Nominees Announced For Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
- The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced the names of 15 nominees being considered for 2008 inclusion. Ten of the nominees are songwriters, two of which will be inducted, and one from the group of 5 songwriter/artists will be included. Songwriters: Matraca Berg, Paul Craft, Kye Fleming, Larry Henley, John Jarrard, Bob Morrison, Mark D. Sanders, Tom Shapiro, John Scott Sherrill and Sharon Vaughn. Songwriter/artists: Paul Davis, Larry Gatlin, John Hiatt, Johnny Horton and Tony Joe White.
- Bruce Robison added a couple of new songs, “The Hammer” and “California 85,” to his MySpace with an atmospheric looking album cover for The New World, which I assume is an album he’ll be putting out this year.
- Justin Townes Earle on country music:
“Country music is heartbreaking,” he said. “You should get the same feeling you get when you’re hearing an old blues song. Country music should make you feel better than the person singing the song.
“It’s sad, but what you hear going on now isn’t real country music. What I’m tying to do is carry on the tradition. I’m trying to save country music.”
And he refers to his moment on the Opry stage last month as magical.
- The new Lee Ann Womack album will feature George Strait and Keith Urban. Sounds promising.
- Pat Green cut back on his touring this year to spend some downtime with his family and to prepare for his new, yet-to-be-titled album due out some time in November. It will be the 11th recording of his career.
- Country Universe says the success of Alison Krauss proves that great artistry can indeed triumph over crass commercialism. She drops in at No. 11 on the list of 100 Greatest Women. I don’t know about you, but I’m anxious to see if there’s any surprises in the top ten.
- Joe Gross on Merle Haggard’s concert at The Paramount Theater:
His effortlessly professional eight-piece band was pure honky-tonk, but included keys, pedal steel and saxophone, which lent the songs an urban, R&B-ish feel that reminded just how universal they sound. These songs were about gangsta before hip-hop existed, country noir about lonesome fugitives and drunks whom the bottle has let down. Johnny Cash sang about “Folsom Prison Blues,” but Haggard lived them — no wonder his cover of it sounded so perfect.
- Leona Williams, the former wife of Merle Haggard, is holding a release party for newest CD, Leona Williams Sings Merle Haggard, today at Nashville Palace.
- Last month’s rave reviews of Joe Pug’s Nation of Heat EP from Twang Nation and The Gobblers Knob caused me to sit up and take notice of this new folksy troubadour, and needless to say, I enjoyed what I heard. Yesterday the HearYa Indie Music Blog sweetened the pot for Joe Pug fans with seven exclusive live recordings–3 from his EP, a cover of Gram Parson’s “Grievous Angel,” and 3 previously unreleased tracks. Good stuff.
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Current Discussion
- stormy: Jon: 1. No, I think that the prepackages country-pop stars comment was what Matt was referring to when ...
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- Jon: @stormy. You think Matt C. Was using "pseudo-rocker" as a synonym for "pre-packaged country-pop star?" How Church uses the ...
- stormy: Jon: 1. Church, who is playing a St. Patrick's Day show at the Orpheum Theatre, said his beef with pre-packaged ...
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- Bob: Great interview. Hoping Bucky's new single does well. The song has a great message.
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June 20, 2008 at 10:37 am Permalink
Justin’s CD is a great record….he is doing a fine job of keeping it country!
June 20, 2008 at 12:24 pm Permalink
Justin’s cd is really, really good.
And YEEEEAAAAHHHH! for Matraca Berg. Crossing my fingers for her nomination.
June 20, 2008 at 1:17 pm Permalink
Thanks for the shout out. I was hooked on Pug’s voice the second that the first track rolled. If you like Josh Ritter, you’ll love this guy…
June 20, 2008 at 3:11 pm Permalink
Appreciate the love. Pug is the real deal and he’s just getting started.
June 21, 2008 at 11:29 am Permalink
Bruce Robison’s new album is due Sept. 2. I’m looking forward to it. A snippet:
“Bringing the full, wild range of American music to bear on ‘The New World’ Robison finds his voice with the sunny C&W back beat of “The New One,” the world-weary soul balladry of “Bad Girl Blues,” the stripped-down rockabilly drive of “Twistin’,” and the relentless stomp of “The Hammer,” recalling The Band in its heyday. Robison’s wife, the singer Kelly Willis, lends backing vocals to a number of the tracks while members of the Willie Nelson Family Band, Paul English and Mickey Raphael, contribute drums and harmonica respectively. Fellow Austin songwriter Kevin McKinney contributes guitars, vocals, bass and drums to various songs on the album, assists in production and even offers his own composition, ‘Hanging On Hopeless,’ which Robison sings.”
http://top40-charts.com/news/Pop-Rock/Bruce-Robisons-New-Album-The-New-World-Set-For-September-2-2008-Release/41163.html
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