The 9513 - Country Music Blog

This week’s Friday Five is inspired by a song that was mentioned in Ralph Stanley’s autobiography Man of Constant Sorrow: Cager Farler’s “There’ll Be No Hippies in Heaven.” (Really, Cager? Not even that longhaired dude in sandals?) So what else isn’t in heaven? Let’s find out. 5. “No Lawyers in Heaven” – Ray Stevens If [...]

Continue reading "Friday Five: Not In Heaven"

For the first time in his career, Blake Shelton hit No. 1 three consecutive times. The latest single to top the charts, and Shelton’s eighth overall, is “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking.” Studies show that Nashville is a major force in popular music… Jewly Hight on the track “Chances Are,” from Hayes Carll‘s [...]

Continue reading "Blake Shelton Has Third Consecutive No. 1; Dwight Yoakam: Better Actor Than Guitarist; 5-Year-Old Sings Caitlin Rose"

Caring about country music enough to devote years of attention to the questions its continuing, always-evolving existence raises—what it is, where it’s come from, where it gets on and off, how it speaks to those it speaks to, how all of that (or any of that) matters—that sort of serious devotion, the sort where you [...]

Continue reading "Scanning the Countryside: Country History, Then and Now"

New releases for the week of August 24, 2010 include: The Carter Family III – Past & Present Amazon | iTunes Dale Watson – Carryin’ On Amazon | iTunes | MySpace Little Big Town – The Reason Why Amazon | iTunes | MySpace Marty Stuart – Ghost Train Amazon | iTunes | MySpace Mason Douglas [...]

Continue reading "New Releases Abound: Dale Watson, Little Big Town, Marty Stuart, Randy Rogers Band, Ricky Skaggs & More"

Happy June, everybody. Summer’s in the air and it seems like everywhere you look, flowers are blooming uncontrollably. As it turns out, June’s birth flower is the rose. Thus, that’s the theme for this month’s playlist. There are literally hundreds of songs that fit this topic (more if you count songs about women named Rose, [...]

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Sibling and family acts are part of the fabric of country music, going way back to The Carter Family and stretching all the way forward to current new acts such as Sons of Sylvia and The Harters. For siblings Kimberly, Reid and Neil Perry–all member of The Band Perry–the evolution into a family country band [...]

Continue reading "Interview With The Band Perry"

Who needs a will when you can write a country song instead? Turns out that country singers are pretty specific about the way they want to be laid to rest, whether it’s being propped up beside jukeboxes or having their stillhouses torn down or not being buried at all. 6. “Bury Me With My Car” [...]

Continue reading "Friday Five (or Six): Burial Instructions"

There is nothing subtle about a couple of guys in white linen suits urgently beckoning in front of a twelve-foot, candy-apple red, plywood devil and a hellfire-and-brimstony rock pile. That jarring scene graced the cover of the Louvin Brothers’ 1959 album em>Satan Is Real, and its twelve songs were hardly any more subtle in their [...]

Continue reading "That Old Time Religion: Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be"

Despite the endlessly repeated backstory, Rosanne Cash’s new album has little to do with her father and his influence on her tastes and career, at least not beyond suggesting the tracklist. Rather, The List plays like a tribute to the durability of country songwriting and its impact over the decades. Despite the genre’s lowly reputation [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Rosanne Cash – The List"

Merle Haggard canceled the remaining five dates of his current tour because of head and neck pain. Groover’s Paradise recommended “Foggy Mountain Top” from Carlene Carter and provided audio for her version and The Carter Family version for comparison. In a case of the rich getting richer, Los Angeles’ honky-tonk king Mike Stinson left California [...]

Continue reading "Merle Haggard Cancels Shows; Preview Terri Clark; Rock Bands’ Country; Plus Free Music"