The Field & Stream Music Festival has been cancelled for the second year in a row. The festival was set to be held in Winnsboro, South Carolina October 3-5, 2025
lan Jackson, Sturgill Simpson, Miranda Lambert, and what’s left of Lynyrd Skynyrd will be the headliners of the 3rd annual Two Step Inn Festival. They will join 30+ other artists across three stages.
As we look back on 2023 and before we look forward to 2024, it’s important we take the time to pay tribute to the important individuals in country and roots music who left us over the last year.
It may not have formed the subgenre officially, but Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) released 50 years ago this week sent Southern rock into the stratosphere.
A shiver-inducing, spectacularly sung and written tour de force, it substantiates all your suspicions that this young man is a signature songwriter of this generation.
The 2023 CMT Awards could very well go down in country music history as a significant moment, but it won’t be for the reasons the producers of the presentation or their proponents in the media hoped for, or will purport it to be. And no, we’re not just talking about the polarizing political moments…
As is often the case with legacy bands, the name of Lynyrd Skynyrd will live on in live performances, and likely for years to come. But the final living piece and last original member of what most consider the premier and most defining Southern rock band has passed on.
Held on the same grounds as the massive Rocklahoma gathering, Born & Raised boasted one of the best lineups all year on an incredibly crowded weekend. Just the Friday night lineup alone was worth the effort, with some of the best songwriters and performers in all of country music booked one after another.
Country music is country music, and the best definition of what country music is, is that you know it when you hear it. It’s self-evident. But the genre has birthed many subgenres, many stylistic movements over the years, and at times has seen a splintering and Balkanization.
Even if you have to sell an internal organ to swing it, you still may want to consider how to get your ass to the Born & Raised Festival on September 16th, 17th, and 18th in Pryor, Oklahoma, just east of Tulsa in 2022. After experiencing the festival in 2021 on the Rocklahoma site…
Something tells me is that if you put Joe Rogan, Neil Young, and Jordan Peterson all together, standing in front of the Robert’s Western World stage, enjoying a fried bologna sandwich, a Moon Pie, and a PBR, the brotherhood of man would prevail.
At the time of Rowdy’s death, The Steel Woods were in the midst of preparing to release what they believe to be their magnum opus, written and recorded with Rowdy called ‘All Of Your Stones.’ To honor Jason “Rowdy” Cope and to bring his final work to life, they are soldering forward.
Unless you were there in person, you missed it. But now we’ll all get the opportunity to see the tribute concert that transpired on April 6th, 2017, when a hefty list of musical talent all assembled at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to pay tribute to the legendary Merle Haggard.
There is no doubt that by any objective assessment, when it comes to the world of creative types in the realm of music or otherwise, their ranks tend to veer more towards liberal ideals when it comes to politics. But that in no way excludes the gift of creativity from people who happen to be more conservative or independent of mindset.
Bass player Larry Junstrom, who was one of the founding members of preeminent Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the long-time bass player for .38 Special, has passed away at the age of 70. A classmate of Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Bob Burn, he helped form Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1964.
Cody Jinks continues to be rewarded with bigger opportunities. The legendary Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (or what’s left of it) has just tapped the Ft. Worth native to open select shows in a new round of dates just announced as part of their farewell tour.
An iconic guitar owned by Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and that once was stolen from the “Sweet Home Alabama” co-writer at gunpoint, is now in the custody of the King of Americana, Jason Isbell. “Don’t think I’ve played a finer electric guitar than this one. It haunts me now,” Isbell said after playing it the first time.
Southern rock gods Blackberry Smoke have just added even more dates to an already-stacked 2019 tour schedule, but these come with an interesting wrinkle. Piggy backing off of the release of their Southern Ground Sessions EP, they’ll be playing a series of acoustic-only shows.
The co-writer of “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Saturday Night Special,” and one of the seminal members of Lynyrd Skynyrd during their heyday has passed away. Ed King, the legendary guitarist who wrote the iconic “Sweet Home Alabama” guitar riff, passed away at his home in Nashville on Wednesday, August 22nd.
Southern rock Gods Lynyrd Skynyrd—or at least what’s left of them—have announced a massive final farewell tour, planning to leave the stage afterwards for good in the midst of a few of the post-1977 crash member’s declining health, including primary leader Gary Rossington who has suffered from heart issues over the past few years.
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.
Gary Rossington, the guitar player and last original member of the iconic Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd still playing in the current lineup, suffered a major heart attack on Thursday, October 8th according to Rossington’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth. Rossington had to undergo surgery, will need further surgery soon, but is currently resting under observation.
The highly-influential Southern rock band The Black Crowes has officially broken up according to a statement released today from the band’s long-time guitar player Rich Robinson. The band was founded 24 years ago by Rich and his brother and singer for the band Chris Robinson. According to Rich Robinson, the issue came down to a spat over money with his brother.
In the fall of 2012 when Ronnie Dunn (of Brooks & Dunn) was looking to write and record material for his upcoming album, he reached out to Texas music songwriting guru Ray Wylie Hubbard after falling in love with the gritty sound Hubbard imbibes on all his records. Dunn flew into Austin as Ray Wylie wrangled up an A-list of Austin musicians to to participate in a recording session.