It wasn’t just the arrangement, the cool special guests, the poignant setting, and the timing of it all, it’s how it all conspired to create a special moment and a rather spectacular performance that in the throes of the otherwise mediocre ACM Awards really shined out as something sincere.
Now let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here. But if you know anything about Alan Jackson and awards shows, you know he’s the ultimate wild card. He’s got no truck or patience for your pedantics, and dog and pony awards show nonsense.
I listened to the entirety of ‘The Sonic Ranch’ album by Midland and watched all of the 45-minute documentary so you don’t have to. It’s not that it’s terrible, or in any way offensive. For what it is, it’s fine, and you can’t approach either the album or the film as if these were finished products
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Current 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. New songs have just been added.
“Every time I need an escape, I go to Marfa TX,” she says. “Jack Ingram and Jon Randall come. We recharge. We get inspired by its beauty. We write songs. ‘Tin Man’ was the 1st we shared with you. ‘Tequila Does,’ the 2nd. In between, we’ve written 13 more. It’s about time to share them with y’all.”
The Next Waltz project helmed by Bruce Robison will be issuing their 3rd compilation volume on November 27th. Featuring songs from Flatland Cavalry, The Panhandlers, Charley Crockett, Jack Ingram, and more, the volume comes on the heels of Vol. 2 reaching #1 on Americana radio.
COVID-19 has country and Americana artists doing all kinds of creative things to stay busy and afloat. But there’s only a few artists that can take an acoustic guitar and a song and steal your undivided attention, and Hayes Carll is one of them.
Here are the greatest country and roots albums of the last decade in Saving Country Music’s estimation. Albums were regarded primarily on quality, and how they held up over the decade, as well as the influence they had on country music, and music at large. These are the albums that should not be overlooked over the last 10 years of music.
2019 was a stacked year for top live performances. This was supposed to be a list of the top 10 live performances, but due to such a crowded field, things boiled over. And yes, there are three #1 acts. All should be considered equals at the very top level of live performance. They were all so great, it seemed unfair to put one over the other.
‘Wildcard’ is just that—a spin of the wheel and a roll of the dice, because you just don’t know what you’re gonna get dealt when you cue up the next track. But there’s too much good stuff here to cast it off as just another mainstream country pop record. You have to be willing to dig a little. But it’s ultimately worth the patience and effort.
The 18th Annual Americana Music Awards transpired Wednesday night (9-11) at the Country Music Mother Church, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, with lots of love spread out among a diverse list of winners, but John Prine emerging as the biggest winner walking away with both Album of the Year for ‘Tree of Forgiveness,’ and Song of the Year
Miranda Lambert’s latest album will be called “Wildcard.” Along with the album release date and artwork, we also get to see track list and songwriting collaborators Miranda Lambert worked with on the album. A regular champion of quality songwriters, ‘Wildcard’ will be no different, even if the sound and approach is.
How hard could songwriting really be? You learned a few chords on the guitar in college, and if you had some more free time you could probably gnaw on rhyming a few lines of verse … or so you tell yourself. Then you hear an album like ‘Beautiful Lie’ from the First Couple of Texas Country, and it’s so enriching, you’re immediately demoralized.
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.”
30 minutes before Texas music legend Charlie Robison was scheduled to be paid tribute by his fellow Texas and Red Dirt artists, a line 400 deep snaked around the block of the 200-capacity Key West Theater as part of the 2019 Mile 0 Fest. Some folks had shown up hours before.
Texas music legend Charlie Robison will be making a rare public appearance since retiring from music in September of 2018 as part of a special tribute being put together at this week’s Mile 0 Fest in Key West, Florida. Mile 0 Fest also addresses the Turnpike Troubadours cancellation.
It’s not exclusively the music from our favorite artists that inspires us. It’s how they’re gifted with the tenacity to pursue their dreams fearlessly, and with a willingness to sacrifice we all wish we had, or maybe we did have at one time before life got in the way. But they don’t let life get in the way. They get in the way of life.
One of the members of the First Family of Texas Music—and a landmark musician and songwriter for a quarter century—shocked and saddened fans on Monday (9/24) evening when he announced that he’s calling it quits. In a short note to fans, Charlie Robison let it be known that he will no longer be pursuing music.
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.
Artists give greatly of their personal lives to entertain us. The least we can do is not use their personal lives as our entertainment. The story of how the Evan Felker and Miranda Lambert relationship became the worst kept secret in Texas music, and how when it broke, the celebrity gossip rags got it all wrong.
The Country Music Hall of Fame has partnered with Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings to release a 36-song companion double album to coincide with what the public can expect to see and hear as part of the upcoming Outlaws & Armadillos exhibit. The track list of the album reveals just how deep the exhibit will go.
When you think of the modern country music landscape, you think of a clear delineation line between the independent and mainstream. However the songwriting credits for Miranda Lambert are the one clear exception. Looking through her list of collaborators, it’s pretty incredible.
In wanton disrespect of the Labor Day holiday (aren’t journalists laborers too?), the Country Music Association announced their nominations for the 2017 CMA Awards on Monday (9-4) morning, with Miranda Lambert leading all nominees with five total nominations.
2016 was a difficult year to be a traditional country music fan in many respects, and not just from the death of so many legends. In independent circles, it was a year of having to settle for albums prefaced with explanations of why the artist decided to move away from their country influences, even if it was just slightly, or just on a temporary basis.