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Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman Return 6/20; RIAA to Count Digital Streams Toward Gold & Platinum Certification; Hellbound Glory Announces Tour Dates
The Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman concert series kicks off June 20. Vince Gill, Ralph Stanley, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and The Gibson Brothers are among this year’s performers. “Always: Singing the Legacy of Patsy Cline,” a tribute concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame, will be streamed online Saturday afternoon. Brenda Lee, Jan [...]
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All for the Hall Benefit Raises $650K; Steve Earle Box Set Due in June; Steve Martin & Edie Brickell Play Letterman
Last week’s “All for the Hall” benefit concert raised nearly $650,000, bring the event’s four-year total to more than $2 million. (via press release) Songwriter Tom Douglas (“The House That Built Me,” “Grown Men Don’t Cry”) is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s newest “Poet and Prophet.” He’ll do an interview and performance [...]
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Engine 145′s Top Albums of 2012
It’s been a fantastic year for country and roots/Americana music, and it was no easy task for us to narrow down the list of albums released in 2012 to just a few favorites, but, after a few weeks of voting, here’s what we came up with. Honorable Mentions that missed the cut by just a [...]
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Stream Christmas Tunes from Sunny Sweeney, Scott Lucas, Sierra Hull; LeAnn Rimes Discusses X Factor Criticism, New Single; Songs for Sandy Hook Benefit Compilation
Sunny Sweeney’s “One More Christmas Beer” is available for $0.69 on her site. Scott Lucas & The Married Men will stream their annual Hideout Holiday Music Hour (taped at The Hideout earlier this month) on their site starting at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Here they are playing “Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant.” Peter Cooper [...]
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Grammy Nominations Announced; New Videos from Don Williams, Hunter Hayes; Chelle Rose, The Mavericks Added to SXSW Roster
The Grammy nominees were announced last night. Taylor Swift and Mumford and Sons were nominated for Record of the Year and Album of the Year, respectively. You can read the entire list of nominations here. Best Country Solo Performance Dierks Bentley, “Home” Eric Church, “Springsteen” Ronnie Dunn, “Cost of Livin’” Hunter Hayes, “Wanted” Blake Shelton, [...]
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Dottie West HoF Exhibit to Open Friday; CMA Awards Ratings Drop 17%; The Civil Wars Cancel Tour
Opening Friday: the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s new spotlight exhibit, Dottie West: Country Sunshine. It’ll run through May 2, 2013. The Civil Wars have canceled their tour dates. An excerpt from the statement posted on their Facebook page: “Due to internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition we are unable to continue [...]
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Little Big Town Announces Tour Dates; WDVX Celebrates 15 Years; New Album Releases
Airing November 10-16 (check local listings) on PBS: Austin City Limits Presents: Americana Music Festival 2012. The list of performances looks pretty darn good. Give a listen to rockabilly artist JD McPherson’s recent Philadelphia show. Geoffrey Clarfield of The Brooklyn Rail wrote a feature on Dom Flemons (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and the return of the [...]
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Friday Five: Beans
Kids joke about the “musical fruit,” adults debate whether or not the tiny legumes belong in chili, and, occasionally, country artists salute the bean in song. Here are five of them. 5. Eddie Cochran – “Jelly Bean” If you call a gal “Jelly Bean,” don’t tell her it’s because she’s “sweet and swell and round.” [...]
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Joe South Passes Away; CMA Award Nominations Announced; Music City Roots Launches Roots Radio
The CMA Awards nominations were announced yesterday. Eric Church led the field with five nominations, while Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton each got four. Read the full list of nominees here. Joe South, who wrote songs including “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden” and played on songs including Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools,” passed away [...]
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“Love for Levon” Benefit Concert Planned; Loretta Lynn Works on New Music; The Real Cost of Free Downloads
Singer-songwriter Heather Roberts is missing. She was last seen in the Dallas area. Loretta Lynn talks about the new music she’s been working on: Well, I’ve got 60-something things cut already. I’ve got a Christmas album, two religious albums. I’m gonna put ‘em out and get ‘em on the radio. Coming to the East [...]
Current Discussion
- Jack Williams: Speaking of Chris Smither, he did a nice version of Visions of Johanna. Other favorites: Neville Brothers - The Ballad of Hollis ...
- Jon: "Ummm? “For impact, nothing surpasses The Byrd’s cover of “Mr. Tamborine Man?”" How about Peter, Paul and Mary singing “Blowin’ ...
- Leeann Ward: I think benefit concerts and telethons are great and needed, but I'm also impressed by Underwood's generous donation.
- Arlene: Ummm? "For impact, nothing surpasses The Byrd's cover of "Mr. Tamborine Man?"" How about Peter, Paul and Mary singing "Blowin' ...
- Jon: Interesting that folks are falling all over themselves to talk up Toby Keith's prospective benefit for Oklahoma tornado victims, while ...
- Luckyoldsun: For Dylan covers with impact, nothing surpasses the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man." As far as obscure ones, I happened to like ...
- Leeann Ward: Happy to see the Randy Travis and Sara Jarosz covers, but another fave is Rodney Crowell/Emmylou Harris, "Shelter from the ...
- Luckyoldsun: "Among duos, 'Cruise' surpasses Carl Butler & Pearl's 11 weeks at No. 1 with "Don't Let Me "Cross Over" in ...
- Bruce: Good to read a Chestnut update. I liked Conan's comments about Swift's song. Kudo's for Toby's plans for Oklahoma. The ...
- Andrew: Ronnie Dunn has been saying on his Facebook page that he and Toby Keith are working on putting together a ...
