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Staff Picks For September/October 2009
Juli Thanki
One More For The Road by Adam Steffey
The past few months have been pretty rough on the wallets of bluegrass fans, with stellar releases coming from the Del McCoury Band, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Ricky Skaggs. But for my money, the best bluegrass record of the past few months—maybe all year—is Adam Steffey’s One [...] -
2009 CMA Awards Predictions
Depending on your point of view, the Country Music Association may be the organization responsible for broadening the reach of country music and its artists throughout the nation and around the world, the organization responsible for transforming the genre into a musically homogeneous mass-market commodity, or both. Either way, there’s no denying that both the [...]
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Honky Tonky Happy Hour: Why I Won’t Be Watching The CMA Awards
I haven’t watched the CMA awards in years. Sometimes I’ve had a gig, but most of the time, there wasn’t anything there to interest me. I would flip channels and land on the awards show, but wouldn’t stay long. In the 80s, I didn’t miss a show. All my favorite artists were on. Country [...]
Continue reading "Honky Tonky Happy Hour: Why I Won’t Be Watching The CMA Awards"
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Americana Music Association Executive Director Jed Hilly Is On A Mission
With the halcyon days of multi-platinum records and even diamond records (for 10 million copies of an album sold), the music industry has run into economic struggles. Sales of CDs are down, music piracy is continuing to take its toll, and the industry’s seemingly reluctant embrace of digital music hasn’t done much to stop the [...]
Continue reading "Americana Music Association Executive Director Jed Hilly Is On A Mission"
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Just Another King Following in the Footsteps of the First
Drew L. Wilson is a writer, photographer and documentary filmmaker who’s work has appeared in Stream Side, Water World, PBS and over 20 other environmental and engineering magazines. He is currently working on a documentary about Bob Wills to premier at Tulsa’s Historic Circle Cinema, as well as a screenplay with Merle Haggard on Bob [...]
Continue reading "Just Another King Following in the Footsteps of the First"
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20 Songs About Hobos
Springtime is here, the economy is in the toilet, you just lost your job (and John Rich is probably going to write a song about it)–doesn’t it just make you want to pack a bandanna on a stick and head out of town on the next freight train? It sure sounds romantic: seeing the country, [...]
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Your Take: Male Artists Vs. Female Artists
In a genre of music dominated by songs covering the trials and tribulations of love, it’s easy to fall into the trap of He Said/She Said.
I’m not talking about the latest high school drama from Taylor or Miley, or two-sided accounts of where love went wrong–although songs like Lee Ann Womack’s “Last Call” and [...]Continue reading "Your Take: Male Artists Vs. Female Artists"
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Your Take: Decades of Country Music
In Jim’s interview a few weeks back with former front man of The Mavericks Raul Malo, the singer had an interesting game for country listeners to play in their cars:
Here’s an experiment for you if you wanna try this out just for fun one day. If you have satellite radio, put on the 40s station [...] -
Your Take: Corporate Control of Concert Prices
The first day of spring kicks off next Friday, and with warmer weather comes exciting announcements of summer country concert tours. We’re pretty concert-happy around here as well, as we’re sponsoring the New American Voices Tour with Rodney Hayden and Drew Kennedy.
Before television and the Internet, the concert experience was the only way to get [...]Continue reading "Your Take: Corporate Control of Concert Prices"
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Your Take: What Do Your Musical Tastes Say About You?
In yesterday’s news roundup, Brody listed some of the more interesting statistics published in the Country Music Association’s study on country music audience demographics. There were some interesting numbers on people who consider themselves “countryphiles,” as well as the genre’s love/hate relationship with digital downloads.
The nugget I found to be the most intriguing, however, [...]Continue reading "Your Take: What Do Your Musical Tastes Say About You?"
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- Matt B.: Rick, The Jerrod Niemann album is far and above better than "CDX" material you reference here.
- SwedishMattias: Patty Loveless takes care of her roots. Many new (and old) artists dont. When album comes to Sweden i buy ...
- Troy: Taylor Swift, The Saturdays, Mans Zelmerlow, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and B Spears to hear all those max martin songs! I ...
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- Louise Lane: Just saw an old Porter Wagonner show with Narvel as his guest star. I've heard some of these songs before ...
- Eric Cox: Thanks for recording this song Easton. It sure is nice to hear real country music by a new artist on ...
- todd: Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson, and Ashston Shepherd
- K: Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Darius Rucker, and Little Big Town. I'd love to hear Carrie ...
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- Jo Jo: Brooks & Dunn, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire

Is Dave Haywood going solo? This and many other of country music's most pressing questions answered in the September edition of The 9513's world famous Mailbag!
Caroline Herring likes to sing songs about life in the South. No, not exactly like Justin Moore and Jason Aldean...
The 9513's resident historian Paul W. Dennis sits down for a chat with country music legend Gene Watson.
As much as we love girl singers, we love songs about girl singers even more. Here's just a few of the many tribute songs out there.
Step away from the river and up to a jukebox, because heartbreak is only temporary, but a good song about drowning yourself—like a diamond—lasts forever.
What do you think about music labels "testing the waters" with a single before providing access to an artist's entire album?
What country artist, young or old, would you recommend as a must-listen artist to a newcomer on his/her journey through country music, and what would your essential song picks be?

