What happens at Mile 0 Fest in Key West doesn’t stay in Key West. It resonates throughout the Texas/ Red Dirt world, into Americana, and throughout independent country for the rest of the year.
Uninhibited in attitude and untethered by genre, The White Buffalo is able to go places other artists just can’t, though the music still mostly comes across as familiar, intuitive, and strangely seamless unto itself, even when he works from rock, to folk, to country, while touching on everything in between.
One thing was clearly evident after traveling to Whitefish, Montana to experience the massive Under The Big Sky Festival with its incredible lineup and expansive grounds: the independent country and roots music we all enjoy has officially arrived. This is no longer a boutique subgenre.
Shooter Jennings has signed on with the Concord Label Group as a staff producer who will work closely with Concord’s Chief Label Executive Tom Whalley as a creative executive to develop the current roster, and identify new talent. Concord owns numerous imprints important to the country and roots realm.
Sure, Shooter Jennings as a record producer is nothing new. What has changed now is being a producer now feels like the primary focus, or at least an equal effort for the second generation performer. And most importantly, that’s where Shooter’s passion is.
“Hey, have you heard of The White Buffalo?” This is one of the questions that has plagued the second half of my 2013, as devotees of the shadowy, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter pursue me, knowing what a sucker I am for narrative-based songwriting told through a thematic album. And that’s just what The White Buffalo, aka Jake Smith delivers in his latest record “Shadows, Greys, and Evil Ways” released in September.
2013 has been self-proclaimed by Saving Country Music as the “Year of the Songwriter,” and this list of candidates for SCM’s Album of the Year reflect that dynamic of an elevated bar of songwriting excellence that these 8 artists have set. There is no arbitrary number of slots for candidates for this award. Nominees are chosen only if they have a legitimate chance of winning…