The last time Arlo McKinley released a record, the darn thing hauled off and won Saving Country Music’s Album of the Year. All the more reason to not temper excitement that he’s just announced his second album on John Prine’s Oh Boy Records.
One of the great things about The Wooks is you could pick them up and drop them smack dab in the middle of a bluegrass festival, or a punk club in Brooklyn, or a honky tonk in Texas, or a hipster bar in Berkeley, and they would immediately become a favorite band.
It seems these days that life pinballs back and forth from one disaster to another. You almost have to be reminded that on December 10th, a cluster of tornadoes ravaged Western Kentucky and the surrounding areas and states, leaving a large swath of destruction.
The tornadoes that ravaged large swaths of Western Kentucky on December 10th struck at the very heart of country music’s heartland, and what’s become the launching point for the current country music revolution led very much by artists from Kentucky.
Listen ladies and gentlemen, it’s not just a hypothetical that when a song gets featured on Paramount’s Yellowstone series it’s a big deal. What’s going on at the moment is a musical phenomenon helping to support independent country music.
Steve Poltz has morphed into an bonafide underground folk hero. His songs work like kids songs for adults, similar to the songwriting legacy of John Prine. Poltz’s storytelling skills in the live setting rival or surpass the very titans of the craft such as Todd Snider.
Embracing and the cliché nature of what is otherwise an excellent country song, switching out some honky tonk piano at the start and then revisiting the fiddle start off later in the song allows Tyler Childers to smear his own DNA on the track, while still being respectful to the original composition.
Singer, performer, guitarist, and songwriter Nanci Griffith who was known for her foundational influence on Texas music, and for contributing greatly to the Americana community in Nashville passed away on Friday, August 13th at the age of 68.
“This is big,” she said to her fans. “Now is the time to grow and expand. I’m thrilled to be joining forces with Oh Boy Records to release ‘American Siren.’ I’m honored that I get to be part of John Prine’s legacy. And I am thrilled to tell you that you, my fans, were an integral part of this.”
“What is country music?!” This is what thousands of country music fans screamed at their televisions on Tuesday, June 8th when they were taken by surprise to see one of the questions on the TV game show dealt with one of the most iconic songs in country history.
Before the pandemic, whenever an important artist in country and roots music passed away, it was customary for folks to gather in a remembrance in Nashville. For obvious reasons, that couldn’t happen in a timely fashion for John Prine, who died on April 7th, 2020.
So often when an artist or band announces or releases an album with a star producer assisting them, it’s the star producer whose name preempts the actual artists themselves in headlines and promotional copy. That’s never happened with the projects the Grammy-winning David Ferguson has produced.
Releasing it solely on YouTube, and addressing it simply as an “Outlaw Classic Country Cover, Played and Sang in real time no editing,” his slowed-down and echo-rich version of the country classic clocks in at almost 7 minutes, and is being lapped up by thirsty and grateful Hank3 fans.
Sturgill Simpson in conjunction with Oh Boy Records has released a rendition of the classic John Prine song “Paradise.” The song will appear on the John Prine tribute album ‘Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows Vol. 2,’ but there is a deeper story behind how the track came about.
Many know the “perfect Country & Western song” is “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” performed by David Allan Coe, and written by Steve Goodman. Or at least, that’s how David Allan Coe and Steve Goodman presented it. But what many don’t know is that John Prine was a co-writer of the song.
Leave behind all of that defanged country, moldy folk, reconstituted indie rock, derivative roots pop, and pallid white boy soul they try to peddle these days as “Americana,” and pin your ears to what this virtually unknown mother from middle America is doing, because it’s leagues better than most.
ohn Prine was the big winner posthumously from the 2021 Grammy Awards and the Premier Ceremony that takes place before the proper telecast. Taking home two Grammy Awards, both for his final recorded song, “I Remember Everything,” he became the most awarded artist from the roots.
After five decades of paying dues and all that hard work paying off, John Prine chose to treat himself to his dream car—a Porsche 911 Turbo in 2019. It wasn’t a brand new model mind you. It was a 2008. But it was said to be in mint condition, with barely any miles on it.
The majority of the high-profile bellyaching about the Grammys is coming from self-absorbed millionaire entertainers whose livelihoods and legacies are secured. It’s selfish and shortsighted of them to criticize an organization that gives the majority of its awards to deserving artists.
Every year the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville seats a variety of names from throughout the country and roots world in what they call their American Currents exhibit. This is the opportunity for artists that you may not normally see an exhibit for get an opportunity to be featured.
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.
A Saving Country Music ‘Song of the Year’ nominee is not just your favorite ditty that gets stuck in your head. These are songs that have the power to change hearts and change lives, open you up new ideas or ways of thinking, or unlock memories or emotions you haven’t felt in years.
“I’ll go play whatever gig wants me to come and play. I will definitely tour with the bluegrass,” Sturgill Simpson said in a new interview out of Scotland, where he also addressed numerous other subjects, including his recent production work.
The 2021 Grammy Award nominees were announced on Tuesday (11/24), and as can be expected, there is some good, some bad, many worthy nominations, a few probably born of virtue signaling as you can expect. But overall, it’s about par for the course.