It was one of the ages at Austin, TX’s Moody Theater on February 18, 2024 for the 10th Annual gathering of the Ameripolitan Awards founded by Dale Watson along with his wife Celine Lee.
It was supposed to have been called “Inside The Walls.” But despite a big budget audio production and camera crew being involved, and plans to make it into a television special as well, it was never officially released.
May 3rd is one of those Fridays when the album releases come so hard and heavy, you really need help to make sure you navigate yourself in the right direction, and don’t miss out on something that may speak to you.
Revered mandolin player, guitarist, banjoist, dobro, and steel guitar player Billy Cook has died. Known for working with band such as Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies and the .357 String Band…
At this point, the levee has given out, and the flood gates are open. If you have any chance of staying afloat, it will be using the list below to hopefully let you know what’s coming out.
It can’t be emphasized enough just how busy the next five weeks will be when it comes to album releases. In the 15-year history of Saving Country Music, nothing has been experienced like this before.
When broaching the subject of forgotten Outlaws who’ve gone criminally underrated by the callous country music industry, Billy Don Burns has to to be right near the top of the list.
“Sweet Western Sound” will be very effective for what it was designed to do: win Grammy Awards. For Tanya Tucker, and Brandi Carlile. And when it does it will be hard to argue against, because its brilliant moments unquestionably soar.
The last time Shooter Jennings and Brandi Carlile joined forces to produce an album for Tanya Tucker, it resulted in two Grammy Awards and four nominations. Now in the wake of Tucker being named as the newest member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, she has announced the release of her new album.
You can’t get 30 seconds into this new record from T.J. Hernandez without being convinced you’ve landed in the right place. The voice is somewhere between Cody Jinks and Jamey Johnson. The music is pure uncut country. The production is just about perfect. And the songs hit the spot. It’s a traditional country oasis.
As support continues to swell for independent country music, so do the events with local, regional, and national impact looking to create sustainability for the music and an alternative to the mainstream in markets big and small.
True country fans don’t need to be told that trying to hold onto the roots of the music has been a war of attrition over the last 20 years or so. As more legends and oldtimers pass away or get put out to pasture each season, you search for stability and glimmers of promise as the heap of shoes to fill of the artists gone by grows.
Get ready for new music coming from Canadian folk country singer and songwriter Colter Wall, who will release his much-anticipated sophomore full-length album Songs of the Plains via Thirty Tigers. Said to be a full dive into the inspiration of his home of the Saskatchewan prairie, Colter writes 7 of the new album’s 11 songs.
Ahead of the July 27th release of Cody’s new album Lifers comes the debut track “Must Be The Whiskey” written by underground country artist Josh Morningstar. A bit more than just your average drinking ode, the song delves into the revolving door that hard alcohol can be—drinking to numb the pain of a broken heart…
His new album I’m Not The Devil is an ambitious, unwavering, slow and plodding volley of songwriting body blows that makes no apologies, incorporates no compromises, and gives no quarter to those with open hearts that love to listen to music that makes them swoon with one emotional onslaught after another, all served in a down home deep-fried country style.
Prison and country music go together like peanut butter and jelly. No wonder a slew of country music albums have been actually recorded within prison walls—some for convicts, some by convicts, and some using convicts. And we’re not just talking about novelty releases either, but some iconic albums that have helped define country music over the years. Here are some of them.
“Billy Don Burns.” To those country fans that know the name, it looms large. But the truth of the matter is, not many know the name. They know the names of Merle Haggard and Johnny Paycheck—two men who Billy Don Burns has produced albums for. They know Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash—two acquaintances of Burns who on separate occasions, wrote touching letters for him.
Like brothers in country music arms, Shooter Jennings, the son of legendary country music Outlaw Waylon Jennings, and Billy Ray Cyrus, singer of “Achy Breaky Heart” and father of mega pop star Miley Cyrus, met together on stage Wednesday Night (2-19) at the club “Loaded” in Hollywood, California for an installment of the Shooter-hosted “BCR Nights At Loaded” concert series.
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.
Country music loves to pride itself in supporting the troops and the cause of the military more than any other genre. Though some of it may be bravado meant more for marketing, there are many legends in the country music ranks that served their country as young men. Here’s a list of country heroes who served the county.
This song is about losing yourself, which we’ve all done, and will all do again, and how we all start off life with a firm grasp on who we are that life does its level best to wrestle away from us. But inside “Stranger” there is also a glimmer of hope in how the realization of one’s self can stimulate renewal. And above all of that, the beauty of “Stranger” is its fierce simplicity–the attribute of all excellent country songs.
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.
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.
What elevates this album the most, the intangible of Nights When I’m Sober is the authenticity Billy Don Burns can approach these songs with. The battle will rage on forever about if songwriters and performers have to live what they sing and write about to be authentic, but with Billy Don, the point is moot.