Newest Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#116)
13 CommentsThe Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats, or you can just use the song, artist, and album recommendations.
Saving Country Music’s 2010 Album(s) of The Year
40 CommentsAs I said in the nominations, all four albums could have won on any given year, and simply by the strength of the 2010 field, they each were unfairly pitted against each other. When all the dust settled, I was still left with two albums that were both masterpieces, both great examples of real country, both accessible and great ambassadors for the independent country movement…
Big Names Cash In On ‘Third For A Word’ Songwriting Rule
21 CommentsWhen music fans think about the art of songwriting, they usually want to have a romantic vision of the process–their favorite songwriters sitting down late at night in a dimly lit room, deep in the throes of passion and inspiration. Maybe a candle flickering above a blank piece of paper, with a glass of wine or whiskey to the side, and tears staining the page as they alleviate their heartache by bearing their soul in a song.
In truth, mainstream songwriting more resembles the unappealing aesthetics of industrial food production . . .
Judd Films To Film Muddy Roots, Don Maddox Added
6 CommentsThe buzz going into 2011’s Muddy Roots Festival is that this is going to be “the one” event that marks a major shift in the interest, support, and unity in underground roots. It is only appropriate then that Judd Films will be there to document it…One of the performers Judd Films will be there to capture will be 90-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer Don Maddox.
Album Review – Bob Wayne’s “Outlaw Carnie”
70 CommentsThe first thing you need to appreciate about Outlaw Carnie is that it is country. Forget that it’s on a metal label, and that Hank III’s name is being put out there for context. There’s no fusing of metal and country here. There’s no sludgy BC Rich or Flying V guitars, no screamo, cookie monster lyrics. There’s banjo, fiddle, dobro, upright bass, brushes on snare, if there’s any drums at all.
Hank Williams Movie “The Last Ride” Readies 2011 Release
60 CommentsA feature film named “The Last Ride” about the final days of Hank Williams has been completed and should be released later this year. The movie stars Henry Thomas, the main kid from ET that’s yells “Penis Breath!’ and was shot mostly in Benton, Arkansas with other parts shot at a gas station in Sherwood, AR. It is directed by Harry Thomason, an Arkansas native.
Trace Adkins Targets Your Kids w/ Sexualized Puppets
80 CommentsWhen I first roasted this song, a lot of people thought I’d gone too far. That I was tilting at windmills. That I was being some sort of ultra-moralist by pointing out the sexual nature of the song. Some thought it was a stretch to say it was targeted towards kids, and putting clips of children reciting an innocuous joke that had nothing to do with the actual song was a way for me to bend facts to fit my assertion.
Rachel Brooke Album News, Tour w/ Those Poor Bastards
22 CommentsRachel Brooke’s much-anticipated release Down In The Barnyard has been given an official release date of February 22nd. It can be pre-ordered now…A few songs from the new album will be debuted on Outlaw Radio tonight (1-26-11) on SCM LIVE at 8 PM Central, and later will be archived on episode 129 on the Outlaw Radio Page. There will also be a tribute to Charlie Louvin tonight at 6:30 Central…
RIP Charlie Louvin 1927-2011
29 CommentsCountry Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry Legend Charlie Louvin died at 1 AM early Wednesday morning according to his son Charlie “Sonny” Louvin Jr. Charlie had been battling pancreatic cancer. Earlier this month Charlie had been in the hospital for a urinary tract infection and dehydration. He was 83.
Charles Elzer Loudermilk was born in Henagar, AL in July of 1927.
The Deep Blues Festival LIVES!
7 CommentsThere are a few important events in the history of the music that led to the strong grassroots and sonic diversity that you can find linked together in the robust roots music underground. There was the revitalization of lower Broadway in Nashville in the 90’s, that meshed punk kids from all over the country in their appreciation for authentic country and blues. There was the formation of Fat Possum & Bloodshot Records. And there was the Deep Blues Festivals.
Interview w/ Darren of Farmageddon Records
16 CommentsAs anti-Nashville and neo-traditionalist music was finding support in a grassroots audience on MySpace, many new bands and artists were beginning to jump on this bandwagon. I had heard of some of these new bands before, but when I went onto this Section 08 MySpace site, that is when it dawned on me, that there was massive movement of music brewing that had not been there a few years before.
Sunday Valley Album Review & EPK
35 CommentsIt is not easy to capture the live energy a live band is known for in a recording, but To The Wind And On To Heaven does. I really wouldn’t characterize this project as “produced” or “slick” or “polished.” It is simply honest and fearless. And it is accessible. Listen, I know Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers or Those Poor Bastards are not for everyone, but when you hear Sunday Valley, you think, “Now THIS is what they should be playing on 98.1.”
Charlie Louvin, Bob Wayne, Lucky, More to Muddy Roots
46 CommentsThe Muddy Roots Festival happening this September 3rd & 4th in Cookeville, TN has just announced a new slew of names to their lineup, and they might be just as impressive as the initial list. Marquee names for me were the country music throwback and hillbilly royalty blood of Lucky Tubb and his Modern Day Troubadours, the Outlaw Carnie Bob Wayne, and the legendary Charlie Louvin.