Huh. So Morgan Wallen appeared on Saturday Night Live and it stirred controversy, and he didn’t even really seem that thrilled to be there, or grateful for the opportunity? You don’t say.
Why is Morgan Wallen getting a second opportunity to play Saturday Night Live when there are so many other worthy names from the country and roots world that are still waiting for their first one?
The skit does a pretty good job lampooning all the tropes of country music’s Bro-Country era, including the obsession with inane lists of everyday items, hip-hop gesticulations, and predictable and formulaic production.
It’s really hard to know how to even quantify the opportunity of the late night TV berth these days, or what sort of impact it may have on an artist’s career. Getting to perform on national television is always a big deal, and a bucket list item for most any performer. But the days of […]
Dozens of TikTok videos of the 27-year-old’s maskless partying with college-aged girls emerged, and specifically of Morgan Wallen sucking face with half a dozen of them. This has resulted in ‘Saturday Night Live’ canceling his appearance.
Song selection was just the beginning of the disappointment in Kacey’s performance. Her “High Horse” rendition began by the camera zeroing in on a bedazzled saddle hanging from the rafters, and that was apt symbolism of how the performance would be much more about presentation and appearance as opposed to substance.
At 12:01 last night (or this morning), after all the hands had been shaken, and all the hugs exchanged on the Saturday Night Live set in New York’s Rockefeller Center, you didn’t know what to do with yourself. Okay, now you’re supposed to just nestle into bed and act like that didn’t just happen?
Chris Stapleton is scheduled to make his second appearance on Saturday Night Live this Saturday evening, January 27th, and it appears he will be bringing fellow Kentucky native Sturgill Simpson along with him. This SNL appearance could be the beginning of a very big run for Stapleton to start off 2018.
Radio sure as hell won’t play him, but recognizing the greater cultural impact Chris Stapleton has accrued in the last couple of years, SNL has invited him back for a 2nd performance. But that’s not all Stapleton has going for him in early 2018 …
So here we are, having spent nearly a decade climbing up the face of a mountain we thought we may never reach the apex of, and what is one of the last obstacles we’re facing? The small, but very vocal minority of independent and underground fans that seem to resent this newfound success for the top level of independent acts.
This is a pretty significant sales spike for A Sailor’s Guide, which has become a matter of great intrigue by the public after it shocked the world by getting nominated for the Grammy Awards’ Album of the Year. But what’s even more surprising is how the performance of Sturgill’s other records has been boosted by the SNL appearance.
In the music business, they call it a “moment.” Some artists go their entire careers without ever having one, even quite successful artists. A “moment” is what caused Chris Stapleton to rocket to the biggest artist in all of country music. A “moment” is what rockets the obscure to the profound. And a “moment” is what Sturgill Simpson experienced late Saturday night.
For those who profess that it takes an army of songwriters, producers, programmers, and samples to make a hit record, let’s hold up George Michael’s ‘Faith’ as a prime example of why that mentality is folly, and the downfall of modern American anticlimactic pop music.
Add yet another accolade to the list of Sturgill Simpson’s growing accomplishments. Announced late Saturday night (12-17) during the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, the surprise contender for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards in February will be the musical guest on the venerable TV staple January 14.
Margo Price has now officially pulled off the mother of all coup d’états for an independent country artist. Announced on Thursday (3/31), she will be the featured musical guest on Saturday Night Live on April 9th. But I have to be honest with you: this all feels like too much, too soon for Margo Price.
Chris Stapleton got another crack at a national audience on Saturday, January 16th when he took the Saturday Night Live stage, but after the NFL matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals ran 45 minutes later than normal, some were worried Stapleton’s opportunity would be scuttled. However according to television ratings, the opposite […]
Chris Stapleton took the Saturday Night Live stage on January 16th in front of an All-Star band, furthering the off-the-charts momentum the songwriter has been riding since sweeping the three awards he was nominated for at the 2015 CMA Awards, including Male Vocalist of the Year, and Album of the Year. Since early November, Stapleton has been dominating Billboard’s Country Albums charts.
The performance will come less than a month after Stapleton gave a rousing performance on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he left Questlove and the rest of America in shock. Perhaps Lorne Michaels was watching from the wing, or heard about the performance through the grapevine (the two shows tape in the same building in NYC), and decided he wanted some of that action.
Indie doesn’t really have its own traditions, its own infrastructure like country, blues, or even Texas music. And in this music climate of massive contraction, this is not the time to be creating new infrastructure that may not be sustainable moving forward. So the solution appears to be to incorporate existing infrastructure that was built years ago for roots and country artists, ostensibly squeezing the support for these types of artists out of the picture.
Sure, the attrition is slow and calculated.But over time, as you look at the yearly schedules for things like Austin City Limits, or ACL Fest, or Pickathon…
So on Saturday night, I get a phone call from a friend who knows I like pop country about as much as getting a splintered board shoved up my ass, telling me that the perfume peddling Timberly McGraw is the host of Saturday Night Live. So I tune into the last half of the show […]