2020 is not done just yet offering up country and roots music worthy of listening to, and perhaps some of the projects we’ll regard as the best all year once late December rolls around. So just to make sure you don’t miss anything, here are some of Saving Country Music’s top recommendations for the final portion of 2020.
Blooshot Records co-owner Nan Warshaw is officially out at independent record label Bloodshot Records in the aftermath of a sexual harassment scandal. This is the news coming from the label Saturday afternoon (3-9) as the company prepares to trek to SXSW this upcoming week where they have been one of the fixtures of the event.
Singer, songwriter, and solo performer William Elliott Whitmore will be returning to music with a new album, and a new tour soon, and it will not be on his previous label ANTI, it will be with insurgent country label Bloodshot Records announced on Tuesday (4-24).
Some independent country fans love to harp on whose name is in the biggest font in the headliner positions, but the names Stagecoach invites each year to fill out the roster gives you great hope for the future of country, and tells you who to look out for in the coming months and years, this year especially.
Good music is entertaining. Great music changes lives. And on the front lines of life altering music experiences are the one man bands. Courageous, pioneering, persevering through obscurity and misunderstanding, one man bands might make up a majority of the music world’s boldness and creativity per capita. Here’s 16 of them from a wide swath of the roots world.
The Notorious and Legendary Deep Blues Festival, brain child of BBQ Restaurant owner Chris Johnson in Bayport, MN, has decided to return for 2012 after a 2 year hiatus. The Deep Blues Festival ran from 2007 to 2010, becoming one of the biggest alternative blues festivals in the world before deciding to call it quits due to financial concerns.
This is some of the best true country songwriting I have heard all year. I am floored folks. I’ll be honest with you, knowing the context of this album going in, I didn’t think it had much chance to charm my little music heart, but that is exactly what it did. Ray’s songs are just so true, honest, well-written, and authentic, it makes his adeptness at song craft absolutely undeniable.
So here it is, the list of albums Saving Country Music deems essential for 2011 listening. Please note this list only includes albums that have been reviewed so far. And as always, your feedback is encouraged. What are your essential albums? What did we miss? What was released in 2011 that deserves a review?
Well, we’ve just about reached the half way point of 2011, and let me level with you folks, so far this has been a down year for music. Yes, there’s been a few good projects and some surprises as well, but generally speaking it’s been pretty bleak compared to 2010, which was such a bumper year for music.
Country has been the very last of the major genres to embrace the revitalization of vinyl, with one exception: Hank Williams III, who has been releasing his records on vinyl for years, and has his full catalog available in the format. In conjunction with Record Store Day this year, 700 limited-edition colored vinyl copies of his albums…
As the name implies, Hillgrass Bluebilly Records defines the nexus of where hillbilly, country, bluegrass, and blues meet. This rich and diverse environment that has been created in the independent/underground music world embodies all roots music as unified expressions of purity and soul, regardless of the origins. Keith Mallette and co-founder Ryan Tackett have created a burgeoning homespun record label that is getting…