Kenny Rogers is not on death’s door, despite misleading reports to the contrary, and some continuing health problems. The 80-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer has been hospitalized for dehydration in Georgia, and continues to remain in medical care to undergo physical therapy.
Mel Tillis was known for many accomplishments in music, but he’s also known to a generation as being one of the most famous people with the speech impediment known as stuttering. In the 80’s, Whataburger decided to take the initiative with their famous stammering spokesperson to make a point and inspire people.
To put it bluntly, the ability of Blackbird Presents to curate talent for events is pretty terrible, and appears to be done without any true understanding of the layout of the current country music landscape. Some of the invites for these Blackbird Presents events seem so incredibly blind to the realities present in country music fandom, it’s remarkable.
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…
The next trend in country may not be defined by a style or a sound, but who is involved in it. But if collaborations will be the next big trend, how about putting out just a little bit of effort to make sure that the great talent that is going unrecognized in country music itself gets some love?
Kenny Rogers officially announced his retirement on September 25th, along with a final farewell tour, as part of an interview on NBC’s Today Show. At the time, Rogers cited wanting to spend more time with his 11-year-old twin boys, and not being able to get around the stage due to limited mobility as the primary reasons he was deciding to call it quits.
This was the news from Country Music Hall of Famer Kenny Rogers this morning on The Today Show when he stopped by the set to promote his new Christmas album, Once Again It’s Christmas. After over 100 million albums sold worldwide, over 120 charted singles in country and other genres, and a semi-failed chain of Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken restaurants, The Gambler is bidding his career adieu.
If you watch the video for “We Are The World” (see below) or look at any of the pictures from the recording session, Waylon Jennings is nowhere to be found. That’s because even though he was selected to be one of the 45 artists to participate in the recording session, he walked out in a huff in a moment what would be the most controversial and contentious junctures in the song’s recording.
Is Dolly Parton a “Badass”? You bet she is. And for her birthday (Jan. 19th), let’s articulate 10 reasons (actually twelve) why the the platinum blonde buxom country music legend still kicking ass at age 68 should be considered a badass by everyone. And by the way, yes I know the term “badass” may seem a little strange to reference Dolly Parton with.
When you talk about an artist known as a songwriter first, you tend to look for the strength in the lyric. But Caitliyn Smith is very much a multi-tool performer, and her vocals can rival any in country music’s top tier, and she’s a great musician as well. Mostly known by industry types as a songwriter whose pen to paper has resulted in some very memorable cuts.
The Gambler Kenny Rogers has put his palatial $4.8 million-dollar palace on the market in Atlanta, and the 12,00 square foot home that features six bedrooms, eight full baths, an elevator, 10 fireplaces, a pool, a home theater, and a Roman spa on 1.26-acres is enough to make you ooh and ahh. But when Saving Country Music took a more detailed look at some of the captions for the pictures…
One enterprising town in East Tennessee called Lake City just a little north of Knoxville saw where the lack of a true Rocky Top, Tennessee could be an opportunity. Looking to boost tourism to the town of around 2,000, Lake City’s city council voted on November 7th, 2013 to petition the Tennessee State Assembly and have the town’s name officially changed to Rocky Top.
It’s that time of year again when we’re on the verge of hearing who the next class of inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame will be. Though the date seems to be getting later and later each year (last year it stretched all the way to April 10th—2012 was announced on March 6th), as soon as spring starts to break, you can be assured an announcement is coming soon.
The 56th Annual Grammy Awards transpire tonight at 7 PM Central, 8 PM Eastern, 5 PM Pacific on CBS. This is your rundown for things to watch for, the country performances and collaborations, a rundown of the nominees and my picks and prognostications.
With 34 CMA Awards, over 20 Grammys, and and some 80 million records sold between the two, they both have seen their share of overwhelming commercial success, public notoriety, and peer recognition. But over the last few years the writing has been on the wall that their time has come, and their days of widespread radio play and big awards are over. And so what did these two men do?
The American Trilogy era from Mickey Newbury’s body of work has become an absolute wellspring of musical material for other artists, and one that helped lay the groundwork for country music’s Outlaw era. A somewhat reclusive character, the case could be made that Mickey Newbury was one of the very first, if not the first true American country music “Outlaw.”
2012 was a high profile year for Halls of Fame. From the kilted screecher Axl Rose pulling like a Sex Pistol and telling the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to kiss off, to the Baseball Hall of Fame not inducting a single member as the steroid era falls like a shadow on the eligibility timeline. The Country Music Hall of Fame has kept its legitimacy and honor over the years by being an exclusive get…
Pending approval by federal regulators, the Disney Corporation has secured a deal to buy the institution of country music for $10.5 billion. The deal apparently would include all of country music’s major labels and their rosters of artists, institutions like the Country Music Hall of Fame and The Grand Ole Opry, award shows, and the naming rights to the now defunct restaurant chain “Kenny Rogers Roasters.”
This morning the country music world was turned on its head when Billboard, the longest-running and most respected publisher of music charts, decided it was making sweeping changes to the way singles are judged in country. If Billboard’s rules stay in place,the effects could be somewhere between dramatic and historic.
The Country Music Anti-Christ, Big Machine Records owner Scott Borchetta was on American Public Media on Friday and said on Taylor Swift and pop country, “If you don’t want to consider it country, I really don’t care. That means nothing to me.” He defined country as, “Whatever fans of country music listen to and like. It’s younger. It’s youth.”
This album is not the worst album ever put out in country music. With the advent of country rap, “New Outlaw” country, and the laundry list approach to country music in general, pop country now finds itself in a bit of a haven from the harshest of criticisms. What Lionel Ritchie’s Tuskegee album does hold the distinction of being is country music’s most embarrassing album put out to date.