PopMatters’com writer Jason Gross has a nice write up on the Legacy Edition release of the Johnny Cash classic country music milestone At Folsom Prison. Gross does a fine job of not only setting the stage for that day at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California on January 13, 1968 – which this release highlights the full Cash and the Tennessee Three work as well as that of the other players  June Carter, Carl Perkins, and The Statler Brothers – but also the recordings place in the cannon of concept records. There is also details of Cash’s attention to prison reform that led to his decision to do not only this best selling release (featured as number 88 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time) but also led to his follow up prison recording  At San Quentin in 1969.

For Western and Jimmy Stewart fans PopMatter.com’s Matthew Sorrento features a piece on the new collection of James Stewart: The Western Collection. I really liked Sorrent’s detail of Stewart’s work with Anthony Mann (Winchester ‘73, The Far Country and The Naked Spur)

David Browne writes an interesting article on the New Republic site about country music’s seeming total allegiance to the GOP, and how the lost election may cause the industry to do some back-room hashing out of the future of country music. I like how the article ends up, but doesn’t Brown know that Ralph Stanley, in many ways the living embodiment of traditional country music, endorsed Obama?

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A few dates are upcoming for country music legend Dwight Yoakam, since he’s not officially “on tour” they are scarce as hen’s teeth:

• Terrible’s Casino – Star of the Desert Arena in Primm, NV on November, 22nd 2008
• The Crystal Palace (Buck Owens Joint) New Year’s Eve December 31, 2008
• Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel – Morton, MN January, 23rd, 2009

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If you’re in my old neck of the woods, New York City, get your holidays started right and head to The Rockwood Music Hall on November 25th to catch Mr. Joe Whyte live, in concert. Whyte will be debuting so new tunes and the show is free so get on out, you’ll be glade you did.

Joe Whyte
Tuesday, November 25
Rockwood Music Hall
196 Allen St., NYC
8pm
FREE
*take the F or V to the LES/2nd Ave stop and its right across the street

NoDepression.com reports that Bloodshot Records recording artists, and son to Steve Earle and namesake of Townes Van Zant, Justin Townes Earle, will be releasing a follow up to the excellent Bloodshot debut The Good Life. The new disc is called Midnight at the Movies, and is due out in March of ’09.

If you’re in Texas get yer ass out and see one of the best bar bands in America , The Supersuckers.

Nov 14 2008 – Jacks Patio Bar  –   San Antonio, Texas
Nov 17 2008  – Vortex  –   Beaumont, Texas
Nov 18 2008   – Continental Club  –   Houston, Texas
Nov 19 2008  -  Continental Club   -  Houston, Texas
Nov 20 2008   – Lakewood Bar and Grill  –   Dallas, Texas
Nov 21 2008   -  Scoot Inn  –   Austin, Texas

If you’re in my neck of the woods, San Francisco, CA. get yer ass out and see the one and only Texas Yoda, Willie Nelson at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium. Willie plays Friday, Jan 16,  Saturday, Jan 17, PM Sunday, Jan 18, Monday, Jan 19, and Tuesday, Jan 20. Must be all that good medical marijuana here in town.

So this year I spared myself the agonizing spectacle of the Country Music Awards. Aside from my Texas home girl Miranda Lambert there was nothing, NOTHING, about the Nash-Vegas that would compel me to watch what amounts to a fate more painful then sitting through 5 Hanna Montana concerts….sequentially…with her dad opening the show. Seriously, Kid Rock? Even the rappers don’t want him anymore. Shania Twain?! Mutt Lang dumps here and she leaves Canada starved for the spot light? I still contened the CMAs make the Grammys seem edgy.

To those that served so we may be free.

Johnny Cash – Ragged Old Flag

Live in the San Francisco area? Want to see the Drive By Truckers and The Hold Steady on their “Rock and Roll Means well” tour when it comes through the legendary Fillmore theater on Sunday, November 23rd? Hell, sure you do. You’re not CRAZY!

Just send an email to holler(at)twangnation.com (replace the (at) with an @). type “Drive By Truckers/ The Hold Steady Contest” in the subject field, and tell us why we should choose you to go to this amazing show. The best reason will receive a pair of tickets. Be sure to send your mailing address so we can send you the tickets if you win. Good luck!

Ever since seeing the darkly striking Australian western The Proposition I’ve been fascinated with the similarities between the Land Down Under and the American South and West of the nineteenth century, both good (confronting a wild frontier to achieve independence and establish a society) and bad  (attacking and displacing an indigenous people.) Now due to The Wildes, an Americana/alt.country band from Victoria, Australia, I am now just as fascinated with roots music as interpreted in the land of Oz.

Some of the cuts on Ballad of a Young Married Man take an old-testament page from fellow countryman Nick Cave (and script writer for the aforementioned movie The Proposition). The title song, “Jack the Blacksmith,” “Nothing” and the tribal drum-beat brooder “Slap-Back Mary” could have all come from Cave if was inclined to pen country-hued songs.

The chugging “Streets of My Hometown” carries the DNA of Steve Earle’s Hometown Blues and the sweetly melancholic “Sue-Ellen” sounds like a lost Waterboys cut. “If I’ve Done You Wrong” is a organ backed barroom weeper that basks in its unrepentant spirit and the wonderfully reflective “Loverman” is a rustic beauty. The bonus track Broken Blossoms is a piano and banjo bawler that I imagine could have been penned by that trash can troubadour Tom Waits. The Wildes cover a wide expanse of Americana dirt roads and wear their influences proudly on their sleeves, but their interpretation on these styles are uniquely their own.

Official Site |  MySpace

Sweet Teresa.mp3

The lineup for Stagecoach, California’s Country Music Festival has been announced. Along with the garden variety Nashville pop faire – Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire and Brad Paisley – the festival will feature more harder edged and rootsier artists – Miranda Lambert, Earl Scruggs,  Jerry Jeff Walker, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, Dale Watson, The Duhks, some pleasant surprises, Dallas’ own Reverend Horton Heat, and a few wanna-bes – Kid Rock, Darius Rucker.

Stagecoach will take place on April 26, 2009 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA. Tickets for go on sale Friday, November 14 at 10:00 AM (PT) at all Ticketmaster locations.

• At the insistence of his family and personal physician, country music legend Merle Haggard had a malignant tumor removed from his lung Monday at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. Our thoughts are with the Hag and his family and here’s to a speedy recovery.

• NPR’s All Things Considered has a post on the Waylon and Shooter Jennings collaboration album Waylon Forever which they report “honors the outlaw legacy of Waylon Jennings. Shooter and his band complete the songs with the right combination of Southern rock with a Black Sabbath chaser. Waylon, who loved all kinds of music and even palled around with Metallica, would no doubt approve.”

• If you’re in the San Francisco area tomorrow night (11/6) head over to Amnesia (853 Valencia St.) for the Hang Jones CD Release Party

Gram Parsons was (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) was the godfather of two sub-genres of country music, alt.country and country rock, or what he coined as “cosmic American music.) He was also the man that brought  Emmylou Harris from folk to country music and led Keith Richards toward country music that showed up as influences on Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers. Gram’s legacy can still be felt today and many artists owe him a debt of gratitude.

Gram Parsons – “Return of the Grievious Angel”

Keith Richards – Hickory Wind