• According to the Guardian and Paste Magazine it appears that Paul Westerberg, former lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter of alt-rock band The Replacements, wants to be Glen Campbell’s “next Jimmy Webb.” Webb penned 70’s pop hits like “Up, Up, and Away” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” for Campbell. Those are reported to be the words Westerberg used when requesting his manager to make arrangements to write songs for Campbell’s upcoming album after discovering that Campbell covered the Minnesota band’s “Sadly Beautiful”on Campbell’s latest release Meet Glen Campbell.

• The New York Times addresses the legacy of Hank Williams by focusing on the excellent “Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy” currently on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (on through 12/09) and a 3 CD box-set called “The Unreleased Recordings” the first installment of unearthed radio transcriptions to be issued by Time Life.

• With a long career as a cracker-jack guitarist and co-hosting the hit country variety show Hee Haw with his friend Buck Owens Roy Clark is not resting on his laurals and will be hitting the road with another old friend, Mel Tillis, for a string of upcoming tour dates.

• Ellensburg, Washington based alt.country artist Star Anna is already a Twang Nation favorite and has tickled our fancy even further by offering an excellent ‘Crooked Path Live EP‘ available for download at Amazon. The digital four track EP release includes live versions of Crooked Path, Bed That I’ve Made, Five Minutes To Midnight and a never before released track, Push It Through. Star Anna will be appearing at Seattle’s Bumbershoot music festival.

• Texas Yoda and Country Music legend Willie Nelson’s debut novel “A Tale Out Of Luck” (Center Street Books) should not to be confused with Willie’s album “A Tale Out of Luck” which features the excellent song “Home Motel.” The book is the story of Retired Texas Ranger Captain Hank Tomlinson who must attempt to keep his sons safe from vengeful Comanche warriors while trying to catch a murderer who he knows will soon strike again. The name of the book and the album are a play off the name of Luck Texas which is an old western town built in 1986 on Willie Nelson’s ranch for the filming of “Red Headed Stranger.

• Four-time GRAMMY winner and Country Music Icon Marty Stuart will premiere his new television series The Marty Stuart Show this November starting with the first 26 episodes airing Sunday nights on RFD-TV.  The Marty Stuart Show will begin production in September at Nashville’s NorthStar Studios, home of RFD-TV. The 30-minute episodes, hosted and produced by Stuart, will be a part of RFD-TV’s new Sunday night prime time lineup with HEE HAW, Postcards From Nebraska, and Music & Motors.  Each show will feature music by Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, as well as his wife Country Queen Connie Smith and performance segments from the best that country music and American music has to offer.  Radio personality Eddie Stubbs will serve as the show’s announcer and Stuart’s sidekick on every episode.
• Stuart  will also release his second photography book Country Music: The Masters on Nov. 11.   Chicago’s Source Books will publish the 342 page collection that includes Stuart’s personal photos of friends including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Ray Charles and more.   The book’s forward is written by long-time pal and country music fan Billy Bob Thornton.

Some things are naturally occurring, Texas Summer heat , death, taxes and Dwight Yoakam at some point in his career would release an album of covers by his mentor and friend Buck Owens.

After his fist release Dwight was soon introduced to the Texas native and they collaborated on Buck’s revived “The Streets of Bakersfield” to top the charts in 1988. The two stayed good friends until Buck Owen’s death on March 25, 2006 of a heart attack only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant and club.

Since releasing his first major label debut “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.” in 1986 Yoakam has been the heir apparent of the twangy, electrified, rock-influenced flavor of hardcore honky-tonk entitled the Bakersfield sound (from it’s regional birthplace Bakersfield, CA.) and made famous by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Like it’s mountain cousin Bluegrass, Bakersfield is the kind of music that separates the country music aficionado from the tourist. It wears it’s hillbilly roots on it’s Nudie suited spangled sleeve while also using rock arrangements and technology to move forward.

The Bakersfield sound was also a bracing counter to the syrupy country-pop being produced in Nashville in the ’60s. Yoakam was able to deftly revive the sound in the ’80s in reaction to the very same insipid country music environment.

Now comes the inevitable and precisely if obviously titled “Dwight Sings Buck.” A reprisal of fifteen of Buck Owens’ greatest releases including 11 top five hits, eight of which reached #1 on the country charts, spanning 1956 to 1967. Though there are no real stretches or deviations with Dwight’s arrangements of these familiar classics, there are some pleasant tweaks here and there.

The release kicks things off with a bang with “My Heart Skips A Beat” to let you know just what is in store. Rave up electrified guitars twang out a solid back beat. The songs melts deftly into “Foolin Around” with an even faster beat and innocent double entendres. The breadth of this release and Dwight masterful delivery of the songs reminds the listener just how influential Buck Owens was and how his Hee Haw corn-pone persona allowed people to dismiss him as the innovator he was on country and rock.

“Only You” is a cut with a noticeable difference in arrangement. It’s still a slow loping testament to lost love but Dwight starts out the song with an organ bringing to mind a church procession. The song then moves into a waltz and Dwight’s voice aches, cracks and brings out the lonely ache of wanting in the song’s lyrics.

That same ache also occurs on Dwight Sings Buck’s first released single “Close Up The Honky Tonks.” That ache that is at once lonely and comforting when you realize someone is out there putting these universal feelings to hillbilly poetry.

This Fall is shaping up to be a great one for country fans, Dwight Sings Buck is the joyous and passionate release on the top of that list.

Dwight Yoakam - Close Up The Honky Tonks

While in Bakersfield, CA. to perform at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace to celebrate the late legend’s birthday Dwight Yoakam took some time to talk to 23.com about his upcoming Owen’s tribute “Dwight Sings Buck”(Oct. 25 - New West)

An excerpt - Saddened by thoughts of Owens not being alive to celebrate, Yoakam, a longtime friend of Owens, said, “It’s always a little melancholy now. It was New Year’s Eve the first time I was here since he passed, to do this without him being in the building. Sometimes when he didn’t feel well he’d go home early. It was never with him not coming back.”

Dwight Yoakam - Close Up the Honky Tonks - Crystal Palace, Bakersfield, CA.

Dwight Yoakam has finally made the MySpace plunge (or some lackey at New West Records has) and as a fine intro to the new page New West has posted a snippit of “Close Up the Honky Tonks” from the forthcoming tribute to Buck Owens “Dwight Sings Buck” (Oct. 23).

Longtime admirer of Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam has recorded a tribute to the Sherman, TX native on “Dwight Sings Buck,” due Oct. 23 via New West. The track list includes covers of all 11 of Owens’ top five country hits, including “Act Naturally,” “My Heart Skips a Beat” and “I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me).”

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Buck Owens American Music Foundation, which serves to safeguard the legacy of Owens and his signature electric Bakersfield sound that arose from California in the 1950s.

“After his death, it was the clearest way I could express my love for him and acknowledge the depth of our friendship” says Yoakam. Owens died in Bakersfield last March at age 76.

Tracklist:

“My Heart Skips a Beat”
“Foolin’ Around”
“I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)”
“Only You”
“Act Naturally”
“Down on the Corner of Love”
“Cryin’ Time”
“Above and Beyond”
“Love’s Gonna Live Here”
“Close Up the Honky Tonks”
“Under Your Spell Again”
“Your Tender Loving Care”
“Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache)”
“Think of Me”
“Together Again”