Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett Win Oscars; Country Fever Canceled; Ashley Monroe Inks New Record Deal

“When I busted my ass, I looked over and Ronnie was on his ass, and the guitar player was on his ass, and Ronnie had that look on his face,” Kix recalled. “You know how ice is when it has water on it? It’s not just ice, and you can’t even shuffle your feet. That’s how slick it was, and I saw [Ronnie] try to get up a couple of times, and he was lookin’ at me like, ‘If I ever catch you I will kill you.’”

Country outlaw Jamey Johnson will release two albums in 2010: A “white album,” due first, will focus on upbeat material, including the hard-rocking singalong “California Riots” and the title track, which is sung from the perspective of old guitars hanging on a wall. (A more somber “black album” — featuring songs about money troubles — will follow in the fall.) Johnson says the abundance of material reflects a hot streak he’s been on for the past year or so. “It’s an epic journey through honky-tonk-ville,” he says. “If I record all this material, I fully intend to get it out.”

How country boys roll:
First, have about 20 beers
Then fire up the truck

In a way, the raw, loose feel of the band — Hill signaled cues to the ace musicians a couple of times; toward the end, she let loose with a few notes that would make Jennifer Nettles quake in her boots — provided a nice contrast with the high-toned folks watching appreciatively.

In the stripped-down area where country meets folk, sometimes called Americana, there hasn’t been a phrasemaker as wryly quotable since when — the heyday of Kris Kristofferson and John Prine?