John Hiatt Joins Lofty Company With AMA Lifetime Achievement Award For Songwriting
- The Americana Music Association announced yesterday that John Hiatt will receive their lifetime achievement award for songwriting, which will be presented to him during the Sept. 18 awards show at the Ryman Auditorium. Past winners include Willie Nelson, Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Cowboy Jack Clement, John Prine and Billy Joe Shaver.
- Aside from his forthcoming album, Around The Bend, Randy Travis will star in a new movie called The Wager, due on DVD May 13.
- Check out GAC on May 10 to catch the live national telecast of Carrie Underwood’s induction into the Grand Ole Opry.
- In case you’ve been living under a rock, or your new to this genre we call country music, MySA.com has a list of 75 essential Willie Nelson songs. After that, go see what Randy Rogers, Johnny Bush, Pat Green, Robert Earl Keen and Ray Price have to say about the icon.
- The Austin Chronicle has more Willie Nelson goodness: Dan Oko takes a look at what drew Joe Nick Patoski, author of An Epic Life, to Willie; Patoski himself summarizes seven Willie albums; there’s an excerpt from his book; and Doug Freeman has a review of the book.
- And PopMatters’ Dave Heaton has a review of the recently released Willie Nelson box-set, One Hell Of A Ride.
- Peter Cooper doesn’t blame vocal tuning technology, the demise of physical product, or too many cookie cutter acts as the culprits for “killing” music. To him, the offender is the cell phone. That’s why he left his Blackberry in his van to catch roots-rocker Carey Ott (MySpace), who he says every country producer should check out for his song “Wear You Down”. On Tuesday he caught Jimmy Barret (MySpace) and describes him as “some kind of lanky and twangy blend of Buck Owens and Jonathan Richman.”
- The battle between Jeanene Van Zandt and Kevin Eggers is far from over, despite a March 31st ruling that granted Jeanene and Townes Van Zandt’s children injunctive relief against Kevin Eggers, restraining him from reproducing or distributing any of Van Zandt’s songs.
- Americana Roots writer John Walker showers some much deserved love on The Dixie Bee-Liners.
- Beginning next week a new flavor of Fritos chips will be stocked at Wal-Mart. I know you’re asking yourself what this has to do with country music, well, the flavor is Tim McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeno Fritos. Yummy?
- Rodney Atkins and the “Cleaning This Gun” songwriters Marla Cannon-Goodman and Casey Beathard celebrated the singer’s fourth No. 1 on Wednesday with an ASCAP hosted lunch party followed by an afternoon rooftop celebration at BMI.
- Subscribe, for free, to BluegrassJournal.com for a chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to the 1st Annual DelFest in Cumberland, MD. Delfest borrows its name from bluegrass mainstay Del McCoury.
- On May 6th you can purchase a new Aaron Tippin CD, He Believed, at Cracker Barrel or on their website. The CD features six classic song and six of his recently recorded songs.
- From Lubbock Online:
Recent generations have a tendency to gravitate toward every new face to hit the screen, every new voice to float across the airwaves. We quickly forget the sounds and images we loved as early as a year ago. We’re a bit lazy in that regard - we wait for the machine to feed us, rather than feeding ourselves.
As such, we allow great resources to disperse because we are ignorant of their value - illustrated succinctly by the painfully small group of people who made time on a Thursday night in late April to listen to the music of Billy Joe Shaver during his visit to Bash’s 2 in the Lubbock, Texas Depot District.
- Chet Flippo takes a look at three intriguing success stories in country music right now: Lady Antebellum, James Otto, and Jamey Johnson, the latter of which he pretty much gushes all over–gushing that Johnson is certainly worthy of.
- Despite his dad’s advice to stay away from the restaurant and music business, Phil Vassar had to go and get into both, and now with his new record deal and new album he’s ready to make a push to crack country’s A-list.
- More than 21 percent of Lady Antebellum’s album sales came from digital purchases, marking the highest digital sales percentage ever achieved by a country band with a debut album. For more Lady A, check out AT&T’s blue room music channel for an exclusive video interview with the trio and acoustic performances of “Love Don’t Live Here” and “All We’d Ever Need.”
- Ashley Monroe posted a couple of new songs to her MySpace that she recorded with her guitar player Tyler Cain and closes her recent MySpace blog post with “more good news coming soon.” How tantalizing.
- On a closing note, be sure to visit next Tuesday for our Willie Nelson birthday giveaway. We have a lot of good stuff lined up.
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Ashley Gearing - “Out the Window” Gearing makes this mediocre song listenable enough that it earns a very qualified thumbs up.
Taylor Swift - “Should’ve Said No” This song is way too loud. It starts out with that nice banjo lick and then – wham! – I’m diving for the volume control.
