I hope everyone had a great Independence Day. I spent America’s 234th birthday seeing some great music by Hang Jones, at the park with  family and friends eating, watching spectacular stuff bow up and watching Brock Lesnar stop being pummeled long enough to submit Shane Carwin with a arm-triangle choke. Ah, American values….I wanted to take some time to post some cool things I found around the web celebrating this great day.

S.P. Gass at NoDepression.com asked for recommendations for a Americana/roots Independence Day playlist. And the members (incl. yours truly) came up with a doozy.

Willie Nelson took his legendary picnic to Bee Cave, Texas’ Backyard  and featured Johnny Bush, Kris Kristofferson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Leon Russell, Jody Nix and the Texas Cowboys Billy Joe Shaver canceled his showing at the picnic due to health reasons. We hope he ‘s doing well.

FrontLoader.com has posted some a mother load of independence goodness. MP3 outtakes from the quintessential American musician, Johnny Cash. These cuts are from his American recording sessions (of course) with Rick Rubin he did at the end of his life.

and s[peaking of the Man in Black...

I know I haven’t been posting much lately. Besides the uptick in my  frequency of the Twang Nation twitter feed and preparing for a move (down the street) but I wanted to do a quick list for Fathers Day. Being a dad it’s close to my heart and there are some great songs out there. Please I saw Darrell Scott  is giving away a free download of his song, A Father’s Song for the occasion so It moved me to get something done. Here’s some of my favorites, got one of your own? Post it below. Thanks for reading.

The Drive By Truckers : Oufit – Jason Isbell shows Southern soul telling a tale of a  man giving sage advice to his son.

Drive-By Truckers: Daddy Needs A Drink – Yeah, I’m showing my DBT bias here, but great songs are where you find them. Patterson Hood embodys a man worn out by life and seeking liquid refuge.

Dixie Chicks: Godspeed (Sweet Dreams) – Sure Natalie Maines sings this beautiful song, written by Austin legend Radney Foster, but the sentiment of parental love is transcendent. Emmylou Harris ‘ vocals near the end seal the deal.

Elton John: My Father’s Gun – From the excellent Americana classic Tumbleweed Connection. A boy inherits his father’s firearm as well as his hatred of the Yanks.

Lee Canner: Distant Father – One of my twitter followers sent me this as an anti-Father’s Day song from the Victor Mourning’s Stephen Lee Canner. Chilling and lovely Gothic Americana.

Michael Dean Damron: Father’s Day – Love this guy and this song from his latest.

A Boy Names Sue – Johnny Cash sings Shel Silverstein’s wry tale about a father’s peculiar form of character development.

I want to share one of my favorite songs for this holiday weekend. The Ballad of Ira Hayes, written by the folk singer Peter La Farge,  tells the story of Ira Hayes, a Pima Native American and one of the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who raised the flag  on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. Hayes came home to a hero’s welcome, but after the grandeur had subsided he went on to live a troubled life of alcoholism and depression. On January 24, 1955, Hayes was found dead, lying face down in the mud. I don’t write to this to depress you, I, and I believe the song, just want to remind America we need to take care of these soldiers when they get home.

The song has been recorded many times; the most popular version is by Johnny Cash.Others that have covered the song are Patrick Sky, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Kinky Friedman.

Thanks to all that serve and have served. We are proud of you.

Please share some of your below.

• In true DIY fashion The Johnny Cash Project is a “global collective art project” that allows fans from all over the world to contribute to a arrogated, user-generated video for the title track from the latest Johnny Cash recording American VI: Ain’t No Grave. The single images are then threaded together into a one-of-a-kind labor of love. I only wish the Man in Black has lived to see this.

• John Prine fans are about to hit pay-dirt. On May 25th, 2010, Oh Boy Records (founded in 1981 by Prine and manager Al Bunetta) will release the live In Person & On Stage, which will draw from performances spanning the past several years and covering songs from as far back as Prine’s 1971 debut and as recently as 2005′s acclaimed Fair & Square. Then Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine will be released on on June 22nd (Oh Boy) and will feature Prine compositions interpreted by devotees such as My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, The Avett Brothers, Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lambchop, Drive-By Truckers, Deer Tick featuring Liz Isenberg, Justin Townes Earle, Those Darlins, and, reprising their respective tracks from In Person & On Stage, Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins and Josh Ritter. Oh Boy will begin a pre-sale for In Person & On Stage on April 20thand for Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows on April 27th at www.musicfansdirect.com.

