This year, Willie’s Picnic is not immune to the “blue dot fever” that has been sweeping the United States. That’s the term that has been coined to remark on all the blue dots on Ticketmaster’s seating charts of available seats.
Billy String can pack out arenas all by himself, but he’ll be sharing headliner duties with Willie Nelson on the 4th at the Germania Insurance Amphitheater in Austin, TX at the Circuit of the Americas.
There is yet another massive music festival that has emerged to cover the surging interest in independent country, roots music, and Americana, putting deserving artists in headliner spots as opposed to just opening slots, and has fans from across the country rearranging vacation plans.
Before all the pomp, pop, and circumstance of the televised portions of the 2023 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Premier Ceremony transpired Sunday (2-5) afternoon in Los Angeles. This is where many of the country awards are given out, as well as awards for bluegrass, folk, Americana.
Spoiler alert: This album is not country. Instead, “Cruel Country” is very much a late-career Wilco album, a Jeff Tweedy album, and when you’re expectations are recalibrated to this reality of things, you can actually appreciate this album for what it is.
You can find a detailed list of all the confirmed album releases for the 2nd half of 2022 below, some specific albums from each release week that you should make sure to not overlook, and the always-exciting ‘Rumor Mill’ where intelligence is gathered on upcoming releases.
ohn Prine was the big winner posthumously from the 2021 Grammy Awards and the Premier Ceremony that takes place before the proper telecast. Taking home two Grammy Awards, both for his final recorded song, “I Remember Everything,” he became the most awarded artist from the roots.
There should be no shame in major music outfits taking money through the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, to keep their road crew and support staff financially stable, despite it being characterized as the cash grab of millionaires by some, aided by certain embellished and misleading headlines in the media.
Bingham recorded the album with producer Jim Scott, well known for his work with Wilco, Tom Petty, and The Dixie Chicks. The twelve songs of Fear and Saturday Night were written in seclusion. Bingham sequestered himself in an Airstream trailer in the California mountains without electricity or phone service, and drew inspiration from his tale-riddled and troubled life.
Moving in to fill the space once carved out between country and alternative rock by alt-country pioneers such as Uncle Tupelo and the Old 97’s, three sons of University of Virginia Southern Literature professor Bill Wilson and two other willing accomplices come together to form the Charlottesville-based Sons of Bill under the charge to help revitalize alt-country.
This initial offering from The Loudermilks finds the band ranging from the bluegrass-inspired and steel guitar-drenched opening number “Watch ‘Em Fall”, to the the nearly straightforward rock styling of “The Plan”, accomplishing all with equal ability to enrapture the audience and appeal to whichever musical leanings the listener happens to carry.
Originally cut in Nashville in 1996 and sitting on the shelf ever since, Old 97’s & Waylon Jennings is a remarkable little gem unearthed these many years later, offering a window into a time right before Waylon’s health began to fail him, and right as the Old 97’s were rising in the alt-country tide alongside bands like Wilco and Whiskeytown.
The 2013 Americana Music Awards once again transpired in Nashville at the historic Ryman Auditorium as part of the week-long Americana Music Conference. Delbert McClinton lead off with Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Lookin,'” leading into MC Jim Lauderdale giving a poignant introduction that included the line, “The past matters, traditions matter, even when we explore ways to have those traditions extended and expanded.”
Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett has decided to take his passion for Wilco and country/hipster fusion duds to the next level and be this week’s personality to “Go Country.” His new “country” band called The Dead Peasants will release a self-titled album on July 12th. Just like all others before him, Shiflett makes the announcement […]
Well, at least REM guitarist Peter Buck, and Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody. And hell, throw in movie starlet Zooey Deschanel as well, why not, and you have the supergroup Tired Pony. I already have tired head thinking about this. On July 12th the band will be putting out an album called The Place We […]