Toby Keith Preparing Clothing Line, TK Steelman
- Toby Keith is launching his own clothing line, TK Steelman, on Febuary 18.
According to his publicist, “the look mixes the influences Keith brings to his own wardrobe – part rocker and part biker with a “country sexy” aesthetic punctuated by oilfield imagery in the brand’s logos and font selections.”
- Watch a video of Ray Benson and Willie Nelson explaining the origin of Willie and the Wheel.
- In the past, many researchers have believed that babies learn about music by listening to adult speech and lullabies and could tell one rhythm from another at 4 to 6 months, but new results suggest rhythm could be an innate ability, hard-wired into the human brain. (via CMT Blog)
- If you’re still looking to speed up your baby’s musical education, the recently released Hushabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of Willie Nelson album and upcoming Hushabye Baby: Lullabye Renditions of Vince Gill probably wouldn’t hurt. And if you look really hard, you can find lullaby albums from Johnny Cash, Carrie Underwood and George Strait along with several compilations. (via press release)
- The 2009 lineup for Rodeo Austin has been announced. Randy Rogers Band will heat things up on March 14, followed by Jimmy Wayne, Josh Turner, Clay Walker, Kellie Pickler, Eli Young Band, Randy Travis, Jack Ingram, Craig Morgan, Kevin Fowler and a few acts from other genres thrown in for good measure.
- Jack White, Brendan Benson and Ashley Monroe talked about recording “Old Enough” in an interview with Craig Shelburne.
- Recommend an album with no throwaway tracks. I’m going with Guy Clark’s Old No. 1.
- In an interview with Nashville City Paper’s Ron Wynn, country music historian Rich Kienzle comments on what you can expect from the recently release Bob Wills boxed set, The Tiffany Transcriptions.
“Bob Wills had as much influence on the development of modern country music as any single bandleader,” Kienzle said. “Hank Williams (Sr.) was a Wills fan. When he was doing shows in Alabama before he came to Nashville he used to add, at times, to his band a pianist, a drummer, sometimes some horns. You can still hear the Wills influence today in so many artists. Certainly George Strait and Merle Haggard. But also in people like Tracy Byrd and Brad Paisley.”
- LeAnn Rimes has a new book, What I Cannot Change, with songwriter Darrell Brown on April 14: “It will include ’stories from people who have experienced their own journeys of change’ along with a CD of the song and will be published by HarperStudio.”
- Nashville At Nite is planning a special episode to showcase a few of Nashville’s top undiscovered acts. If you’re a band playing in Nashville during the month of March, suggest yourself and then get all your friends, family and fans to suggest you. Three artists/bands will be selected and featured on the show.
- Marty Stuart has started taping the second season of The Marty Stuart Show for RFD-TV.
- On January 2nd, Kelleigh Bannen (MySpace) began a personal mission of playing 90 gigs in 90 days to raise awareness for addiction and recovery. The concept for the tour was inspired by her brother Grant, who she lost to substance abuse nearly a year ago. Visit her website to find out how you can help and revisit Jim Malec’s “20 Questions With Kelleigh Bannen” feature from June ‘08. Kelleigh also made an appearance on Brady Vercher’s year-end list of overlooked albums.
- Silver Dollars, by Axton Kincaid (MySpace), is another 2008 album that qualifies for the “overlooked” moniker and in a recent PopMatters review, Christel Loar extolls its virtues.
Axton Kincaid switches things up several times across this album by incorporating California country-rock and Kentucky bluegrass while evoking Nashville new and old and never worrying about whether these elements are meant to mix. The band reveres tradition, not convention, and Silver Dollars shines because of it.
- A singer-songwriter by the name of Ben Kweller, who wasn’t previously country, is releasing a country album titled Changing Horses on February 3.
- Jamey Johnson played nearly every song on his album at the show at
Joe’s Bar in ChicagoThe Intersection in Michigan on Saturday night, and when he chose to cover someone else’s songs, he chose country songs (with the exception of Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page”): “Angel Flying too Close to the Ground” by Willie Nelson; “Who’s Going toWearFill Their Shoes?” by George Jones; “Do You Believe me Now” by Vern Gosdin; and Merle Haggard’s “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good?” (via reader email) - Adam Gregory’s “Crazy Days” is the iTunes free Single of the Week. (iTunes)
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Adam Gregory // Ashley Monroe // Axton Kincaid // Bob Seger // Bob Wills // Brad Paisley // Carrie Underwood // Clay Walker // Craig Morgan // Eli Young Band // George Jones // George Strait // Guy Clark // Hank Williams // Jack Ingram // Jamey Johnson // Jimmy Wayne // Johnny Cash // Josh Turner // Kelleigh Bannen // Kellie Pickler // Kevin Fowler // LeAnn Rimes // Marty Stuart // Merle Haggard // Randy Rogers // Randy Rogers Band // Randy Travis // Ray Benson // Toby Keith // Tracy Byrd // Vern Gosdin // Vince Gill // Willie Nelson
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January 29, 2009 at 12:58 pm Permalink
At least Jamey covered Vern Gosdin and not Jimmy Wayne.
January 29, 2009 at 1:14 pm Permalink
That would be “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?”, and I’d have loved to listen to that cover.
