Merle Haggard Cancels Shows; Preview Terri Clark; Rock Bands’ Country; Plus Free Music
- Merle Haggard canceled the remaining five dates of his current tour because of head and neck pain.
- Groover’s Paradise recommended “Foggy Mountain Top” from Carlene Carter and provided audio for her version and The Carter Family version for comparison.
- In a case of the rich getting richer, Los Angeles’ honky-tonk king Mike Stinson left California for Texas. Houston to be exact.
“People kept telling me I ought to move to Austin,” Stinson says, “but the more I thought about it and how many of my old L.A. friends have relocated there, I just thought, “no.” I don’t really know why, but Houston just seems like my kind of town. I’ve loved it every time I’ve played here.”
Visit his MySpace for several new tunes from his upcoming album, The Jukebox In Your Heart. If anything, do yourself a favor and listen to “Square With the World.”
- “Drunk Dialer,” the first single from Miss Leslie’s upcoming album, is available for download on her website. She’s also our newest The 9513 contributor and writes her own column, Miss Leslie’s Honky Tonk Happy Hour.
- The Country Track Pack for the video game Rock Band will be released tomorrow with 21 songs from artists as mainstream as Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban to artists not, uh, as mainstream like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams. Check out the full track list on the Rock Band website.
- In an interview with Country Universe’s Leeann Ward, Rory Feek talks about where he and wife Joey Martin fit in with today’s country:
First off, we had a pretty strong sense that we weren’t going to win [CMT's Can You Duet], even before the show was over. We just were not a major market act. Actually, we are a mainstream act. But mainstream has turned so far that people who are mainstream acts have to go somewhere else. And people that are rock acts, pop acts, they’re now all of a sudden mainstream acts or what mainstream labels want.
- Terri Clark released Road Rage, a new live album which can be picked up at her concerts or downloaded on Amazon. She also published audio previews, commentary and lyrics for two new songs, “A Million Ways To Run” and “What Happens In Vegas (Follows You Home),” from her upcoming studio album, The Long Way Home.
- Is country crushing Nashville’s creativity?
Sociologists have begun arguing about whether Nashville’s music scene is really all that creative. Although the city has grown tremendously over the past few decades, in part because of the music industry, some say country music’s dominance drowns out different sounds here and puts the future of the industry at risk.
- If you’re looking for genuine country with a little twang that makes heartache and the tears flow into the beer, then Texas Music Matters recommends Mike and the Moonpies (MySpace). The Alt-512 Music Musings blog endorsed the band a couple of months ago as well, and provided links to download their album Lyin’ at no charge.
- Rediscover a dozen ’80s country artists, from Rosanne Cash and Willie Nelson to Ronnie Milsap and Anne Murray, with Craig Shelburne’s most recent list. He even lists a few choice cuts and current artists creating music in the same vein as their ’80s predecessor.
- The Friends of Old Time Music blog posted a vinyl rip of Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mountain Boys 1968 album Tennessee. Good stuff.
- My Kind of Country: Which artists are you trying to complete the discographies of? Why?
- A Truer Sound created and posted a link to a compilation of murder ballads and songs about killin’, which includes songs from The Louvin Brothers, Doc Watson, Johnny Cash and more.
- Also from A Truer Sound are bootlegs from a 1983 show with Jerry Jeff Walker and Joe Ely at Antone’s and a Buddy Miller set from 2005’s Merlefest.
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Anne Murray // Buddy Miller // Carlene Carter // Doc Watson // Jerry Jeff Walker // Jimmy Martin // Joe Ely // Joey Martin // Johnny Cash // Keith Urban // Kenny Chesney // Lucinda Williams // Merle Haggard // Merlefest // Mike and the Moonpies // Mike Stinson // Miss Leslie // Rascal Flatts // Ronnie Milsap // Rory Feek // Rosanne Cash // Terri Clark // The Carter Family // The Louvin Brothers // Willie Nelson
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July 20, 2009 at 11:16 am Permalink
Is country crushing Nashville’s creativity?
Shouldn’t that be the other way around?
July 20, 2009 at 11:20 am Permalink
A lot of that Tennessean article was referring to the creativity of non-country folks. I’m sorry, but I just dont really have a lot of sympathy in that regard. I mean, what does one expect? If I go to Advanced Auto Parts, I cant justifiably be upset that I cant purchase milk and bread there. If they would like success with their various styles and genres, they need to go to that store…not the country music store.
July 20, 2009 at 11:47 am Permalink
If country music managed to crush the careers of Nashville’s own Fountains of Wayne, isn’t that a good thing?
