Jimmy Swaggart Dead at 90. His Close Ties to Country Music
46 Comments
When you think of Jimmy Swaggart, you might not think of music, or country music specifically. But there is a reason that in 1982 Newsweek dubbed Swaggart the “King of Honky Tonk Heaven.”
Green River Ordinance Excluded from Billboard Country Charts While Other Acts Go Unquestioned
60 Comments
For the last couple of years country fans have been questioning how chart managers for Billboard and other entities could listen to certain songs or performers and consider them country in the slightest. Yet here is a band making music that’s more country than it is anything else, and more country than most of what you hear on country radio, and Billboard is denying their admittance on the country charts.
Country Music Needs to Let Go of the Radio Crutch
38 Comments
How people listen to music is clearly changing, but much of the country music industry isn’t following suit. In a town that employs scores of people just to push songs to radio, Nashville doesn’t know how to behave any differently than they did 60 years ago. Entire companies are based around trying to sell songs to country radio. The difference now is radio is no longer the only game in town.
When It Comes To Supporting Cool Roots Artists, Colbert Picks Up Where Letterman Left Off
33 Comments
With Letterman’s retirement, the concern was this once important roots music outlet on television would dry up. But since Stephen Colbert has taken the reigns at The Late Show, quite the opposite has happened. Monday night (2-1), critically-acclaimed songwriter John Moreland will be making his network television debut from the Ed Sullivan Theater courtesy of Stephen Colbert.
2016 ACM Awards Nominees, Preview, & Predictions
77 Comments
Monday morning (2-1), the nominees for the 51st Annual Academy of Country Music, or ACM Awards were revealed via CBS The Morning and ETOnline.com. The 2016 ACM awards will occur on April 3rd at the MGM Grand Ballroom in Las Vegas, and will be broadcast on CBS. Dierks Bentley, who will help host the event with Luke Bryan, also helped reveal the nominees Monday morning.
Lorrie Morgan Calls Out Blake Shelton for Not Paying His Grand Ole Opry Dues
136 Comments
“They send out a letter that says you know, ‘We are kind of demanding that you must be here so many times a year to continue your membership.’ Because it’s just not fair,” Lorrie Morgan explains. “People want to say, ‘Hey I’m a member of the Opry,’ and not want to come back. The Opry takes dedication and it takes love. It takes love.”
Chris Stapleton to Join Luke Bryan Tour for Select Shows
41 Comments
Surging country music artist Chris Stapleton will join reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan on his upcoming 2016 Kill The Lights Tour for select dates. Meanwhile Chris Stapleton tickets have become one of the hottest commodities in country music.
Album Review – Nick Dittmeier “Midwest Heart / Southern Blues”
14 Comments
Songwriter and frontman Nick Dittmeier has seen the struggles from all sides. Living on the Indiana side of the Ohio River in the greater Louisville, KY area, he can pull inspiration from the evisceration of the coal economy, the dilapidation of the Southern small town, and the abandonment of the Midwest as the traditional American agrarian culture is replaced by the rise of urbanization and corporate farming.
“Dreamer” Kent Finlay to be Honored with New Book / Tribute Album
4 Comments
We’ve all heard of the “Class of ’89” in country music, right? That was the year that Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Travis Tritt, and others came to power. Well have you ever heard of the “Class of ’87”? That was the year Todd Snider, James McMurtry, Bruce Robison, Hal Ketchum, and Terri Hendrix all played regularly at an old wooden music venue in San Marcos, Texas called the Cheatham Street Warehouse.
Drummer’s Epic Finish Ends in Crashing Through a Window on Nashville’s Lower Broadway
27 Comments
Alright, so normally I wouldn’t post some silly, viral video such as this. But it’s Robert’s Western World—one of the last bastions of true country music on Lower Broadway in Nashville. And it’s the Don Kelley Band, which is one of Robert’s and Lower Broadway’s most legendary bands.
Soundtrack to be Released for Hank Williams Biopic “I Saw The Light”
30 Comments
The release has been delayed and the early reviews have been lackluster, but that won’t stop the creators of the Hank Williams biopic I Saw The Light starring Tom Hiddleston from releasing a soundtrack album for the upcoming movie. Set to arrive on March 25th—the same date the long-anticipated film will finally arrive in theaters—I Saw The Light…
Album Review – Aubrie Sellers’ “New City Blues”
61 Comments
Watch out ladies and gentlemen because the female revolution overtaking country in the aftermath of tomato-gate is about to get some fresh and young reinforcements in the coming months with major debuts from some promising young artists, and first up to bat is the ravenesque and hungry Aubrie Sellers. Aubrie starts off with a proven musical pedigree that’s nothing to smirk at. She’s the daughter of Lee Ann Womack…
Merle Haggard Still Recovering from Double Pneumonia – Prayers Asked for Mel Tillis
20 Comments
Once again the 78-year-old Merle Haggard is suffering from serious heath issues that have resulted in him canceling upcoming shows. Scheduled to perform in New Mexico at the Inn of the Mountain Gods and the Farmington Civic Center on January 30th and 31st, Haggard has canceled both dates due to a double pneumonia. The news was confirmed on Thursday (1-28) by Haggard’s son and guitar player Ben Haggard.