Fiddle Master, Grammy Winner, Bluegrass Legend Bobby Hicks Dies
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It’s tough to know where to start enumerating the many contributions of fiddle legend Bobby Hicks, and impossible to encapsulate them all in a few sentences and paragraphs. He was also one of the oldest country legends at 91.
Eric Church Caught w/ Foot In Mouth Over Outlaw Image
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American Songwriter: People have been calling you an outlaw. Is that an image you’ve tried to create for yourself? Eric Church: Oh god. No! Not at all. Yet a quick check of Eric Church’s website finds a whole page dedicated to “Outlaw” branding, with “a brand new “Outlaw T-Shirt” now available for sale in the online store.
Album Review – Jackson Taylor & The Sinners “Bad Juju”
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This fiery, unfettered, full tilt assault on country music strikes that perfect chord of being both inescapably familiar yet remarkably fresh. Johnny Cash on cocaine may be the most appropriate description. More Memphis than Nashville, more madness than melancholy. But moreover, Bad Juju is just one hell of a good time.
Joseph Huber (of .357) to Release “Tongues of Fire” Album
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Joseph Huber, the former banjo player and songwriter for the explosive (and now defunct) .357 String Band has a new album on the way called Tongues of Fire, and you can listen to the song “Iron Rail” from the album below, and help Joe get the album to print by pre-ordering the vinyl version. As Joe explains, Tongues of Fire will be a different approach, and includes some songs originally written for .357.
Exclusive: Bob Wayne’s “Get There When I Get There”
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The Outlaw Carnie Bob Wayne’s new album Till The Wheels Fall Off will be released May 22nd through Century Media, and Saving Country Music is excited to offer you this exclusive preview of one of the album’s featured tracks, “Get There When I Get There.” On the outside Bob Wayne presents the hellraising, hard charging part of his personality, but inside is a very deep, very poetic songwriter as well.
Eric Church Wants It Both Ways
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Erich Church wants it both ways. He wants to be considered the “new Outlaw” of country music, but he wants to still use the same pop country machine he criticizes to get success. If Eric Church has such a problem with Blake Shelton, why did he perform his song “Springsteen” at last month’s ACM Awards, that were hosted by, guess who… Blake Shelton.
Why The Country HOF Should Own The Grand Ole Opry
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The problem with The Grand Ole Opry is that it is owned by a public company, Gaylord Entertainment, who is beholden to shareholders and profit margins before the Grand Ole Opry’s charter of preserving the roots and traditions of country music. The Country Music Hall of Fame on the other hand is a private, not-for-profit institution.
Jason Eady’s “AM Country Heaven” Is Country Music
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What do we mean when we say “country” music? Well take a listen to Mississippi native and Texas transplant Jason Eady’s new album AM Country Heaven, and that should give you the strongest of all possible clues. And what do people mean when they say “Texas” country? This album isn’t a bad example of that either. Where I distance from a lot of other music writers is in the project’s originality.
Sunday Valley Becomes ‘Sturgill Simpson & High Top Mountain Boys’
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Sturgill Simpson, the dynamic force behind the band Sunday Valley, who is on the tail end of completing what Sturgill hopes to be his breakthrough album, has decided to go with a name change to “Sturgill Simpson & The High Top Mountain Boys” out of respect to the side players who are no longer with the band.
The Brotherhood Between Hank3 and Marty Stuart
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They say it’s a shame you can’t pick your family like you can pick your friends, but who would have ever picked the hellraising Hank Williams III and the holy cross-clad Marty Stuart to be buddies. But that’s exactly what they have been for years now, and the relationship has resulted in in some great music for the fans of both men.
Luke Bryan’s Tailgates & Tanlines (Review & Roast)
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Did you ever wonder what it would sound like if a performing artist with absolutely no qualms or reservations spread their arms wide in a succumbing posture and completely forfeited their Will to a record label saying, “Okay Music Row, do your worst! We’ll that is exactly what you get with Luke Bryan and his gawd awful album Tailgates and Tanlines.
Thank God For Marty Stuart (Nashville Vol. 1 Review)
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Marty Stuart is on an amazing roll ladies and gentlemen. What he’s doing right now with lead guitar player “Uncle” Kenny Vaughan and The Fabulous Superlatives is stuff that legends are made of. You know those periods in an artists’ career that you look back on like they can’t do wrong, churning out amazing songs and albums one after another?
“Go Ready” Bands in Country Music Right Now
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Hollywood seems obsessed with finding talent among the masses with their silly reality show contests like American Idol and The Voice, when in reality there’s a boatload of talent just sitting there waiting to be discovered right under their surgically-crafted, cosmetically-sculptured noses. So here’s a list of some bands that are go ready, right now, no excuses.