What “Authenticity” Is in Country Music, and Why It Matters
99 Comments
What is “authenticity” in country music, and why is it so important? And should it be? This is a question many love to ask, but the answer isn’t simple. The authenticity question is intertwined with the history of country music.
Sturgill Simpson Releases Two New “Bastard Children” Songs
17 Comments
For those of you who couldn’t bear the thought of waiting another year+ for new music from country music rising star Sturgill Simpson, the music fairy has just left you a sweet little nugget under your country music pillow. Sturgill has just released two new songs through Bandcamp, affectionately titled “Bastard Children.”
Loretta Lynn’s Broken Ribs Forces Cancellation of Shows
4 Comments
The Coal Miners Daughter and Country Music Hall of Famer Loretta Lynn has been forced to cancel a couple of weekend shows after cracking two ribs last weekend right before a big concert at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN. The 78-year-old was trying to get her guitar out of a closet when it apparently fell on her, forcing her into a dresser and breaking two of her ribs.
Danny Kay & The Nighlifers Are “Crazy Lonesome Blue”
12 Comments
Crazy Lonesome Blue comes at you with no frills, offering up a bevy of original songs, a few covers and traditionals, and an all-star cast comprising the Nightlifer’s lineup. It’d take a DNA test to convince me that Danny Kay isn’t a cousin of Lucky Tubb in the way his lonesome drawl with a rounded cadence really pulls the emotion out of the words to a song while pulling the listener’s ear right in.
Song / Commercial Review – Will Hoge’s “Strong”
24 Comments
Will Hoge’s latest release is a song called “Strong,” and like so many of Will’s compositions, it demonstrates heart, depth, soul, and taste. There’s a lot of emotion in this song. It’s weighty. But just like Bob Seger’s “Like A Rock,” and John Mellencamp’s “Our Country,” it has been tapped to become the official song of the Chevy Silverado—destined to be played half a dozen times during every single football game.
Alan Jackson Says There’s “No Country Stuff Left”
75 Comments
Ahead of his performance at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Baltimore, Alan Jackson had some discouraging words about the current state of country music in an interview with the Baltimore Sun. Jackson’s last album, 2012’s Thirty Miles West sold moderately well, but did not produce the type of radio hits Jackson enjoyed earlier in his career.
UK’s Classic Rock Mag Launching New Country Magazine
15 Comments
If you’ve been wishing for a print magazine that would cover cool up-and-coming country artists right beside the big names, and not just focus on the here and now but take the time to look back on the past greats of the genre, well you may just have received your wish. The inaugural issue of “Country Music Magazine presented by Classic Rock” is being released September 11th.
Possessed by Paul James to Release “Nights When I’m Lonely”
11 Comments
Texas singer/songwriter, one man band, multi-instrumentalist, Teacher of the Year, and dedicated husband and father Possessed by Paul James has announced that he will be releasing his next album Nights When I’m Lonely on October 29th through Hillgrass Bluebilly Records. The follow up to his 2010 Independent Music Award-winning Feed The Family features 13 brand new original tracks recorded in Austin, TX.
Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind Of Night” (A Rant)
113 Comments
Luke Bryan’s music has the nutritional value of notebook paper, and is the clinical result of when an entertainer spreads his arms wide in a submissive pose and relents his entire will to the country music industrial complex, saying “Do your worst.” Luke Bryan has no soul. He is more machine than man. He has the integrity of a Guatemalan mule bridge with a squadron of M1 tanks trying to cross it.
The Overlords of Country Trucker Songs
57 Comments
A big battle ground in country music right now is the presence of so many songs about trucks. Though this recent popularity trend seems especially sinister in its simplistic, incessant nature, it is not necessarily unprecedented in country. From the early 60’s into the mid 70’s, songs about semi-trucks and truck drivers were all the rage, with big names like Merle Haggard, Del Reeves, and Buck Owens getting in on the action.
Sheryl Crow: “Country Is More Pop Than Pop Was When I Came Up”
38 Comments
“The country format is more pop than pop was when I came up two decades ago,” Sheryl explained to Reuters late last week when being interviewed about her new album, illustrating the degree of country’s move to pop in recent years. Of course Sheryl isn’t saying anything that some country fans haven’t been clamoring about for years, but Crow’s perspective and honesty speaks to the degree of change in country.
Robbie Fulks is Back with Stunning “Gone Away Backward”
8 Comments
With a gift for poetry like Townes Van Zandt, and a penchant for the whimsical, progressive approach to bluegrass akin to John Hartford, Robbie Fulks releases a stunningly entertaining, brilliantly-balanced, deep, yet instantly-engaging comeback album called Gone Away Backward through longtime associates Bloodshot Records.
Wynonna Judd Needs A Hand With National Anthem
17 Comments
Yes, we’ve seen this before, when Luke Bryan wrote some National Anthem notes on his hand at the 2012 MLB All-Star Game. Well it appears that this has now become a thing—either writing the notes to the Star Spangled Banner on your hand, or hiring people who inconceivably can’t remember the words to the most well-known song after “Happy Birthday” to sing it to massive crowds, at important events, during significant times.