Ralph Stanley Lets Loose in Memoir; ACL with Willie and the Wheel Airs Early; Free Music

I guess Dr. Stanley isnt aware of how people dont really like to discuss what is and isnt real country….

The name of her album is “I got your country right here” ? Ugh. I know the first band she should sign to her label…The Lost Trailers

I love Ralph’s comment on Tim McGraw as I tend to agree with him. (lol)

It’s nice to hear Lee Ann Womack tackle a western swing classic even if the instrumentation wasn’t quite suited to such a song, and the fiddle level was mixed in way too low. I’m just glad such a performance made it onto a major network morning show and that the hosts of that show like Lee Ann as much as they do.

Justin Trevino has been Amber Digby’s primary mentor for a long time but he just can’t sing that well even under the best circumstances (like label mate Johnny Bush as well). On Kim Murray’s album “Once Upon a Time In a Honky Tonk” Kim sings duets with both Justin and a guy named Jake Hooker who sounds like a Bob Will’s Texas Playboys lead vocalist. Its too bad Jake won’t be doing the duet vocals with Amber on her new album. I skipped the Brennen Leigh & Jesse Dayton duets album cause I don’t care for Jesse’s voice either (his “Nashvegas” album was really weak). Oh well…

I got a free copy of Grant Langston’s new CD last Sunday at The Grand Ole Echo club and haven’t even listened to it yet. Since Kelly likes it, my expectations have been drastically lowered! (lol) Grant will be performing at The Echo this coming Sunday (8/2/09) afternoon as part of an LA area “CD Release Party”. Admission is free and the concert starts at 5:30 PM with Grant coming on stage after 7:45 PM.
Link: http://www.myspace.com/thegrandoleecho

Well Rick, Langston isnt a red dirt rocker, so I was shocked i liked him :-)

He does remind me of David Serby, and if I remember, you arent too big on him, but I hope you do like it regardless.

Regarding artists giving away free music….

There’s an immediate whiff of desperation in the air when I read of such situations. I know, I know….I’m jumping to conclusions. After all, free is also a way for a new artist to get heard. Admittedly, I’m always in a hurry
but suspicions abound!

Kelly, I do indeed like David Serby and with Mike Stinson’s move to Houston David has become LA’s # 1 home based male honky tonker with Jaimi Shuey heading the female category. If Grant reminds you of David, I’ll have to give his CD a spin before his show!

New artists who give away music are hoping to increase awareness so that they might get more concert gigs booked over a wider area. If the artist can build any kind of decent sized fan base they can charge for their next album! I’ve just found that most free country music is worth about what you pay for it! (lol) (Except for free tracks from Country Weakly and Amazon on occasion.)

That’s pretty lame of CMT to take that article down if it’s, indeed, what’s in Stanley’s book.

Both the names of her new album and her record label are enough to keep me uninterested in what Gretchen does next, not that I ever was a fan of her’s. With that said, I did enjoy “When I Think About Cheatin’” and “I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today.”

Here’s the cached article:

Ralph Stanley Rattles Some Cages in Upcoming Autobiography
July 29, 2009
The usually genial Ralph Stanley gets a bit prickly in his forthcoming autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow: The Life and Times of a Music Legend. The book covers Stanley’s entire musical career, from his start in 1946 as the junior member of the Stanley Brothers through his emergence in 2000 as a solo superstar following the release of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack album. He takes on Tim McGraw, both for his music (“He wouldn’t know a real country song if it kicked him in the ass”) and for being disrespectful toward him when he beat out McGraw and others in 2002 for the Grammy for best male country vocal performance. Stanley also admits he still holds a grudge against the late John Duffey of the Seldom Scene for playing demeaning pranks on other bands. Oddly enough, the 82-year-old singer has nothing but fond memories of Bill Monroe, one of his early idols, even though he acknowledges Monroe quit Columbia Records in protest when that label signed the Stanley Brothers. His book is full of colorful details, such as the fact that the late Keith Whitley, while in Stanley’s band, used to style his boss’ hair before they went onstage. Stanley is candid about what some might view as his own shortcomings, including his failed first marriage, his tendency to treat music primarily as a business and his refusal to hire “Yankees” to play in his fabled Clinch Mountain Boys band. Written with Eddie Dean and published by Gotham Books, the memoir will be released Oct. 15.

Jon might be right about the reason for the quote being pulled from CMT. I have spoken in the past to someone with immediate input as to what that site posts, and I bet it’s as simple as the fact that CMT needs/wants to be on McGraw’s good-side more than they need/want to be on Stanley’s good-side. They want McGraw on their awards shows and to give “exclusives” for their Insider and other interests. Whats the point of upsetting him from their perspective?

Kelly,
It seems that Jon is suggesting that Ralph’s people asked for the article to be pulled though.

Leeaan, I made a point to say that Jon may have been right and I have no reason to believe that didnt happen also, but based upon past conversations with someone on “the inside”, it’s not exactly mind-blowing for me to think that CMT would rather not offend one of the biggest stars in country music.

If CMT were so concerned about offending Tim McGraw, they probably wouldn’t have put that bit up in the first place. It’s more likely that someone Stanley-connected saw it and thought, “hmmm.”

Just guesswork, but the moment for Ralph’s people to think “hmmmmm” would have been before the book was ready to ship advances.

No Jon, you’re wrong.

No

Jon – First of all, the more you tell people they look like a chucklehead, the more you actually sound like one, you condescending blowhard.

Second of all, the first comment that I freakin’ made this morning was “Jon might be right”, followed by an explanation that I was merely introducing another possible sceanrio based upon some general, inside info.

Thrid of all, I just wanted to see if I could get you to spew more nit-picking idiocy by only giving you a one word reply…

From the CMT blurb, it seems that the McGraw comments were in the review copy of the book that was initially sent out. So, I wish I could read Barry M’s copy of the book, because it’s obviously different from the one we’re going to get to see. It’s too bad that certain things were cut at the seemingly very last second. I like McGraw pretty well, but I also like to read honest accounts of artists too. I don’t like to see that certain artists are big enough that other people (either the book publisher or Stanley’s people, in this case) are afraid to ruffle their feathers.

” It’s too bad that certain things were cut at the seemingly very last second.”

Maybe that’s when Ralph finally got around to reading what was going out with his name on it.