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Album Review: The Blind Boys of Alabama – Take The High Road
Gospel/country hybrid album Take The High Road doesn’t waste any time cutting to the chase. The sheer joy and enthusiasm that permeates every nook and cranny of The Blind Boys of Alabama’s new album launches full-throttle in its opening seconds, seamlessly combining a breathless, preaching testimony, crisply powerful harmonies and an instrumental backing that could [...]
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Scanning the Countryside: Country Radio—Your Way
If you want to start a heated discussion among a bunch of devoted country music fans or music makers, no matter what stripe, style, or era of country music they call their own, bring up the question of today’s mainstream country radio. You’re certain to hear some railing from somebody about a longstanding set of [...]
Continue reading "Scanning the Countryside: Country Radio—Your Way"
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Jamey Johnson Celebrates Gold; Forthcoming Country Music Book Releases; Miranda Moves Billy Bob’s Crowd
Jamey Johnson celebrated the success of The Guitar Song, which was certified Gold, on Friday. The Star-Telegram’s Preston Jones ranks Miranda Lambert‘s performance of “The House That Built Me” at Billy Bob’s Texas on Friday night as one of the most moving concert moments he’s experienced. As she spoke about growing up in small-town Texas, [...]
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Dave Alvin Scores TV Gig; Randy Traywick’s (Travis) Publicity Photo; The Grascals Find Success with Cracker Barrel
Davin Alvin will make a guest appearance in, and wrote a new song for, the second season of the FX channel’s crime-drama series Justified. My pal Kelly Dearmore digs the new Hayes Carll record, KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories), even if it doesn’t exactly make him forget about its predecessor. [...] this is the [...]
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Album Review: Various Artists – The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Vol. 1
The third major posthumous multi-artist tribute to Waylon Jennings is certainly the most youthful of the lot. In fact, about half the performers featured here had not yet made any significant mark on mainstream country music by 2003, the year that saw the release of both Dualtone’s singer-songwritery Lonesome, On’ry and Mean and RCA’s more [...]
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Jamey Johnson – “Heartache”
Songwriters: Jamey Johnson and Rivers Rutherford On his latest single, a Southern rock kernel of truth, Jamey Johnson bows down to the ample power of heartache. The Alabama native gives a mischievous performance that fits perfectly with the song’s miserable sentiment: “I’m a heartache hungry and huntin’, someone I can eat alive.” The Guitar Song, [...]
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Jamey Johnson Dominates ‘Nashville Scene’ Critics Poll; ACM Plans Tribute to Women of Country; Todd Snider on Bob Dylan
Jamey Johnson eats critics polls for breakfast. At least that’s the logical conclusion from the just-published critics poll in Nashville Scene, where Johnson received nearly twice as many votes as the runner-up. After looking at the results himself, Geoffrey Himes took the time to write a more reasoned conclusion. Check it out, it’s well worth [...]
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Alan Jackson Splits with Longtime Label; Bloodshot Signs Lydia Loveless; The Steep Canyon Rangers Celebrate 10 Years
After 22 years together, Alan Jackson and Arista Nashville are parting ways. As for a future label home, Jackson’s manager says there’s currently three options that look really good, but doesn’t mention what they are. Our Country’s Chris Willman gets more into the specifics of what the split means. Something else to think about: Trace [...]
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Dallas Wayne Added to Heybale Lineup; The Smilin’ Irishman of Country Music Passed Away; Lionel Richie Recording Country Duets
Singer, songwriter, and Sirius deejay Dallas Wayne has been announced as the replacement for Gary Claxton in the band Heybale. The Austin Chronicle‘s Margaret Moser published a really cool profile on Elizabeth McQueen, who in turn, dishes out a lot of praise for Ray Benson and Willie Nelson. The Smilin’ Irishman of Country Music James [...]
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Top 10 Country Albums Of 2010
How time flies! It’s already 5 days into the New Year, but that won’t stop us from letting you know what we thought were the best albums of 2010. We all wondered whether Jamey Johnson could follow up on a potentially career-defining album and how Dierks Bentley’s ‘bluegrass’ project would pan out–sales-wise and from a [...]
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- Jack Hanford: For those who are interested, there is a new 90-minute documentary video about Tompall & the Glaser Brothers on DVD ...
- joe morris: how come nobody mentions his fan club which started 1950 and was called the " the penny pushers " which ...
- jane: I'm reading this article in 2013 and I've yet to hear anything from the album played on the radio.....
- Catwandy: I guess Matt C. is eating his well-deserved crow 'bout now. Critics....gotta love 'em , bless their little hearts.
- Ed McClendon: Saw the brothers in Greeley CO on the occasion of Tompall's 50th birthday. The show wasn't well promoted and there ...
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