The 9513 - Country Music Blog

By now, there’s not a recording artist, country or otherwise, who hasn’t heard that we’re in a new era — fundamentally, a singles era. They’ve all heard how CD album chart leaders are topping those charts with lower sales figures than anyone can remember. And they’ve all heard horror stories (as have followers of The [...]

Continue reading "Scanning The Countryside: What Artists Want From CDs—Still"

There have been more than a few songs penned about the Grand Ole Opry in the past eight decades. Narrowing down that list to just five songs wasn’t an easy task, but here are my five favorites. 5. “Tears at the Grand Ole Opry” – Wanda Jackson Country music works wonders on the heartbroken, but [...]

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Why is country music the best? Country music is more diverse than any other genre. It embraces a lot of styles and sounds and Country artists are influenced by all those different styles. And…Country music fans have the biggest boobs. – Blake Shelton In what city is there a street named George Jones Place? I [...]

Continue reading "Mailbag: The Blake Shelton Guest Edition"

Although they claim common ancestry (Ernest Tubb, Gene Autry and Bill Monroe were all hugely influenced by Jimmie Rodgers), it has been many years since country and bluegrass music split off in different directions. Up until the end of the 1950s you could hear bluegrass played by country radio stations, and artists such as Jimmie [...]

Continue reading "Forgotten Artists: The Osborne Brothers"

When it comes to banjo players, Bill Emerson is one of bluegrass music’s finest. In his fifty-some year career, the former Country Gentleman (he was a founding member) has played with Jimmy Martin, spent two decades with the U.S. Navy’s country/bluegrass band Country Current, and influenced scores of musicians. And when it comes to Washington, [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Bill Emerson and Sweet Dixie – Southern"

Charlie Daniels suffered a mild stroke while snowmobiling in Colorado last Friday. Fortunately, he’s reported to be doing well and will not have to cancel any concert dates. Meanwhile, Halfway to Hazard postponed all concerts and appearances indefinitely while one-half of the duo, David Tolliver, deals with personal issues. New releases for the week of [...]

Continue reading "Charlie Daniels Suffered Mild Stroke While Snowmobiling; Halfway To Hazard Cancels Concerts; Alan Jackson’s Beard"

If Jeff Hanna sounds like he’s done and seen it all—it’s probably because he has. As a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for 43 years, Hanna has played the 1984 Olympics, won GRAMMY awards, and has graced stages from the states to Japan. As part of the NGDB, Hanna has had songs atop [...]

Continue reading "Jeff Hanna Is Proud That Nitty Girtty Dirt Band’s Circle Remains Unbroken"

It’s been five years since the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band released an album. Though they haven’t exactly been resting on their laurels, this interval between records isn’t too surprising: After all, once a band’s been together for 45 years, don’t you think they’d get a little bored with it all? Listening to Speed of Life, [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Speed of Life"

This September, The 9513 is saluting one of our favorite topics: truckin’. We had a list long as Route 66, but after much debate, narrowed it down to 40 artists and 40 songs. Though there is a fair amount of women truck drivers, this list is Y chromosome heavy. You won’t find too many ballads [...]

Continue reading "40 Truckin’ Songs"

Trace Adkins is scheduled to perform the national anthem at this year’s ceremony honoring the passengers who died on United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. Best Buy has an exclusive EP from Miranda Lambert today that includes “Dead Flowers” and three bonus tracks from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that were offered by different [...]

Continue reading "Trace Adkins To Honor United 93 Passengers; Exclusive Miranda Lambert EP; Tribute to Silverstein"