Song Review – Jamey Johnson’s “Sober”
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Though Johnson’s Memorial Day anthem “21 Guns” was admirable, his cover of “Trudy” by Charlie Daniels was entertaining, and “What A View” was a fine love song, “Sober” is really where we hear Jamey Johnson in top form.
Wayne Hancock Just Wants to “Ride” (an interview)
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If he’s not playing music, there’s no other place Wayne “Train” Hancock would rather be than riding on the back of his 2006 Harley Davidson Super Glide motorcycle. The new album Ride out 2-26 from the “King of Juke Joint Swing” in many ways is a nexus between these two passions, and a very personal work with songs reflecting the current state of his life and career.
The Oscars: An Annual Reminder of What Music Could Be
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Tonight is the annual Academy Awards, and during the presentation, you won’t see anybody judged on looks or popularity. You will not see the most commercially-successful endeavors given exclusive billing and opportunity for accolades. No, what you will see is the best and the brightest of the industry highlighted based mostly on the creativity and artistic integrity of their works.
Jason Aldean’s 1994 (Review & Roast)
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In Music Row’s everlasting quest to train all of its resources on scouring America to unearth only the finest, most purest form of audio diarrhea, they have struck the mother of all motherloads originating from the unholy bowels of Macon, Georgia’s Jason Aldean. Yes Nashville, pat yourself on the back, you have officially discovered the worst country music song to ever touch the human ear drum.
Marty Robbins Saves Life of NASCAR’s Richard Childress
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The 2013 NASCAR season officially starts this Sunday in Daytona, and one of the sport’s most well-known car owners, a former NASCAR driver named Richard Childress, may not be around today if it wasn’t for the heroics back in the day by none other than country music’s Marty Robbins. Here’s the story:
Will Billboard’s YouTube Video Rule Kill The Radio Star?
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Yesterday Billboard announced a new rule impacting their industry-standard music charts that will take into consideration YouTube views as part of the broader algorithm that determines the chart placement of songs. This is part of a bigger movement by Billboard that started in October of 2012 to update their charting to include data from the new habits of music consumers, including digital downloads and song streaming.
Pickathon Music Festival Announces 2013 Lineup
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The 2013 Pickathon Festival in Happy Valley, Oregon just outside of Portland has announced their 2013 lineup, and it is a doozy. The roots festival that specializes in breaking down barriers between styles, tastes, and scenes, as well as being one of the most environmentally-friendly festivals in the entire world, outdoes themselves for their 15th season by releasing their most stellar lineup yet.
Ashley Monroe’s “You Ain’t Dolly” with Blake Shelton
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What in the world is Blake Shelton thinking doing some tired, crusty, old-sounding country shuffle with an artist nobody has heard of? Is he trying to apologize to all of the “Old Farts and Jackasses” he insulted last month? Because the only people who will ever listen to this song are Geritol-drinking old farts who yell at kids for playing on their lawn and and watch 60 Minutes before going to bed by 8 PM.
The Music That Paved The Way For Mumford & Sons
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Many of the bold changes in the direction of popular music begin with artists that are too fey, too polarizing to become popular themselves. So it takes others who understand how to soften music with sensibilities to make it accessible to the masses, and hopefully, if time is on their side, transect the popularity timeline, resulting in superstardom.
Song Review – Jason Aldean’s “The Only Way I Know”
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I know a lot of folks are going to roll up on this review hoping to see a crime scene unfold, hoping that I show no mercy and draw blood on this embarrassment of American country music. But the truth is, I don’t have much to say about it. I’ve got no dry powder here. What could be said that hasn’t been said many times before to the point of being redundant, or that isn’t obvious to the clear-minded listener?
Mindy McCready, And The Broken Promise of the Cult of Celebrity
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Instilled in all of us at birth is the idea that becoming a celebrity is the apex of the human experience. We feed this philosophy to our children. We perpetuate it through media. We’ve made it a vital building block of our economy. It is enshrined and institutionalized in our educational system in the form of popularity contests. Yet nowhere is the philosophy of wealth and celebrity being broken promises given equal time.
Review – Amber Digby’s “The World You’re Living In”
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Amber Digby’s gift is being able to hand select classic country songs from the past that never became full-on classics, but should have. And then with her band Midnight Flyer, Amber makes these songs classics by the power of her pure country voice. It’s part album making, part archeology dig, and then she adds a few newer offerings and self-penned songs to the mix for good measure.
Papa Joe’s, Dorsett 221 Truck Stop, & The Snake Farm
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Interstate 35 runs like a zipper down the gut of Texas, and acts like an unofficial border where the American South meets the West. The highway is also a musical corridor, being the main conduit in and out of Austin, TX, aka the “Live Music Capitol of the World.” Up and down that ribbon of I-35 are places that have been regaled in song by the musicians who’ve passed by them or had memorable experiences there.