Two days after posting a cryptic image on his website and social network properties, Sturgill Simpson conducted a rare and exclusive 3-minute interview on Beats 1 Radio with Zane Lowe, and announced his upcoming 3rd studio solo album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth. Sturgill also played a new song as part of the interview.
Sturgill Simpson has never been one to make it easy on us to plot his next move. On the contrary, he appears to love keeping folks on their toes, and communicating to the masses in sometimes cryptic messages and imagery. Such was the case Tuesday afternoon (3-1) when the Kentucky singer and songwriter posted an image of red and while skeletons sparring on his social network properties.
Time is the ultimate judge and critic of music. 10 year anniversaries don’t always fall favorably for legendary records. They’re still too young to be considered vintage or retro, but are just old enough to be out of style. But unfolding the flaps of “Straight to Hell” today, re-living the music, it’s hard to not feel the same magic you heard when you listened to the record for the first time.
Believe it or not, there’s even a deep history for more lewd comedy that would happen in country music under the covers. Roy Acuff, the “King of Country Music” cut dirty songs when nobody was looking, and so did other early country legends, some under assumed names. These recordings were like the peep shows of music in the early days, passed around at beer parlors or in the back rooms of studios.
More so than most songs, it might be important to understand the context in which “Sugar Daddy” is being offered, or how it potentially may dovetail into a much more encompassing and cohesive album concept in the future, if “Sugar Daddy” even makes it onto Sturgill’s next album and is not just intended for the ‘Vinyl’ soundtrack.
A week from this evening, the music industry will be gathering in Los Angeles for the the world’s biggest music event of the year: The Grammy Awards. Unlike many years, fans of true and traditional country music will have someone to root for when it comes to the night’s biggest prize, even if it isn’t the most ideal artist to champion.
How people listen to music is clearly changing, but much of the country music industry isn’t following suit. In a town that employs scores of people just to push songs to radio, Nashville doesn’t know how to behave any differently than they did 60 years ago. Entire companies are based around trying to sell songs to country radio. The difference now is radio is no longer the only game in town.
To bring the music of Vinyl to life, the production team has partnered with Atlantic Records and sister label Warner Bros., and each episode will coincide with a soundtrack release. Though the series won’t only feature music from these labels, the Atlantic/Warner catalog will be the focus. The theme song for the series will be performed by recent Atlantic Records signee Sturgill Simpson.
The country music Outlaw movement didn’t happen overnight either. It took years and years of gnawing away at the obtrusive oligarchy that had set up shop on Music Row to get to the point where many of the genre’s most prominent stars could call their own shots, and the music could finally open up to new ideas and fresh faces.
The reason an artist like Anderson East works, similarly to Leon Bridges and many others, is because he’s got a evocative, old-school coolness about him that reminds folks of a time when music and life wasn’t so superficial. So there may be some borrowing of ideas here, but it’s innocent, and better than most of what is influenced by more modern textures.
Sturgill Simpson fans will have to wait patiently for another six months or so for new music for the Kentucky songwriter. But rest assured, new music is on the way. The summer of 2016 seems a long way away when you’re waiting for new music from one of your favorite artists, but it’s also assuring to know new Sturgill Simpson music is on the way nonetheless.
Producer, guitar player, and songwriter Dave Cobb has signed an exclusive worldwide publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music. The deal was announced Monday (1-4), and also includes the formation of Cobb’s own publishing arm, Low Country Sound Publishing. The news comes after an incredible 2015 for Cobb…
Just like Dave Cobb, and just like Chris Stapleton before him, Robby Turner has been working for years behind-the-scenes, at the side of the stage, or in the studio, while others soaked up the spotlight. But the power of his efforts, and the success of the projects that he’s been a part of, has slowly but surely revealed Robby as one of those behind-the-scenes legends whose contributions should be left a secret no more.
To be a Saving Country Music Artist of the Year, you can’t just be “good.” It’s not about releasing some great songs or a significant album in a given calendar year. You have to be committed to the cause, both on and off the stage. You have to care about country music, even when you’re not playing it, even when it doesn’t affect you specifically, and even when it’s not politically expedient . . .
Forget all the sappy relationship stuff, and how it happened and where it might lead. Miranda Lambert ditching Blake Shelton and ending up with Anderson East might be the perfect illustration of the drastic role reversal 2015 has ushered in throughout the greater country music realm, and how 2016 could be poised to completely turn everything upside down.
Who will be releasing new albums in 2016? What are some of the most-anticipated projects? What are the rumors swirling out there about new albums that may be released in the coming year? Here’s a rundown of upcoming projects from artists recommended by Saving Country Music that you can look forward to in 2016.
The Americana Music Association has announced its newest Board of Directors, and signing on for a seat this upcoming year is fast rising producer Dave Cobb. On top of seating a new board, the Americana Music Association recently announced the inaugural UK Americana Awards will be held in London.
The current King of Americana and now Grammy-nominated singer songwriter Jason Isbell has signed an exclusive worldwide publishing deal with Downtown Music Publishing. The news comes near the end of a marquee run for Isbell, who along with his Grammy nominations for Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song, has also landed at #16 on Billboard’s year-end Independent Album’s chart.
Whether it will actually happen or not remains to be seen, but if country music in the mainstream decides to swing back more towards the traditional side, many of Music Row’s major labels will be ready to take advantage with a new generation of young, fresh, and traditionally-leaning talent already signed to contracts, already getting experience on the road and on big stages, and even finding some success with singles.
You may not be able to find a more insular, inbred, and ass backwards institution in the entirety of the North American economy than country radio. Run by good ol’ boys in the pockets of big labels, and mid level corporate bureaucratic bean counters who bark orders from on high to hundreds of stations, the idea of country radio either serving the communities they broadcast to or artists died decades ago.
Many of the creators and producers of these involved and more distinguished television series are fans of these lesser-known artists, and look for opportunities to plant Easter eggs for independent listeners. As non-mainstream music continues to increase in market share, such occurrences are happening more frequently on cable shows and elsewhere.
Throughout the history of country music, artists with strong ties to the land and the working class have used music to pull themselves out of poverty, and to turn around and help instill a sense of pride in the people who put such hard work into powering America. Now that these two once struggling musicians find themselves on top, they’re taking of their hard-earned prosperity to give back . . .
Over the last couple of weeks, Saving Country Music headquarters has received a fresh new onslaught of emails on the subject of pop country über DJ Bobby Bones—the morning show personality for iHeartMedia’s syndicated network and the single-most name at the forefront of homogenizing American mainstream country music radio. Let’s tackle some of these subjects . . .
It’s one thing to mischaracterize my opinions, or the opinions of Chris Stapleton fans, or concerned country music fans in general. It’s another thing to use the name and visage of a respected country music legend to assert the wrongful and misguided opinions of your think piece, especially when the aim of that think piece is to attack active and concerned country music fans.