The 9513 - Country Music Blog

Yesterday, Juli posted a profile on Hellbound Glory, a Reno-based band with a mash-up of sonic influences. The group characterizes its sound as “scumbag country,” the latest in a recent spurt of country and bluegrass sub-genres: Though the band’s lineup has changed often over the past five years, their sound, which Virgil describes as “scumbag [...]

Continue reading "Your Take: What’s In a Name?"

Tuesday in the News Roundup, Brody included a quote from Randy Houser on the importance of physical appearance in the country music industry. The quote stemmed from an interview with The Boot, which ran alongside a photo of Houser that looks remarkably like his friend Jamey Johnson. When asked what he would change about the [...]

Continue reading "Your Take: Outer vs. Inner"

How do I say goodbye Country Music? Turn on the radio–it will help expedite the process. — Karlie Put on a Rascal Flatts album. — Sam What is “Undo It” about? “Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh… don’t know…” — Ken It’s not widely known, but “Undo It” is actually Carrie’s tribute to [...]

Continue reading "Mailbag: Saying Goodbye To Country Music"

The best cover albums have an air of inevitability about them: you put a great singer with great songs and of course you’re going to get magic. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes you match a great singer with songs he or she genuinely loves and end up with a project that’s very personally [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Mark Chesnutt – Outlaw"

Recently, country music blog My Kind of Country published an article about some of the genre’s most notable near-misses–songs that stalled at the #2 position on Billboard’s Country Charts. While I suppose it is disappointing for an artist to almost reach the top, the fact remains that any song that reaches the Top 10 is [...]

Continue reading "25 Country Songs That Were Almost Hits"

How hard is it to get mosh seats at the CMT Awards? Getting the seats is easy. Moshing to Lady Antebellum is hard. — Stephen I think you’re thinking of the wrong type of award show. Wait, wait. No, you’re right. — Karlie Mosh seats? If that’s your expectation, I’d recommend against even trying. — [...]

Continue reading "March 2010 Mailbag: How Hard Is It To Get Mosh Seats At The CMT Awards?"

Nashville is invading Austin during SXSW, planning to defend the title of “Music City, USA.” “It’s very clear from seeing how aggressive some of these other cities are working on this, that we can’t just sit back and say ‘we’re Music City’ and that’s that.” [Janet Miller of the Nashville-area Chamber of Commerce, via WPLN [...]

Continue reading "Nashville Defends “Music City” Title; Luke Bryan, Gloriana and Joey + Rory ACM Winners"

The first decade of the 21st century was a tumultuous one for country music. Piracy exploded, iPods ascended, and within a few years the genre had bid adieu to three of its biggest stars–Garth Brooks, who retired after the release of 2001’s Scarecrow (his final studio album); Shania Twain, who retreated after 2002’s Up!; and [...]

Continue reading "Top Country Albums of the Decade (#100-#91)"

What does an invitation to the CMA Awards look like? It has a picture of Taylor Swift with the words “Come see Taylor and some other people perform!” underneath. — Sam No idea. The CMA has yet to recognize the “interwebs” as a viable media entity, thus haven’t approved our credential requests. — Pierce Who [...]

Continue reading "November Mailbag: Post-CMA Edition"

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.” Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii, lines 47-48 That Shakespeare fella might have been on to something. They may have a new band name, but West Coast workhorses Mark Stuart and the Bastard Sons, formerly The Bastard [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Mark Stuart and The Bastard Sons – Bend In The Road"