Category Archives: Articles

News Round Up: Kris Kristofferson Presented With BMI Icon Award

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  • Rosanne Cash talks to the Wall Street Journal about her new release, The List, and joins George Jones by stating her views on the homogenization of mainstream country radio.
  • The Who’s Roger Daltrey says Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium is the “That’s the best bloody place for a musician to play in the whole —— world.” You get one guess what goes where the lines are but this is a quite as it appears over at Country Standard Time.
  • Kris Kristofferson was presented with the BMI Icon award Tuesday evening and watched while Vince Gill, Patty Griffin and Willie Nelson performed some of his best-loved compositions.  “Why Me,” “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” and “Me and Bobby McGee.”
  • Geoff Muldaur recently sat down with the New York Times’ Ben Sisario to discuss the extraordinary group of musicians who came together to form the Texas Sheiks. The Texas Sheiks includes the late Stephen Bruton (Kris
    Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, and T-Bone Burnett) who did not live
    to see the album released, blues singer Johnny Nicholas (Big Walter Horton and Robert Jr. Lockwood, Asleep at the Wheel), Cindy Cashdollar ( Levon Helm, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Paul Butterfield), Suzy Thompson ( Dave Alvin and Alice Gerrard).  Bruce Hughes (Jason Mraz, Bob Schneider)

News Round Up: Country for Our Country Supports the Troops

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  • The Country for Our Country benefit concert will occur  in Tyler, Texas this Saturday night (10/24). The event will celebrate the troops and benefit wounded soldiers by providing them with counseling and support during a difficult transitional period in their lives. The benefit will feature performances by Joe Nichols, Heidi Newfield, Derek Sholl, and Kacey Musgraves and The Big D & Bubba Show will emcee the event.
  • Check out Ryan Bingham’s new video for his song Country Roads.
  • Paste magazine’s Andy Whitman gives his view of the landscape of country (really Americana) music of the aughts (’00.)
  • Find Lighten’ (the opposum) over at georgejones.com and get entered to win prizes like: Cracker Barrel Gift Cards, Autographed CD’s, and concert tickets.

News Round Up: Terry Allen Discusses Influences

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  • Legendary Texas singer/songwriter Terry Allen talks to the Austin Chronicle’s Robert Faries about his colorful life that led to his skill as a storyteller and his  new solo play, Dugout III, written and directed by Allen playing at Austin’s State Theater.
  • The New York Times‘ Charles McGrath interviewed bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley before a recent performance at Carnegie Hall with Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. My favorite line from the interview:  “It used to be said that when you heard a Ralph Stanley tune, you either wanted to get drunk or go to church and get saved.” Dr. Stanley’s autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times, will be released tomorrow.
new solo play, Dugout III, written and directed by Allen playing at Austin’s Sate Theater.

News Round Up:The Flatlanders and Dave Alvin Hit The Rails

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  • The Los Angeles Times features a cool story on the Roots on Rails travel program organized by the Vermont-based Flying Under Radar travel service. This feature focuses on a train ride through the Southwest presenting Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock (AKA The Flatlanders) and Dave Alvin. Guests pay to travel with the artists and intimate performance occur in the dining car. It’s like a house concert on tracks. Other Roots on Rails trips have featured Tom Russell, Terry Allen, Stan Ridgway, Jill Sobule, the Handsome Family and many others.
  • Tom Russell will be performing on the David Letterman Show this Thursday October 1st. Russell is currently supporting his excellent new release Blood and Candle Smoke.
  • PopMatters.com sits down for a Q&A with Merle Haggard.  The Hag discusses his recent lung cancer surgery, how he chooses set lists from his vast catalog, and makes his case for being the “great arbitrator.”
  • If you buy Robert Earl Keen’s new Lost Highway Records debut The Rose Hotel at select stores you will also receive a free Lost Highway’s limited, T for Texas, T from Tennessee music sampler. This freebie will include music from Lyle Lovett, Ryan Bingham, Black Joe Lewis, Hayes Carll & more.
  • We all know Courtney Love is nuts. Now she’s going nuts on Ryan Adams claiming that he stole $858,000 of daughter Frances Bean Cobain’s money to fund his 2003 album Rock n Roll. I would be pissed too if I had bankrolled that piece of crap.

