George Jones, Johnny Paycheck Drummer Arnie Adams Dies

The Country Music world has lost an incredibly important and pioneering drummer. On August 28th, Roland “Arnie” Adams passed away at home, reportedly from a late-stage cancer.
The Country Music world has lost an incredibly important and pioneering drummer. On August 28th, Roland “Arnie” Adams passed away at home, reportedly from a late-stage cancer.
Adams Brothers, Ameripolitan Awards, Arnie Adams, Buck Owens, BUddy Emmons, Don Adams, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Merle Haggard, Paul Wayne
As a true country music fan, you’re used to dealing in close approximations when seeking out modern musical choices. With The Malpass Brothers though, this isn’t necessary.
Ben Isaacs, Brennen Leigh, Conrad Fisher, Dan Mann, Dickey Lee, Doyle Lawson, Jeannie Seely, Lonely Street, Mark Capps, Merle Haggard, Review, Shawn Camp, Taylor Dunn, The Malpass Brothers
It’s something that most of us mere mortals can’t comprehend. But for our country legends, they would have it no other way. Willie Nelson has regularly said that he wants to die on stage. And as morbid as a prognosis as that might be, it speaks to how important music and performance is to these legends.
Alan Jackson, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Nancy Jones, Tammy Wynette, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson
Tanya Tucker’s life has been like a country song. That’s how she can sing them with such a convincing attitude, and conviction. And though it feels like she’s lived many lifetimes in her career, at 62, Tanya still has time to enjoy this accolade, and add to what now can be called a Hall of Fame career.
Barry Gibb, Billy Sherrill, Country Music Hall of Fame, Dolores Fuller, Glen Campbell, Mel Tillis, Merle Haggard, Tanya Tucker
Aaron McCune can not only can handle the bass parts to iconic country songs from The Oak Ridge Boys and others, he can go even deeper, and this is bringing the important element of four-part harmonies with bass in country music to a new generation. He’s a member of Dailey & Vincent.
Aaron McCune, BlackHawk, Dailey & Vincent, Duane Allen, Gold City Quartet, Harold Reid, Joe Bonsall, Josh Turner, Key Western Fest, Merle Haggard, Pam Tillis, Paul Overstreet, Richard Sterban, Sawyer Brown, Shane Smith and the Saints, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Statler Brothers, Trace Adkins, William Lee Golden, Willie Nelson, Wynonna Judd
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.
2 Live Crew, Aerosmith, Asleep at the Wheel, B.B. King, Bob Wills, Brennen Leigh, Charley Pride, Conway Twitty, Edwin Cabaniss, Ernest Tubb, George Jones, George Strait, Hank Thompson, Jack Ruby, James Brown, Joshua Hedley, Joshua Ray Walker, Kaitlin Butts, Little Richard, Longhorn Ballroom, Loretta Lynn, Lucero, Merle Haggard, Morgan Wade, Nat King Cole, Old Crow Medicine Show, Patsy Cline, Ray Benson, Ray Charles, Ray Price, Tex Ritter, The Kessler Theater, The Sex Pistols, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson
Don’t overlook the West Coast and California when you go looking for good country music. Case in point is Laura Benitez and the Heartache, who’ve been playing kick ass traditional country for years outside of the purview of country’s mother brain back in Nashville, and may have just released their career effort.
Buck Owens, California Centuries, Laura Benitez, Laura Benitez and the Heartache, Merle Haggard, Review
Tanya Tucker is nothing short of a modern living Queen of Country Country Music, who deserves all the rights and privileges that such a designation bestows. She proved this in Pryor, Oklahoma on the grounds of the famous Rocklahoma festival where Born & Raised is held.