July 20, 2009 at 12:07 pm Permalink
I normally am a big fan of Shelburne’s work, but this list is too obvious. I’d like to rediscover acts that were really popular or maybe dont get the attention anymore. All of the acts in his article were the biggest acts of the decade.
July 20, 2009 at 12:40 pm Permalink
Hmmm… The Terri Clark clips remind me a lot of Fearless: that’s good!
July 20, 2009 at 12:55 pm Permalink
I thought Terri Clark walked away from her label to do something more real and gritty. This sounds like NashVegas puffery to me.
July 20, 2009 at 2:21 pm Permalink
The clips of Terri Clark’s new album aren’t long enough, but the song about Vegas songs like a pretty good one =)
July 20, 2009 at 2:55 pm Permalink
That Tennessean article really dropped the ball, in my opinion. When I saw the headline yesterday, I was pretty pumped at the prospects of a thoughtful, provocative article.
But quite frankly, it managed to say a lot without really saying anything.
July 20, 2009 at 3:47 pm Permalink
Wouldn’t some argue that the Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” is as “Nashville” as a rock band can get? It is also selling the band boatloads of albums worldwide despite being a ’sell-out’ compared to their other stuff. Why didn’t the article mention THAT?
July 20, 2009 at 3:57 pm Permalink
Because Matt, that wouldn’t be helpful to the point of the article. Then people wouldn’t be inclined to say “But wait Rick Vito, is it because your rock that you cant get session work? Or is it because there are plenty of young gun guitarists in town, that are just as good or better?”
July 20, 2009 at 4:24 pm Permalink
Fountains of Wayne are from Massachussetts. Or was that a joke that went over my head?
July 20, 2009 at 5:23 pm Permalink
When I got into mainstream country music in the mid 80’s it was the neo-traditional artists like Ricky Skaggs, Randy Travis, and Steve Wariner that really got me hooked! I’m glad Craig Shelburne included them on his list but I’d rather see Gene Watson or John Anderson (or even Southern Pacific) on that list rather than Anne Murray! Sheesh!
Mike Stinson’s move to Houston from L.A. has left a big hole at the middle of LA’s indigenous country scene as he was at the top of the heap. I asked David Serby if he was also thinking about moving to Texas to further his music career and the answer was a solid “no”. If David Serby and Dave Gleason were to move to Texas, there wouldn’t be much original real “country music” being performed around here any longer.
How could the murder ballads list not include “Lonesome Bob” Chaney’s chilling cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “Pardon Me, I’ve Got Someone To Kill”!!!! Its my favorite cut off the “Executioner’s Songs Vol. 1″ album.
Wow, that article on Nashville’s creativity is totally whacked out! Its the Top 40 country radio programmers that have stomped out the creativity on Music Row. The big labels are out to sell music and make money, and Top 40 radio wants pop-rock mediocre schlock these days. The different styles of music in Nashville aren’t stifling each other, they are being combined into a meaningless musical blob. Let’s lay the blame where it clearly belongs here.
PS – Don’t forget about the fine “A Tribute To Jimmy Martin Vol. 1″ CD that’s readily available out there in quality musicland! I wonder what Jon thinks about this one? Hmmm…
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Tribute-Jimmy-Martin-King-Bluegrass/dp/B00029J226
July 20, 2009 at 5:33 pm Permalink
Shelburne gets misty eyed about Restless Heart and misses Foster and Lloyd.
enuf said.
July 20, 2009 at 6:06 pm Permalink
Rick’s Random Tidbits Early Edition: The quote of the day comes from an interview with Cheyenne Kimball of Gloriana over on the Front Porch at Country Standard Time:
Question from Jessica Phillips: “Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook got hitched back in 2006. Could we expect a love connection in Gloriana?”
Cheyenne Kimball: “Absolutely not. We’re all just like brothers and sisters. Honestly, we spent so much time together – there’s just no romantic things going on. It’s all like the smells and stuff, you know, living with guys. It’s kind of gross.”
Rick’s comment: Oh how I appreciate honesty in interviews! (lol)
July 20, 2009 at 6:13 pm Permalink
Chris: Fountains of Wayne recorded that obnoxious Stacy’s Mom song in Nashville.
July 20, 2009 at 6:22 pm Permalink
@Rick “How could the murder ballads list not include “Lonesome Bob” Chaney’s chilling cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “Pardon Me, I’ve Got Someone To Kill”!!!! Its my favorite cut off the “Executioner’s Songs Vol. 1″ album.”
Because I didn’t have that album until AFTER I made that comp. The comp is a solid 2 years old.
I think what Nashville NEEDS is for it’s creativity (read: lack thereof) to die so that REAL creative acts can get some airtime. It’s getting close….notice they are letting ugly people have songs on the radio again :-P
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