Townes Van Zandt

July 26, 2013

When Guy Clark Releases An Album, You Stop, And Listen

Like the tone of Willie Nelson’s guitar or Johnny Cash’s voice, a Guy Clark song has become an ineffaceable institution of American music. Even if you’re only familiar with his songs though the performances of others, or songs he’s influenced by others, Guy Clark’s handiwork is embedded in the very ethos of what we know as songwriting in American music, even if that influence is imperceptible to the average listener.

Guy Clark, Johnny Cash, The Highwaymen, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson

April 10, 2013

Country Music Hall of Fame Announces 2013 Inductees

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The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN has just announced their 2013 inductees. The new members to country music’s most prestigious institution are “Cowboy” Jack Clement, Bobby Bare, and Kenny Rogers. Host Bill Anderson Steve Moore made the announcement from the Hall of Fame rotunda Wednesday morning (4-10).

2013 Inductees, Bobby Bare, Carl Perkins, Charley Pride, Country Music Hall of Fame, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Jack Clement, Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash, Sun Studios, Townes Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings

February 12, 2013

Heartworn Highways Revisited – Answers from the Filmmakers

Trigger News 16 Comments

On Sunday (2-10-13) the original filmmakers of the legendary Outlaw country documentary Heartworn Highways participated in an online chat where they answered questions from fans of the cult film originally released in 1981. Editor Phillip Schopper and producer Graham Leader answered fan’s questions and let some interesting tidbits fly, including that a sequel of the film is currently in the works.

Be Here To Love Me, David Allan Coe, DVD, Graham Leader, Heartworn Highways, Heartworn Highways Revisited, James Szalapski, Phillip Schopper, Steve Young, Townes Van Zandt

February 5, 2013

Heartworn Highways Documentary Now Available Online

Trigger News 14 Comments

The legendary Outlaw country documentary Heartworn Highways, featuring Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, David Allan Coe, Rodney Crowell, Gamble Rogers, Steve Young, The Charlie Daniels Band, and many more, has finally been released completely remastered for digital on-demand viewing and download. Original copies of Heartworn Highways, including copies of the 2005 DVD release regularly sell for $90 and over.

available, Charlie Daniels, David Allan Coe, download, Gamble Rogers, Graham Leader, Guy Clark, Heartworn Highways, On Demand, Phillip Schopper, Re-issue, Remastered, Rodney Crowell, Steve Young, Townes Van Zandt

July 10, 2012

Album Review – Billy Don Burns “Nights When I’m Sober”

Trigger Reviews 15 Comments

What elevates this album the most, the intangible of Nights When I’m Sober is the authenticity Billy Don Burns can approach these songs with. The battle will rage on forever about if songwriters and performers have to live what they sing and write about to be authentic, but with Billy Don, the point is moot.

Billy Don BUrns, Guy Clark, Hank Williams, Johnny Paycheck, Merle Haggard, NIghts When I'm Sober, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson

May 15, 2012

Review – Turnpike Troubadours “Goodbye Normal Street”

Trigger Reviews 20 Comments

The Turnpike Troubadours make songs about love cool to listen to again. This is also their ace-in-the-hole, what makes them a band that could break out. They were also very patient with this release, waiting well over 2 years since their last album to let the songs come to them and the groove to materialize before heading into the studio.

Evan Felker, Goodbye Normal Street, Hank3, Johnny Hiland, Robert Earl Keen, Townes Van Zandt, Turnpike Troubadours

April 17, 2012

Record Store Day 2012 Country Music Field Guide

Trigger Random Notes 9 Comments

This Saturday, April 21st with be the 2012 installment of Record Store Day, the annual event started in 2007 to help the struggling independent record store. 2012 will go down as the year when country came busting through the Record Store Day scene with full representation, with so many projects being released taking stock of it all can be dizzying. So here is your 2012 Country Music Record Store Day Field Guide.

Blitzen Trapper, Bonnie Prince Billy, Buck Owens, Caitlin Rose, country, Everley Brothers, Justin Townes Earle, Lydia Loveless, Ralph Stanley, Record Store Day, Ricky Skaggs, Ryan Adams, Sara Watkins, The Civil Wars, The Pistol Annies, Tony Rice, Townes Van Zandt, Uncle Tupelo, Will Oldham

November 9, 2011

CMA 2011 Preview: We Were Wrong About Taylor Swift

Trigger Random Notes 93 Comments

We were wrong about Taylor Swift. I was wrong about Taylor Swift. We were blinded by our prejudices. When Taylor Swift first came on to the scene, she sang cheesy teenage pop songs, and we chastised her for it, when she was doing what all the great songwriters did over the years: write what they knew about, what inspired them.

