The 9513 - Country Music Blog

Big State Festival is officially done, at least for this year. Charlie Walker, co-owner of C3 Presents, cites “a lack of top tier talent” as the reason behind the festival’s demise. John Gerome says starting in 2005, life for Patty Loveless took a hairpin turn. She lost her mother-in-law, brother, and mom, which spurred a [...]

Continue reading "Lack of Top Talent Puts End to Big State Festival For ’08"

Actress Rebecca Romijn recently met Dolly Parton at her Dollywood theme park and told the country icon that she is going to name one of her twins after her–twin baby, that is. Long-time Cornell Hurd Band rubboardist and South Austin resident Danny Young passed away last night. He was 67. Aside from playing the rub [...]

Continue reading "Rebecca Romijn Plans Tribute To Dolly Parton With Baby’s Name"

Bill Friskics-Warren describes Josh Turner’s Everything Is Fine as flashbacks of Don Williams’ romance and commitment laced material mixed with some heartache and country-soul chops. Carrie Underwood took home three trophies at the American Music Awards while Beyonce wowed the crowd with Sugarland on the “bluegrass” flavored version of “Irreplaceable”. (YouTube) Part 3 of Trent [...]

Continue reading "Bob Dylan Writing Unfinished Hank Williams Lyrics"

There’s only one country album on Stylus Magazine’s List of the 50 Best Albums of 2007, and it’s Miranda Lambert’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, coming in at number two. Yallwire posted the second part to their video interview with Billy Joe Shaver. This time around he sings “Get Thee Behind Me Satan” and gives some insight into [...]

Continue reading "The 2007 CMA Awards Aftermath: Country Music Hijacked"

Merle Haggard’s latest album, The Bluegrass Sessions, “was produced by a bluegrass musician with bluegrass musicians, recorded at a bluegrass studio, released on a bluegrass label, racked under bluegrass in record stores, aired on bluegrass radio, covered by the bluegrass press, and it’s currently in it’s fourth consecutive week at # 1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass [...]

Continue reading "Patty Griffin Scores Two Awards At AMAs"

Wanting to work where no one would bother them, Gary Allan and songwriters Jim Lauderdale and Odie Blackman visited the jungles of Costa Rica for a week. Peter Cooper has a synopsis of the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Ralph Emery, Vince Gill, and Mel Tillis. Asked is he still considers himself [...]

Continue reading "Emery, Gill and Tillis Bestowed With Hall Of Fame Honors"

The beer is always free when you can’t drink it. Lucky enough to be on the VIP list for last weekend’s Big State Festival, I was taunted by the endless supply of free golden-bubbly goodness available in the festival’s private lounges. Let me reiterate: Free. Beer. But, alas, there were bands to see, interviews to [...]

Continue reading "Jim’s Big State Wrap-up: Saturday"

Continue reading "Big State Festival Ticket Winner’s Truck Lost In Fire"

Kelly Willis and The Wrights were on the brink of starting their 12:30 sets when we arrived at the festival grounds on Sunday. Writing the Saturday wrap-up kept us from showing up earlier to watch Colin Gilmore and Ashley Ray. Our famished stomachs led us straight to the nearest food while we half-heartedly listened to [...]

Continue reading "And The Bands Played On: Big State Festival Day Two"

After reportedly becoming “verbally abusive” onboard a recent flight, Gretchen Wilson was stripped of her alcohol privileges and cited for a disturbance. The trouble apparently came about when the stewards asked her to keep her pet dog in its carrier case. How dare they. A special edition of the forthcoming Garth Brooks The Ultimate Hits [...]

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