Album Review – Waylon Jennings – “Songbird”
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Waylon Jennings was the real deal if there ever was one, and that’s why unheard tracks come so anticipated. The 10 tracks from ‘Songbird’ are from the ’70s and early ’80s era.
Album Review – Rachel Brooke’s “The World’s Greatest Anchor”
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Many will not get this, but it’s not meant for them anyway. Others who will heed the lessons and take the advice of “The World’s Greatest Anchor” to slow down and cherish moments, and appreciate the white spaces and bits of story life bestows, however abruptly short-lived they may be in the modern age.
Analysis: Green River Ordinance’s “Fifteen” More Country Than 19 of 25 Albums on Billboard Chart
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For all the non-country artists, albums, and songs showing up on Billboard’s country charts recently, it was certainly a curious decision by Billboard chart managers to make an example of a poor band from Ft. Worth called Green River Ordinance this week. Despite the insistence of the band, and a clear sonic distinction to their music of country being the primary influence, their new album Fifteen was excluded from the country charts.
Josh Brolin to Play George Jones in Biopic – Jessica Chastain Is Tammy Wynette
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The cast for an upcoming biopic on the life of George Jones is starting to take shape, and the leading man appears to be Josh Brolin. He will play The Possum according to reports, as well as work in the capacity as producer for the film. Starring beside Brolin will be Jessica Chastain, who will play Tammy Wynette who was famously, and tumultuously married to George during his heyday.
You May Be Cool, But Are You “Have a Tarantula Species Named After You” Cool Like Johnny Cash?
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PhD researcher Chris Hamilton working for the Auburn University in Alabama successfully identified a new species of tarantula in California, and decided to name it after his favorite country music star. Aphonopelma johnnycashi is a tarantula strain the had not been properly identified previously by scientists, and was one of thirteen new tarantula species designated by the new study.
Mary Chapin Carpenter Teams Up with Dave Cobb On “Things That We Are Made Of”
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“Working with Dave felt great from the first day of our sessions,” says Carpenter. “He is always willing to try something new, believes that ‘yes’ is the only answer, and surrounds himself with wonderfully talented and generous musicians; by the end of the project, I felt as if I was a part of a new family.”
Lew Card’s “Condo Town Rag” Video Brilliantly Encapsulates the Concern
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Lew Card then took his song “Condo Town Rag” and teamed up with Seymour.tv to create a brilliant depiction of how when a city’s identity changes, so do our memories and sense of home and place. Using historical photos matched up with modern-day perspectives, it shows the troubling way the Austin skyline has been retooled in recent years…
Album Review – Brothers Osborne’s “Pawn Shop”
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It’s more fairly described as roots rock, and don’t worry, there’s still some of those plaintive and even painful moments that remind you that you’re listening to a modern-day Music Row release. But that doesn’t take away from the fact the Pawn Shop should be considered a healthy alternative on the mainstream music menu.
Scotty McCreery Dropped from Label, But Scotty Not To Blame
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You could see this all unfolding when Scotty McCreery first released the ridiculous single “Southern Belle.” Even he knew it was well outside of the style he’d been known for previously. “This is probably about as far left as we’ll go,” McCreery said about it at the time. In a last ditch effort to salvage the song, Mercury Nashville released an equally embarrassing video for the song.
UPDATED: Merle Haggard Cancels Show Last Minute Due to Continued Health Concerns
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Merle Haggard was forced to cancel his show Tuesday night (2-2) at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, California last minute after he was too sick to take the stage. The show was a makeup date for a performance originally scheduled for December 3rd that Merle was forced to cancel with all of his December shows due to a double pneumonia.
Green River Ordinance Excluded from Billboard Country Charts While Other Acts Go Unquestioned
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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
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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
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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.