Category Archives: Television

Look Out! HBO Full-Length ‘Deadwood’ Trailer featuring Colter Wall

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Deadwood: The Movie

Deadwood fans are still cautiously giddy at the news of a full-length version of our favorite profanity-splattered Shakspereon western. Deadwood unceremoniously canceled on June 5, 2006 Fans were left with a fragmented and ponderous third season after creator and primary writer David Milch decided he wanted to work on the HBO surfer sap opera ‘John from Cincinnati.” (which was immediately canceled)

In the aftermath, Milch agreed to make a pair of two-hour television films, but HBO executives and the otherwise newly contracted actors at various times over the years put the odds of that happening as slim to none.

But good things come to hooplheads that wait and HBO announced a few weeks back that ‘Deadwood: The Movie’ was happening. This was backed up by W. Earle Brown, who plays Al Swearengen’s hang-dog muscle Dan Dority verified on Twitter that the movie was in post-production.

Then came an official announcement from HBO with a trailer. Canned peaches all around!

Today we get a full-length trailer (see below) trailer highlighting more of the excellent cast (Calamity Jane!) The trailer also treats us with the perfectly placed Colter Wall song ‘Sleeping on the Blacktop.” This is a nice treat though no surprise as Deadwood has always featured great roots music.

Wall’s song being included appears to have been taken him by surprise as he heard the news while working on his ranch. He responded on social media.

Though the news of a movie finally being released is cause for celebration it comes with the bittersweet revelation that David Milch is suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Deadwood: The Movie will premiere on HBO, May 31, 2019.

UPDATE>> Apparently Jason Isbell will have a cameo in the movie!

Colter Wall’s ‘Sleeping on the Blacktop” on his album “Imaginary Appalachia.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0WrXmhvXTA

Hear Gillian Welch & David Rawlings Perform “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings”

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Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings”

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings wrote “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” for the recent six-part Coen brothers anthology, The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs. If you watched the show you know the original song was sung by Tim Blake Nelson as Buster Scruggs alongside Willie Watson as “The Kid.” Today, Welch and Rawlings share a new version that they will perform at the 91st Academy Awards on 2/24.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings recently garnered a nomination for “Best Original Song” at the 2019 Academy Awards, for “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings.” their version of the song on Acony Records, which they sing in their own lonesome and timeless
style, invoking both the absurd fatalism of the show and their own penchant for a good yodel.

Welch and Rawlings said about their nomination: “We are eternally grateful to Ethan and Joel Coen for giving us the opportunity to write a cowboy duet between the living and the dead, and to Willie Watson and Tim Blake Nelson for bringing it to life.”

The pair confirmed they will perform the song on The Grand Ole Opry on February 16th as well as at the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday, February 24, 2019.

Welch revealed the story behind the song and working with the Coen Brothers in a recent Rolling Stone interview:

“They [The Coen Brothers] gave David and I the script, and they gave us the script of maybe two other of the shorts in the collection so we could gauge the darkness [laughs]… And then there was just a really basic conversation [with Joel Coen]. He was like, “Look, there’s the singing cowboy — he’s been around for a while. Now here comes the new guy. He’s cuter, he’s faster and he sings better. He’s just better. It’s the new model. He’s coming for him.”… Joel just said, “Here’s the specifics of it. They have to be able to sing it together. They have to be able to sing it once Tim has been shot and is dead and is floating up to heaven.”

Gillian also spoke to Variety about her and Rawlings’ process writing the song:
“It was a pretty straightforward thing: ‘Well, we need a song for when two singing cowboys gun it out, and then they have to do a duet with one of ‘em dead. You think you can do that?’ ‘Yeah, I think we can do that’”… “The more peculiar restraints you put upon a song, the more fun it is, so this was kind of a dream assignment,” Welch says. “And they didn’t tell us to do this, but if you’re writing a gunfight song between two singing cowboys, who wouldn’t love the opportunity to put some yodeling in?”

Buy the single “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” here.

Nikki Lane and Loretta Lynn Performs on CBS This Morning

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Nikki Lane and Loretta Lynn Perform on CBS This Morning

Honky-tonk chanteuse and entrepreneur Nikki Lane has been making the rounds on television as of late to promote her excellent third release, ‘Highway Queen.’ On a stop with a special Saturday CBS This Morning the South Carolinian performed with one of her heroes; the First Lady of Country Music, Loretta Lynn. The two are uncanny mirror images across time, country music and a couch at Lynn’s Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, ranch, with a sleeping dog between them as they perform Lynn’s Number One “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind).”

Lynn explains the pairs unique chemistry.

“I felt like we always knew each other,” Lynn says, adding that they might have met in a previous life.

In addition to singing with Lynn, Lane also performed her songs “Jackpot” and “Send the Sun.” Watch those below.

Lane is back on tour in Europe through June. She then returns to the U.S. for the Newport Folk Festival and Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival. Lynn’s new release ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great’ will be released on August 18th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr-AKwYbj7o&t=60s

http://youtu.be/iteIiF5uKQU

https://youtu.be/yJR161GAYKE

https://youtu.be/Gr-AKwYbj7o

Watch Out! Nikki Lane Performs “Jackpot” on Conan 4/26/17

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Nikki Lane Performs "Jackpot" on Conan

Last night Nikki Lane treated the Conan O’Brien audience to a rousing rendition of her cut “Jackpot.” Bedecked in her spectacular Nudie suit finest Lane leads her crackerjack band through the jumped-up shuffle clearly leaving the audience wanting more.

Lane graced the same stage just over a month backing up the Old 97s on their song “Good With God.” The album cut of the song originally featured Brandi Carlile.

