All the people of country music, rejoice that despite all the woes about whatever is supposedly endangering the genre on a given day, in the hearts of gifted entertainers still lies such incredible passion and talent for this music, it has the ability to make the spine tingle, the heart swoon, and the mind spark like the first time you heard country.
A film delving into the life and friendship of two of country music’s most iconic performers is set to be shot this month and released later in 2019. Called ‘Patsy & Loretta,’ it will follow the careers of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn as they intertwined in the early 60’s.
Netflix released the latest season of its comedy drama ‘The Ranch’ on December 15th, and just like the first three seasons, country music plays a big role in both the dialog and the soundtrack. Apparently the creators want to make discovering the songs part of the fun of the series, because they keep their soundtrack close to the vest.
Today, September 8th, 2017, would have been the 85th birthday of Patsy Cline—one of the most iconic, influential, and immediately recognizable voices in the history of country music. But she died tragically in a 1963 plane crash near Camden, Tennessee that also killed country starts Cowboy Copas, and Hankshaw Hawkins.
Music, and country music specifically plays a big role in the series, not just in the soundtrack, but in many of the jokes told, and in the titles of each episode. Many other musical Easter eggs are placed throughout the series for music fans, such as posters on the wall, and albums in the local bar’s juke box.
Like many of the legends of country music, Patsy Cline’s legacy will now be enshrined in a new museum in downtown Nashville, and in a familiar location. Housed on the 2nd floor of the bustling and successful Johnny Cash Museum at 119 Third Avenue South on lower Broadway, the Patsy Cline Museum will be opening its doors to the public on April 7th.
There are few venues more historic than Gruene Hall in Texas, and few living country music artists more legendary than Loretta Lynn. This weekend in Gruene, TX (3-3 and 3-4), Loretta and her kin stopped in for a two-night residency at the legendary dance hall, and country music fans from around the area packed themselves into the nearly 140-year-old venue.
There are few other legends of country music whose music lasted longer, had more impact, and crossed sensibilities of taste and genre better than the songs of Patsy Cline. That voice, and the songs she selected in her short career can still stop you dead in your tracks from the emotion they stir.
Never could I have dreamed when I first decided to channel my passion for music into operating a country music website that I would be asked to comment on a country record released from Queens-born New Wave 80’s sensation Cyndi Lauper. But this is not your average “gone country” project.
We just didn’t have this kind of verification of the strength of Rhiannon Giddens’ vocal abilities until this project. Sometimes it takes someone else’s songs to really challenge a singer to where their limits are tested, and their utmost talents are expended trying to do a classic composition justice. That’s what makes Tomorrow Is My Turn such a worthy effort.
Henley’s been out there outwardly criticizing the state of country music and the state of music in general, though doing so with a lot more of a thoughtful and informed tone than many others, including tracing the problem back to the disappearance of the agrarian way of life that was once prevalent throughout America, and now finds itself quickly receding.
The songwriter, singer, guitar player, and frontman for the legendary Western Swing and classic country band Asleep At The Wheel had some harsh things to say about today’s country music in a recent interview, and specifically about the reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year, Luke Bryan.
“Lonely” is no ordinary song. In February of 2015, Tami’s father, Ron Neilson, passed away. Tami grew up performing in a family band with her father and the rest of her family, touring throughout Canada and the United States, even opening for Johnny Cash and other notable country stars along the way. Ron Neilson began writing “Lonely” in 1972, and recorded a demo for it outside a hotel room.
Move over Michael Jackson. Patsy Cline is coming back too, and in the form of a holographic image according to Hologram USA and the singer’s estate. Patsy Cline will be the very first country legend to be revived in hologram form, and will be used in performances, commentary, and even participate in audience interaction.
In the aftermath of #SaladGate—stimulated by country radio consultant Keith Hill’s comments that to increase ratings, radio stations should cut the amount of females they feature in a given hour—Sara Evans has emerged as one of the leading voices sticking up for females receiving their fair share of representation from the genre.
Yelawolf has just released one of the biggest albums in American music at the moment. Love Story came in at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 last week, and where Radioactive flopped, Love Story has bounced. Love Story has some serious ties to country music that can’t go overlooked.
“Better Than You Left Me” gets most all of the textures right—the steel guitar, the waltz beat, the swaying back and forth that jars loose the emotions from the heart and sends them racing through the blood stream. It’s pop country, but like Patsy Cline was pop country. Sure I’d love a little bit more dirt thrown on it or for her vocal performance to be a bit more subdued, but it’s more than a start.
Bob Montgomery, most famous for being the teenage friend, songwriter, and duo partner of Buddy Holly, and for writing iconic country songs like “Back in Baby’s Arms” by Patsy Cline, and “Misty Blue” recorded by Eddy Arnold, Wilma Burgess, and many others, has died according to his son and fellow musician Kevin Montgomery. He was 77-years-old.
George Riddle, a songwriter and musician whose music and influence can be heard throughout the classic country music world, passed away on Saturday night, July 19th after battling with throat Cancer. he might be best known as the very first and original Jones Boy, backing George Jones up in what would later become George’s legendary band.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read that comedian and country music performer Brad Paisley’s new album due out August 26th was called Moonshine in the Truck and “sees Paisley adapting the modern technology of EDM and dubstep to the classic country formula.” “The rulebook’s gone, or was there ever one?” Brad says. “They try, but I don’t play by it.”
Shakira isn’t just releasing this song in her home genre of pop. It has entered the Country Airplay charts this week at #57. “Medicine” is Shakira’s “gone country” moment. All that said, “Medicine” as a song is not all that bad … for a pop song. In fact if you compared it with many of the top songs in country right now it is downright refreshing.
If country music is ever going to be saved, it is going to take people with true passion for the music tugging at the yoke, willing to do whatever it takes on and off the stage in the name of preserving the music and paying it forward. One such passionate young lady doing her part is songwriter and performer Angela Dodson, a performer, who also is the Event Center Manager at the Johnny Cash Museum.
Recently when Keith Urban was interviewed by Michigan Live and was asked if definitions like “country,” “rock,” and “pop” are important or meaningless, Urban replied, “Totally meaningless to me. I make music and people decide what it is. That’s it. I don’t think about it any more than that.”
The greatest album, and the greatest recorded song will never be able to trump the truly live musical experience where music is shared in real time with both the artist and listeners. It is in this spirit that each year I assemble a list of the Best Live Performances to reinforce that as technology and the busying of life incrementally encroach upon us, we must remember that the live music show deserves its own attention and reverence.