It’s great to see all the Sailors walking New York City in their dress whites! This goes out to the brave folks that risk it all to protect us.
“Dress Blues” – Jason Isbell
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJb1_EGnapY[/youtube]
Tag Archives: Country Music
Rod Stewart’s Cowboy Dreams Denied
Seems there will be at least one singer that won’t be jumping the genre fence anytime soon. Ireland on-line reports that Rod Stewart is enraged with music label bosses at J Records for not giving him the green light to record country classics release.
He says: “Everybody there (at J Records) is against that, which makes me want to do it even more. Apparently, the idea didn’t test well, whatever that means.”
I’m amazed that someone with Stewart’s pedigree still has to ask the label bosses permission to record music. Perhaps he should hire Trent Reznor as a music business consultant. Then again, after listening to his take on the pop classics I believe that Stewart’s country music longings are probably are better off being denied.
Pop Matters Features Miranda Lambert
PopMatters.com features 20 questions with Miranda Lambert. A highlight:
Of those who’ve come before, the most inspirational are?
Merle Haggard has been my inspiration. Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris are close behind. Since I’ve been writing songs and performing, Allison Moorer and Jack Ingram have been big idols of mine. All of these artists have written about what’s true even if it’s not always a pretty picture.
Miranda Lambert “Gunpowder & Lead” Fresno, CA
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLC81Q49dyQ[/youtube]
It Burns When I Pee Episode #15
Has it been a year already? BWIP turns calibrates their one-year anniversary with an interview with Wayne Gottstine from Split Lip Rayfield great music from Split Lip Rayfield, The Sluggos, and Scroat Belly (all with our special guest Wayne Gottstine). We also have music from Justin Towns Earle, The Honky Tonk Hustlas, and Missy Gossip and The Secret Keepers and a special dedication final song.
Illustration by Christoph Mueller
Dwight Yoakam to make 24th appearance on ‘The Tonight Show’
From the Associated Press – Dwight Yoakam will make his 24th appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” this week, breaking the record for most musical performances by any artist. Yoakam, 51, is currently tied with Lyle Lovett for the show’s most musical performances with 23. Besides his appearances with Leno, Yoakam also was on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” six times, beginning in 1986.
Some of the appearances that stand out the time he and his late friend and mentor Buck Owens went on together to sing “Streets of Bakersfield.” Or when he flew 20 hours nonstop to entertain troops with Leno in the Middle East during the holidays.
“The great thing about everybody there is they’ve always been very willing to allow me the latitude to do what I wanted to do. I did things like ‘Back of Your Hand,’ which was a very low-key track. One time I went on with a (Latin) brass section and did ‘Silver Bells.'”
Yoakam’s latest album is “Dwight Sings Buck,” a musical tribute to his friend. When he does the show Thursday, one of the tunes he plans to perform is the Owens classic “Act Naturally.”
Dwight Yoakam & Buck Owens – Street of Bakersfield – The Tonight Show
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niberYoJako[/youtube]
Justin Townes Earle Live Cuts at Hearya.com
- Hearya.com has posted four great live cuts from Justin Townes Earle. The cuts are “Lone Pine Hill,” “Who Am I To Say,”
“Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me” and “Turn Out My Lights.” The session was recorded along with his live show
accompaniment and friend Cory Younts. - Tickets for the July 5, 2008 Hootenanny in Orange County CA are on sale now.Some of the artists scheduled to appear are Mike Ness,BR549’s Chuck Mead,Royal Crown Revue, Cadillac Tramps, Grant Lee Phillips, Big Sandy, James Intveld, Guana Batz, Throw Rag, Blood on the Saddle, Roger Allen Wade, Russel Scott, Powerflex 5, Chris Schiflet, Dusty Rhodes, Rickey Warwick, Sh*tkickers, Hellbound Hayride and Wil Ridge
- Aquarium Drunkard has a great post on a two-volume Dirty Laundry compilation that rounds up a collection of black country-soul cuts from the sixties and seventies. Samples offered are James Brown doing Hank Williams’ “Your Cheating Heart” and Bettye Swann doing “Just Because You Can’t Be Mine.”
- CMT’s Unplugged at Studio 330 has Shooter Jennings playing some cuts off his latest release The Wolf.”
20 Questions With Eleven Hundred Springs
Galleywinter holds a Q&A with Matt Hillyer, lead singer, guitarist and primary songwriter of Texas’ best country band working today Eleven Hundred Springs. Hillyer talks about his influences, Texas musicians and juke joints, the stories behind some of EHS songs and the band’s upcoming Lloyd Maines produced release Country Jam (Palo Duro Records)
20. What do you see as the main difference between the music you’re making and the stuff you hear on mainstream radio?
We’re trying desperately to get back to the heart and soul of country music. You’ve got to get the blues back in to it. That heartfelt feeling that rings true for everyone. We’re trying to keep the formula simple in hopes it will be classic…or at least pay tribute to something classic.
(via the 9513)
If you find yourself in the Dallas area on May 31st get over to the Granada Theater to catch EHS for their CD release party and 10 year anniversary.
Willie Nelson to Appear in Snoop Dog Video
The Texas Yoda will appear in hip hop artist Snoop Dog’s latest video for his country-tinged song (co-wriiten by Everlast) “My Medicine”
Snoop says of the video “It has a country-music feel to it. I shot the video in Amsterdam and Nashville during the Country Music Awards. It feels good to me to be able to make music. It’s not a typical hip-hop song, but once people listen to it and see the visual effect to it, they’re gonna enjoy it.”
“I get to be a gun-slinging cowboy with my brim on, my boots on, my jeans on, my long jacket, jumping off a horse,” he added. “Walking into a brothel, spitting game, leaving with a dame and the money, mannn.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyLReBNDlnk[/youtube]
Country Music Hall of Fame Member Eddy Arnold Dies
Country Music Hall of Fame member in (1966) Eddy Arnold died on May 8, 2008, in Franklin, Tennessee, just one week short of his 90th birthday.
Arnold brought country music into the 1940’s pop world then inhabited by crooners like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby
was second only to George Jones in the number of individual hits on the country charts and is the all-time leader
in an overall ranking for hits and their time on the charts. From 1945 through 1983 he had 145 charted songs, including 28 number-one hits.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3alnvcAZ50[/youtube]
9513 Recounts The Stagecoach Music Festival
The fine folks over at the 9513 are recounting the events from this years 3 day Stagecoach Music Festival at Indio CA
(right down interstate 10 from Palm Springs.)
I hope to catch Stagecoach next year because it offers a wide array of talent that country music all at one geographically beautiful venue.