Megyn Kelly, Take Your Beyoncé Call Out as a Victory
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Megyn Kelly. Babe. Take the win. What are you doing acting like an aggrieved party here? Beyoncé’s calling you out on the big video boards of her current world tour? Well congratulations then. It’s free promotion.
How in the World Was The Band Perry’s “Live Forever” Named Team USA’s Olympic Song?
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By all accounts, it was the song’s dismal performance on the country music charts and The Band Perry’s hard-headed insistence on sticking with their new pop direction that had the family trio and preeminent country music label Big Machine parting ways earlier this year. To put it bluntly, “Live Forever” killed The Band Perry’s country music career.
Song Review – Beyonce’s ‘Country’ Song “Daddy Lessons”
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Why exactly this song is considered country is beyond me. Is it because Beyoncé randomly says “Texas” for no damn reason at the beginning, or screams “Yee haw!” once or twice? If this is what makes a song country, then this is the most stereotypical of stereotypical observations possible. Nonetheless, “Daddy Lessons” is still more country than Sam Hunt.
Tribute or Exploitation: The Dilemma Media Faces When Covering Celebrity Music Deaths
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Usually it’s only once or twice a year that music media is faced with the dilemma of how to adequately and respectfully cover the passing of a high profile music celebrity. In 2016, it has been more like once or twice a month. In fact the frequency of seismic music deaths has been a story unto itself.
Album Review – The Lumineers “Cleopatra”
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There was no way for The Lumineers to win with this record. They’d almost have to pull a J.D. Salinger to stay on the right side of history, and even then their legacy would be sullied. Why? Because popular culture has already judged them as a time piece—as part of a trend that started to die when even Saturday Night Live was doing parody sketches of roots bands dressed in suspenders.
Kris Kristofferson Takes After Other Country Icons & Re-Records His Greatest Hits
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Now that Merle Haggard has passed on, Kris Kristofferson is one of the few remaining links to country music’s most iconic era of classic songwriting. Kristofferson has also been candid about his struggles with deepening memory loss, so any new recordings should be considered a treasure.
Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” Debuts at #1 in Country
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Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is officially the #1 record in country music, and is also the highest-charting debut of the week at #3 on the all genre Billboard 200 chart. The only thing keeping Sturgill from the top of the Billboard 200 were two surging titles from Price that sold like crazy in the hours after the superstar’s death.
Dallas Davidson Attempts to Revive Country Rap with “Laid Back”
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When I heard that Dallas Davidson was working on a new solo album, it sounded like just another stupid plan to offload his leftover Bro-Country material now that the songs aren’t selling so well. Harmless. Sure, release a solo album Dallas, and take one last gasp as the Bro-Country songwriting king before you’re relegated to the refuse pile of country music’s most deplorable era.
Album Review – Jeff Shepherd and the Jailhouse Poets
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Songwriting is what becomes the ultimate takeaway from Jeff Shepherd and the Jailhouse Poets. As you listen deeper into the album, the writing continues to mature, and mature more, and becomes more vulnerable and personal until the final song “Son” virtually has you in tears. From lost love to personal tragedy, Jeff Shepherd is uninhibited in sharing and unburdening his heart in these songs.
Sturgill Simpson: “There Will Be More Country Records”
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A Sailor’s Guide to Earth will still be the top debut album for the week, and according to Sturgill, it doesn’t symbolize a complete shift in his music career henceforth, just a “pause” in his country output. Speaking to KCRW where Sturgill performed the new album in its entirety (see below), he told the crowd how his son had inspired the album.
Blackberry Smoke Members Save Family from Burning Car
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After recently finishing up a tour in California, frontman Charlie Starr and the rest of the Blackberry Smoke band decided to fly back to Atlanta ahead of the tour bus. But bassist Richard Turner decided to enjoy the long bus ride back across the country, and along with the lighting guy Chris “Thumper” Hathaway and bus driver Harry Wing, they happened up a burning car upside down on Interstate 10.
Willie Nelson Rushed to Undisclosed Protective Location After Rash of Celebrity Music Deaths
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After the deaths of David Bowie, Glenn Frey of the Eagles, Keith Emerson, producer George Martin, close Willie Nelson friend and country music icon Merle Haggard earlier in April, and now iconic music legend Prince, all precautions are being taken to make sure Willie Nelson stays alive no matter what the costs or resources necessary. This is the reassuring news coming from the United States government.
Luke Bell Signs with Thirty Tigers, to Release Self-Titled Album
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In 2014 when Saving Country Music received an unsolicited submission from an relatively unknown artist named Luke Bell, it felt like striking gold. It’s so rare, and so welcome and fulfilling when an artist that has been flying so criminally far under the radar shows up and it’s so immediately obvious their music is destined for bigger things.