Punk/Rock Johnny Cash Tribute Album Benefits Fight Against Breast Cancer
- A new Johnny Cash tribute album called All Aboard features punk and rock artists covering some of Cash’s most well-known songs. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed a few of the songs (“Let the Train Whistle Blow,” “Delia’s Gone” and “I Still Miss Someone.”) Plus, all the proceeds from album sales will go to a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to underprivileged women who cannot afford the expense of fighting breast cancer. Can’t beat that. Listen to the full album stream on Punknews.org.
- Kenny Chesney landed at the top of the Billboard 200 chart for the fifth time and made his eighth appearance atop the Top Country Albums chart. However, 176,000 copies sold marks the lowest sales debut for one of his studio albums since Everywhere We Go bowed with 30,000 at No. 51 in 1999.
- Western Underground, the former backing band for Chris LeDoux, is releasing a new single to radio called “Good Ol Days To Come.” Listen on their MySpace.
- Last Saturday PBS aired an Austin City Limits episode of Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett from a May 7, 2008 taping, so if you missed it, check your TV listings for reruns. In the mean time, you can settle for a video of Lovett singing “My Baby Don’t Tolerate” with Hiatt laying down some blistering guitar work and a backstage interview with the quartet.
- Another PBS show, this one telling the story of J.D. Crowe, is set to air on Nov. 5.
- Ashlie Kolb and the Nashville at Nite crew caught up with Dierks Bentley for an interview at his 3rd Annual Miles & Music for Kids benefit. Two Foot Fred, NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, Ira Dean and the guys from Halfway to Hazard got some camera time as well.
- In an interview with Country Weekly, Craig Morgan talks about his Opry invitation and squalin’.
And he said, “How would you like to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry?” And at the same time he said that, I saw [Opry Vice President and General Manager Pete Fisher] and everybody step out. It overwhelmed me. [My wife] Karen was on the side of the stage and about passed out. She didn’t know either. She was squaling. I was squaling, she was squaling. My bass player, who don’t cry for nothin’ . . . when his puppy dies, he don’t cry . . . this guy was squalin’! And he came over and hugged me, and my drummer. A couple of my Special Forces buddies were there, and I looked over and they’re squalin’! So it was quite an event.
- Last week Lon Helton posed the question, “Where are the women?”, in reference to the lack of female artists finding chart success. Mike Severson has several interesting opinions on the subject.
- Your friendly reminder, via The Tennessean, to check out Jim Lauderdale‘s newest album, Could We Get Any Closer, now available on his website.
- In his review of Cowboy Copas and the Golden Age of Country Music, C. Eric banister says, “Fans of country music history will want to have this book in their library for the firsthand tales of the road from many of the stars of yesteryear and to honor the memory of a great artist.”
- Last night, newcomer Jeremy McComb performed a showcase at the Rutledge in Nashville, and NashvilleHype!’s Paul King is convinced McComb’s new single, “Cold,” is the “best song of it’s kind since Garth Brooks took the country by storm with Billy Joel’s ‘Shameless.’”
- The Boot has a great story behind the song article on Michael Martin Murphey‘s biggest hit, “Wildfire.”
I can’t tell you that I understand what the song means, but I think it’s about getting above the hard times. I’ve had people tell me they wish they could ride that mystical horse and get away from their hard times, whatever they are. I also think a lot of it is wrapped up in my Christian upbringing. In the Biblical book of Revelations, it talks about Jesus coming back on a white horse. I came to be a Christian when I was five or six years old and I was a cowboy kid with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, so when the preacher told me that Jesus would come back for me on a white horse, I was all wrapped up in that.
- Dale Watson is The Anti-Chesney.
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November 12, 2008
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October 22, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Unlike most people who will be reading this, I don’t hate Chesney one bit, I actually like him, but I still am not surprised at his low sales numbers. His “island themed” music is growing old pretty quick, not to mention it’s only been a year since his last release.
October 22, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Josh, i agree with you to a point i like Kenny Chesney but your right is island music is getting old, had this discussion with a friend of my this past weekend and it seems he is forgetting where he came from, because last i checked steel drums did not come from Tenn, i wish he would hit some of the traditional sounds and leave the islands to the carribean and he can enjoy it everytime he goes back and film the videos in the country and not on the beach or on boats anchored at the beach
October 22, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Kenny Chesney is not my favourite artist, but he’s not my least favourite. I really like some of his island music, but it is starting to get old, like Josh said. I don’t think that he should have released a new album already, Poets and Pirates just came out around a year ago. He didn’t release some of the song that I thought that he should have, like Dancing for the Groceries and Demons.
October 22, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Billy, “Demons” very well could be my favorite song on that album.. so yeah, it’s a shame we’ll never hear it on radio.
October 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I wonder if Kenny Chesney’s “low” sales really has much to do with the island schtick getting old or if it has more to do with the fact that the stock market is doing poorly, et cetera. The billboard article also mentions that sales last week were down 17% compared with sales of one year ago. Maybe the problem is the economy, not Kenny.
