-
Jason Isbell Leads Americana Music Awards Nominations; Buddy Rogers Passes Away; Big Machine Label Group Adds Music Publishing
Jason Isbell leads the Americana Music Awards nominations, with four. Gillian Welch was next, with three nominations. Chet Flippo remembers Doc and Merle Watson: I interviewed Doc with his son Merle (named for Merle Travis) for Rolling Stone a couple of years later, and it turned out to be a delightful time with Doc. He [...]
-
Merle Haggard Makes Surprise Appearances in Nashville; Toby Keith to Celebrate 10 Years of USO Tours; Peggy Seeger Honors Titanic Anniversary with New Song
Want to volunteer at the CMA Music Festival this summer? Peggy Seeger has a new song, “Swim to the Star,” to mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking. Merle Haggard has been making surprise appearances at various events in Nashville. (Barry Mazor will have more on that in his next Roots Watch column on [...]
-
Bakersfield Sound Exhibit Opens; More ACM Awards Performers Announced; How to Grow a Band Documentary to Open in April
Putamayo’s new bluegrass collection, due out in May, includes Alison Krauss & Union Station, Sam Bush, Town Mountain, Peter Rowan, and more. Have a listen here. Shooter Jennings on fitting in with Music Row: I don’t know if I could fit in. I know that I wouldn’t fit happily. I’ve never written with teams of [...]
-
Waylon Jennings’ Family Plans To Release His Last Recordings; Bonnaroo Lineup Revealed; Arnold Schultz Honored
Sarah Jarosz, Punch Brothers, Trampled By Turtles, The Avett Brothers, and several other Americana/roots acts are on this year’s Bonnaroo roster. The A.V. Club has an exclusive stream of “In Between Jobs” from Todd Snider’s upcoming album, Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables. Pierce Greenberg of Nashville’s City Paper has some more information about the Johnny [...]
-
Shooter Jennings — “The Deed and the Dollar”
It’s fitting that the new single from Shooter Jennings’ upcoming album entitled Family Man (due out March 13) finds him channeling his father with a loose, late ‘70s-flavored country love song. Sung over twangy Telecaster, pedal steel, and the steady thump of a bass drum, the lyrics may lean a bit too hard on the [...]
Continue reading "Shooter Jennings — “The Deed and the Dollar”"
-
Gene Watson Celebrates 50 Years of Country Music; The Jayhawks Announce Tour Dates; Carl Jackson Honored with Historical Marker
Sarah Jarosz, Joshua Britt (Farewell Drifters), Tom Russell, and more offer up their thoughts on Bob Dylan to kick off American Songwriter’s “30 Days of Dylan.” The Jayhawks announced new tour dates: they’ll start in Colorado at the end of this month. Guitarist Lincoln Meyers has left bluegrass band Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen. Tift [...]
-
Free Music from Lori McKenna, Punch Bros. and the Del McCoury Band; New Justin Townes Earle Album; The Story Behind “Rudolph”
Lori McKenna’s giving away a Christmas song. Del McCoury’s got some free music for you too, with “Moneyland” from the 2008 album of the same name. Download “Movement and Location” from the Punch Brothers’ upcoming album Who’s Feeling Young Now, due out February 14. Justin Townes Earle’s fourth full-length record, Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way [...]
-
Roots Watch: Country Icons and Family Legacies
Working as I do in both journalism and music history, from time to time I’ve had the opportunity (and also the working need, truthfully) to interview the immediate families of some of country and roots music’s most celebrated figures, sometimes getting to know them outside of that defined situation. It occurs to me again and [...]
Continue reading "Roots Watch: Country Icons and Family Legacies"
-
Sunny Sweeney Releases Holiday Single; Farce the Music Offers Benefit Compilation; Dobie Gray and Barbara Orbison Pass Away
Dobie Gray passed away yesterday at the age of 71. Barbara Orbison, widow of Roy Orbison, also passed away yesterday (the 23rd anniversary of Roy’s death). She was 60 years old. Gretchen Peters has a new blog entry up about the song “Camille,” written with Matraca Berg and Suzy Bogguss. “Camille” will be on Peters’ [...]
-
Reba Goes Back to TV; Guy Clark Birthday Tribute Concert Scheduled; New Music Videos
Travis Tritt dropped out of a benefit concert for Joplin, Missouri tornado relief efforts because his expenses would have been covered by donations: “It is inappropriate and wrong to take contributions that were given to help victims of the tornadoes and use that money for any other purpose,” Tritt wrote [on his Facebook page]. “I [...]
Current Discussion
- SCOOTER: Sturgill Simpson - fantastic artist Ashton Shepherd - I know she was recently dropped and a lot of people complain ...
- Daniel Mullins: Lee Ann Womack is a must. I would also sign Wyatt McCubbin. He was featured on The Music Inside: A Tribute ...
- Ken Morton, Jr.: BTW- Julie's been in the recording studio all this past week and will be unveiling something new soon.
- Ken Morton, Jr.: Jonathan, I actually had this exact conversation with Julie Roberts a couple weeks ago. She came out with Emily West, ...
- Jack Williams: The first name that came to my mind was electic bluesman Alvin Youngblood Hart. He hasn't released a proper ...
- bob: There was a survey by cmt.com dated 3/31/10 which showed more than 175 country act signed to major labels. I ...
- Jonathan Pappalardo: I would sign: 1) Trisha Yearwood - I don't believe she's affiliated with Big Machine Records anymore and a new CD ...
- Juli Thanki: Oh, good thinking with Hellbound Glory, Mike. Their music matured so much between Old Highs & New Lows and Damaged ...
- Mike Wimmer: 1. Jamey Johnson-I know he is technically with a label already, but they are in dispute over how he feels ...
- Juli Thanki: The first name that came to my mind was Lee Ann Womack. I'm dying to hear new music from her.
