Texas country singer and songwriter Sunny Sweeney is getting some massive opportunities to win over arena crowds as one of the primary openers on Bob Seger’s big farewell tour. And she’s been doing such a killer job, her run of shows has just been extended. The Saving Country Music Song of the Year winner for […]
For years Cody’s huge beard has been a signature feature of the Ft. Worth-based singer and traditional country artist. It was just one of many bushy faces sported by a fraternity of performers that have all become close friends over the years, including Jamey Johnson, as well as regular tour mates Whitey Morgan, Ward Davis, and others.
Well I’ll be damned, Cody Jinks and Co. pulled it off. You normally talk about learning curves when it comes to first year festivals. That’s not even part of the conversation when it comes to the inaugural Loud and Heavy Fest. It didn’t really feel like a festival ….
The inaugural Loud and Heavy Fest curated by Cody Jinks is about to be unleashed on Ft. Worth, Texas this Saturday, August 18th, and they’ve released the lineup and time schedule for the event. Loud and Heavy Fest will be held at the Panther Island Pavilion, which is positioned in the heart of Ft. Worth.
If you wanted to know just how committed he is to doing things his own way, how inspired he is by the oldtimers and Outlaws that came before him and the camaraderie they showed towards each other, well he’s about to tell you.
True country fans don’t need to be told that trying to hold onto the roots of the music has been a war of attrition over the last 20 years or so. As more legends and oldtimers pass away or get put out to pasture each season, you search for stability and glimmers of promise as the heap of shoes to fill of the artists gone by grows.
The last time we were talking about Cody Jinks in concert, he was getting carted off stage in an ambulance for what ultimately was determined to be a bad bout of vertigo. This weekend (July 6th & 7th), the only hint of issue for Cody Jinks while performing at the Whitewater Amphitheater was perhaps the dark sunglasses he was sporting.
Here in 2018 and before, country music insurgents and songwriters Sunny Sweeney and Ward Davis have been teaming up on what they’ve been calling the “High On Honky Tonk Tour,” and they have recently released a whole bunch of new dates for the tour’s latest installment. Sharing the same management, they make a favorable touring pair.
Hold on to your asses, because it’s going to get loud, heavy, twangy, country, and crunchy when Cody Jinks circles the wagons in his native Ft. Worth and puts on one hell of a party he’s dubbing the Loud and Heavy Fest on Saturday, August 18th at the Panther Island Pavilion.
The man who’s most responsible for keeping the traditional country backbone in Red Dirt music strong and rigid for many many years is probably not the one your would finger as being the most enigmatic of all the founding fathers. But that’s exactly what Jason Boland has become as his mane has gone silver.
Texas music and independent country continue to gain market share and offer a better, and more healthy alternative to the mainstream, and we’re continuing to see this reflected in the ever-expanding festival space. A new festival in Oregon is gearing up to offer the Pacific Northwest their first taste of the Texas festival experience.
Country revivalist Cody Jinks and his management are planning to launch a new festival this August that will be curated by Jinks himself. The news comes out of the announcement earlier this week that the management and booking apparatus behind Cody Jinks, Whitey Morgan, Ward Davis, and Sunny Sweeney is being revamped.
Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Jason Isbell comprise the current Mt. Rushmore of independent country and roots music, and that is unquestionable, regardless of how you may feel about any one of them specifically, or even as a group. But what is the fourth mug we can put on top of that mountain?
If you know anything about Texas country songwriters, then you know about Courtney Patton. And if you don’t know about Courtney Patton, then you better get wise. Fortunate for you, she’ll make it easy on you by releasing a new album on February 16th, 2018 called What It’s Like to Fly Alone. “The title sounds […]
Isn’t it strange how in the real world, we shy away instinctively from things that cause us pain, but when it comes to music and art, we seek pain out as one of the primary markers of the most potent and exceptional expressions of the artistic realm. Somehow, drawing that pain out through music makes us feel better.
When we broach the exercise of whittling down the field of songs of a given year to a list of a chosen few to be considered Song of the Year, we’re not looking for booty shakers or boot scooters. We’re looking for those songs that through the power of words and music, hit you so deeply, you’re a different person after you’re done listening.
The last few years have been a somewhat down era for excellent, legacy-caliber releases in country music and independent roots,. But 2017 was a different story, especially the first half, leaving us with difficult choices of what to consider to be the best of the year. As always, your feedback is requested, and will be included in the final calculus.
In recent years, concerts at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville have become an important bellwether for just how well a band or artist is doing in the grander scheme. Trying to fill the 125-year-old landmark with its 2,362-seat capacity is one of the biggest tests a country music artist can take.
Get your hemp necklaces and nag champa ready, because Miranda Lambert is about to embark on the “Livin’ Like Hippies” tour come January, and even if you’re fair to partly cloudy on Ran Ran herself, she’s assembled a pretty badass lineup of openers that represent a who’s who of cool independent acts that may coax you off your couch.
It’s hot as butt outside right now, but in a few short months there will be a nip to the air and a yuletide feeling as December descends upon us. After the successful run of the Hard Candy Christmas tour in 2016 pairing four of the most talented songwriters from Texas together for a frigid tour of the Midwest, they’ve decided to do it once again.
For many years there has been the need for a festival to cover the music that sits on the fringes of commercial country, yet serves a very dedicated and surprisingly large audience of country music fans. This is what Borda Productions saw when they decided to transition from a more mainstream-oriented country festival for 2017.
Apologies if you came here looking to replenish your 3rd generation iPod with a fresh platoon of booty shakers. That’s not what this practice is all about. Feel good songs are just fine and help fleet us through the tiresome days, but when we talk about the “Best Songs,” were talking about songs that deliver moments that can change entire lives.
For the last two years, it’s felt like a lull for projects that really set themselves apart and set the pace for creativity and cultural importance. 2017 is a different story. It feels like this has been a banner year already, with some of the year’s biggest projects still in the offing.
The 5th Annual Medicine Stone Music Festival focusing on the best of Red Dirt music and sponsored by the Turnpike Troubadours, and Jason Boland & The Stragglers will once again commence at the Diamondhead Resort in Talequah, Oklahoma. This year the event will be held on September 21st-23rd, and they have just revealed the fest’s initial lineup.