No Depression Releases Online Archive

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  • Just in time for their return to the stage the Minneapolis-based Jayhawks Music From the North Country: The Jayhawks Anthology, their first ever compilation reflecting 20 signature songs and album tracks that span from their 1989 debut, Blue Earth, to 2003’s Rainy Day Music, is released today on American/Legacy Recordings.Reda a blogcrtics review of the album here.
  • Texas music legend George Strait will release his new album Twang (great name!) in stores and online August 11th. Out Of Sight Out Of Mind and Living For The Night were co-written by George’s son Bubba and Arkansas Dave was solely by Bubba. The title song and I Gotta Get To You is co-written by Americana legend Jim Lauderdale.
  • HearYa.com reviews Texas musician Scott H. Biram’s latest Bloodshot Records release Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever.
  • Remember that old article on the Bottle Rockets you saw in No Depression years ago? Now where do you put that darn thing? No need to fret, NoDepression.com has released their full archives online for your reading pleasure.

Chet Flippo Takes on the Real Country Music Debate

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Chet Flippo at CMT’s Nashville Skyline takes to task “magazine writers, bloggers and professors” who dare to broadly or narrowly define what “Real Country Music” is. Since I am one of these offenders that have tilted at the country music bona fides windmills on many occasions, hell it’s threason this blog exists at all,  I have come to define real country music in the way that Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart  was asked to define porn  – “I know it when I see it.”

KBSO 94.7 Badlands FM Returns to Texas Music

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  • After more than a two-year absence KBSO 94.7 Badlands FM in the Corpus Christi area is switching from it’s current Tejano music format back to to a Texas, Red Dirt and Americana music format. Texas music fan and postal employee “Bobby” “My love of Texas music developed after I bought the High Chaparral dance hall in Robstown about five years ago,” said the 47-year-old, originally from Sinton. Larma states:  “When Texas music went off the air, it was heartbreaking. They were actually building band recognition. We aim to do that again.”purchased the station from retiring long-time station owner Manuel Davila. “My love of Texas music developed after I bought the High Chaparral dance hall in Robstown about five years ago,” said the 47-year-old, originally from Sinton. “When Texas music went off the air, it was heartbreaking. They were actually building band recognition. We aim to do that again.” (Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
  • Several events at this week’s SXSW will pay tribute to Texas great Doug Sahm, next week (March 24) co-producers Bill Bentley, Shawn Sahm and David Katznelson will release Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm. (via 9513.com)
  • In her always excellent Torch & Twang series over at PopMatters.com Juli Thanki surveys the colorful, and largely forgotten, career of “America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band,” Maddox Brothers and Rose.

Here’s a YouTube treat I came across. Townes Van Zandt plays The Hole on the Solo Sessions Austin Music Network – January 17th, 1995.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8XHFRsze1o[/youtube]

Americana at SXSW

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  • JamBase contributor Martin Halo  sat down with Drive By Truckers‘ front man Patterson Hood on December 29th. Aat the meeting Hood confirmed that the band would be re-entering the studio, on January 5, to begin work on the next DBT release.

Drive By Truckers – Perfect Timing

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLUDnXEWvpw[/youtube]

Patty Loveless and Jim Lauderdale and Friends at New York’s Allen Room

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The New York Times reviews Patty Loveless’ performance at the Allen Room, where she appeared as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. Among her older songs Loveless covered cuts off “Sleepless Nights” (Saguaro Road), her newest release of country classics from the 1950s and ’60s, many written and recorded by George Jones.

The New York Times also reviewed a performance at the Allen Room of Jim Lauderdale, Catherine Russell and members of the folk-gospel quintet Ollabelle  Fiona McBain and Amy Helm (daughter of Levon) and others performing a live interpretation of the Grateful Dead’s alt.country classics “American Beauty and “Workingman’s Dead.”

Happy Birthday Ray Price!

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  • Cybergrass has a nice post on the Grammy nominated soul-bluegrass (soul-grass?)  band The Steeldrivers.
  • As part of a settlement of a legal battle Mother Maybelle Carter’s 1928 Gibson L-5 acoustic guitar, along with Bill Monroe’s F-5 mandolin and two of Johnny Cash’s guitars will continue to be displayed in the Country Music Hall of Fame. (Kingport Times News)
  • Happy Birthday to Country Music Hall of Fame Member, Texas Country Music Hall of Fame Member, and Grammy Award Winner Ray Price. Born Noble Ray Price in Perryville, Texas, on January 12, 1926, the country music will be honored at a reception from 11am until 1pm on his 83rd birthday, Monday, January 12. (via stillisstillmoving.com)

Ray Price Willie Nelson Merle Haggard – Night Life

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD9WuHtq7U8[/youtube]