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IBMA Award Nominees Announced; Ashton Shepherd and MCA Nashville Part Ways; Trampled By Turtles Cover Springsteen
IBMA Award nominations were announced last night. The entire list of nominees, along with the names of two new Hall of Fame inductees (Ralph Rinzler and Doyle Lawson) can be found here. It appears that Ashton Shepherd and MCA Nashville have parted ways. The JaneDear Girls have split. Barry Mazor wrote about The Mountain Music [...]
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Kitty Wells’ Legacy and the Future of Women on Country Radio
A legion of country music legends and industry professionals expressed their admiration for Country Music Hall of Famer Kitty Wells after her death this week at the age of 92. Rightly heralded as Queen of Country Music, she was a ground-breaking force who challenging authority even as she maintained a traditionally feminine image. No less [...]
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Best Albums of 2011: #20-11
It’s been such a good year for country and roots music that we had a tough time narrowing down our list to 20 albums. Records from Buddy Miller, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, and George Strait barely missed the cut during our voting process. Here is the first half of our list. 20. LeAnn [...]
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Reba Goes Back to TV; Guy Clark Birthday Tribute Concert Scheduled; New Music Videos
Travis Tritt dropped out of a benefit concert for Joplin, Missouri tornado relief efforts because his expenses would have been covered by donations: “It is inappropriate and wrong to take contributions that were given to help victims of the tornadoes and use that money for any other purpose,” Tritt wrote [on his Facebook page]. “I [...]
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Keeping Up with the Cherryholmeses; Blake Shelton is Footloose; New Album Releases
Wonder what those Cherryholmes kids are up to now that the family band is no longer together? BJ is now the fulltime fiddler for Dailey & Vincent, Cia has formed a roots duo with Stetson Adkisson (they’ve got an EP due out later this year), Skip’s got the Skip Cherryholmes Quintet, and Molly Kate (now [...]
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Tracklisting Finalized for New George Strait Album; Free Compilation Record to Support Public Radio; Jean Shepard on a Boat
Rolling Stone announces that an album of Hank Williams’ lyrics and unfinished songs (which were found in a briefcase after Williams’ death) will be released on October 4. Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, and Norah Jones are just a few of the artists tasked with recording those songs. Taylor Swift hit up the Lincoln [...]
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Loretta Lynn Back in Action; New Ryan Adams Album; Sugarland covers Dexy’s Midnight Runners
If you weren’t at the Newport Folk Festival, or just want to relive it, check out NPR’s streams and downloads of artists like the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Wanda Jackson, Chris Thile & Michael Daves, and lots more. The newest edition of Quotable Country. Country singer Jack Barlow has passed away. Opry Pioneer Trudy Stamper has [...]
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New Johnny Cash Album; Free Eric Church Download; Doc Watson Statue Unveiled
Proving that he might be the only artist to have more posthumous recordings than Tupac, Johnny Cash has another new album forthcoming with unheard music on it. (Not that I’m complaining one bit.) From the press release: “Johnny Cash Bootleg III: LIVE Around the World is a collection of rare and unreleased live recordings it [...]
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Album Review: Ashton Shepherd — Where Country Grows
Like neckbeards and prostate cancer, the desire to load albums with songs glorifying rural locales has been a primarily male affliction. While Blake Shelton and Jason Aldean (country’s top-selling album artist of 2011 so far) have made lasting careers of hillbilly bones and dirt road anthems, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift focus most of their [...]
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News Roundup for July 12, 2011
In yesterday’s roundup we forgot to list a new edition of Country California’s always excellent Quotable Country. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are returning as CMA Awards hosts. This year’s awards show will be held November 9. Rural Rhythm Records is packing up and moving from the Los Angeles area to Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Says [...]
Current Discussion
- Daniel Mullins: Some other must-haves include Tony Rice's jazzy "Sweetheart Like You" (one of his performances on Me & My Guitar) http://www.amazon.com/Sweetheart-Like-You/dp/B005T4R5R8/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1369406119&s=dmusic&sr=1-19 Jerry Lee Lewis' ...
- Jack Williams: Buddy Miller - With God On Our Side
- Kelly D.: Love the Mount Moriah stuff and its time more people know about David Ramirez...
- Daniel Mullins: Haha. I see it in the playlist now.
- Daniel Mullins: How about The Seldom Scene's "Boots of Spanish Leather"? That one is mighty hard to beat. One of my favorite ...
- Juli Thanki: D'oh, in my undercaffeinated state, I forgot another one of my favorites, from Darrell Scott's Modern Hymns: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Believe-Acts-Like-Never/dp/B001DAFOBG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369401978&sr=8-1&keywords=darrell+scott+i+don%27t+believe+you
- Jon: Good call on "Ring Them Bells," though.
- Jon: Now, I'll tell you what, you missed one of the very best, which is the Country Gentlemen's version of "Walking ...
- Arlene: There are so many terrific ones to choose from but with the classics by The Band and Hendrix already mentioned, ...
- Jonathan Pappalardo: I've always liked Dixie Chicks version of "Mississippi," which they released on their live album.







