Category Archives: News

Deadwood Complete Series – December 9, 2008

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I read the other day that HBO was releasing the “Deadwood Complete Series” on December 9, 2008. The set contains the three seasons of this great. gritty and profanes masterpiece that HBO and creator/writer David Mitch collaborated on before it’s untimely and abrupt ending at the conclusion of it’s third season just when it was hitting it’s stride.  Part of the new package’s scant new bonus features is something called “The Meaning of Endings”narrated by David Mitch. I personally have not heard this portion of the DVD set, but my money is that this is gong to be Mitch trying to  justify abandoning a great series in order to do an unproven and short-lived one (John from Cincinnati.) The set is priced at $179.97 ($125.99  on Amazon.)

As a big fan of Deadwood, and someone that was bewildered by the short-sightedness of it’s cancellation, I have to look at this set and it’s lack of any new material (as well as the omission of Blu-Ray technology) and believe that HBO and Milch are just trying to cash in on the fans that they left hanging in 2006.

What a bunch of cocksuckers!

Lucinda Williams to Release Protest EP

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  • Hot on the heels of her new release “Little Honey” Lucinda Williams will release “Lu in 08,” a digital-only EP of protest songs just before the presidential elections (Oct. 28.) The EP will feature four live tracks, three of which are covers: Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War,” Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” and the Thievery Corporation/Wayne Coyne collaboration “Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun.” The fourth cut is the Williams original “Bone of Contention,” which was originally intended for inclusion on “Little Honey.” Williams is currently on the road in support of “Little Honey.”
  • Sure Ryan Adams can be a pretentious dick (I hate, HATE, country music), but he’s an undeniable talent especially live. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals will play a hometown Halloween show Oct. 31 at New York’s Apollo Theatre. The groups next Lost Highway album, “Cardinology,” will arrive Oct. 28. Fans who pre-order through iTunes will receive an immediate download of first single “Fix It.”

Hang Jones and Band of Annuals at Hotel Utah, Earl Pickens and Family to Perform “The Country-Fried Joshua Tree”

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It’s Friday night and I’m still sober so I’m gonna get a couple of show announcements out here before things take a bad turn…

My good friend Hang Jones (AKA Stephen Grillos) will be playing Hotel Utah here in beautiful San Francisco Tuesday next 10/21st at 9pm. Hang will be sharing the stage with Utah’s Band of Annuals. This is a show not to be missed so grab the Missus, crank over the Fury and head on into town to catch this.
This next show seems so brazen that I was sure it was going to be a car wreck, but the YouTube video convinced me otherwise. Earl Pickens and Family will perform “The Country-Fried Joshua Tree” Saturday, November 1st at Cherry Alley Cafe (c’mon Cherry Alley! Get a damn web site I can link to!)  in Lewisburg, PA at 7 PM. Jessie Yamas, Bruce W. Derr, Bob Albin, Jake Kline and Earl will perform an acoustic, countrified rendition of the classic U2 album The Joshua Tree, in its entirety. Yeah, I know that’s what I thought…

    Cherry Alley Cafe
    21 N. 3rd Street / Lewisburg, PA
    Tickets $8, $5 for students
    tickets available at Cherry Alley Cafe
    You out-of-towners can buy tickets for the Country Fried Joshua Tree show by mail if you so desire. Send a check, made out to Earl Pickens, to PO Box 82, Lewisburg, PA 17837. Shoot Earl an email at earl@earlpickens.com letting him know that you’re ordering by mail.

    Earl Pickens and Family – Where The Streets Have No Name

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tin4_L9WLCE[/youtube]

    Johhny Cash’s America on The Biography Channel

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    A new documentary on country music legend “Johnny Cash’s America,” will air on The Biography Channel  on 10/23.  It examines Cash’s life, music, and influence on 20th century American history. It’s already premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival.  Commentary from as diverse a collection as Al Gore, Bob Dylan, Snoop Dogg, and Merle Haggard are featured in the film.