CMA Awards, Guy Clark, Hank Williams, Mean, Taylor Swift, Townes Van Zandt

October 15, 2011

Is ‘Country’ an Embarrassing Term for Top Tier Talent?

Trigger Random Notes 40 Comments

Now that mainstream country music has been seen as just another version of pop music by so many people for so long, my concern is that talented musicians are being turned off by the mere mention of the term ‘country’, seeing it as a genre without gravitas, obsessed with money and image, making it even more likely for the one-in-a-million music talent to stay away.

Americana, Asleep at the Wheel, Bloodshot Records, Jason Aldean, Justin Townes Earle, Ruby Jane, Townes Van Zandt, Whitey Morgan, Willie Nelson

July 11, 2011

A Visit to Townes Van Zandt

Trigger History 31 Comments

Townes Van Zandt’s story is one of hope, for all of music and musicians, and artists of all kinds. As much as he struggled commercially, socially, and with his own demons, somehow over time the cream still found a way to rise to the top. It is a shame that some of the greatest have such a hard time relating to life, and that Townes Van Zandt found his greatest success after death. But he found it.

Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson

April 11, 2011

Album Review: Austin Lucas ‘New Home In The Old World’

Trigger Reviews 19 Comments

austin-lucas-a-new-home-in-the-old-world

A New Home, In The Old World is a parade of high-caliber, heartfelt songs set to good music, with some of the most twangy and eloquent country singing you will hear from any modern artist. The depth of his soul-wrenching themes, and the breadth of his singing ability, exercising masterful pitch and control, combine to be like a rock in between the eyes, striking you down to the depths of human emotion from where the song’s inspiration sprouted from.

Austin Lucas, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson

March 7, 2011

Album Review – Hayes Carll KMAG YOYO

Trigger Reviews 46 Comments

I really want to like Hayes Carll…People like to compare him to Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt and Tom Waits. But in the end, though he’s a good songwriter, he’s not a great one, and the overselling and mischaracterizing of his music has led to some unnecessary criticism, and a missing of the point that his music is fun, and meant to be enjoyed.

Bonnie Raitt, Corb Lund, Garth Brooks, Guy Clark, Hayes Carll, Jerry Jeff Walker, KMAG YOYO, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Todd Snider, Tom Petty, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt

February 21, 2011

Album Review – Rachel Brooke’s “Down In The Barnyard”

Trigger Reviews 44 Comments

Rachel Brooke’s Down In The Barnyard was one of my most-anticipated releases for 2011. Then again 2011, especially early, has been full of anticipated releases that have been either disappointments in one way or another, or difficult to wholly appreciate because they’re full of previously-released material. Luckily, Down In The Barnyard delivers.

Charlie Louvin, Down In The Barnyard, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Rachel Brooke, Townes Van Zandt

November 22, 2010

Review – Joseph Huber’s “Bury Me Where I Fall”

Trigger Reviews 23 Comments

It might be easy to gloss over just how good of a songwriter Joseph Huber is from his work with the .357 String Band. The break neck nature of their music tends to make your brain focus on the energy instead of the enigmatic lyricism and above average song structuring. But slow the songs down and you can see it, and that is exactly what Joe has done with Bury Me When I Fall.

.357 String Band, Joe Huber, Joseph Huber, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Old Crow Medicine Show, Townes Van Zandt

November 18, 2010

Interview With Ruby Jane

Trigger Reviews 26 Comments

Yesterday, fiddle phenom, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and singer Ruby Jane turned 16. Less and less it feels right to call her a “prodigy” as she grows older and her skins on the wall continue to grow as well, surpassing the accolades many musicians twice her age have amassed. Ruby Jane has deserved to be judged against musicians of any age for years, but as she reaches 16, her songwriting and singing have become even more refined.

Asleep at the Wheel, Austin, Dale Watson, Hank Willimas, Jim Stringer, Marty Stuart, Ray Benson, Ruby Jane, The Grand Ole Opry, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson

November 11, 2010

Joe Huber of .357 Releases “Bury Me Where I Fall”

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Joseph Huber, one of the primary songwriters and banjo/fiddle player for the high-octane bluegrass outfit The .357 String Band has released a solo album called Bury Me Where I Fall. This album marks a completely different direction from the punk-inspired string music Joe & .357 are known for, but not in the emphasis on top-notch songwriting. Joe takes a more poetic, Townes Van Zandt approach to the lyrics, and a more artistic approach to the music.

