Category Archives: Country

The Americana Music Conference

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The Americana Music Conference is happening on Sept 20-22 in Nashville with lots of workshops, parties and over 130 artists playing including atists such as Dave Alvin; Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint; Alejandro Escovedo; the Cherryholmes; the Derailers; Ruthie Foster; James Hunter; Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin; Jim Lauderdale; Claire Lynch; Delbert McClinton; James McMurtry; Buddy Miller; Mindy Smith; Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives; Paul Thorn Band; Tony Joe White and more than 120 more!

I’m attempting to attend as the lone delegate from Twang Nation, I mean how can I turn down meeting the man who personally built Chet Atkins’s own guitars (Gibson Luthier) and tips on pimping your chaps, okay I made that one up. Be there!

Willie Nelson Teams With Ryan Adams For New CD

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from Billboard.com: Seventy-three-year-old music icon Willie Nelson collaborates with 31-year-old singer/songwriter Ryan Adams on his new album, “Songbird.” Due Oct. 31 via Lost Highway, the 11-track set was produced by Adams, whose band the Cardinals back Nelson throughout. Veteran harmonica player Mickey Raphael also appears.

The track list features covers of Gram Parson’s “$1000 Wedding,” Christine McVie’s “Songbird,” the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter favorite “Stella Blue” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

In addition, Nelson reworks his own “Rainy Day Blues” (which opens the album), “Sad Songs & Waltzes” and “We Don’t Run,” as well as tackling the traditional “Amazing Grace.”

Nelson is in the midst of a tour with John Fogerty and also has headlining dates on tap through a Sept. 15 appearance at the Austin City Limits festival. On Sept. 30 in Camden, N.J., he will join Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews and Jerry Lee Lewis for Farm Aid in Camden, N.J.

Here is the track list for “Songbird”:

“Rainy Day Blues”
“Songbird”
“Blue Hotel”
“Back to Earth”
“Stella Blue”
“Hallelujah”
“$1000 Wedding”
‘We Don’t Run”
“Yours Love”
“Sad Songs & Waltzes”
“Amazing Grace”

Alt.Country is Dead part 2

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More bullshit on how alt.country (or as I like to call it GOOD country) is dead. Basically cribbed from the New York Times article. I say good riddance. It was always a marketing and branding disaster. I say we dig in our spurs and claim the banner of Country back from the Big & Rich pop-idiot sideshows and milquetoast ballods of Kenny Chesney. There are planty of people not officially sanctioned by Music City or whatever their playing off the list at corporate 102FM. Fuck the alt.country moniker and fuck the crappy musical culture that caused the balkanisation in the fist place. It’s time to name pop country what it is…shit.

American V: A Hundred Highways Trailer

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CashLost Highway/American Recordings have released a promotional trailer for the album featuring producer Rick Rubin discussing the album’s creation and closure. Cut with black-and-white films of Johnny performing live and recording in the studio, it also offers some of the last footage shot of the performer in his final days.

“The last few years, we [Johnny and I] were always working on songs,” says Rubin. “It was the thing that he said was his reason for being alive, especially after June died. I think it was the only thing that kept him going, the only thing he had to look forward to.

“There were about 60 songs that we recorded since American IV came out. I remember we were at my house and we were finishing American IV, and I remember Johnny feeling like, ‘This may be it.’ And I said at that moment that we’re starting on the album today, tomorrow. Start thinking of songs, start writing.”

You can watch the trailer here, or click to the Myspace page created for the album’s release to hear two songs from the record: “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”, and “Like the 309”, the last song Johnny wrote.

http://boss.streamos.com/qtime/losthighway/cashepk.mov