New Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#167)
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Social media algorithms, AI-generated songs, astroturfed Tik-Tok stars, and all kinds of other hijinks make it harder to find authentic songs from real artists. But that’s all you’ll find on this painstakingly-curated playlist.
Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith, The Mafia, & the Failed Restaurant Concept
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It was an ambitious project, but one that had a solid proof of concept behind it, and a big payoff if everything went well. As a way to bolster their music brand and expand consumer reach, country music trio Rascal Flatts unveiled plans for a restaurant franchise bearing their name…
Album Review – Tim Bluhm’s “Sorta Surviving”
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We could say that it’s a strange time in country music when someone like the front man of the California indie rock band The Mother Hips is releasing a record, and it’s 95% more country, a leagues better than most of what you’ll hear in the mainstream of country today. But in truth this is not a new phenomenon.
Jack Ingram Readies New Album of Tributes & New Songs, “Ridin’ High … Again.”
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Songwriter and Texas music wildman Jack Ingram has a new album on the way called ‘Ridin’ High … Again.’ It will be Ingram’s tenth studio record overall, and was recorded at Austin, TX’s iconic Arlyn Studios in just two days in what Ingram describes as one “forty-eight hour party.”
Opposing Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” in Country Is Not “Racism”
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See, this is the reason why showing concern of where and how songs are placed in music charts is so critical, and how making a simple mistake can cause dramatic reverberations throughout the music ecosystem where now you have long-standing institutions and entire genres of music being accused of outright racism.
Pop Albums More Country Than Many Mainstream “Country” Albums
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When you hear certain albums from some of country music’s mainstream performers, it’s patently clear to large portions of the audience that these albums aren’t pop country, they’re just pop, period. But in the pop world when artist dabble in country influences, they tend to be more honest about how the end result is still pop.
Rockabilly Queen Wanda Jackson Announces Retirement from Performing
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The curtain has closed on the touring and performing career of one of America’s most iconic women of music, whose influence has been incredible in both the country and rock world, and who’s considered one of the greatest living legends of music still alive. Wanda Jackson, a.k.a. the Queen of Rockabilly is hanging up her red boots.
Railbird Festival Announces Impressive Inaugural Lineup
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The amount of premium festivals with stacked lineups for you to salivate over as the target for your discretionary music budget are starting to get downright overwhelming, and a new festival set to take place August 10th and 11th in Lexington, Kentucky will only add to your dilemma.
Luke Combs & Ashley McBryde Earn Early & Deserved ACM Awards
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It’s cool that the ACM Awards spectrum out their annual “Best New Artist” award to male, female, and duo/group categories to give up-and-comers that much more opportunity for recognition. But it’s also lame how they report who actually won on a random Monday with a quick email.
Album Review – Roger Alan Wade’s “Simmering Rage”
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Roger Alan Wade may be one of the best, and most emotionally potent songwriters and storytellers of our generation—a strong bullet point that is bolded and underscored with his latest album of all original songs, and his first after a five year gulf called ‘Simmering Rage.’ There are songwriters, and then there is Roger Alan Wade.
Keith Whitley Benefit Concert and Hall of Fame Exhibit On The Way
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Keith Whitley is gone, but he will not be forgotten. And the legacy he left behind during his short and troubled life still reverberates throughout country music today, and constitutes a legacy that is nothing short of legendary. This is one of the reasons the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville chose to commission an exhibit and tribute concert.
I Don’t Want a Maddie & Tae EP, I Want The Whole Damn Thing
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Announced Monday morning (3-25), country music duo Maddie & Tae will finally have an album of new music to peddle come April 26th when a 5-song EP called ‘One Heart To Another’ is released via Mercury Nashville. But there’s a reason why this release feels inappropriate, and more of a stop gap than a proper album.
Remember The Name “Ian Noe,” Music Fans
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If you’ve been paying any attention to country music over the last few years, you know to be paying attention to just about any performing songwriter hailing from Kentucky. It’s the state that has given us Tyler Childers, Dillon Carmichael, Chris Stapleton, Kelsey Waldon, and Sturgill Simpson just to name a few over the last few years.