Andy Gibb, Born & Raised Festival, Brandi Carlile, Brother Osborne, Cody Jinks, Country Music Hall of Fame, Glen Campbell, Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard, Stella, Tanya Tucker
Calling it a “country song” doesn’t seem to do it justice, and almost inadvertently downgrades the impact and importance of the artistic work known as “Pancho & Lefty,” because few other songs can make us feel like this one can. It’s transcendent of country, or song, or even music. It’s “Pancho & Lefty.”
Emmylou Harris, Jack Clement, Lana Nelson, Merle Haggard, Pancho & Lefty, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson
Trigger Random Notes 157 Comments
Country music is country music, and the best definition of what country music is, is that you know it when you hear it. It’s self-evident. But the genre has birthed many subgenres, many stylistic movements over the years, and at times has seen a splintering and Balkanization.
Aaron Watson, alt-country, Americana, Ameripolitan, Bill Monroe, Bill Woods, Billy Mize, Billy Sherrill, Blackberry Smoke, Blake Shelton, Bloodshot Records, Bob Childers, Bob Wayne, Bob Wills, Bobby Bare, Bonnie Owens, Buck Owens, Cedric Burnside, Chancey Williams, Chet Atkins, Chris LeDoux, Cody Canada, Cody Johnson, Colt Ford, Colter Wall, Country Blues, countrypolitan, Cross Canadian Ragweed, CW McCall, Dale Watson, Dan + Shay, Dan Auerbach, Dave Dudley, David Allan Coe, Dick Curless, Don Rich, Dwight Yoakam, Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, Florida Georgia Line, Franklin County Trucking Company, Gene Autry, George Jones, George Strait, Glen Campbell, Greensky Bluegrass, Hank Williams III, Jason Aldean, Jason Boland, Jody Rosen, John Hartford, Johnny Cash, Junior Brown, Kane Brown, Koe Wetzel, Kolby Cooper, Kris Kristofferson, Kyle Park, Leftover Salmon, Linda Rhonstadt, Lucinda Williams, Luke Combs, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard, Mike Ness, Ned LeDoux, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Old 97's, Owen Bradley, Patsy Cline, psychobilly, Randy Rogers Band, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Red Dirt, Red Sovine, Robert Earl Keen, rockabilly, Roy Rogers, Sam Bush, Sam Hunt, Steve Earle, Stoney LaRue, Texas Country, Th Reverend Horton Heat, The Allman Brothers, The Byrds, The Eagles, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Grateful Dead, The Knitters, The Nashville Sound, The Rolling Stones, The Stone Poneys, The Stray Cats, Uncle Tupelo, Wade Bowen, Waylon Jennings, Wayne 'The Train' Hancock, Whiskey Myers, Whiskeytown, Willie Nelson
Trigger Random Notes 80 Comments
Dolly Parton will be one of the next inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The next question is how the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will consider country performers for induction moving forward. This moment presents a slippery slope.
Alan Jackson, Buck Owens, Buddy Holly, Charley Pride, Chet Atkins, Chris Gaines, Chris Stapleton, Clint Black, Conway Twitty, Dolly Parton, Don Rich, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Eric Church, Garth Brooks, George Jones, George Strait, Glen Campbell, Hank Williams, Jason Aldean, Johnny Cash, Kenny Chesney, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, Randy Travis, Richie Albright, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Roy Orbison, Shania Twain, Tammy Wynette, The Beatles, The Big Bopper, Traivs Tritt, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson
You show up with your chest puffed out, wearing funnyglasses with bunch of feathers shoved into the front of your Stetson, and telling everyone you’re slinging “Piss-hot freightlining country music,” then you better deliver, son. But Ellis Bullard has nothing to worry about.
Ellis Bullard, Jerry Reed, Joe Rogan, Joe Stampley, Merle Haggard, Mo Bandy, Piss Hot Freightlining Country Music, Review, The White Horse
Trigger Random Notes 63 Comments
Country music as a genre is unique in how it has its own dedicated award show organizations, and two of them as a matter of fact, and both of which that have been around for well over 50 years. But neither of them is the CMT Awards.
