Dan + Shay Cover Taylor Swift’s “Back To December” (A Rant)
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You crave hearing a new song from Dan + Shay like you crave hearing Christmas music before Halloween. The emasculated tones, the aggressive use of AutoTune, the entirely soul-bereft delivery…
After Voice Issues, Sturgill Simpson Turns Atlanta Show into Karaoke Night
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Sturgill Simpson was sick to the point where he could barely sing. Immediately upon taking the stage, he apologized to the crowd, said he was suffering from severe allergies and would make it up to them at a makeup show on December 7th. And then Sturgill decided to do something unprecedented in country music, and I’m not talking about pontificating on hallucinogenic drug trips in song.
Album Review – The Wood Brothers’ “Paradise”
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Taking that musicianship, and the sense of groove and dynamics of jazz, and bringing it into the roots music space with adeptness, knowledge, and respect, The Wood Brothers have carved out their own unique discipline in the music spectrum that creates multiple avenues of appeal for a wide chunk of enlightened listeners.
Todd Snider Says His Days of Touring as a Solo Act are Done
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Singer/songwriter Todd Snider is currently on the last leg of his “Occupy Tour” with Elizabeth Cook, and recently confirmed what a lot of the audiences of his live shows have been hearing Todd say on stage over the past few weeks: he’s done touring as a solo performer at the conclusion of his current tour. The news sets the backdrop for a number of short-run residencies Todd Snider is scheduled to play in Texas.
Joey Feek of Joey + Rory Decides to Cease Cancer Treatment
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This was the heartbreaking, devastating news that fans and followers of the traditional country and bluegrass duo Joey + Rory, and people beyond the music community who had been following their tragic story woke up to on Friday morning (10-23). Joey Feek—the wife of Rory Lee Feek, and mother of one-year-old Indiana Feek, is ending her battle with stage IV colorectal cancer.
The Many Different Influences Behind New Album from Chris Roberts (An Interview)
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If songwriting is storytelling set to song, then one must look to a musician’s wishing well of history to see the experience from which they draw from. For Chris Roberts, that well is deep and pure with an undeniable passion for music. Few artists can lay claim to have been born in the Deep South delta blues, grown up in the Wild West of Montana, stood in front of Broadway’s bright lights in New York . . .
Ronnie Dunn Says, “If You’re Gonna Be Heard, You Have to Get on the Radio”
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Speaking about his recent signing with Big Machine’s NASH Icon record label, which was set up to create radio support for artists left behind by mainstream country’s current obsession with youth, the once CMA Entertainer of the Year recipient said, “If you’re gonna be heard, you have to get on the radio. The internet alone is not gonna do it.”
Willie Nelson to be Honored in Star-Packed Washington Concert
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Willie Nelson is set to be honored by The Library of Congress and the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on Wednesday, November 18th at Constitution Hall in Washington. The concert will be recorded and broadcast nationwide through PBS on Friday, January 16th, 2016. “It is an honor to be the next recipient of the Gershwin Prize. I appreciate it greatly,” Nelson says.
Kane Brown: Market Manipulations & The Manufacturing of an Organic Star
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If you haven’t heard of Kane Brown, you’re about to, whether you like it or not. You can pride yourself in being one of those country music fans impervious to the buzz machine the industry uses to attempt to reel you in. But Kane Brown is coming, and he will be ubiquitous . . . unless his entire career implodes on itself.
Back To The Future: 1985 and the Year Country Music Died
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So what’s to learn from hitching a ride in Marty McFly’s time machine and traveling back to 1985? That the problems country music is facing today are virtually the same ones that were being faced 30 years ago. It’s all cyclical, as canonized in the old Gospel tune enshrined in the architecture of the Country Music Hall of Fame asking the question, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?”
Maddie & Tae’s “Shut Up and Fish” Is Kind of a Stupid Song That Says a Lot
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Maddie & Tae have become the perfect foil to today’s male country stars. They’re like the Minnie Pearl of country music’s Millennial generation. Staunch traditionalists are never going to give Maddie & Tae a serious chance, but that doesn’t mean their music (and “Shut Up and Fish”) doesn’t symbolize a wholesale reversal of course for what we’re used to the mainstream serving.
The Surprising #1 Albums That Trumped Toby Keith in 2015
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“18,700”: This is the number of albums Toby Keith sold upon the debut of his new record 35 MPH Town, and it got me to thinking, which artists and bands have beat that number in a year of unprecedented ascent in independent country music? 2015 is the year it became common to see one of your favorite independent acts and aging legends compete at the top of the album charts.
The Lesson of Taylor Swift’s Success: “Choose a Lane.”
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A new feature recently posted in GQ goes much farther in describing the conflict between Swift and Big Machine. This wasn’t a simple exchange between Swift and Borchetta. There was an outright intervention going on, with numerous high-level executives doing what they could to assuage Swift into not going pop 100%.