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Song Review: Matraca Berg – “Oh Cumberland”
“Oh Cumberland” opens more than a thousand miles from the river and region that lend the song its title. “Fire on the asphalt, L.A. freeway,” Matraca Berg sings ominously on the first verse. “Santa Ana windstorm, come blow me away.” That’s not an especially enticing depiction of southern California, which comes across almost literally like [...]
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Matraca Berg Schedules First Album in 14 Years; New Album Release List; Zac Brown Band Releases New Video
On May 17, Matraca Berg will release The Dreaming Fields, her first album in 14 years. (via press release) With The Dreaming Fields, she not only evokes the seminal records she was raised on, she fearlessly looks towards life and tragic resolution of a battered woman (“If I Had Wings”), the devastating beauty fading into [...]
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Del McCoury Band Teams Up with Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Pickup Lines In Country Music; Ralph Stanley Video Liner
The Del McCoury Band is teaming up with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a new album and tour. (via @jonweisberger) NashvilleGab highlighted a comment made by entertainment reporter Jimmy Carter about all of Miranda Lambert‘s nominations: Entertainment reporter, Jimmy Carter tells WKKT that an inside source told him that Miranda Lambert got 7 noms [...]
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Album Review: Kenny Chesney – Hemingway’s Whiskey
Four-time CMA Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney won’t compete for the coveted honor when the awards are handed out on November 10. In the last year, he’s taken a sabbatical from touring, effectively surrendering his title as the industry’s torchbearer. According to Chesney, his hiatus has given him a fresh perspective in terms of [...]
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Taylor Swift & Kris Kristofferson Swap Songs/Compliments; Jerry Lee Lewis’ Duet Album Wasn’t Supposed To Be
Writing for the L.A. Times’ music blog Pop & Hiss, Randy Lewis recapped last Thursday’s All for the Hall benefit with Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Taylor Swift, and Lionel Richie. Chris Willman wrote about the song swap for CMT. Zac Brown Band elicits strong feelings in The Washington Post‘s Chris Richards. But Brown [...]
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Wine, Women and Plenty of Songs: Matraca Berg, Suzy Bogguss and Gretchen Peters Perform in Atlanta
Longtime friends Gretchen Peters, Suzy Bogguss and Matraca Berg are talented artists and songwriters in their own right, and a chance to see any of them in a solo concert is well worth it. Together, the trio has made several successful tours, primarily in the UK, billed as a night of “Wine, Women and Song.” [...]
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Top Country Albums of the Decade (#40-#31)
Gene Watson, Randy Travis, Pam Tillis, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price have all long been cast aside by country radio, but each of these incredible artists continued to produce great country music into the first decade of the 21st century…and each earned a place approaching the upper reaches of our countdown. Mixed in [...]
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Top Country Albums of the Decade (#50-#41)
Country music newcomer Ashley Monroe hasn’t even had a CD released yet, but that doesn’t stop her from appearing on our countdown of the decade’s best albums; Monroe’s 2006 digital-only release ranks alongside the debut efforts from left-of-center mainstreamers Miranda Lambert and Zac Brown Band, while just plain “left” singer/songwriter Todd Snider lands his most [...]
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Vince Gill Surprised, Jack Ingram Probably Not So Much; ‘Wine, Women, & Song’ Heads to Atlanta Area
Pop & Hiss’ Ann Powers on Taylor Swift‘s opening performance: Swift started things out with a version of “Forever and Always” that was glitzy and high-concept — and off-tune, a consistent characteristic of Swift’s live outings that gave the lie to her one undeserved triumph, for best female vocalist. The prize should have gone to [...]
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2009 CMA Awards Predictions
Depending on your point of view, the Country Music Association may be the organization responsible for broadening the reach of country music and its artists throughout the nation and around the world, the organization responsible for transforming the genre into a musically homogeneous mass-market commodity, or both. Either way, there’s no denying that both the [...]
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- Catwandy: I guess Matt C. is eating his well-deserved crow 'bout now. Critics....gotta love 'em , bless their little hearts.
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