Rex “Wrecks” Bell of “Rex’s Blues” and the Old Quarter Has Died
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If Townes Van Zandt wrote a song about you, you’ve got a pretty big reason to gloat. But that’s just one of the bullet points on Wreck’s résumé. Rex Bell’s story in music really starts with the Old Quarter.
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.
2016 ACM Awards Nominees, Preview, & Predictions
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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
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“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
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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”
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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.