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Gordon Stoker Passes Away; New Pokey LaFarge Album Due in June; Jim Mills Remembers Earl Scruggs
Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires passed away yesterday at the age of 88. From MusicRow.com: The Jordanaires’ harmonies can be heard on some of the most famous recordings from the 1960s and early ‘70s, particularly the Elvis Presley classics “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” and “It’s Now or Never.” Stoker had worked with [...]
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Library of Congress Adds to National Recording Registry; George Strait & Garth Brooks to Perform Together at ACM Awards; Iris DeMent on Mountain Stage
Here’s a fine New York Times feature on the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. An excerpt: At a time when the troubled economy is causing many museums to pull back, the hall is blasting ahead with an expansion that will more than double its size to 350,000 square feet. It has raised $71.6 [...]
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Bob McDill Earns ASCAP Golden Note Award; First Outer Banks Bluegrass Festival Scheduled for October; Watch the Trailer for Reba’s Malibu Country
Bob McDill will be presented with the ASCAP Golden Note Award (which goes to songwriters, composers, and artists who have “achieved extraordinary career milestones”) this autumn. Chet Flippo talks about the “big tent” of country music: The big tent I saw in my mind’s eye was gorgeous. It was enormous and gleaming white in the bright [...]
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Conway Twitty Gets Marker on Miss. Country Music Trail; Bluebird Cafe Celebrates 30 Years; New Music Videos
Delaney Davidson was the big winner at the New Zealand Country Music Awards last week with his steel guitar-driven song “You’re a Loser.” Barry Mazor passed along this great video of Elizabeth Cook paying tribute to Doc Watson with “Columbus Stockade Blues.” After Eric Church’s concert was cancelled in Buffalo due to bad weather, angry [...]
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Levon Helm in Final Stages of Cancer Battle; Pistol Annies Celebrate Record Store Day with Vinyl; Stream New Waco Brothers & Paul Burch Album
Sad news was posted on Levon Helm’s website by his wife and daughter yesterday afternoon: Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey. Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his [...]
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Friday Five: St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, so for this Friday Five, we’re paying tribute to country songs about Ireland. There are countless country songs about, or influenced by, the Emerald Isle, but here are five currently in heavy rotation at my house. 5. Dolly Parton — “We Irish” This is a fun track from 2004′s Live & [...]
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Friday Five: Judges
Today is the birthday of the most important figure in American law since Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: Judge Judy. As you know, judges play a pretty important part in several country songs; they’re normally the ones sentencing our protagonists to 99 years in the Folsom pen or presiding over sham trials when the lights go [...]
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Album Review: Chris Young — Neon
If there weren’t any text on the cover of Neon, you might not recognize the artist: Chris Young is without a cowboy hat for what might be the first time in his career. Luckily, the hatlessness and carefully coiffed hair don’t signify a major shift in his sound. There are a few elements, such as [...]
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Friday Five: Clowns
Are you a coulrophobic country music fan? You might want to skip this week’s Friday Five, because it’s got a miniature car’s worth of sad, often drunk, clowns. 6. “Heart of a Clown” – Gene Watson If ol’ Gene had the heart of a clown, he’d be able to keep a smile on his face [...]
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Friday Five: Birthday Songs
There are a couple cool folks celebrating a birthday today: Mr. T and country singer/journalist Peter Cooper. Wouldn’t you love to be in attendance at that birthday dinner? I imagine they’d have a lot to say to one another. Anyway, here’s a Friday Five about birthdays, and one song to grow on. 6. “Happy Birthday [...]
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 ...
