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Dealing Blind: Clint Black Files Lawsuit Against His Manager
Clint Black filed a lawsuit against his manager/accountant, Charles Sussman. Black asserts that Sussman and his firm “repeatedly engaged in self-dealing, negligence, and/or gross negligence” in steering his finances. Part of the dispute involves Little Big Town. Black believed the band was signed to a long-term deal with Equity Records, the independent record label in [...]
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Johnny Horton Tops List of Most Popular Country Songs From Past 50 Years
Billboard posted a slew of lists commemorating their 50th anniversary, but the most interesting, for the sake of country, is the Top Billboard Hot 100 Country Songs. Johnny Horton takes the top spot with the perennial favorite “Battle of New Orleans,” but at a quick glance it appears that Olivia Newton-John has the most representation [...]
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Nominees Announced For Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced the names of 15 nominees being considered for 2008 inclusion. Ten of the nominees are songwriters, two of which will be inducted, and one from the group of 5 songwriter/artists will be included. Songwriters: Matraca Berg, Paul Craft, Kye Fleming, Larry Henley, John Jarrard, Bob Morrison, Mark D. [...]
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A Nation’s Affair With Western Culture: The Story of Marty Robbins’ “El Paso”
Born in Glendale, Arizona as Martin David Robison in 1925, Marty Robbins spent his childhood idolizing Gene Autry and the cowboy way. “I wanted to be Gene Autry,” he once said. “I wanted to ride off into the sunset.”
His penchant for the the Old West was further fed by romanticized stories told by his [...]Continue reading "A Nation’s Affair With Western Culture: The Story of Marty Robbins’ “El Paso”"
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Stop Cutting Hits: The Story of Lefty Frizzell’s “The Long Black Veil”
Lefty Frizzell rivaled and might have been bigger than Hank Williams in 1951, placing four songs in the top ten at the same time, a feat that’s never been matched. Like Williams, he led a turbulent life, mostly due to his own bad habits, but it was his friend Hank who was immortalized by an [...]
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20 Top War and Soldier Songs
War. It is the central issue of contemporary American political debate. It is also an unfortunate and deeply personal part of the American culture. War affects the way we see our place in the world, our duty to our nation, and our role within our communities. It can bond families in solidarity and it can [...]
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Thank You, Mr. President - A Country Music Tribute Album To President Nixon
I came across an interesting story on NPR about country music and it’s conservative roots. It’s in audio format, so I tried to write out some of the highlights. All of this research was done by Lester Feder, a political and popular culture writer, at the National Archives.
Feder says that prior to the late [...]Continue reading "Thank You, Mr. President - A Country Music Tribute Album To President Nixon"
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In an attempt to discover and highlight the best music every month, We'll be publishing a list of the best songs released throughout that period. Here's Brady Vercher's picks for October.
For the second episode of The 9513 Country Music Podcast, your host Kelly Dearmore caught up with two seemingly different artists in Sarah Borges and Trent Willmon. Take a listen.
Free Music Downloads: If you’ve only recently come to country music, or have never delved past the genre’s surface and it’s most famous names, you may not have heard of Tom Russell. That’s a shame, and The 9513’s Free Music series is here to help set you down the right path.
Martina McBride - “Ride” Catchy, but a little low on cogency–not to mention originality. And it essentially resolves into the same kind of positive “message song” that has defined so much of McBride’s recent work.
Richie McDonald - “How Do I Just Stop” So gloriously simple and unequivocally lackluster that people of every political persuasion should rejoice in the opportunity to come together and have a hearty laugh at its expense.
Donnie Vondra - “If I Didn’t Love You” Combinining a golden trifecta of country music—steel guitar, fiddle and a strong, twangy vocal—"If I Didn't Love You" pulls together a sweet, toe-tapping ditty reminiscent of Marty Raybon-era Shenandoah.
Lance Miller - “Bacon Frying” A charming country song that is beautiful for its simplicity, a musical remnant from a time when songwriters understood that often the best thing to do is just get out of the song’s way.
John Rich - “Another You” For a guy who is supposed to be a genius songwriter, John Rich sure does seem to be running out of ideas. 
George Ducas - “Walk Through This World” Ducas banks on the success of recent artists’ pleasantly bland lyrics and agreeable instrumentation for his first release with WhiteStar Nashville.
In this exclusive interview for The 9513, Little Big Town’s Jimi Westbrook talks about life with the band, as well as A Place to Land, the group’s current album, which has charted in the top 10 of Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart on two separate occasions
Forgotten Artists: Cal Smith - When the Florida Sunshine Opry (Eustis, FL) booked its first “name” (non-local) act back in 1999, the act they chose was Cal Smith. No wonder, since Cal is an excellent singer, musician, storyteller and showman. | View more artists featured in Paul W. Dennis' recurring "Forgotten Artists" feature »
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