Engine 145 - A Roots Music Publication

Carrie Underwood spoke out in support of gay marriage during an interview with The Independent. This week, the music video for Glen Campbell’s “A Better Place” will be released. It’ll “offer a retrospective look at Campbell’s career, and will feature a cameo by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Joshua Homme.” The producers of The [...]

Continue reading "Carrie Underwood Speaks Out in Support of Gay Marriage; The Trishas’ Full-Length Debut Album Due Aug. 7; Album Releases"

Earl Scruggs passed away yesterday at the age of 88. Here are obituaries from the Tennessean and New York Times, remembrances from Terry Baucom and Mac Wiseman, and a Friday Five from our archives in which we asked a few banjo players to pick their favorite Scruggs tune. A public funeral service will be held [...]

Continue reading "Earl Scruggs Passes Away; Jamey Johnson Salutes Hank Cochran; Mississippi Country Music Trail Honors Bob Ferguson"

“Love’s Gonna Make It Alright” is George Strait’s 59th Number One single. Stream the new Justin Townes Earle record, Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, here. NoiseTrade is offering a free album download from folksinger Bhi Bhiman. Vandaveer’s version of “Banks of the Ohio” is the newest entry in The 78 [...]

Continue reading "George Strait Scores 59th Number One; Stream New Justin Townes Earle Record; Free Music From Bhi Bhiman"

This evening at 6pm Eastern, stream a Darrell Scott interview and performance on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country. Todd Snider’s the subject of this Paste feature, which also reveals that [n]ext month Snider will be releasing Time as We Know It: The Songs of Jerry Jeff Walker, an album of Walker’s songs to celebrate his 70th birthday. [...]

Continue reading "Stream Darrell Scott Performance; Miranda Lambert and Rodney Atkins Help Disaster Relief Efforts; Moot Davis Album Giveaway"

Pam Tillis was a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race last night. The full episode, called “Dragazines,” can be streamed here. Darrell Scott considers “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “To Live’s to Fly,” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down” to be “perfect songs.”  Here’s a feature on Echo Mountain, the Asheville, North Carolina recording studio [...]

Continue reading "Second Round of ACM Awards Performers Announced; Della Mae Selected for State Department’s American Music Abroad; Album Releases"

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"

William Weir asks why people don’t sing about disease like they used to: Songs about sickness are fewer these days, and you rarely get the level of detail that singers once delved into about their symptoms. Today, when a song is about illness, it’s a good bet that the ailment in question is actually a [...]

Continue reading "Free Admission to the Hall of Fame on 2/4; Jennifer Nettles Sings Hank Williams; Album Releases"

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 [...]

Continue reading "Stream Darrell Scott’s New Album; Catch a Stetson and Cia Show; Read The Nashville Scene Country Critics Poll"

Download the lead single and title track of Justin Townes Earle’s upcoming album Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now. Kelly Dearmore interviewed Darrell Scott about his new album and his work with Robert Plant. Here Scott answers the question of what Americana music means to him: I love that Americana is [...]

Continue reading "Blake and Reba to Return as ACM Awards Hosts; Grascals Sign with Mountain Home; Download New Justin Townes Earle Song"

Ever since commercial country music started up in the 1920s, folks and other people have been arguing about the degree and nature of its regularly alleged and often simply assumed ties to older down home music—the music made by Americans, particularly Southern Americans, on their own porches, in their local saloons, churches, and dances. This issue comes up whenever historians weigh how [...]

Continue reading "Roots Watch: That Folk Roots/Country Connection—Family Style"