If you wanted to be all buzzy and clickbaity about it, you could proclaim “Marcus King goes country!” or “Marcus King releases a country album!” But that’s not really what’s going on here.
On Thursday evening (9-18), Billy Strings walked away with the coveted Entertainer of the Year at the IBMA Awards. But one of the biggest conversation pieces from the entire event was Billy’s keynote address.
On Wednesday evening (9-17) at The Signal in Chattanooga’s Choo Choo complex, the train tracks of Billy Strings and Blake Black finally converged, with Black joining Strings on stage.
The new 10-episode season is currently streaming on Hulu. “King of the Hill” featured quite a few country music icons throughout its original run, but this new series features one on every single episode.
By now, the story of what William Apostol, better known as Billy Strings, was going through last Friday night (6-20) as he walked onto the stage in Lexington, Kentucky’s Rupp Arena is well-known.
With lead guitar player Luke Black and mandolin player Drury Anderson graduating from the Berklee College of Music in May, this summer has become the moment for Mountain Grass Unit to take the full-time plunge.
When Top took the stage, the roar was the loudest all weekend, and perhaps one of the loudest heard in the 52-year history of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. After all, this was an arena-level artists playing a 10,000 capacity fest.
It just happened to be that the universe had brought Billy Strings back to his home state of Michigan right before his mother’s passing. He’s always put family first.
The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications have received fair criticism here for missing the moment in country and roots. But a new New York Times article gets it right.
Why is Morgan Wallen getting a second opportunity to play Saturday Night Live when there are so many other worthy names from the country and roots world that are still waiting for their first one?
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music.
Country music is going through a big revitalization of the ’90s country sound, and it’s off the backs of guys like Zach Top, as well as Texas native Jake Worthington with his 2023 self-titled album.
Up until the last few years, we had to witness a sharp and steady decline in country music across the board. Not any more. We have two dudes out there helping to completely rewrite the script.
From a homeless and train hopping busker, to one of the fastest-rising stars in independent roots music, to now a three-time Grammy-winning artist, the hopeful and inspiring story of singer and songwriter Sierra Ferrell only continues to get sweeter.
Look Up is not a bad album at all. There’s not a single song or moment on it that will feel offensive to a country fan’s ears. But when you prop Sir Ringo Starr in front of a camera, perch a cowboy hat on top of his head…
Billy Strings is one of the biggest things in live music in this generation, irrespective of genre. The fact that he’s a bluegrass artist at heart makes his wild popularity that more inexplicable, and exciting.
All the nominees for the 2024 Saving Country Music Album of the Year deserve nothing but praise for being catalysts for the country music revolution we’re currently enjoying. But only one can take the prize.
They’re country, and they’re soul. And when Michael and Tanya Trotter are at their best, they combine these two disciplines to make the shivers go down your spine. That’s the experience of their new song “Carried Away.”
It’s time to engage in one of the most important exercises all year: determining who and what will be crowned the Album of the Year in 2024. The point of this exercise is not to devolve music into a competition.
The Grammy Awards are supposed to be the one place where the critically-acclaimed, criminally-overlooked, and lifers of a respective genre get the recognition they deserve from a non-profit that puts the art first.
With guys like Jack Bruce and Jack Casady, and before Geddy Lee and Les Claypool, Phil Lesh helped pioneer the bass as more than just a rhythm instrument in rock n’ roll. Phil Lesh was far from a backline character.
When Ringo Starr recently announced that he was releasing a country album, some rolled their eyes. But it happens to be Ringo’s relationship with country goes much deeper than some might expect.
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats.
Billy Strings has taken bluegrass to heights we haven’t seen in decades, or in some instances, ever. now he’s storming onto the Billboard charts with his new 20-song album “Highway Prayers.”