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Scanning The Countryside: What Artists Want From CDs—Still
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 [...]
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Lady Antebellum Leads Grammy Winners; Brandon Rhyder Covers Don Williams; The Infamous Stringdusters Live Session
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 [...]
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Album Review: Various Artists – The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Vol. 1
The third major posthumous multi-artist tribute to Waylon Jennings is certainly the most youthful of the lot. In fact, about half the performers featured here had not yet made any significant mark on mainstream country music by 2003, the year that saw the release of both Dualtone’s singer-songwritery Lonesome, On’ry and Mean and RCA’s more [...]
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George Jones, Charlie Louvin, & Ralph Stanley Hospitalized In the Past Week; Year End Lists; RIP Gary Claxton
Here’s a briefer for the past couple of weeks: Shania Twain got married. So did Kellie Pickler. The Grascals’ Terry Eldredge got engaged. LeAnn Rimes got new boobs and engaged. The Shania and LeAnn stories seem to be the biggest, and of course there are other stories and links that were missed during my hiatus, [...]
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AMA Announces Top Americana Albums; Easton Corbin Named Top New Country Artist
The Americana Music Association announced the top 100 Americana albums of 2010, the results of which is based on airplay. Various Artists, Crazy Heart Original Motion Picture Soundtrack / New West Rosanne Cash, The List / Manhattan John Hiatt, The Open Road / New West Carolina Chocolate Drops, Genuine Negro Jig / Nonesuch Ray Wylie [...]
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Carrie Underwood Releases New Video; Americana Festival Moving to Austin?; Randy Houser Records for Waylon Tribute
Select albums in the Live From Austin, TX series are on sale at Amazon. In fact, only three out of the 34 listed cost more than $6.99. Anybody have a favorite? Journalist Chris Willman tweeted: “I asked Kristofferson if he thought [Taylor Swift] would be a Hall of Famer. ‘She’s ALREADY in the Hall of [...]
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Scanning the Countryside: Country’s Buddy
Photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum I was privileged to be on hand in August for all three of Buddy Miller’s Artist-in-Residence shows at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater, the first of which marked the theater’s reopening after its repair from damage in May’s Nashville flooding. These [...]
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The 44th Annual CMA Awards: Who Should Be Nominated
Taylor Swift’s polarizing sweep of last year’s CMA Awards won’t be repeated when the trophies are handed out on Wednesday, Nov. 10 in Nashville. The multi-format superstar has had a relatively quiet year as she prepares for the release of her third album, Speak Now, due on Oct. 25. Swift’s four victories, including the coveted [...]
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Kenny Chesney Gives Fans Something Special; CMA Names New CEO; Billy Ray Cyrus Goes Rock
Being the gracious guy that he is, Kenny Chesney wanted to give something extra to the fans with his upcoming release, Hemingway’s Whiskey. That something extra will take the form of two bonus tracks and a 30-minute DVD that includes video of an in-depth conversation with Chesney about each of the songs on a Deluxe [...]
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Hank Williams Catalog Doubled; Sunny Sweeney Sings For the Working Man; Behind the Scenes with Joey+Rory
In a recent video, Jett Williams introduced details of the forthcoming box set Hank Williams: The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings…Plus. The video is actually a preview of the DVD that’s included with the 15-CD collection, due out on Sept. 28. More details, song listings, and audio previews can be found on the collection’s dedicated website. [...]
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- Jack Hanford: For those who are interested, there is a new 90-minute documentary video about Tompall & the Glaser Brothers on DVD ...
- joe morris: how come nobody mentions his fan club which started 1950 and was called the " the penny pushers " which ...
- jane: I'm reading this article in 2013 and I've yet to hear anything from the album played on the radio.....
- Catwandy: I guess Matt C. is eating his well-deserved crow 'bout now. Critics....gotta love 'em , bless their little hearts.
- Ed McClendon: Saw the brothers in Greeley CO on the occasion of Tompall's 50th birthday. The show wasn't well promoted and there ...
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