Zach Top Adds New Tour Dates, Reveals Alter Ego ‘Billy Bottoms’
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There’s just about nothing hotter in country music at the moment than Zach Top. And to meet that demand, he’s released a whole new mess of tour dates that you can be assured will be selling quickly.
Saving Country Music’s 25 Essential Albums for 2012
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Here is the list of 25 albums Saving Country Music deems essential for 2012 listening, and then I added an extra one I couldn’t leave off. Please note this list only includes albums that have been reviewed so far. There are a few more good and important albums in 2012 that have yet to be reviewed. The first 7 albums on the list (from Little Victories to Lee Bains) were all serious considerations for SCM’s Album of the Year.
Paige Anderson & The Fearless Kin’s “Wild Rabbit”
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One hard and fast rule around Saving Country Music is that I don’t review EP’s except for in “extreme cases.” There’s just too much music out there these days to consider half efforts, and in many cases, this is what EP’s are. So what is an “extreme case?” Well in 5 or so years, not once have I had an EP cross my desk that I felt qualified. Until now.
Album Review – Joe Buck’s “Who Dat?”
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Well I can tell you this. No matter what you were expecting from this album, you’re probably going to be surprised. Who Dat is a completely different direction for Joe Buck, while still being exactly what he’s always done. That’s the root genius of it. Yes, without question this album is a lot more tame, but what this approach does is bring out the roar of quiet anger.
The Greatest Underground Country Albums of All Time
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By request, here is my list of the greatest underground country albums of all time. The underground country movement started roughly in the mid 90’s on lower Broadway in Nashville that at the time was a run down part of town. Young musicians from around the country, some from punk backgrounds, came together from their mutual love of authentic country music.
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Mock Waylon in New Las Vegas Show
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Last night Tim McGraw and Faith Hill began their stint of shows at Vegas’s Venetian, and apparently the show opens with an unveiled shot at country music’s traditionalists and two artists they hold dear: Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams. Tim and Faith’s “Soul2Soul” show opens up to Waylon’s “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” playing mockingly.
Luke Bryan Wins 9 ACA’s By Winning “Best Female” Awards
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Last night the 2012 American Country Awards transpired on Fox, with Luke Bryan coming out as the big winner. The Georgia native walked away with an unprecedented 9 awards. How did the country singer rack up so many trophies? By giving a new meaning to the term “crossover appeal,” taking awards in both male and female categories, including the coveted Female Artist of the Year, and Female Single of the Year for the song, “I Don’t Want This Night To End.”
Jo Dee Messina Is Latest Artist To Leave Curb Records
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Curb Records’ talent roster continues to contract. The latest defector is Jo Dee Messina, whose charted 9 #1 hits and sold more than 5 million records worldwide during her 18-year career. The reason? Just like Tim McGraw, Hank Williams III, Clay Walker, Lyle Lovett, and LeAnn Rimes to name a few, Jo Dee Messina is fed up with Curb refusing to release her music.
Peewee Moore is “Making Sure The Story’s Being Told”
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These honky tonk albums are hard ones to make in 2012. Everyone else in country is trying to carve their niche, bending and blending genres and doing any manner of outlandish things to get folks to pay attention to them in a glutted music world. Meanwhile the charge of the honky tonk musician is to keep the traditions alive through purity.
Album Review – Rachel Brooke’s “A Killer’s Dream”
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Rachel Brooke is one of the few select artist with enough mustard to rise out of the ashes of the country music underground and become a force in the greater roots world. Like an early Emmylou Harris, the music industry should be shuttling her across the country to lend her singular vocal texture to other projects in between putting out excellent solo albums that time finds hard to forget.
2012 Saving Country Music Song of the Year Nominees
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Every year this list stirs a little controversy because people misunderstand that these are not supposed to be the songs you “like” the best, but instead is supposed to be compositions in a given year that have the most impact. They’re songs that make you change the way you see the world, or change the way you see yourself. It is reserved for those few compositions that have the ability to change lives and to change the world.
Defiant Images of Country Music Dissent
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The fight for the purity of country music is almost as old as the genre itself. The conflict between pop and traditionalism, and the fight for creative control for artists runs like a thread throughout country music’s history, defining it as much as the twang of a Telecaster, or the moan of a steel guitar. Here are some of the most iconic images of country music revolution, and the stories behind them.
2012 Saving Country Music Album of the Year Nominees
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2012 was a bumper crop year for great albums in the greater country music world, and that necessitates a bolstered lineup of candidates for Saving Country Music’s coveted Album of the Year. 7 total made the list, with others admittedly getting completely screwed by their absence. I already have a bead of sweat forming across my brow brought on by the impossible decision of who I’m supposed to pick off this list.