.357 String Band, Bury Me Where I Fall, Joe Huber, Joseph Huber, Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt

October 9, 2010

Album Review – Roger Alan Wade’s “Deguello Motel”

Trigger Reviews 29 Comments

Every once in a while an album comes along that you can tell the extra effort was put out to make it right. It’s far beyond just a collection of songs, it unfolds like a story, with all the songs together becoming stronger than the sum of their parts. Its an album that shows patience and wisdom. There’s a grand vision, and more importantly, that vision is realized in the final cut. Deguello Motel is one of those albums.

Deguello Motel, George Jones, Guy Clark, Hank Jr., Johnny Knoxville, Roger Alan Wade, Townes Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson

September 15, 2010

Review – Possesed By Paul James “Feed The Family”

Trigger Reviews 20 Comments

In some of his songs the ambiguity of the lyrics allows them to hit your brain and bend to your own life’s experiences and needs. It’s like a cure all. Normally in an album review I would list certain songs, talk about them, compare them with each other and other songs for other artists. I would pick out favorite tracks, and talk about the weak ones to prove my objectivity. But with Possessed this seems like folly. There are no weak tracks.

Feed The Family, Hillgrass Bluebilly Records, Justin Townes Earle, Konrad Wert, Possessed by Paul James, Townes Van Zandt

June 24, 2010

Forgotten Outlaw Larry Jon Wilson: 1940-2010

Trigger History 18 Comments

I’d love to tell you that I know a lot about Larry Jon Wilson, who died Monday at 69 from a stroke, but truth is I only know him through the bits of his music that have passed under my nose over the years, and from his appearance in the documentary Heartworn Highways. There isn’t […]

death, Guy Clark, Heartworn Highways, Johnny Cash, Larry John Wilson, Townes Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings

April 9, 2010

Venues – Houston’s Anderson Fair

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“Every great artist has had a place where their music could be birthed.” That quote from the new documentary Anderson Fair – For The Sake of The Song about a small, long-lived acoustic room in Houston puts into perspective how important the venue is to music more than any other I could procure. We talk […]

Anderson Fair, For the Sake of the Song, Guy Clark, Houston, Jamie Wilson, John Hammond, Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt

December 7, 2009

Album of the Year – Midnight at the Movies

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There is nothing I take more serious then putting my name behind an album as being the best of any calendar year. Unlike some organizations who hand out such things to whoever can sell the most albums or show the most teen spirit, I understand that Albums of the Year set a precedent, and will […]

album of the year, Bloodshot Records, Hank III, Justin Townes Earle, Midnight at the Movies, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt

November 27, 2009

The Revolution Will Be Heard on Vinyl

Trigger Random Notes 7 Comments

Tis the season of ringing cash register bells and getting snowed. What is a would-be responsible consumer to do when it seems like everything you want to purchase is going to fund terrorists, polluters, or corporations that screw artists and homogenize the music? It all makes you want to get as shitfaced as a shopping […]

Country Music, digital encryption, Hank III, Hank Williams, iTunes, Johnny Cash, LP, m4a, mp3, MP4, records, Sony, Those Poor bastards, Townes Van Zandt, Vinyl

October 3, 2009

Review – Pete Bernhard of Devil Makes Three

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The Devil Makes Three is one of those bands that I have had the privilege to watch go from cutting their teeth playing for small crowds in dive bars to being one of the best-drawing, most successful punk-inspired string bands on the West Coast. The Devil Makes Three was ahead of the curve so to […]

Devil Makes Three, Justin Townes Earle, Mr Mudd and Mr Gold, Pete Bernhard, Review, Steve Earle, Straight Line, Townes, Townes Van Zandt

June 21, 2009

Album Review : Steve Earle’s “Townes”

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The Hardcore Troubadour, Steve Earle, is back with the follow up to his 2007 Grammy award winning Washington Square Serenade, but this time Earle takes on fifteen cuts from his hero, Townes Van Zandt. Simply entitled, Townes, the album is an array of songs most meaningful to Earle of the cult singer-songwriter. Earle once said […]

Album, Alison Moorer, Emmylou Harris, Justin Townes Earle, Steve Earle, Tom Morello, Townes, Townes Van Zandt

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