Soliciting Western Swing legend Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel as producer, Joshua Hedley pens a love letter to Western Swing, and sings its virtues. It might be the 2025 instrumental album to beat.
Mr. Jukebox. The Mayor of Lower Broadway. The Singin’ Professor of Country & Western. Whatever you want to call him, Joshua Hedley has been a radical preservationist of actual country music for years.
George Strait is stepping up big to help his fellow Texans affected by the severe flooding over the 4th of July weekend in Central Texas. Strait’s sphere of influence is definitely felt strongly throughout the region.
This is what it’s all about right here folks! The Honky Tonk Sweetheart of Austin, TX is back with a kick ass new country record, and there’s no dipping your toes in. This thing is so warm and inviting, you dive right in.
DelFest, held on Memorial day weekend each year in Cumberland, Maryland at the Allegheny County Fairgrounds is now in its 16th year and going strong.
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.
It was 25 years ago on August 5th 1999 when young Nashville Lower Broadway performer, Jesse Lee Jones, finalized one of his most important decisions, to buy Roberts Western World from its founder, Robert Moore.
Everything was bigger at the 2024 Ameripolitan Awards. The crowd was bigger, the production was bigger, the entire everything for a grassroots organization trying to offer an alternative to other awards was bigger.
The nominees for the 2024 Ameripolitan Awards have just been announced, and its a who’s who of independent performers who you’ve probably have seen mentioned here at Saving Country Music before.
Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion remains one of the most premier and exclusive events in the country and roots space every year, and a much healthier option to braving a day at SXSW in Austin, TX, which Luck acts as an alternative to. But even though the 2023 installment will be remembered for plenty of fond reasons…
Is 30-year-old country music really one of the hottest things going in country music today? A new festival down in Key West, Florida called Key Western Fest put that hypothesis to the test last week, and discovered mostly positive answers for ’90s country stars and their fans.
The Longhorn Ballroom was one of the most important venues in country music for many years. When it opened in 1950, it was known as Bob Wills’ Ranch House, and was one of the major venues in Western Swing. It was also once operated by Jack Ruby.
Congratulations, you made it to 2023. And now it’s time to take a look forward at what country music may have in store for the new year. If we’re being honest, the beginning of 2023 looks very thin when it comes to the amount of confirmed releases and big projects. But don’t worry.
From performers, to songwriters, to executives and producers, to the strong scene of bluegrass entertainers from New York that have gone on to define the very highest reaches of the discipline, these Jewish contributors deserve our recognition and appreciation.
If one of the things that gets your motor running is takeoff Telecaster guitar in a country song, then waste no time piping up the new track from The Shootouts with Marty Stuart. Ohio’s official throwback traditional country honky tonk band has a new album on the way called ‘Stampede.’
Sunny Sweeney is starting a new gig. And don’t worry, it doesn’t mean she’s ending her old one as a badass performer of country music. Getting ready to release a new album on September 23rd called ‘Married Alone,’ this week Sunny Sweeney also launched a brand new radio show on Sirius XM.
An oral history on the life of songwriting legend Billy Joe Shaver will be released on July 21st. Called ‘Live Forever: The Songwriting Legacy of Billy Joe Shaver,’ it is about Shaver’s life and songs told through his peers, friends, and disciples. Authored by Courtney S. Lennon…
What makes ‘Obsessed With The West’ not just another Western Swing record is how Brennen Leigh is able to emphasize the playfulness that this approach to country music allows through its bouncy rhythm, and the boundless possibilities of chords and lyricism.
Stoney’s career may have not been Hall of Fame worthy, but releasing six albums on a major country music label, and scoring Top 20 hits dispels the idea that the contributions of black artists in country music was resigned to just one individual.
Delightfully old-fashioned and born 60 years too late, Brennen Leigh has always worked Western Swing influences into her music, and been chummy with the Asleep at the Wheel crowd in Austin. But now as a Nashville resident, the distance has made her heart grow fonder
A once-in-a-lifetime event happened on January 12th, 2019 when a wide-ranging assemblage of talent from country music and beyond came together at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to pay tribute to Willie Nelson. Called ‘Willie: Life and Songs of an American Outlaw,’ it’s being released on CD and DVD.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in restricted crowd size and travel, but a strong contingent of Austin, TX musical talent will be coming together for a socially-distanced Billy Joe Shaver tribute concert on Sunday, November 22nd at the city’s Long Center in an outdoor event.
James Hand—often regarded as one of the most authentic voices to ever grace the medium of country music—has died. He passed away Monday morning, June 8th, after complications due to issues with congestive heart failure. He was in a Waco, TX hospital and his former wife and mother of his two sons, Kayla Allen, was by his side.
Organized by Blackbird Presents who’ve put together a host of these tribute shows over the years, usually if you can’t swing a ticket, you miss your opportunity to see so much country music star power assembled in one place. But for this particular event, footage from the tribute was compiled, and is premiering on A&E Easter Sunday.