When I sat down to name the top 10 live performances of 2011 as seen through my eyes, I didn’t know what a mess I was making for myself, and it wasn’t until then that I realized what a power packed year for live music it has been. My 10 stretched to 15 fast, and I’m still leaving many live acts out.
There is nothing I take more seriously than naming what I think is the best album of any calendar year. The Album of the Year offers a guidepost for future generations to find the best music that was forgotten by the mainstream, while at the same time being a current ambassador to the mainstream to illustrate what great music they are overlooking.
I am very excited to announce a unique partnership between Saving Country Music, Hillgrass Bluebilly Records & Entertainment, and Muddy Roots Music (The Muddy Roots Festivals) to bring together the 5th Annual XSXSW showcase, aka XSXSW 5, as part of the annual mid-March gathering of the tribes in Austin, TX known as South By Southwest.
Frequent visitors to Saving Country Music know how much of a proponent of Reno, NV’s Hellbound Glory I am. If you want to accuse Saving Country Music of being the house organ of Hellbound Glory, guilty as charged. I’m not just drinking the Hellbound Kool-Aid, I’m slapping two fingers on the inside of my arm, looking for a vein to mainline the stuff right in.
Following this success and attention to video, many independent artists are making video a bigger priority. And not just one video, but multiple videos, “serial” video releases if you will, of both viral and more conceptualized varieties, to keep their music in the forefront of fan’s minds over a longer period than just an album’s initial release.
The release of Hellbound Glory’s newest album Damaged Goods on November 15th symbolizes a big opportunity for independent country to put its best foot forward in the form of one of the most cunning and engaging songwriters country music boasts at any level. I talked to Leroy just before a show at The Dirty Dog Saloon in Austin, TX on Oct 21st about Damaged Goods.
Ahead of the release of their new album Damaged Goods, Reno, NV’s Hellbound Glory has released a new song from it called “You Better Hope You Die Young”. The song can be heard in it’s entirety here. Damaged Goods will be out November 15th on Rusty Knuckles, and 500 copies will also be available in a limited-edition vinyl LP with a digital download card.
Saving Country Music’s 2010 Album of the Year winner Hellbound Glory has finally set a release date for their much-anticipated third record. Damaged Goods will be out November 15th on Rusty Knuckles, and 500 copies will also be available in a limited-edition vinyl LP with a digital download card. The album will be available on Amazon and iTunes, and CD purchase from the band on the road.
Well, we’ve just about reached the half way point of 2011, and let me level with you folks, so far this has been a down year for music. Yes, there’s been a few good projects and some surprises as well, but generally speaking it’s been pretty bleak compared to 2010, which was such a bumper year for music.
Reno, Nevada’s Hellbound Glory has announced plans for a brand new album. The working title is Damaged Goods, and it is set to be out by the end of this summer. But wait Don Pardo, there’s more. Frontman, singer, and songwriter Leroy Virgil is also working on an EP for his more signer/songwriter-oriented side project called “The Excavators” that has the tentative title of Underground.
Old Highs and Hellbound came into my music world at the same time, so attention for their first major release from 2008, Scumbag Country, got pushed aside for the more up-to-date project. But having recently seen the band at South by Southwest, it spurned me to go back and really delve into the recorded versions of these songs. And I dare say, as much as I’ve showered Old Highs with praise, Scumbag Country might even be better…
On March 27th, 2011, Hellbound Glory made a tour stop at Will’s Pub in Orlando, FL. Down a man on the tour to begin with, then down their bass player a few nights before, with their fill-in steel player filling in on bass the day after getting beat up by a bunch of bikers, the remaining members rallied, reached down deep, and pulled out a remarkable, rememberable performance as a power trio that will forever be known as “The Concert in the Cracker Swamp”.
