“Stunning” is the only way to put this. “A shot out of the dark” might be another. “Awesome” would be a third. But however you want to put it, “King” George Strait is back on country radio, and in a big way with his brand new single “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar.”
Some very big names, and some names to discover are included in the newest additions of the Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist. Fresh off her four wins at the Grammy Awards including for Album of the Year, Kacey Musgraves has released her first proper radio single from ‘Golden Hour’ in the form of “Rainbow.”
With little prospect for radio play, George Strait appears to just be doing what he wants to do on Honky Tonk Time Machine, which is traveling back in time to when country was country. “I’m really excited to have some new music coming out,” shares Strait. “It’s been about two years since I’ve released a record.”
It’s no April Fools Joke. Country music legend Loretta Lynn is gearing up to celebrate her 87th birthday this April 14th, and on April 1st, many of country music’s finest will be coming together to show tribute to the Coal Miners Daughter in a massive concert and birthday party at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
It’s both weird that fellow Texans and country legends Willie Nelson and George Strait have never collaborated together or even performed side by side in their illustrious careers, and yet it also makes perfect sense. But it was bound to happen eventually that the two would sing together.
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.
Beloved and influential country music songwriter Phil Thomas passed away Saturday, January 5th. With prominent songs recorded by artists such as Johnny Paycheck, George Strait, Randy Travis, Alabama, Barbara Mandrell, and more, his fingerprints are all over the sound and style of country from the late 70’s into the early 2000’s.
The release of the Rodeo Houston main stage lineup is always a highly-anticipated event in Texas and beyond, and this year Oklahoma’s Turnpike Troubadours have earned an opportunity to play on arguably the biggest stage in Texas, and native Texan Kacey Musgraves has been selected to open the rodeo in 2019.
2019 is here ladies and gentlemen, and soon your ears will have a fresh new bounty of new releases in the country, roots, and Americana world to feast upon. In such a crowded landscape and with so many releases to choose from, having a road map certainly helps. So in that spirit, here are Saving Country Music’s top picks.
George Strait has an album of new music on the way for the first time in four years, and it will be called Honky Tonk Time Machine. This was the country legend’s pronouncement from the stage of the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas this weekend as he played a round of residency shows.
Like Ralphie from ‘The Christmas Story’ waiting for his Little Orphan Annie secret decoder pin to arrive in the mailbox, we’ve been dutifully checking our email inboxes and social media feeds for any news on new music coming down the pike from the King of Country Music himself, George Strait.
The brand new, $540 million-dollar arena started in November 2017 is said to have a seating capacity of 14,000, and though the area will be used for sporting events and other functions, Matt Homan, president and general manager of the venue, called it the “first concert announcement at Dickie’s Arena.”
Blackbird Presents is at it again planning another huge tribute for a country legend, and this one might be the biggest of them all. Often working with Willie Nelson via tributes to others, as well as his multi-city “Outlaw Fest” tours each summer, now Blackbird Presents is putting together a tribute for Willie himself.
Long time George Strait drummer and member of the Ace in the Hole Band Mike Kennedy died in an automobile accident on Interstate 40 Friday afternoon (8-31) in Lebanon, Tennessee. Many in the country music community are morning the loss of one of the most beloved backline players in the business, including George Strait.
Long-time drummer for George Strait and proud member of the Ace in the Hole Band Mike Kennedy was killed in a car wreck in Tennessee on Friday afternoon, August 31st according to numerous reports. The wreck happened on Interstate 40 in Wilson County, just east of Nashville. He was 59-years-old.
“Meant To Be” recently helped Florida Georgia Line shatter what once was thought a bulletproof record—George Strait’s cumulative frames for songs cresting a week at #1. With a whopping 45 total #1’s spanning over a quarter century in the business, there’s a reason Strait earned the nickname “King” George over his Hall of Fame career.
“King” George Strait can now add yet another accolade to his long list of accomplishments in his storied, Hall of Fame career. According to the Texas Legislative Conference, which is a non-partisan annual forum on Texas public policy, George Strait is the Texan of the Year for 2018. But it’s not for his music, and least not directly.
On Thursday, May 18th, George Strait will be officially recognized by the Texas State Legislature as the 2017 State Musician of the Year for Texas. George, along with other candidates, were nominated for the distinction by the general public, and then sent to the Texas Commission on the Arts, which decides the final recipient.
Songwriter and performer Dean Dillon has more skins on the wall than Kodiak Jack, and just his handlebar mustache is more manly than all the moronic Bro-Country songwriters on Music Row lumped together and tied in a bundle. Your favorite George Strait songs? There’s a good chance they were written by Dean Dillon.
Alan Jackson is the new “Modern Era” inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. One of the biggest superstars in country music history, and one of the genre’s most uncompromising supporters of the traditional roots of the music, Alan Jackson deserves the Country Music Hall of Fame distinction as much as anyone from the modern era.
In a recent interview with Kacey Musgraves ahead of her opening for George Strait in Las Vegas, Strait said “Tennessee Whiskey” was one of the songs he most regrets punting on when it was first pitched to him early in his career. “Dean pitched me to that in the 80’s … and I missed it,” George Strait says.
You can put any concerns away that the historic Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, TX will either be razed or turned into a Karaoke Bar anytime soon. Randy Rogers of The Randy Rogers Band has purchased the property from the heirs of the founder and owner of the building, Kent Finlay, who passed away in 2015.
Country protest songs are a dime a dozen these days, and in many cases have become just about as cliche as the pop country songs they criticize. It really takes a fresh angle or a unique twist to make a protest song resonate beyond the anger many folks have at the direction of today’s country music, and that is what Jamey Johnson and George Strait have done.
Strait played his first show at Gruene Hall on Saturday, February 21st, 1976—five years before releasing his first record, and only a few months removed from being honorably discharged from the Army. For his first gig, they charged $0.25 at the door, and according to Strait from the Gruene Hall stage Wednesday night, he made $7.00 total.