I do think he is overdoing the island theme, though.
October 22, 2008 at 6:28 pm
No, it’s Kenny. Sure the economy played a part, but I think it really is Kenny’s lack of anything remotely new or interesting or country.
October 22, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Trailer did a fine job with “The Anti-Chesney”. I’m not sure Dale Watson would want to be associated with Kenny Cheesey in any capacity though. Hmmm….
Jeremy McComb is an interesting artist but I think he is too individualistic for Top 40 country radio since he doesn’t fit in the cookie cutter molds they accept. Jeremy falls into that no-man’s land somewhere between mainstream country and the Americana scene.
I thought Patty Loveless’ use of the word “squalin’” in “Pretty Little Miss” was a cute colloquialism, but its obviously one of Craig Morgan’s favorite words! Crikey mate.
Now that Kenny Cheesey has worn out his welcome being the Countrified Jimmy Buffet, who else will he choose to mimic? Maybe he can pretend to be a Jonas Brother or Michael Buble…..
October 22, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I like Craig Morgan but I am not sure if he was ready for an invitation to the Opry yet. I would say give me another hit song or another great album before he should be considered. It’s not a terrible pick but he just doesn’t seem like one of the country music elite.
October 22, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Chesney’s sales going down is a combination of multiple things but the biggest factor is the economy.
October 22, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I don’t know Matt. I went to Best Buy to pick up a real copy of Jamey Johnson’s “That Lonesome Song” this week for $ 8 and grabbed Crystal Shawanda’s debut as well (for $ 10), so I’m still buying! I think maybe Chesney’s fans are just saving up their wages for something more important, like more beer at the tailgating party at their next Chesney concert…..
October 22, 2008 at 8:49 pm
“I like Craig Morgan but I am not sure if he was ready for an invitation to the Opry yet. I would say give me another hit song or another great album before he should be considered. It’s not a terrible pick but he just doesn’t seem like one of the country music elite.”
……craig seems to be the type the opry likes…not too big for his britches and respecting of the opry and willing to play on a regular basis….
October 23, 2008 at 9:31 am
With an economy in the dumps and the music industry collapsing, it’s unrealistic to expect most anyone to sell the way they used to.
October 23, 2008 at 10:02 am
Rick: I tend to agree with you about McComb, and I think that is why he has found a substantial fan-base in Texas. he has multiple songs that get airplay here and even have creeped onto the texas chart. I got to see him perorm in a very intimate, acoustic setting, and he almost blew the doors off the place with how he could belt it out….
October 23, 2008 at 10:06 am
Does the music industry not qualify for a bailout? It seems like everyone else does.
October 23, 2008 at 10:27 am
bailing out dave watson – blasphemy!
October 23, 2008 at 10:30 am
Dave Watson is, of course, Dale’s even more hardcore twin brother. He’s being kept in an underground laboratory until the world is equipped to deal with how country he is.
October 23, 2008 at 10:30 am
i saw a commercial that said Denny’s can bail us all out with cheap grand-slam b-fasts, i guess that goes for the music industry also….
October 23, 2008 at 10:31 am
…oh, yeah, also, I read in the Wall St. Journal that (as I predicted a wee or two ago), we will soon be using Dale Watson’s sideburns as currency…
October 23, 2008 at 10:56 am
chris n.: what do you think, can we expect any birthday bikini-shots of dale and dave like the ones of brody and brady?
October 23, 2008 at 11:23 am
In that event, I’m afraid we might see some sideburns we don’t want to see.
October 23, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Chris N, speak for yourself!
October 23, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Kelly, W/R/T Jeremy McComb; His new single “Cold” is a perfect example of his vocal ability. It may be ‘country-pop’ but the whole song is pretty good and it has an immediate hook. Too bad radio seems to not want to play it (which is funny given he’s a former Radio DJ).
October 23, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Yes, it was his performance of “cold” that he really nailed and impressed me quite a bit…the fine folks and readers of the 9513 may be hearing that very performance very soon……maybe, hhhmmm….
Oddly enough, his cover of Wagon Wheel is climbing the Texas Charts, even though that is his “old” single and video…
October 24, 2008 at 9:21 am
Kelly,
I think that single was the very first single they released. “This Town Needs A Bar” being his second. Doesn’t surprise me though. Stations in Texas may have been serviced that song (again?) instead of Cold.
October 24, 2008 at 1:05 pm
“This Town Needs a Bar” is the best non-charting song of 2008 in my opinion.
October 24, 2008 at 1:54 pm
that is the song that made me take notice of McComb, Bobby. I really thought it would be “contemporary enough” for radio, but it wasnt, even though thats how I heard it down here in Texas…
November 4, 2008 at 11:32 am
I loved this episode of Nashville At Nite…I guess it was sort of a day time edition which was cool, ha. Halfway to Hazard were very funny at the end of the video. And Dierks seemed so happy talking to Ashlie about being a brand new daddy. Thanks for the coverage!