Railbird Fest Throws Fans for a Loop with 2025 Headliners
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Railbird 2025 includes an excellent crop of top-of-the-line independent country and roots artists. But it’s the headliners Railbird has announced that have return patrons chirping
UPDATED: Dollywood Under Threat in Smoky Mountain Wildfires
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Over 100 structures have been destroyed, and over 1,400 residents have been evacuated from downtown Gattlinburg and surrounding areas in eastern Tennessee as massive wildfires threaten the area, including Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain resort Dollywood in nearby Pigeon Forge. A small fire started on Chimney Top Mountain quickly grew…
Nikki Lane, Brent Cobb & Robert Ellis Team Up for Stagecoach Tour
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Recycled clothing fashionista and country music neotraditionalist Nikki Lane has a new record coming out February 17th, 2017 called ‘Highway Queen,’ and when it hits the streets she will be heading out on tour with some other cool names on her way to a performance at Southern California’s Stagecoach Festival.
I Reviewed a Christmas Album. It’s Kacey Musgraves’ “A Very Kacey Christmas”
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In the country music department, the amount of emphasis on Christmas releases in 2016 has been nothing short of astounding, and maybe even historic. And I’m not just talking about “Rascal Flatts Sing The Chipmunks” or whatever crap that’s out there. Even independent artists and country legends have showered the country music listening public…
Curtis Grimes Delivers on the Promise of “Undeniably Country”
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It’s always worth a chuckle when you hear someone say that country music must “evolve” to stay relevant, or hear an artist bellyache about how constricting country music is to their creativity. And then you put on a record like this and hear just how much a true artist can do with a simple message and melody, and three chords and the truth.
Dori Freeman, Jack Grelle Receive Independent Music Awards
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Not all music awards have to go to the worst artists of an industry like we’re used to, or be ushered in with “high school pageantry” (to quote Sturgill Simpson). For 15 years now, the Independent Music Awards have labored to highlight the artists that slip through the cracks in all the major genres of music.
George Jones Museum, Naming, & Likeness Rights Sold to Branding Company
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Folks were left wondering what the fate of the 46,000 square foot, multi-story facility would be after the manager of the museum and a close financial partner to George Jones’ widow Nancy Jones plead guilty to fraud charges in October. On Wednesday, November 23rd, it was announced that the George Jones Museum has been sold to a Nashville-based investment group.
Mercifully, The NFL Thanksgiving Halftime Performer Doesn’t Completely Suck in 2016
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Over the last decade and beyond, it has not been humanly possible to book more godawful performers for the centerpiece of the NFL’s Thanksgiving schedule than what we’ve seen take center field during the halftime of the Dallas Cowboys’ football game. It’s like they purposely conduct a study to find who is the most dreadful performer of the day.
All Travis Tritt Needs is “A Man and His Guitar” to Make Audio Gold
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It should be no huge surprise that Travis Tritt’s ‘A Man and His Guitar’ is worth its muster. He’s been doing these acoustic shows for many years, and even at other shows involving the full band he’ll make sure to take some time in the set to do a few songs by himself. If anything, one may wonder why it’s taken so long for a release such as this to surface.
Nominees for UK and International Americana Awards Announced
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Americana music isn’t just for Americans, and even though this may confuse an already much-argued etymology for one of America’s (and the world’s) most fastest-growing genres, significant efforts continue to be undertaken to make the Americana movement transatlantic and international.
Album Review – Folk Uke’s “Star*ucker”
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If Willie Nelson and Arlo Guthrie are remembered for nothing else in music, perhaps they’ll be notable as the sires of the musical progeny Amy Nelson and Cathy Guthrie, known collectively as Folk Uke. A unique project to say the least, you might be surprised to hear that the 2nd generation musicians have been making music together for nearly 20 years now.
Album Review – Miranda Lambert’s “The Weight of These Wings”
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Whether one may ultimately settle upon ‘The Weight of These Wings’ with a more positive or negative take, what is next to indisputable is that it is a significant release. ‘The Weight of These Wing’s is the symbolic entry of Miranda Lambert—the biggest female country star for the last six or so years—into the Americana/independent/east Nashville mindset
Al Batten, Bandleader of the Bluegrass Reunion, Has Passed Away
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Al Batten, master banjo player and bandleader of the beloved North Carolina-based bluegrass band Al Batten and the Bluegrass Reunion, died on Sunday, 11-20 after a long illness. First formed in February of 1972 with David Turnage, Al Batten and the Bluegrass Reunion have been a staple of bluegrass in their home of Selma, North Carolina and beyond for nearly 45 years.