Category Archives: Country Music

DelFest and Pickathon News

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  • The deadline for discounted tickets for DelFest has been extended until March 2nd at midnight. Some of Bluegrass’ best will be featured at the 3-day festival- Sam Bush, Old Crow Medicine Show, Leftover Salmon, JD Crowe & The New South, The Lee Boys as well as headliner legendary Del McCoury and more. The festival takes place Memorial Day Weekend, May 22-24th on the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maryland.
  • The 11th annual Pickathon Indie Roots Music Festival, which takes place  just outside Portland, OR.,  has released their new website and festival line-up which includes Blitzen Trapper ,  The Sadies, Dale Watson, Justin Townes Earl, Those Darlins and Joe Pug.  Pickathon takes place July 31-August 2.
  • Now a little love for my old hood New York City.  The always excellent and lovely Joe Whyte will big show with his  band and will be featuring some new tunes. It’s on Monday, March 2 and it’s  free show at Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen St., NYC) Go, you won’t be disappointed.

The Devil Makes Three Readies “Do Right Wrong.”

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  • Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will hold its quarterly series, Nashville Cats: A Celebration of Music City Session Players on Saturday, Feb. 21, with a salute to drummer Jerry Carrigan. Among his many sessions, Carrigan played drums on Jerry Reed’s “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” and Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie.” Carrigan also played on sessions with Johnny Cash, John Denver, George Jones, Don McLean, Dolly Parton, Johnny Paycheck, Elvis Presley, Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette and many more.
  • Speaking of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum; country music legend Ray Price will visit the Museum on Saturday, March 7, to share memories of his close friend and mentor, Hank Williams. The intimate interview, which is presented in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibition Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy, will begin at 1:30 p.m. also in the Museum’s Ford Theater.
  • The 9413 celebrates the greatness that was Lecil Travis “Boxcar Willie” Martin as part of their excellent and enlightening  Forgotten Artists series.
  • HearYa – Indie Music Blog posts that San Francisco roots trio The Devil Makes Three will release Do Right Wrong on May 5th via Milan Records.

The Devil Makes Three – Old Number 7

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fut6zeXtyN0[/youtube]

Neko Case to Stream Concert from Amsterdam

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  • Neko Case has posted a bulletin on her MySpace page that she will be featured on FabChannel.com for a live streamed concert from Amsterdam. The concert will be broadcast live on that website this Sunday morning, Feb. 22, at 10 a.m. Eastern / 7 a.m. Pacific. According to the bulletin, “If you aren’t able to catch the live stream, keep checking back to FabChannel as they’ll be posting the entire performance for streaming next week!” Case will also be playing 2009’s  Bonnaroo Festival in in Manchester, Tennessee.
  • Rachel Brooke has been working with Mr. Lonesome Wyatt from Those Poor Bastards on a full length album called it “A Bitter Harvest”.  It has a May release date and will be available on CD and Viny.

Until then Rachel has these tour dates coming up:
Mar 6 2009
Metrotimes Blowout! @ Carbon Lounge. Rachel and Junk, Switchblade Justice, Mantons, and Jason Croff Hamtramck, Michigan

Mar 26 2009
The Painted Lady, with Junk and Switchblade Justice Hamtramck, Michigan

Mar 27 2009
CS3 (Calhoun St.) with the Sour Mash Kats, the B-Sharps, and Paul Kuhlhorst Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Mar 28 2009
Shady Nook with Blue Collar Bastards Saybrook, Illinois

Mar 29 2009
TBA Kirksville, Missouri

Mar 31 2009
Players 5th Street Pub and Jon Jackson, TBA Quincy, Illinois

Apr 1 2009
Scagnoli’s Cajun and BBQ Lafayette, Indiana

Apr 3 2009
Annabell’s with the Misery Jackals! Akron, Ohio

Apr 4 2009
Molly Malone’s with The Misery Jackals, Wonky Tonk, Frontier Folk Nebraska Cincinnati, Ohio

Apr 5 2009
FooBar with the Misery Jackals and Dave Smith and the Country Rebels Nashville, Tennessee

Shooter Jennings and Jamey Johnson to Collaborate on CMT Crossroads

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  • Shooter Jennings and Jamey Johnson will collaborate on the next episode of CMT Crossroads, to be aired March 23.  The show will be taped in Nashville later this month before an invitation-only audience. CMT Crossroads pair country artists with musicians from other genres to great effect – Bonnie Raitt with Lyle Lovett and  Steve Earle with Rosanne Cash (which I had the good fortune to attend) come to mind. Sometimes they lead to a longer term effort like Robert Plant with Alison Krauss. It’d be interesting to see what a longer term partnership of  Jennings and Johnson might bring.
  • The Dallas Morning News’ Jeff Mosier reports that George Strait, along with Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton and Julianne Hough, will lead a lineup for June 6 concert to christen Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington, TX.  Let’s hope some of that Strait mojo works some magic on Tony Romo’s arm and Terrell Owens’ ego.

Willie and the Wheel News

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Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel are in New York City tonight gearing up for their performance on Late Show with David Letterman this evening. A little bird told me they will be doing Hesitation Blues in from their current excellent release Willie and The Wheel. Tune your TV to CBS tonight at 11:30pm EST.

Willie and Asleep at the Wheel are currently touring the Eastern Seaboard and will end with two nights at Carl’s Corner. They have a Tour Diary Section on their official site featuring day-to-day activities on the road as well as photos from Kevin Smith.

Zalman King, producer of “9 1/2 Weeks” and “Red Shoe Diaries” – has been filming a documentary about the tour. No release date has been set. “This is a very special album and very special time for all of us,” says Asleep at the Wheel bandleader Ray Benson. “Having a fine filmmaker like Zalman document this tour is a great way to share all the fun we’ll be having with our fans.”

Plant and Krauss Back In The Studio

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  • Country Standard Time and Rolling Stone posts that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are back in the studio with T Bone Burnett working on the follow-up to their platinum-selling, five Grammy winning album Raising Sand.
  • Iron & Wine (aka Sam Beam) is readying Around the Well (due May 19 from Sub Pop) a compilation 23 rare and previously unreleased tracks. The double-disc set will be supported by a short May tour. For this tour, the group is asking fans to help shape the set lists through voting on IronandWine.com. Live recordings will be available shortly after each gig at PlayedLastNight.com. Meanwhile, Iron & Wine is hard at work on its next studio album, due in early 2010. (Billboard)
  • The Americana Music Association announces more artists have been added to the line-up for its “Live at The Bluebird Cafe” concert series.  On February 19, beautifully rich voice of Stephanie Chapman will join Jim Lauderdale.  The Sam Bush Band will take the stage on February 26. Nanci Griffith will perform in-the-round on March 5 with critically acclaimed artists Mary Gauthier and Elizabeth Cook. Award-winning, multi-talented songwriter Darrell Scott will headline on March 12. Foster & Lloyd close the series on March 26.


BR549’s Chuck Mead Readies First Solo Album

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Chuck Mead, co-founder of the three-time Grammy nominated honky-tonk heroes BR549, has posted on his MySpace page that he is readying his first solo album Journeyman’s Wager (drops 3/17.) The release will be produced by Grammy-winner Ray Kennedy and will feature eleven tracks that “embody not only the core of country music, but also the pulse of pop, R&B, hillbilly rock, Gospel and beyond. “Why be confined by barriers or genres?” Chuck asks. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s all American Music. These are the sounds that made up my musical vocabulary. I still believe that American Music is about real things, good stories and unique songs. And I’m willing to bet that most everyone else does, too.”

Chuck Mead: “I Wish It Was Friday” from Journeyman’s Wager

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yXKSYcbMYo[/youtube]

Music Review – Red Eye Junction – In The Shadows (Self-Released)

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If you like your country music steeped in the sound of Bakersfield and honky-tonk that reeks with the aroma of beer and sawdust rathe than hair mousse and celebrity fragrances then San Luis Obispo California’s Red Eye Junction’s second release In The Shadows might be your cup of shine. The ghosts of Lefty Frizzell, Buck Owens and Hank Williams Sr. haunt every groove of this fine release. Featuring songs that appear deceptively simple that on closer listen manifest a musical craftsmanship reverent for music made for Saturday-night sinning and Sunday-morning salvation.

