
Just when you needed more evidence that you’re getting old and aren’t accomplished very much I give you Ruby Jane. Ruby is a 14 year old native Texan (born in Dallas, now resides in Austin) and is a premiere junior fiddler and a fast-rising star in country and bluegrass-Americana music scene.
She has shared the stage with Marty Stuart, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Asleep at the Wheel, Rhonda Vincent, Mike Snider, Jesse McReynolds, Jim Brock, James Monroe, Carl Jackson and Big & Rich (hey, a girls gotta make some bank!) In true old-school country entrepreneurial style Ruby even has her own pancake mix for sale! When not sawing wood and hawking flapjacks Ruby Jane is also an actress and a model Kids today and their virtuoso Blugrass playing!
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott & Marty Stuart – Engine 143 – SXSW 2006 Hootenanny
The Americana Music Association are auctioning significant memorabilia items and ticket offers. All proceeds will support the not for profit association’s annual Americana Music Festival & Conference, which takes place in Nashville from September 16th – 19th, 2009. Some of the things up for sales are a Jason & The Scorchers 20 Year Birthday Celebration Autographed Hatch show print and tickets to Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt in the city of your choice.
South Florida’s Metromix recounts Alejandro Escovedo’s 30-plus years long career and his brush with death in 2003 as a result of contacting hepatitis C. Escovedo also discusses how living in Aaustin helps shape his eclectic musical style: “The bulk of my material is influenced by living in the Southwest,” he says. “There are spaces here I love very much. It’s a wonderful place to meditate on all sorts of subjects and things. And music from Texas always influenced me: Joe Ely, Ornette Coleman, Junior Walker, Arnett Cobb, Lightnin’ Hopkins. And then, you’ve got people like Roky Erickson and the Butthole Surfers. It’s an amazing place musically. It lends itself to imagination. You can get lost in the dreamlike quality of it.”Escovedo is currently on tour.
The Los Angeles Chronicle has a nice post on country music legend Kitty Wells‘ influence on women’s careers in country music, her singles and career as a refection of women in domestic relationships of post-WWII America and how Roy Acuff believed how having a woman headline a live showcase was “financial suicide. ” Wells is currently enjoying a retrospective at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum entitled “Kitty Wells: Queen of Country Music, Presented by Great American Country Television Network,” which remains open until June 14, 2009
The ever snarky yet entertaining music site PopMatters are dropping their “Best Of…” lists by genre and their list of 2007’s Best Country is an insightful pick of the crop. My three favorite female country crooners of the year, Elizabeth Cook, Sunny Sweeney, and Miranda Lambert made the list as well as some typical Nashville faire. They also take time to take some cheap shots at the Eagles (Linda Ronstadt’s old backing back reinvent itself as the oldest boy band on the planet, HA! ) which always scores points with me.
And then there’s this lyrical insight to Rascal Flatts.
It’s safe to say Rascal Flatts will never make that leap across the firewire because I really don’t see any merit in an outfit that takes ostensibly good ideas, drowns them like kittens in a syrup of glossy good taste, skins them, and then drags them out over four minutes where two-and-a-half would have been more than enough. It’s all enough to make you long for an American Idol or two.
Bless you PopMatters….bless your snarky hide!
One of the most memorable show I ever attended here in New York was the CMT Crossroads featuring Rosanne Cash and Steve Earle. The pairing of artists from the country and rock/pop genre is getting harder and harder to differentiate from one another but it’s still one of the best shows on CMT. The New York Times has a nice slide-show on Crossroads featuring Joss Stone and LeAnn Rimes, Kid Rock (Bob Ritchie) and Hank Williams Jr., Bonnie Raitt and Lyle Lovett, Bon Jovi and Sugarland and Kenny (Babyface) Edmonds and Trisha Yearwood.