Entries to Grammy’s New Traditional Country Category Look Very Promising
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When the new Best Traditional Country Album category was announced, there was some trepidation. ballot reads like a killer playlist of some of the best country albums released in the last year.
Ruby Jane Releases New “Ticket Out” Song & Video
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Not attached to an announcement of a new album or any other notable news, Ruby Jane has released a new single and a new video called “Ticket Out.” Written by Ruby, and produced by Mario Marchetti who’s worked with The Lumineers and some other notable names. “Ticket Out” evokes a Lumineers-esque vibe with a heavy, woody bass beat and hand claps, but is centered mostly around the chorus hook…
Album Stream – “Copper & Coal”
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Some musical performers entertain, while others stun. With instincts for blending harmony normally only reserved for siblings, the stunning female vocal duo of Copper & Coal from Portland, Oregon breathe new life into an old-style of honky tonk music with their sultry original compositions of lost and found love, and wild adventures of the heart.
Possessed By Paul James Finds Breakout Success with New Album
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Since Texas-based singer-songwriter Possessed by Paul James released his latest album There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely out into the big scary world on October 29th, it has been on quite the tear, especially for an artist that up to this point was thought to only be known by a small, but dedicated sect of fans.
Review – Will Hoge’s “Never Give In”
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Will Hoge in so many ways is sitting in the enviable catbird seat of music crossroads right now. As country music continuously favors a more rock than country sound, Will Hoge, without having to make any stretches or augmentations of his sonic palette, finds himself in the sweet spot of the relevancy arch, reaping the rewards of a renewed interest in a style he’s been perfecting in one capacity or another since the mid-90’s.
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.