Kacey Musgraves didn’t fail because country radio ignored her. She succeeded because she ignored country radio. This is the lesson of Kacey Musgraves, ‘Golden Hour,’ and the 2018 CMA Awards. Of course country radio sucks, and is inequitable when it comes to women. But what are you going to do about it?
It was a good night for Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, Carrie Underwood, and Keith Urban, who all picked up significant trophies. But the ratings for the 52nd Annual CMA Awards took a nosedive in the overnight numbers, dropping over 1/3rd from the previous year among key audience numbers, and falling to the lowest head count […]
Everything you need to know about the 2018 CMA Awards, including the performers, collaborations, songs, tributes, presenters, nominees with predictions, early winners, and what to watch for. All the information about the 52nd Annual CMA Awards in one place.
William Michael Morgan has sent us selling our stock, and then buying it all back again just in a matter of a couple of weeks. The first taste from his upcoming and unannounced sophomore record was a song called “Tonight Girl.” And then here comes “Brokenhearted.”
In the most recent tabulation for Billboard’s Hot Tours list compiled via Boxscore numbers, Chris Stapleton’s current All-American Road Show tour with Marty Stuart and Brent Cobb came out on top, beating out massive artists such as Ed Sheeran, Britney Spears, and U2.
Paramount Network’s original series ‘Yellowstone’ starring Kevin Costner has lots of folks talking with its rough and tumble drama, and panoramic vistas shot on location in the American West. But one interesting wrinkle for fans of independent country music has been the inclusion of multiple artists.
Fans of the Texas Music Southern Rock band Whiskey Myers had fair warning they would be featured prominently in the most recent episode of the Paramount Network’s original series Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner, but nobody had an idea it would result in such an incredible boost in exposure and sales for the band.
The biggest adversity to independent music is success. Nobody knows this better than Chris Stapleton. After he was fully embraced by the mainstream industry and was winning awards left and right, folks began vilifying him as a sellout and for not being as country as advertised. But Marty Stuart doesn’t see it that way.
This is all especially concerning since Country Music USA is the basis of the new Ken Burns film on country music, which will reach a much wider audience than this final chapter, and like all Ken Burns films, be referenced by many generations to come as a master work of country music history.
The Willie Nelson camp has released the particulars for the 33rd Annual Farm Aid benefit concert, this year taking place September 22nd in Connecticut at the Xfinity Arena in Hartford. This will be the first time the longest-running concert for a cause in America will be held in Connecticut, which is home to 6,000 farms.
There’s no mistaking Josh Ward as anything but country. We’re not talking about close approximations or the blending of styles in some way. When you think traditional country in the style of classic George Strait, this is Josh Ward. It’s steel guitar, it’s fiddle, it’s twangy lead guitar overlapping lyrics of heartache, sin, and redemption.
The CMT Awards transpired Wednesday night, June 6th at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. Did you notice? Most likely not. Did you tune in and follow along? Even more unlikely. But this isn’t just about ratings. This is about the overall impact of the awards, or the lack thereof.
Any time Dwight Yoakam news rolls down the pike it deserves your rapt attention, especially when it involves new music. On Thursday (5-24), Dwight Yoakam unveiled “Then Here Came Monday” and “Pretty Horses” sort of 45 rpm flip side style via YouTube, and both will be available for streaming and purchase come Friday, May 25th.
It’s 24 weeks atop the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for Bebe Rexha’s collaboration with Florida Georgia Line, “Meant To Be.” This means the song first recorded and released solely as a pop single has now tied Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” for the 2nd longest-running #1 single in the Billboard Hot Country Songs history.
In two days, it will be the 3-year anniversary of Chris Stapleton’s debut album Traveller being released to the public. And three years later, Traveller still currently sits at #6 on the Country Albums chart. It’s one of three albums Stapleton still has in the Top 20, with From ‘A’ Room: Vol. 1 sitting at […]
After the #1 success Chris Stapleton had with his previous single “Broken Halos,” his camp has called an audible last minute, and decided to switch up the next song they will send to radio. The rocking and heavy “Midnight Train to Memphis” from his latest album From A Room: Vol. 2 was supposed to be the next single.
For 10 years now, The SteelDrivers have been a preeminent bluegrass band of the hard-charging variety and a proving ground of talent that includes Chris Stapleton as an alumni. After announcing the newest member to take what was once Stapleton’s spot in guitar player and singer Kelvin Damrell, the 5-piece outfit is ready to hit the road.
The coverage of Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Golden Hour’ has displayed such an aberration of truths, perspective, knowledge of the country and roots realm, and in some instances even common sense, it illustrates a widespread embarrassment for the entire music media pool, and the journalism industry in general.
Chris Stapleton’s #1 for his current single “Broken Halos” is an achievement that was thought to be impossible even a couple of years ago when Stapleton was dominating everything else in the genre. This is yet another accomplishment for Stapleton, and another accomplishment in the effort to restore balance to country music.
Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Jason Isbell comprise the current Mt. Rushmore of independent country and roots music, and that is unquestionable, regardless of how you may feel about any one of them specifically, or even as a group. But what is the fourth mug we can put on top of that mountain?
Alan Jackson isn’t one to pull punches, or to not say what’s on his mind when somebody asks him. His Hall of Fame career has been marked by taking hard stances for the cause of real country music. Alan Jackson was recently interviewed as part of a GQ feature, and had some interesting things to say about Chris Stapleton.
So here we are once again staring at a list of the nominees for the ACM Awards, with few surprises, lots of predictable stuff, and finding ourselves full of self-reflection on if we should even care about the annual country music gala that is most susceptible to bloc voting and horse trading.
So we finally received the info on Kacey Musgraves’ new album ‘Golden Hour.’ But where is a single from the new Kacey Musgraves album for country radio? “Space Cowboy” would be a great country radio single. The song has already received over 500,000 spins on Spotify. The television performance now gives it an extra boost.
When you think of the modern country music landscape, you think of a clear delineation line between the independent and mainstream. However the songwriting credits for Miranda Lambert are the one clear exception. Looking through her list of collaborators, it’s pretty incredible.