We didn’t really know what to expect from the Grand Ole Opry’s 100th Anniversary celebration on NBC Wednesday night (3-19). We hoped it would be a cavalcade of actual country stars singing actual country music.
During the Toby Keith tribute, Tyler Hubbard was scheduled to sing Toby Keith’s most simple and silly song, “Red Solo Cup.” If you had to hand off a song to a former member of Florida Georgia Line, it would be this one.
Lainey Wilson is the first woman in twelve years to win Entertainer of the Year. She’s only the 2nd woman to win it since 2000 (Taylor Swift won it twice). How in the world could Lainey Wilson pull off such a thing?
For all of its other flaws as an industry, country music and Nashville have always tried to give songwriters their due, establishing the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, and making sure songwriters share in awards. But until Joe Chambers came along, musicians continued to play a role as second fiddle.
American Aquarium and frontman BJ Barham have never been true country. But now they’re not just dipping their toes in the country water, their taking a full on plunge into the genre with the surprise release of a slew of country music covers.
One enterprising fan in Old Hickory, Tennessee decided to make life imitate art and reenact the story from one of Diffie’s most famous songs by scaling the town’s water tower, and painting “Billy Bob + Charlene” at the top of it in John Deere green.
As bad as 2020 has been for just about everything, believe it or not, country music got it worse than just about every other segment of music, entertainment, sports, etc. when it came to both the amount, and the major names that passed away in the last 12 months.
Among many other criticisms being lobbed at the 2020 CMA Awards broadcast on Wednesday (11-11), the lack of an In Memoriam segment, and specifically overlooking major deaths in country music such as John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Billy Joe Shaver have quite a few hopping mad.
The 2020 CMA Awards will transpire on Wednesday, November 11th (make sure to follow along with Saving Country Music’s LIVE blog), and this year it will be a tribute heavy affair. Tributes, remembrances, and the marking of anniversaries will be a big part of the presentation.
We shouldn’t be surprised that Jon Pardi is one of the few new mainstream stars who can rattle off a handful of country classics at a moments notice. He’s about as traditional as mainstream country gets. Hell most of today’s radio stars have little to no idea who Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, or the late great Joe Diffie even are.
90’s country star Joe Diffie was one of the first high-profile personalities in America to pass away due to complications from the Coronavirus. However a widely-circulated rumor that the Oklahoma native actually died of lung Cancer.
Country music seems to have been hit disproportionately hard when it comes to deaths and illnesses due to COVID-19, with the passing of Joe Diffie being one of the first big losses in music entertainment early in the pandemic. But if there was any silver lining, it’s that fans are purchasing, downloading, and streaming their music.
Western Swing legend and frontman of Asleep At The Wheel Ray Benson is the latest country artist to test positive for the Coronavirus. The 69-year-old who lives in the Austin area said on Tuesday morning (3-31) he’s been feeling tired for the last 10 days. He was tested Monday and was positive for COVID-19.
“The Pickup Man” Joe Diffie has died due to complications from the Coronavirus. After announcing on Friday, March 27th that he had contracted COVID-19 and was receiving treatment for the illness, his publicist and family have confirmed that he passed away on Sunday, March 29th. He was 61-years-old.
The current “Queen of Bluegrass” Rhonda Vincent will be the next member of the Grand Ole Opry. Surprised on stage by mentor Jeannie Seely Friday night (2-28) during the Grand Ole Opry presentation, Vincent had to ask Seely twice if she was serious (which of course she was), before Vincent responded “Absolutely, 100%. Oh my gosh.”
The commonality of criticizing country radio within the ranks of country music’s classic and independent fans is pretty severe, and for good reason. Generally speaking, country radio is a blob of nationalized playlists and unimaginative music, and no curation by the DJs on the ground in local markets. But this doesn’t mean all radio is bad.
Keith Whitley is gone, but he will not be forgotten. And the legacy he left behind during his short and troubled life still reverberates throughout country music today, and constitutes a legacy that is nothing short of legendary. This is one of the reasons the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville chose to commission an exhibit and tribute concert.
Not since Keith Urban have we witnessed an artist trying so transparently to defy their age, and grasp for radio relevancy. “Young As We Are Tonight” is just bad all around, from the writing to the production. And “Young As We Are Tonight” will not go anywhere.
On Saturday night (5-31), Valory Music Group artist Brantley Gilbert headlined the Blue Ridge Music Festival in Salem, Virginia, with Thomas Rhett, ABC Nashville actress and singer Clare Bowen, and Travis Tritt opening for him. Apparently what transpired stimulated Travis Tritt to take to Twitter to question the level of respect he and his fellow openers were treated with.
So here you go ladies and gentlemen, the worst of the worst that 2013 had to offer in country music. As you might suspect, a list of mainstream country’s worst misdeeds in 2013 is mostly populated by an ear-serrating cacophony of country rap songs. With only a couple of exceptions, country rap has replaced what last year at this time was a parade of laundry list-themed songs.
“Songs About Trucks” performed by Wade Bowen and written by hot songwriting commodities Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally has become one of 2013’s big anti-hits with its off message take on truck songs and their daisy chains of clichés. It is only appropriate that Bowen’s anti-hit should be accompanied by an anti-video.
Who gives a shit what Zac Brown has to say? I do. We do. Are we the minority? Maybe, but the statistics show that our numbers are growing every day while mainstream music continues to circle the toilet hole of financial insolvency, trying to shore up their golden parachutes by instilling this sugar rush of completely vapid and talent-less hack acts that amount to nothing more than a harey carey maneuver.
So many of pop country’s celebrities have such a vacuous amount of life skills, without being propped up as pretty faces by the country music industry, they’d be clueless in the real world. Others probably have some skills outside of singing into Auto-tuners at concerts, and that’s probably what they should be doing instead of trying to be artists.
As you might suspect, at the halfway point of 2013 a list of mainstream country’s worst misdeeds is mostly populated by an ear-serrating cacophony of country rap. With only a couple of exceptions, country rap has replaced what last year at this time was a parade of laundry list-themed songs. Country rap has become the next devolving plateau in mainstream country.