Release Radar & Most Anticipated Albums for Final Portion of 2025
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As fall breaks and the end of the year fast approaches, it’s time to look at what’s on tap for the rest of 2025 in country before Christmas music ushers the music industry into the Holidays.
NFL’s J.J. Watt Tackles Stage Crasher at Zac Brown Band Show
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Training camps for the 2015 NFL season haven’t even commenced yet, and one of the NFL’s star defensive tackles has already recorded his first sack . . . that is unless you take a second look on instant replay and want to throw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. Houston Texans defensive superstar J.J. Watt was in attendance for the Zac Brown Band portion of Summer Fest…
Man Beaten to Death After Kenny Chesney Concert, Suspect At Large
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A father of two is dead, and Seattle police are looking for the killer in an altercation that occurred right after the Kenny Chesney concert in Seattle at CenturyLink Field Saturday (6-27) night. According to witnesses, two men were seen fighting at around 9 p.m. near 5th Avenue and S. Weller Street in Seattle, and 31-year-old Benito “Benny” Enriquez suffered a head injury during the fight.
Country Rapper Mikel Knight Threatens Lawsuits Against Victims’ Families / Saving Country Music
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Country Rapper Mikel Night has gone on the offensive against critics who he says are making unfair accusations against him and his organization, including the families of victims who have been killed and injured while working for him. Knight claims he has hired private investigators to look into people who are complaining about his treatment of employees, and is working with a Nashville-based law firm.
Urban Pioneers are a Blast From the Past with New Album “Vehicle In Transit”
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This isn’t any slick and polished nouveau bluegrass with lilting runs and brazen compositional poise, this is Stringbean and Grandpa Jones slapping away at strings while sucking on corn pipes trying to entertain folks on back porches and beyond. Unpretentious and fun, and fairly authentic to the Appalachian traditions, The Urban Pioneers will make you chuckle and strut, and see the timeless value in the old traditions of primitive country.
Song Review – Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Stone Blind Horses”
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This song is so good—whether it’s the album version, just Hubbard with his guitar, or with a four-piece band like he played it on Conan—at first I truly believed it had to be a cover of a hit from a previous era that had been forgotten about. The song feels so classic, yet remains fiercely original, it’s a wonder how it was never written before.
Song Review – Cam’s “Burning House”
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There’s no typo here. I didn’t forget the last name, or the second half of the first. Believe it or not, there really is a new female country artist condensedly known as “Cam,” and she’s creating quite a buzz around her new song, and her newish style that has some wondering if she will be the one to solve the problem of women with substance finding success in country music.
Darius Rucker Calls Out “Let’s Take Country Music Back” Blogs
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Beyond what Darius Rucker is saying, it’s unfortunate that it’s coming from him specifically—someone who has worked in multiple genres, and someone who I would have assumed is a little more informed on these subjects, and would be a little more salient with his points. And let’s just all appreciate that Rucker is a country music carpetbagger himself.
What’s Next? Country and Folk Songs That Mention The Confederacy?
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The Civil Ware happened, and the South lost. Atrocities occurred on both sides of the battlefield. Atlanta was burned to the ground, and simply from an economic standpoint, one can make the case the South has still yet to recover from the defeat. But it happened, and how are we to learn from the lessons of The Civil War, especially the South’s misnomers on equality, if we eradicate any notions of the Confederacy’s existence?
Sturgill Simpson Signs Publishing Deal
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Announced Tuesday (6-23), Downtown Music Publishing has signed Sturgill Simpson to a worldwide publishing deal, according to Downtown’s Senior Vice President of Creative Services Jedd Katrancha. It not only includes any music Sturgill Simpson may release in the future, but also his back catalog of songs from his Thirty Tigers releases.
The 10 Summer Music Festival Archetypes
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As the summer festival season heats up, and especially with so many corporate festivals these days mixing together genres and people of different interests, I thought it would be interesting to extrapolate on some of the people you might expect to see (or hope you don’t) as you try to get the most from your summer festival experience.
Album Review – Kacey Musgraves’ “Pageant Material”
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Regardless of how you feel about Kacey Musgraves, her music, her politics, or the ideologies she espouses, she symbolizes nothing short of a victory in the effort to save country music. To have a major label artist release an album like Pageant Material, full of traditional country leanings and songwriter-based material, is a sizable leap forward for the genre.
Rape Reported at Brad Paisley Concert in California
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The summer is heating up, and so are the disturbing stories surrounding the behavior at mainstream country music concerts. In 2014, concert conduct became a big concern as statistics and specific stories flooded in as the summer rolled on, and 2015 is shaping up to be just as concerning, if not more. A suspect from Nevada County, California has been arrested in connection with a rape at a Brad Paisley concert.