50 Year Ago: George Strait Plays First Professional Gig
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From humble beginnings and low expectations to the very pinnacle of the country genre, George Strait is an inspiration for all those country performers getting up on stage to play their first professional gig.
Album Review- Cyndi Lauper’s Country “Detour”
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Never could I have dreamed when I first decided to channel my passion for music into operating a country music website that I would be asked to comment on a country record released from Queens-born New Wave 80’s sensation Cyndi Lauper. But this is not your average “gone country” project.
AmericanaFest Announces Initial 68-Band Lineup for 2016
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One of the most fastest-growing and well-regarded offshoots and alternatives of country music holds its annual gathering of the tribes each September in Nashville, and this year promises to be another rousing shindig after the names of the first 68 performers have been released to the public.
Gearing Up & Scaling Back: A Forecast for 2016’s 4th of July Picnics
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Now that we are well into May, many people are wondering where the announcement for Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic is. The country music institution, started in 1972 with the Dripping Springs Reunion (not officially held on the 4th) has been going strong ever since, despite skipping a couple of years here and there.
Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop The Feeling” Is Not a Country Song
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Saying that Justin Timberlake’s new single isn’t country may seem like an obvious statement, except that many were anticipating that the next move the pop singer and songwriter would make would be to dip his toes into country waters. Hell, after he’s been dropping monstrous hints about the move…
Album Review – Jack Klatt’s “Shadows in the Sunset”
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For those of you who wear out your Pokey LaFarge records on a regular basis and regard Wayne “The Train” Hancock as a musical God, another name worth checking out is the old-time throwback singer and songwriter with a hobo’s hat and a belly full of songs named Jack Klatt.
Christian Music Could Be The Next Craze for Country
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Christian music may be the way some labels and producers see a way out of the Bro-Country jungle that is mired in criticism for its low-brow content and (at times) immoral bent, yet at the same time continue to broaden the appeal of country by adding a new demographic to the audience in Christian listeners.
Muskogee Set to Erect Two Statues in Honor of Merle Haggard
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Merle Haggard is gone, but he won’t be forgotten in the town he helped put on the map with one of his signature songs. Muskogee, Oklahoma is looking to erect not one statue of the country music legend, but two of them in the aftermath of his passing on April 6th.
ESPN Anchor John Buccigross is Obsessed with Sturgill Simpson
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SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross is head over heels for Sturgill Simpson and his new record a Sailor’s Guide to Earth. Or hell, his entire catalog. And if you’ve been paying attention over the last week or so, Buccigross been dropping references to Sturgill and singing his praises left and right.
Red Dirt and Texas Country Have a Female Problem
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Right now, Texas and Oklahoma is being robbed of its female talent from Nashville and the two coasts. And these women are regularly sucked up into a system that absconds with their creative freedom, sexualizes their image, and drops them unceremoniously whenever their commercial viability is perceived to be spent.
Song Review – Chris Janson’s “Holdin’ Her”
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“Holdin’ Her” makes absolutely no compromises to radio or anyone else. It starts on the acoustic guitar in waltz time, then the steel guitar comes in, a little Telecaster and keys, and as the old saying goes, it’s three chords and the truth. No drum loops, no electronic doo dads, no superfluous buzzwords thrown in there to lure in the corporate country radio fan.
Saving Country Music’s American Country Countdown Awards LIVE Blog
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Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Saving Country Music LIVE blog for country music’s most laughable and irrelevant awards show of the year, the America Country Countdown Awards, or ACCA’s. It has the distinction of being considered the 4th country music awards show, even lagging behind the immaterial CMT Awards.
Legendary Songwriter Guy Clark is in Nursing Home, But Is “Stable”
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Guy Clark has been suffering from numerous health ailments recently. In June 2015, he was hospitalized right before he was scheduled to appear at an Austin City Limits event being held in his behalf. Clark had a bad reaction to medication he was prescribed after a recent surgical procedure, and missed the ACL Hall of Fame induction.