Any serious fan of 1970’s country music worth their salt will know the name, the hits, and doesn’t need to be sold on the importance of Johnny Rodriguez. Six #1 songs, fourteen Top 5’s, twenty Top 10’s…
Every once in a while, it is important to stop down, pay tribute, and appreciate all of the living legends we still have around in country and roots music. Some trace back to the very formations of country.
Every so often, it is important to stop down, pay tribute, and appreciate all of the living legends we still have around in country and roots music. These are the contributors who you can sometimes trace back to the very formations of country.
Vince Gill and Paul Franklin are reuniting once again, and this time to pay tribute to Ray Price and his legendary backing band The Cherokee Cowboys.
Songwriters are so integral to country music, there is a dedicated Hall of Fame in Nashville just for them. But every three years, the Country Music Hall of Fame proper takes time to recognize someone who has dedicated their life to the craft, and left a lasting impact. In 2023, that person is Bob McDill.
Willie Nelson will turn 90 on April 29th, and has shown no signs of slowing down, either on the road, or in the studio. His last album called “A Beautiful Time” was released last year on his birthday and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Country Album, and earned it entirely on the merit of the music.
Johnny Rodriguez. Any serious fan of 1970’s country music worth their salt will know the name, the hits, and doesn’t need to be sold on the importance of this man. Six #1 songs, fourteen Top 5’s, twenty Top 10’s, including a run of fifteen Top 10 songs to start his career between 1973 and 1978…
Country music is country music, and the best definition of what country music is, is that you know it when you hear it. It’s self-evident. But the genre has birthed many subgenres, many stylistic movements over the years, and at times has seen a splintering and Balkanization.
When considering her music, many would probably cite 2010’s ‘Welder’ as her master work. But Elizabeth Cook enjoyed an entire era of straight up traditional country output at the start of her career, peeking with her 2007 record ‘Balls,’ which has just been reissued.
An oral history on the life of songwriting legend Billy Joe Shaver will be released on July 21st. Called ‘Live Forever: The Songwriting Legacy of Billy Joe Shaver,’ it is about Shaver’s life and songs told through his peers, friends, and disciples. Authored by Courtney S. Lennon…
When you write a song at the age of 13 that becomes a country standard and a hit in three separate decades, you know you were born to make country music. Warner Mack was born Warner McPherson on April 2, 1935 in Nashville, Tennessee, and was a natural.
When country music Hall of Famer Tom T. Hall passed away on August 20th, 2021 at the age of 85, it was safe to assume his death was due to health or natural causes, as is commonly the case with someone at such an advanced age. It was likely an open and shut case.
With the recent deaths of some of country music’s oldest living legends and links to its past such as Don Maddox of Maddox Brothers and Rose at the age of 98, and Sue Thompson at 96, it seems like a suitable time to ask, who are some of the oldest legends of country music still living?
Tom T. Hall had the simple wisdom for life of Don Williams. He could find wit in the everyday world like Roger Miller. But nobody, nobody could tell a story within the medium of country music like Tom T. Hall. Nobody.
A once-in-a-lifetime event happened on January 12th, 2019 when a wide-ranging assemblage of talent from country music and beyond came together at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to pay tribute to Willie Nelson. Called ‘Willie: Life and Songs of an American Outlaw,’ it’s being released on CD and DVD.
Unless you were there in person, you missed it. But now we’ll all get the opportunity to see the tribute concert that transpired on April 6th, 2017, when a hefty list of musical talent all assembled at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to pay tribute to the legendary Merle Haggard.
The music of Charley Crockett takes you back to a time and place when country rubbed up against other genres in a good way, and no matter what type of music you ran across, it included that touch of human emotion that didn’t get hung up in the cogs of the machines stamping out music as commercial product.
Yes, Captain Old Farts & Jackasses has given traditional country fans plenty of reasons to give him a hairy eyeball over the years or curse his name under their breath (anyone remember the tractor rapping of “Boys ‘Round Here”?) But I’ll be damned if Blake Shelton hasn’t been on some prolonged traditional country kick lately.
Numerous upcoming performances by Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member Bobby Bare are being rescheduled for the fall, but rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. According to Bobby Bare’s management, the shows will hopefully be rescheduled for the fall.
The Country Music Hall of Fame has partnered with Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings to release a 36-song companion double album to coincide with what the public can expect to see and hear as part of the upcoming Outlaws & Armadillos exhibit. The track list of the album reveals just how deep the exhibit will go.
The original Outlaw and Country Music Hall of Famer Bobby Bare will be the next member of the Grand Ole Opry, again. This is the news coming out of Nashville Saturday night (4-7) after Bare was invited to join country music’s most historic institution. He was officially invited by Garth Brooks, who shocked the Opry crowd when he took the stage.
Yes, Yes, and Yes! On Thursday (1-11), the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville announced their newest major exhibit to open on May 25th, 2018. Not just part of the regular rotation of smaller exhibits, the major exhibit creates the cornerstone for the museum’s focus for the next few years.
Since 1974, the Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam concert has been a mainstay on the country music calendar, and a worthy fundraiser for veterans. Now in 2018, the event will hold special importance as it also acts as a tribute to Charlie Daniels himself, as he partners with tribute concert promoter Blackbird Presents for this year’s presentation.
Music, and country music specifically plays a big role in the series, not just in the soundtrack, but in many of the jokes told, and in the titles of each episode. Many other musical Easter eggs are placed throughout the series for music fans, such as posters on the wall, and albums in the local bar’s juke box.