Stream Darrell Scott’s New Album; Catch a Stetson and Cia Show; Read The Nashville Scene Country Critics Poll
- Folk Alley is streaming Darrell Scott’s upcoming album, Long Ride Home.
- The 2012 ACM Award Nominees were announced this morning. Check out the entire list here.
- The Nashville Scene’s 12th Annual Country Critics Poll is up. Check out the results and read some comments from Engine 145 writers Karlie Justus, Blake Boldt, C.M. Wilcox, and Sam Gazdziak.
- Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson on Parks & Recreation) and wife Megan Mullally shot a pretty funny country music video for a song called “Wings of a Dragon” over at College Humor. Listen with headphones if you’re at work.
- Do you want to buy a sweater that depicts a cat playing the banjo? Kellie Pickler, fashion designer Geren Ford, and the ASPCA have you covered. 100% of the proceeds will benefit the ASPCA.
- Tom Russell on Bob Dylan: He’s an artist. We have precious few. He’s kept going, in spite of the constant booing and critical distractions along the way. He shattered our idea of poetry and song. He virtually altered our notion of folk music. He built his own church on the old concepts, and created a new vision. He gave me religion.
- “Good Girl,” Carrie Underwood’s first single from her upcoming album due out in the spring, will hit airwaves starting February 23.
- The Tennessean posted a photo gallery of Wynonna’s performance with the 105 Voices of History, a choir whose members hail from the 105 historically black colleges and universities in the U.S.
- Don Kelley, whose band plays several nights a week at Robert’s Western World, is the subject of Peter Cooper’s newest Tennessean feature.
- Chris Klimek of the Washington Post caught a Ryan Adams and Jason Isbell concert that showcased some of Adams’ best and worst qualities: After Adams spent two hours living up to his reputation both as a flaky, distracted performer and as a superb songwriter with a stunningly clear and nimble set of pipes, Isbell joined him on stage. (Isbell had begun the long evening with his own strong if too-brief set.) The two Southern men bantered while unhurriedly working out what to play. We’d grown accustomed by this point to lengthy intervals while Adams flipped pages in his dog-eared songbook and floated anecdotes that dissolved (“I don’t know where I was going with that)” more often than they landed.
- Bluegrass Today has another video preview of the upcoming Punch Brothers album.
- Tonight at 8:30 Eastern, the Acousticana Journal is streaming a Stetson and Cia show as the duo celebrates the release of their self-titled album.
- Kathleen Edwards chats with Jewly Hight of the Nashville Scene about the different direction she took on her new record: “Don’t get me wrong,” she says, “I’m a slave to the song, and I believe that great records are only great records because they have great songs on them.” But, she adds, “I don’t wanna just do verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus, which in the right place and time, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that. I just sort of felt like I’d done it and I didn’t want to keep doing it.”
- Here’s another Tennesean piece worth reading, about the late folksinger Karen Dalton and the recently released album of her home recordings, 1966.
Tagged In This Article
Bob Dylan // Carrie Underwood // Darrell Scott // Don Kelley // Jason Isbell // Karen Dalton // Kathleen Edwards // Kellie Pickler // Punch Brothers // Ryan Adams // Stetson and Cia // Tom Russell // Wynonna Judd
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January 26, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Great insight again from the participants in the Scene’s critics’ poll. What a talented group of writers involved, and especially nice to see the various blogs (Engine 145, Country Universe, Roughstock, Country California, I hope I’m not forgetting somebody)included.
January 26, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Highlight of Geoffrey’s essay on the Scene poll: “Country music critics are becoming as amnesiac as country radio.”
January 26, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Glad that Edd Hurt likes Hayes Carll’s KMAG YOYO, which he says “takes the conventions of the overrated Townes Van Zandt and turns them into something close to what Snider does so well.” I hope Guy Clark and Steve Earle read this. Hopefully, they’ll stop going on and on about this Van Zandt character. Obviously, they’re not aware of the “obvious fact” that Mr. Van Zandt is overrated.
January 26, 2012 at 3:41 pm
In the critic’s poll comments, Sam Gazdziak makes a good point about how with the exception of the Chorney nomination, the other Americana GRAMMY nominations have gone to more legendary names. However, I do think that Lucinda Williams, while having one of the higher profiles in rootsy circles, has never quite made it all the way to the mainstream at any point in her career. I think her album “Blessed” is consistently good and her best album in the 21st century. I’m rooting for her.
January 26, 2012 at 3:49 pm
I’m pleased to see Chris Young has got an ACM nomination as Male Vocalist after what seems like years restricted to the New catagory.
January 26, 2012 at 7:41 pm
Speaking of Darrell Scott, he will be on next Wednesday’s edition of Music City Roots along with the Lonesome River Band, Special Consensus, and other acts. I’m expecting it to rise above this week’s “Belmont Special” show, or at least I hope so…
Jon W. said: “Highlight of Geoffrey’s essay on the Scene poll: “Country music critics are becoming as amnesiac as country radio.”” I totally disagree with that statement! Amnesia is the act of forgetting something a person once knew, and I don’t think a lot of these country critics knew anything about the history of country music to begin with! (lol)
Might have to tune into Cia Leigh Cherryholmes tonight and see if she is heading back towards the path of musical righteousness (ie bluegrass) or wandering off into the Americana wilderness. I’ll blame that Stetson fellow if its the latter…
I dusted off my “Do I Give a Damn? Meter” to fire it up! I asked myself if I should look at the ACM nominations and like usual the needle swung backwards! I do appreciate those awards shows for the snarky live blogs that result and that country blog journalists like to discuss them, but that’s about it.
January 26, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Speaking of Darrell Scott, he will be on next Wednesday’s edition of Music City Roots along with the Lonesome River Band, Special Consensus, and other acts.
Ah, that’d be my band – Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, a/k/a “other acts.” It ought to be a fun show.
Hard to comment incisively on Geoffrey’s point if you haven’t bothered to read the context. Crikey!
January 26, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Really enjoyed the Stetson and Cia concert which averaged about 30 online viewers at any given time. Cia made the comment it was only their second live public performance as a duo act! Crikey! The audience sounded tiny and I would guess was mostly Cherryholmes family members and close friends based upon their enthusiasm.
Stetson sounds like a cross between early James Taylor and a cowboy singer, while Cia continues in more of the artsy-fartsy newgrass direction. I wasn’t too enamored by most of their own compositions, BUT when they sang great songs written by others they could really soar! Their cover of the Louvin Brothers’ “Plenty of Everything But You” brought a tear to my eye it was so good. I am just so thankful they aren’t trying to mimic the Civil Wars! Whew, that was a close call….
Cia also mentioned when the family bluegrass band began that one of her biggest influences was Jim and Jesse. My favorite old time bluegrass act regulars on the Opry is Jesse McReynolds and the Virinia Boys (and Girl), so I commend Cia on her good taste! (lol)
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