HoF Inductees Announced; Cracker Barrel Plans Two-Disc Dolly Release; New Albums
- The 2012 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees were announced this morning: Hargus “Pig” Robbins (Recording and/or Touring Musician) , Connie Smith (Veterans Era Artist), and Garth Brooks (Modern Era Artist).
- On April 2, Cracker Barrel will release CD/DVD set An Evening with…Dolly, featuring performances from Parton’s sold-out concert at London’s O2 Arena.
- The name on Tammy Wynette’s tomb has been changed to Virginia W Richardson: Wynette’s given name was Virginia Wynette Pugh. Her husband at the time of her death was George Richey, whose birth name was Richardson. Wynette and Richey were married from 1978 until her death. A spokeswoman for the funeral home that houses the mausoleum told CMT.com the name was changed “a couple of weeks ago at the request of the family.” However, a second source at the funeral home estimated the name was changed “four to six months” ago. It is against the funeral home’s policy to reveal who specifically authorized the change.
- The Carolina Chocolate Drops stopped by WNYC; here’s some footage of their performance.
- Punch Brothers played “Movement and Location” for Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current.
- Jake Owen was recently on the talk show Chelsea Lately (warning: autoplay).
- What does “Mastered for iTunes” really mean?
- Due out June 5: Kelly Hogan’s I Like to Keep Myself in Pain.
- Carrie Underwood’s upcoming album, dropping May 1, will be called Blown Away. Check out the album cover here, and Farce the Music’s version here.
- Speaking of Underwood, she surprised Brad Paisley at his show last Friday when she made a guest appearance.
- Vince Gill’s These Days made People magazine’s list of the Best Albums of the Century (So Far).
- Special Consensus announced that their next album, Scratch Gravel Road, will come out on March 27.
- The newest edition of Quotable Country features Merle Haggard, Tracy Lawrence, and more.
- The Mountain Music Project, a documentary which explores similarities between Appalachian and Himalayan music, is now available on CD and DVD.
- This week’s album releases:
Steel Wheels – Lay Down, Lay Low
The Hobart Brothers & Lil’ Sis Hobart – At Least We Have Each Other
Todd Snider – Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables
Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
Rick Nelson – The Complete Epic Recordings
JB & The Moonshine Band – Beer for Breakfast
Clarence White – Flatpick (Deluxe Edition)
Demolition String Band – Gracious Days
Luke Bryan — Spring Break 4: Suntan City
Tagged In This Article
Brad Paisley // Carolina Chocolate Drops // Carrie Underwood // Connie Smith // Dolly Parton // Garth Brooks // Hargus "Pig" Robbins // Jake Owen // Kelly Hogan // Merle Haggard // Punch Brothers // Special Consensus // Tammy Wynette // Tracy Lawrence // Vince Gill
Current Discussion
- Barry Mazor: The assumption that everybody would be signed if only they could be no longer is necessarily so..Given the relatively much ...
- Luckyoldsun: Can't say I necessarily know who is or isn't signed, but I have no knowledge that any of the following ...
- Occasional Hope: Is Patty Loveless free now, since she's implied she doesn't seem to have any plans to record again, but perhaps ...
- Arlene: Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison's current terrific album, Cheater's Game, was financed via Kickstarter. If they are still unsigned, they'd ...
- 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 ...
6 Comments
RSS for comments on this post
March 6, 2012 at 12:36 pm
A great 2012 HOF class, but especially glad to see Connie Smith get recognized.
March 6, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Opry Alert!!!! Tonight marks the start of the 2012 season for the Tuesday Night Opry. These are the BEST Opry shows as each artist gets a full 15 minutes (ie at least 3 songs plus story telling) and the moldy oldie “Opry Legends” make up 50% or less (hopefully far less) of the artist line up. Tonight’s show features Eden’s Edge, Joey+Rory, Craig Campbell, Gene Watson, and the Del McCoury Band (and only 3 Opry regulars)! Grade: A+!
Schedule Link: http://www.opry.com/shows/ThisWeek.html
Gosh, Todd Snider and Bruce Springsteen releasing new albums on the same day! The wallets of a lot of lefty liberals are going to be a bit lighter today after a stop by Best Buy or Walmart…
Its great to see the amazing piano playing of “Pig” Robbins and vocal talent of Connie Smith get recognized by the CMHOF. Now as for Garth, I don’t give a crap. I know, Buck’s Crystal Palace can now donate that dopey bronze statue of Garth to the CMHOF and replace it with Bob Wills! Now that would be something worth celebrating…
March 6, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Rick,
You seem like such a staunch supporter of the music that you love, which makes you a rare and wonderful commodity.
As an artist who frequents E145, I can’t help but wonder (and this is a ‘business’ question– you seem pretty affable, so I figured I’d ask), do the political leanings of people who release new music or tour in your area really factor into your deciding their work to be listenable / watchable? Or is that just something you like to needle other commenters with?
Snider aside… When an artist goes in that direction in their recorded music or in their stage banter, I can see where that would be off-putting to you. It can be off-putting to me, too, even if I agree with them. In other cases, I mean. Do you really know where people lean, politically? Do you just assume? Do you not know until they themselves say something?
I just never put a lot of thought into the politics of someone whom I enjoy musically. If I like a song, I like a song. That’s one of the things that I like about music– a good song can make you forget a lot of things (or think about a lot of things) including the person that has written, or is performing it.
I guess what I’m asking is– I’ve never mentioned my political leanings because I don’t believe it has anything to do with my music, but do you think artists in general should (to use that documentary title) shut up and sing? Does the fact that an artist choses to publicly release music make their opinion null and void, even if, say, that artist had a degree from a noteworthy university that would thus qualify them to speak on the subject? What if an artist shared your political beliefs– does that effect the way you’d grade a new release from them?
I don’t know if any of the people you like to needle have such a degree, and I certainly don’t when it comes to politics (History with a concentration on Ancient Middle Eastern History / English here) but I wonder where you feel artists should draw the line?
Thanks Rick,
Drew Kennedy
March 6, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Drew–
Johnny Cash did a song in the ’60s called “The One On the Right Was On the Left” that ostensibly criticized artists for bringing politics into their music. Of course, in the context of its time, it may have been one of the most political singles that Cash ever released.
For many years the song was a bit hard to find, as Cash’s albums went out of print and the song was not included on his biggest compilation albums. But they started including it in the compilations that they put out in the 2000′s.
March 6, 2012 at 8:18 pm
I think Rick likes needling, although you don’t need to be a conservative to think Obama isn’t a very good president
I like Pete Seeger’s music and he’s about as left wing as you can get – probably to Mao and Stalin’s left
March 8, 2012 at 11:04 am
Todd Snider is such an enigma for me. He’s way left of me on a lot of subjects, but he just seems like such a good dude that his politics don’t get in the way of me enjoying his music. There are exceptions – a few of his songs go a bit too far – but he’s cool with me. Steve Earle is a different story. He’s way left of me on most subjects and the more political his music has gotten, the more he’s turned me off. Maybe if he were a little more open to the possibility that he may be wrong – as Snider is – his schtick might not rub me the wrong way.
Leave a Comment