Engine 145 - A Roots Music Publication

Whitney Duncan, fresh off her Survivor experience, has taken to Kickstarter to help raise funds for a new album called Where The Back Roads Run. “This is so fun for me, because I can make the record I want to make!  I really hope ya’ll are as excited about this project as I am…it was [...]

Continue reading "New Whitney Duncan Album In Works; Miley Cyrus Has Death Threats and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver Announce Gospel Album"

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country will open March 23, 2012, and run through the end of 2013. On March 24, there will be a panel discussion featuring Jean Shepard, Don Maddox, Rose Lee Maphis, Dallas Frazier, Buddy Mize, and Red Simpson, all [...]

Continue reading "Don Schlitz Named to Songwriters Hall of Fame; Bakersfield Sound HoF Exhibit Opens in March; Carrie Underwood Shares “Good Girl” Sneak Peek"

Chris Thile finds the first two Nickel Creek albums “unbearably smug.”  Old-time fiddler Joe Thompson passed away yesterday at the age of 93. Thompson influenced several musicians, including the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Here is a 2007 performance at the Kennedy Center. George Jones and Tammy Wynette and Rosanne Cash and Rodney Crowell are featured in [...]

Continue reading "Curb to Release Hank Jr. Walmart Exclusive CD; Jim Lauderdale Documentary to Air in Australia; New Album Releases"

Alison Krauss and Union Station recorded some music that’ll play on Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons. Songwriter Danny Morrison passed away on Tuesday. Jim Caligiuri caught a three-hour Chris Isaak show in Austin: With a new backdrop simulating Sun Studios, Isaak concentrated on his latest album, Beyond the Sun, a collection of songs that were [...]

Continue reading "AKUS Records Music for The Simpsons; Video of Randy Travis’ Arrest Released; Dehlia Low to Take Hiatus"

Give it to Bon Iver – or rather Justin Vernon, who anchors the atmospheric songscapers. When the big-time network TV folks decided to come up with a way to stage his kind of “obscure music” to the bing-bang-boom conditioned viewership, he balked. If his songs were good enough to help his loose coalition of players [...]

Continue reading "The Grammy Problem"

Trisha Yearwood has begun filming a cooking show for the Food Network. The show, slated to premiere in April, will also feature some of her new music. The Country Music Hall of Fame set an attendance record with over 507,000 visitors in 2011. That’s nearly a 30% jump over 2010. Here’s the trailer for the [...]

Continue reading "Trisha Yearwood Films Cooking Show; Patterson Hood Protests Athens, Georgia Walmart; Bearfoot Brings Bluegrass to Schools"

Merle Haggard’s almost over the double pneumonia that landed him in a Macon, Georgia hospital—but he’s also been diagnosed with three stomach ulcers, eight polyps in his colon, and esophageal diverticulitis. Garth Brooks won his lawsuit against an Oklahoma hospital, which will be required to pay him a million dollars. Watch former Carolina Chocolate Drop [...]

Continue reading "Garth Brooks Wins Lawsuit, Lyle Lovett Shares Wisdom with Esquire; Stream Gretchen Peters’ Hello Cruel World"

Check out the Chieftains/Pistol Annies collaboration on “Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies” from the Chieftains’ upcoming 50th anniversary album, Voice of Ages. The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ new album, Leaving Eden, will be released on February 28. Loretta Lynn postponed her first two shows of the year to give her a few more weeks [...]

Continue reading "Loretta Lynn Postpones Shows; Carolina Chocolate Drops Ready New Album; Brad Paisley Renames Tour"

Billie Jo Spears passed away yesterday from cancer at the age of 74. Peter Cooper’s newest Tennessean column is all about Bonaparte’s Retreat, Emmylou Harris’ worthwhile dog rescue organization. Speaking of Emmylou, her album, as well as those from Hayes Carll, John Hiatt, Alison Krauss & Union Station, and others, made the Americana Music Association’s [...]

Continue reading "Billie Jo Spears Passes Away; Hayes Carll Tops AMA Top 10; Faith Hill to Perform at People’s Choice Awards"

Kenny Baker, Keith Coleman, Herman Johnson, and Woody Paul of Riders in the Sky will be inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in April 2012. On Saturday night Taylor Swift accepted the Nashville Symphony Harmony Award, which is “presented to individuals who exemplify the harmonious spirit of Nashville’s music community.” On Amnesty International’s [...]

Continue reading "Sugarland Performs at Nobel Peace Prize Concert; Brian Wright Offers Free EP; Stream Bob Dylan Tribute Album"