Haggard Is In Good Spirits After Surgery to Remove Lung Tumor
- Merle Haggard underwent surgery on Monday to remove a lung tumor that was discovered in May. Doctors believe they’ve removed all the cancer and according to Haggard’s publicist, he’s resting and recovering in a Bakersfield hospital.
- That Nashville Sound compares Jet Black and Jealous, the new album from the Eli Young Band, to the prize at the bottom of a box of Cracker Jacks. Personally, I always liked the Cracker Jacks more than I did the prize.
- Want a list of music related books being published between now and the end of the year? Music Tomes has you covered.
- In her review of Darrell Scott’s recently released album Modern Hymns, PopMatters’ Juli Thanki suggests that you might not have a soul if tears aren’t rolling down your cheek after listening to Scott and The Fisk Jubilee Sisters tackle Adam Mitchell’s “Out Among the Stars.”
- Only 17 of the 25 songs Alan Jackson recorded in his last studio session were used for Good Time, so he has eight songs “in the can” for his next album, but he’s in no rush to pump out a new record. He actually thinks Arista Nashville will try to squeeze five singles out of his current album. That’ll give him time to start writing new material and looking at outside sources.
- Later this month, the 22nd to be exact, marks the addition of the inaugural Chicago Bluegrass & Blues festival featuring The David Grisman Quintet, The Avett Brothers and more in support of the charity Saving Tiny Hearts.
- Paste published several photos from the “All For the Hall” benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum that took place a coupe of weeks ago. (via Eric Ryan Anderson)
- Songwriters Dan Roberts and Bryan Kennedy talked to The Boot about the inspiration behind “Beaches of Cheyenne,” their co-write with Garth Brooks.
Garth was cutting his ‘Fresh Horses’ album. He had already cut a song called ‘The Fever’ that Bryan and I wrote and he invited me to come into the studio when he was mixing that song. I was leaving, and he walked me out to the truck and said, “I’m still looking for a song, a cross between Chris LeDoux and the Bellamy Brothers or George Strait, with a beaches theme, like ‘Beaches of Cheyenne.” We looked at each other and said, “Cool title but I don’t know what it means.”
- While unintentional, C. Eric Banister says Classic Country Singers, the third book authored by Douglas B. Green, serves as an excellent companion to the country music history book Will the Circle Be Unbroken. Green, better known as “Ranger Doug” from Riders in the Sky, profiles 46 country artists in his own warm and personal writing style.
- Old Crow Medicine Show performed live versions of several songs from Tennessee Pusher on the stage at NPR’s World Cafe.
- Everyone give a big, The 9513 happy birthday wish to Mr. Jim Malec. It’s a birthday that he shares with Roy Rogers (b. 1911) and Gram Parsons (b. 1946).
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Alan Jackson // Country Music Hall of Fame // Darrell Scott // Eli Young Band // Garth Brooks // Gram Parsons // Merle Haggard // Old Crow Medicine Show // Riders In The Sky // Roy Rogers // The Avett Brothers
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21 Comments
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November 5, 2008 at 1:10 pm Permalink
Happy birthday, Jim!
November 5, 2008 at 2:09 pm Permalink
Thanks for the double shot of love.
And Happy Birthday, Jim. Aim for the Rogers path, not the Parsons one :)
November 5, 2008 at 2:32 pm Permalink
Happy Birthday Jim!
November 5, 2008 at 4:02 pm Permalink
Happy Birthday Jim!
November 5, 2008 at 4:06 pm Permalink
Happy Birthday, Jim.
November 5, 2008 at 4:06 pm Permalink
Yes Happy birthday Jim – seems you share it with Art Garfunkel and Bryan Adams too
November 5, 2008 at 5:45 pm Permalink
Happy Birthday, Jimbo. I think The 9513 should have waited to promote you to Managing Editor on this day just so it would be easier to remember your anniversary here! (jk)
Speaking of the Chicago Blues Festival, something that happened in Chicago last night definitely left me feeling blue (yes, as in “blue state”…)
Its only fitting that Merle had his surgery in Bakersfield. I wish him a speedy recovery.
Gee, If Alan Jackson hadn’t crammed so many songs onto “Good Time” he could have had enough material in the can for the second full album. Hmmm…..
November 5, 2008 at 6:13 pm Permalink
Happy bidet, Jim.
November 5, 2008 at 6:25 pm Permalink
Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor, no a… Wait a sec, wrong Jim.
Happy Birthday Mister Malec.
November 5, 2008 at 7:22 pm Permalink
Thanks for the plug on the Eli Young/Cracker Jacks story. :) Don’t you remember the excitement as a kid when opening a new cereal or a new box of Cracker Jacks wondering whether or not you’d get the new decoder ring or the temporary tattoo?
November 5, 2008 at 7:22 pm Permalink
Happy birthday Jim!
November 5, 2008 at 8:28 pm Permalink
Get well soon Merle. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
November 5, 2008 at 10:25 pm Permalink
Birthday wishes to Jim ‘The God Of Music’ Malec … Hoping for a speedy recovery for the Hag … and great list of upcoming book releases too.
I definitely want to pick up Marty Stuart’s The Masters – particularly for the audio book on how he acquired the photos. Marty is a man of many legendary stories about country music’s greats, and always willing to share them. Also, the Jimmie Rodgers’ bio Waiting For A Train sounds like essential reading too.
November 5, 2008 at 11:19 pm Permalink
Happy Birthday Jim!
I share my birthday with Lisa Marie Presley. I’ll trade you for Gram Parsons.
November 6, 2008 at 10:21 am Permalink
I proudly share a birthday with Mr. Jim Lauderdale.
November 6, 2008 at 10:39 am Permalink
Chris,
I proudly share a birthday with Marty Stuart.
November 6, 2008 at 11:18 am Permalink
I not-so-proudly share my birthday with Sen. Joe McCarthy, Prince Charles, and Condeleeza Rice. I’ll take Veronica Lake, though.
What musicians, you ask? Well, there’s Yanni (swallows hard). Well, and Aaron Copland.
November 6, 2008 at 11:45 am Permalink
George Jones!
November 6, 2008 at 1:11 pm Permalink
Jim Malec! Wait, that’s me.
Thanks for the birthday wishes, y’all!
November 6, 2008 at 1:36 pm Permalink
Is that a Groucho Marx reference, JM?
November 6, 2008 at 4:01 pm Permalink
While we’re at it, I share mine with Michaelangelo, Shaquille O’Neal and the king of Texas Swing Bob Wills!
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