The 9513 - Country Music Blog

Hopefully you all got through yesterday without incident, because April 14 is the anniversary of some pretty awful events. Let’s check out some songs about it. 5. “Booth Shot Lincoln” – Uncle Earl The assassination at Ford’s Theatre occurred on the night of April 14, 1865, when President Lincoln and his wife were attending a [...]

Continue reading "Friday Five: April 14th"

While there are several good country and folk songs about sinking ships including Johnny Horton’s “Sink the Bismarck” and Woody Guthrie’s song about the USS Reuben James (torpedoed in October ’41), today we’ll be concentrating on ships that weren’t attacked. It’s slightly cheerier. 5. “The Lighthouse’s Tale” – Nickle Creek This one’s from the trio’s [...]

Continue reading "Friday Five: Shipwrecks"

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, [...]

Continue reading "20 Songs About Hobos"

Jon Hager, who performed as one-half of The Hager Twins with his brother Jim in the original cast of Hee-Haw, passed away last week at the age of 67. Sam Lovullo, a producer of Hee-Haw and friend of the Hagers, said Jon had been in poor health and was depressed since Jim had died in [...]

Continue reading "Jon Hager of Hee-Haw‘s The Hager Twins Found Dead"

George Jones plans to spend a lot of dates on the road in 2009, but he hopes to find some time to open a museum of memorabilia that he’s been collecting with his wife Nancy. “Nancy scours eBay looking for my old stuff,” laughs Jones. “Sometimes fans bring things back that they have found. I [...]

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Welcome to your morning–er, late morning–edition of the Roundup, your bird’s eye view of the week in 9513 land. While you’re reliving all the fun we’ve had recently, why not listen to the first episode of our brand-spankin’ new Podcast, which features exclusive performances by Reckless Kelly and Jeremy McComb–you can stream or download it [...]

Continue reading "Sunday Morning Comment Corral & Forum Roundup, Issue #4"

Most people trace the dawn of recorded country music back to the famous Bristol sessions of 1927, from which Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family rose to prominence. While I am not sure that even Ernest Stoneman (May 25, 1893 – June 14, 1968) represents the dawn of recorded country music, he has a far [...]

Continue reading "Forgotten Artists: Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman and The Stoneman Family"