Sturgill Simpson Caps Off Two Step Inn, Tweaks Tour Schedule
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Sturgill Simpson (or Johnny Blue Skies) capped off a cold, but action packed weekend in Texas at the Two Step Inn Festival just north of Austin. It was a truncated, but inspired and untethered festival set.
Legendary Performer & Songwriter George Riddle Has Passed Away
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George Riddle, a songwriter and musician whose music and influence can be heard throughout the classic country music world, passed away on Saturday night, July 19th after battling with throat Cancer. he might be best known as the very first and original Jones Boy, backing George Jones up in what would later become George’s legendary band.
Women Going About Battling Bro-Country All Wrong
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Last year about this time, music periodicals left and right were falling over themselves to declare 2013 the “Year of the Woman” in country music. Music Row in Nashville may be dumb, but it’s not stupid. They saw the need to ramp up the female quotient to restore some diversity. Here in the summer of 2014, we’re very much seeing the results of those efforts. And unfortunately, it’s not very pretty.
“Inside of You” From Petunia & The Vipers
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From the dark, weary, poetic side of the roots world, where lost souls born into the wrong time period go to dwell and dispel their misery in song, comes Petunia & The Vipers—a complexly influenced country and roots band with a mutable sound whose only constant is a call back to the earliest times of popular music when people like Woody Guthrie and Django Reinheardt …
Why Tompall Glaser Never Became As Famous As Willie & Waylon
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When the compilation album Wanted! The Outlaws was released in 1976, it became country music’s first million-selling record and made huge stars of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Jessi Colter was already a big star because of her big #1 hit “I’m Not Lisa”. But why did Tompall Glaser never find the big success his fellow Outlaws did?
Tim McGraw Slaps Woman Across The Face At Concert – UPDATED
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Tim McGraw is in hot water with some fans after video surfaced of the country star aggressively slapping a woman in the face at a concert in Atlanta on Sunday (7-13) at Aaron’s Ampitheatre at Lakewood. Footage of the incident has spread across the internet. But McGraw slapping the female fan only tells part of the story.
Tom Petty Is Critical of “Game Show” Stars, & “Plastic Computer” Music
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Tom Petty has been known to speak his mind from time to time, including in August of 2013 when he criticized modern country as “Bad rock with a fiddle.” Now in a new interview with Canada’s CBC news organization, Petty has relayed some pointed opinions about what he characterizes as stars that have “won a game show” and that make “plastic computer music.”
Song Review – Weird Al Yankovic’s “Word Crimes”
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In an era when music has not only ceased to unite us, but has become one of the very implements used to divide us in the ever increasingly-entrenched culture war, there is one artist that is just weird enough to cross traditional borders of style, generation, and taste to tickle our funny bones universally. Yes, I’m talking about the curly-haired, spastic polka-playing parody artist “Weird” Al Yankovic.
Corb Lund & Lindi Ortega Land CCMA Nominations
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The Canadian Country Music Association has just released their nominees for their 2014 CCMA Awards, and unlike their American award show counterparts, worthy names who may not have a huge commercial impact but deserve critical praise made the list. Lindi Ortega comes in with three nominations. In the roots category, she will be competing with Canadian country favorite Corb Lund.
Maggie Rose’s “Girl In Your Truck Song” (A Rant)
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What in the all kinds of actual hell do we have here my friends. I think we have just unearthed the biggest cultural abomination that has ever been classified as “country” music in its 70 year existence. No, I’m not talking bad, awful, terrible, or any other such adjectives. Even those words would seem to instill this embarrassment of Western Civilization with a dollop of undeserved respect.
Album Review – Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Remedy”
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Old Crow Medicine Show’s new album Remedy is the first album the string band has released since officially minting a #1 song in the form of Darius Rucker’s take on “Wagon Wheel”, and the first as the freshest members of the prestigious Grand Ole Opry. 2013 was a big year for the buskers, and the band has gone from riding praise from Doc Watson and the kind mentoring from David Rawlings ….
The Waylon Jennings Quote About Garth Brooks – Real or Fake?
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“Garth Brooks did for country music what pantyhose did for finger fucking.” This is the quote that has been attributed to Waylon Jennings that you are likely to see in much greater frequency now that Garth Brooks has come out of retirement. For some, it is the totality of their argument against Garth.The problem is there’s no verifiable records of Waylon ever saying it.
The Metamodern Rise of Sturgill Simpson (A Timeline)
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The Metamodern rise of Sturgill Simpson could be classified as meteoric, and his dramatic ascent in the last few months is virtually unparalleled in the modern country music world for an independent artist. Amidst the swelling crowds, the high praise, and far flung accolades, let’s look back at Sturgill Simpson, and take a moment to reflect on how he got here.