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Friday Five: U.S. Marines
On November 10, 1775, the Continental Marines were founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia; that organization would later become the United States Marine Corps. Over the past 237 years, many have worn the Eagle, Globe and Anchor; here are a few who also happened to be involved in country music. 5. Jamey Johnson Johnson spent [...]
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Ray Price Battles Pancreatic Cancer; Jan Lynn Crutchfield Passes Away; New Music Videos
Thanks for being patient while Sandy threw the site out of whack for a few days. If you have a few bucks to spare, there are many worthwhile charitable organizations, including the Red Cross, helping those affected. If you want to help save some vinyl, Norton Records, whose warehouse was flooded by the hurricane, could [...]
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Album Review: Jamey Johnson — Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran
Let’s just get this out of the way up front: Combining 16 stellar songs from one of music’s all-time best songwriters, adding on supremely talented artists such as Alison Krauss, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and George Strait, and putting traditional country torch-bearer Jamey Johnson at the helm leaves little room in an album review for [...]
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Banjo Symposium Coming to UNC-Chapel Hill; Taylor Swift Breaks Digital Sales Record; New Videos from The Flatlanders, Drew Kennedy
Ray Price is working on a new album, reports Markos Papadatos. Here’s the new video for Drew Kennedy’s “Stars in California.” And a video from The Onion: “Country Artist Sings About Real America and Its Meth Addicts.” There’s a neat article on IndyWeek.com about this weekend’s banjo symposium at UNC-Chapel Hill. Joy Kills Sorrow’s “Jason” [...]
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CMT Music Awards Winners; Free Tift Merritt Download; Ernest Tubb Record Shops Celebrate 65th Anniversary
Thompson Square, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Scotty McCreery, and Lady Antebellum took home buckles at last night’s CMT Music Awards. Country California posted videos of the evening’s best performances by the Zac Brown Band, Pistol Annies, and a few others. Tift Merritt is offering a free download of an [...]
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Roots Watch: Bakersfield, Nashville, and That “East vs. West” Thing
Country fans have long since noticed (and sometimes complained) that the ACM and CMA awards shows feature pretty much the same star acts and hits of the year. That was hardly the case back in the mid-1960s, as pointed out in the Country Hall of Fame and Museum’s major new exhibition, The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, [...]
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Earl Scruggs Passes Away; Jamey Johnson Salutes Hank Cochran; Mississippi Country Music Trail Honors Bob Ferguson
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 [...]
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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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View Trailer for The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams; Opry Country Classics Lineup Announced; New Video from Will Hoge
The ACM Honors show was held last night. Tom T. Hall, the late Hank Cochran, Taylor Swift, Reba, and Larry Gatlin were among those who received awards. Lydia Loveless, the 21-year old Bloodshot artist who counts Hank Williams and Britney Spears among her musical influences, chatted with Eric R. Danton for Spinner. Check out the [...]
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Americana Added to Dictionary; Lady Antebellum Goes Unplugged; Ray Price Fills in for Loretta Lynn
Jonny Corndawg is offering a free download of “Chevy Beretta” from his upcoming album. Also be sure to check out this Corndawg-centric short film. Chet Flippo discusses The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams and cites Country California in his newest column. Country California picked their favorite songs from records released in July. Next year marks [...]
Current Discussion
- Rick: Opry Alert! I'm guessing(?) tonight marks the end of the spring season of the Thursday Night Classic Country Opry shows ...
- bob: Thanks for the info on the PBS Carole King concert. It will be good to see Trisha Yearwood sing again.
- Jon: Nope.
- Luckyoldsun: Sounds good. Is she--or her husband--related to Dallas? (I'll assume not to Joe.)
- Luckyoldsun: R-- Sounds like you're expanding your palate. "60′s style California hippie vibe" sounds like something you'd have banned from your playlist.
- Rick: I like the production, the excellent guitar picking, and Rebecca has a nice voice with individuality, but the song structure ...
- Rick: That Buddy Emmons tribute album sounds kinda interesting. I just might have to give it a listen when it's available. Congratulations ...
- Jon: Jack Bernhardt is the bomb.
- Bruce: Good article on Rucker. I do not care for all his songs and he is far from my favorite. I ...
- Kelly D.: Dig the Whiskey Sisters and the write-up from ol' Jim C.
