Barbecue pit master, vinyl records enthusiast, festival founder, and all around important individual to help keeping a distinct dialect of American roots music alive, Chris Johnson, has died. The quintessential fan turned organizer, through his various ventures, Chris Johnson became…
Sure, if you’ve been working all week and were looking forward to getting your face rocked off this weekend by the kind of raucous show Eric Church brings live, you may be feeling a sense of disappointment at this news. But I’m here to tell you, you’ve lucked out.
Steal yourself for the roller coaster of emotional moments and life-altering epiphanies that often accompany any foray into a recorded effort or live performance by the one man musical marvel known by the name Possessed by Paul James. You leave the company of the expressions of Possessed by Paul James a changed person.
If you’re wondering what to look forward to hearing in country and Americana music in early 2020, let this be your guide. Here’s all the information Saving Country Music has been able to compile on the most anticipated upcoming releases, along with a more extensive catalog of releases to have on your radar & the always fun “rumor mill.”
It’s been a long, cold, barren winter of six years and counting since Possessed by Paul James graced us with new music. The one-man musical marvel and award-winning full-time public school special educator is considered in the highest amplitude by those who have witnessed what he’s capable of.
Though they never hit the big time or won any major awards, those who are familiar with the legacy of the .357 String Band know they were one of the most important bands in underground roots music history, combining break neck speed, world-class instrumentation, compelling songwriting, and a punk attitude.
You want to like Luke Combs. He one of us, not one of them. At least that’s what you think, or that’s what you thought, or that’s what you want to think. Let’s face it, he’s no matinee idol. He’s a big ol’ corn fed boy from North Carolina with a scruffy Amish beard and a cheap haircut tucked under a properly-aligned baseball cap.
It took the death of four people and dozens of others injured after a drunken madman ran his car through a crowded downtown Austin street in 2014, as well as a completely clusterfucked permitting system by the City of Austin so mired in red tape it takes months of dedicated manpower to actually put on a show, but it appears that SXSW has finally reached a point where the annual event has stopped growing uncontrollably.
For every officially-sanctioned event, there’s two more that squeeze in where they can and try to keep the original spirit of SXSW alive, including the now 8th Annual Brooklyn Country Cantina, which boasts a stacked 2016 lineup including Sam Outlaw, Daniel Romano, Possessed by Paul James, The Quebe Sisters, Mike and the Moonpies, and many more.
The Muddy Roots Festival is gearing up for its 5th annual event in the rolling hills just outside of Cookeville, TN, about an hour or so from Nashville to the east for the upcoming Labor Day weekend, and boasts an impressive lineup of many country and bluegrass legends, including Del McCoury, Bobby Bare, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Peter Rowan, and an impressive under card of insurgent roots artists…
A popular local eatery, and an internationally-important music venue was vandalized Tuesday night (7-28) in Bayport, Minnesota, just east of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Along with serving award-winning barbecue (the restaurant was recently visited by Guy Fieri for feature on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) it is one of the last remaining Deep Blues music venues in the world.
Many of your favorite Austin, TX musicians who list their hometown as Austin actually live in a small community south and west of the city in the panoramic Texas Hill Country called Wimberley. About a 45-minute drive from Austin, the small town of less than 3,000 sits on the banks of the Blanco River, and is a favorite day trip for many central Texas residents.
This isn’t going to be some long form praising of Sturgill Simpson’s work in 2014, or yet another rundown of his long list of successes last year. There’s already been plenty of that, arguably too much of it, and I am just as tired of writing about it as you are of reading of it. Yeah yeah, Sturgill Simpson’s great, but his name has become the independent country version of click bait.
Alright, before we get too deep into this matter, just understand that you’re going to want to be purchasing this album. It’s my job to sit here and gab at you for a while about it and explain why, and I’m flattered that you would entertain this notion and read the proceeding words. But you pretty much just need to get this album and thank me later.
Pickathon is the roots music experience like no other. It offers one of the most forward-thinking lineups in the independent festival circuit, is two steps ahead in featuring artists that are on the verge of becoming the next big thing, and presents the artist in some of the most unique settings to be found. Even if you can’t make it to the Northwest extremity of the country next weekend….
Oh you poor little non-SXSW goers, you’re social network feeds are about to get positively inundated with South By Southwest information, riddling your psyche with scores of free music events you’re unfortunately missing out on, resulting in an experience for you somewhere between the teasings of a cruel temptress, and Chinese water torture. Here’s a list of artists that all happen to be attending SXSW…
The first issue of “Country Music Magazine” did not disappoint, and made good on their promise to deliver high quality content to the scores of country music fans who want to read about past greats and future hopefuls while not completely ignoring the mainstream names worth a listen. Now they have released their second issue, and the 2nd verse is as sweet as the 1st.
The fried chicken-eating, truck-wrestling, twisted metal, wild-assed, guitar-plucking, gray-whiskered, screaming and shouting, foot stomping “Dirty ‘Ol One Man Band” known as Scott H. Biram is back with a brand new album called Nothin’ But Blood from Bloodshot Records, and it’s a shoot-a-belt-of-whiskey and run-buck-wild-in-the-woods kind of good time…
Saving Country Music’s Artist of the Year, just like the Song of the Year and Album of the Year, is designed to eventually resolve down to one. But this is not always the case. It seems irresponsible to supplant one for the other because of some silly notion that you can only have one. Such is the case here in 2013 when handing out the honor meant to not just highlight the music, but the man or woman behind it.
2013 has been self-proclaimed by Saving Country Music as the “Year of the Songwriter,” and this list of candidates for SCM’s Album of the Year reflect that dynamic of an elevated bar of songwriting excellence that these 8 artists have set. There is no arbitrary number of slots for candidates for this award. Nominees are chosen only if they have a legitimate chance of winning…
Where it once looked bleak for any positive news to come out of country music’s mainstream channels, now there’s hope. Regardless of how awful the trends of country rap and tailgate songs might be, there are little chutes of life and vitality springing through the scorched country music earth. But there is a stodgy contingent unwilling to acknowledge or participate in what could be a potential turning of the tide.
Since Texas-based singer-songwriter Possessed by Paul James released his latest album There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely out into the big scary world on October 29th, it has been on quite the tear, especially for an artist that up to this point was thought to only be known by a small, but dedicated sect of fans.
Possessed by Paul James’s music has been described by many as more of a life-changing event than a musical experience. He channels the spirit of music through himself like none other on stage, and leaves crowds staggered. A titan of the deep blues scene, a well-respected songwriter, a musician known equally for his prowess as a singer, fiddler, banjo and guitar player, and a leader of independent roots music…
In Zac Brown’s recent disparaging comments about Luke Bryan’s hit “That’s My Kind Of Night,” Zac went out of his way to lay as little blame as possible on Luke Bryan. Instead it was the song itself, and its songwriters that drew the brunt of Zac Brown’s ire. Though Zac didn’t name any names, the likely target of Zac’s criticism was country songwriter Dallas Davidson.