Texas Monthly Gets Naked For Special Willie Nelson Cover
- Subscribers of Texas Monthly will receive a copy adorned with a portrait of Willie Nelson on the cover and no text. The preview is pretty flippin’ sweet.
- Jewel is returning to Nashville Star to join John Rich as a judge and mentor to the contestants.
- On July 8 George Jones will release Burn Your Playhouse Down (The Unreleased Duets), which will include a previously unavailable duet with ex-wife Tammy Wynette.
- Wayne Bledsoe relays the story of former country closet fan Kristian Bush’s path from Knoxville rocker in the band Billy Pilgrim to being complimented by Paul McCartney at the Grammys for a song he performed with his Sugarland partner Jennifer Nettles.
- Keith Urban received a gift from a fan during his concert in Baltimore recently. The fan gave him a purple and black Baltimore Ravens onesie for his soon-to-be-born baby, which he hung on his microphone as he sang “Somebody Like You.”
- A nightclub in Silver City, West Virginia decided to get interesting by introducing “Hip-Hop Fridays” and “Country Saturdays.”
- The contents of the gift bags that celebrities get pampered with for participating in the CMT Awards were unveiled, and they include high dollar jeans, skin care products, fitness club memberships, fancy vacation packages, videos games and a whole lot of other goodies.
- Sarah Johns confesses to being a workaholic and believes that a tireless work ethic, and moving to Nashville, is what it takes to make it in today’s over saturated music world. Her work begins every day by cleaning the toilet on her tour bus, “no, I really do,” says Johns. “I clean the toilet every morning, because, you know, I’m on there with a bunch of guys, and they always miss.”
- Dan Oko praises the new James McMurtry album, Just Us Kids, with 4/5 stars.
McMurtry locates again and again an element of humanity that saves his angriest screeds from easy pigeonholing. Politics may be personal for some, but McMurtry is the rare breed of musician who at his best finds ways to blur the difference, effectively and affectingly.
And, Linda East Brady has a three page profile for Americana Roots on McMurtry and his new album.
- CBS axed Secret Talents of the Stars after one dismally rated episode, thus ending Clint Black’s short stint as a television comedian.
- The 1992 George Strait movie Pure Country is the basis for a new Broadway musical that will “draw on the sounds of new and classic country, as well as Broadway and adult contemporary.”
- Unplugged at Studio 330 has some awesome sessions with Randy Travis, Jennifer Hanson, and Ashley Monroe.
- Texas Music magazine launched a limited online edition to assist in covering more of Texas’ music scene.
- PopMatters Associate Music Editor Dave Heaton says John Anderson’s Warner Brothers reissues stand as “further proof of why country music, and music in general, needs distinctive, headstrong performers.”
- Little, Brown & Co. graciously sent Linda at Still Is Still Moving five copies of Joe Nick Patoski’s book, Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, which she’ll be giving away. Keep checking her site for a chance to win one.
- Julianne Hough posted her new video, “That Song In My Head,” over on the CMT Blog.
- Merle Kilgore, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Steve Wariner, and Hank Williams are among the newest inductees for the Music City Walk of Fame.
- Yesterday marked the one year anniversary since the Cash house in Hendersonville burned to the ground. It was a tragedy, but Tom Roland says the story makes a “friggin’ great song” on George Strait’s new album.
- Jim Caligiuri says Live Cactus! is unlike anything Joe Ely has ever done.
Over the course of an hour, Ely’s guitar and voice and the magnificent accordion style of longtime compadre Joel Guzman travel over dusty highways to desolate border towns and West Texas flatlands, romancing an appreciative Cactus Cafe audience with a passion that’s palpable.
- Kellie Pickler reveals that she’s dating a songwriter, but doesn’t mention any names.
- The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is offering a packed May/June lineup for Marty Robbins themed programs in anticipation of his exhibit’s June 9th closing.
- YouTube video of Adam Hood performing Willis Alan Ramsey’s “Bayou Girl.” (via Galleywinter)
- A new book about Townes Van Zandt titled A Deeper Blue is being billed as “the first serious biography of a man widely considered one of Texas’–and America’s–greatest songwriters.” Author Robert Earl Hardy spent eight years researching Van Zandt and interviewing those closet to him. Pete Freedman says what is even more interesting is a hidden note that says this is just the first book UNT Press is planning to publish in its “North Texas Lives of Musicians Series.”
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LeAnn Rimes - “What I Cannot Change” When LeAnn Rimes enters a recording studio, she carries with her the most impressive instrument in the room.
Kellie Pickler - “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” Coming from Kellie Pickler, it’s like a rich man telling the beggar that his soul is rich and that’s better than all the money in the world.
Lee Ann Womack - “Last Call” It’s not her strongest song, but it’s well written with a good performance, and despite the dull internal conflict, it’s rife with emotional depth.
Brad Paisley - “Waitin’ On a Woman” Bizarrely, it took a song written by someone other than Brad Paisley for radio to hear what the Paisley style can truly accomplish.
Merle Haggard at the Ryman Auditorium: Of the Haggard classics, “Silver Wings,” “The Way I Am” and crowd-favorite “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” were performed with confident ease while “Kern River” was sung with inspired tenderness and “Back to Earth,” from 2007’s Last of the Breed, contained more than a trace of Willie’s nasally twang. 
One of an emerging wave of artists empowered by decreasing production costs and a rapidly changing distribution landscape, Kelleigh Bannen has taken a do-it-yourself approach to her debut album, Radio Skies.
The two-time Dancing With The Stars champion, Julianne Hough, recently took some time to answer questions for The 9513 in this exclusive interview.
After cutting ties with Warner Bros. Records, Ray Scott decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and form Jethropolitan Records, a place where he can get back to the blood and guts of what he terms “real country music,” the kind of stuff you don’t hear on radio anymore.
Catch up on Nashville Star through Matt C.'s live blog. Episode I | Episode II | Episode III | Episode IV
Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music by Dana Jennings When Jennings addresses modern country in the final chapter, he leaves you with the impression that it just can’t tap into the primal psyche the same way the classics that served as his nursery rhymes did.Tagged In This Article
Adam Hood // Ashley Monroe // Clint Black // Country Music Hall of Fame // George Jones // George Strait // Hank Williams // James McMurtry // Jennifer Hanson // Jennifer Nettles // Jewel // Joe Ely // Joel Guzman // John Anderson // John Rich // Julianne Hough // Keith Urban // Kellie Pickler // Marty Robbins // Merle Kilgore // Nashville Star // Nitty Gritty Dirt Band // Randy Travis // Sarah Johns // Steve Wariner // Sugarland // Townes Van Zandt // Willie Nelson
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April 11, 2008 at 10:39 am Permalink
If Sarah Johns music career doesn’t work out she can always get a job at Molly Maid….
CBS axing Secret Talents of the Stars was in truth a mercy killing….
I commend CMT for doing the Unplugged 330 Session with Ashley Monroe since she’s an independent, unsigned artist these days. I wonder if Chet Flippo had anything to do with this? (wink)
It will be interesting to see how Julianne Hough does on the charts. Viewers of American Idol are music fans while who knows about fans of Dancing With The Stars. Considering Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift dominate country radio these days Julianne definitely has the right look……
April 11, 2008 at 12:29 pm Permalink
Judging by the two songs in that 330 sessions from Randy Travis’s new CD, I’m gonna have to say that Around the Bend is probably my most-anticipated album in a looong time.
“Faith in You” should be a song of the year nomination.
April 11, 2008 at 3:34 pm Permalink
For anyone interested, the video for Randy Travis’ “Faith In You” is up on YouTube. It’ll start airing on GAC this Sunday.
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