New Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#176)
42 Comments
Consider this playlist like that cool older brother, crazy aunt or uncle, or papaw who turned you onto an entirely different world of music when you were younger that you otherwise would have never known about.
Public Memorial and Celebration for Luke Bell Planned
8 Comments
Luke Bell was officially laid to rest in a private ceremony at the Christ Episcopal Church in Cody, Wyoming on September 9th. But now a public memorial is planned for Luke that will be taking place on November 12th at the Circle P Ranch in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville.
Album Review – Laura Benitez – “California Centuries”
10 Comments
Don’t overlook the West Coast and California when you go looking for good country music. Case in point is Laura Benitez and the Heartache, who’ve been playing kick ass traditional country for years outside of the purview of country’s mother brain back in Nashville, and may have just released their career effort.
The Mastersons Leave Steve Earle’s Backing Band The Dukes
29 Comments
It is the end of an era for the Steve Earle’s legendary backing band The Dukes. The husband and wife duo of lead guitar player Chris Masterson and fiddle/mandolin player Eleanor Whitmore have decided to depart the band. The duo also fronts their own band called The Mastersons.
Country/Roots Artists The Grammy Awards Should Not Overlook
29 Comments
The Grammy Awards officially open the initial round of voting for nominees today, and due to the propensity for the Grammys to often overlook key contributors in the country music and roots space, here are some simple suggestions of what Grammy voters should make sure they don’t ignore for the 2023 awards.
The Turnpike Troubadours Have a Big November Planned
16 Comments
The boys from Oklahoma who will be returning home from touring all around the United States this year after officially reuniting in April at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa. Consider it a true homecoming for a band that has earned it, and may just be getting started on what they have in store for the future.
Album Review – Kendell Marvel’s “Come On Sunshine”
23 Comments
Now this is what I’m talking about right here. Sometimes you roll up on an album, and immediately you know you’ve made the right decision of what to feed your ears for the next 45 minutes or so. It rests right there in your wheelhouse, with the songs and the sounds that speak directly to your soul.
Grammy-Winning Country & Choral Vocalist Anita Kerr Has Died
9 Comments
What we consider as the foundational sound of the Countrypolitan or Nashville Sound era was very much sung and arranged by Anita Kerr. Along with the The Jordanaires, The Anita Kerr Singers—selected and arranged by Anita Kerr—contributed most all the chorus singing that was set behind country songs.
No, Loretta Lynn’s “The Pill” Is Not Still Banned (& other issues)
53 Comments
The Pill. THE PILL! Even before the unfortunate passing of the great Loretta Lynn on October 4th, there was nothing that exposed one more as a political apparatchik larping as a journalist within the country music space than shoehorning a reference to Loretta Lynn’s “The Pill” into your misguided think piece.
Tyler Childers Album Sales Revealed, Sets Rupp Benefit Stream
23 Comments
The new triple album from Tyler Childers ‘Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?’ debuts at the highest mark for the Kentucky-based artist on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, but fails to top the Billboard Country Albums chart, or best his top debut sales peak set by his previous major studio release.
Melissa Carper Readies New Album “Ramblin’ Soul”
13 Comments
An important subset of the country/roots revolution we’re currently enjoying is women who are fearlessly hearkening back to the very earliest times of American music before it was all corrupted by fads and financial incentives. This is where Sierra Ferrell has found fertile ground, and so has Melissa Carper.
Album Review – Dropkick Murphys – “This Machine Still Kills Fascists”
100 Comments
The roots and brambles of all traditional music tend to intertwine, and gravitate toward the universal plight of poor, agrarian, and working people, even crossing oceans and bridging continents and eras. Along with delivering a record of kick-ass music, the Dropkick Murphys present an illustration.
Jerry Jeff Walker, Hondo Crouch Statue Unveiled in Luckenbach TX
9 Comments
There are few places more synonymous with country music in Texas than Luckenbach, and there are few places more synonymous with an individual artist than Luckenbach is with Jerry Jeff Walker. When Walker recorded his album Viva Terlingua! in Luckenbach’s legendary dance hall.