January 29, 2009 at 1:16 pm Permalink
Nice catch Drew, I copied and pasted without realizing the song title was wrong. That’s kind of funny though.
January 29, 2009 at 1:16 pm Permalink
Is “Who’s Going to Wear Their Shoes?” a song about carrying on the legacies of Kellie Pickler and Julianne Hough?
January 29, 2009 at 1:17 pm Permalink
Bah, I got scooped.
January 29, 2009 at 1:31 pm Permalink
It’s rather depressing when it’s actual news when a country act covers country songs…
January 29, 2009 at 1:34 pm Permalink
That Austin rodeo looks like fun! What a line up.
January 29, 2009 at 2:24 pm Permalink
Axton Kincaid may have been overlooked by some, but not by me! It made my top 10 albums of 2008. You should all go check it out.
January 29, 2009 at 2:56 pm Permalink
to say a little more on the Axton Kincaid praise front, big kudos to their bass player. Country Bass lines are generally pretty vanilla, which is generally a good thing, but the bass lines in Axton Kincaid’s stuff is really smart and interesting and works really well. So well done Axton Kincaid’s bass player!
January 29, 2009 at 3:52 pm Permalink
Toby Keith is lanuching a line of clothes to represent his look. Does it come in size ego, greater ego, and my ego is bigger than your ego. When is this man going to wake up and just be an artist. I am starting to think he is not very bright.
January 29, 2009 at 4:14 pm Permalink
The lullaby albums are actually kind of good, for that type of album. No words, just music, you can find all of the ones mentioned above on iTunes.
January 29, 2009 at 5:26 pm Permalink
well, craig, i don’t know if toby keith’s line of clothing comes with the ego stuff, but i’m pretty sure his clothing has a line of boots (with the requisite brown tips, of course). and maybe mirrors on top of them, his vanity being what it is.
January 29, 2009 at 6:14 pm Permalink
I’m kinda surprised Toby Keith’s going for a line of clothing, instead of a line of beer :P Seems more fitting
January 29, 2009 at 7:01 pm Permalink
According to his publicist, “the look mixes the influences Keith brings to his own wardrobe – part rocker and part biker with a “country sexy” aesthetic punctuated by oilfield imagery in the brand’s logos and font selections.”
What’s the tag line: For 40 somethings, who just can’t give up the frat?
January 29, 2009 at 7:46 pm Permalink
Albums with no throwaway tracks? Hmm, let’s see:
1. Storms of Life by Randy Travis
2. Killin’ Time by Clint Black
3. The Grass Is Blue by Dolly Parton
4. Trio by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, & Emmylou Harris
5. Don’t Close Your Eyes by Keith Whitley
6. Diamonds & Dirt by Rodney Crowell
7. What Do I Do With Me by Tanya Tucker
8. Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love by Trisha Yearwood
9. The Key by Vince Gill
10. Pancho & Lefty by Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson
11. Livin’ It Up by George Strait
12. Roses In The Snow by Emmylou Harris
13. My Kind Of Country by Reba McEntire
14. Sleepless Nights by Patty Loveless
15. Dwight Sings Buck by Dwight Yoakam
January 29, 2009 at 7:59 pm Permalink
Speaking of country stars and clothing:
“You Can Soon Buy Taylor Swift Dresses at Wal-Mart in February!
You’ve seen Taylor Swift in bunches of amazing prom dresses, ballgowns and dozens of cute teenybopper sundresses. And now, you too can look like Taylor — for only $14! (Long blonde curly hair not included.)
Taylor and Wal-Mart have created a line of $14 dresses, US Weekly and New York magazine report.
“I don’t look at it like I’m branching out as a designer,” she tells New York magazine. “It’s not the Taylor Swift designer line or whatever. “I like people who have worked their entire lives to become designers,” she adds. “I think that they have their place as designers and I have my place as a musician, and I’m going to pretty much stick to that.” (Rick’s snark: Man that’s deep…..)
And what can you fashionistas expect from her line? “Sundresses are my favorite things to wear,” Swift says. “In the summer, I automatically want to look bohemian.”
So ladies of the 9513, will you be wearing Taylor Swift sundresses for that bohemian look once summer rolls around? (lol)
January 29, 2009 at 8:19 pm Permalink
Nashville At Nite has a pretty good show, I have watched it a few different times. I also saw there website had little to no traffic, are they broadcast somewhere or something? I tried to google it but couldnt find if they were syndicated at all.
January 29, 2009 at 10:32 pm Permalink
Rick….uh no.
January 30, 2009 at 10:01 am Permalink
That Johnson concert review wasn’t from Joe’s Bar in Chicago. It was in Michigan somewhere. He was at Joe’s last Friday though.
January 30, 2009 at 11:27 am Permalink
Everybody’s got a clothing line now. I guess Willie Nelson had his jeans and shirt line a few years ago. I see some of them on e-bay from time to time.
January 30, 2009 at 11:34 am Permalink
Reba took it a step further with her own line of luggage.
January 30, 2009 at 4:43 pm Permalink
Great list, Razor. Especially the addition of “Dwight Sings Buck”, I never heard much press about that album, but it is terrific.
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