-
The Chieftains — Voice of Ages
When it comes to Ireland’s national treasures, The Chieftains have to rank right up there with the Blarney Stone and the Guinness brewery in Dublin. There’s nothing wrong with the contemporary acts that have blended Irish music with rock (Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys) or New Age easy listening (Enya) – for the most part, at [...]
-
Elton John Records “Raw and Rootsy” LP with T-Bone Burnett; Rascal Flatts Plans Restaurant Chain; New Music Videos
Jasmine Rae won Australia’s version of the CMA Artist of the Year Award: CMC Oz Artist Of The Year. “Other winners on the night included Australian country music legend James Blundell who entered the CMC Hall of Fame, and Peter McWhirter named CMC New Oz Artist of the Year. Keith Urban won two awards after [...]
-
AKUS Records Music for The Simpsons; Video of Randy Travis’ Arrest Released; Dehlia Low to Take Hiatus
Alison Krauss and Union Station recorded some music that’ll play on Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons. Songwriter Danny Morrison passed away on Tuesday. Jim Caligiuri caught a three-hour Chris Isaak show in Austin: With a new backdrop simulating Sun Studios, Isaak concentrated on his latest album, Beyond the Sun, a collection of songs that were [...]
-
Grammy Winners; Jason Eady Releases Track Listing for AM Country Heaven; New Music Videos
The Civil Wars, Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Levon Helm, and Alison Krauss & Union Station took home Grammy Awards last night. The entire list of winners is here. Is country music being pushed out of the Grammy spotlight? The late Whitney Houston’s cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” remains one of the [...]
-
The Grammy Problem
Give it to Bon Iver – or rather Justin Vernon, who anchors the atmospheric songscapers. When the big-time network TV folks decided to come up with a way to stage his kind of “obscure music” to the bing-bang-boom conditioned viewership, he balked. If his songs were good enough to help his loose coalition of players [...]
-
Loretta Lynn and Bret Michaels Duet; Bonnie Raitt Covers Gerry Rafferty; Dwight Yoakam Added to Country Thunder Lineup
An excerpt from Chet Flippo’s newest Nashville Skyline column: Mainstream acceptance results in a neutered music that is totally compromised. Being co-opted killed rock music, just as mainstream country radio forces country music’s creators and artists to fit into its parameters — or, else, broad commercial absorption further narrows the music into a certain mold. Hunter [...]
-
New Johnny Cash Releases Due Out in Spring; Rodney Atkins Cleared of Domestic Assault Charge; Merle Haggard Back in Action
After battling pneumonia last month, Merle Haggard plans to get back on the road starting February 28. From the press release: “I’m feeling good and ready to get back on the bus. Thanks to all for their powerful prayers that led to my speedy recovery. I’m rehearsing with the band and looking forward to playin’ [...]
-
Keith Urban Plans Post-Surgery Return to Performing; Decemberists to Release Live Album; Song of the Mountains Needs Help
Here is live video of The Civil Wars performing their song “Safe and Sound” with Taylor Swift at the Ryman. Dave Paulson of the Tennessean reviewed the show. The GAC blog has a brief post about young country singer Thomas Rhett, the son of Rhett Akins. His debut single, “Something to Do with My Hands,” [...]
-
Country Album Sales Increase in 2011; New Music From Emily West; Stream The Little Willies’ New Album
Stream For the Good Times, the upcoming album from The Little Willies, over at NPR’s music blog. Journey and Rascal Flatts are rumored to be doing a CMT Crossroads together in February. Bluegrass banjo player Shorty Eager passed away. He had played with Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys and several other bluegrass groups. Peter Cooper [...]
-
Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars Join Forces; Dolly: The Musical; New Music Videos
Our posting schedule this week will be a little spotty, but we’ll be back with guns fully blazing on January 2. Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars have teamed up to record a song from the upcoming Hunger Games soundtrack. “Safe & Sound” was co-written by Swift, the duo and T-Bone Burnett. You can listen [...]
Continue reading "Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars Join Forces; Dolly: The Musical; New Music Videos"
Current Discussion
- Jack Williams: Speaking of Chris Smither, he did a nice version of Visions of Johanna. Other favorites: Neville Brothers - The Ballad of Hollis ...
- Leeann Ward: I think benefit concerts and telethons are great and needed, but I'm also impressed by Underwood's generous donation.
- Arlene: Ummm? "For impact, nothing surpasses The Byrd's cover of "Mr. Tamborine Man?"" How about Peter, Paul and Mary singing "Blowin' ...
- Jon: Interesting that folks are falling all over themselves to talk up Toby Keith's prospective benefit for Oklahoma tornado victims, while ...
- Luckyoldsun: For Dylan covers with impact, nothing surpasses the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man." As far as obscure ones, I happened to like ...
- Leeann Ward: Happy to see the Randy Travis and Sara Jarosz covers, but another fave is Rodney Crowell/Emmylou Harris, "Shelter from the ...
- Luckyoldsun: "Among duos, 'Cruise' surpasses Carl Butler & Pearl's 11 weeks at No. 1 with "Don't Let Me "Cross Over" in ...
- Bruce: Good to read a Chestnut update. I liked Conan's comments about Swift's song. Kudo's for Toby's plans for Oklahoma. The ...
- Andrew: Ronnie Dunn has been saying on his Facebook page that he and Toby Keith are working on putting together a ...
- Daniel Mullins: Some other must-haves include Tony Rice's jazzy "Sweetheart Like You" (one of his performances on Me & My Guitar) http://www.amazon.com/Sweetheart-Like-You/dp/B005T4R5R8/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1369406119&s=dmusic&sr=1-19 Jerry Lee Lewis' ...
