Poodies Locke Tributes, Jeff Tweedy Sued

  • Jay Bennett, a former Wilco member, is suing band leader Jeff Tweedy in Cook County Circuit Court, claiming Tweedy owes him money from the band’s 2002 documentary and royalties on songs written during Bennett’s seven years with the group.

William Elliott Whitmore made a stop on the Jools Holland Show in England to perform Old Devils.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJXa19w3W4[/youtube]

Country Singer Vern “The Voice” Gosdin Dies

  • Singer Vern Gosdin, who recorded country music hits like the award-winning “Chiseled in Stone” during a 30-year career, has died. He was 74. Gosdin reportedly had a history of strokes and suffered the latest one a few weeks ago and was under hospice care and died late Tuesday at a Nashville, Tenn. hospital. The 9513.com offers a fine tribute to the man.
  • Birthday Boy Willie Nelson will join relative young’uns Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp on a U.S. summer tour of minor league baseball parks, beginning July 2 at the GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., and wrapping Aug. 15 at the Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, Calif.
  • The San Francisco Chronicle has posted a review of the John Prine / John Ritter  Apr 25th Warfield performance.
  • And in painful crossover news Def Leppard has been confirmed to perform on the CMT Music Awards on June 16. The Britsh pop-metal has-beens…er…band have recently been involved in the Music Row marketering wet dream collaborations with Tim McGraw earlier this year on the song “Nine Lives” and appearing with Taylor Swift on CMT Crossroads. What’s next? Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach doing coutry music…oh wait…

Naked Willie Contest

It’s been quite a while since we held a contest here at Ranch Twang and today we have a doozy. I have one copy of the newly released Naked Willie (Sony Legacy) to give away to one lucky commenter. Naked Willie was produced by Willie’s long time harmonica player extraordinaire Mickey Raphael and features stripped down collection of 17 vintage RCA cuts that span 1966-1970.

Naked Willie Track List:

1. “Bring Me Sunshine”
2. “Following Me Around”
3. “The Ghost”
4. “Happiness Lives Next Door”
5. “I Just Dropped By”
6. “Jimmy’s Road”
7. “I Let My Mind Wander”
8. “If You Could See What’s Going Through My Mind”
9. “Johnny One Time”
10. “The Local Memory”
11. “The Party’s Over”
12. “Where Do You Stand”
13. “When We Live Again”
14. “What Can You Do To Me Now”
15. “I’m A Memory”
16. “Sunday Morning Coming Down”
17. “Laying My Burdens Down”

Just leave a comment recollecting your favorite Willie Nelson memory below. The winner will be chose at random on April 15th (tax day, Willie…get it?) from all the posts and I will email the winner for a physical address to ship the CD.

Good luck!

Lee Harvey Osmond and More

  • Jessie Scott at Music Fog posts a report from Luckenbach , TX and the Ray Wylie Hubbard Grit ‘n Groove Festival.
  • Popmatters.com Ben Rubenstein gives his view on Wilco’s new concert/tour film, Ashes of American Flags, when it debuted  a few weeks ago in Chicago.
  • Seems Jessica Simpson has been dropped byEpic/Columbia Nashville, her country music record label, based partly on dismal sales of her country music excursion Do You Know? How about you can all the genius’ that thought it was a great idea to begin with.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIXkfl-ZjVw[/youtube]

Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Leon Russell, Doug Kershaw

More YouTubes goodies…

Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Leon Russell, and Doug Kershaw play Hank Wwilliam’s “Jambalia” – 1974 Willie Nelson’s 2nd Annual 4th Of July Picnic. Bryan/College Station, TX

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H6me1FSPb8[/youtube]

Those Darlins Ready New Summer Release

  • Craig Shelburne  over at the CMT blog has posted a great video I had never see with Willie Nelson and fantastic bluegrass Melonie Cannon covering Willie’s Back to Earth.
  • Speaking of Texas (Wille, Texas…same thing) If you’re in the San Francisco area tomorrow night head over to the historic Fillmore to catch Houston’s own Robert Earl Keen with the great Hayes Carl as the opener
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    I heard that Miley Cyrus is slated to Perform at the 4th Annual Country Music Awards on April 5. Aand here I thought it was Miley’s buddy Taylor Swift’s job to serve the ‘tween demographic with insipid tales of mall heartache. Or maybe that’s Carrie Underwood… Point is the CMA’s continue to embody thier new acronym definition, Country Music my Ass.

