CBS Anchor Sets Sights On Opry
- Face the Nation anchor Bob Schieffer, age 71, is retiring after the next President is inaugurated to tour with his country band, Honky Tonk Confidential. Schieffer says that his goal is to play the Grand Ole Opry.
- I don’t know if he’s serious or not, but in today’s episode of Crook & Chase, Mel Tillis tells Lorriane Crook that he literally crapped his pants upon hearing that he had been named to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
- Eye of the Hurricane blogger Tank posted a few rules about writing for country music’s first cousin, the blues. Sadly, if you’re reading this you most likely can’t write the blues because rule number twenty states: “I don’t care how tragic your life is. If you own a computer, you cannot sing the Blues.”
- Tim McGraw kick starts his tour on May 9th with support from Jason Aldean and Halfway to Hazzard.
- During his review of Pat Green’s book about dancehalls, Chet Flippo waxes nostalgic about his own honky-tonk memories and ends with: “This is something the American Idol scenario could never envision. The idea of real reality. Imagine that.”
- Judging from Kenneth Partridge’s recap on USA Today, the Carrie Underwood/Keith Urban concert in Uncasville, Conn. was something special.
Referencing wife Nicole Kidman’s pregnancy, Urban teased the crowd with a snippet of Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys, adding, “Maybe we will.”
- John Gerome provides a nice summary of The Wright’s career thus far. Although they had a song cut by Alan Jackson, they didn’t feel validated until Solomon Burke covered one of their tunes since Jackson is Adam Wright’s uncle, and owner of their label.
- Dolly Parton signed a digital distribution deal with INgrooves.
“Well it aint no surprise that the music industry is changing in a big way — and trust me, I know big. When we started Dolly Records we knew we had to be cutting edge as well as put out great music,” Parton said. “After looking at the choices in digital distribution, INgrooves was the perfect partner for our first release.
- Michelle Branch is reportedly working on a song with Dwight Yoakam for her next project.
- Free mp3s: Rodney Hayden added a couple of songs to his MySpace for download to make that a total of six. His latest album, Down the Road, has 11 songs, so he has more than half available for free. You need to be logged in to download.
- More video from the Granada Theater YouTube page, this time it’s Bruce Robison’s Christmas show with Kelly Willis. Here’s “Lifeline” from his latest EP, It Came From San Antonio:
More videos: “Angry All the Time” | “Desperately” | “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
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February 1, 2008 at 11:42 am Permalink
Michelle Branch won me over with the Wreckers and now she continues by working with one of the best. Nice!
February 1, 2008 at 7:43 pm Permalink
Thanks for the link to the interview with The Wrights. I’ve ordered their new EP through their website and can’t wait to hear it. They have performed on the Opry twice in the last month or so and their newly stripped down acoustic sound suits them well.
The Wrights are among my favorite active country artists and I was afraid that the poor sales of “Down This Road” would discourage them from following their unique musical path further. This new EP proves they haven’t thrown in the towel yet, and I wish they’d target Americana radio stations this time around as their music if far “too country” and rootsy for mainstream country radio. Talent of this magnitude is too good of thing to keep hidden…..
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