“Singer Nelson Begins Prison Term…”
- Our readers seem to be just as excited as I am about Ashton Shepherd. Chet Flippo shares that enthuiasm and tells a pretty cool story:
She was “discovered” a few weeks ago at an Alabama fair at a Lorrie Morgan concert.
As I heard it, the opening act had to cancel, and so the promoter invited people in the audience to come up and sing. Shepherd did so and impressed Morgan’s sound engineer enough that he asked for a cassette of some songs. He sent that to BMI in Nashville. Shelby Kennedy there was very impressed and told the Universal Music Group about her. Shepherd was flown to Nashville, sang for UMG Nashville head Luke Lewis, and he signed her straightaway. She brought 40 original songs with her and cut 14 of them with veteran producer Buddy Cannon for her debut CD. The album’s done. It’ll be out probably next spring.
It’s certainly a feel-good story, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a true one. Flippo’s column is dated August 9th, 2007, and no artist discovered this summer already has a single at radio and a finished album. I know that the Nashville machine likes to embellish stories like this, but this is a clumsy concoction. The South Alabamian has the real story.
- In the debate on whether today’s mainstream country acts are really country or just rock wannabes Tom Roland offers up this piece of advice: “A country song is defined not by history, but by the era in which it appears.” He uses Dolly Parton’s album Here You Come Again as an example of an artist straying from her previous sound an upsetting traditionalists but gaining more fans in the process.
- A list of some central Texas recording studios and a few albums that were recorded at each.
- Sean Moores sings the praises of Steve Earle’s Washington Square Serenade.
- Jordin Tootoo, the right wing for the Nashville Predators and former boyfriend of Kellie Pickler, was exposed by the singer at a recent concert as a cheater.
While she joked that she hoped his teeth were knocked out during that night’s game, her attempt to laugh through her pain didn’t last long. She cried onstage while singing “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You.”
- The Austin Chronicle figures Miranda Lambert is the most likely to down a six-pack before playing at the Big State Festival.
- The author of Barstool Mountain offers up a list of his 20 personal favorite drinking songs along with a mix mp3 of the songs and closes with “please support your local, independent brewery.”
- After taking an eight month holiday from blogging Storme Warren has returned asking for feedback on
hisyour show. - If you were hoping to attend the Garth Brooks concert in Kansas City on November 14, but don’t live in “Missouri, Kansas or portions of Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma” then you’re pretty much screwed. “Residency will be based on credit card billing address, according to Ticketmaster. Orders by residents outside specified areas will be cancelled without notice and refunds given.”
- Bill Friskics-Warren has an interesting article about a bluegrass singer named Bradley Walker who likes to mix a lot of country in with his music. He grew up loving country music, but says it began getting away from the roots that he loved, plus bluegrass is more accessible.
“You turn on the radio these days, and I don’t mean any disrespect, but it’s not what I fell in love with as a young guy. There’s some good stuff out there, you just have to look awful hard to find it.”
He doesn’t play an instrument, but was nominated for male vocalist at the eighteenth annual International Bluegrass Music Association Awards…which he ended up taking home on the strength of his debut album. The awards show also featured “Dale Ann Bradley winning the female vocalist prize after Rhonda Vincent had dominated the category for seven straight years.” Read the article, there’s lots of good quotes and interesting tidbits. It definitely makes you wan to go searching for some new music.
- The author of Kill Buffalo shares the experience of seeing Steve Earle live in person not once, but twice in the past week.
Something I appreciate about Steve Earle’s music is his ability to be political with tact and grace plus a great pop sensibility. Making the message in a medium people can relate to is what makes protest music effective.
- Martina McBride made an appearance on the Tyra Banks show.
- Here’s a great introduction to a person who has made it to the “top of the preferred-players list for the nonpedal steel guitar,” Cindy Cashdollar. She started out in Asleep at the Wheel on a six-month tryout while she learned and ended up staying with them for 8 1/2 years and has played with a various array of artists, from James Hand to Ryan Adams, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan.
- Dave Lifton had the opportunity to interview Glen Campbell and posted the contents of that interview in the form of a podcast on his Wings for Wheels blog.
- The Grand Ole Opry is sending what they dub “The World’s Largest Care Package” to U.S. troops in Iraq.
- Two televised Christmas specials that feature Johnny Cash and have never been commercially available are now being made commercially available on Nov. 17.
- Michael Corcoran says there are definite signs of growth on the new Cross Canadian Ragweed album, but still doesn’t think the songwriting is up to snuff.
Canada’s writing process seems to go like this: 1) Get ticked off by words, situations. 2) Lock self in room to write angry song to feel better. 3) Excitedly play it for the band before the lyrics are really done. Too much of “Mission California” sounds motivated more by exasperation than inspiration, which is unfortunate because it’s the band’s most vibrant-sounding album yet.
- Chet Flippo posted snippets of press releases from the past that were never released. Some of them, like “Singer Nelson Begins Prison Term,” come with big “what if…” questions attached.
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Ashton Shepherd // Asleep at the Wheel // Big State Festival // Bluegrass // Christmas // Cross Canadian Ragweed // Dolly Parton // Elvis // GAC // Garth Brooks // Glen Campbell // Grand Ole Opry // James Hand // Johnny Cash // Kellie Pickler // Lorrie Morgan // Martina McBride // Miranda Lambert // Rhonda Vincent // Ryan Adams // Steve Earle
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October 8, 2007 at 7:27 am Permalink
Oh, you scared me with that headline! Entertaining article to read; thanks!
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