ACE, ACM Awards, Bonnie Owens, Buck Owens, Carrie Underwood, CMA Awards, CMT Awards, Cody Johnson, George Strait, Glenn Campbell, Maddie & Tae, Merle Haggard, Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum
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Garth Brooks is the latest high-profile country star to purchase property in Nashville’s Lower Broadway entertainment district with the intent of putting up a new multi-story bar and restaurant. Acquiring the three-story, 40,000 square foot property at 411 Broadway…
Brooks and Dunn, Ernest Tubb Record Shop, Garth Brooks, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Kix Brooks, Luke Bryan, Merle Haggard, Robert's Western World
Trigger Random Notes 24 Comments
We’ve known for years about the affinity Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has for traditional country and true blue independent country artists. But just about nothing illustrates how big of a role true country music—or in this case, “Ameripolitan”—actually plays.
Chris Stapleton, Cody Jinks, Colter Wall, Dale Watson, Dwayne Johnson, Gethen Jenkins, Jamey Johnson, Merle Haggard, Mickey Lamantia, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers
For a while, it looked like the fate of Jeff Carson was to be a side player for the duration of his career. But when he finally got his opportunity, Jeff Carson made the most of it and rocketed to the top of the country charts.
Brent Mason, Chuck Howard, Craig Morgan, Darryl Worley, Glenn Worf, Jeff Carson, Larry Franklin, Merle Haggard, Paul Franklin
It’s one of the most legendary origin stories in country music history. Merle Haggard from Bakersfield, California was engaging in a life of petty crime while trying to make it as a guitar player and singer until he committed one petty crime too many, and a judge threw the book at him.
‘Run, Rose, Run’ deserves to be graded on a curve because it’s meant as a complement to a novel, not a standalone feature. But even without running opinions through the love we all have in our hearts for everything Dolly Parton, ‘Run, Rose, Run’ includes some quality songs.
Ben Haggard, Dailey & Vincent, Dolly Parton, James Patterson, Joe Nichols, Merle Haggard, Review, Run Rose Run, The Isaacs
Trigger Random Notes 101 Comments
The best in country music don’t make music because they want to. They make country music because they have to. It’s not a means to an end financially. It’s a requisite emotionally and spiritually. Making country music is how a true country music artist unburdens their soul.
Blake Shelton, George Jones, George Strait, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson
One interesting Merle Haggard story that seems to have gone under-reported in the Internet age is that Merle Haggard was the pick by Burt Reynolds to play his semi truck-driving sidekick “The Snowman” in the legendary Smokey and The Bandit movie series.
Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Smokey and the Bandit
Merle Haggard was one of country music’s most famous former convicts, though most of his crimes were petty. The reason he landed in the notorious San Quentin Prison was due to how many times he escaped from smaller facilities and local jails. But did he really escape 17 times?
Buck Owens, Caryl Chessman, Fuzzy Owen, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, Ronald Reagan, Tally Records
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.
Charley Pride, Connie Smith, Dallas Frazier, Elvira, Elvis Presley, Ferlin Husky, Gene Watson, George Jones, George Strait, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, Moe Bandy, Oak Ridge Boys, Randy Travis, Rodney Crowell, Willie Nelson
If you love Merle Haggard and Hoover up anything with his name on it, you’ll be happy to hear that a brand new 464-page “definitive” biography on The Hag is coming shortly from Hachette Books and New York Times Bestselling author Marc Eliot.
Dwight Yoakam, Frank Mull, Fuzzy Owen, Marc Eliot, Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard
Trigger Random Notes 55 Comments
Country music traditionalist Jamey Johnson has become known over the last few years more and more for filling the majority of his concerts with classic country songs written by others, along with pulling from his catalog of originals. For some this approach to his concerts feels strange.
Blackberry Smoke, George Jones, George Strait, Jamey Johnson, Jessi Colter, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, The Steel Woods, Townes Van Zandt, Vern Gosdin, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson