The 9513 - Country Music Blog

It’s the old versus the new in the 43rd Annual ACM Awards.
This doesn’t mean that it’s the traditionalists versus the pop stars, which would make for an interesting showdown. Rather, it’s what happens to awards shows when eligibility criteria are too liberal and not enough good music has been released in the past year: […]

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Last week Howard Stern manipulated and re-edited sound clips from Dolly Parton quotes “to make it appear the singer was making racist and sexually explicit remarks about Kenny Rogers, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Carson and others.” Kristin Whittlesey says it wasn’t mildly upsetting either, it was so filthy and nasty that it can’t even be paraphrased. […]

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Songwriter: Taylor Swift
Someone “should’ve said no” to this one.
Problem number one is that this song is way too loud. It starts out with that nice banjo lick and then – wham! – I’m diving for the volume control.
Problem number two is the distorted background vocal, used only once, when Taylor echoes herself […]

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When Dwight Yoakam appears on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” tomorrow he’ll break the record for most musical appearances on the show by any artist. He’s currently tied with Lyle Lovett at 23. One of the tunes he plans to play is “Act Naturally,” from the catalog of his late mentor, Buck Owens.
“Jay and […]

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The weather was still bearable in Indio, as it would thankfully remain for the duration of the festival, and day two was underway. I made sure to get there in time to check out Mr. Johnny up-and-comer himself, Hayes Carll.
Hayes has lots of buzz around him these days and I was happy to see […]

Continue reading "Stagecoach Music Festival ‘08: Day Two"

The Stagecoach Musical Festival was a three day event that, on a grand scale, showcased what country music is today. It’s estimated that over the three day period 150,000 people showed up. I arrived on Friday with very little idea of what to expect.
As I walked into the festival, The Randy Rogers Band was playing […]

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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 […]

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Dierks Bentley joins “Mr. Push Up Bra Inventor” and “Mr. Tiny Thong Bikini Wearer” as one of the subjects immortalized in Anheuser Busch’s “Real Men of Genius” radio spots. In the ad, he’s saluted as “Mr. Sad Country Song Songwriter” (listen).
“Getting a ‘real men of genius’ spot is pretty much the pinnacle for a dude […]

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Jim Hager, one half of the Hagers duo, died on Thursday from an apparent heart attack. Jim and his twin brother Jon rose to fame after joining the cast of Hee Haw in 1969.
Taylor Swift (sans makeup) and Carrie Underwood both made People magazine’s “100 Most Beautiful People” list. And so did Barbara Mandrell, which […]

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Hillcrest High star-quarterback Whit Wright thought he would be going to senior prom solo. Fortunately for him, he was chosen as a finalist for MTV’s reality show “One Upon a Prom.” Taylor Swift, who missed her own senior prom, pulled his name from a hat and attended the prom with him this past weekend. The […]

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