We all know what the perfect country & western song is, because David Allan Coe told us what it is. He also told us why it was the perfect country & western song, and who wrote it. There’s no reason to debate…
Depending on who you talk to, Sturgill Simpson’s new album ‘Passage Du Desir’ is either a serious Album of the Year contender, or a big letdown. Such is the polarizing environment that persists around Sturgill Simpson these days.
Simpson has announced a slew of new tour dates, as well as an album under the Johnny Blue Skies name. It’s probably a good bet that it will be a conceptualized song cycle of some sort.
Johnny Cash is 20 years gone, but we haven’t heard the last from the Man in Black just yet. Announced earlier this week, a cache of 11 demo tracks recorded in 1993 have been unearthed to be released as the album “Songwriter.”
For years now, Kentucky has been been at the forefront of birthing and breeding the artists most responsible for saving country music in the modern context. Of course, Kentucky has always been the country music Heartland when you trace the lineage of the Country Music Highway (US Route 23), and how so many artists grew […]
“Kentucky Blue—both the song and the album—is so indicative of love and life and Kentucky,” Taylor says. “Whether you are mourning the death of a relationship, of a dream, of a family member or even of a personal idol such as Loretta Lynn, ‘Kentucky Blue’ speaks to your heart in that unique musical language.”
The fact that this tribute starts off with an unheard recording of John Prine who’s been gone now for two years now speaks to just how long it takes to put something like this together. It’s also one of the multiple reasons this is not just ‘another’ tribute record. A lot of love went into this one.
There are run-of-the-mill tribute albums, and then there’s this tribute album due out August 5th called ‘Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute to John Anderson.’ What makes it remarkable is that a rather incredible list of contributors are coming together.
So often when an artist or band announces or releases an album with a star producer assisting them, it’s the star producer whose name preempts the actual artists themselves in headlines and promotional copy. That’s never happened with the projects the Grammy-winning David Ferguson has produced.
Hopefully Tyler Childers is holding back, writing songs, perhaps recording them as well, and getting ready for some big announcements, not that he’s due for a new record or anything. Hopefully some big Tyler Childers news is coming soon. The calm before the storm.
Sturgill Simpson in conjunction with Oh Boy Records has released a rendition of the classic John Prine song “Paradise.” The song will appear on the John Prine tribute album ‘Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows Vol. 2,’ but there is a deeper story behind how the track came about.
With little room for noodling or improvisation, and not a ton of conversation or rehearsal before heading into the studio, Cuttin’ Grass is still finely crafted and deftly executed by all involved, offering good to excellent bluegrass renditions of Sturgill Simpson songs.
Sturgill Simpson will be appearing in a free live stream event via webcast on Friday, June 5th at 7 p.m. Central from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Plus he also has an album on the way of old songs recorded new, and a note on Sturgill coverage moving forward.
At 65-years-old and coming off serious health issues, John Anderson is feeling a little reflective these days. The caramel-voiced country crooner who we could talk about having a strong candidacy for the Country Music Hall of Fame in the coming years is being coy about what exactly the health scare was, you can tell he’s lost some weight.
One sector of country music’s history woefully under-represented by younger artists looking to preserve a specific discipline is the late 60’s, early 70’s style of folk country. Dee White is just now reaching his 20’s, but an old soul comes welling up through the 10 songs of his debut album, ‘Southern Gentleman.’
Kentucky songwriter and performer Tyler Childers has just released what might as well be considered his debut album ‘Purgatory’ via Thirty Tigers, and for an independent artist with virtually no radio play and no national television exposure, ‘Purgatory’ has sold through surprisingly well.
Sturgill Simpson is such an enigma, to see his name crop up as the producer on the album from someone else is shocking and intriguing. Stugill has made a career out of saying “no” to reporters, industry professionals, and opportunities some artists would kill for. So how and why did he say “yes” to Tyler Childers?
Over the decade of conducting business under the heading of “Saving Country Music,” no artist has created more anticipation and intrigue into what their future prospects may be, yet with so few national accomplishments and recognition than Tyler Childers.
Alaska via east Nashville is not a narrative you normally see play out in the itineraries of country records. But who would question whether the wilds of Alaska have enough wide open spaces, scenic vistas, or snarly honky tonks and hard times to inspire a good country song? Nobody would after listening to Todd Grebe & Cold Country’s new record Citizen.