The 9513 - Country Music Blog

This Friday Five feature on The 9513 is all about nobody. You know the one. Nobody in particular. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. That nobody. On the surface, you might think it might be difficult to find five songs about nobody. But in this case, nobody is a somebody and he’s had thousands of [...]

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Leon Russell and Garth Brooks are among this year’s inductees for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. When one has a dad like Elizabeth Cook‘s dad, one doesn’t need QVC. The new Owen Temple record Mountain Home hasn’t even been released yet (Apr. 26) and he’s already giving it away for free. As a Sam Houston [...]

Continue reading "Garth Brooks & Leon Russell Chosen for Songwriters Hall; Second Gary Floater Tribute Arises; Free Downloads Abound"

There have always been some who see country music and jazz as opposite ends of the American music spectrum—one down home, emotionally straightforward and inclined towards the well-understood and safe; the other urban, sophisticated, even intellectual, and born to go off on unfettered, exploratory tangents. You could, of course, hear that opposition expressed by fans [...]

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Songwriters: Dave Pahanish, Thomas Walker and Joe West “Without You,” the second single from Keith Urban’s pseudo EP Get Closer, gives a glimpse into fine-tuned domestic bliss. Against a lazy-day groove, Urban and producer Dann Huff have added little bursts of banjo to display his obvious joy for his home life. While a barrage of [...]

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With five wins, Lady Antebellum came out on top at last night’s Grammys. Other winners in the countryish categories included: Diamond Rio (southern, country or bluegrass gospel album), Patty Griffin (traditional gospel album), Patty Loveless (bluegrass album), Keith Urban (best male country vocal performance), Zac Brown Band/Alan Jackson (country collaboration with vocals), Marty Stuart (country [...]

Continue reading "Lady Antebellum Leads Grammy Winners; Brandon Rhyder Covers Don Williams; The Infamous Stringdusters Live Session"

The first round of announced performers for the CMA Music Festival includes Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, The Band Perry, Sheryl Crow, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban. “On the Banks of the Ohio” illustrated. (via Fresh Signals) Northwest native Rachel Harrington plans to release her [...]

Continue reading "CMA Fest Announces Performers; Shaver & Nelson Release “Wacko From Waco” Duet; Gretchen Wilson’s Favorite Grammy Winners"

“For the first time in my career I really feel like I have some real momentum going here,” Blake Shelton told me during an interview a couple of years back. “I’ve never had that. I’ve always been the guy that’s making a comeback every time.” What he meant was that at that time radio didn’t [...]

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Up until this past fall, sisters Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer have kept their musical lives separate. Recently though, they’ve performed several intimate shows together as part of what they’ve dubbed their Side By Side tour. NPR is streaming a collection of songs that they performed live in Studio 4A, including the song they open [...]

Continue reading "Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer Perform Toegther; Country Stars Land Roles in New Civil War Mini-Series; Free Rodney Crowell"

Tim McGraw on his relationship with his label, Curb Records: Pressed on why 20 years was too long, Tim caught himself and pulled a few of his punches while answering. “Look, I think there comes a time when you’ve gotten everything out of each other that you can … When a relationship doesn’t work mutually [...]

Continue reading "Tim McGraw Nears the End of His Record Contract; Joe Nichols Readies Hits; Taylor Swift at Ed Sullivan Theater"

There is country radio, and then there is Country Radio. When I first began covering the business a decade ago, I was at first annoyed to see the way that radio insiders insisted on referring to their milieu as “Country Radio” in every casual mention (see here)—but I eventually became grateful for the useful distinction. [...]

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