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Album Review: The Blind Boys of Alabama – Take The High Road
Gospel/country hybrid album Take The High Road doesn’t waste any time cutting to the chase. The sheer joy and enthusiasm that permeates every nook and cranny of The Blind Boys of Alabama’s new album launches full-throttle in its opening seconds, seamlessly combining a breathless, preaching testimony, crisply powerful harmonies and an instrumental backing that could [...]
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Ten Definitive Albums that Mark Lost Highway’s Past Decade
The song “Lost Highway” has a very special place in Hank Williams’ canon. Recorded shortly before his death in 1953, it remains one of his best and most worried songs, a bleak evocation of dark sin and bright redemption rendered in plainspoken poetry. That Williams died in the backseat of his car only makes the [...]
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Willie Nelson to Appear on Next Snoop Dogg Album; The Civil Wars Perform for Paste; Grammy Performances Boost Sales
Snoop Dogg‘s next album finds him collaborating with Willie Nelson: The album’s most left-of-center track is the playful “Superman.” Accompanied by guitar and harmonica, Snoop and Willie Nelson trade riffs on living life with the hands they’ve been dealt and realizing, “I’m not Superman.” The idea to work together took shape when the two artists [...]
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Amos Lee: Respecting the Sanctity of the Song
With his fourth album, Mission Bell, folk-pop singer-songwriter Amos Lee has been propelled into the national consciousness. The album, defined by his raspy, soulful voice, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 earlier this month. It was an impressive feat for an artist who until this year hadn’t shed the journeyman tag despite his [...]
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Miranda Lambert’s Ascension; Hayes Carll’s, Too; Digital Ralph Stanley Reissues Celebrate Milestone
Miranda Lambert joined the company of Pat Green and Willie Nelson as the only artists to ever sellout back-to-back nights at Billy Bob’s Texas — another sign in a long list that illustrates her arrival. The scary part, says DFW’s Preston Jones, is she’s just getting warmed up. Dallas Observer’s Dave Herrera echoes those sentiments. [...]
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Glen Campbell Preps Final Album; Billy Ray Cyrus Takes Issue with ‘Hannah Montana’; Willie Opens New Austin City Limits Theater
Glen Campbell has plans to release his final studio album this summer, which will be supported by a farewell tour. Billy Ray Cyrus is scared for Miley, and blames Hannah Montana for destroying his family. Whitney Duncan released a four-song EP last week titled Young In America. (iTunes) Willie Nelson formally christened the new Austin [...]
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Scanning the Countryside: Country—and All That Jazz
There have always been some who see country music and jazz as opposite ends of the American music spectrum—one down home, emotionally straightforward and inclined towards the well-understood and safe; the other urban, sophisticated, even intellectual, and born to go off on unfettered, exploratory tangents. You could, of course, hear that opposition expressed by fans [...]
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Your Take: Love at First Listen
Yesterday on the blog, Juli pulled together a Friday Five centered around Valentine’s Day songs. And while the artists included ranged from Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard to the Old 97′s, all had their own take on the official (commercially, at least) day of love. 2010 was a good year for country music love stories, [...]
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Friday Five: Valentine
Whether you’re a fan of Valentine’s Day or think it’s a fake holiday perpetuated by greeting card companies, there’s a song or two for you on this list of my five favorite songs about February 14. 5. “Feb. 14” – Drive-By Truckers Is there a crueler rejection than “I want to be alone/Take your chocolates [...]
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Larry Cordle Schedules New Album and Three Singles; Will, Wills and Willie; Introduction to the Westbound Rangers
Larry Cordle has a new album, Pud Marcum’s Hangin’, scheduled for a March 15 release and three singles scheduled for release tomorrow. For country fans, Cordle offers his own expressive version of a song first recorded by country star Trace Adkins in 2008, “Sometimes a Man Takes a Drink.” The lighthearted “Uncle Bob Got Religion,” [...]
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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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