The Longhorn Ballroom was one of the most important venues in country music for many years. When it opened in 1950, it was known as Bob Wills’ Ranch House, and was one of the major venues in Western Swing. It was also once operated by Jack Ruby.
2022 is a very unique year when it comes to albums to consider, since there are no clear front runners as we’re used to. No specific album or albums feel like undeniable masterpieces, but the albums at or near the top of the heap are so numerous, it’s painstakingly hard to delineate them from each other.
Perhaps the name is new to you. But to those who’ve been carefully curating their listening catalogs with the most emotionally-cutting and forward-thinking country music for over a decade with be both intimately familiar with the name Caitlin Rose, and extremely excited to hear about a new album.
Songs are the most important unit of measurement in music, and the specific moment a life can change, a perspective can shift, a deep emotion that has gone dormant is re-awakened, and life is enhanced positively henceforth. When we talk about potential “Song of the Year” nominees, were not looking for the toe tappers.
Here at the halfway pole of the musical year, it’s time to run down the best albums that have been released in 2022 so far. There have already been some excellent releases, and the first albums highlighted should be considered early candidates for Saving Country Music’s Album of the Year.
There’s nothing more country than showing love and appreciation for momma. It’s country songs that taught us all so well to respect our matriarchs. So no matter who you are, or where you’re from, make sure you’re a little country today. And after you wish momma…
Deeply studied and truly gifted to express the host of styles that comprise the broad and omnivorous 90s country era, Joshua Hedley has made himself into a modern country marvel, capable of taking up any piece of music from any country music era, and making it sing.
What an amazing time in music we live in where you can compile a playlist of excellent new songs from living legends like Willie Nelson and Ray Wylie Hubbard, and place them right beside new songs from great contemporary artists like Ian Noe and Kaitlin Butts.
Considered by many as the Mayor of Lower Broadway in Nashville, singer and songwriter Joshua Hedley has made a name for himself by keeping the history and sound of true country music alive through his music, both as a performer, and as a recording artist.
With his aching, painful delivery of poetically elegant songs ripped straight out of his own biography and smeared with tears and the residues of addiction, Justin Townes Earle embodied everything you wanted from the tragic troubadour holding on just enough to perform for you.
Robert’s Western World has been home to the Don Kelley Band for a quarter century. Though not as flashy or well-known as some of the other bands that blew up from the Robert’s stage, those who know Robert’s and The Don Kelley band know just how important the band has been to keeping true country alive on Lower Broadway.
Margo Price will release her latest record called That’s How Rumors Get Started on May 8th after moving on from Jack White’s Third Man Records to Loma Vista, an imprint of Concord Records. Margo released her first taste of new music in mid January with the song “Stone Me.” Now we get the first proper single.
“If it ever gets to be too much for you, there are a lot of great songwriters out there who agree with you politically. Oh wait, no there aren’t,” Jason Isbell responded to a Twitter user. But this assessment severely discounts to work of conservative songwriters who’ve contributed to the American songwriting canon.
It’s been a busy week in the land of country music traditionalist Cody Jinks, and it was crowned by a ringing endorsement from wrestling personality turned entrepreneur and podcaster Stone Cold Steve Austin. Plus Cody released two new videos, some tour dates, and a juicy hint about new music on the way.
Country Music legend and Hall of Famer Alan Jackson recently announced the first round of tour dates for his upcoming 2019 arena tour to the excitement of many. And now three other names have been added to select stops which you may have not heard before, but you should be paying attention to.
Naming the best live performances of a given year is not the same exercise as naming the best songs, albums, or artists, because it is specifically dependent on the experiences of the individual making the list. But it’s still an important exercise.
Country interloper Kane Brown just released his second record called Experiment, and since most of music media has devolved into nothing more than a promotional arm of the mainstream industry, the album’s arrival has been dutifully met with a host of fawning puff pieces filled with over-hyped tripe.
In the last few years a strange synergistic connection between independent country music and professional wrestlers has emerged, and it has resulted in some profound support for up-and-coming true country artists. Now Joshua Hedley can include himself in that camp.
The newest additions to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Playlist start with the opening tracks to a couple of cool new records. John R. Miller and the Engine Lights have a new album out called ‘The Trouble You Follow,’ and the witty and true “Holy Dirt” tops the newest incarnation of the playlist
One may ask why a journalist based in Austin, Texas would trek some 2000 miles to attend a music festival just outside of Portland, Oregon with all the more convenient options the “Live Music Capital of the World” can offer. But those people have probably never been to Pickathon before. Trumped only in stature for […]
One of Hinterland Music Fest’s most most memorable moments came during the set of Tyler Childers in the early afternoon when at one point both Sturgill Simpson and Wheeler Walker Jr., joined Tyler on stage. Sturgill was sitting in with Tyler’s band on guitar during the set, and Wheeler joined them on stage.
Joshua Hedley’s just-released record Mr. Jukebox is just about the most accurate portrayal of the Countrypolitan era we’ve heard from a modern artist in quite some time. And though many traditional country fans are singing Hedley’s praises, some have been skeptical of just how sincere his reverence for the music can be.
What Joshua Hedley has done on Mr. Jukebox is compose a haunting reenactment of country music from the 50’s, from the writing, to the phrasing, to the instrumentation and approach, marked by incredible detail, inferred by studious comprehension and tireless devotion to the effort…
Whether it was our vehement protestations, or simply patience revealing a more balanced perspective, the recent additions to the Randy Travis Spotify playlist have done a complete 180, and deserve recognition, if not outright praise.