The 9513 - Country Music Blog

If you want to start a heated discussion among a bunch of devoted country music fans or music makers, no matter what stripe, style, or era of country music they call their own, bring up the question of today’s mainstream country radio. You’re certain to hear some railing from somebody about a longstanding set of [...]

Continue reading "Scanning the Countryside: Country Radio—Your Way"

After achieving regional success in Texas and Oklahoma, alt-country band No Justice makes a go at national notoriety with an intensity that manifests itself throughout 2nd Avenue, its first play for mainstream success on Dallas-based Carved Records. That fire is apparent across the album’s sonic variety, underlined by lead singer Steve Rice’s talent for bending [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: No Justice – 2nd Avenue"

Red Dirt musician Jason Boland sets his “watch back” for a live cover of classic country tune “Tulsa Time.” Boland’s performance pays homage to recently-inducted Country Music Hall of Fame member Don Williams’ 1978 original, while simultaneously pumping up the tune with renewed vigor and a Red Dirt vibe. “Tulsa Time” will be the lead [...]

Continue reading "Jason Boland & The Stragglers – “Tulsa Time”"

Imagine a concert where you don’t hear an electric guitar solo until about an hour into the performance, but fiddles and steel guitars abound in almost every song. Imagine the cover songs are from Gram Parsons, Don Williams and Merle Haggard. Imagine the lead singer is singing about drinking, love and loneliness, all done from [...]

Continue reading "Jason Boland Brings Red Dirt to Georgia Clay"

I haven’t watched the CMA awards in years. Sometimes I’ve had a gig, but most of the time, there wasn’t anything there to interest me. I would flip channels and land on the awards show, but wouldn’t stay long. In the 80s, I didn’t miss a show. All my favorite artists were on. Country had [...]

Continue reading "Honky Tonky Happy Hour: Why I Won’t Be Watching The CMA Awards"

Having a major label record deal has never guaranteed success for an aspiring artist, but by and large in the past, having a major record deal served as a pre-requisite for success, after all, recording costs were prohibitively expensive and the majors had a lock on the retail distribution channels. We know now that it’s [...]

Continue reading "Red Dirt: The Power of Infrastructure"

When someone starts talking about IPOs and investing my eyes gloss over, but if you have some money to blow, I mean invest, then country music is apparently a hot commodity. And by “some money,” I mean a minimum of $500,000. Country singer/songwriters are the single hottest investment property you can find in 2008. A [...]

Continue reading "Country Singer/Songwriters Are Hot Investments"

I can’t read enough about Last of the Breed. It’s to the point where I don’t remember the last time I was this excited about one thing. My intense excitement is mostly due to something Chet Flippo mentions in his review of the Last of the Breed album, “nothing like this is ever going to [...]

Continue reading "Nothing Like Last Of The Breed Will Ever Come Along Again And New Book Names Top 100 Country Fan Clubs"