Country music is also one of the few constants in a world of change. The onslaught of technology and the incursion of automation into our lives hasn’t made country music less relevant, it’s made it even more imperative. These are the themes and reminders you will find throughout the latest record from Noel McKay and Brennen Leigh.
Christmas came early for ticket holders of the Texas Music/Red Dirt/Americana-oriented Mile 0 Fest set to transpire in Key West, Florida on January 28th-February 1st, 2020, as well as for those still sitting on the fence about if they want to go, or those who might have a ticket waiting for them under the Christmas tree.
In 2019, an interesting new destination festival popped up just outside of Whitefish, Montana called Under The Big Sky. With acts such as Dwight Yoakam, Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, and Amanda Shires on the bill, it got the attention of true country fans, but the question was if it would be worth the trek.
What is “Ameripolitan”? It’s an effort to support artists and bands that are too country for country, and that carry a prominent roots music influence. The nominees for the 2020 Ameripolitan Award have been announced in 13 separate categories. One shakeup for the awards in 2020 is there will be no “Outlaw” categories.
It’s dizzying enough trying to keep up with all the great releases in country and roots music, especially with the kind of super release days we’ve been experiencing lately where eight to ten highly-anticipated titles come out at the same time. the Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed of all the best songs and albums.
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.
When we look back at the first week of August 2019, we might count it as a week for the ages in country music. Not only did we have Tyler Childers drop a new landmark album, Mike and the Moonpies came out of left field with their own. We’ve also had a bunch of new announcements for highly-anticipated records recently.
The Turnpike Troubadours may be on indefinite hiatus at the moment, but you’ll get to see the band’s hot shit guitar player Ryan Engleman soon at a Reckless Kelly show near you. After the departure of long-time Reckless Kelly guitarist David Abeyta in February, it has been a revolving cast of characters filling the big […]
Crockett is also readying the release of his fourth album in two years called The Valley, and many of the songs chronicle Crockett’s struggles with his serious health condition, and the re-evalation of life such an experience can inspire. Recorded just a week before he went in for surgery, The Valley will be released via Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers.
Fans of country and Red Dirt’s Turnpike Troubadours were left forlorn late last month when it was announced that the band would be going on an indefinite hiatus amid a rash of cancelled shows and concerns for frontman Evan Felker, which begs the question of who might be able to step up to fill this important void.
As the alternative to the bigger, two-weekend all-genre gathering called Coachella, The Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California every April is supposed to give country music its turn on the famous Empire Polo Club grounds so as not be shaded out by the massive names of the pop, EDM, and hip-hop world.
Nobody will ever be able to accuse Texas native and Davy Crockett descendant Charley Crockett of not paying his proper dues. He’s bookended his big 2018 breakout record Lonesome As a Shadow with two records released with the sole purpose of paying tribute to the past greats in country and blues that have influenced his […]
We’re just lucky to still have Charley Crockett around at this point. While the 34-year-old was getting ready to have surgery for a seven-year-old hernia condition he’d been suffering from, but didn’t have the funds to address, he was diagnosed with a major heart condition. Now after a few months on the mend, he’s ready to get back on the road.
Oh the irony of so many people demanding all music sound the same in the name of “diversity.” The only reason we’re even having a discussion of where Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” should be placed on the charts is because you can’t tell the difference between most any given piece of popular music anymore.
Texas music legend Charlie Robison will be making a rare public appearance since retiring from music in September of 2018 as part of a special tribute being put together at this week’s Mile 0 Fest in Key West, Florida. Mile 0 Fest also addresses the Turnpike Troubadours cancellation.
For many years, the influence and contributions of African American musicians in country music went mostly overlooked, or overshadowed by their Caucasian counterparts. However there has been a recent trend by media and even some artists to overstate the influence of African Americans.
Naming the best live performances of a given year is not the same exercise as naming the best songs, albums, or artists, because it is specifically dependent on the experiences of the individual making the list. But it’s still an important exercise.
As albums for cover-to-cover listening, most movie soundtracks can be quite tedious, even if the music is good, and even if the movie holds a favorable grade. But some soundtracks are so good, you can enjoy them without having even seen the movie.
Rarely, if ever before have we seen an artist who illustrates both the complexity of American roots music, yet ratifies their striking similarity as Charley Crockett. He possesses the ability to intuitively blend various roots forms together naturally because he holds by God authenticity in multiple cultures where specific strains of roots music originated.
We’ve know for a while about Miranda Lambert’s penchant to show support to independent artists by attending their concerts, with John Moreland and the women of the Hard Candy Christmas Tour being just a few examples. Saturday night (4-7) was the 7th Annual Dia Del Gallo celebration at the historic Floore’s Country Store was another.
The Pickathon Festival just outside of Portland, Oregon has just announced the initial lineup for their 20th Anniversary season, and like most every year, numerous important luminaries from the effort to help save country music have made the cut.
Let’s face it. For a host of reasons, it’s pretty rare to see African Americans making country and roots music. But when they do, more often that not, they’re doing it the right way, pushing the music forward creatively while fiercely helping to preserving the past, becoming part of the solution instead of prolonging the problem.
For those who’ve been to a Turnpike Troubadours show over the last year or two, or were somehow otherwise tuned into the throwback country soul of Charley Crockett through his first few self-released records, they need not be assuaged to the idea that he could be the next big thing in roots music.
For six years straight, the Turnpike Troubadours have celebrated a self-appointed holidays each Spring called Dia Del Gallo at the historic Floore’s Country Store on the outskirts of San Antonio. The city has always been a crossroads of cultures, and the rooster (“gallo” in Spanish) has always been the band’s official mascot.