Breland is back, and collaborating closely with Keith Urban in the hopes of giving him some credibility in country’s mainstream. Jokes on him though, because Keith Urban has no credibility to lend. Don’t believe me, just recall when he accidentally won Entertainer of the Year in 2018.
Let’s be honest. Do we really need yet even more new versions of old country songs? But the wildcard here, and what makes this record worth turning your attention to is that you have the once-in-a-lifetime voice of the great Josh Turner gracing these classic songs.
Delightfully sloppy and disconnected, good to listen to during a drunk or hangover, and hard not to love, “And Gold” and Yellow Feather are a good little regional project that should be drawing ears from across a wider cross section of the country and roots world, and very well may if they can keep what’s cool at the heart of this music in tact
What is going on with Sturgill Simpson these days? That answer just became a lot harder to come by after the Grammy-winning singer and performer wiped his social media feeds somewhere around Tuesday, October 24th. Not only is all his Twitter and Instagram content completely gone, so are the accounts themselves.
Over his career, Sonny James amassed 23 #1 songs, including a legendary streak where he received 16 consecutive #1’s between April of 1967 and September of 1971. James was a pioneer in crossing over from the country realm to pop, and his career was decorated with many firsts for a country artist. James was the first ever country music artist to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1957.
The idea of retiring from playing music seems like such a foreign notion on the surface. We like to think that artists make music because they have to—because it’s all they know and it’s in their blood. Some just happen to make money and get famous from it along the way. Quitting music would be like deciding to quit watching sunsets or eating ice cream with your family or something.
Finally one of the most under-appreciated, but wildly-influential lyricists in country music, one of country music’s forgotten Outlaw artists, and one of America’s most creative personalities is going to get his due on the silver screen. Shel Silverstein is slated to receive the biopic treatment in a film called A Boy Named Shel—a play on words of the song “A Boy Named Sue” made famous by Johnny Cash.