Craig Morgan - “Love Remembers” Morgan has here abandoned the sometimes quirky, often twangy nature of his music, instead offering what sits as a startling departure from songs like “Redneck Yacht Club” and “International Harvester.”
Ashton Shepherd - “Sounds So Good” Shepherd lovingly sings her life’s soundtrack in a voice imbued with honest, lived experiences. 
Ben Cisneros chats with Star De Azlan about her upcoming record, her influences, and her plans as an artist.
Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt & Lyle Lovett at the Paramount Theater, Austin, TX - For two hours they captivated the audience with perfectly-timed stage banter, well-oiled stories, and songs pulled from several decades of their illustrious careers.
Not only is Spirit Ben Cisneros' favorite Willie album, he dubs it Willie's finest accomplishment, claiming "Hank Williams never did anything so excellent; neither did Johnny Cash for that matter." High praise, indeed.
Brody Vercher offers up ten songs inspired the great Willie Nelson.
It should come as no surprise that many fine country songs feature prisoners waiting to die. Here are 10 of the finest.Tagged In This Article
Ashley Monroe // Billy Joe Shaver // Carrie Underwood // Cracker Barrel // Del McCoury // Dixie Bee-Liners // Grand Ole Opry // James Otto // Jamey Johnson // Jimmy Barret // John Hiatt // Lady Antebellum // Phil Vassar // Randy Travis // Rodney Atkins // Ryman Auditorium // Tim McGraw // Townes Van Zandt // Willie Nelson
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11 Comments
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April 25, 2008 at 10:54 am Permalink
I grabbed a copy of the Willie box set at Costco for $20 and I’m only half way through, but it’s been pretty dang sweet so far.
It’s good to see Tim McGraw is still living on refried dreams.
April 25, 2008 at 11:10 am Permalink
ok, i can’t pass up a completely tasteless joke.
but faith hill is the only person who can attest to whether or not the tim mcgraw fritos’ taste is accurate. just sayin’.
sorry.
April 25, 2008 at 11:42 am Permalink
It’s a shame about Billy Joe Shaver, “Live Forever” is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Jamey Johnson definitely deserves the praise, I’m glad he got another record deal after how badly BNA botched his career after “The Dollar”.
April 25, 2008 at 11:56 am Permalink
Chet Flippo wrote: “James Otto is defying predictions and scoring on the chart…”
Maybe Chet needs to pick some new predictors.
April 25, 2008 at 2:20 pm Permalink
I appreciate Chet Flippo’s new Nashville Skyline post since he uses it so well as a means to extol the musical virtues of Jamey Johnson. Maybe fans of Lady Antebellum and James Otto’s hit radio singles will read it and make an effort to hear Jamey’s music. Jamey is truly a musical descendant of the Waylon and Hank Jr. style outlaws….
Thanks for the links to Ashley Monroe’s MySpace. Its encouraging to see she is out doing things, like trying to get songs on TV shows or movies out here in LA, rather than fading into the woodwork like many new artists do after losing a major label contract. My only complaint, I wish she would have booked at least one public gig while here in LA….
April 25, 2008 at 4:17 pm Permalink
Good to hear that Ashley Monroe is at least doing something. Maybe someone else signed her? I hope so because she’s one of the more interesting new acts for a while now.
April 25, 2008 at 10:46 pm Permalink
i agree jordan, ashley monroe was definetly an interesting, new, and unique act, and i was looking forward to her cd…its good that she isn’t completly done!
April 26, 2008 at 1:35 am Permalink
Good to see some more recognition for the coolest guy alive - Hiatt deserves to be in that company.
April 26, 2008 at 5:20 am Permalink
I would love to see Phil Vassar get some A list love but I don’t think this CD will do. It’s a little bland and the lyrics are not as strong as before (and no, I don’t mean the Hot Tub song). I am surprised he isn’t bigger though. His material is very consistent and he is one of the best live acts I have ever seen. If you get a chance to catch him live, be sure to do it.
April 26, 2008 at 7:32 am Permalink
can anybody help me to understand that lady antebellum (pr-)hype? chet flippo was not really offering any substance in his lines.
I listend through their debut-album twice,found nothing really unpleasant but nothing terribly outstanding either, compared it to sugarland’s debut and to trick pony’s as well as highway 101’s and even though it’s a fine effort i can’t find a single reason or song to justify the amount of acclaim or attention lady antebellum is receiving at the moment. what am i missing here?
April 28, 2008 at 12:28 pm Permalink
“Recent generations have a tendency to gravitate toward every new face to hit the screen, every new voice to float across the airwaves. We quickly forget the sounds and images we loved as early as a year ago. We’re a bit lazy in that regard - we wait for the machine to feed us, rather than feeding ourselves.”
Wow. Isn’t that the truth?
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