Has the monetary success of Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson allowed mainstream Nashvegas artists, Like Tim McGraw, to explore their dark side? (Country’s Raw Side: Don’t Like It? Tough! – New York Times) The 9513′s Matt Griffin draws comparisons to Levon Helm’s newest release, Electric Dirt, and Johnny Cash’s latter career reviving American Recordings. The [...]
I chimed in the chorus of the WTF! when Deadwood was prematurely deep-sixed by HBO in August 2006 and finally lost hope after following the Internet rumors of the back and forth between the HBO brass and the series creator David Milch. I now believe that Milch did everything he could to save the series, [...]
Canada.com posts a feature on the upcoming album of classics by Willie Nelson, American Classic – Willie Nelson returns to ‘the good songs’ (release 8/25) The New York Times also features a piece on Willie Nelson’s American Classic. The Boston Herald posts a feature on honky-tonk neo-traditionalist Paul Burch- Looking for authentic country soul? Burch [...]
Anyone catch Elvis Costello on David Letterman last night? He played the title cut from his new Americana album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane Costello was joined onstage by Americana legend Jim Lauderdale. This isn’t the performance (I will post it when I find it) but it is Letterman from ’96 and pretty sweet rendition of [...]
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 [...]
There seems to be a bonanza of tribute albums coming out recently but few I’m really looking forward to, this is one of those, Jeffrey Foucault’s tribute to John Prine entitled: Moon Right Between the Eyes: Jeffrey Foucault Sings the Songs of John Prine. The album will drop on February 17th from Signature Sounds Recordings. [...]
Bill Chapin at MLive Music is posting his “entry in my Albums of the Aughts series, highlighting 50 great or near-great albums released since Jan. 1, 2000.” Albums of the Aughts No. 5 is the old time music juggernaut from Dec. 5, 2000 the T-Bone Burnett produced “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack featuring Alison [...]
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are confirmed as performers at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony and telecast in Los Angeles (February 8th,2009) The backing band will include acclaimed performer and ‘Raising Sand’ producer T Bone Burnett, and a stellar cast of musicians from the Raising Sand album and tour. The event will mark both [...]
Peter Cooper at the Tennessean.com posts a great piece on RFD TV network’s The Marty Stuart Show. Cooper reports that the country music legend Stuart modeled after The Porter Wagoner Show, The Wilburn Brothers Show, The Flatt & Scruggs Show. Pretty good company to keep and miles away from the pop fluff being crammed down [...]
The fine folks over at the 9513 drew my attention to some good stuff this AM. LaundroMatinee has several videos from a Joe Pug live performance, including the unreleased songs “Not So Sure” and “Bury Me Far From My Uniform,” and there’s a video for “Old Enough,” a new bluegrass-inspired single by the The Raconteurs [...]