Heading into 2026, the threats on human creators are going from worrisome to immediately existential, with not just the present and future in peril, but past greats in music becoming posthumous victims of the rise of AI.
On Thursday evening (9-18), Billy Strings walked away with the coveted Entertainer of the Year at the IBMA Awards. But one of the biggest conversation pieces from the entire event was Billy’s keynote address.
Over the last 20 years, there are a few specific albums you can select out of the crowd and give credit for critically reshaping country music into what it is today, and specifically for re-instituting the roots of country.
It’s in the Grammy Hall of Fame. It’s in The Library of Congress. It sold Gold. It sold Platinum. Chet Flippo once said it was one of the most important albums that ever came out of Nashville. “Will The Circle Be Unbroken…”
For one weekend last February, Billy Strings took over Music City with a trifecta of sold-out concerts. It wasn’t the first two shows at the expansive Bridgestone Arena, but the third at the intimate Mother Church…
Whether you’re a fan of the banjo, or bluegrass and folk in general, or even if you’re not, nearly everyone recognizes the opening riff of the iconic instrumental “Dueling Banjos” made famous in the 1972 film Deliverance. And now guy who actually played the banjo on the song has passed away.
The 2016 MerleFest lineup just keeps getting beefier. On Tuesday (12-8), the fest announced it was adding Old Crow Medicine Show, Alison Brown, Peter Rowan, and Doug Seegers to the 97 other names already announced for the 2016 installement, scheduled to transpire April 28th through May 1st at Wilkes Community College in North Carolina.
New West recording artist Austin Lucas has just announced a string of new tour dates across the United States and a few stops in Canada, but this won’t be your garden variety Austin Lucas tour. Joining him on stage in acoustic collaborations will be mandolin extraordinaire Jayke Orvis, Jon Snodgrass, Canadian singer/songwriter Northcote, and Caleb Caudle for select dates.
Old Crow Medicine Show’s new album Remedy is the first album the string band has released since officially minting a #1 song in the form of Darius Rucker’s take on “Wagon Wheel”, and the first as the freshest members of the prestigious Grand Ole Opry. 2013 was a big year for the buskers, and the band has gone from riding praise from Doc Watson and the kind mentoring from David Rawlings ….
Produced by T Bone Burnett, the new Secret Sisters album called Put Your Needle Down—the sister duo’s first record in nearly four years—was produced by T Bone Burnett. T Bone Burnett produced this sophomore effort, and lending his efforts in a production role was T Bone Burnett. T Bone Burnett, T Bone Burnett, T Bone Burnett.
For the first time in the last half decade, the Grand Ole Opry is poised to induct a traditionally-leaning country music act into its distinct and coveted roster of permanent members. Opry member Marty Stuart surprised Old Crow Medicine Show on the Opry stage tonight (8-16) with an invitation to join the storied institution during Old Crow’s scheduled performance.
Lonesome Wyatt is a pioneer of Gothic country with his band Those Poor Bastards, and one of the originators of underground country whose song “Pills I Took” was covered by Hank Williams III on his landmark album Straight to Hell, he is one of the few artists who will never be forgotten regardless of the long-term fortune of the underground country sub-genre.
Many of the bold changes in the direction of popular music begin with artists that are too fey, too polarizing to become popular themselves. So it takes others who understand how to soften music with sensibilities to make it accessible to the masses, and hopefully, if time is on their side, transect the popularity timeline, resulting in superstardom.
Wednesday night (9-12-2012) country music’s mother church The Ryman Auditorium was alive with the sounds of The 2012 Americana Music Awards that saw an always talented, eclectic (and sometimes confusing) flock of musicians, songwriters, and performers amass to give credit to the best and brightest of the year.
Doc Watson’s family has been called to his bedside at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC. The 89-year-old folk and bluegrass guitar legend’s heath issues started on Monday (5-21) after a fall at his home. No bones were broken, but the incident exposed other health problems. Watson’s condition never improved from “critical” and he remains in Wake Forest Baptist’s Intensive Care Unit.
When I first heard Old Crow’s self-titled album, I ate it right up. With instant classics like “Tell It To Me” and “Wagon Wheel,” OCMS became a popular band for such a rootsy, raw sound, and a major influence in alt-country/roots music. But as I listened to that album and their subsequent releases, my mood […]