Blake Shelton and Jimmy Fallon Duet; Stringbean’s Killer Up for Parole; Smell Like Taylor Swift
- With his new bride prepping a solo album and a Pistol Annies album, Blake Shelton isn’t to be outdone. Late last week, he unveiled his new… uh… duo… with Jimmy Fallon.
- Blake Shelton is also the new host of the Grand Ole Opry’s new backstage tour experience. “Beginning this week, visitors on the Opry House Backstage Pass Tour will get an authentic look behind the scenes of the Opry not only from their tour guide, but also from Shelton, who joins tour groups via video throughout their visit backstage. The Tishomingo resident joins groups to talk about their surroundings and share personal stories at the Opry’s backstage entrance, in Studio A and in the Opry Green Room.”
- In case you would like to smell like Taylor Swift, you can be Wonderstruck.
- Stealing Angels just returned from a USO trip and are feeling patriotic. And generous. You can download complimentary tracks of both “God Bless America” and “Star Spangled Banner” here.
- Megan McCormick performed a concert on NPR’s Mountain Stage.
- Civil War history and roots music collide with Tuesday’s release of 1861 Project- Volume 1: From Farmers To Foot Soldiers. Artists including Marty Stuart, John Anderson and Chris Jones have contributed to the project. “Some of the songs are derived from true stories handed down through generations, while others are historical conjecture. “I Have” tells of a man walking home barefoot for hundreds of miles following the surrender at Appomattox. Another song, “Eyes,” relates the story of an Irish immigrant, one of many drafted into Union service from their new home in New York City. The exuberant “Gospel Train” is from the perspective of a runaway slave “riding” the Underground Railroad to freedom.”
- By providing his singing services, Josh Turner, helped the students and the schools of Ringgold, GA raise over $150,000 on the 14th. The community was devastated in April by an EF-4 tornado. The proceeds from “After the Storm: Coming Together Benefit Concert with Josh Turner” will be split evenly between the Ringgold Band and the Ringgold athletic fund.
- Aussie beauty Sherrie Austin has a brand new album coming out this fall called Circus Girl. She’s been releasing short videos to promote the new album on her new website and this week’s is a funny story about her late uncle selling ashtrays with her face in the middle.
- Our very own C.M. Wilcox has outlined his favorite albums of the last 182.5 days over at California Country. Included are Alison Krauss, Charlie Sizemore, Justin Haigh, Matraca Berg, Randy Travis and more.
- Jack Ingram got cut high and tight with a new summer “do” on his new Acoustic Motel video series and cut “Run to Me.”
- Should Ray Stevens be in the Country Music Hall of Fame?
- September 13th marks the centennial of Bill Monroe’s birth and several projects are in the works to honor the legend including a new instrumental tribute album, a biographical film and a tribute at the IBMA Awards.
- Pat Green is busy putting together his new album, a follow-up to the ten-year-old Songs We Wish We’d Written.
- John Michael Montgomery and brother Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry are busy writing a book and putting an album together.
- When he wasn’t busy prepping and stumping for his new 25th Anniversary album, Randy Travis was busy playing movie star. Travis plays the CIA Deputy Director in the nuclear disaster avoidance flick Jerusalem Countdown that opens in late August.
- Under the record release radar was the late-June release of Michael Martin Murphey’s latest, Tall Grass and Cool Water- Cowboy Songs VI- Buckaroo Blue Grass III.
- Not since Wayne Gretzky left has there been bigger news in Edmonton. The Canadian Country Music Association will be making Edmonton the home for their next couple of CCMA Award Shows.
- A new online radio station featuring all live country music cuts was just launched at www.countrymusicontheroad.com. “Longtime radio legend Charlie Cook is lending his talents to the venture. The most significant unique offering of the website is a full-time, internet-only radio station that is 100% programmed with live Country music recordings from some of the biggest stars of the genre, and those concert performances come from an exclusive archive maintained by United Stations primarily for its nationally distributed live music show, The Road.”
- It’s July, so that naturally means artists are cutting Christmas albums. Ty Herndonis busy putting the finishing touches on his inspirational country version that will be out later this year.
- The first artists are being announced for Nashville’s Americanafest from October 12 – 15. Included thus far are Gregg Allman, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, Justin Townes Earle, the Jayhawks, North Mississippi Allstars, Foster and Lloyd, and The Civil Wars. Over 100 acts are expected at the festival.
- Vince Gill and John Oates are headliners for a special fundraising concert on July 26 in Nashville to help raise money for studio musician and gifted guitarist Pete Huttlinger.
- Grand Ole Opry member Stringbean Akeman was murdered at his home with his wife 38 years ago and one of the killers is now up for parole.
