Trace Adkins Wants Him Some Real Joy; Nashville Paves Way For Patsy Cline Boulevard; ‘Ain’t No Grave’ for Johnny Cash
- Yesterday afternoon Toby Keith announced Trace Adkins as the first artist signed to Show Dog-Universal Music. All it took to lure the big man from Capitol Records, his home for 15 years, was a smile:
Adkins said he watched Keith on stage when the two toured together last year and saw something he “longed for.”
“I saw Toby Keith with this grin from ear to ear, and he would come bounding off the stage and he would be so fired up. … And it’s real. That joy I’ve seen from him is real. … I said, ‘I want me some of that.’”
- On January 29, Roy Orbison will receive a star on the Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
- And pretty soon the Music Row street Music Square East could become Patsy Cline Boulevard. Crazy.
- DC9 at Night posted a video interview with Eleven Hundred Springs.
- The sixth and final version of Johnny Cash’s American recordings, titled Ain’t No Grave, is due out Feb. 26, which would have been Cash’s 78th birthday.
The songs on American VI are drawn from all over the musical landscape and from various eras, and include Sheryl Crow’s moving “Redemption Day,” close Cash friend Kris Kristofferson’s “For The Good Times,” “Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” by Tom Paxton, Bob Nolan’s “Cool Water,” the hopeful “Last Night I had the Strangest Dream” by Ed McCurdy, J.H. Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes’s “Satisfied Mind,” Queen Lili’uokalani’s song of farewell, “Aloha Oe,” and the never before heard Cash original, “I Corinthians: 15:55,” written over the last three years of his life.
- Alan Jackson’s new album Freight Train is slated for a March 30 release. He wrote or co-wrote eight of the 12 songs and as a tribute to the late Vern Gosdin, he’ll include a duet with Lee Ann Womack on “Till the End.”
- In other new release news, Mary Chapin Carpenter’s next album, The Age of Miracles, is due out April 27 and Lifted Off the Ground, Chely Wright’s first record since 2005, is scheduled for May 4, as is her memoir.
- Preview “Move Up” from Patty Griffin’s upcoming gospel album, Downtown Church. (via No Depression)
- The Gobblers Knob invites you to check out Somebody’s Darling and John Arthur Martinez.
- Fill out Country’s California’s fifth Country Questionnaire. Here’s an example of the questions:
1. Poor choice to play Merle in Haggard biopic:
2. Age at which Cash Rich will come to hate his name:
3. Gloriana’s shelf life:
4. Songwriter whose name guarantees quality:
5. Not on Jimmy Wayne’s iPod: - With help and input from country bloggers, My Kind of Country’s J.R. Journey rounded up the best country blog posts of 2009.
- Ricky Skaggs feels confident about the future of bluegrass. Country, not so much:
Bluegrass, I think, is really doing well. There’s a lot of new, young horses out there running… I’m much more hopeful for bluegrass music than I am for country music. Listening to country on the radio? Phew! Wow.
[...] I think bluegrass is the best friend country music has because it’s the only part of country music that has a semblance of tradition and roots… There are probably some Texas groups, and I know there are some groups around Nashville… they don’t care if they sell 10 records or a thousand. They’re gonna stay traditional. They’re gonna stay country. Unfortunately, the gatekeepers at radio and the gatekeepers at the labels here in Nashville close those people out because they don’t have the image that some of the girls or guys have. They don’t look as well on CMT or VH1 or GAC… It’s really sad. It never should have been about that and it didn’t used to be about that until country music went to television.
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Alan Jackson // Chely Wright // Eleven Hundred Springs // Gloriana // Jimmy Wayne // John Arthur Martinez // Johnny Cash // Kris Kristofferson // Lee Ann Womack // Mary Chapin Carpenter // Patsy Cline // Patty Griffin // Ricky Skaggs // Roy Orbison // Somebody's Darling // Toby Keith // Trace Adkins // Vern Gosdin
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January 14, 2010 at 11:34 am Permalink
For anyone who might be interested: (From AllAboutCountry.com)
Colgate Showdown Finals Tonight!
