The 9513 - Country Music Blog

“Life is made up of marble and mud.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne OK, minds out of the gutter everybody–it’s not that kind of getting dirty. We’re talking about mud. You know the kind. It’s the stuff you made pies out of as a kid. It’s the stuff that you pay insanely exorbitant prices to bath in [...]

Continue reading "Friday Five: Getting Dirty"

In its own way, “Mustache” is every bit as touching as the surprise hit that put Heartland on the map back in 2006. “I Loved Her First” addressed the special bond between a man and his little girl (who remains such even into adulthood), becoming an instant classic for father-daughter wedding dances. “Mustache” is a [...]

Continue reading "Heartland – “Mustache”"

If you haven’t heard, Taylor Swift won female video of the year at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but unfortunately, Kanye West felt the win was undeserved, so he took Swift’s mike mid-speech and let the whole audience know about it. The 20th Annual International Bluegrass Music [...]

Continue reading "Taylor Swift Interrupted; Canadian Country Awards; James Hand In Studio 1A"

Rumors of an affair between LeAnn Rimes and her Lifetime movie co-star Eddie Cibrian continue to burn, and now Us Weekly reports that Cibrian’s wife, Brandi Glanville, has left him. “LeAnn is a stalker,” Glanville told Us last month. “She refuses to leave us alone. It is shameful and scary. People are going to say [...]

Continue reading "News Roundup – The Stalker Edition; Hank Jr. Lashes Out; He’s Got A…Mustache"

Why isn’t John Rich singing with Big Kenny anymore? Big & Rich is all about loving everybody. Rich stepped away for a while so that he could hate some people (liberals, Germans, Japanese, former Nashville Star contestants). – CM What are country music fans like? They’re a lot like normal people, just with better taste. [...]

Continue reading "Mailbag: What Did Brad Paisley Have for a Baby?"

The Paisley’s named their second son Jasper Warren Paisley. The house belonging to Jimmy Dean and his wife caught fire last night, injuring three firefighters. Fortunately, the country singer and his wife were able to escape without harm. The New York Times‘ songwriting blog, Measure for Measure, is temporarily closing down and as an encore, [...]

Continue reading "The Paisley’s Name Second Son Jasper Warren Paisley"

Anita Cochran. Bryan White. Mark Wills. These were a few of the names on the country music radar ten years ago. My, how times change. Each day this week I’ll be taking a look at the artists who are poised to vie for our attention in 2008; most of them will go the way of [...]

Continue reading "Artists to Watch in 2008 (Part 1 of 5): On Notice"

Alabama was the story of the 1980s, one of the few artists from that decade that I don’t wish to forget. Alabama was country music’s first supergroup and one of its first superstars, so it’s surprising that their success didn’t immediately spawn a generation of successors. Nineties groups like Blackhawk, Ricochet, Shenandoah and Lonestar were [...]

Continue reading "The Year in Review: Everybody’s Trying to be the Next Alabama"

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"

Last night my girlfriend and I took a trip to Gruene Hall, Texas’ oldest dance hall, to catch a Roger Creager show. To make a long review short, it was nothing short of adrenaline inducing. He performs with more passion and conviction than anyone I have ever seen play live, and can seamlessly drift between [...]

Continue reading "Roger Creager Filled With Conviction And Ray Benson Comes Up Big At 2006 AMA"