There are now two consecutive country music festivals planned for Key West, Florida for the Winter of 2023: The 6th Annual Mile 0 Fest featuring Red Dirt, Texas, and Americana, and the 90s-centric Key Western Festival, happening the very next week.
A 7-year-old song receiving some 95 million streams in a year is quite remarkable. But as we’re seeing all across music and country music specifically, consumers who are just not connecting with new music today are finding favor with the back catalogs of artists that sometimes they’re just discovering.
“American Heartbreak” by Zach Bryan has been showing all indications of being one of those “sticky” albums, selling another 24,803 in albums and equivalents again last week. Even more interestingly, the album retook over the #2 spot from the new Luke Combs album “Growin’ Up” two weeks ago.
There are many festivals out there now catering to independent country and Americana. But in three short seasons and amid a pandemic, Under The Big Sky Fest has quickly made the case for being the biggest and most important of all off the strength of its lineups.
Yes, just a day after Saving Country Music posted a long-winded rant about why trying to court mainstream country radio is a fool’s errand, not one, but two interesting anomalies have popped up on the format that are worth remarking about, and keeping a close eye on.
“It’s always going to evolve, but it seems to return to its roots, and I think that’s what’s happening now.” This was the assessment of country legend and “Class of ’89” member Clint Black during a recent appearance on Tracy Lawrence’s “Honky Tonkin'” radio show.
Writing and performing songs is just one of the many ways Nikki Lane contributes, and instead of just jotting down a few ditties to satisfy some arbitrary release timeline, she decided to savor and experience life, and let the songs come to her for this particular album
The paradigm continues to shift, and the possibilities for country artists without the support of mainstream radio and major awards continues to increase with the continued success of Tyler Childers, and specifically the songs from his 2017 album “Purgatory.”
Zach Bryan and his new album American Heartbreak are having a moment, and when all is said and done and the dust settles, it’s likely to ensconce the singer/songwriter among the very top artists in country music. But it’s not just because the album has 34 songs.
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. New songs just added.
Even if you have to sell an internal organ to swing it, you still may want to consider how to get your ass to the Born & Raised Festival on September 16th, 17th, and 18th in Pryor, Oklahoma, just east of Tulsa in 2022. After experiencing the festival in 2021 on the Rocklahoma site…
We’ve known for years about the affinity Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has for traditional country and true blue independent country artists. But just about nothing illustrates how big of a role true country music—or in this case, “Ameripolitan”—actually plays.
The continued success of independent singles proves that there is a path forward for country artists without the crutch of radio, at least for the right song from the right artist, of which these newly-minted singles from Tyler Childers and Jason Isbell most certainly were.
This extensive “Mix It Up With Florida Georgia Line” exhibit that the Hall of Fame recently opened on February 6th really is an unfortunate, and frankly shortsighted move by the museum, overlooking the widely-polarizing nature of the Bro-Country duo.
“Took me about 15 years to write this song,” Brent Cobb says. “Finally finished it up a few days ago. Next time you’re trying to tell your friends about all the cool country artists you listen to just send them to this song. I got as many as I could in there. Proud to know these folks.”
In what is quickly becoming both one of the biggest and most important festivals in independent country and Americana in just its third year, Under The Big Sky Fest in Whitefish, Montana has announced its 2022 lineup for July 15-17, and once again it’s a doozy.
The benchmarks a Song of the Year winner must meet, and the stress test it must endure is more strenuous than any other in music. We’re not looking for some infectious fanny shaker here, or even a song that might stir an emotional moment.
Live music in 2021 saw its return after the worst moments of the pandemic, but only in fits and starts, with multiple postponements and cancellations wrecking many plans, yet a few important moments still going off in the windows when they could.
If you feel like you’re experiencing déjà vu with Gary Allan lashing out at country music’s radio system, it’s because you’re more dialed into the doings of country music than the writers over at Rolling Stone. Yes, we have been at this exact spot with Gary Allan before.
What is the litmus test for a Song of the Year nominee? Simply put, it’s something that very well might wet the eye. These are songs that have the power to change hearts and change lives, open you up new ideas or ways of thinking, or unlock memories or emotions you haven’t felt in years
Texas-based country performer Paul Cauthen is supposedly putting this country music trend of telling people how country you are on blast in his new song “Country As *uck.” But like certain other parody songs, it’s guilty of the same crime it’s supposedly criticizing.
Cody Jinks knows his way around metal music, and he proves that with None The Wiser. This isn’t some lark, though he’s also not launching the Caned By Nod project as replacement for country, or trying to pass it off as country as some pop and rock acts do. It’s a passion project.
Certainly, when you first dive into ‘Mercy,’ there is sort of a Groundhog Day feel to it all. But the deeper you listen, and the more times you cycle through, the songwriting and the passion behind Mercy begin to reveal themselves more definitively, as does the album’s appeal.
It’s one of those opportunities you wish to experience from your favorite artists, but very rarely get to. But on Sunday evening (11-7), some lucky bastards in Little Rock got a last minute, intimate acoustic performance that Jinks announced just hours before the doors opened.