  • Murfreesboro, Tenn’s country-punk sweethearts of the prison rodeo, Those Darlins,  got a lot of deserved attention at SXSW ’09 and it looks like they are due for more love this Summer when their self-titled debut album is released on July 7th (vinyl on July 23rd) on OH WOW DANG records. Here’s the title cut off their current Wild One EP to hold you over until then.

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Those Darlins – Wild One(mp3)

Neal McCoy, Linda Davis and Michael Martin Murphey are 2009 Texas Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

  • Billboard.com posts on the South-By-Southwest tribute to Texas music legend Doug Sahm which featured performances by Jimmie Vaughan, the Gourds, Dave Alvin and Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles, Los Lobos, Delbert McClinton, Charlie Sexton, Little Willie G, Terry Allen and a collaboration between Joe “King” Carrasco and the Texas Tornados.
  • Two native East Texans are among three country music artists destined for the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. Jacksonville native-turned-Longview resident Neal McCoy will join Panola County native Linda Davis and western singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey as 2009 inductees into the hall of fame. The hall of fame show is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame facility, 300 W. Panola St. in Carthage.
  • From Country Standard Time:  Willie Nelson has postponed six tour dates due to illness, according to his web site. The illness was not specified.  Postponed dates were March 17 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.; March 18 in Melbourne, Fla., March 19 in Panama City, Fla., March 20 in Choctaw, Miss., March 21 in Marksville, La. and March 22 in Springdale, Ark.
  • Famed moonshiner Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton died at the age of 61 at the his Parrotsville, Tennessee home. He allegedly committed suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide in an old Ford Fairlane he kept in a barn on his property  a few days before serving an 18-month sentence in Federal Prison for illegally brewing spirits and possessing a firearm as a felon. Read Johnny Knoxville’s fitting post here.

Dexateens and Devil Makes Three Ready New Releases

  • In honor of today’s release of Sony Legacy’s Naked Willie you can head over to Go!Animate and create your own Willie Nelson cartoon n the persona of the Redheaded Stranger, Super Willie, Naked Willie (natch) , Willie harmonica player (and Naked willie producer) Mickey Raphael and a horse named Stardust.
  • Universal South is releasing a wholly unnecessary Shooter Jennings Greatest Hits album, Bad Magick,  album on March 24th. Really? A “greatest hits?” Shooter has 3 studio and one live album, and a live album is a gretest hits album. Rumor is that this is the labels, not Shooter’s decision and ythat he is now done with his contract and shopping for a new label. Maybe he and Tim McGraw can start a label called “They Done Me Wrong Records.”
  • Santa Cruz, California’s own Devil Makes Three will release Do Wrong Right to be released April 21st.  Go catch them this week at South-By-Southwest Mar 18 at Lovejoys (5:00pm) and  Mar 21 2009 at Submerged   (8:00pm)
  • Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s own Dexateens will release their new album Singlewide on May 12th.   Singlewide was recorded in Nashville with veteran engineer Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Calexico and the Silver Jews.) Their peculiar video for the song John Smith is below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHun18Uj8fM[/youtube]

Willie and the Wheel News

Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel are in New York City tonight gearing up for their performance on Late Show with David Letterman this evening. A little bird told me they will be doing Hesitation Blues in from their current excellent release Willie and The Wheel. Tune your TV to CBS tonight at 11:30pm EST.

Willie and Asleep at the Wheel are currently touring the Eastern Seaboard and will end with two nights at Carl’s Corner. They have a Tour Diary Section on their official site featuring day-to-day activities on the road as well as photos from Kevin Smith.

Zalman King, producer of “9 1/2 Weeks” and “Red Shoe Diaries” – has been filming a documentary about the tour. No release date has been set. “This is a very special album and very special time for all of us,” says Asleep at the Wheel bandleader Ray Benson. “Having a fine filmmaker like Zalman document this tour is a great way to share all the fun we’ll be having with our fans.”