“Jackpot” is from Nikki Lane’s third album ‘Highway Queen.’ – order here.

Lane is staying busy as she will also make an appearance on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” this Friday, April 28th. Additionally, this week’s CBS This Morning Saturday airing will feature Lane and her band performing two tracks from Highway Queen at Loretta Lynn’s historic home in Hurricane Mills (Check Local Listings). Loretta Lynn joins Lane for a very special duet of her 1966 hit song “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind),” of which Lynn has recorded a new version for her upcoming album ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great.

Lane will also perform at this year’s Stagecoach Festival on Saturday, April 29th.

Watch Out! Lillie Mae “Over The Hill And Through The Woods” and “To Go Wrong” on Conan 4/13/17

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Lillie Mae “Over The Hill And Through The Woods" and “To Go Wrong” on Conan

Lillie Mae made her solo national television debut last night on the Conan O’Brien show. She and her band, featuring her brother on guitar and sister on backup vocals, tear through a spirited version of “Over The Hill And Through The Woods.”

Mae also took the time to record a separate a stripped down performance of “To Go Wrong.”

See both below.

Both tracks can be found on Lillie Mae’s solo debut, ‘Forever and Then Some.’ (out today)

Watch Out! Ryan Adams Revisits “Oh My Sweet Carolina” on Colbert

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Ryan Adams Revisits “Oh My Sweet Carolina”

Ryan Adams took time away from his classic rock persona to revisit his earlier incarnation of roots-rocker. Taking to the Late Night stage in an intimate setting Adams turned the focus toward his 2000 solo classic debut ‘Heartbreaker.’

Adams was joined by Infamous Stringdusters and Nicki Bluhm, sitting in for Emmylou Harris, who provided harmony on the original.

Adams revisit is to shed light on the re-issue of ‘Heartbreaker,’ which had a deluxe version reissued earlier this year.

https://youtu.be/YgP1J34D8LA

Sturgill Simpson and Stephen Colbert Debuts Waffle House song, “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Knuckleheads.”

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Sturgill Simpson and Stephen Debuts Waffle House song, "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Knuckleheads."

Last night on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Stephen welcomed “Country star” Sturgill Simpson as his music guest. Much like the bit he did recently with Jason Isbell Colbert used the occasion to send up a bit of southern culture as he and Sturgill pitched an original song for Waffle House, or as Sturgill refers to it “The Awful Waffle,” to include in their jukebox. The twangy cut is titled “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Knuckleheads,” and after they sing it, Colbert points to the camera and says, “Waffle House, do the right thing.”

Sturgill later performed a rousing “Brace for Impact (Live a Little)” from his new album ‘A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.’

Watch it all below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz7cBnlhhG4

Watch Out! Jason Isbell’s Funny Infomercial For “The Saddest Song Ever”

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Jason Isbell Releases The Saddest Song Ever

Americana and country music aren’t know for providing the world with the the lightest subjects in the music universe (Roger Miller and Todd Snider excluded). The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has underlined this truth by creating this fantastic infomercial with “alt.country troubadour” Jason Isbell, you know, from “music.”

Its a send up of common roots topes of “break-ups, addiction, fatal diseases” as Isbell, who’s currently experiencing one of the happiest periods of his like with career success, a happy marriage and a new baby, pitches “The Saddest Song Ever” — a list song of country clichés like “unemployment, the troops, reliable trucks done gone breakin’ down” and more tears-in-your-beer favorites.

But wait! That’s not all! “My new 180-minute, four-chord song also covers new cartoonishly tragic down-home scenarios that my fellow singer-songwriters are much too cowardly to tackle. Covering universal topics like “ailing family dogs” to “dying family dogs” to “a tragic cannon accident” to “Frankenstein attacks a preschool.” It gets worse as as Isbell informs us that the song is “available on triple-cassette and Tidal, the two saddest music formats known to mankind.”

The skit was most likely filmed when Isbell was the musical guest on the show a few weeks back.

Check out the clip below and have a laugh. And for any Music City A&R people that wonder by, yes this song is a joke and not a Blake Shelton pitch.

Watch Out: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Performs ‘If It Takes A Lifetime’ on The Late Show

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Jason Isbell - "The Late Show"

Stephen Colbert continues the Letterman legacy of supporting great roots music by inviting Grammy winner (so badass saying that) Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit took to the storied Tonight Show stage to perform a rowsing ‘If It Takes A Lifetime’ from our #1 choice of 2015 “Something More Than Free.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlBDlPPZBE8

In the technology is stupid department; An attentive viewing fan tweeted a screen cap (below) some discrepancies with the closed caption system and Isbell’s lyrics. I think I founf where they copied and pasted those alternate lyrics.

Screen Shot 2016-02-26 at 5.29.13 AM

Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover John Prine’s “In Spite of Ourselves”

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Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover John Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves"

The ‘The Muppets’ show too a wonderful rootsy turn the other night when Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover “In Spite of Ourselves” by John Prine. The song is the title cut from Prine’s 13th studio album released in 1999, and is a standout duet with Iris DeMent.

Kermet and his diva are having fun with the song, and to keep it clean for the kiddies some of the lyrics were changed.

Kermit swaps “She gets it on like the Easter Bunny” with “She makes a face when my jokes are funny” and Piggy combines the 4th and 5th verse and sings “He can’t dance but he still gets funky” instead of “He’s got more balls than a big brass monkey.”

In spite of all the cleaning up the song is still fun. And there’s a whole new generation introduced to Prine’s music. There’s nothing dirty about that.

Check out the Muppets and Prine and DeMent’s versions below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5axlwCBXC8