Caitlin Rose on World Cafe; Czechgrass Band Celebrates 20th Anniversary; Joe Nichols to Host ACM Honors
- Dex Romweber Duo debuted their new video for “Jungle Drums.”
- I’ve been enjoying Country Universe’s retro single reviews. Kevin Coyne recently tackled “Amarillo By Morning.”
- Bluegrass blogger Ted Lehmann has filmed an extensive collection of performances. Keep an eye on his YouTube page through festival season.
- The Muddy Roots Festival lineup looks pretty great, with Wanda Jackson, Wayne Hancock, Hellbound Glory and more slated to perform.
- In fake news, beware the Brantley Gilbert Virus. Be sure to read the comments: they’re almost as entertaining as the article.
- Listen to alt-country songbird Caitlin Rose on World Café. Then listen to William Elliott Whitmore.
- Taylor Swift tailors her cover choices depending on the city she’s playing. She’s in DC tonight. Any chance of a Bad Brains or Chuck Brown cover?
- Czech bluegrass band Druha Trava is celebrating their 20th anniversary. The European Bluegrass Blog published a retrospective celebrating the group.
- Joe Nichols will be hosting the 5th Annual ACM Honors, which will be held at the Ryman on September 19. Tom T. Hall, Reba, and the late Hank Cochran are a few of the honorees.
- NPR offers up some thoughts on the Newport Folk Festival. An excerpt: Main stage sets by The Decemberists and Elvis Costello defined the fest’s mood: these rockers don’t honor the musical past as much as crush hard on it, seeking out its forgotten corners, reimagining its tired scripts and showing how a some passionate attention can reinvigorate even the most over-traveled cultural streams.
- The Reinstate Hank Williams petition has topped 50,000 signatures.
- The Nashville Scene tells the tale of Marideth Sisco, the “amazing geriatric hillbilly” whose music can be found in the film Winter’s Bone.
- MP3 album downloads from Gary Allan, JD Souther, Trace Adkins, Old 97s, Bonnie Raitt, and more are available for $5 each this month over at Amazon.
- Will Kimbrough, who’s been touring as a member of Emmylou Harris’ band, blogs about his time at the Newport Folk Festival, where he got to sing with Pete Seeger.
- Another day, another ’80s cover. Keith Urban and Jake Owen sang “Jack and Diane” at a recent show.
Tagged In This Article
Bonnie Raitt // Brantley Gilbert // Caitlin Rose // Dex Romweber Duo // Druha Trava // Elvis Costello // Emmylou Harris // Gary Allan // Hank Cochran // Hank Williams // Hellbound Glory // Jake Owen // JD Souther // Joe Nichols // Keith Urban // Marideth Sisco // Old 97's // Pete Seeger // Reba // Taylor Swift // The Decemberists // Tom T. Hall // Trace Adkins // Wanda Jackson // Wayne Hancock // Will Kimbrough // William Elliott Whitmore
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August 3, 2011 at 11:43 am
Why does the ACM need to honor Reba yet again? The only special award left to give her is “most times hosting the show” at this point.
August 3, 2011 at 11:52 am
And that “reinstate Hank” petition is as dumb-ass and inappropriate as it’s always been, however many people sign on. Opry members are performers, not “inductees” as in some museum or honorary Hall. The chances of Hank rejoining the cast to show up on a Saturday night have been slim for some years now,. The whole “reinstate” thing is just goofy, “more country than thou” nonsense.
August 3, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Barry, I totally agree on the reinstate Hank thing. That being said, I’ve always thought the Opry could do a far better job than they’ve done at providing some historical reference/perspective to all of their Opry members past and present. You would think that there would be a place on their website that could have a page for each past member that listed the the years that they were a member and a brief bio. I remember when I did an interview with Holly Dunn a couple years back, she felt like the Opry sort of washed their hands of her when she moved from Nashville.
August 3, 2011 at 12:24 pm
No argument with that, Ken. They do sell a book that details the whole history and involvement of all the cast members through the year–at the Opry stores and the Ryman. I contributed to one of those, at the time of the Opry’s 80th, myself.. But they really don’t provide much Opry info beyond tickets for the week ahead online, and it would seem to be a good thing if they followed your advice. (Might even clear up issues like the “reinstate Hank” business. For the Zombie Opry., I guess.
August 3, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Zombie Opry
Best theme party idea ever.
August 3, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Music City Roots is having a “Guitar Night” tonight featuring artists I’ve never heard of. Guests include Guthrie Trapp, David Grier, Viktor Krauss, Bryan Sutton, and Ben Hall. Now if only they had included Dex Romweber, then Juli might have tuned in!
Link: http://www.musiccityroots.com/
Considering the age of so many of the current “Opry Legends”, its damn near a “Zombie Opry” already! Maybe they should just get the old-timers stuffed and electronically re-animated after they pass on as its cheaper than paying union scale to the live ones.
Breaking CDC News: There have been reports of a dangerous mutation of the Brantley Gilbert Virus spreading among the rockabilly and roots music community! Known as the “Dex Romweber Duo Virus” it apparently has already infected the leading people behind the 145 Engine music blog! Oh dear…
August 3, 2011 at 9:47 pm
@Barry They do sell a book that details the whole history and involvement of all the cast members through the year–at the Opry stores and the Ryman. I contributed to one of those, at the time of the Opry’s 80th, myself.
As did I, and to a more recent one, too. But I think that Ken’s asking for information not only about current members, who are covered in the book AND on the website, but all the past members, too.
On a slightly different topic, it’s impossible for me to take seriously the “classic” country pretensions of anyone who dishes up an across-the-board slam of older Opry members.
August 3, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Yeah Jon, I got that. The 80th anniversary book had not just the bios of current casts members, but a timelines with discussion of the key stars and events of each decade. Which i the website COULD provide!
August 4, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Zombie Opry
Best theme party idea ever.
Sounds like a country version of The Monster Mash.
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