Category Archives: News Round Up

Watch Out! Lera Lynn – “Lying In The Sun” [VIDEO]

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Lera Lynn - "Lying In The Sun"

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from roots chanteuse Lera Lynn, but it’s been worth the wait.

This video for the title cut from her new ‘Lying In The Sun’ EP is set in a moody residence brandishing an acoustic guitar. monogrammed tooled leather strap and semi-retro dress and hair. she stands alone as the band is filmed playing part until the room fills. All the while Lynn delivers the song directly to us.

The song is a moody work flecked with shimmering harmony and guitar much like the light pouring through the window drapes. This song both yearns and burns.

The video was Directed by Bill Filipak with Stephen Shiveley as director of photography.

Buy the ‘Lying In The Sun’EP

Billy Joe Shaver To Release First Studio Album in Six Years “Long in the Tooth” August 5

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billy joe shaver- Long In The Tooth

Attention all Outlaw Country fans. I mean the REAL deal type.

On August 5 the legendary Billy Joe Shaver will release Long in the Tooth on Lightning Rod Records. The album will be release just before his 75th birthday on August 16. Of the album Shaver says it’s “the best album I’ve ever done.”

“Each song is different with different beats and different kinds of music,” he says. “I even have one rap song. The titles are all so catchy like ‘It’s Hard to Be an Outlaw’ and ‘The Git Go.’ Those are pretty hard to beat. Songwriting is gut wrenching, but if you dig down and write real honest you’ll find something real great. I believe everybody should write. It’s the cheapest psychiatrist there is and, God knows, I still need one.”

“I’ve written a lot of great songs and I’m still writing great songs, but I felt neglected. I have been, actually. The reluctance to play old people’s music is as bad as it was to play young people’s music. I think it should level out where everyone can hear good art, but it seems like radio doesn’t play older people’s music. Man, it’s like throwing out the Mona Lisa. I don’t understand, but I’m just so proud of Long in the Tooth. This record will be a gigantic step.”

As lauded a songwriter as Shaver is, he needed some convincing by none other than Todd Snider into making Long in the Tooth. “I didn’t think I had another hope in the world of doing another studio album,” Shaver says. “Then Todd Snider encouraged me to come up to Nashville and I listened. I knew if I didn’t come out with new songs, it wouldn’t be right. I’ve promised hundreds of critics that I would. So, I just buckled down and got the new songs together. Sure enough, it turned out great.”

I’ve seen Shaver live a few times over the past few years and I’m here to tell you he’s lost none of his fire and wit.

Long in the Tooth. is produced by Ray Kennedy and Gary Nicholson, and features appearances by WIllie Nelson, Leon Russell, Tony Joe White, Shawn Camp, Jedd Hughes, Joel Guzman and others.

Rolling Stone premiered the Billy Joe Shaver and Willie Nelson duet, “Hard to Be an Outlaw” (hear it below) The song is both a nostalgic lament and a swipe at Music Row pop-country. “Some superstars now days get too far off the ground, They sing about the back roads that they’ve never even been down. They go and call it country but that’s not how it sounds. It’s enough to make renegade want to terrorize the town.”

It’s not much of a stretch to imagine the town these texans imagine terrorizing would be Nashville.

Lee Ann Womack’s “The Way I’m Livin’” Out September 23rd

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Lee Ann Womack - The Way I’m Livin’

The Americana Music Conference and Festival offers many familiar names. But it’s not often that the name is a star from the Music Row side of the tracks.

In 2012 Lee Ann Womack was there in the thick of it. The multi-Grammy and CMA Award winner shared the stage with Tom T Hall and Peter Cooper to perform “I Love” at the Americana Music Awards. She also shared the Cannery stage with Buddy Miller to do a fantastic all request show.

It takes a lot of confidence to move from the glitter of the spotlight to the more song-centric world of Americana and win over that audience. Womack did it with ease.