Just Added: A Tribute To Garth Brooks (Oh joy.)
All the local, state and regional competition is complete, so the 28th Annual Colgate Country Showdown National Finals is set for nationwide television coverage tonight(1/14) from The Ryman Auditorium.
LeAnn Rimes will host the event for the fourth consecutive year. Judges are Music Row Executives who’ll decide who wins the $100,000 grand prize.
And this just added: A Tribute to former contestant Garth Brooks! (Big Whoopee)
This year’s finalists are:
Karla Davis – Rock Hill, SC
Kendall Phillips – Hastings, MI
Casey Lee Smith – Phoenix
Terry Lee Spencer – Rural Valley, PA
Whiskey Row – Merced, CA (Hey, that’s near Yosemite!)
To find a television station carrying the Showdown Finals, click on this link:
http://countryshowdown.com/TVStations.php
Memo to Trace Adkins: Toby owns his own record label (or did anyway until the merger) and you’ll just be working for it. Big difference…
I love Ricky Skaggs’ comments about the entire country music scene. The decline of traditional country music on radio is one of the big reasons bluegrass is going strong as its a refuge for people who love tradition based forms of country music. Go Ricky! (But hey dude, get a haircut! lol)
January 14, 2010 at 1:48 pm Permalink
Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Alan Jackson and Lee Ann Womack both, but cutting “‘Til The End” is a bold step after Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out has cut it, because he and they sang the **** out of it.
January 14, 2010 at 2:40 pm Permalink
It’s sounds like the forthcoming Chely Wright effort has been effectively wussified. Notes from the Coroner was such a great album title.
January 14, 2010 at 5:12 pm Permalink
New Chely Wright stuff, finally. And a new Alan Jackson record. Can’t wait.
January 14, 2010 at 5:32 pm Permalink
Matt C. said: “It’s sounds like the forthcoming Chely Wright effort has been effectively wussified.” I’m so shocked that this would happen in today’s candy ass / sissified mainstream country scene! (lol)
Wow, is Kelly Dearmore actually promoting Nshville Star 1st season runner up John Arthur Martinez!?!? John’s voice was so thin it was hard to hear even when he sang a capella! YIKES! (lol)
January 14, 2010 at 6:47 pm Permalink
Is Chely Wright even part of “today’s candy ass/sissified mainstream country scene?”
Her last major label album came out in 2001, and she hasn’t had a top ten hit on mainstream candy ass radio since 1999.
I don’t know what “scene” Chely Wright is part of, but if she’s part of the mainstream scene, that might be news to mainstream fans.
January 14, 2010 at 7:50 pm Permalink
Chely left mainstream country behind a long time ago (and Nashville as well — she lives in New York City now). I highly recommend ‘Metropolitan Hotel.’
January 14, 2010 at 8:05 pm Permalink
I’m a big Johnny Cash fan, but I have to wonder about “American VI/ Ain’t No Grave.” Since his death, they’ve already issued 6 CD’s on Cash: “American V/ The Man Comes Around” and the 5-Disc “Unearthed” Box.
Do they really have something new and worthwhile to put out or is it just stuff that was previously rejected for good reason?
January 14, 2010 at 8:11 pm Permalink
@Chris N. I highly recommend ‘Metropolitan Hotel.’
Yeah, buddy.
January 14, 2010 at 9:52 pm Permalink
I’m excited about the new AJ album and Trace Adkins’ joining Show Dog Universal. Hopefully both will be good.
January 15, 2010 at 9:59 am Permalink
luckyoldsun:
Unearthed was outtakes and alternates that were taken from the sessions for American 1 – 4. It was released 2 months after Johnny died which means it was ready well before then and Johnny most likely had a say. Also only 4 discs of unreleased material as disc 5 was a greatest hits of the American era.
American V and VI from what I understand were Johnny’s last sessions. I have read interviews where he said he did not want American IV to be his final album so he was trying to record one final album before he died.
You also forgot about Personal File, which were studio demos from the 70s that were in Johnny’s personal archive. That was a great overlooked collection, and supposedly there is more of that that will be released. American VI however as far as I am aware, is the last of the American stuff.
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