• The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has announced it will pay tribute to the legendary Tammy Wynette with an exhibit titled Tammy Wynette: First Lady of Country Music. Presented by Great American Country (GAC) the exhibit will open in the Museum’s East Gallery on August 20, 2010, and run through June 2011.

• More news from the The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. An upgrade to the Hall’s core collection, Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music, are expected to be completed next month. The updates, which focus on country music’s last five decades, will bring the story of country music forward in time and conclude with a glimpse of the future. They will highlight the country-rock, pop-country, southern rock, full-strength classic country and the “Urban Cowboy” craze. The upgrade includes new oversized portraits, video clips and artifacts such as Dolly Parton’s handwritten lyrics to Jolene, Tom T. Hall’s acoustic guitar he purchased from songwriter Merle Kilgore, and items from Ronnie Milsap, Kenny Rogers, Mel Tillis, and Tanya Tucker. Other updates focus on the mid-1980s arrival of artists like Dwight Yoakam, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Randy Travis and Steve Earle. New exhibits celebrate contemporary bluegrass and Americana artists, ranging from Alison Krauss and Del McCoury to Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale.

• On this day in 1932 Johnny Cash was born J. R. Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas, to Ray (1897–1985) and Carrie Cash (1904–1991)

• Johnny Cash scholars are lobbying Sony records to release Cash’s 1964 album Bitter Tears, a protest album with songs written by Cash, Peter La Farge and Johnny Horton,. The album takes up the cause that Cash focused on throughout his life, our nation’s mistreatment of Native Americans. Leading the campaign is Antonino D’Ambrosio, author of the book  A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears.

• The Boston Globe looks back at Johnny Cash’s pivotal and influential Rick Rubin produced American Recordings and finds the final American VI – Ain’t No Grave  the Man in Black’s most compelling.

• Johnny Cash’s “Guess Things Happen That Way” was the 10 billionth song sold through Apple’s itunes music store. This milestone download earned Louie Sulcer, a 71-year-old retired real estate broker, a congratulatory phone call from Apple’s chief executive Steve Jobs, a $10,000 iTunes gift card, a call from Rosanne Cash, thanking him for buying one of her father’s tunes. She then put her husband, the musician John Leventhal, on the phone to play live the winning song. (New York Times)

• Rick Rubin Remembers Johnny Cash and reflects on Cash’s health, song choices and the just released final album American VI: Ain’t No Grave. (New York Magazine)

• Just in time for the new release JohnnyCash.com has gotten a slick new makeover.

• The big for fans of the Man In Black is that Rick Rubin’s American Records will release American VI: Ain’t No Grave, the final volume in the American series that  helped revitalize Johnny Cash’s career beginning in the early 90′s, after he was unceremoniously dropped from Mercury Records. February 26 would have been Cash’s 78th birthday. (New York Times)

• The economy may be for the dogs but it seems like it’s every week I find out about another ,usic festival cropping up. This time it’s Austin’s Americana focused Old Settler’s Music Festival (April 15-18) who have just released a partial line up list: Joe Ely, Patty Griffin, The Travelin’ McCourys, Fred Eaglesmith, Buddy Miller, Peter Rowan, The Lee Boys, The Gourds, Band of Heathens, Radney Foster, Blue Highway, Mindy Smith, Alison Brown with Joe Craven, The Infamous Stringdusters, Bearfoot, Solas, The Special Consensus, The Wronglers, Elizabeth Cook, Ruby Jane. Sounds like a winner. Grab those tickets, this one will fill up fast.

• I was lucky enough to catch Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard as they headed out to a brief 4 city tour, the first time they had appeared on stage together.  This legendary dup will appear once more for one show (as far as I can tell) at Ft. Worth’s Bass Performance Hall on February 17. (Pagasus News)

• If you missed it today on NPR, you can head over to the Fresh Air site and listen to T. Bone Burnett discuss the creation of the Crazy Heart soundtrack.

• Will there be a Patsy Cline Boulevard coming to Music Row?

• The Rick Rubin produced American recording done by Johnny Cash near the end of his life featured some inspired covers (most famous being the cover of Trent Reznor’s Hurt on 2002′s album, American IV: The Man Comes Around) Paste.com lists 10 songs they wished  Cash had lived to cover featuring works by Joe Strummer, The Silver Jews and  Ryan Adams. Though I’m sure a list like this could go on and on I have to take exception to a couple of the entries on the Paste list; Bob by the Drive By Truckers could be their worst song and I doubt that the mighty Cash could make it better (and there are tons of better DBT songs for him to cover; Cottonseed perhaps?)  and Death Cab For Cutie?! Really?! (via the 9513.com)

• Past.com also featured Patterson Hood from the Drive By Truckers performing Depression Era, his Academy Award nominated song for the Scott Teems directed film That Evening Sun.

