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Roots Watch: Looking Forward, Looking Back
Year’s end is all at once “make a list” time, “last chance to bring it up” time and “turn the page” time, so I thought I’d keep all of that in mind this column and point you towards some recent roots and country releases, reissues and re-visits in particular, that strike me as worthy of [...]
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Album Review: Rosie Flores — Working Girl’s Guitar
Rosie Flores kicks out the jams on the opening lick of her energetic new album and never lets up until last note of the final track. One of the hardest working guitarists in roots music, Flores cranks up her Fender, her fingers nimbly flying over and around blues bars, country chords, and rock riffs. She delivers [...]
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Chris Thile Wins MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant”; Stream New Darrell Scott & Tim O’Brien Album; New Releases
Chris Thile is one of the 2012 winners of a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.” Thile is considering using the $500,000 grant to fund “a chamber music project for a bluegrass quintet.” Blake Boldt interviewed Gretchen Peters. Darrell Scott and Tim O’Brien’s live album, We’re Usually a Lot Better Than This, is streaming at American Songwriter. Zac [...]
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George Strait Announces The Cowboy Rides Away Tour; First CMA Awards Performers Named; Holly Williams Plans Album Release
George Strait announced yesterday that his two-year The Cowboy Rides Away Tour will be his last. However, he will continue to make records and may play the occasional show. There’s an Old 97s EP available on NoiseTrade. On Tuesday, a Tennessee Court of Appeals “upheld a 2011 Chancery Court decision to deny Curb Records’ request [...]
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A Labor of Love: Rosie Flores, Janis Martin, and The Blanco Sessions
It’s a sweltering August day, and Rosie Flores has just hauled 60 boxes of LPs and CDs to the post office. Despite the heat and exertion, the 61-year old sounds bubbly as a teen as she enthuses, “Today is a celebration. My living room no longer looks like a shipping room!” The boxes are going [...]
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Country Stars Remember Kitty Wells; New Little Big Town Album Due in September; Punch Brothers Announce New Tour Dates
Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, and Lee Ann Womack all made statements about Kitty Wells’ passing. Janis Martin’s final album, The Blanco Sessions, will be released on September 18. The album, produced by Rosie Flores and Bobby Trimble, was funded through Kickstarter. (via press release) Punch Brothers announced a bunch of new North American [...]
Current Discussion
- BRUCE: Who the hell is "Pay Price"? Good grief.
- Luckyoldsun: Can't say I personally want to hear anything he's done since before the Watergate break-in--save for that duet album with ...
- Bruce: I can't access it for some reason. But I will tell you this. At 79 years of age, his voice ...
- Janice Brooks: I have the Jim Ed Brown single in rotation.
- Bruce: "People are more interesting than genres". Exactly!
- Jon: Imprecision or ambiguity might gentler terms than sloppiness, but yep, whatever you call it, there's a lot of it in ...
- Jon: "I seriously doubt that the statement “I think X” can reasonably be deemed to imply “I can’t conceive of anything ...
- Barry Mazor: Here's the current Americana chart. There are just a few--Emmylou, Rodney, Mr. Earle, Kris, Bobby Bare--who'd ever been on ...
- Barry Mazor: I think the history of radio formats is a lot sloppier than people like to make out, and here are ...
- Andrew: As the music director of a station that does play those classics right alongside the current top 40, I know ...
