Category Archives: In memoriam

Poodies Locke Tributes, Jeff Tweedy Sued

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  • Jay Bennett, a former Wilco member, is suing band leader Jeff Tweedy in Cook County Circuit Court, claiming Tweedy owes him money from the band’s 2002 documentary and royalties on songs written during Bennett’s seven years with the group.

William Elliott Whitmore made a stop on the Jools Holland Show in England to perform Old Devils.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJXa19w3W4[/youtube]

Country Singer Vern “The Voice” Gosdin Dies

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  • Singer Vern Gosdin, who recorded country music hits like the award-winning “Chiseled in Stone” during a 30-year career, has died. He was 74. Gosdin reportedly had a history of strokes and suffered the latest one a few weeks ago and was under hospice care and died late Tuesday at a Nashville, Tenn. hospital. The 9513.com offers a fine tribute to the man.
  • Birthday Boy Willie Nelson will join relative young’uns Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp on a U.S. summer tour of minor league baseball parks, beginning July 2 at the GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., and wrapping Aug. 15 at the Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, Calif.
  • The San Francisco Chronicle has posted a review of the John Prine / John Ritter  Apr 25th Warfield performance.
  • And in painful crossover news Def Leppard has been confirmed to perform on the CMT Music Awards on June 16. The Britsh pop-metal has-beens…er…band have recently been involved in the Music Row marketering wet dream collaborations with Tim McGraw earlier this year on the song “Nine Lives” and appearing with Taylor Swift on CMT Crossroads. What’s next? Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach doing coutry music…oh wait…

RIP Duane Jarvis

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Los Angeles roots music stalwart  Duane Jarvis,whose lead guitar work landed along side musicians like Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams, John Prine, Michelle Shocked and others when he wasn’t recording and touring as a respected singer-songwriter in his own right, died at his home in Marina del Rey 1:30 a.m. On Wednesday after a long bout with colon cancer. He was 51.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f24bTT4mJdo[/youtube]

Folklorist Archie Green Dies

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Archie Green, a former shipwright and carpenter turned folklorist who energetically promoted the idea of public folklore — that is, that folklorists should work outside the academy to gather, preserve and publicize local cultures through government agencies, museums, folk festivals and radio stations. His signal achievement in this area was the lonely lobbying campaign he conducted for nearly six years to create the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, which became a reality when Congress, by a unanimous vote, passed the American Folklife Preservation Act, signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford in January 1976. Archie Green was 91 when he died of kidney and heart failure March 22 at his San Francisco home.

Neal McCoy, Linda Davis and Michael Martin Murphey are 2009 Texas Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

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  • Billboard.com posts on the South-By-Southwest tribute to Texas music legend Doug Sahm which featured performances by Jimmie Vaughan, the Gourds, Dave Alvin and Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles, Los Lobos, Delbert McClinton, Charlie Sexton, Little Willie G, Terry Allen and a collaboration between Joe “King” Carrasco and the Texas Tornados.
  • Two native East Texans are among three country music artists destined for the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. Jacksonville native-turned-Longview resident Neal McCoy will join Panola County native Linda Davis and western singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey as 2009 inductees into the hall of fame. The hall of fame show is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame facility, 300 W. Panola St. in Carthage.
  • From Country Standard Time:  Willie Nelson has postponed six tour dates due to illness, according to his web site. The illness was not specified.  Postponed dates were March 17 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.; March 18 in Melbourne, Fla., March 19 in Panama City, Fla., March 20 in Choctaw, Miss., March 21 in Marksville, La. and March 22 in Springdale, Ark.
  • Famed moonshiner Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton died at the age of 61 at the his Parrotsville, Tennessee home. He allegedly committed suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide in an old Ford Fairlane he kept in a barn on his property  a few days before serving an 18-month sentence in Federal Prison for illegally brewing spirits and possessing a firearm as a felon. Read Johnny Knoxville’s fitting post here.

