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Kitty Wells Passes Away; New Videos from Ray Wylie Hubbard and Nick 13; Album Releases
The legendary Kitty Wells passed away yesterday at the age of 92. These lengthy obituaries from the Washington Post, New York Times, Tennessean, MusicRow, NPR, and CMT.com are all worth reading. Bassist Bob Babbitt, who played on classics like Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia” and appeared on albums by Frank Sinatra, Elton [...]
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Eric Church’s Chief Goes Platinum; How Listeners Shape Music Evolution; Chatham County Line Video Premiere
Listen to “Getting’ Down on the Mountain,” a new Corb Lund song. Kathleen Edwards, Sara Watkins, and Trampled By Turtles made NPR’s listener-voted list of the year’s best albums to date. Phil Barton talks to American Songwriter about one of his co-writes, Lee Brice’s “A Woman Like You.” The song “was recorded the actual night [...]
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Music Exec Donna Hilley Passes Away; Trisha Yearwood’s Cooking Show Renewed for Second Season; Tift Merritt Signs with Yep Roc
Retired music executive Donna Hilley passed away yesterday: Ms. Hilley, born in Birmingham, Ala., worked at Nashville radio station WKDA and at a public relations firm before joining music publisher Tree in 1973. She became Tree’s vice president and chief operating officer in 1978 and arranged Tree’s sale to CBA (which later became Sony Music [...]
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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 [...]
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Doc Watson Passes Away; Randy Travis Files Countersuit Against Ex-Wife’s Management Company; New Joey + Rory Album Out 7/31
Doc Watson passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Here are obituaries from the New York Times, NPR, CMT, and Washington Post. Last week’s Golf & Guitars raised nearly $100,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Morton Golf Foundation, which brings the game to underprivileged and disabled communities in the Sacramento region. [...]
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CMT Awards Performers Announced; Rosanne Cash Narrates BBC Radio Program About Bobbie Gentry; Album Releases
Stream Willie Nelson’s new album, Heroes and the collection Jail House Bound: John Lomax’s First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933. The Infamous Stringdusters have announced the lineup for their shindig, The Festy. This year’s performers will include Trampled By Turtles, Della Mae, Tony Trischka Territory, The Steel Wheels, and more. Tickets for The Festy, which will [...]
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Eric Church Sounds Off in Rolling Stone; Free Music From Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires; Album Releases
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Eric Church slammed reality show singers and judges as well as the rock bands that played Lollapalooza with him. Miranda Lambert fired back on Twitter: Thanks Eric Church for saying I’m not a real artist. Or @kelly_clarkson, @carrieunderwood & @KeithUrban. Your welcome for the tour in 2010. And then [...]
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“Wagon Wheel” Goes Gold; Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson Return to the Studio; New Steep Canyon Rangers Video
Merle Haggard returned to play a show in Macon, where he was hospitalized with pneumonia and other health issues earlier this year: “I wound up here in the hospital several days with you. I forgot how many, they had me under some really good dope…Macon’s got the best dope in the hospital I’ve ever seen. [...]
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Keith Urban Invited to Become Opry Member; JD Crowe Announces Retirement; New Alan Jackson Album Drops June 5
Last night Vince Gill invited Keith Urban to become the newest member of the Opry. He’ll be formally inducted on April 21. On 4:20 p.m. on April 20, a statue of Willie Nelson will be unveiled in Austin. At the end of the year, J.D. Crowe will retire from performing. On June 5, Alan Jackson [...]
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Kellie Pickler Returns to American Idol; New Mary Chapin Carpenter and Hank Jr. Albums Due in June; Stream Mercyland Tracks
Stream four tracks by Buddy Miller, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Shawn Mullins, and Amy Stroup from the upcoming compilation Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us, due out April 24. Trampled By Turtles is the subject of a Paste feature which reveals that “were it not for the five members’ love of heavy guitars and high-octane [...]
Current Discussion
- Barry Mazor: The assumption that everybody would be signed if only they could be no longer is necessarily so..Given the relatively much ...
- Luckyoldsun: Can't say I necessarily know who is or isn't signed, but I have no knowledge that any of the following ...
- Occasional Hope: Is Patty Loveless free now, since she's implied she doesn't seem to have any plans to record again, but perhaps ...
- Arlene: Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison's current terrific album, Cheater's Game, was financed via Kickstarter. If they are still unsigned, they'd ...
- KC: My picks seem to be doing ok without a label, but I would sign them even if it was just ...
- 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 ...