On September 23rd Lee Ann Womack will further establish herself in the Americana world by releasing Way I’m Livin.’ The album is not only on the premier roots music Sugar Hill Records label (Marty Stuart, Sarah Jarosz,) it will feature interpretations of stellar artists like Chris Knight, Mindy Smith, Mando Saenz, Hayes Carll, Neil Young, Bruce Robeson, Roger Miller and the aforementioned Buddy Miller.

Womack appears to be doubling down on this new chapter in her life. And she’s done so keeping very fine songwriting company. But I’m certain she’ll ride no one’s coattails.

“I wanted songs that talked about how life really is, the raw spots, the tough places, the meltdowns and messy parts,” “Hard, sad, rough… all the stuff people pretend doesn’t exist! Because once you embrace that, you can figure out what to do; or not do!”

“And knowing these songs were written to be performed, not pitched, sets a bar! Every songwriter wrote intending to sing’em, to tell these stories, show these postcards, and you can feel the way they built the characters! Bringing that to music was just so incredible for everyone on the sessions.”

The record will be produced by Lee Ann’s husband, Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, David Nail) Womack’s last album, Call Me Crazy, came out in 2008, resulting in one top 20 country single Last Call.

Listen Up! Hellbound Glory – “Small Township” – Interview with Leroy Virgil

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hellbound10 copy

If anyone thought touring arenas with Kid Rock would dull Hellbound Glory’s country edge then “Small Township,” a boot-stomper from their upcoming “LV,” will render them mute.

It’s a stark take on the small-town life in hard times. Drugs, violence and desperation puts the trope often trotted out as a shortcut to wholesomeness on it’s ear.

Leroy Virgil of Hellbound Glory took time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions.

Twang Nation: Tell me about the new EP “LV.”

Leroy Virgil: I titled the album LV after my initials because most of it was recorded as a one-man band in the town I grew up in. I put a lot of myself onto the tape and I’ve never been more proud of any recording I’ve ever done. Call it my brand… my stamp of approval. The songs themselves are something like paragraphs in a story.

There is definitely a storyline. A beginning, a middle, and an end. The recording and the sounds that we got on tape are really something special and unique to this release. These songs, sonically, don’t sound like anything that I’ve released to date… but I won’t say I won’t revisit. I enjoyed the stripped down recording and Brian Smith captured something special in the mix.

TN: The record was recorded to analog tape at the Oceanside Recording Studio, but it’s being offered as a digital release only. Why? Are you trying to piss off Neil Young?

LV: The way we look at it, we’re taking advantage of the tools that are out there to get the new music in speakers as quickly as possible. This is the first release of a series… and I want them all to be special. That said; yeah, it’s a priority for me to release a physical copy, maybe vinyl eventually, but
it’s got to be special. It’s got to be right. We’ve got a busy year planned and a digital release right now makes the most sense and use of time. I’m putting the finishing touches on the second release
already.

TN: How have you changed as a songwriter through the history of Hellbound Glory?

LV: I don’t think I have actually. Not sure that a lot of folks know this but I’ve got about 3 or 4 albums worth of material ready to go. I just need the studio time! I guess I write what I write; sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, sometimes more serious songs. I just try not to push it and let the ideas develop.

TN: How have things changed for the band since playing arenas (opening for kid Rock)?

A: The work has become harder and we’ve made less money! It’s funny really, but in a good way. The Kid Rock tour gave me a wider perspective, a tour van, a booking agent and a chance to really focus on getting the Hellbound Glory business together.

TN: Many fans thought that tour would be your big break. Did it feel like it?

LV: Absolutely. Maybe not in the way some fans thought it might, but I never thought we’d do that tour and sell a million records in the first place. But yes, it was a big break and a very eye-opening experience that I learned a lot from. Not sure people understand this, but Kid Rock is a fan of independent country music, a music fan period, and I learned a lot just being out there. That eye-
opening experience… that IS the big break.

TN: What can fans look forward to on your upcoming tour?

