The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will feature music from their 42 year career to Austin’s Riverside Arena stage at 9:15 p.m. Friday, July 18. D.C. Drifters & Friends opens the show.
The San Jose Mecury News has a nice piece on David Andersen who plays his 15-year-old Epiphone and greets tourists from around the world in the atrium of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Earl Scruggs said of Andersen “I love your pickin,’ son.”
Nashville Skyline’s always excellent Chet Flippo has good things to say about Randy Travis’ upcoming release “Around the Bend (July 15)
For all you with laptop country music asperations Beta Monkey Music has released “Pure Country I: Rocking Nashville†a new set of drum loops targeted to Country music musicians. The loops come in many formats, including Apple Loops, which are compatible with GarageBand and Logic. Just bring a real drummer when you hit the road, folks.
There still seems to be some confusion why Tim McGraw dragged Marcus Nirschl 30, a union glazer from Kent, Wash. on stage at a Washington State performance and then had him thrown out of the show. There have been allegations the man assaulted a woman who was in one of the front rows but the YouTube video of the incident is inconclusive (Q: Does McGraw allways look so bored while on stage as he does in this clip?). The ejected fan says he’s still a fan of McGraw. “I still like the guy,” Nirschl said. “The music’s still great. I just don’t know why he wanted to punch me.”
Our thoughts go out to Elizabeth Cook on the passing of her mother. Cook has used her MySpace Blog to share her feelings uduring these rough times.
Del McCoury’s new release, Moneyland (7/8), wants to raise awareness of serious economic issues facing Americans today through a thoughtful selection of six new (or newly recorded) songs, mixed with eight neglected gems and classic favorites that offer a hard-hitting look at today’s economic injustice. In addition to songs from the Del McCoury Band, the album features songs from Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Hornsby along with the Fairfield Four, Chris Knight and others.
The Dallas Morning News’ Mario Tarradell opines on the mixed success of several pop country crossovers.
PopMatters.com really digs Alejandro Escovedo’s new release “Real Animal” (Back Porch). They also dig (though a tad less so) a newly discovered treasure for me Slim Cessna’s Auto Club’s “Cipher” (Alternative Tentacles)
Kathy Mattea performed at the Roseburg’s Stewart Park Music on the Half Shell summer free concert series.
From Country Hound – After an eight-year hiatus, Randy Travis is making his return to the Country Music industry with his new album, Around the Bend (7/15.)
