Justice Department’s New Deal with Live Nation Stinks
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There is probably one opportunity, and one opportunity only to solve the biggest problem plaguing the live music industry in the United States, and that is the current trial that Live Nation is going through.
Born & Raised Fest Announces Loaded Inaugural Lineup
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With ZZ Top and Cody Jinks at the top of the card, Blackberry Smoke, Randy Rogers Band, Parker McCollum, and Robert Earl Keen filling out the top slots, and an impressive undercard that includes hard-to-get names like Zach Bryan, Born & Raised Fest will hit the bullseye of appeal for many.
Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Mickey Guyton Perform on Memorial Day
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The national Memorial Day concert each year broadcast on PBS doesn’t always include notable names from the country music world. But in 2021, it included three of them, who each turned in marquee performances. Here are the performances of Vince Gill, Mickey Guyton, and Alan Jackson.
Week Long John Prine Celebration Planned in Remembrance
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Before the pandemic, whenever an important artist in country and roots music passed away, it was customary for folks to gather in a remembrance in Nashville. For obvious reasons, that couldn’t happen in a timely fashion for John Prine, who died on April 7th, 2020.
Album Review – Blackberry Smoke’s “You Hear Georgia”
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20 years in, Blackberry Smoke isn’t showing their rust. They’re hitting their stride, understanding their species is slowly becoming endangered, taking that prognosis personally, and doing what they can to keep the torch burning, and the memories of the sounds of the South alive.
On Miranda Lambert Writing with Morgan Wallen
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Morgan Wallen’s fellow members of the performer class continue to step up and put their names behind him in small and large ways, giving him a window in which to slowly creep back into polite society, if he can continue to mind his p’s and q’s, which has been a challenge in the past.
Raindrops Are Falling: Music Legend B.J. Thomas Has Died
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Country, Christian, classic pop, and multi Grammy award-winning singer and performer B.J. Thomas has passed away. The 78-year-old died of lung Cancer on Saturday, May 29th at his home in Arlington, Texas. Thomas had announced the diagnosis in late March, and had been battling the disease.
Newest Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#84)
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As we head into the Memorial Day weekend when many will be letting loose, taking it easy, and remembering our fallen heroes, what better time to juice up the Top 25 playlist, especially with the round of great new songs that have just come down the pike.
The Hidden Story Behind the Songs of The Steel Woods
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What some studious fans of their music may have picked up on, and others may have missed, is a continuing story line across the band’s now three albums, with a recurring cast of characters and events, similar to the character “Lorrie” in Turnpike Troubadours songs.
Album Review – Shannon McNally’s “The Waylon Sessions”
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Yes, it’s the fact that a woman is singing these songs is what makes this exercise so interesting, and more than just an average tribute record. Without really rearranging much of anything, the songs take on an entirely different though paradoxically similar inverted meaning.
Marty Stuart, Glenn Douglas Tubb, & “Skip A Rope”
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It’s crazy how things sometimes work out, making it hard to doubt divine intervention. Marty Stuart selected the song “Skip a Rope” for his latest installment, releasing it on Tuesday, May 25th. Lo and behold, the next day we find out that the song’s writer has passed away.
It’s Sturgill / Tyler Childers Producer David Ferguson’s Time to Shine
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So often when an artist or band announces or releases an album with a star producer assisting them, it’s the star producer whose name preempts the actual artists themselves in headlines and promotional copy. That’s never happened with the projects the Grammy-winning David Ferguson has produced.
Album Review – Brock Gonyea’s “Where My Heart Is”
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Here comes this surprise EP from upstart country artist Brock Gonyea that will deliver you and your country-loving heart smack dab into 1950’s country music bliss, warming your cockles about the prospects for the future of the country genre.