    The Biography Channel also offers a nice section of it’s web site outlining Cash’s life.

    Johnny Cash’s America

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dr8rabYlUE[/youtube]

    Tim McGraw is Apologizing to Fans for Latest Release

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    • PopMatters.com has a nice posting on Lucinda Williams’ new Lost Highway release “Little Honey” and on Columbus, Ohio’s Two Cow Garage.
    • If you’re in Nashville this Friday October the 17th totally blow off mall-country teeny-bopper Taylor Swift’s show and head down to see Justin Townes Earle with Caitlin Rose and Chris Scruggs at the Exit/In. Rose’s mom, Liz, has penned a few of Taylor Swift’s biggest hits so it’ll kind of be like being there but without the crappy music (Rose’s mom’s cuts excluded, of course.)
    • As if that weren’t enough Junior Brown will bring his guit-fiddle wizardry to Nashville on the same night (9/17) at the Station In.
    • Tim McGraw is apologizing to his fans for the labels decision to put out his third greatest hits collection. “I am saddened and disappointed that my label chose to put out another hits album instead of new music. I’ve only had one studio album since my last hits package. It has to be just as confusing to the fans as it is to me. I had no involvement in the creation or presentation of this record.” Hey Time, now how about apologizing for the rest of the crap you’ve put out in your career (excluding the cuts penned by my uncle, of course.)
    • The Times Colonist of Canada has a nice write up of Kris Kristofferson’s show at the McPherson Playhouse in Victoria, British Columbia “…last night, before an adoring sold-out crowd at the McPherson Playhouse, a huge dose humility is what worked best for veteran singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. The native of Brownsville, Texas, opened his Victoria debut with Shipwrecked in the 80’s, which he delivered in a plainspoken manner befitting of a folk singer. Dressed in black jeans with a black shirt, an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder and harmonica rack around his neck, Kristofferson, 72, cut quite a figure. The giveaway to his country past? Dusty cowboy boots. Pure Kristofferson.”

    Politics in Country Music

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    It’s that time in America again. We as a nation are generally disinterested in exercising our civil duty as citizens of this great Democracy by voting, but every four years we move from general disinterest to the mild annoyance that moves a third of us to vote for president.

    It always sort of makes me cringe when a celebrity speaks out about politics. Sure if they have the right to speak out about the issues that concern them, but their fame is not based on their adept understanding of foreign policy or economic issues so they typically come off looking goofy and damaging their brand. So why is country music different?

    I tuned into the news today to see Hank Williams Jr. warming up a crowd in Virginia for Republican candidate for president John McCain (actually he warmed them up for GOP vice-president candidate Sarah Palin who then warmed them up for McCain) (edit: you can hear his campaign song “McCain-Palin Tradition here), John Rich (the shorter, darker half of Big and Rich) penned McCain a song “Raisin’ McCain”, Merle Haggard wrote ‘Let’s Put a Woman in Charge” for the Hillary Clinton campaign, Ralph Stanley recently endorsed Democratic candidate for president Barack Obama and Obama used Brooks & Dunn’s “Only In America” played after his acceptance speech at the DNC convention in Mile High Stadium.

    Personally I’m glade that country/roots music is taking more of bipartisan approach to politics and no longer just seen as the birthright to either party. How about you reader? What do you think of country music in politics?

    Kris Kristofferson – In The News

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

    Happy Birthday Dale Watson!!

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    First off -  Happy Birthday Dale Watson! Bubba you’re the Deal Deal!

    The Villiage Voice has some choice (and funny) words about the new Lee Ann Womack release “Call Me Crazy.” “PowerPoint presentation in Music Row Pandering 10…” Ha!

    Chris Parton over at the CMT blog has a brief, but still cool, observation of the Nashville Hank III show.