Country Music Legend Hank Locklin Passes

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  • Hank Locklin , Country legend, Grand Ole Opry member, pioneer of the country music concept album and “Nashville Sound,” and one of the greatest tenor singers in country music history, died Sunday in Brewton, Ala. His greatest hits included Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On in 1958 and Please Help Me I’m Falling in 1960.  Mr. Locklin had recently released his 65th album, By the Grace of God. He was 91.
  • I knew that country music fans were old school in thier aesthetic preferences but was surprised by the Country Music Association study which found that “countryphiles (18–54 year old passionate fans who appreciate country music and are fervent consumers of CDs, radio, television and concerts) are purchasing few digital downloads and, by extension, only half of country music’s biggest fans have home Internet access. I haven’t seen the details of these findings but it might explain why the top chart sellers are country music artists (well, Taylor Swift anyway.) It’ll be interesting to see what decisions will be made by the CMA because of these findings. Here’s to the return of local Jamborees!
  • Though I’ve decided to not review Middle Cyclone,  the new indy-pop release Neko Case the folks at Hearya.com do and they like what they hear.
  • Juli Thanki over at the always entertaining 9513.com reviews Written in Chalk, the new release by Buddy and Julie Miller (which I will be reviewing.)

“Sweet Dreams” Celibrates Patsy Cline

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  • Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member Ray Price will visit Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum this Saturday, March 7. The velvet voiced balladeer is leaving his Texas home to share personal recollections of his close friend and mentor, Hank Williams, as part of an intimate interview that will get under way at 1:30 p.m. in the museum’s 213-seat Ford Theater.
  • Speaking of Nashville, Justin Townes Earle stopped by Grimey’s New and Pre-Loved Music on Thursday (Feb. 26) to preview songs from his sophomore release Midnight at the Movies which was released Tuesday (March 3.)  Check out cuts from Midnight at the Movies on Justin Townes Earle’s MySpace page.
  • Washington State female artists  Rachel Flotard, Kim Virant, Star Anna, Kristen Ward and Victoria Wimer Contreras will pay tribute to Patsy Cline with a “Sweet Dreams” concert at Seattle’s  Columbia City Theater tonight on this 46th anniversary of her death. “Sweet Dreams” concert at 8 p.m. tonight at the Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Ave. S. (Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at brownpapertickets.com. Information: 206-723-0088 and columbiacitytheater.com.) legendary Nashville print shop, Hatch Show Prints, that made original concert posters for Cline, Johnny Cash and others, has created a poster for the show using the original block from a poster made for Cline’s 1973 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Copies, available at the concert, are $10 each.

Patsy Cline – Walkin’ After Midnight

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkkM7K6smQA[/youtube]

Happy Birthday Johnny Cash

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I love songs about horses, railroads, land, Judgment Day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And Mother. And God. – Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash would have been 76 today. Nobody did more to usher country music from the turbulent late 50’s and 60’s, when rock and roll was eclipsing the music that had come before, then the Man in Black. He influenced the next generation of talent Dylan, Neil Young,  Joni Mitchell,and was open and humble enough to be influenced by them. Many he featured on his television show, many times to the displeasure of the ABC honchos. He did it because he saw in them a piece of himself…storytellers of the human condition scribing the dark and the light.

Johnny Cash died less than four months after his wife, June Carter, on September 12, 2003. He is buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash- I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZER0n2UadI[/youtube]

JD Wilkes Side Project – The Dirt Daubers

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Jessica Cassyle Carr at Alibi.com holds a Q&A with Denver based former 16 Horsepower frontman and current Gothic Americana singer/songwriter David Eugene (aka Wovenhand.)

The Arizona Daily Star gives us a peak at the A-list alt.country artist packed tribute album for the Hacienda Brothers leader Chris Gaffney. Joe Ely, Los Lobos, Dave Alvin, Tom Russell, James McMurtry, Robbie Fulks, John Doe, Dave Gonzales and members Calexico and more  appear. The Hacienda Brothers‘ final album, “Arizona Motel,” came out last June, two months after Gaffney’s death.

I’m a huge fan of the Psychobilly/Gothic sideshow that is Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers so I was pleased that LeighAbsinthia over at the Hank III cussin’ board brought to my attention JD Wilkes roots music side project, along with his wife Layne Hendrickson. Ladies and gentleman I bring you The Dirt Daubers.

The Dirt Daubers – “Sugar Baby”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFVy9R3UsCA[/youtube]