If you want a perfect example of why some of these gross inequities pervade the music industry, one great example is the way the return of Jessica Simpson to music has been so slavishly lauded by the press.
You don’t enjoy SXSW—the annual musical gathering in Austin, Texas every mid March. You endure it. You survive it. Here are Saving Country Music’s biggest takeaways from SXSW 2025.
It’s about food. It’s about land stewardship. It’s about sustainable ranching practices. And it’s also about music. It’s the Old Salt Music Festival. It’s a small festival, but one with a very big music lineup.
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats.
Welcome to Saving Country Music’s most comprehensive guide to music in a given year, The Essential Albums List. It includes the “Most Essential” Albums, and then other albums reviewed and deemed worthy.
Since the Grammy Awards are one of the few awards that weigh artistic merit over commercial success, it makes it a bit more important to pay attention to for fans and advocates of independent artists.
Sagebrush has been a music venue, bar, and business for over 70 years. The building was first built in the 1940s as an army barracks. It later became “Gil’s Club” in 1955.
It was one of the ages at Austin, TX’s Moody Theater on February 18, 2024 for the 10th Annual gathering of the Ameripolitan Awards founded by Dale Watson along with his wife Celine Lee.
Post Malone’s “country” album “F-1 Trillion” isn’t even out for another month, and he’s already dominating the narrative at a time when country music was finally dominating much of the narrative in popular music all on its own.
On “Borned In Ya,” Melissa Carper leans into her strengths even more by worrying less about genre, and more about era, while emphasizing what is quietly brilliant about her approach to songwriting.
You better like Country music with a ‘C’ because it’s coming at you hard and heavy in this playlist update. It includes tons of upbeat twang just in time for the heart of the summer, and just as country has never been hotter.
The 2nd half of 2024 promises to be a very big and very busy time when it comes to album releases in country and roots music. Below you can find a list of Saving Country Music’s top recommended albums.
“People call me retro or throwback, and I’ve been OK with that,” Carper says. “But, I feel like I’m still creating something new. I’m taking styles and blending things in a way that maybe hasn’t been done before.”
Texas music songwriter and performer Kelly Willis, bass player and throwback marvel Melissa Carper, and country traditionalists/killer guitar player Brennen Leigh have been an occasional tour bill over the last couple of years.
It’s an embarrassment of riches on the latest playlist update, with the list once again bursting at the seams and being extended from 25 to 28 just to make room for all the great songs being released at the moment.
In 2024, everything that Dale Watson must have dreamed up as his ideal fantasy of what the Ameripolitan Awards could become was finally realized when it returned to Austin where it was originally held.
Do you feel a ripple in the space/time continuum? It’s because three of the most super powered women of country have joined forces to save country music and vanquish the forces of evil.
For sure, the big names that the Grammys tend to favor will get theirs. But let’s make sure that the names that don’t enjoy media darling status and might get overlooked in the process also receive attention.
For two days before the awards show transpired, performances took place at the stately Guesthouse at Graceland in Memphis showcasing some of the greatest up-and-coming and independent talent from country, roots, and rockabilly—or “Ameripolitan” as we call it in this instance.
Under the maxim of “When opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door,” the Ameripolitan Awards were born to promote music with a prominent roots influence often ignored by the rest of the music industry. First held in Austin for a few years before moving to Memphis…
It’s been a couple of years since the Dale Watson-founded Ameripolitan Awards and the corresponding weekend of events have occurred due to COVID-19. But 2023 promises to be a rousing comeback with a stellar lineup of musicians slated to perform February 17th to 19th in Memphis, Tennessee.
For now the second time in a row and in as many years, Melissa Carper and her cohorts have crafted an exquisite work of audio goodness that mesmerizes with its wayback sound and style, stealing you to a simpler era in music when everything made more sense, and the foundations of music were set.
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats, or you can just use the song, artist, and album recommendations.
An important subset of the country/roots revolution we’re currently enjoying is women who are fearlessly hearkening back to the very earliest times of American music before it was all corrupted by fads and financial incentives. This is where Sierra Ferrell has found fertile ground, and so has Melissa Carper.