Deep Blues Godfather Chris Johnson Has Died
10 CommentsBarbecue pit master, vinyl records enthusiast, festival founder, and all around important individual to help keeping a distinct dialect of American roots music alive, Chris Johnson, has died. The quintessential fan turned organizer, through his various ventures, Chris Johnson became…
Movie Review – “The Last Ride, A Story of Hank Williams”
13 Comments“The Last Ride” takes you on the ill-fated road trip beginning in Alabama, and ending in West Virginia where Hank Williams passed away on New Years Day, 1953. Though Hank’s name is never spoken in the movie, it’s taken as a given that you know who he is, and what fate awaits him. The relationship between the superstar on death’s door and the confused young man is the centerpiece of “The Last Ride.”
Charlie Rich “Burns” John Denver at the 1975 CMA Awards
75 CommentsThere may not be a more notorious moment in the annals of country music lore than when a drunk and disorderly Charlie Rich set fire to the piece of paper announcing John Denver as the Country Music Association “Entertainer of the Year” for 1975. For years the moment has set the high water mark for the rebuke of the pop world infiltrating country, but there was no public video of the incident.
Local Waylon Birthday Bashes Unite For Charitable Cause
7 CommentsThis year, the amount of local Waylon Birthday Bashes working to help The Waylon Fund has doubled, with 18 separate events in 9 different states set to transpire over a span of 10 days, including some multi-day events like the Waylon Jennings Festival in Whiteface, TX. Funds from the birthday bashes support research at TGen to find new treatments and hopefully a cure for the debilitating disease.
Saving Country Music 2013 CMT Awards LIVE Blog
53 CommentsSo normally we wouldn’t grace such a lowly presentation like the CMT Awards with our valuable attention. But the chatter over the last few weeks about what is set to transpire on the show hints of historic genre bending and cross-format collaborations that surely will be ripe for perspective, criticism, and roasting.
Why Criticize Bad Music?
35 CommentsInvariably this is the question brought up when Saving Country Music or any website or publication chooses to don its poison pen and stick it in the eye of a ne’er-do-well assaulting our eardrums with ghastly tripe. Many chide, “Why can’t we just focus on the good stuff?” Never mind that the web traffic to articles that are negative in nature tend to outpace the positive ones 3 to 1.
Megadeth’s “Bluegrass” Song “The Blackest Crow”
44 CommentsYes, if you needed any more evidence that the Mumfordization of music has reached every single God forsaken corner of popular music world, now Dave Mustaine and his heavy metal legacy band Megadeth are browsing through Guitar Center catalogs looking for “guitjos” and releasing a supposed “bluegrass-inspired” track on their latest album.
We love Hank! All of them. (The OTHER Hanks of Classic Country)
26 CommentsRadio station 93.5 KOOK and 1230 KERV in Kerrville, TX, managed by legendary DJ Big ‘G’ Gordon Ames has a radio promo done by Kinky Friedman that simply says, “We play Hank. All of them.” Yes, we all know about country music’s most famous family, but here are the other 5 Hank’s that helped establish the sound of country music (and didn’t actually have “Hank” as their legal first names either).
Grandson “Struggle” Turns Waylon Songs Into Rap
102 CommentsThe rapping grandson of Waylon Jennings, one Will “Young Struggle” Harness, or “Struggle” as he prefers to go by now has a new album out called I Am Struggle, that doesn’t just borrow heavily from Waylon’s catalog, it is downright built from it. 7 of the 9 tracks on the country rap record directly incorporate samples and structures of Waylon tunes in an unprecedented intrusion of rap into the country music format.
Eric Strickland Does It Again On “I’m Bad For You”
16 CommentsEric Strickland is Country with a capital ‘C’ and couldn’t make a bad album if he tried. He may be more locally-oriented than the other big names in honky tonk music, but gives up nothing to his more well-known comrades when it comes to cutting songs and records. Eric Strickland and The ‘B’ Sides are doing their part to save country music. Now it’s time to do your part by giving them your ear and attention.
The Mavericks “In Time” One of the Best of 2013
24 CommentsTake the West Coast country coolness of Dwight Yoakam, the haunting tremolo of Roy Orbison, the sweaty rhythms of Los Lobos, and what you get is Miami’s indescribable and enigmatic throwback old-school all-things-to-all-people house band for America known as The Mavericks. “In Time” might be the best album in their nearly 25-year history, and its one of the best put out so far in 2013.
No Distinction In Natalie Maines’ Anti-Country Comments
32 CommentsFormer Dixie Chick Natalie Maines has a knack for allowing her words to precede her. She left country after her quote about George W. Bush torpedoed the trio’s career, and ever since she’s been lobbing grenades back in country’s direction, including yet another in a new Rolling Stone article that represents her as “declaring war on Nashville.”
Sheryl Crow’s Country Move a Trojan Horse for Toilet Paper Stance
16 CommentsSources close to the Sheryl Crow camp have confided in Saving Country Music that part of Sheryl’s country move is politically motivated. Sheryl is a staunch environmentalist, and has championed specific issues over the years, most notably in 2007 when she advocated the use of only one square of toilet paper during restroom visits to conserve trees and increase global oxygen levels.