Hank Jr.’s career has spanned so many decades, and has seen such major success over that time, that it was hard to pin him down as a Veteran or Modern Era inductee, but what was hard to argue with was that Bocephus belonged. 70 millions records sold, 5 total wins for Entertainer of the Year from the CMA and ACM Awards, 6 platinum records and 20 gold ones, 13 #1 albums, and 10 #1 singles…
Italian film composer Ennio Morricone passed away on Monday (7-6) at the age of 91. And though he will will always be remembered as the definitive mastermind behind the sounds and sonic imagination of the Spaghetti Western, it would be criminal to overlook the influence Morricone had on American country music.
These Opry performances during the Coronavirus have held a unique gravity due to the circumstances, and you can feel that weight in each song and moment. But sticking out like a sore thumb through the process has been the presence of pop country radio personality Bobby Bones.
Jan Howard’s death was marked with obituaries enumerating her many accomplishments in country music, including her hits, her collaborations with John Anderson, and her long tenure at the Grand Ole Opry. But when it comes to Jan Howard, it was just as much about the work she did off the stage, and out of the spotlight.
The world has been shuttered and turned upside down by the Coronavirus. But the Opry will continue on, refusing to break its storied tradition with its 4,916th consecutive Saturday night broadcast. There will be no backup band and no audience obviously. But the Opry will bring out the stars.
Reprising a touring concept that was first dreamed up in 2019 that seemed a little offbeat but worked very well according to attendees, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives will be joining The Steve Miller Band out on tour in 2020. Comedian and musician Gary Mule Deer will also play a supporting role on the tour.
In yet another sign that reigning Saving Country Music Artist of the Year Tyler Childers is one of the hottest commodities in country music at the moment, he has officially sold out his four-night “Country Squire Residency” at the Country Music Mother Church, The Ryman Auditorium, starting with his show Thursday evening (2-6).
Only seven other people have received the award, and Alan Jackson is only the fourth artist. George Jones won the award in 2015 posthumously, as did Merle Haggard in 2016. Marty Stuart also won the award in 2007. “That’s pretty good company there with two of my heroes of all time, George and Merle,” Alan Jackson said.
As easily predicted, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus won the 2019 CMA Award for Musical Event of the Year for their collaboration on the genre-bending summer smash “Old Town Road.” In a strange plot twist to “Old Town Road” winning a CMA Award, so does industrial artist Trent Reznor. He now has a CMA Awards, while many country legends don’t.
Something that became obvious while watching the Ken Burns documentary is a few of the egregious oversights the Country Music Hall of Fame has been a party to when it comes to its inductees. Unlike other Halls of Fame, The Country Music Hall of Fame is extremely selective of who they let in, only allowing three new members in each year.
If you’re wondering what you might look forward to listening to in the final portions of 2019 in country and Americana music, let this be your guide. Here’s all the information Saving Country Music has been able to compile on the most anticipated upcoming releases, along with a more extensive catalog of releases to have on your radar.
Undoubtedly, you could not tell the story of country music in the late 60’s and early 70’s without broaching the political upheaval and countercultural revolution roiling American society at the time. But the time spent on stories that were only proxies to country music bogged this episode down in stretches.
The fifth installment of the Ken Burns country music documentary zeroed in on the time period between 1964 and 1968, when the United States at large began to be embroiled in tumultuous times, and two separate epicenters in country music began to emerge. Arguably the most egalitarian of the episodes so far, it covered a lot of performers.
The first episode of the Ken Burns Country Music documentary tasked itself to define what country music is by delving deep into its origins and original purveyors. The second episode called “Hard Times” began the work of explaining why the music means so much to so many people.
Over seven years of full-time labor on the part of numerous people, over 101 interviews conducted, countless hours of archival work digging up old photographs, audio, video, and other vintage material, and an elongated year-long promotional effort finally culminated in the broadcast of the debut episode for the Ken Burns Country Music epic.
The broadcast of the Ken Burns-produced 8-part, 16-hour documentary on country music could very well be the most significant event to happen in country music in 2019, if not in the next few years. For country music to receive the expansive documentary treatment for America’s preeminent filmmaking archivist could have significant implications.
As first announced by Saving Country Music earlier this summer, Marty Stuart’s Magum Opus The Pilgrim is being reissued and for the first time on vinyl, along with an accompanying CD with 10 bonus tracks taken from the project and other recorded material Marty has amassed over the years. The 20th Anniversary Edition of The […]
A new album by the Dixie Chicks is on the way, and it’s no longer a matter of “if,” but “when.” Recent social media posts confirm the trio is working in the studio with super producer Jack Antonoff, and that a new record is coming “someday.” If they’re teasing us on social media already, that “someday” is more likely to be counted in months.
20 years ago this month, Marty Stuart released his conceptualized 20-song magnum opus The Pilgrim as his final album on a contract with MCA Nashville. A commercial flop that rendered no radio singles, it nonetheless went onto become one of the most revered releases in the Marty Stuart collection.
It’s been some 12 years since Travis Tritt released a proper studio album, but he’s been tiding fans over in the interim with releases from his dynamic live performances that have been keeping fans quite satiated. The latest is a new live video performance with his full band called ‘Travis Tritt: Homegrown.’
Tyler Childers has just singed to Sony’s RCA Records in a partnership with his own imprint called Hickman Holler, and will be releasing his latest record called Country Squier on August 2nd. Along with the new album, Tyler Childers has announced a bunch of new tour dates dubbed the “Country Squier Run.”
Marty Stuart, who’s the documentary’s lead contributor and a staunch preservationist of country music’s history, says the new film is “like the cavalry coming.” Marty Stuart says, “The traditional end of country music sometimes gets overshadowed by the contemporary … It’s an awesome gift.”
You’ll be hard pressed to present another country music personality more responsible for helping to save country music in the last quarter century than Marty Stuart. Though he never had the big hits as some of his contemporaries, his work both in the public eye and behind-the-scenes to preserve the legacy of country music is unparalleled.
Though it may seem like a strange pairing on the surface, remember Marty Stuart is still currently touring behind his latest record Way Out West, which tracks the lineage of country music on the West Coast from the Bakersfield Sound to the psychedelic influences of the 60’s and 70’s.