60 years ago in this day, June 11th 1949, Hank Sr. made his famous debut on the Grand Ole Opry. He sang his hit Lovesick Blues and received a record number of ovations and encores, the Opry and Country Music were never the same.
Help reinstate Hank to the Opry.
As I’ve mentioned before Nonesuch Records will release Emmylou Harris’ new album “All I Intended to Be” (Nonesuch) on June 10. This will be her first solo effort since 2003’s Stumble Into Grace.
Listen to some samples of the release at the Nonesuch site.
Here is the track listing:
1. Shores of White Sand (Jack Wesley Routh)
2. Hold On (Jude Johnstone)
3. Moon Song (Patty Griffin)
4. Broken Man’s Lament (Mark Germino)
5. Gold (Emmylou Harris)
6. How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower (Emmylou Harris, Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
7. All That You Have is Your Soul (Tracy Chapman)
8. Take That Ride (Emmylou Harris)
9. Old Five and Dimers Like Me (Billy Joe Shaver)
10. Kern River (Merle Haggard)
11. Not Enough (Emmylou Harris)
12. Sailing Round the Room (Emmylou Harris, Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
13. Beyond the Great Divide (J.C. Crowley and Jack Wesley Routh)
Emmylou is currently on tour:
6/6/2008 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Ampitheatre
6/8/2008 Lawrence, KS Wakarusa Festival
6/14/2008 Lisle, IL Morton Arboretum
6/16/2008 Toronto, Canada Massey Hall
6/18/2008 New York, NY Town Hall
6/19/2008 New York, NY Town Hall
6/20/2008 Oyster Bay, NY The Planting Fields Arboretum
6/22/2008 Vienna, VA Wolf Trap Filene Center
6/23/2008 Charlottesville, VA Charlottesville Pavilion
6/25/2008 Raleigh, NC North Carolina Museum of Art
6/27/2008 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre
7/17/2008 Avon, CO Vilar Center for the Arts at Beavercreek Resort)
7/19/2008 Alta, WY Grand Targhee Americana Festival
7/20/2008 Salt Lake City, UT Red Butte Garden Ampitheatre
7/23/2008 Vancouver, Canada Orpheum Theater
7/31/2008 San Diego, CA Humphrey’s Concerts By the Bay
I (justifiably) bitch a lot about Music City and tier ongoing campaign to strangle any beauty and creativity out of
country music, but one tradition I do like is the idea of the annual Fan Fare (my contrarian nature won’t allow me
to use the new corporate friendly title “CMA Music Festival”)
This years event features 30 hours of autograph signings, 100 hours of live music, 400 Country Music artists and
celebrities.”
Now 90% of these “Country Music artists and celebrities” I wouldn’t cross the street to meet, but I do applaud the
populist spirit of the event (as well as inviting Dwight Yoakam back after an unconscionable 20 year absence.)This is
something you won’t find in any other genre and it speaks to country music’s respect for it’s fans. Now if Music City
only reflected that same deference to tradition and fans’ intelligence when producing the music.
Dana Jennings, New York Times editor and author of the excellent “Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music” (review forthcoming) gives the NYT Paper Cuts blog his country music playlist (Living With Music:A Playlist by Dana Jennings. ) There’s some interesting choices from a guy that obviously loves the music.
Where can a self respecting upright, clean thinking country music fan find solace in this world of soulless corporate market-tested pop-country confection? I have the remedy right here friends.
Eleven Hundred Springs is THE best country band on the road today. That’s right, you heard me, THE BEST! I defy anyone to show me a band that exhibits even half of EHS’s passion and agility.
Their blend of trad but contemporary Western swing, honky-tonk and country rock speaks to the roots while it pushes the edge, and the band’s first release in four years (and after a band shuffle) “Country Jam” showcases those skills in spades.
You can almost feel the heat, smell the Tex-Mex combination platter, and taste the ice-cold cervezas as the album opener “Texas Afternoon” stretches out with a Tejano accordion and hints of West Texas artists Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely. It’s a song that genuinely makes you want to smile.
The first single from the record, “Every Time I Get Close To You,” heads back out to the flat lands of West Texas to harken back Lubbock’s own Buddy Holly channeling his rave-up rockabilly style that once burned up the local sock hops.
“Nobody Told You About The Love” is a beautiful banjo and pedal steel woven reflection on fatherhood and love featuring lovely backing vocals from guest Heather Myles. “Whose Heart Are You Breaking Tonight” is a Western swing number. It’s smooth shuffle provided by drummer Mark Reznicek is sure to fill up boot-scooting dance floors for years to come and “I Never Crossed Your Mind” beautiful lament of heartache and “V-8 Ford Boogie” moves back into Rockabilly’s wrong side of the tracks will a pulsing “go-cat-go” sound right out of the Carl Perkins songbook.
The songs so seamlessly from style to style it belies the incredible dexterity being quietly exhibited and Matt Hillyer’s vocals are prefect for the songs with his ability to achieve longing and carefree hell raising with equal success. His writing is tight and effortless with nary a tired cliche in sight. Thankfully there are no obvious reaches for “the hook” that lead so many songs to trite repetition. The sincerity in each tune is solid , irony be damned.
The cover art merits Texas underground cred by featuring a psychedelic painting by legendary Austin artist/actor and Spicewood, TX. resident Kerry Awn. Locals might recognize Kerry’s unique style from the great graphics he did for the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters back in the 70’s.
Like the Greats, Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, this is hillbilly poetry at its finest. Hopefully the next release from this great band won’t take as long to get out.
Eleven Hundred Springs - You Can’t Hide From Your Heart - Denton, Texas
The Village Voice has a fine write up (Country Music Grows in Brooklyn) on the burgeoning Country Music scene in Brooklyn and mentions a Twang Nation favorite Hank’s Saloon, a 100 year old hell raising hillbilly bar smack dab between Carroll Gardens and Park Slope which features a trapdoor above the stage leads to an upstairs area once used as a flophouse by Native-American steelworkers. The article al
so mentions the New York Metropolitan Country Music Association which has hosted hoedowns for the last 25 years and now holds weekly line dances at the Glendale Memorial Building in Queens.
Ex bull-rider and troubadour of dusty trails and hard living Ryan Bingham discusses with PopMatters.com how his latest release, “Mescalito” (Lost Highway), came to be. Bingham also says that he is working on the follow-up to “Mescalito,” which he hopes to release early next year, and is sticking with Marc Ford as producer.
Bingham will be playing at the Mercury Lounge in New York City tonight appearing with David McMillin.
Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses - Bread and Water
PopMatters.com features 20 questions with Miranda Lambert. A highlight:
Of those who’ve come before, the most inspirational are?
Merle Haggard has been my inspiration. Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris are close behind. Since I’ve been writing songs and performing, Allison Moorer and Jack Ingram have been big idols of mine. All of these artists have written about what’s true even if it’s not always a pretty picture.
Miranda Lambert “Gunpowder & Lead” Fresno, CA
Has it been a year already? BWIP turns calibrates their one-year anniversary with an interview with Wayne Gottstine from Split Lip Rayfield great music from Split Lip Rayfield, The Sluggos, and Scroat Belly (all with our special guest Wayne Gottstine). We also have music from Justin Towns Earle, The Honky Tonk Hustlas, and Missy Gossip and The Secret Keepers and a special dedication final song.
Illustration by Christoph Mueller
From the Associated Press - Dwight Yoakam will make his 24th appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” this week, breaking the record for most musical performances by any artist. Yoakam, 51, is currently tied with Lyle Lovett for the show’s most musical performances with 23. Besides his appearances with Leno, Yoakam also was on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” six times, beginning in 1986.
Some of the appearances that stand out the time he and his late friend and mentor Buck Owens went on together to sing “Streets of Bakersfield.” Or when he flew 20 hours nonstop to entertain troops with Leno in the Middle East during the holidays.
“The great thing about everybody there is they’ve always been very willing to allow me the latitude to do what I wanted to do. I did things like ‘Back of Your Hand,’ which was a very low-key track. One time I went on with a (Latin) brass section and did ‘Silver Bells.’”
Yoakam’s latest album is “Dwight Sings Buck,” a musical tribute to his friend. When he does the show Thursday, one of the tunes he plans to perform is the Owens classic “Act Naturally.”
Dwight Yoakam & Buck Owens - Street of Bakersfield - The Tonight Show