Red Eye Junction features a crackerjack band on this release as led by the Benevolent Dr. Cain (as he is billed) who possesses a high-lonesome keen only at home in country music, and most associated with Bill Monroe, Hank Williams Sr. and Jimmy Dale Gilmour, and Jackpot Jonny Clarke who can pick slicker than a greased pig on a July night.

Tonight is a boot-skootin‘ tunes about good times and good lovin‘. These Five Strings and Gone Again are boudoir bawlers that feature pedal Steel by master Tommy Butler and Talk of the Town and Home Ain’t So Sweet are cheating (and potentially murder) songs featuring Jonny Clarke on slightly gruffed vocals and Greg Clarke’s fine fiddle work. A stand out for me is the title cut, an simmering atmospheric minor-chord lament with Buck Dylan’s midnight train harmonica. Anytown is a rollicking road song praising small town life and Two Part Blue features both Dr. Cain and Jonny Clarke sharing vocals on this light-hearted barroom confessional.

Pick up In The Shadow, crack open a brew and celebrate the enduring spirit of country music.

MySpace | CD Baby

“It’s All Over” – Red Eye Junction (from thier first release “Outlaws And Heroes”)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvB0W0-qdBQ[/youtube]


PopMatters Interviews Gary Louris and Mark Olson

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  • PopMatters.com’s Juli Thanki in her current Torch & Twang dispatch looks over the history of coal mining in country and folk music and asks if the topic is still relevant today. As the jobless rates soar I’d say the sentiment these songs embody is as important as ever.
  • Continuing with the PopMatters.com love, Michael Franco sits down with ex-Jayhawks Gary Louris and Mark Olson to talk about their new release Ready for the Flood and the possibility of a Jayhawks reunion.
  • Twangville has a review of Changing Horses, the new Americana venture by indie-pop singer/songwriter Ben Kweller.
  • Plant, Krauss and T Bone Burnett have some interesting, endearing and funny things to say after their bonanza at the Grammys.
  • The best thing for me about Carrie Underwood’s bombastic performance at the Grammys (besides her dress) was the smoking blonde supporting her by shredding axe. Her name is Orianthi and she’s a 34 year-old Australia guitar prodigy whos  first support show was for Steve Vai when she was 15.

The 51st Grammy Awards- Carrie Underwood “Last Name”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QvOAzkaAxA&feature=related[/youtube]

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Win 5 Grammys

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  • LiveDaily Sessions features a exclusive video performance of Hank III doing Smoke & Wine, Six Pack of Beer and Country Heroes. Hank kicks off his Damn Right, Rebel Proud tour on Feruary 15th in New Orleans, LA.
  • The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced nominations for The 2009 JUNO Awards, including first-time nominees, Canadian roots-rock duo Twilight Hotel. Twilight Hotel is nominated in the Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Group category. Nominated in the same category are Elliot Brood and NQ Arbuckle, as well as fellow-Winnipeggers, The Duhks and Chic Gamine. Winners will be declared at the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards on Saturday, March 28, and The 2009 JUNO Awards broadcast on CTV on Sunday, March 29 at General Motors Place in Vancouver, BC.
  • Speaking of awards, it was a good night for roots-rock at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards last night. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand strtches Aamericana genres and the 5 Grammys awarded to the albumreflect that. Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, Record of the Year, Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (Killing The Blues) , and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (Rich Woman) as well as the evenings topper, the Album of the Year. I’m sure Plant is even motre comfortable with his decision to forego that lucrative Zep reunion.  Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder took home the Best Bluegrass Album award, Pete Seeger won for Traditional Folk Album, Bruce Springsten won Best Rock Song, and Bela Fleck & the Flecktones won for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Sugarland took home the Grammy for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals  (Stay), Brad Paisley won for Best Male Country Vocal Performance  (Letter To Me) and George Strait won his first Grammy of his career (!) for Best Country Album (Troubadour.) For a full list of Grammy nominees and winners, or to watch the pre-telecast ceremony that highlights the folk, bluegrass, and Americana awards visit Grammy.com