News Round Up:WSM to Launch Live From The Loveless Cafe

  • Tune in tomorrow night to catch Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill perform together Wednesday’s Jay Leno Show. The pair on the West Coast participating in a series of All For the Hall benefit shows. Proceeds from the all-start line up, which also includes Melissa Etheridge, Dwight Yoakam, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Faith Hill and Taylor Swift, will allow Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to expand. (The Boot)
  • Dr. Ralph Stanley’s autobiography Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times will be released on October 15 (BluegrassJournal.com)
  • The Americana brand continues to grow! Legendary radio station, WSM 650-AM, will launch a weekly Americana program called Music City Roots: Live From The Loveless Cafe. The on Oct. 14 debut show will feature  the legendary Emmylou Harris,  acclaimed duo Pam Rose and Mary Ann Kennedy, and emerging artists Annie Crane and Robin Ainger. Artists slated to performing in the coming months include Sam Bush, Radney Foster, John Cowan, Dexter Romweber, Dale Ann Bradley, Peter Bradley Adams, Mike Farris, Scott Miller and Webb Wilder. Each Wednesday evening broadcast will feature three to four artists in 30-minute segments, followed by a free-form “Loveless Jam” where all the artists and their bands will be invited to collaborate on the fly. WSM will air the show Wednesday nights from 7 – 9 p.m. live from the Loveless Barn in Nashville, TN. Ticket are on sale for performances.

Merle Haggard – Legendary Performances Giveaway

’tis the season for giving and Ranch Twang is ready to do just that. I have a copy of Shout Factory’s Merle Haggard – Legendary Performances DVD that I will be giving away to some lucky reader.

Here’s the copy from the package:

“From the vaults of the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum, this collection features nearly two decades of Merle Haggard performances in his prime not seen since their original broadcast. Now, for the first time on DVD, experience the hits through a chronology of vintage live performances such as “Branded Man” (Country Music Holiday,1968), “Mama Tried” (Billy Walker’s Country Carnival, 1968) and “Okie From Muskogee” (The Porter Wagoner Show, 1970).”

I watched my own copy of the DVD and it’s good stuff and a must have for any Hag fan.

The DVD  listing:

“Branded Man” – Country Music Holiday (1968)
“The Bottle Let Me Down” – Country Music Holiday (1968)
“Swinging Doors” – Country Music Holiday (1968)
“Mama Tried” – Billy Walker’s Country Carnival (1968)
“I Started Loving You Again” – Billy Walker’s Country Carnival (1968)
“I Take A Lot Of Pride In What I Am” – Billy Walker’s Country Carnival (1968)
“The Fightin’ Side Of Me” – The Porter Wagoner Show (1970)
“Okie From Muskogee” – The Porter Wagoner Show (1970)
“Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)” – CMA Awards (1972)
“Workin’ Man Blues” – Pop! Goes The Country (1974)
“Movin’ On” – Pop! Goes The Country (1975)
“The Roots Of My Raising” – The Porter Wagoner Show (1977)
“Ramblin’ Fever” – Pop! Goes The Country (1977)
“That’s The Way Love Goes” – CMA Awards (1983)
“San Antonio Rose” – Johnny Cash Christmas Special (1983)

Extras:
Merle Haggard Interview (1981)
Merle Haggard’s Hall Of Fame Induction (1994)

Leave a post below with your favorite Hag song and I will randomly choose a winner at the end of the week (12/19). Good luck!

Paul Westerberg Offers to Pen Songs For Glen Campbell

  • 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.
  • 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.

The Railbenders to Play Denver’s Mile High Music Festival

  • The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will feature music from their 42 year career to Austin’s Riverside Arena stage at 9:15 p.m. Friday, July 18. D.C. Drifters & Friends opens the show.
  • The San Jose Mecury News has a nice piece on David Andersen who plays his 15-year-old Epiphone and greets tourists from around the world in the atrium of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Earl Scruggs said of Andersen “I love your pickin,’ son.”
  • Nashville Skyline’s always excellent Chet Flippo has good things to say about  Randy Travis’ upcoming release “Around the Bend (July 15)
  • For all you with laptop country music asperations Beta Monkey Music has released “Pure Country I: Rocking Nashville” a new set of drum loops targeted to Country music musicians. The loops come in many formats, including Apple Loops, which are compatible with GarageBand and Logic. Just bring a real drummer when you hit the road, folks.
  • There still seems to be some confusion why Tim McGraw dragged Marcus Nirschl 30, a union glazer from Kent, Wash. on stage at a Washington State performance and then had him thrown out of the show. There have been allegations the man assaulted a woman who was in one of the front rows but the YouTube video of the incident is inconclusive (Q: Does McGraw allways look so bored while on stage as he does in this clip?). The ejected fan says he’s still a fan of McGraw. “I still like the guy,” Nirschl said. “The music’s still great. I just don’t know why he wanted to punch me.”
  • Our thoughts go out to Elizabeth Cook on the passing of her mother. Cook has used her MySpace Blog to share her feelings uduring these rough times.