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Friday Five: Lullabies
Lullabies have been sung in many languages and music genres going all the way back to 1072, when they were first mentioned by a Turkish writer. And while most people immediately think of a loving and mellow tune sung to bring comfort and sleep to countless babies, country artists haven’t always been so light-hearted in [...]
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Friday Five: Actors
There are several songs about acting in general—Merle Haggard’s “Bad Actor” and Buck Owens’ “Act Naturally”—are two that quickly come to mind, but today we’ll get a little more specific. 5. “Ashley Judd” – Charlie Sizemore This dryly humorous bluegrass tune is from Sizemore’s new album Heartache Looking for a Home. Her mother may be [...]
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George Jones, Charlie Louvin, & Ralph Stanley Hospitalized In the Past Week; Year End Lists; RIP Gary Claxton
Here’s a briefer for the past couple of weeks: Shania Twain got married. So did Kellie Pickler. The Grascals’ Terry Eldredge got engaged. LeAnn Rimes got new boobs and engaged. The Shania and LeAnn stories seem to be the biggest, and of course there are other stories and links that were missed during my hiatus, [...]
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Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer Perform Toegther; Country Stars Land Roles in New Civil War Mini-Series; Free Rodney Crowell
Up until this past fall, sisters Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer have kept their musical lives separate. Recently though, they’ve performed several intimate shows together as part of what they’ve dubbed their Side By Side tour. NPR is streaming a collection of songs that they performed live in Studio 4A, including the song they open [...]
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Video of Troy Gentry’s Bear Hunt Released; Dierks Bentley’s Four Nights In New York; Songwriting Documentary
Could the release of Troy Gentry‘s bear “hunt” video be the reason Montgomery Gentry and its label parted ways? Want to know who all those songs on the new Taylor Swift album are about without having to do the work? Chris Willman has you covered in his latest article about the hidden messages in Swift’s [...]
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Don Williams Misses Hall of Fame Induction; Opry Titles Newest Song “Blake Shelton”; And Taylor Swift News
Jimmy Dean and Don Williams were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame last night. Unfortunately, neither inductee was present at the ceremony: Dean passed away earlier this year and Williams was suffering with bronchitis, but is expected to resume his tour on Tuesday. Peter Cooper has a recap. A new TV show based [...]
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All for the Hall Raises Nearly $450,000; Lady Antebellum Leads American Music Awards Nominations
The recent All for the Hall benefit concert brought in nearly $450,000. A charitable initiative called NASH2O has begun auctioning flood-damaged instruments to benefit the Nashville community. Guitars donated by Vince Gill, Keith Urban and others are currently up for bidding with many more planned for the next month. Lady Antebellum tied Eminem with five [...]
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Carrie Underwood Releases New Video; Americana Festival Moving to Austin?; Randy Houser Records for Waylon Tribute
Select albums in the Live From Austin, TX series are on sale at Amazon. In fact, only three out of the 34 listed cost more than $6.99. Anybody have a favorite? Journalist Chris Willman tweeted: “I asked Kristofferson if he thought [Taylor Swift] would be a Hall of Famer. ‘She’s ALREADY in the Hall of [...]
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Scanning the Countryside: Country’s Buddy
Photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum I was privileged to be on hand in August for all three of Buddy Miller’s Artist-in-Residence shows at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater, the first of which marked the theater’s reopening after its repair from damage in May’s Nashville flooding. These [...]
Continue reading "Scanning the Countryside: Country’s Buddy"
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The Song, Not The Singer
When Michael Jackson died in June 2009, each person who knew enough about his music and his life to have an opinion on either (that is to say, pretty much everyone all over the world) was forced to decide: Did his personal behavior detract from the value of the music he made? Did the increasingly [...]
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