Tyler Childers / Chris Stapleton-Led Healing Appalachia Reveals Full 2025 Lineup
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The Tyler Childers-led Healing Appalachia festival has just announced their full lineup for 2025, and it’s a doozy. Fellow Kentucky stalwart Chris Stapleton would be co-headlining the event with Childers.
Gary Allan Calls Out Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift
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The parade of country artists coming out to criticize the direction of country music continues, with Gary Allan now coming out in an interview with Larry King, decrying country music’s move towards pop, and specifically Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. “I would say they’re pop artists making a living in the country genre. I also feel like we lost our genre.”
Possessed By Paul James Awarded “Teacher of the Year” Honors
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Fans of singer/songwriter and one man band Possessed By Paul James my be surprised to find out that playing music is not his only passion. Though he inexplicably finds the time to make appearances all over the US and Europe throughout the year, down in the Texas Hill Country he’s in charge of an elementary school special education classroom, teaching children with intellectual disabilities.
12 Songs That Helped Create The Country Music Underground
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The underground country movement initially formed around the mid 90’s not because somebody launched a website or a record label. It wasn’t because of a festival or because someone came up with a special name for a new genre. It came from the songs artists were writing, recording, and performing; songs that spoke very deep to the hearts of hungry listeners.
2013 CMA Awards Nominees, Picks, & Prognostications
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On November 6th, the 2013 Country Music Association Awards will transpire once again on ABC, with the nominees being announced this morning. Most surprising was that Kacey Musgraves, along with Taylor Swift, lead all nominees with six total nods. Here is a complete list of nominees, along with thoughts, picks, and prognostications.
Vince Gill Owns Westboro Baptist Church Protesters
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Two guns up for Vince Gill, who yesterday (9-8-13) emerged from the Muriel Kauffman Theatre in Kansas City to accost a slew of Westboro Baptist Church protesters outside, apparently protesting his appearance because he is married to Christian music artist Amy Grant. Both Vince and Amy Grant are divorced after previous marriages.
Science Explains Why The Music You Play For Your Kids Is Important
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For generations we’ve accepted that it is the social norm in Western civilization for children to gravitate away from the music of their parents. But a recent study by the Cornell University of Psychology seems to refute this generational music gap, and reinforce other studies that have previously stated that adolescence and the teenage years are the most important and influential time in forming musical knowledge and tastes.
Seth James to Leave The Departed
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Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Seth James has announced today that he has decided to leave The Departed, a band he helped form with former members of Cross Canadian Ragweed Cody Canada and Jeremy Plato. He will continue to play with the band until his final show at the legendary Texas venue Gruene Hall on November 23rd.
Sturgill Simpson Releases Two New “Bastard Children” Songs
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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
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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”
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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”
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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”
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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.