Taylor Swift Times Ten Million; Johnny Cash’s ‘Strawberry Cake’; The Wildes’ Murder Ballad
- Taylor Swift passed the 10 million mark for albums sold.
- Juli Thanki on James Hand’s new album Shadow On the Ground:
Equal parts wry humor, frank honesty and gut-wrenching heartbreak, “Shadow on the Ground” is a reminder of how good country music can be, especially when it’s sung by a man who “always drinks, seldom thinks and never gives a damn.”
- In an effort to make a killer 2009 playlist, C.M. Wilcox wants you to name one excellent track from an album released this year.
- A Truer Sound posted files from Strawberry Cake, a rare Johnny Cash live album from 1976. It may not be better than his prison albums, but ATS argues that it is more interesting and highlights Cash at the top of his game as a performer.
- Guy Clark on songwriting:
“I try to write so the listener gets involved; ‘Yeah, that happened to me. I know exactly how that feels.’ Sometimes, you accommodate them with room to get inside it, leave holes to allow for it. That truth… they pick up on it.”
Country Standard Time has Clark’s tour itinerary for the next few months.
- Listen to three of the songs from Corb Lund’s forthcoming album Losin’ Lately Gambler on MySpace. Look for “This Is My Prairie,” “A Game In Town Like This,” and “Talkin’ Veterinarian Blues.”
- Kellie Pickler on her next album:
“The more records you do, the more say you get. I’m really wanting the next album to be more country. I love Loretta Lynn. Dolly (Parton’s) my favorite. I love that style.”
- If you like a good murder ballad, No Depression member Wayne Williams recommends the title track from the Australian band The Wildes‘ new album, Ballad of a Young Married Man. In fact, he recommends the whole dang album. (MySpace)
- Twang Nation has mighty high praise for Chris Knight’s Trailer Tapes II.
- Jamey Johnson treated the audience at the Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival this past weekend to a performance of “Near the Cross,” a song he sang at church as a kid.
- Willie And The Wheel is on sale at Amazon for $5 throughout the month of September.
- Loretta Lynn is famous for her classic singles with duet partner Conway Twitty, but it’s three albums worth of material she sang with Ernest Tubb that Juli Thanki says she prefers.
- Free Download: Grab a copy of “Santa Ana Wind” from Tom Russell’s new album Blood and Candle Smoke and visit Russell’s blog to read the inspiration behind this particular song.
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September 9, 2009 at 11:24 am Permalink
Thanks for the link :)
September 9, 2009 at 11:27 am Permalink
Excellent track for a 2009 playlist: Mama Bake a Pie, Daddy Kill A Chicken.
Also, can someone please tell Kellie Pickler that no one is going to associate her with Dolly Parton, so it is time to pick up that name she dropped and move on.
September 9, 2009 at 11:58 am Permalink
Tom Russell blog is amazing! thanks for putting that up!
September 9, 2009 at 12:11 pm Permalink
2 really good pieces by Juli Thanki. Keep up the good work :)
September 9, 2009 at 12:31 pm Permalink
Thanks for reading, Drew!
And Baron, excellent review of the new Chris Knight record. That’s definitely one of my most anticipated albums of the year–looks like it doesn’t disappoint.
September 9, 2009 at 12:32 pm Permalink
I hope Kellie gets her wish. I think she’s a good vocalist, but just needs much better material.
Yay for Juli’s articles!
I’m still trying to think of a song for CM’s playlist. Juli already stole my first choice of “Pretty Flowers” by Dolly and Vince from the Steve Martin album.:) So, it’s back to the drawing board for me.
I really like the Guy Clark album a lot, but haven’t gotten too far into the Chris Knight album just yet.
September 9, 2009 at 1:03 pm Permalink
The sound on Strawberry Cake (recorded live in London) was excellent but the songs wre fairly insignificant
September 9, 2009 at 1:24 pm Permalink
“Paul W Dennis
September 9, 2009 at 1:03 pm
The sound on Strawberry Cake (recorded live in London) was excellent but the songs wre fairly insignificant”
See that is where I disagree. The fact the song selection is atypical is exactly what makes it so interesting. Well the dialogue between the tracks is what makes it the most interesting. But I see this as Johnny performing the songs HE wants to play instead of trying to recreate another Folsom LP.
September 9, 2009 at 1:45 pm Permalink
I’ve been calling the “Kellie is Dolly” comparison since American Idol, and I still have hope for it.
September 9, 2009 at 2:00 pm Permalink
James Hand = Awesomeness. Just heard about him like 2 months ago …
September 9, 2009 at 4:16 pm Permalink
Same here – I think Kellie Pickler has a great voice, and her personality makes her oh so loveable for me. I really hope she does get more say in the next one and keeps it more country.
September 9, 2009 at 4:37 pm Permalink
I had plans for today….woke up, read this and listened to the Tom Russell song and immediately had to pull out all of his albums, put everything off until tomorrow and make it a day of listening to Tom Russell…..thanks for posting.
September 9, 2009 at 4:37 pm Permalink
Thanks for the plug guys! You can watch video from the concert via Youtube:
Here is the video for Near the Cross:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqk62ajJSFs
Jamey didn’t sing “My Way to You”, but he did sing “Back to Macon”, which is to be on the new album (and is a good one):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8BL5AmRvUE
The show was definitely a good one…top one in my book. I saw him the night before in Danville, VA and barely made it back to KY in time for this show. If you want real country music without the fluff and theatrics, go to see Jamey Johnson. No two shows are the same…I’ve been to 10 so far with plans of many more. You never know what to expect and it is different each night.
September 9, 2009 at 4:51 pm Permalink
That Ernest Tubb / Loretta Lynn “Sweet Thing” song is excellent. It would be nice if a reissue label could get a hold of those albums for a CD / digital release. Hey, maybe the “Heart of Texas” label could do that so they could hawk them during the E.T. Record Shop Midnite Jamboree radio shows!
I think Guy Clark has proven himself a great songwriter over the years, its his voice that lacks broad based appeal to those outside of Texas. Hey, that kind of makes him like Sherrie Austin! (lol)
Tom Russell’s “Santa Ana Wind” sounds almost apocalyptic for us folks in Southern California! Yikes! Its a nice song but as for his references to Spanish California, Dave Stamey’s new “Mission Bells” is a far more compelling song.
If Paul Dennis says the songs on “Strawberry Cake” although atypical are insignificant, I believe him!
September 10, 2009 at 8:14 am Permalink
I didn’t say I didn’t enjoy the Strawberry Cake album – I purchased it in 1977 and have thoroughly enjoyed it – I just think that the songs were mostly trifles. Curiously enough, I Saw Cash about a year later and his repertoire for that show was mostly his Sun recordings plus “Ring of Fire”, “Legend of John Henry’s Hammer”, “Busted” and “A Thing Called Love”
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