Just announced, this Sunday night (3-27), Hellbound Glory will be broadcasting their performance at Will’s Pub in Orlando, FL on SCM LIVE! Tune in at 9 PM Eastern, 8 Central for opening act Lone Wolf OMB, who just released his debut album a few weeks ago. I just had the fortune of seeing Hellbound Glory less than a week ago at South by Southwest. It’s a rarity to get such a great mix of top notch songwriting, with an energetic…
South by Southwest last year was my first full on experience with the event that brings over 8,000 bands from all over the world to Austin for 5 days of musical mayhem, and it went great. With proper pacing and maybe a little luck, I got everything out of the experience I could ever want. 2011 was one of those experiences you hear many people talk about that is proceeded by “…and I will never go back.”
Despite my SXSW preview blogs being horrifically under-read, and misunderstood as boastful bragging pieces about what others can’t experience instead of creative ways to promote artists I may otherwise not be able to talk about, and despite Saving Country Music being eaten by Facebook, ripped in half by XXX, and the last vestiges of readers descending into pointless polarized rants about Hank III and Jamey Johnson…
For those that have never been to SXSW, the whole thing is broken down into showcases. A showcase can be put on by a record label, a booking agency, a publicity agency, a radio station, a blog, it doesn’t matter. And where doesn’t matter either. Wherever there is space in or near downtown Austin, there’s a band playing. Find yourself a space and make it happen!
Of course, not every one can be here, but I will be, and leading up to SXSW, I will be doing my best to get everyone ready for the big shindig, including everyone that cannot attend. As I prepare for it, cover it, and then wrap it up, I’ll do my best to encapsulate the experience for everyone, and through articles, pictures, videos, audio, and interviews, help you live the experience vicariously through me, and through osmosis hopefully turn you on to some great music.
A couple big bits of news have just oozed out of the deep cracker swap of interior Florida like Jed Clampett’s bubblin’ crude. The first is that up and coming one man band “Lone Wolf”, who was heard first right here on Saving Country Music’s SCM LIVE on Reverend Nix’s “Mojo Medicine Show” has announced his debut album, and Lowebow Fest will be broadcast in its entirety on SCM LIVE!
I’m not giving any answers here, only questions and concerns. Not criticisms, just observations. I have severe, deep loyalty to Hank III, but I am loyal to the music above any man. As inexplicable as it is to think that Shooter Jennings has now taken the helm from Hank III in the effort to help highly-talented up and coming country bands, it is also undeniable.
Yes Spring is beginning to sprung, in some places at least, and as highways are reopened and paroles lifted, the great mass of musicians get ready once again to hit the open road. Of greatest importance to Saving Country Music, this includes the 2010 Album of the Year winner Hellbound Glory, and fast-rising neo-traditionalist Lucky Tubb & his Modern Day Troubadours. Full tours have just been announced from Road Bound Booking (see dates below), as well as additional dates for Wayne “The Train” Hancock & Bob Wayne. (See full Road Bound Booking calendar).
As I said in the nominations, all four albums could have won on any given year, and simply by the strength of the 2010 field, they each were unfairly pitted against each other. When all the dust settled, I was still left with two albums that were both masterpieces, both great examples of real country, both accessible and great ambassadors for the independent country movement…
A month or so ago when I attended a JB Beverley show here in Austin, it occurred to me how much Wayne “The Train” Hancock has emerged as a leader and true elder of the music in the last year. That night he made his way on stage with The Wayward Drifters, and later collaborated with them on a song back at his house. And now on the upcoming Bob Wayne release from Century Media, “The Train” has lent his name once again to an emerging star.
As with the Albums of the Year, 2010 will go down as a high water mark for the amount of top quality songs released.
A Song of the Year can’t just be good, it has to touch you. You have to be a different person, in whatever small way, after listening to it. Points are rewarded for things like catchiness and accessibility, but you’ll have to get at least a little bit deep to makes this year’s list. Great songs speak to many people, but to each individual in different ways. We also saw a lot of songs this year with an epic approach, whose sheer vision and grand design deserves to be highlighted.
2010 has been a bumper crop year for outstanding REAL/Outlaw/roots/underground/insurgent country to say the least. The result is some projects that may have been serious candidates for Saving Country Music’s Album of the Year in another calendar cycle will not appear, and the requirements must become even more rigorous. For an album to be considered this year, it must be a top-caliber project not just for this year, but for all-time.