An oral history on the life of songwriting legend Billy Joe Shaver will be released on July 21st. Called ‘Live Forever: The Songwriting Legacy of Billy Joe Shaver,’ it is about Shaver’s life and songs told through his peers, friends, and disciples. Authored by Courtney S. Lennon…
A new development, distillery, and whiskey brand moving into the area right outside of the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg offers the potential to threaten that peaceful state of mind Luckenbach, TX has been able to preserve for over 50 years.
Well now, it appears that Nashville has a new toy. His name is Jelly Roll, and a pseudo “country” song of his called “Son of a Sinner” has been slowly creeping up the country radio charts, causing the usual suspects who love to pontificate about paradigm shifts in country.
You have to be happy with this class overall. Certainly, you can look over the elongated list of other potential inductees that grows even longer every year due to the Hall of Fame’s austere approach to induction, and do a healthy level of second guessing.
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.
It’s not every day that new recordings are unearthed that feature Waylon Jennings, but that’s what the new album from Tommy Townsend called Southern Man to be released on April 29th boasts. Tommy Townsend is a Waylon Jennings understudy.
“Chattahoochee” was the exception, not the rule. And co-written by Nashville songwriter Jim McBride, there’s a pretty interesting story on how it came about, and how it came to life, going from finished product to being performed on stage the same day, April 12th, 1992.
Billy Joe Shaver could be a hero to someone even if they didn’t give a fig about country music. But eventually, and somewhat inexplicably, Billy Joe Shaver did die, on October 28th 2020. Turns out, only his songs were immortal. But you can still see him.
The bloodlines of Jennings and Williams are running together once again as the great grandson of Hank Williams, grandson of Hank Jr., and the son of Hank Williams III has signed with the record label of the son of Waylon Jennings, Black Country Rock.
Don’t fret for the future of country music ladies and gentlemen. If need be, Jesse Daniel will strap it on his back, and carry it into the future himself. This road-doggin’, honky-tonkin’, California-born, Texas-based singer and songwriter will be keeping the twang alive.
Something tells me is that if you put Joe Rogan, Neil Young, and Jordan Peterson all together, standing in front of the Robert’s Western World stage, enjoying a fried bologna sandwich, a Moon Pie, and a PBR, the brotherhood of man would prevail.
When country music Hall of Famer Tom T. Hall passed away on August 20th, 2021 at the age of 85, it was safe to assume his death was due to health or natural causes, as is commonly the case with someone at such an advanced age. It was likely an open and shut case.
As we look back on 2021 and before we look forward to 2022, it’s important we take the time to pay tribute to these individuals who left a mark on the country and roots music world that will never fade. Here are the performers, players, songwriters, and others we lost in 2021.
Capturing a classic country sound with a faraway feel, Nick Sizemore carried a handful of his original songs into the studio with producer Brett Robinson and captured just about the perfect mood for this material. Morose and melancholy, Nick Sizemore seizes the essence of the sad country song both in writing and sound.
Hank Williams Jr. was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on November 21st, 2021, and unfortunately, if you weren’t there in person, you weren’t able to see it for yourself. We are able to part and piece together what Hank Jr. said in his acceptance speech though.
Announced on Monday, October 26th, The Waylon Jennings estate has partnered with talent agency WME to manage Waylon’s posthumous career moving forward as part of the company’s Legacy Division. The company will manage Waylon’s name, image, likeness, and other assets.
the wild success Taylor Sheridan has enjoyed recently has somewhat overshadowed what was the third film in the screenwriter’s neo-Western trilogy about “the modern-day American frontier,” which also included ‘Sicario’ and ‘Hell or High Water.’ Called ‘Wind River’ …
Tom T. Hall had the simple wisdom for life of Don Williams. He could find wit in the everyday world like Roger Miller. But nobody, nobody could tell a story within the medium of country music like Tom T. Hall. Nobody.
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.
Some assume that with a name like Saving Country Music, I, Trigger must think that I’m the one doing the saving—that I’m country music’s savior. But of course it’s not me, but the bands and artists highlighted here that are doing the saving, along with addressing the important issues.
Though he most always towed the line even in his heyday, and held to a promise he made to his mentor George Jones to always “keep it country,” Jackson had his dalliances on the commercial side of country as well, namely on one of his biggest hits, 1993’s “Chattahoochee.”
Maybe you’ve heard of him, and maybe you haven’t. But his legacy and influence is intertwined with a lot of the music you most certainly have enjoyed over the years. And now a legacy that started in Idaho and stretched all across the country and world has come to a close.
Yes, it’s the fact that a woman is singing these songs is what makes this exercise so interesting, and more than just an average tribute record. Without really rearranging much of anything, the songs take on an entirely different though paradoxically similar inverted meaning.
This is the story of Waylon’s notorious relationship with cocaine told through the improbable tale of a police officer and lawyer turned drug smuggler from Kentucky, and a cocaine-eating bear. Country History X, which looks to tell the history of country music, one story at a time.