It’s fiddle. It’s steel guitar. It’s songs about raising hell. It’s sentimental songs about the most important things in life. Everybody’s all behind Zach Top, but Josh’s been doing 90s traditional country since the ’90s.
You can’t save country music while ignoring commercial country. One of the ways we address the mainstream is by highlighting the best albums in the mainstream in hopes they help influence country moving forward.
There is a positive sign that perhaps Randall King is finally getting his due. It only took half a decade and two album releases, but Warner Music is finally promoting a proper single to country radio.
18 songs is a lot to digest, but it goes down smooth when Randall King is serving them up. Though King’s neotraditional sound might be similar to others, what he has that many don’t is an actual country voice to compliment them.
It’s a new year with new singles and a lot of new albums on the way. If the stuff we’re getting early in 2024 is any indication, it’s going to be another good year for good country music.
Welcome to 2024, which we hope will be a prosperous year in country music. As we saw in 2023, the amount of releases coming out early in the year is a little light, but that doesn’t mean it won’t include some heavy hitters.
Jon Pardi is calling it the “Mr. Saturday Night World Tour,” but let’s just go ahead an label it the “mainstream country that doesn’t suck and actually sounds country” tour. That’s been Jon Pardi’s calling card for a while now, and he even kicked it up a notch with his recent album “Mr. Saturday Night.”
In 2022, something happened at the Grand Ole Opry that is only fair to label as historic. More so than any other year in its nearly 100-year existence, the coveted Grand Ole Opry debut was doled out to deserving artists from across the panorama, checking off bucket list items, populating glowing resume points…
Every year to make sure the best titles in mainstream country don’t get overlooked, and to encourage the quality in the mainstream to rise to the top, we run down the best mainstream country albums to compliment the Album of the Year nominees. Some years there is overlap.
Here is the 2022 Saving Country Music Christmas Playlist. It is country. It is good. It is all new recordings of both classics and original songs released in 2022, delicately curated to remove anything that is too syrupy, too pop, or not cool. All the songs have been expertly arranged to be listened to consecutively.
When Jamey Johnson stood on the stage Friday, August 12th in Lincoln, Nebraska, and barked profanities at the local radio station KX 96.9, he wasn’t just angry they had used “his” stage to promote their station, he was venting the pent up frustration many independent, Red Dirt, and Texas music artists feel.
Jamey Johnson kicked some dust up and had quite a few of his fans fist pumping Friday night, August 12th when he took the stage in Lincoln, Nebraska as part of the Lincoln on the Street event, and berated the local radio station, New Country KX 96.9. The radio station brought out three of their on-air personalities.
George Strait doesn’t make many public appearances these days after officially retiring from the road. But he’ll be making a “special appearance” at the inaugural Legends of Music Row Festival set to transpire October 13-15 in Key West, Florida at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater.
Now celebrating five years of gathering in festival form, KOKEFest attracts a huge crowd of local KOKEheads, as well as people from across the country who want to get the genuine Texas country experience, including those who regularly listen to the station remotely online.
“It’s always going to evolve, but it seems to return to its roots, and I think that’s what’s happening now.” This was the assessment of country legend and “Class of ’89” member Clint Black during a recent appearance on Tracy Lawrence’s “Honky Tonkin'” radio show.
No, not all country radio stations suck. Some are downright badass. KOKE-FM out of Austin, TX is one of them. They’ve also put on a kickass festival now for five years where devotees to the KOKE world congregate.
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. Available on most all streaming formats, or you can use the song recommendations to find something new.
If you want to hear the continuation of country music that sounds like the stuff George Strait and Alan Jackson released in the late 80’s into the 90’s, Randall King takes the crown. This isn’t “90’s INSPIRED” country. This isn’t some retro gimmick or hipster put-on.
George Jones once famously asked, “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?” Well when it comes to the buttoned-up, straight-ahead style of country music indicative of George Strait and others, the answer from the new generation of performers is Randall King.
There’s a reason whenever a true country performers gets this opportunity, they always reminisce back to when they were a young kid. It’s because it’s a dream come true, and a life goal met, and one that’s well deserved for both Randall King and Joshua Ray Walker.
There is just something that makes the elements of country music exceptionally complimentary to Christmas carols and Holiday music. The sense of comfort and home that is conferred by country music is similar to the one many feel listening to Christmas songs.
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.
It’s the 4th of July weekend! Don’t risk tanking your festivities by turning on some terrible corporate country radio station. Take a listen through the Top 25 Playlist that’s just been reinforced with a bunch of great new tunes from a bunch of top independent country artists.
It’s one of those rare occasions where an EP goes from from less than ideal, to just about perfect from the way it encapsulates a moment or a mood that may be diluted in a longer work. It’s a little gem of traditional country music, and a proper tribute to a dear loved one.