Engine 145 - A Roots Music Publication

Buck Owens – Honky Tonk Man: Buck Sings Country Classics Thanks in part to his weekly appearances on Hee Haw, Buck Owens was one of the most visible country musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He’d already well established himself by the mid-1960s, and he and The Buckaroos helped to develop the “California sound”—dominated [...]

Continue reading "Album Reviews: Buck Owens — Honky Tonk Man; Don Rich — Sings George Jones"

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 [...]

Continue reading "Conway Twitty Gets Marker on Miss. Country Music Trail; Bluebird Cafe Celebrates 30 Years; New Music Videos"

Pulling off a musical biography well is not easy.  Trust me; I’m spending much of my own time these days working on one, (on roots music A&R and publishing pioneer Ralph Peer). From short profile articles to full-length books, there are questions for the writer—focus, depth, audience, and how to go about it. I have [...]

Continue reading "Roots Watch: Reading Marty Robbins, Dwight Yoakam–and James Brown"

People Magazine has a free playlist for you to download that includes music from The Band Perry, Scotty McCreery, Chris Young, Eli Young Band, Montgomery Gentry, Love and Theft, Brantley Gilbert, and Hunter Hayes. Taylor Swift is far-off cousins of Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn according to Geni.com. Ellen DeGeneres and [...]

Continue reading "Hank Cochran Documentary to Premiere April 25; Golf & Guitars Update; New Music Videos"

Willie Nelson releases albums like most people change their underpants. For the most part, that’s a good thing. He’s had some missteps along the way, but his recent offerings (Willie and the Wheel, American Classic, and Two Men with the Blues) rank as some of the best work in his long and storied career. Produced [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Willie Nelson – Country Music"

A lifetime spent listening to music has taught me a lot about Saturday night. It is, for example, all right for fighting or going to the movies, not to mention a good night to simultaneously keep dancing to the rock and roll and work on one’s spelling, and those are just the pop songs. Nobody [...]

Continue reading "25 Songs About Saturday Night"

My original intent was to write a Friday Five in honor of Guy Fawkes Night; however, there are few songs about plotting to blow up Parliament. So instead, we’ll be looking at another important historical event. This November marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Here are five of country music’s [...]

Continue reading "Friday Five: Songs About Walls"