Zach Top Adds New Tour Dates, Reveals Alter Ego ‘Billy Bottoms’
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There’s just about nothing hotter in country music at the moment than Zach Top. And to meet that demand, he’s released a whole new mess of tour dates that you can be assured will be selling quickly.
Album Review – Eric Strickland’s “Revelate”
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It’s the combination of Strickland’s songwriting, and his amazing North Carolina-bred country voice that give you that tingle only true country music knows how to evoke. His frequent collaborator Gary Braddy also pens some of this album’s best songs, while the ‘B’ Sides continue to be one of the coolest backing bands in country music.
American Idol Loses Its Everloving Mind — Invites Cool Old Roots Artists to Audition
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American Idol is not going down without a fight, and is looking to field their strongest roster of participants yet. No stone is being left unturned apparently, and they’ve even resorted to reaching out to some quite unusual individuals with special VIP invitations for private tryouts, proving just how clueless the show’s talent scouts are, while also offering an interesting insight into how they actually find contestants.
Kenny Rogers Announces Retirement: How Your Local Kenny Rogers Roasters Will Be Affected
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This was the news from Country Music Hall of Famer Kenny Rogers this morning on The Today Show when he stopped by the set to promote his new Christmas album, Once Again It’s Christmas. After over 100 million albums sold worldwide, over 120 charted singles in country and other genres, and a semi-failed chain of Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken restaurants, The Gambler is bidding his career adieu.
Album Review – Clint Black’s “On Purpose”
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It’s fitting that Clint’s last name is “Black” because he seems to have spent his entire career overshadowed by his peers, even when he was at his commercial peak. As part of the now famous “Class of ’89,” he was always vying for attention with Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Brooks & Dunn. He still was wildly successful. 22 #1 singles is nothing to scoff at.
Music Journalism Is Dying at the Hands of PR Firms
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Artists, labels, and PR firms being able to speak directly to consumers more than ever through the vehicle of social media arguably doesn’t make music media obsolete, it makes it more necessary than ever to help listeners navigate through a crowded marketplace, and make sure they’re not being misled by an industry trying to deal with their own revenue and contraction issue in the digital age.
Sorry Jeff Lebowski, But Don Henley’s “Cass County” is Top Notch Traditional Country
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Whatever you could want or hope from Don Henley’s “Cass County” as a country music fan, this album delivers it and in ample quantities. I don’t know that any country fan’s expectations can meet the actual enjoyment this music deals out. And this is a traditional country record.
Florida Couple Leaves Kids in Car While Attending Luke Bryan Concert
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There’s been much concern about the behavior of country music fans at mainstream country concerts lately, especially in parking lot rituals leading up to the concerts themselves, but this is is a parking lot incident that goes way beyond piles of trash and disorderly patrons.
Song Review – Michael Ray’s “Real Men Love Jesus”
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The environment in modern country music right now is such that we celebrate anyone with two ‘X’ chromosomes who can crack the Top 20, yet there’s so many of these middle-tier mainstream males crowding the scene that you can barely keep their names straight. You have male performers who’ve received three #1 stamps without releasing their second full-length record…
Sellouts In Suits : The Rise of Country’s Metro-Bro
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Out with the old and in with the new. You thought Bro-Country was bad? Well just wait until you hear what country music has in store for you now. White washing away anything and everything to do with country, here comes a completely new style that unlike Bro-Country, isn’t being segregated to a dedicated segment […]
George Strait Announces New Album “Cold Beer Conversation,” Las Vegas Shows
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We knew George Strait couldn’t keep from stirring for too long. Though he played his final shows as a touring artist in 2014 on his way to racking up astronomical numbers for his farewell junket and finding himself being named Entertainer of the Year by both the CMA and ACM Awards for the effort, you had to know he wouldn’t sit tight for good.
Album Review – Lucero’s “All A Man Should Do”
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Where would the current generation of alt-country and Americana artists be today if it weren’t for Ben Nichols and Memphis-based alt-country band Lucero? Lucero’s journey puts them in that sweet spot where right as many of today’s emerging Americana stars were learning their licks, it was Lucero they were leaning on.
Album Review – Ryan Adams’ “1989”
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I express all of this knowing it’s going to be a minority, unpopular viewpoint. I also express it as someone whose philosophies in music are very much influenced by Ryan Adams’ body of work. If you find Ryan Adams’ ‘1989’ entertaining, then hey, don’t let my corrosive words cloud your judgement. But I can’t share in that joy.