EMI Music Marketing and Twangnation.com are giving you the chance to win a copy of the new CD/DVD collection Classic Chris Ledoux.

Honoring his authentic and lasting legacy of cowboy songwriting, recording and performing, Capitol Nashville/EMI will release Classic Chris LeDoux, a new CD/DVD and digital collection of his top recordings and videos, on April 29. Among the 16 audio tracks and 16 videos on the new collection are LeDoux’s “Bang A Drum” with Jon Bon Jovi, “Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy” with Garth Brooks, and the music video for “Ridin’ For A Fall,” making its commercial release debut.

Prize Details:
Three (3) Grand Prize Winners will receive a prize including: One (1) copy of the new Classic Chris Ledoux CD/DVD
Closing Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Midnight EST
Draw Date: Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Justin Townes Earle continues to blaze a trail, and the Grand Ole Opry moves a step toward relevency (inviting Sunny Sweeney was a also a plus) by inviting Earle to perform Friday, May 2nd on the 8pm show, also on a bill will be Brad Paisley, Mark Wills and Mountain Heart.

If you find yourself in Nashville do yourself a favor and catch what is sure to be a great performance.

I’m drawn to music that sounds both timeless and new. It represents to me the concept of the connection in time of the past and future all running like a river with us standing right in the middle with the muddy now caking our boots. It also assures me that there are forms of innovation happening within country and roots music that stand starkly in contrast to the Nash-pop variety (which is not always bad, but I’ll post more on that later.)

I’ve come across a couple of ladies making waves in that river of time and music by showing a palpable reverence for country music’s traditional roots while bringing a refreshing shot of indie creativity and a sense of daring into the mix.

Colorado native and Seattle resident and Sera Cahoone’s early life experiments with the sax and junior high musical path that led her to the drums where she established her bona-fides as a drummer for the now-defunct indie sadcore band Carissa’s Weird (who’s members also included Ben Bridwell and Mat Brooke now in the group Band of Horses) led to her surprising sophomore solo outing “Only as the Day Is Long.” the release is a country-noir landscape where Cahoone’s voice stretches sleepily over spare, atmospheric dobro, pedal steel, guitar, and fiddle backing. Like a slow-core book end to Neko Case’s Furnace Room Lullaby Cahoone’s themes of innocence, hope and dread are woven throughout. With titles like “The Colder the Air,” “Happy When I’m Gone,” and “Shitty Hotel” you know your not in for a sunny romp, but country and roots music has always mined a rich vein of the melancholy and Sera Cahoone has staked a rich emotional and musical claim.

As her early incarnation with the moniker Save Macaulay a teenager Nashville’s Caitlin Rose was able to deliver classic country tunes with respect and authority in her distinctively Dolly meetsEmmylou vocal style. After dropping alias and at the ripe old age of 20 this Waffle House aficionado has released a quirky and beautiful EP that was cut in two days in November 2007 at the Bombshelter studios in East Nashville.

The love of country’s history exhibited immediately with the EP’s packaging and on the first cut of the Dead Flowers EP. With ‘Shotgun Wedding” Rose sings the tune with a Smokey Mountain lilt over Bob Grant’s excellent mandolin . “Answer In One Of These Bottles” takes it’s place with another classic narrative of drinking to forget Rose then shows she has the pipes to take on the Patsy Cline classic Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray as she covers it with all it’sforelorn beauty. Docket is a quirky Kris Kristofferson -style solo-guitar number that is perfect Summer listening and a lone tambourine accompanies the whimsical Gorilla Man brings to mind ShelSilverstein play on words. Rose then tackles the classic Cosmic American Rolling Stones-come-Gram-Parson a;;ad of heroin overdose from which this stellar EP derives it’s title.

“Only as the Day Is Long” - Sera Cahoone

“Dead Flowers EP” - Caitlin Rose

PopMatters.com has a nice review of George Strait’s newest release Troubadour. It’s another huge release from the gentleman mega star and PopMatters appears to agree.

If there’s something Troubadour is about, it’s songs. Strait performs them in an efficient, un-flashy way. His humble singing imparts more depth than is first apparent, but at the same time is utilitarian. The mission is communicating these songs to listeners.

PopMatters gives Joe Nick Patoski’s book Willie Nelson: An Epic Life a middling review of 5 out of 10. I’ve just started to book and will withhold judgment until finishing.

James McMurtry and Lightning Rod Records are holding a contest for fans to create a music video to the protest song “Cheney’s Toy” off McMurtry’s new release Just Us Kids.

From the entries, McMurtry will choose the best videos and post them on his official MySpace page and website. If needed, fans can create videos using slideshow applications at RockYou.com.  Creators of each of the top five videos will receive t-shirts and autographed copies of McMurtry’s new album,  Just Us Kids (in stores now). McMurtry’s choice for the best overall video will also receive an 8 Gb Apple iPod Nano.

Some video fans have already made.

It’s that time again friends, when decent folks flee to the hills and the rowdys take over town drinking,  firing their pistols in the air and bringing the finest real country podcast on the planet.

Episode 14 of It Burns When I Pee features an in-studeo interview with Dave Sisson of The Gin Palace Jesters and Three Blue Teardrops, hear some tasty tunes from The Steeldrivers, The Devil’s Own, The Misery Jackels, and Carmen Lee, and get raunchy with more Hee-Haw meets Jerry Springer-style comedy.

Go get IBWIP and lord help us all.

It’s been a while since I posted on Austin’s own Sunny Sweeney, so allow me to make ammends by letting ya’ll know Sunny has added a new song “You’re My Hotel, He’s My Home” (co-written with Adam Hood) to her set list and posted the lyrics on her MySpace blog. (via the 9513)

Go out and see Sunny when she come to a town near you.

Sunny Sweeney at Ernest Tubb’s records in Nashville

Via the 9513 and Stillisstillmoving.com

The New York Tines has a nice piece on Record Store Day in New York City and the shape of the independent music stores in the world of digital distribution. From the article:

“Record stores as we know them are dying,” said Josh Madell of Other Music. “On the other hand, there is still a space in the culture for what a record store does, being a hub of the music community and a place to find out about new music.”

Thanks fpr supporting local music.