No kidding. In 2007, I think it was, the Infamous Stringdusters and J. D. Crowe & The New South tied for the IBMA’s Album of the Year award, but when the presenter opened the envelope he didn’t look below the fold, so he had to be prompted to read the co-winner’s name while the first group was already headed up to the stage.

Holly’s a thoughtful writer, but it is a little odd that, after noting that we don’t know the extent to which Jackson’s departure was a matter of his initiative – and that that datum makes a difference in assessment – she goes on to write as if it were clear that he was simply dropped by the label.

Holly Gleason’s take on Alan Jackson was spot on. I especially like this part:
“But for a genre that stands at the crossroads of lame 80s pop and a bulked up hybrid of hair metal and Southern rock lite, it makes one wonder. When Cash was let go, there was a fire in the belly of the genre: Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam were potent factors, Merle Haggard was still on the charts and Ricky Skaggs, George Strait and Reba McEntire were all doing fairly hard takes on bluegrass, Texas and swing/hard country respectively. Now there is none of that. With the exception of Jamey Johnson, kept as much for the Rebel Jim freak factor as his songwriting brilliance, it is a sanitized for your protection…”. There’s a lot of wisdom in Holly’s assessment of the current scene.

That screw up at the Aussie Golden Guitar ceremony in Tamworth (I don’t give a damn that Jayco is the sponsor) is a total hoot! Announcing the wrong winner is the ultimate nightmare for folks staging such awards shows. On the other hand Lee Kernaghan has won so many Golden Guitars over the years that even having to hand one back he’ll hardly notice. Graeme Connors is a pop country guy, so I’m not surprised since the Aussie country scene is heading more and more in that direction…

Sierra’n'em’s show rocks. Just sayin’.