Barbara Mandrell, Roy Clark & Charlie McCoy Take Their Place In Hall of Fame
- Barbara Mandrell, Roy Clark and Charlie McCoy became the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday in a ceremony that included tributes from Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, George Jones, Alison Krauss, Josh Turner, Michael McDonald, Rodney Crowell and others.
- Reba McEntire is scheduled to sign autographs at CMA Fest for the first time since 1996, back when it was still called Fan Fair.
- Gregg Geil from Americana Roots caught Drew Kennedy and Rodney Hayden on Friday night for one of the New American Voices dates and gave a nice recap.
This duo has great chemistry up on stage backing each other with harmonies while providing an endless supply of back line stories for the songs which makes for a humorous and entertaining night of music.
- That Nashville Sound reported that the second annual Golf & Guitars Celebrity Pro-Am and Children’s Charity Concert in Sacramento was a smashing success and posted video of John Michael Montgomery and Bucky Covington turning in an impromptu performance of Bob Seger’s “Turn The Page.”
- My Kind of Country’s Occasional Hope heartily recommends Hillbilly Goddess, the new album from Alecia Nugent.
- Barn & Grill takes the top spot in C.M. Wilcox’s ranking of Blake Shelton’s discography.
- Twang Nation’s Baron Lane shared a list of songs, ranging from Jimmie Rodgers to Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard to the Drive-By Truckers and Ryan Bingham, that he believes exhibit the best of what it sounds like to live through hard times.
- On May 17, 1980 Clint Eastwood debuted on the country charts with “Bar Room Buddies,” a duet with Merle Haggard.
- The Music Fog crew recorded a Scott Miller performance this weekend and posted video of “8 Miles a Gallon” and the following anecdote:
Shortly after the show, our mongoloid camera guy Ben sent out a Tweet that read, “Scott Miller Killed in Virginia tonight! Video to follow!” This caused a mini shit-storm, as folks immediately assumed that Scott was literally killed and that we would post video of it.
- Sugarland hit #1 on Billboard’s county song chart with “It Happens” while BMI hosted a party last week to celebrate the writers behind George Strait’s latest hit, “River of Love.”
- Farce the Music charted the top ten reasons for the decline in country CD sales.
- Darryl Worley took a trip to the emergency room in the middle of his set last Thursday when a road case lid “conked” him in the head. After being stitched up he returned to the stage to play for 50 minutes before the wind finally shut the show down.
- Country Universe’s Kevin J. Coyne listed some of Willie Nelson’s most essential tracks for those who haven’t yet explored his catalog.
- The latest batch of album reviews from Country Weekly include Jewel’s album of lullabies, titled Lullaby, and the first album from seven time International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year Missy Raines with new backing group The New Hip, Inside Out.
- Taproot Radio’s Calvin Powers says Dehlia Low (MySpace) perfectly captures the beauty of mountain music on their new CD, Tellico.
- Country California: Jamey Johnson Gets Lucrative Snuggie Sponsorship
- Dave Alvin’s new album with the Guilty Women may not be as groundbreaking as his work with The Blasters or The Knitters, but Twangville’s Shawn Underwood says it might be his best record to date.
- Miranda Lambert posted a brief video of studio footage.
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Alecia Nugent // Alison Krauss // Barbara Mandrell // Blake Shelton // Bob Seger // Bucky Covington // Charlie McCoy // Country Music Hall of Fame // Darryl Worley // Dave Alvin // Dehlia Low // Drew Kennedy // Garth Brooks // George Jones // George Strait // Jamey Johnson // Jewel // Jimmie Rodgers // John Michael Montgomery // Johnny Cash // Josh Turner // Merle Haggard // Michael McDonald // Miranda Lambert // Missy Raines // New American Voices // Reba McEntire // Rodney Crowell // Rodney Hayden // Roy Clark // Ryan Bingham // Scott Miller // Sugarland // The Guilty Women // The Knitters // Willie Nelson
Current Discussion
- Clint: Very good song. Great, distinctive approach. I've never seen anything like it. Makes me wish all over ...
