Snoop Dogg Contemplates Doing Grass of the Blue Variety

I haven’t made it all the way the new M&G CD, but I kinda dig it. A lot of the songs seem derivative, with some sloppy writing and phrasing here or there, but overall it’s fun and fairly offbeat for such a commercial act. They’ve also come a long way as a duo since Tattoos and Scars.

That said… their take on “The Big Revival” pales in comparison to John Andersen’s version.

I agree, Mike, Anderson’s version is much better. I do like their cover of “Long Line of Losers.” If their goal was to get back to their more southern rock influenced early stuff, they missed the mark. They should have let guitarists David Grissom and Dan Dugmore cut loose a little, sort of like on “Too Hard to Handle” from “Carrying On.” With this record you can almost hear they internal struggle going on between trying to choose between their rockin’-country, bar band past and their (or their labels) desire for radio hits.

I wasnt surprised either by Cantrell’s revelation either. But then again, I’ve always been a big fan of the Southern Gentleman.

Snoop Dog want to do a bluegrass cd???

If he considers what he say at the CMT music award bluegrass he doesn’t have a clue what bluegrass is.

Sure Snoop does. He’s heard The Gourds remake of his Gin ‘n Juice and says he loves it.

Yes, I certainly expect that Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana will perform on Nashville Star at some point this season.

Jim, did you see that her record is available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and CDBaby?

Sure enough, it is on iTunes as of April 10th. Thanks for the head’s up. Now everyone should go and buy it.

Maybe nobody saw it because her album on iTunes is labeled as blues instead of country. Maybe they will fix that mistake eventually…

The Gourds? don’t think they are a bluegrass band at least the clips I’ve heard aren’t

Just listened to a clip of Gin and Juice, by the gourds and it ain’t bluegrass.

Jim, I still think this is an unusual deal if Warner’s Nashville let her take “Funkabilly” with her to release independently AFTER they cut her completely loose from the label. CD Baby distributes CD’s by independent artists, not major labels so I’d guess the “Funkabilly” CD they sell was financed by Joanna (I mean the actual costs of producing just the physical CD itself apart from Warner’s costs of producing the music tracks).

There was the time one of Toby Keith’s labels didn’t want to release one of his albums so he left the label and bought it from them for a couple hundred thousand dollars. That makes sense, but for a label to give a new artist they’ve dropped the rights to sell an unreleased album for next to nothing (my assumption) is very unusual and I think a very magnanimous thing to do. I’m sure Amy Dalley would love to release an indie CD containing all of her CURB tracks on it, but she’s said they will likely never see the light of day. I’m sure The Jenkins would have financed the CD release of their self-titled Capitol Nashville album had they been given the opportunity. I could go on, but you get the point. From my perspective this is still a very unusual event coming from a major Nashville label at least based upon my limited knowledge and assumptions (all of which could be way off base I admit…)

PS - Joanna has released “Funkabilly” on physical CDs, see for yourself:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/joannacotten
Peace, out…..

Opry Alert! Ashley Monroe will be performing on the Saturday Night Opry tonight at around 8:15 and 10:45 PM Nashville Time! Other notable artists worth catching on tonight’s shows are “3 Fox Drive” (my favorite bluegrass band) and “The Carolina Chocolate Drops” a band that has revived a style of old timey black mountain string band music that almost went extinct. Great stuff!

I mean not broadcast them on the live portion. They are showing a taped show of poptry instead.

What did you think of it, Jordan?
In my column about her from a couple of months ago, I said it wasn’t as good as it could be. But I still find myself listening to it more than just about anything else released this year.

Rick, somehow I missed your comment. Sorry about that. I think it depends on the contract, and of course, it depends on the artist.

I was just talking to Ray Scott the other day (interview upcoming), and he went through a very similar situation at Warner. He would have been able to sell the record he cut for them, but only after making payments to Warner.

For some artists that probably makes sense. Scott was able to go cut the record on his own, and make a far greater margin than if he’d sold Warner’s record.

But if you think Warner’s being generous, you’re wrong. They are not going to just give away their masters.

The track that I just played at their website isn’t even close to old school bluegrass or bluegrass at all.

I like her alot I saw her once with Dr. Ralph Stanley.

Stormy, of the CDs you mentioned, Emmylou’s is the only one I’ve listened to but I highly recommend it. I think it’s her best album in years.

I’d go with Ashton.