The 9513 - Country Music Blog

NewsChannel 5 chief investigative reporter Phil Williams published the results of a seven month investigation into ticket scalping for Keith Urban concerts and more specifically, the recent “We’re All For the Hall” benefit.
[...] our investigation discovered, this year Keith Urban struck a deal with Ticketmaster to, in essence, scalp tickets to his own shows.
Internal documents [...]

Continue reading "Keith Urban Ticket Scalping; SEASAC Music Awards; New Releases, Reissues, & Free Downloads"

Lorrie Morgan celebrates her 25th anniversary as an Opry member tonight.
On the subject of songs that got away, John Anderson admits that he turned down “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On,” not knowing that it was Conway Twitty who originally sent the song his way. It was a missed opportunity, but he hopes to have [...]

Continue reading "Lorrie Morgan Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Opry"

Same admonition as before. Just some songs I liked, one song per artist.
“Silver Wings” – Jim & Jon Hager (1970)
Since Hag issued the song as a B side (“Workin’ Man Blues” was the A side) this version is the only charting version of Hag’s classic. The Hager Twins do a nice job with the [...]

Continue reading "Great Country Songs From the 1970s, Pt. 3"

When it comes to country songs about delicious beverages, coffee gets the short end of the swizzle stick. Sure, beer, whiskey and wine get all the attention, but when it comes down to it, coffee is the life-giving elixir that keeps us going. Bonus: it’s cheaper than booze and doesn’t make you puke.
Out of all [...]

Continue reading "Mini Playlist: Coffee Is Cheaper Than Booze"

In the summer of 1987, my wife Kay and I were vacationing in Germany and Austria. As is always the case, I would check out the local record stores in the various towns that we visited, and in doing so I was surprised to see the large number of Dave Dudley cassettes and CDs that [...]

Continue reading "Forgotten Artists: Dave Dudley (1928-2003)"

Gene Autry and Brenda Lee will be honored alongside the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Four Tops, Hank Jones, Dean Martin and Tom Paxton with the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony on Feb. 7, and will be acknowledged during the Grammy telecast the next evening. (Wikipedia has a list of past winners)
Hip-hop [...]

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I want to tell you all a story about a Harper Valley widowed wife
Who had a teenage daughter who attended Harper Valley Junior High
Well, her daughter came home one afternoon and didn’t even stop to play
She said mom I got a note here from the Harper Valley PTA
– Tom T. Hall – 1967
Starting out [...]

Continue reading "Forgotten Artists – Jeannie C. Riley"

Buddy Harman, dubbed the father of modern country drumming by Eddie Stubbs, passed away yesterday evening at the age of 79 from congestive heart failure.
A native Nashvillian born Murrey Mizell Harman Jr., Mr. Harman played drums on more than 18,000 recordings, including Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” Tammy [...]

Continue reading "Country Music Loses The Beat With the Passing of Buddy Harman"

American Idol’s Kristy Lee Cook scored a record deal with 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville. Her first single, “15 Minutes of Shame,” will hit radio on August 11 and her full album is due out sometime this fall. Last month, in his article proclaiming country music as American Idol’s uncomfortable bedfellow, Matt predicted that she’d be signed [...]

Continue reading "Kristy Lee Cook Hooks Up With Arista Nashville; Single Due In August"

The first song ever recorded by The Statler Brothers was a tune by the name of “The Ballad of Billy Christian,” written by Tom T. Hall. In that regard, it was only fitting that both were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame at the Ford Theater on Sunday night.
Last week Rick drew our [...]

Continue reading "The Statler Brothers and Tom T. Hall Enshrined In Hall of Fame"