Album Review – Ben Jarrell’s “A Country Song”
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Country music. No qualifiers, no hyphenated terms, no squinting to make an “Americana” act appear to be country just because they have a steel guitar in the band. With “A Country Song,” there are no hijinks, and no crazy tangents.
Review – Some Velvet Evening’s “No Law Against Talking”
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By taking country’s conservative, family-friendly foundations and turning them inside out, yet still staying completely within the confines of them, the duo of Carrie Shepard and John Holk engage you with a mad, sick, but still sweet and simple paradox of sensations and thoughts. Some Velvet Evening splits the creative atom. It is music parallax.
Vinyl & Women Increase Sales, Solve What SOPA Can’t
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Something remarkable happened in music in 2011: sales stabilized. What the music industry is ignoring, as well as virtually everyone else in the SOPA argument, is this dramatic and unexpected stabilization of music sales. Where did it come from and why? When you dig deep into the numbers there are two answers: women and vinyl.
Saving Country Music’s Official Stance on SOPA (A Rant)
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The official Saving Country Music stance on SOPA is that I am vaguely opposed to some elements of the legislation that may have unintended consequences. But Saving Country Music is NOT participating in the internet blackout, and I will NOT be signing any petition. These are my opinions, and that’s all they are. My suggestion is not for you to follow them, but to become informed.
Lineup for 5th Annual XSXSW 2012 Announced
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Saving Country Music, along with Muddy Roots and Cracker Swamp have teamed up with Hillgrass Bluebilly’s 5th Annual XSXSW showcase to create a two day, three stage event for the edification of the underground roots fan, and to help represent the independent roots community to the rest of the independent music world.
Al Jourgensen of Ministry’s “Buck Satan & 666 Shooters”
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So Al Jourgensen, the Cuban-born front man and founder of the Industrial band Ministry has made himself a country album under the pseudonym “Buck Satan & The 666 Shooters”. An overall take on this album would be that it is a rushed, tracked-out, wank-off, studio vanity electronico side-project with little heart.
The Parody Created When Some Punk Bands Go Country
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Whether it is punk bands that simply interchange their electric instruments for acoustic ones, or bands that have a more traditional country sound, but overload it with “whiskey, devil, and drug” references, parody in the “punk gone country” movement has become a problem primarily by the way these artists can typecast other country punk bands, fans, and entities.
Album Review – Anderson Family ‘Live From Grass Valley’
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The Anderson Family Bluegrass Band from Grass Valley is an inspiration, and this live album recorded right in their hometown community is an excellent reminder and example of how strong family and community built through music can have such a greater impact on the soul and heart than just music itself.
Toby Keith’s ‘Red Solo Cup’ = Bo Phillips’ ‘Blue Dixie Cup’
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Every once in a while a song comes along in country music that really inspires you. ..and then there’s Toby Keith’s toast to the onset of idiocracy, “Red Solo Cup”. But believe it or not, the song did inspire Bo Phillips, brother of Stoney LaRue, whose video of a “Red Solo Cup” parody called “Blue Dixie Cup” recorded at the legendary Gruene Hall in Texas is making the rounds.
Farmageddon Records Music Festival, July 20-22, 2012
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Farmageddon Records, home to such roots acts as Rachel Brooke, Jayke Orvis, and The Goddamn Gallows, has announced they’re throwing a full-scale, 3 day festival this summer, July 20-22, just outside of scenic West Yellowstone, Montana, behind the Longhorn Saloon on Hebgen Lake.
Album Review – Restavrant’s “Yeah, I Carve Cheetahs”
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This music comes at you like some crazy berserker dude kicking and swinging nun chucks, or a rooster with razor blades tied to its talons flying at your head. You may not exactly know what’s going on at first, but it certainly will get your heart pumping. Restavrant doesn’t play music for you, they beat you over the head with it.
CMT’s “My Big Redneck Vacation” Perpetuates Stereotypes
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The premise appears to be to ship a bunch of yahoos from the South up to The Hamptons in New York, and have them behave like a troupe of Barnum & Baily hillbilly oddities for the bemusement of New England’s sniveling upper crust, all while middle class suburbanites sit at home and live the stereotypical corporate country life vicariously through these redneck caricatures.
This Whole Dierks Bentley Ripping off Jason Isbell Thing
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This weekend, former guitarist for the Drive By Truckers and current solo artist Jason Isbell accused Dierks Bentley of ripping off his song “In A Razor Town”. This is only going to become more and more common, and much harder to sort out as every single pattern and possibility of notes and chords gets occupied by the unnecessary amount of songs, albums, and artists out there.