Country Album Sales Increase in 2011; New Music From Emily West; Stream The Little Willies’ New Album
- Stream For the Good Times, the upcoming album from The Little Willies, over at NPR’s music blog.
- Journey and Rascal Flatts are rumored to be doing a CMT Crossroads together in February.
- Bluegrass banjo player Shorty Eager passed away. He had played with Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys and several other bluegrass groups.
- Peter Cooper did a column on the reinvention of Ronnie Milsap for The Tennessean.
- After her first project was shelved by Capitol Records, Emily West released an independent EP last week to Amazon and iTunes called I Love You, I Hate You. It’s outstanding. Matt Bjorke over at Roughstock agrees.
- Billboard Magazine listed their top 10 country albums of 2011.
- Wade Hayes’ colon cancer surgery went “better than expected” and he’s now resting comfortably at his home.
- CMT’s Craig Shelburne interviewed Lionel Richie about his upcoming country music album that’s due out in the spring.
- A Woody Guthrie museum of sorts will have a new permanent home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- Is Curb Records deliberately tanking the singles on their last Tim McGraw album?
- The Infamous Stringdusters are more interested in being called “an experience” than a bluegrass band.
- Gregg Allman has a new lease on life after his liver transplant.
- PBS will be on hand taping the Bluegrass Underground’s 2012 kick-off February 24-26. Del McCoury, Vince Gill, Doyle Lawson, The Civil Wars, Jim Lauderdale, The Time Jumpers, Jerry Douglas and Sarah Jarosz will all be in one weekend’s worth of shows.
- Country music album sales went up 4% in 2011.
- The third time’s the charm. Wynonna got engaged.
- Pop star Demi Lovato is the latest Disney icon who is interested in crossing over into country music.
- Country Weekly is calling 2011 the Year of Blake Shelton.
- Can an international star from Brazil crack US country radio? Michel Teló aims to find out.
- New music videos from the past week or so:
Red Roots – “Double Wide Church”
Christy Angeletti – “Never Been Better”
Jasmine Rae – Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long”
Tenille — “Pictures on a Crooked Wall”
Tagged In This Article
Blake Shelton // Del McCoury // Doyle Lawson // Emily West // Gregg Allman // Infamous Stringdusters // Jerry Douglas // Jim Lauderdale // Jimmy Martin // Lionel Richie // Michael Telo // Rascal Flatts // Ronnie Milsap // Sarah Jarosz // Shorty Eager // The Civil Wars // The Little Willies // The Time Jumpers // Tim McGraw // Vince Gill // Wade Hayes // Woody Guthrie // Wynonna
Current Discussion
- KC: My picks seem to be doing ok without a label, but I would sign them even if it was just ...
- SCOOTER: Sturgill Simpson - fantastic artist Ashton Shepherd - I know she was recently dropped and a lot of people complain ...
- Daniel Mullins: Lee Ann Womack is a must. I would also sign Wyatt McCubbin. He was featured on The Music Inside: A Tribute ...
- Ken Morton, Jr.: BTW- Julie's been in the recording studio all this past week and will be unveiling something new soon.
- Ken Morton, Jr.: Jonathan, I actually had this exact conversation with Julie Roberts a couple weeks ago. She came out with Emily West, ...
- Jack Williams: The first name that came to my mind was electic bluesman Alvin Youngblood Hart. He hasn't released a proper ...
- bob: There was a survey by cmt.com dated 3/31/10 which showed more than 175 country act signed to major labels. I ...
- Jonathan Pappalardo: I would sign: 1) Trisha Yearwood - I don't believe she's affiliated with Big Machine Records anymore and a new CD ...
- Juli Thanki: Oh, good thinking with Hellbound Glory, Mike. Their music matured so much between Old Highs & New Lows and Damaged ...
- Mike Wimmer: 1. Jamey Johnson-I know he is technically with a label already, but they are in dispute over how he feels ...
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January 2, 2012 at 3:34 pm
How can one read this:
“‘At the end of the day, it matters very little what music is called,’ says Pandolfi. ‘What we’re really trying to create is an experience.’”
and conclude this:
The Infamous Stringdusters are more interested in being called “an experience” than a bluegrass band.
Hmm?
January 2, 2012 at 11:51 pm
I would like to see the annual country music album sales comparisons over the last few years that excluded Taylor Swift. Its not encouraging when a single artist is carrying so much of the retail sales load all by herself…
I’m glad Emily West was finally able to release an indie EP of the type of music she really wants to make. The songs are radically different in style from the material on her original Capitol label album. I saw her perform in LA a couple of years ago in a Capitol showcase where they were hoping to stir up some interest with the Hollywood TV and film industry types. That obviously didn’t work out. Now the question is what type of radio stations will play Emily’s new music? Hmm…
That Bluegrass Underground artist roster is quite impressive. If only Jesse McReynolds were there instead of Doyle Lawson, they’d really have something! (lol)
January 3, 2012 at 12:20 am
Hasn’t it usually been the case that one artist was “carrying so much of the retail sales load all by (him/her)self–whether it was Willie, Garth, Shania, Tim or Kenny?
January 3, 2012 at 11:31 am
Hasn’t it usually been the case that one artist was “carrying so much of the retail sales load all by (him/her)self–whether it was Willie, Garth, Shania, Tim or Kenny?
It’s about as true now as it was then, which is to say, not. If Rick weren’t so Swiftophobic, he’d notice that Jason Aldean’s album was just a couple of notches below hers. What’s been true for the last 20 years or so is that a handful of artists (handful > 1) have vastly disproportionate influences on the overall sales figures.
January 3, 2012 at 12:59 pm
I do think it’s relatively new (= started with Garth Brooks) to have one artist out of the leading handful so very far ahead of the others in sales.
January 4, 2012 at 1:22 pm
I suss in the past certain artists provided a large amount of their record labels income; Elvis and Sinatra come to mind. At one point in time Garth was something like 86% of Capitol’s bottom line; the difference was Sound Scan. With Sound Scan labels/charts were able to get accurate numbers of what was truly selling, and that was the game changer.
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