    It seems that Willie Nelson has asked the King of Country Western Troubadours Unknown Hinson and Billy Bob Thorton’s band The Boxmasters to open some shows for him starting November 21 and ending around December 9. This should be a great show so get out therre and see it if you can. On a releated note Unknown Hinson and the Boxmasters will be  crashing on Regis and Kelly on oct 17. Damn, I wasn’t ware those boys could get up that early!

    Dale Watson – Country My Ass

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

    NoDepression.com Debuts

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    A greatly expanded and enhanced NoDepression.com makes its debut today, NoDepression.com is edited by No Depression co-founder Peter Blackstock and will feature contributions from many of the magazine’s longtime senior editors and contributing editors, as well as content from the magazine’s back-issue archives. The site was created by The Old State, a web design and development firm in Dallas, Texas. No Depression received significant assistance in creating the new site through contributions from its Founders Circle, a cast of more than 200 donors whose names appear on  the Founders Circle page.

    A series of 15  NoDepression.com Launch Shows will be held October 15-23  in conjunction with MusiCares, a foundation designed to assist musicians in times of financial, personal or medical crisis. Plans are also in the works for a July 2009 No Depression Festival to be held in the Seattle area.

    Also appearing in early October is the first No Depression “bookazine,” part of a new twice-annual series of print publications issued through University of Texas Press. The bookazine, edited by Blackstock and ND co-founder Grant Alden, combines book and magazine elements to carry on No Depression’s tradition of publishing long-form music journalism.

    NoDepression.com Launch Shows:

    Oct. 15: Nick Lowe, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
    Oct. 15: Alejandro Escovedo, Fine Line, Minneapolis, MN
    Oct. 16: Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet, Bijou Theatre, Knoxville, TN
    Oct. 17: Jimmy Webb, Schubas, Chicago, IL
    Oct. 17: Lucinda Williams, War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville, TN
    Oct. 17: Chatham County Line and Thad Cockrell, Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
    Oct. 17: Minus 5, Mission Theate, Portland, OR
    Oct. 18: Minus 5 and Band Of Annuals, Tractor Tavern, Seattle, WA
    Oct. 18: James McMurtry and Mando Saenz, Granada Theater, Dallas, TX
    Oct. 18: Crooked Still, Iron Horse, Northampton, MA
    Oct. 19: Crooked Fingers, Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO
    Oct. 19: Lucinda Williams, Pageant, St. Louis, MO
    Oct. 20: The Duhks, Smith’s Olde Bar, Atlanta, GA
    Oct. 21: Rodney Crowell, Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
    Oct. 22-23: Carrie Rodriguez, Cactus Cafe, Austin, TX

    Billy Joe Shaver indicted in 2007 Texas shooting

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    From the Associated Press: WACO, Texas (AP) — A McLennan County grand jury has indicted country singer Billy Joe Shaver on felony charges for his alleged role in an April 2007 shooting at a Lorena bar.

    Shaver, 69, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony, and a charge of unlawful carrying of a handgun by a licensed holder on a licensed premises, a third-degree felony, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported in its online edition Wednesday.

    An official at the McLennan County Jail in Waco told The Associated Press that Shaver had not turned himself in Wednesday night.

    Messages left by the AP for Shaver’s last known attorney and to his representative seeking comment after business hours weren’t immediately returned.

    One witness said Shaver followed the victim, Billy B. Coker, out of Papa Joe’s Texas Saloon in Lorena on April 1, 2007, and asked, “Where do you want it?” before shooting him in the face, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed last year.

    Another witness said that after hearing gunfire, she went outside and heard Shaver say to Coker, “Tell me you are sorry,” and “Nobody tells me to shut up,” according to the affidavit signed by then-acting Lorena Police Chief John Moran.

    Coker, who was treated and released, told police last year that the shooting was unprovoked.

    An attorney for Shaver said at the time that Coker was drunk, aggressive and had a knife and that he followed Shaver outside.

    End Associated Press. My take? Mr. Coker is looking to make his mistake into a pay bay.