What is Folk Alliance? Well, it’s part festival, part industry conference, part gathering of the tribes. Most importantly though, it’s about the most ground level assemblage of music talent each year.
Not all birthday bashes are built the same. When you’re paying tribute to a country legend on their 100th birthday, you pull out all the stops, or at least that’s what the Queen of Texas music Summer Dean did.
For two days before the awards show transpired, performances took place at the stately Guesthouse at Graceland in Memphis showcasing some of the greatest up-and-coming and independent talent from country, roots, and rockabilly—or “Ameripolitan” as we call it in this instance.
And now for something a bit off the beaten path, San Antonio’s resident throwback country weirdo freak, Garrett T. Capps, has tapped into country music’s underutilized cosmic influences in a collaboration with NASA Country, and created an immersive experience titled under the name ‘People are Beautiful.’
It’s been a couple of years since the Dale Watson-founded Ameripolitan Awards and the corresponding weekend of events have occurred due to COVID-19. But 2023 promises to be a rousing comeback with a stellar lineup of musicians slated to perform February 17th to 19th in Memphis, Tennessee.
Well damn, the summer of 2021 didn’t exactly turn out like we all had planned. But country music is the crutch we all lean on when times get tough, or heartbreak and disappointment creeps into our lives. So here’s a newly-freshened selection of some the best country stuff.
Garrett T. Capps is the city of San Antonio’s resident cosmic country gonzo honky tonk weirdo freak, and if you’re looking to unwind from, well, pretty much everything these days, cue this thing up and you’ll immediately be letting loose and losing your long face.
Once or twice a year, you have one of these mega release days in country music where the albums are so important, and the amount of releases so daunting, you need a field guide, or a Sherpa to help shepherd you through it all. Luckily you have little ol’ Saving Country Music.
Not all playlist updates are built the same. Sometimes you’re hunting and pecking for new songs that are worthy to add, and sometimes you can wait to share a stacked draft class of some of the finest country music you can find in the modern era. This particular update is the latter kind.
Garrett T. Capps is like a country artist without a country. Or more like a country artist without a planet. Space country is what he likes to call his music to attempt to convey the atmospheric and psychedelic flavoring of his brand of honky tonk. It’s a little bit out there, but more country and grounded than you might think.
What happens at Pickathon doesn’t stay at Pickathon. It reverberates throughout the music world, from the music and moments that spread word-of-mouth to help launch music careers. This was underscored and bolded in 2019 at the beautiful Pendarvis Farm just outside of Portland.
Saving Country Music’s home festival, and the place where Sturgill Simpson was discovered, a.k.a. the Pickathon Festival just outside of Portland, OR has just announced their initial 2019 lineup, and it includes a lot of worthy names from the country and roots world and beyond who will assemble at the Pendarvis Farm.