Though Dean Dillon has written songs for scores of artists, including Chris Stapleton, Gary Stewart, Vince Gill, Vern Gosdin, Lee Ann Womack, and so many others, it’s his partnership with George Strait that has gone on to become legendary, and is the undeniable impetus for putting him in the Hall of Fame.
With the recent death of John Prine at the hands of COVID-19, the question has been posed by many about the legendary songwriter’s prospects of ever being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It’s an interesting discussion point for sure, and one with a few important qualifiers.
The 7th Episode in the series was unique in that 30 more minutes were added to give Ken Burns and his team the time to delve into a decade of the music, explain the important influence of Texas songwriters and the emergence of the Outlaw movement in the early and mid 70’s, all while keeping up with the goings on in popular country in Nashville.
Canadian country and Western artist Colter Wall was one of the fortunate ones to be selected to perform for the new season of the long-running and highly-revered PBS music show Austin City Limits for their 45th season. And if you want to catch the taping, you better be on your toes because it’s coming up this Friday.
‘Red Bandana’ is anything but typical, for Aaron Watson or anyone else. When Watson says this is his most involved and personal work that he rates at the top of the heap, believe him. When others say they’re shocked or ecstatic about how good this record is, take their word for it. With Red Bandana, Aaron Watson defies his own odds.
Willie Nelson turned 86-years-old last week, but don’t expect to see him slowing down anytime soon. If anything, he’s putting his foot down on the gas for 2019, announcing a new album, and recently extending his Outlaw Music Festival dates which will keep him busy well into the summer.
Willie Nelson’s latest album will be called ‘Ride Me Back Home,’ and will once again be produced by Buddy Cannon, with a release date forthcoming sometime in June. This is the news coming out of an exclusive SiriusXM taping that occurred at Willie’s ranch outside of Austin on April 13th in the chapel of his own private Western town, Luck, TX.
Songwriter and Texas music wildman Jack Ingram has a new album on the way called ‘Ridin’ High … Again.’ It will be Ingram’s tenth studio record overall, and was recorded at Austin, TX’s iconic Arlyn Studios in just two days in what Ingram describes as one “forty-eight hour party.”
This album is a story of America, and who better to tell it than Tom Russell. His years have only embellished and refined his wit and craftsmanship, and he never lost his hunger along the way. There are good reasons why Russell is so revered by his musical and literary peers, and those reasons remain evident on “October in the Railroad Earth.”
The long wait for fans of the Randy Rogers Band is about to be over. The Texas country band’s much talked-about eighth record produced by Dave Cobb will finally see the light of when ‘Hellbent’ makes its way to stores. “We’re in it for the long haul,” Randy Rogers says.
A new posthumous collection of Townes Van Zandt recordings is on its way from Fat Possum and TVZ Records. Made in early 1973, the songs come from a recording session with journalist, musician, and close Townes Van Zandt friend, the late Bill Hedgepeth. They were recorded in Hedgepeth’s home studio in Atlanta.
“No way I could get out of doing this record,” Steve Earle says. “When I get to the other side, I didn’t want to run into Guy having made the ‘TOWNES’ record and not one about him … Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark were like Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg to me.”
Texas music singer, songwriter, spirit animal, and general badass woman Jamie Lin Wilson has announced her latest album ‘Jumping Over Rocks.’ Her follow up to 2015’s ‘Holidays and Wedding Rings,’ it comes at a time when Texas music is looking for headliner-caliber women, and looking in the direction of Jamie Lin.
Nearly everything about “Better Boat” is right. The songwriters Travis Meadows and Liz Rose are right. The entirety of the instrumentation being performed by Mac McAnally on an acoustic guitar is right. Kenny choosing songwriter Mindy Smith to perform the song with instead of some pop star is right.
Songwriter and promising mainstream performer Ashley McBryde’s debut major label release on Warner Nashville will be arriving March 30th, and will be named after the song she wrote for her Grand Ole Opry debut that helped spark off a national narrative behind the Arkansas native. She’s also released a new song called “American Scandal.”
Richard Dobson never found the fame many of his more recognized songwriting contemporaries did, but he was cherished as an equal by them, and the fans who sought out his music, and followed his journey, inspired and intrigued by his free spirit, his capability with words, and his ability not just to tell great stories, but to live them.
Steve Earle isn’t just your average aging thinning-hair post-mainstream relevancy Americana dude who was kind of big in the 80’s. At 62-years-old, he’s probably the youngest guy who can legitimately claim honest ties to the original country music Outlaw movement of the 70’s.
There have been many true country music “Outlaws” over the years, and many more that claim to be. But there can be only one original Outlaw, and that is Bobby Bare. Without Bobby Bare, there may be no Waylon Jennings. When Bare discovered Waylon in Phoenix, AZ in 1964, Waylon was still very much a regional act.
To us, it’s a sad state of affairs that Guy, Susanna, Townes, and so many more that made up the core of the alternative to country in the 70’s and 80’s are gone, but to Rodney Crowell, these weren’t just distant stars on some stage that perhaps he got to see once or twice in his life, these were his close personal friends.
The original country music Outlaw Bobby Bare will release his first record in five years when ‘Things Change’ hits the streets. The 10-track album will feature songs written by Bare, as well as Mary Gauthier (“I Drink”), and legendary songwriter Max T. Barnes who also produced the project.
Just what 2017 has in store for us in the country music department remains to be seen. But we do know about what to expect in the release department for at least the first quarter of the year, while rumors abound about the big projects that could come to light later in 2017. Here’s a run down of what we know, what we think we know, and what we would like to believe.
The definitive biography on Guy Clark finally has a release date, and further details have been revealed. Fans of the revered songwriter who passed away on May 17th have long anticipated the coming of ‘Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark’, and they will finally have their patience rewarded on October 18th.
Every year we mark the passing of music legends in country music and beyond, but 2016 has been an especially dark year for the passing of music greats. From Prince and David Bowie in the pop and rock world, to Merle Haggard and Guy Clark in country, to the dozens of others who may have not been as well-known, but still had a great impact on American music.
Legendary country music songwriter Guy Clark passed away on May 17th after a long battle with numerous health ailments, and now it has finally been revealed how he will be forever remembered by friends, fans and family: his ashes are being incorporated into a sculpture to be formed by fellow Texas songwriter Terry Allen.