LV: The tightest Hellbound Glory line-up I’ve ever had. Solid, Cohesive, Professional. A lot of new songs and I’m really focusing on my guitar playing. Call us a power trio. I’d like to add a steel player
one of these days… and have you ever heard Hellbound Glory with keys?

Buy LV

Americana Honors & Awards 2014 Nominees Announced – Rosanne Cash, Robert Ellis and Jason Isbell Lead The Way

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americana music association

The nominees were announced today in Nashville by the Americana Music Association, and what a great list of talent it is!

Rosanne Cash, Robert Ellis and Jason Isbell each had three nominations in the same categories of Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year.

Cash, Ellis and Isbell are nominated for Artist of the Year, along with Rodney Crowell. Cash’s “A Feather’s Not a Bird,” Ellis’ “Only Lies” and Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” along with Patty Griffin’s “Ohio” are up for Song of the Year.

Cash’s album “The River and the Thread” is up for Album of the Year against Ellis’ “The Lights From the Chemical Plant,” Isbell’s “Southeastern” and Sarah Jarosz’s “Build Me Up From Bones.”

While watching the nomination event online on the Music City Roots Livestream Ellis chimed in from Houston As his name was called once, twice, three times he responded on the messaging thread with genuine surprise and humility “Wow!” “Thank you all!” he typed.

Rosanne Cash tweeted that she was “Thrilled!!” yo learn of her nominations.

The other Americana Honors & Awards categories, Lake Street Dive , the Avett Brothers, the Devil Makes Three, Hard Working Americans, and the Milk Carton Kids are up for Duo/Group of the Year. Hurray for the Riff Raff, Parker Millsap, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Sturgill Simpson and Valerie June are in the vying for Emerging Act of the Year; and Larry Campbell, Buddy Miller, Fats Kaplin and Bryan Sutton are the nominees for Instrumentalist of the Year.

The awards will be handed out Sept. 17 at the Ryman Auditorium as part of the Americana Music Festival and Conference, happening Sept. 17-21 in Nashville. Jim Lauderdale will host the awards show, and Miller will lead the house an all-star band.

2014 AMERICANA HONORS & AWARDS NOMINEES

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Build Me Up From Bones, Sarah Jarosz
The Lights From The Chemical Plant, Robert Ellis
The River And The Thread, Rosanne Cash
Southeastern, Jason Isbell

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Rosanne Cash
Rodney Crowell
Robert Ellis
Jason Isbell

DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR
The Avett Brothers
The Devil Makes Three
Hard Working Americans
Lake Street Dive
The Milk Carton Kids

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Cover Me Up”, Jason Isbell
“A Feather’s Not A Bird”, Rosanne Cash
“Ohio”, Patty Griffin
“Only Lies”, Robert Ellis

EMERGING ACT OF THE YEAR
Hurray For The Riff Raff
Parker Millsap
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Sturgill Simpson
Valerie June

INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Larry Campbell
Fats Kaplin
Buddy Miller
Bryan Sutton

Americana Music Association to Announce 2014 Award Nominees Monday May 12, 2014

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americana music association

It’s that time of the years kids. This Monday, May 12th at 2PM ET/11AM PT, the Franklin, TN-based trade and advocacy organization The Americana Music Association will announce the nominees for the 2014 Americana Honors & Awards ceremony.

The hour-long program will be hosted by singer/songwriter and SiriusXM “Apron Strings” host Elizabeth Cook. The event wo;; feature performances from legends and long-time AMA boosters Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller. Also performing are some of the exciting new bloods, Hurray For The Riff Raff and Parker Millsap.

The event will be broadcast live from the SiriusXM Music City Theatre in downtown Nashville and broadcast live on SiriusXM Outlaw Country and streamed by Music City Roots.

Americana Music Association honors distinguished members of the music community with six member voted annual awards Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Emerging Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Duo/Group of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year, as well as Lifetime Achievement Awards, which will be announced leading up to the event.

The nominees will be announced for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Emerging Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Duo/Group of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year.

The winners of each category will be announced during the Americana Honors and Awards show on September 17, 2014 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. as part of the Americana Music Festival and Conference.

