Country traditionalist Big City Brian Wright isn’t the first to record a country trucker album, and he won’t be the last. But he is the first to take a country trucker album, and make it fly.
If you’re looking for the band that veritably defines what Texas country music is today at its zenith of appeal and popularity, it is the Randy Rogers Band, period. And if you’re looking for a record that veritably defines the Randy Rogers Band, Homecoming might not be a bad choice.
It’s as if a hole was ripped open in the space-time continuum, and out walked some bygone baby-faced character from an era 60 years earlier than the present, serenading our famished ears with classic country songs so fetching in tones…
Where in the world has Wade Hayes been? He’s been hiding in the same dark honky tonk on the edge of town as actual county music for the last decade or so. How country is his latest record Who Saved Who? The title track is about the love of his dog if that gives you any indication. That’s to say his newest album is unapologetically country.
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.
The 10th annual 30A Songwriters Festival set for January 18-21, 2019 in Walton County, Florida will take on extra significance this year, and not just because it’s the event’s 10th Anniversary. Located in the Florida Panhandle, and just west of where the devastating Hurricane Michael made landfall in October.
A big issue with the Grand Ole Opry in recent years has been trying to get standing members to meet their performance obligations. Though the Opry loves to add high-profile names from country’s current radio stars, these performers tend to sign on to receive the distinction of being Opry members, but don’t actually want to play the appointed number of slots for membership.
There’s something about being a Texan that makes you regard what happens in Texas as being the most important thing in the world. It’s the center of the universe, so to speak. For Texans at least. So when Josh Abbott felt the need to pronounce his infidelity to the world in February of 2014, the little hamlets that harbor the support network for Texas music were sent reeling.
It’s the ACL Fest, Lollapalooza Bonnaroo, and Coachella, of Texas music all wrapped into one, but without the complex maze of performance areas and wristband access, legions of hipsters, and hackneyed joining of disparate music acts that scream of the monogenre forming in American music. Instead most, if not all of the performers at Larry Joe Taylor Fest know each other.
An important and beloved member of the Texas Music Scene passed away unexpectedly on Monday morning (10-20). Singer and songwriter Ronny Spears had just played a show at Hank’s in McKinney, TX with frequent collaborator and dear friend Robby White on Saturday night, and 36 hours later fans were shocked to hear of his passing. It was White who told Ronny Spears’ many fans the terrible news.
Texas singer-songwriter Radney Foster is on the lookout for ten guitars and a Del Rio amp that was stolen from him recently, including the 1988 Gibson J-100 he can be seen holding above, and a Martin D-28 that was the first guitar he ever bought. The guitars were taken recently from a locked storage unit in Nashville. Thieves apparently busted the door jamb to enter the locked unit.