The Biggest Takeaways from SXSW 2025
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You don’t enjoy SXSW—the annual musical gathering in Austin, Texas every mid March. You endure it. You survive it. Here are Saving Country Music’s biggest takeaways from SXSW 2025.
Kacey Musgraves CMA Censoring Not Only Wrong, But Ineffective
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The black eye of the 2013 CMA Awards may not have been an over-the-top performance, but the choice by ABC to censor a line from the Kacey Musgraves song “Follow Your Arrow” that goes “roll up a joint.” As Kacey performed her latest single, the clearly-edited audio did little to shield the ears of impressionable listeners, and did more to peak the curiosity of viewers, while eroding the message of the song itself.
47th CMA Awards Offers Surprising Balance & A Big Win
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Yes, it was still 2013, and it was still a modern country music awards show, and so traditional and independent-minded country music fans still had plenty to look sideways at if they were brave enough to watch. But that doesn’t mean that the 47th Annual Country Music Association Awards wasn’t a retrenching of the roots and substance in the genre’s most important institution.
Saving Country Music Official 2013 CMA Awards LIVE Blog
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Here we go folks, our annual gathering of old souls and independent-minded country fans to collectively commiserate and contemplate what the hell has happened to our fair genre known as country music as the pomp and circumstance of the CMA Awards transpires right before our shocked and disgruntled eyes.
47th Annual CMA Awards Complete Preview
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All the information on the 47th Annual CMA awards in one place, including the presenters, the performers, the collaborations, the nominees, special awards, and other things to watch for. The pop and glitz of the CMA Awards go without saying, but we may see more classic and traditional country represented than in recent years.
Slaid Cleaves Offers Perspective On What Music Is All About
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This is a guest post from Austin-based singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves. Slaid recently was featured on Saving Country Music after making some critical comments about modern country music in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, and he wanted an opportunity to elaborate on his statements. Slaid’s latest album, the critically-acclaimed “Still Fighting The War” was released in June.
Video Review – Wade Bowen’s “Songs About Trucks”
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“Songs About Trucks” performed by Wade Bowen and written by hot songwriting commodities Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally has become one of 2013’s big anti-hits with its off message take on truck songs and their daisy chains of clichés. It is only appropriate that Bowen’s anti-hit should be accompanied by an anti-video.
Randy Travis May Never Perform Again, Says Father
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News from the camp of Randy Travis was bleak this weekend when sources close to the country music singer painted a very grim picture about the prospects for Randy’s long-term recovery and the possibility of him performing in the future. According to Randy’s father Harold Traywick, “Randy is still in very bad shape. It’s possible he’ll never perform again.”
The Continuing Legacy of Leroy Virgil’s Guitar
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I then thought about how he had left me in stewardship of his old guitar, an instrument that, from my perspective, already has provenance and should rightly wind up in a museum one day. I decided that, to honor that trust he had in me, I would continue to add to the instrument’s already storied life by doing a running portrait series of every musician that plays his old guitar.
Toby Keith Says Country Shouldn’t Make A Living Off Of Hip-Hop
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In mid October, Toby Keith lent his voice to the litany of artists criticizing modern country music in one capacity or another, specifically taking on the recent country rap trend. In another recent interview with Country 92.5 in Connecticut, Keith expanded on his statements, saying that his remarks weren’t a “diss,” but then doubled down on his opinion that rap shouldn’t be a predominant part of the country format.
The Devil Makes Three’s “I’m A Stranger Here”
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As if we needed any more validation that it is a new day in the realm of independent country roots, darn near a dozen years since The Devil Makes Three first struck a chord, they’re finally getting their due: headlining festivals, playing packed, sold out shows, and recently being signed to the prestigious New West Records, and even wrangling the legendary Buddy Miller of all people to produce their latest album.
The Marginalization of Taylor Swift Producer Nathan Chapman
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Nathan Chapman is a session musician, songwriter, and record producer. If you wanted to point to one individual behind the sonic success of Taylor Swift, it would be him. The first record Chapman ever produced was Taylor Swift’s first, self-titled release in 2006. If you hear a Taylor Swift song, you’re hearing just as much of Nathan Chapman as you are Taylor Swift….except to when it comes to Taylor’s last album “Red.”
The Return of Garth Brooks Could Have a Colossal Impact
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Oh the irony that the man whose name is on the tip of many people’s tongues as the one who brought country music to its knees and made it more about money than music, could also be the man in the best position to ultimately help save it. There’s a lot less mystery here than some would like you to believe. Here very soon, Garth will announce a new album, and plans for a subsequent arena/stadium tour in support.