- Rachel68005: Ken, great interview! However, I must admit I am laughing at the comment where Bucky says that "Hold A ...
- PaulaW: Great interview! Thanks Ken!
- Jon: @Steve M. I don't know why you think shifting the focus to some other person in some other discipline ...
- Cybrus: He should have released "Woke Up On My Own" instead. That's a good song! "Every dog has it's day"...ugh.
- Scooter: I noticed with any Gary Allan album that I bought over the years that the songs really grow on you. ...
- Ben Foster: NAME-CHECKING - Taylor Swift pulled it off with "Tim McGraw," but Tyler Dean's "Taylor Swift" is a flop. POINT ...
- Ben Foster: There are too many songs on the radio that scream "I'm so country," when the production sounds like anything but. ...
- Ben Foster: I agree. "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes" is bland, boring, soulless, and entirely forgettable. This is ...
- Steve M.: And I am sure that James Patterson believes every book he churns out should be a Pulitzer winner. If the ...
10 Comments
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May 18, 2009 at 11:13 am Permalink
“Mongoloid cameraman”? Thats classy.
May 18, 2009 at 11:18 am Permalink
“Back line stories?”
Nice review of Missy’s album, Chris N. It’s a dandy.
Not pointed to here, but well worth reading is Peter Applebome’s NY Times piece on the Time Jumpers, which can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/arts/music/17appl.html. And to go along with it, a bit of hot news for those interested in such things, given to me directly by Aubrey Haynie when we played with Roland White out in Pegram on Saturday night: he’s thinking that his next album will include, if not be exclusively made up of swing tunes a la the Jumpers.
May 18, 2009 at 11:41 am Permalink
My daughter and I were on our way to the Bluebird Sat nite and when we got within range we turned on WSM and listened to the Opry. Jewel sang (and I use that term very loosely) “Over The Rainbow” and it was just AWFUL! My daughter even hated it and she’s pretty lenient.
May 18, 2009 at 11:55 am Permalink
Too funny on the joke from California Country on Jamey & the snuggie…they definitely made a big boo boo by claiming his show on Saturday was in Bama…but he was actually at Renfro Valley. I was there in attendance. :)
May 18, 2009 at 4:11 pm Permalink
Sounds like another good song from Miranda Lambert <3 Can’t w8 for the album!!
May 18, 2009 at 6:01 pm Permalink
Speaking of Jewel, Ashley Monroe will be doing solo acoustic sets to open some of Jewel’s concerts out here in California during July. Why couldn’t Ashley be opening for an artist I want to hear perform? Dang. On the other hand its nice Jewel is doing this for Ashley and I hope it opens some doors somewhere for Ashley to get some label support.
Jon, thanks for the link regarding the Time Jumpers. I try to never miss them when they are on the Opry as they are about the only act that performs western swing from that stage these days apart from Mel Tillis. I’m just glad there is such a talented group of pro musicians keeping the western swing tradition alive in Nashville these days. You can just hear the joy these musicians feel in performing a historical form of country music that they love.
First it was Oklahoma pink dirt artist Shawna Russell with her album “Goddess”. Now its Alecia Nugent with “Hillbilly Goddess”. What’s next, Carrie Underwood with “American Idol Pseudo Pop-Country Goddess”? Crikey, mate…
May 18, 2009 at 7:59 pm Permalink
I agree, Miranda sounds like she has another winner on her hands. Can’t wait as well!
May 18, 2009 at 10:54 pm Permalink
I’ve said before that I enjoyed Dave Alvin and his new band live, but the record isn’t even close to being one of his best. In fact, I think it might be his worst.
May 19, 2009 at 12:32 pm Permalink
I haven’t heard the album yet, but what about it makes you say it might be his worst?
May 19, 2009 at 2:52 pm Permalink
new versions of songs that can be found elsewhere done better. I also found his vocals to sound uninspired, like he trying to show his ’softer’ side and completely missing the point of some of the songs. I’ve been a fan for a long time and this disc is a major disappointment.
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