Engine 145 - A Roots Music Publication

Bluegrass music has a long, rich history of brother duos. Eric and Leigh Gibson may be one of the newer links in that chain, but their harmonies are some of the best you’ll find in bluegrass–or any genre. Out March 26 on Compass Records, The Gibson Brothers’ They Called It Music will be a serious contender for Album [...]

Continue reading "Exclusive Premiere: The Gibson Brothers — “They Called It Music”"

September’s the month country and its cousins honor music and music makers that the Media Barons-That-Be don’t consider ripe for prime time—anything more than five minutes old, anything with specialized appeal, artists who don’t universally look like aspiring starlets or teen idols (sorry, Junior Sisk, Richard Thompson, and Billy Sherrill) and anybody at all besides [...]

Continue reading "Roots Watch: The Ryman Awards Show Season"

Here are the winners of last night’s Americana Music Awards and Honors: Instrumentalist of the Year: Dave Rawlings Album of the Year: This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark; produced by Tamara Saviano and Shawn Camp Song Of The Year Award :  “Alabama Pines;” Written by Jason Isbell and performed by Jason Isbell [...]

Continue reading "Americana Music Award Winners Announced; Bearfoot Undergoes Lineup Changes; Stream New Dwight Yoakam Song"

  A half-year in which such major contributors, true giants, as Kitty Wells, Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson are suddenly no longer with us (among too many others, it sure seems, lately), could produce a major case of seasonal distress disorder in itself for a lot of us, Meanwhile, so many have been taking to [...]

Continue reading "Roots Watch: Lights in the Country Tunnel?"

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"

In the Prime Cuts series, we’ll take a look at songs that didn’t show up on country radio, staying under the radar on records packed to the brim with memorable tunes. Album by album, we’ll point out the quiet keepers of some of our favorite artists, and hopefully these songs will reintroduce you to artists [...]

Continue reading "Prime Cuts: Alan Jackson"

Guy Clark’s birthday is definitely a cause for celebration, especially a landmark one like his 70th, coming on November 6. For most of his adult life, Clark has demonstrated why he’s considered one of the premier songwriters around. Whether it’s his earlier classics like “Desperados Waiting for a Train” or more recent fare like “Dublin [...]

Continue reading "Guy Clark: Stuff That Works"

The finest male voice on country radio is back with his first record in over two years. His last release, Everything is Fine went gold and saw him expanding his boundaries, experimenting with R&B and Celtic music. So Josh Turner had a lot to live up to on his fourth album. Haywire starts off strong [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Josh Turner – Haywire"

It’s been five years since the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band released an album. Though they haven’t exactly been resting on their laurels, this interval between records isn’t too surprising: After all, once a band’s been together for 45 years, don’t you think they’d get a little bored with it all? Listening to Speed of Life, [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Speed of Life"