• Aquarium Drunkard posts a fine ode to the greatness that is Jerry Jeff  Walker.

• Legendary Austin musician Roky Erickson returns on April 20th with his Anti Record’s release True Love Cast Out All Evil, his first new album in fourteen years. Producing the release is Will Sheff and his band, Okkervil River, backs Erickson.

• Country music legend George Jones seems to be popping up on all the TV shows recently to promote his new Cracker Barrel exclusive album, A Collection of My Best Recollection. This Sunday morning the Possum will make another appearance on CBS Sunday Morning this Sunday October 11, 2009. Host and interviewer Bob Schieffer visits George’s Nashville home and stops by Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium late this summer to talk about life, love and a lot of musical history, as well as all that he  is up to today. Jones has said that the new release might be his last album and has tour dates through the rest of the year and early next.

• The follow up to last year’s Mother’s Best radio show recordings Hank Williams: Unreleased Recordings will be released November 3rd. Revealed: Unreleased Recordings will feature 50 new tracks including some new songs and dialogue between Hank and the emcee of the show and his band. The release will also include the first public performance of  Cold, Cold Heart.

• Collectors’ Choice has chosen six of Waylon Jennings’  RCA albums from 1966-’70 and will release them as three double CDs: Folk Country/Waylon Sings Ol’ Harlan, Love of the Common People/Hangin’ On and Waylon/Singer of Sad Songs. The CDs will be available on November 24. Grammy Award-winning annotator/historian Colin Escott wrote the liner notes.

• Rosanne Cash will premieres her new album, The List, live at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY October 9th and 10th as part of  the St. Ann’s Warehouse 30th Anniversary Season.

• Cash also discuses her new release with Chet Flippo at CMT.com’s Nashville Skyline.

• Ranch Twang now has a LastFM group. Join up and help share great music with other folks.

• Country Music Neo-Outlaw Jamey Johnson shows his respect for the classics by covering Vern Gosdin, George Jones, George Strait and, his most obvious influence, Waylon Jennings, at the Chicago Country Music Festival.

• Break out a jar of granny’s skull rattle folks, Juli Thaki at the 9513.com has given us her top 26 songs about moonshine.

• Tom Russell has written what could be considered a companion piece to his new release Blood and Candle Smoke at the Rumpas (Where God and the Devil Wheel Like Vultures: Report from El Paso.) The dispatch reflects Russell’s style he cultivated by hanging with American underground great Charles Bukowski and similar threads from this and previous releases about his home in El Paso, TX,  the culture, people and the drug wars.

• The Los Angelas Times’ Ann Powers reviews the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum benefit featuring Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill and Dwight Yoakam among others (including the spirit of Townes Van Zandt.)

• The Flower Pickin’ festival (October 16-19)will feature Carlene Carter, Justin Townes Earle, Jimmy Tittle, John Francis and more. The festival celebrates the day that Johnny Cash was arrested for public drunkenness in Starkville, MS in the early morning of May 11, 1965 following a performance at Mississippi State University. He spent one night in jail and paid a fine of $36. Cash sang about his run-in with “the law” in Starkville on his album, “At San Quentin (The Complete Live Concert),” recorded in 1969.

• 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 Academy of Country Music has chosen the The Ryman Auditorium as the Venue of the Year. Special awards to be presented at the 2nd Annual ACM Honors, scheduled for September 22 at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, will be the Jim Reeves International Award to Dolly Parton, the Mae Boren Axton Award to David Young, the Poet’s Award to Merle Haggard and Harlan Howard. Lee Ann Womack will host the evenand there will be special performances by Bobby Bare, Vince Gill, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Jim Lauderdale and Patty Loveless.

• The Country Music Association Awards announced the nominees for their 43rd annual awards ceremony. All the usual suspects, Paisley (leading with 6 nominations),  Chesney, Swift, Urban. A nod to tradition  – George Strait. Some black horses added – Joey + Rory for Vocal Duo Of The Year and The Raconteurs with Ricky Skaggs and Adhely Monroe performing the song Old Enough as the Musical Event Of The Year (?) Duller than the Grammys I say. Tune in to see Jamey Johnson perform and try to refrain throwing things at the TV when Kid Rock takes the stage.

• Johnny Cash dies On this Day, 2003, at Nashville’s Baptist Hospital, of complications from diabetes, 4 months after death of wife, June Carter.