It doesn’t matter who your favorite country artist is and how long you’ve been waiting for new music from them, virtually nobody has been waiting longer than Jamey Johnson fans. And they may have to wait a little bit longer. In a new interview, Jamey Johnson cites a concussion for his lack of recent output.
After spending years playing over 200 shows annually and pounding the pavement harder than most any band or artist, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s have been taking some well-deserved time off from the road to rest up, and to write and record some new songs for an upcoming album. But now it’s finally time to get back after it.
The Tumbleweed Festival, which is set to transpire in Sugar Creek, MO, just outside of Kansas City on July 28th and 29th, has just launched the always dicey proposition of an online poll to see what band will fill the festival’s final slot for their 2nd season beside headliners such as Jamey Johnson, Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, and Billy Joe Shaver.
Notch yet another #1 for Willie. 84 years of age, and Billboard’s new rules that register streaming data in the album tabulations can’t keep Willie Nelson from topping the charts this week with his first record of original material in three years, God’s Problem Child. Willie also notches another Top 10 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
The 2nd Annual Tumbleweed Festival set to transpire on the Missouri River in Sugar Creek, MO on July 28th and 29th, 2017 has just added to their already-impressive lineup. And the festival is not done there. Soon they will announce a contest to fill a final after hours performance slot for the fans of emerging Outlaw country artists to vote on.
A traditional like few others will transpire once again this summer when Willie Nelson celebrates the 4th of July by gathering together friends and family for his annual 4th of July Picnic. For the third year in a row, the event will be held at the Circuit of the Americas speedway just south of Austin, TX, and will include many long-standing invitees.
Not since maybe Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic in 2015 have we seen this beefy of an assemblage of true, hard-driving country music talent compiled in one place for the public’s listening edification. It’s called the Tumbleweed Festival, and with this lineup, they live up to the title of “America’s Outlaw Country Music Festival.”
Who knew actor Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a The Rock had such good taste in music? Well his 82.5 million followers on Instagram do now after Sunday evening he let his love for Cody Jinks, and specifically Cody’s song “Somewhere in the Middle” from his 2014 record ‘Less Wise’ be known.
Announced Tuesday (2-28), Jamey Johnson has signed a new deal with music rights organization SESAC. Though these rights organization deals happen all the time on Music Row, with artists moving back and forth from ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC for various reasons, this one feels significant if for no other reason than the rhetoric that accompanies it.
A tribute is finally planned for The Hag, and it promises to be a star-studded event. ‘Sing Me Back Home: The Music of Merle Haggard’ will take place at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Thursday, April 6th to honor what would have been Merle Haggard’s 80th birthday, and to mark the one year anniversary of his passing.
The 83-year-old Willie Nelson certainly isn’t slowing down for anything. In fact he’s been been releasing records a a pace quicker than one per year since signing with Sony’s Legacy Recordings, but those are not always recordings of original music. That will not be the case with his newest project called ‘God’s Problem Child.’
In the mid 80’s, it was Randy Travis and his neotraditional sound that led country music out of the great abyss of the earlier decade and returned country to its rightful place as a powerful voice for rural people in popular culture. With over 20 million records sold and his recent induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame…
Country protest songs are a dime a dozen these days, and in many cases have become just about as cliche as the pop country songs they criticize. It really takes a fresh angle or a unique twist to make a protest song resonate beyond the anger many folks have at the direction of today’s country music, and that is what Jamey Johnson and George Strait have done.
Strait played his first show at Gruene Hall on Saturday, February 21st, 1976—five years before releasing his first record, and only a few months removed from being honorably discharged from the Army. For his first gig, they charged $0.25 at the door, and according to Strait from the Gruene Hall stage Wednesday night, he made $7.00 total.
If you’re waiting for new music from Jamey Johnson, you best not hold your breath. This is what little can be gleaned from the reception a recent interviewer found when talking to Jamey Johnson on the subject, and receiving the answer “I’d rather not get into that right now.”
“I think right now it’s kind of trending back to more traditional country music, which is what I like and I like to do. So I’m glad to see that. But I can’t put anybody down for having success in the business, which is just tough … I’m not saying I have to like it, but I just know how tough it is.”
Willie Nelson, along with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, and Dave Matthews are the board members for the Farm Aid organization first launched in 1985, and all four will be performing at this year’s event being held in Bristow, Virginia at Jiffy Lube Live on September 17th. Along with the four headliners, this year’s Farm Aid features an impressive list of country music talent.
There’s not much worse than having a hankering for some new music from one of your favorite artists, but feeling like you’ve been waiting forever for it to happen. There are many reasons an artist or band may have a delay in output. But dammit, sometimes you feel like you just can’t wait. Here’s a few folks that it feels like are past due for new projects.
A big issue with the Grand Ole Opry in recent years has been trying to get standing members to meet their performance obligations. Though the Opry loves to add high-profile names from country’s current radio stars, these performers tend to sign on to receive the distinction of being Opry members, but don’t actually want to play the appointed number of slots for membership.
The “South” is the setting for the songs, and where the respective artists hail from, but “Family” is what makes this record universal for all listeners. And unlike many other concept records that may only have one or two songs that can be separated from the material, every song on “Southern Family” can exist independently, and many will go on to mark top-level career contributions to the artist’s musical canon.
Jamey Johnson’s backing band has gone through a major overhaul after multiple members were arrested in December. After Jamey’s show at the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, band members were arrested for possession of a controlled substance in the town of Hernando, Mississippi. Since the arrests, Jamey appears to have overhauled his backing band, which had been stable for many years prior.
Nothing Shines Like Neon has all the liquor, beer, bar scenes, and sultry interactions with lovers you might hear on some mainstream country record, except it tells the story from the opposite perspective—the more realistic perspective. It’s where libations aren’t just flowing to party hearty, but to help douse heartbreak.
Producer Dave Cobb—known for his work with Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and so many more—has signed on to be the new caretaker of the historic Studio ‘A’ on Music Row starting April 1st. Performer and pianist Ben Folds has been in charge of the space for the last 14 years, including helping to shepherd Studio ‘A’ through a stretch in 2014 where investors wanted to bulldoze it.
There’s something much interesting brewing that’s bigger than any one artist at the moment—an expansive concept record dealing with artists’ experiences growing up in the South. The project was first hinted at in April when the new Elektra deal was signed, and since then there’s been murmurings about Cobb’s concept record here and there, but now we’re finally beginning to piece together the details.