Celebrate National Train Day – Top Train Songs

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TrainWreck1

No other technology has held a thematic sway over roots and county music like the the railway system (okay, maybe distilling) The train has been a symbol of freedom that has catured the iamginction of songwrietrs or generations.

In celebrate National Train day here are some my personal and fan picked favorites.

As a teenager Eaglesmith hopped a freight train out to Western Canada, and began writing songs and performing. It;s natural he’d write a great son about them.

Steve Earle’s post-addiction and post-prison is arguably his best. The GRAMMY-nominated “Train a Comin’ featured older material written when Earle was in his late teens but it;s maturity is evident in songs like “Sometimes She Forgets,” Mercenary Song,” and “Mystery Train part II” whose lyrics finished the day it was recorded.

“Orphan Train” tells the story of the orphan trains operated between 1853 and 1929, relocating about 250,000 orphaned, abandoned, or homeless children to foster homes located largely in rural areas of the Midwest. Julie Miller adds just the right atmosphere to this contemporary dirge,

500 Miles is a folk classic credited to Hedy West and made popular by acts like Peter, Paul and Mary (it was the second track on their US #1, May 1962 debut album).A slightly altered version was a hit by Bobby Bare in 1963. Roseanne Cash does a hulluva version from her release “The List.”

Billy Joe Shaver, with his late son Eddie picking in the strat, made an instant classic with this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpEElGVgv24

Guy Clark wrote “Texas – 1947” bout the first time a diesel sped through his hometown of Monahans in West Texas.

“Ben Dewberry’s Final Run” by Andrew Jenkins was covered by Johnny Cash, Jerry Douglas, Steve Forbert, Bill Monroe, Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Snow. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings give it fine turn.

Orange Blossom Special” is a classic by Johnny Cash. Johnny burns up the mouth harp on this one at San Quentin.

City of New Orleans” is a folk song written by Steve Goodman describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans. Arlo Guthrie had a hit with i on his 1972 album Hobo’s Lullaby. The way I see it, when Willie Nelson does a song it stays done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnU2Tmqqv9g

Music Review: Nikki Lane – “All Or Nothin’ ” [New West Records]

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nikki lane - all or nothin

Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra had a fruitful professional relationship together, most famously working on the smash hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin.’” Though there’s no documented romantic involvement between the two, I believe I have proof of a stylistic offspring of their union. Nikki Lane’a newest release “All Or Nothin’ “ (drop, the “G”, make it real) has the twang, groove and soul DNA that made famed collaboration so successful.

Theres a rose-tinted romantic hopefulness in songs like “Good Man” and “I Don’t Care (About Anything But You)” They have a Wynette-like devotion that wears it’s big heart on a simple gabardine sleeve. “You Can’t Talk To Me Like That” imbues a Laurel Canyon shimmer glinting off this psychedelic-folk ditty reminiscent of Beck’s latest efforts.

But pining has limits and on “Seein Double” Lane licks her heartbroken wounds and hits the road. Producer and Black Key Dan Auerbach lends he voice (as well as his guitar chops which are all over this album) on “Love’s On Fire.” the cut starts as a simmer and heats up to a passion-fueled Rocky-Top-like jamboree. “Sleep With A Stranger” swaggers with energy and is a country-funk delight of sexual self-determination and late night risky businesses.

“All or Nothing” and “Man Up” channels Bobbie Gentry’s Muscle Shoals sessions with all it’s swampy, sultry beauty that fits perfectly with her swervey and austere voice. The latter let’s the subject in her crosshairs know her time is short and if you don’t step up your ass will end up like the gently-worn cowboy boots on the shelf of her Nashville vintage store.

Lane is the spiritual big sister to current Nashville darling Kacey Musgraves. Whereas Musgraves sings about human condition in somewhat wide-eyes naivety, Lane is sophisticated and wry. You can imagine her with a leather jacket, astride a vintage Indian motorcycle, handing a Musgrames “Sticky Fingers” vinyl before tearing down the highway in a cloud of dust.