- There have been some price cuts in Bloodshot Records’ iTunes catalog. If you’re looking for some tunes, you can’t go wrong with Paul Burch and Robbie Fulks.
- Go fishin’ in the dark with Chris Young.
- Sorry, ladies: Brody Vercher is now a married man. Congratulations to the happy couple!
- New music videos from:
- Gloriana- “Wanna Take You Home”
- DJ Miller- “Between Sundays”
- Corey Smith- “Drugs”
- Jerrod Niemann- “One More Drinking Song”
- Darius Rucker- “I Got Nothin’”
Tagged In This Article
Bill Monroe // Blake Shelton // Charlie Cook // Chris Jones // Chris Young // Darius Rucker // Gloriana // Jack Ingram // Jerrod Niemann // John Anderson // John Michael Montgomery // Josh Grider // Josh Turner // Marty Stuart // Megan McCormick // Michael Martin Murphey // Montgomery Gentry // Nora Jane Struthers // Pat Green // Randy Travis // Ray Stevens // Sherrie Austin // Stealing Angels // Stringbean Akeman // Taylor Swift // Ty Herndon
Current Discussion
- Paul W Dennis: I guess my favorite would be George Hamilton IV's version of "Forever Young" and The Byrd's cover of Mr. Tambourine ...
- Jack Williams: Speaking of Chris Smither, he did a nice version of Visions of Johanna. Other favorites: Neville Brothers - The Ballad of Hollis ...
- Leeann Ward: I think benefit concerts and telethons are great and needed, but I'm also impressed by Underwood's generous donation.
- Arlene: Ummm? "For impact, nothing surpasses The Byrd's cover of "Mr. Tamborine Man?"" How about Peter, Paul and Mary singing "Blowin' ...
- Jon: Interesting that folks are falling all over themselves to talk up Toby Keith's prospective benefit for Oklahoma tornado victims, while ...
- Luckyoldsun: For Dylan covers with impact, nothing surpasses the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man." As far as obscure ones, I happened to like ...
- Leeann Ward: Happy to see the Randy Travis and Sara Jarosz covers, but another fave is Rodney Crowell/Emmylou Harris, "Shelter from the ...
- Luckyoldsun: "Among duos, 'Cruise' surpasses Carl Butler & Pearl's 11 weeks at No. 1 with "Don't Let Me "Cross Over" in ...
- Bruce: Good to read a Chestnut update. I liked Conan's comments about Swift's song. Kudo's for Toby's plans for Oklahoma. The ...
- Andrew: Ronnie Dunn has been saying on his Facebook page that he and Toby Keith are working on putting together a ...
5 Comments
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July 18, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Congratulations to Brody and his new wife.
July 18, 2011 at 3:11 pm
…congratulations and my very best wishes to the newlyweds.
July 18, 2011 at 9:00 pm
I really enjoyed the Nora Jane Struthers interview. I’m not familiar with Bearfoot’s music, but she’d be a welcome addition to any acoustic group in my opinion. The real question is whether they will add Nora’s “Cowgirl Yodel #3″ to their live act? If not, shame on them! (lol)
Corb Lund will be happy about the CCMA holding its awards shows in Edmonton as he won’t have to travel very far to get there. Maybe he can even ride into town on a horse…
Ray Stevens should not be considered for the Country Music Hall of Fame until after Rose Maddox has been inducted! The original queen of humorous country music belongs well ahead of the joker responsible for “Ahab The Arab” and “The Streak” when it comes to the Hall of Fame.
Have to agree about Sherrie Austin being labelled a beauty. The way she looked in the “Streets of Heaven” video was about as fetching as a gal can get. I’m glad to see she’s still recording music and not just being another Nashville songwriter these days. Go Sherrie!
July 19, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Sherrie Austin is tremendous, in all respects. I cannot wait for this new record.
July 20, 2011 at 8:02 am
The reference to Ray Stevens wasn’t questioned correctly in my opinion. The question at hand isn’t “Should Ray Stevens be in the Country Music Hall of Fame?” but rather “Why isn’t Ray Stevens in the Country Music Hall of Fame?”. If people click the link it’ll take them to an article/interview that I think lays out a perfect argument as to why he belongs there. Also, the article goes into much detail about Ray’s overall career and everything he’s been involved in musically over the last 50 some years. I think if people were to go beyond the comedic aspect of his career and notice his entire body of work and all the things he’s been a part of in the music industry as a singer/songwriter/musician/producer/arranger…I think if people were to look at those aspects of his career they’d walk away with a completely different view of Ray and wonder, too, why he’s never been made a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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