Billboard Must Address AI on the Charts NOW
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Afraid of “gatekeeping” accusations, Billboard seems content with AI encroaching onto its charts without the company in any way addressing it directly at the moment.
Hip Hop Artist Jason Derulo Is Working on a “Big” Country Project
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Hip hop/R&B artist Jason Derulo—known for such squalid hits as “Swalla” and “Get Ugly”—is working on a quote/unquote “big” country music project with a current country artist. This is the news coming from numerous sources, including Derulo himself.
The Turnpike Troubadours to Release New Album “A Long Way From Your Heart”
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Is it October 20th yet? How ’bout now? Sorry for the impatience, but that’s the day one of the most badass independent country bands in existence will release their highly-anticipated fourth album A Long Way From Your Heart via Bossier City Records and Thirty Tigers.
Album Review – Joe Nichols’ “Never Gets Old”
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Man did we need a good album from Joe Nichols. Mainstream country has been on a losing streak something fierce for 2017—barring a few exceptions—and when you have an artist like Joe Nichols, you need them to act like a bulkhead against adverse trends. It sucks when later in an artist’s career and after a […]
Album Review – Koe Wetzel’s “Noise Complaint”
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Koe Wetzel from Stephenville, TX has certainly been stirring up the chatter of both the positive and negative persuasion over the last few months after the release of the record Noise Complaint. A veritable young pup of the Texas music scene, he’s been vilified by some for immature lyrics, while being celebrated by the younger set.
Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Backroad” Now the Longest-Running #1 in “Country” History
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Well, it’s happened. As predicted by Saving Country Music and certain others, Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Backroad” is now officially the longest-charting #1 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in the chart’s nearly 60-year-old history, logging a total of 25 straight weeks at #1.
True Country Represented at the 2017 Tumbleweed Country Music Festival
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For many years there has been the need for a festival to cover the music that sits on the fringes of commercial country, yet serves a very dedicated and surprisingly large audience of country music fans. This is what Borda Productions saw when they decided to transition from a more mainstream-oriented country festival for 2017.
Counterpoints to the Claim That “Country Music Has Never Been This Bad”
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In the process of criticizing modern country music, sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture, or fall into “old man’s syndrome” where the past of the genre seems pristine and idyllic in our mind’s eye, and today’s smutty music perpetrated by sellout stars is an abomination to our beloved genre.
You See, Sam Hunt Never Had Any Real Passion for Country Music
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Artists with the true love of country music in their hearts, they don’t make country music for money or fame. They make it for life. They make it because they have no other choice. They make it whether they succeed, or it costs incredible sacrifice to keep doing it. It isn’t an option, it’s an obligation to themselves, and the music.
UPDATED: Jamey Johnson Stands Up for American Flag at Tumbleweed Festival
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On Saturday, July 29th, during Jamey Johnson’s headliner set at the Tumbleweed Festival just outside of Kansas City, Jamey Johnson stopped the show down when he saw an American Flag in black and white. “I’m $ucking serious, I will stop playing,” he said.
Jason Isbell on Today’s Country: “It’s Just Real Bad Music to Me”
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Jason Isbell is still riding high after hitting career marks for his recent album The Nashville Sound, which topped the Country Albums charts. But if you expect the mainstream level of success of his career to change the songwriter, or his penchant to speak out, you’re sadly mistaken.
IBMA Announces 2017 International Bluegrass Music Awards Nominations
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Nominees for the 28th Annual, 2017 International Bluegrass Music Awards were announced Wednesday in Nashville, with The Earls of Leicester and Balsam Range leading all nominees with eight nominations each, and Entertainer of the Year noms for both. Flatt Lonesome also picks up big nominations for Entertainer and Vocal Group of the Year.
“The Late Show” Loses Key Ally for Country & Roots Artists
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For twenty years and for two separate hosts, senior music producer for The Late Show Sheryl Zelikson has been a key behind-the-scenes champion for under-the-radar country and roots music performers who otherwise may never have been afforded an opportunity for a national television debut.