What starts as a broken-hearted lament of sonic nostalgia careens forward to modern swinging twang looking for a good time. All the while serenaded by Gram Parsons playing in a saloon in a Quentin Tarantino flick.

Official Site | Buy

five_rate

Willie Nelson To Release New Album, “Band of Brothers,” Releases Video “The Wall”

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willie-nelson-album-2014-band-of-brothers

Willie Nelson, or as I like to call him the Texas Yoda, might have just celebrated his 81st birthday but he’s showing no signs of altering his prolific ways.

The Country Music hall of Famer will follow up his coed duets album, “To All the Girls…” with “Band of Brothers,” a new album due out June 17 on Legacy Records.

“Band of Brothers” will contain 14 tracks, nine of which are new Willie-penned, and none of the songs have been previously recorded by Nelson. There’s also an interpretation of Vince Gill’s “Whenever You Come Around” and a cover of campadre Billy Joe Shaver’s “The Git Go” that will feature outlaw acolyte Jamey Johnson.

Producer Buddy Cannon, who helmed Willie’s first three Legacy releases, is back. The band features Jim “Moose” Brown (keyboards), Eddie Bayers (drums), Kevin “Swine” Grantt (bass), Bobby Terry (guitar), Tommy White (steel guitar), Mickey Raphael (harmonica) and Trigger (Willie’s guitar), Willie Nelson recorded the bulk of Band of Brothers during sessions at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville with additional recording at Pedernales Studio, Austin, Texas and The Hit Factory Criteria, Miami, Florida. Recording sessions took place between October 2013 and March 2014.

Check the full track list below, and take a gander at the video for first single “The Wall” The song visits Willie’s his battles with addiction, relationships, and financial troubles. There is also scenes of a legendary life well lived.

Willie Nelson — Band of Brothers track list
1. Bring It On (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
2. Guitar in the Corner (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
3. The Wall (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
4. Whenever You Come Around (Vince Gill/Pete Wasner)
5. Wives and Girlfriends (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
6. I Thought I Left You (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
7. Send Me a Picture (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
8. Used to Her (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
9. The Git Go (Billy Joe Shaver/Gary Nicholson)
10. Band of Brothers (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)
11. Hard to Be an Outlaw (Billy Joe Shaver)
12. Crazy Like Me (Dennis Morgan/Shawn Camp/Billy Burnette)
13. The Songwriters (Gordie Sampson/Bill Anderson)
14. I’ve Got a Lot of Traveling to Do (Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon)

Shovels & Rope To Release Sophomore Album “Swimmin’ Time” August 26

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Shovels and Rope - Swimmin Time

Great news Twangers. The pride of Charleston, South Carolina, Shovels & Rope (Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent) release their sophomore album Swimmin’ Time (Dualtone Music) on August 26.

Swimmin’ Time is the highly-anticipated follow up to the band’s 2012 breakthrough debut O’ Be Joyful, which garnered unanimous praise from the press, followed on the heels by dozens of sold out shows, national television appearances, numerous year-end lists (including mine) booming album sales and major festival performances like Newport Folk, Lollapalooza and Sasquatch. Topping at all off the band also took home two of the top honors, Song of the Year (“Birmingham”) and Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2013 Americana Music Awards.

They should have been nominated for a GRAMMY as well, but I digress….

Whereas a good deal of O’ Be Joyful was recorded on the road when time allowed, Swimmin’ Time was done at their home studio in Charleston, SC. Trent again producing. Swimmin’ Time features 13 new songs that “that maintain the elemental Shovels & Rope songwriting and sound while incorporating new ingredients to the mix. From the heady harmonies of “The Devil Is All Around” and the quirky “Mary Ann & One-Eyed Dan” to the epic beauty of “After The Storm” and the Waits-ian “Ohio” fans are sure to be pleased and pleasantly surprised by some of the chosen new paths and dark turns.”

Sounds cool. No?

Here’s a song that the band is doing on the road that will be on Swimmin’ Time