As we look back on 2022 and before we look forward to 2023, it’s important we take the time to pay tribute to the important individuals in country music who left us over the last year, and who left a mark on the country and roots music world that will never fade. 2022 saw some absolute titans of the music leave us.
Before you can write it, you first have to live it. And Dallas Frazier lived many lives in his lifetime, putting it all in song along the way, and amassing one of the most legendary song catalogs in country music history, while also enjoying moments as a singer and a performer.
Bold, confident, and clear-eyed, with a voice as striking as it was when she first broke onto the scene in the 60’s, Connie Smith puts her superior and apparently timeless talents to work on eleven songs on her first album in 10 years.
There is only one artist in this history of country music whose singing is so revered, he’s referred to simply as “The Voice.” But the career of Vern Gosdin also may contain one of the most sinister secrets in the history of country music. Did Vern Gosdin really contract two men to murder?
Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member Connie Smith is getting ready to release her first new record in a decade, and one thing is for sure, it’ll be country. Called The Cry of the Heart, once again her husband Marty Stuart will be the producer.
Every once in a while a song comes along that so transfixes people, it becomes part of their DNA henceforth. You remember the first time you heard it. You travel back to that time and place when you first heard it when you hear it again. “Elvira” by the Oak Ridge Boys is one of those songs.
While Nashville country was awash in strings and suffering under the oppressive thumb of producers such as Chet Atkins and Billy Sherrill, the dim lights, thick smoke, and loud loud music of The Bakersfield Sound was keeping boots shuffling and country twangy. Unheard Merle Haggard tracks and other rarities are included in new box set.
A legend of country music songwriting, and one that put the painful experience of divorce into words and song like none other has gone to the great honky tonk in the sky. Sanger D. Shafer, known popularly as Whitey Shafer, passed away on Saturday, January 12th according to reports.
Courtney Granger delivers a surprising, touching, well-rounded, and frankly stunning performance of classic country tunes made anew by the power and passion behind his voice. Courtney Granger is Cajun music royalty. The grandnephew of the formidable Balfa Brothers, Courtney grew up surrounded by the music of Southern Louisiana, and currently performs in the Pine Leaf Boys.