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Howard Stern Responds To Dolly; Says Bring It On
Howard Stern’s response to the allegations that Dolly Parton is contemplating a lawsuit: “I can’t even imagine someone thinking they have an actionable case, but bring it on.”
Last month I called attention to the story behind Marty Robbins‘ epic western ballad “El Paso,” where the hero’s love for a woman named Felina becomes his downfall. […]Continue reading "Howard Stern Responds To Dolly; Says Bring It On"
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Kenny Chesney Addresses Controversy In Letter To Fans
Kenny Chesney addressed the “controversy” (or nontroversy, I’m so clever) over his comments about the Entertainer of the Year award in a letter to his fans on his website. Basically he wants everyone to know he is grateful for the win and support he’s received and he continues to do what he does for you, […]
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Country Music Hall of Famer Eddy Arnold Passed Away This Morning
Country Music Hall of Famer Eddy Arnold passed away early this morning at age 89.
Before Garth Brooks came along, Arnold was easily country music’s biggest record-seller. Sales of his discs from the mid-1940s to the present, in every recorded medium from 78s to CDs, have topped 80 million. Along the way, Arnold became a key […]Continue reading "Country Music Hall of Famer Eddy Arnold Passed Away This Morning"
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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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Texas Monthly Gets Naked For Special Willie Nelson Cover
Subscribers of Texas Monthly will receive a copy adorned with a portrait of Willie Nelson on the cover and no text. The preview is pretty flippin’ sweet.
Jewel is returning to Nashville Star to join John Rich as a judge and mentor to the contestants.
On July 8 George Jones will release Burn Your Playhouse Down (The […]Continue reading "Texas Monthly Gets Naked For Special Willie Nelson Cover"
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Songs About Prisoners Waitin’ Around To Die
Country Music is concerned with topics like life and death, sin and salvation, and the experience of the outsider and the lower classes. It should come as no surprise then that many fine country songs feature prisoners waiting to die. Here are 10 of the finest.
10. “They’re Hanging Me Tonight” - Johnny […]
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Walk the Line: Extended Cut DVD Scheduled for March
20th Century Fox scheduled the release of an extended edition of Walk the Line for March 25. Among the extra features is an additional 17 minutes of footage.
Josh Turner’s “Firecracker” narrowly beat out LeAnn Rimes’ “Nothin’ Better to Do” in the fight for the top spot on Club Connections’ Top Ten Club And Dance […]Continue reading "Walk the Line: Extended Cut DVD Scheduled for March"
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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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Mailbag: Who sings old school cheerleader music?
Who sings on “South Texas Girl” with Lyle Lovett?
Accomplished songwriter/performer Guy Clark.
What does Keith Urban do for a living?
Picks his guitar and sings songs.
How did Townes Van Zandt die?
Wikipedia says it was “due to a massive pulmonary embolus (blood clot in the lungs) following hip surgery” while The Internet Movie Database cites a heart […]Continue reading "Mailbag: Who sings old school cheerleader music?"
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Preview “Close Up The Honky Tonks” From Dwight Sings Buck
Think about the most exciting act you’ve ever seen perform live; who was it? Hazel Smith says for her it was Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys.
Acuff would be twirling his fiddle bow as Bashful Brother Oswald bellowed a hee-haw as he made his Dobro scream. Onie Wheeler would honk that harmonica and belt […]Continue reading "Preview “Close Up The Honky Tonks” From Dwight Sings Buck"
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Carrie Underwood - “Just a Dream” “Just a Dream” is not perfect. In fact, it’s deeply, deeply broken. But the single is a great vocal performance of a risky song
Toby Keith - “She Never Cried In Front Of Me” Apart from the shifts in perspective and changes in tense, the major problem with this song is that the lyric fleshes out too many irrelevant details.
Brad Paisley - “Waitin’ On a Woman” Bizarrely, it took a song written by someone other than Brad Paisley for radio to hear what the Paisley style can truly accomplish.
LeAnn Rimes - “What I Cannot Change” When LeAnn Rimes enters a recording studio, she carries with her the most impressive instrument in the room.
Randy Travis - “Dig Two Graves” The combination of song and Travis’ performance together are an example of what makes country music truly exceptional.
Pat Green - “Let Me” The song itself owns Pat Green and he gets lost somewhere in the melody.
Merle Haggard at the Ryman Auditorium: Of the Haggard classics, “Silver Wings,” “The Way I Am” and crowd-favorite “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” were performed with confident ease while “Kern River” was sung with inspired tenderness and “Back to Earth,” from 2007’s Last of the Breed, contained more than a trace of Willie’s nasally twang.
One of an emerging wave of artists empowered by decreasing production costs and a rapidly changing distribution landscape, Kelleigh Bannen has taken a do-it-yourself approach to her debut album, Radio Skies.
The two-time Dancing With The Stars champion, Julianne Hough, recently took some time to answer questions for The 9513 in this exclusive interview.
After cutting ties with Warner Bros. Records, Ray Scott decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and form Jethropolitan Records, a place where he can get back to the blood and guts of what he terms “real country music,” the kind of stuff you don’t hear on radio anymore.
Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music by Dana Jennings When Jennings addresses modern country in the final chapter, he leaves you with the impression that it just can’t tap into the primal psyche the same way the classics that served as his nursery rhymes did.






