
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It was one of those moments only music can make, and it happened in Luck, TX. The “Beyond The Stars” duet with Tami Neilson and Willie Nelson ultimately was the talk of the Luck Reunion, and the talk of SXSW.
Texas Music DJ Justin Frazell Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault
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Former North Texas country radio host Justin Frazell has plead guilty to the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl as part of a plea deal according to authorities in Tarrant County. The show host of 95.9 KFWR “The Ranch” in Fort Worth was a pillar of the Texas radio community.
30 Years Ago: Alan Jackson Writes (& Performs) “Chattahoochee”
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“Chattahoochee” was the exception, not the rule. And co-written by Nashville songwriter Jim McBride, there’s a pretty interesting story on how it came about, and how it came to life, going from finished product to being performed on stage the same day, April 12th, 1992.
Album Review – The Ben Jarrell Band’s “Up and Headed West”
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Once again chock full of half-time Waylon beats, Jerry Reed hot licks, with a touch of Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd influence as well, it’s the kind of 70’s cool a lot of the hipster kids in country music try to emulate these days, but colossally fail at.
Album Review – Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Co-Starring Too”
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This album will have you blowing speaker cones and doing air guitar poses on coffee tables—sideways looks from your significant other be damned. I don’t know what’s gotten into Ray Wylie Hubbard, but this album is anything but retread. It’s a grizzly ol’ middle finger to bad music.
Scoping Out The Future Home of Reba McEntire’s “Reba’s Place”
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Reba McEntire definitely deserves an extra level of respect and admiration for deciding against opening up yet another tourist trap monstrosity on Lower Broadway in Nashville, just like every other big star has done over the last decade. Calle, Reba’s Place, it will be in Atoka, OK.
Dwayne Johnson’s Daughter’s Favorite Song is by Dale Watson
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We’ve known for years about the affinity Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has for traditional country and true blue independent country artists. But just about nothing illustrates how big of a role true country music—or in this case, “Ameripolitan”—actually plays.