Mark Chesnutt Comes Clean About Battles with Alcohol
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We almost lost Mark Chesnutt, and a couple of times, and for multiple reasons. And that would have been a devastating loss for country music. Mark Chesnutt a ’90s country hero up there with some of the best of the era.
Jason Isbell Releases “24 Frames” From Upcoming “Something More Than Free” Album
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July 17th can’t get here quick enough for fans of the highly-decorated songwriter and Americana star Jason Isbell. That’s the day his much-anticipated release Something More Than Free hits stores—the followup to his heavily-decorated album Southeastern from 2013. Isbell has just made the new album available for pre-order, and has also released the first single from the album called “24 Frames.”
Album Review – Todd Grebe & Cold Country’s “Citizen”
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Alaska via east Nashville is not a narrative you normally see play out in the itineraries of country records. But who would question whether the wilds of Alaska have enough wide open spaces, scenic vistas, or snarly honky tonks and hard times to inspire a good country song? Nobody would after listening to Todd Grebe & Cold Country’s new record Citizen.
Kid Rock Releases “First Kiss” to Country (Review)
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So the “Wet Cigarette of Country Music” wants to dip his toes into the sharky waters of country music radio again, huh? Well I guess it couldn’t be any worse than what’s already there. Kid Rock must have led the most idyllic, kick ass adolescence and young adulthood imaginable if you go by the testimony […]
Yeah, It Kind of Sucks “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies…” Is in a Volkswagen Commercial
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2015 is apparently the year to get paid in country music, and no stone is being left unturned, and apparently nobody is immune. From mainstream country artists who we once thought were the few remaining renegades with integrity that are now releasing trendy R&B singles, to some of our favorite country heroes’ faces, names, and songs ending up endorsing products or stamped on packaging.
Review – Love & Theft’s “Whiskey On My Breath”
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Earlier this year, the news came out about Love & Theft really getting the shaft from their RCA label in Nashville. The story was they got dropped because they weren’t Bro-Country. They were told that in as many words. And even worse, it happened when they had masters sitting on a shelf with the label, so they were left in a lurch like so many major label acts are when the ax falls.
Album Review – Zac Brown Band’s “Jekyll + Hyde”
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Music is not a skills competition. This isn’t the decathlon. They don’t hand out Grammy Awards for the band that can play songs from the most genres. They give Grammys to the artists who steady themselves and prove they are the best in a given musical discipline. I’ll give credit to the backing band of Weird Al for their alacrity. With the Zac Brown Band, I just want to hear good songs.
Woman Sexually Assaulted at Jason Aldean Concert in Oregon
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A woman was sexually assaulted at the Jason Aldean concert in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday, April 25th, and police are asking for the public’s help in finding or identifying the assailant. The incident happened around 9 p.m. at the Matthew Knight Arena on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. It occurred on the main concourse level in a women’s restroom.
Hank Williams Jr. Signs to Big Machine’s NASH Icon
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As first hypothesized by Saving Country Music in December of 2014, Hank Williams Jr. is the newest signee to NASH Icon—the joint venture between Cumulus Media and the Big Machine Label Group meant to give new life to aging artists who’ve been passed over by mainstream country radio. Hank Jr. joins Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, and Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn in NASH Icon’s inaugural class.
Cumulus Media’s VP Admits Country Can’t Be Delineated from Pop — Wants to Bring Taylor Swift Back to Country
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“You don’t know these artists. You’re just listening to just a few hooks of their songs,” John Dickey says. “You tell me what they are. Florida Georgia Line – country, rock or pop? We can do Brantley Gilbert, Eric Church or Sam Hunt. You’re telling me Sam Hunt’s song is country? Today Country is successful because it’s co-oping other audiences into the format.
157 Arrested at the 2015 Stagecoach Festival
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The word from Indio, California is that 2015’s installment of the Stagecoach Festival was a big success, and many of the patrons and artists who attended the gathering raved about their time in the desert. But similar to previous years of Stagecoach, numerous arrests were necessary by local law enforcement. A total of 157 arrests were made by the Indio Police Department according to Sergeant Dan Marshall.
Rapper Nelly Is Making a Country Record, Because F*ck You America
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That’s right, as further evidence that we will point back at the last week of April 2015 as the moment when mainstream country music made the critical turning point of becoming so devoid of anything that is actually country that there was no turning back, rapper Nelly has made it known he intends to release a country music EP called Heartland.
Zac Brown Band’s “Beautiful Drug” (A semi-rant)
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“Beautiful Drug” is not the Zac Brown Band spreading their creative wings. “Beautiful Drug” is not Zac Brown asserting his freedom as an artist. “Beautiful Drug” is not the boys from Georgia “defying genre,” though these excuses and many more will be levied in their defense, and you, YOU the sainted country music and Zac Brown fan will be charged with a treasonous level of closed-mindedness….