Justin Townes Earle Readies ’09 Release

NoDepression.com reports that Bloodshot Records recording artists, and son to Steve Earle and namesake of Townes Van Zant, Justin Townes Earle, will be releasing a follow up to the excellent Bloodshot debut The Good Life. The new disc is called Midnight at the Movies, and is due out in March of ’09.

If you’re in Texas get yer ass out and see one of the best bar bands in America , The Supersuckers.

Nov 14 2008 – Jacks Patio Bar  –   San Antonio, Texas
Nov 17 2008  – Vortex  –   Beaumont, Texas
Nov 18 2008   – Continental Club  –   Houston, Texas
Nov 19 2008  -  Continental Club   -  Houston, Texas
Nov 20 2008   – Lakewood Bar and Grill  –   Dallas, Texas
Nov 21 2008   -  Scoot Inn  –   Austin, Texas

If you’re in my neck of the woods, San Francisco, CA. get yer ass out and see the one and only Texas Yoda, Willie Nelson at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium. Willie plays Friday, Jan 16,  Saturday, Jan 17, PM Sunday, Jan 18, Monday, Jan 19, and Tuesday, Jan 20. Must be all that good medical marijuana here in town.

Happy Birthday Dale Watson!!

First off -  Happy Birthday Dale Watson! Bubba you’re the Deal Deal!

The Villiage Voice has some choice (and funny) words about the new Lee Ann Womack release “Call Me Crazy.” “PowerPoint presentation in Music Row Pandering 10…” Ha!

Chris Parton over at the CMT blog has a brief, but still cool, observation of the Nashville Hank III show.

It seems that Willie Nelson has asked the King of Country Western Troubadours Unknown Hinson and Billy Bob Thorton’s band The Boxmasters to open some shows for him starting November 21 and ending around December 9. This should be a great show so get out therre and see it if you can. On a releated note Unknown Hinson and the Boxmasters will be  crashing on Regis and Kelly on oct 17. Damn, I wasn’t ware those boys could get up that early!

Dale Watson – Country My Ass

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

Willie Nelson in Saratoga , CA.

It was quite a treat for me to see Willie Nelson perform under the Saratoga stars the other night. The Texas Yoda and “the family” played the beautiful Mountain Winery to an a rousingly adoring crowd.  At one point he traded his signature red bandanna for heavy worn and button adorned straw cowboy hat that an elderly gentleman on crutches offered at the foot of the stage.  I can now claim to have seen Willie on all three coasts (Texas, New York and California)!

The fine folks at the 9513 brought my attention to a great piece by Chris Willman, author of the excellent book Rednecks & Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music, on the use of the formally exclusive use of Brooks & Dunn’s “Only In America” by the Democrats to cap Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention. Whatever your political stripe, it’s interesting to watch all parties vie for the cultural pulse and show love for the Twang.

Rosie Flores “The Rockabilly Filly” turns 58 years young and will be celebrating this Wednesday, Sept 10th at Antone’s in Austin. Playing the celebration will be the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash (8:00) James Intveld (9:00) the lady Rosie Flores herself (10:00) and Two Hoots and a Holler (11:00). Doors open at 7:00

Justin Townes Earle’s excellent release “The Good Life” is available today a vinyl limited edition of 1000 from Bloodshot Records.

Marty Stuart To Debut “The Marty Stuart Show” on RFD-TV in November

  • Ellensburg, Washington based alt.country artist Star Anna is already a Twang Nation favorite and has tickled our fancy even further by offering an excellent ‘Crooked Path Live EP‘ available for download at Amazon. The digital four track EP release includes live versions of Crooked Path, Bed That I’ve Made, Five Minutes To Midnight and a never before released track, Push It Through. Star Anna will be appearing at Seattle’s Bumbershoot music festival.
  • Texas Yoda and Country Music legend Willie Nelson’s debut novel “A Tale Out Of Luck” (Center Street Books) should not to be confused with Willie’s album “A Tale Out of Luck” which features the excellent song “Home Motel.” The book is the story of Retired Texas Ranger Captain Hank Tomlinson who must attempt to keep his sons safe from vengeful Comanche warriors while trying to catch a murderer who he knows will soon strike again. The name of the book and the album are a play off the name of Luck Texas which is an old western town built in 1986 on Willie Nelson’s ranch for the filming of “Red Headed Stranger.
  • Four-time GRAMMY winner and Country Music Icon Marty Stuart will premiere his new television series The Marty Stuart Show this November starting with the first 26 episodes airing Sunday nights on RFD-TV.  The Marty Stuart Show will begin production in September at Nashville’s NorthStar Studios, home of RFD-TV. The 30-minute episodes, hosted and produced by Stuart, will be a part of RFD-TV’s new Sunday night prime time lineup with HEE HAW, Postcards From Nebraska, and Music & Motors.  Each show will feature music by Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, as well as his wife Country Queen Connie Smith and performance segments from the best that country music and American music has to offer.  Radio personality Eddie Stubbs will serve as the show’s announcer and Stuart’s sidekick on every episode.
  • Stuart  will also release his second photography book Country Music: The Masters on Nov. 11.   Chicago’s Source Books will publish the 342 page collection that includes Stuart’s personal photos of friends including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Ray Charles and more.   The book’s forward is written by long-time pal and country music fan Billy Bob Thornton.

Chrissie Hynde Goes Country

Popmatters.com has a review of the DVD “Bill Monroe: Father of Bluegrass Music” which they discribe as “Informative and educational, intriguing and entertaining, part American history lesson, part biography and part concert film…”

The good folks over at The 9513 brought to my attention that current Twang Nation favorite Jamey Johnson will be joining Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and Kenny Chesney (?!) for the 2008 Farm Aid music festival in New England on Sept. 20. Nashville Scene (High Lonesome Sound) and CMT.com(Don’t Tell Jamey Johnson That He’s “Too Country”) both offer features on Johnson.

The guardian.co.uk Music Blog has a brief run down of the current state of American alt.country/Americana scene (Are you ready for (more of) the country?)

Chrissie Hynde of the bad the Pretenders states that the bands first new album in six years (“Break up the Concrete”) will be “moving in a country direction.” Of all the country music carpet bagging that has been happening recently I have to say that a musician with Hynde’s credibility makes me think she’ll do it right, but she is a vegitarian, so does this mean that Jessica Simpson has to get another t-shirt?

Country Music Gains Ground In Ringtone Sales

We all know that ringtones are the new 45 rpm and it appears that country music is gaining some ground in the sales of “polyphonic,” synthesizer-like reproductions of a melody, and the much more popular “mastertone” or “realtone” format, which is excerpted from an actual recording. according to Nielsen RingScan, mastertone buys accounted for 91 percent of ringtones sold last year in the United States.But so far, the big money is not quite there:

“Ringtone royalties are minuscule in the overall scheme of things,” Todd Ellis, Licensing Manager for Sony/ATV Music Publishing said. “Compared to CD sales, they’re still rather small. But they are gaining some significant income, especially in the pop and R&B worlds. Country has been a little bit slow to catch up. The really large [Country] hits will do well, ringtone-wise, for income, but the big money is still with R&B and rap songs. Ballads don’t usually do as well as ringtones because they don’t sound as good as upbeat songs that have a real catchy chorus or a cool intro.”

Apparently being hip enough to use your phone as a lame music player does not automatically mean you have forward thinking taste in music as Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood lead in country music sales of mastertone rings. No thanks, I’ll stick with my Willie Nelson “On The Road Again” ringtone when you hit me, yo.

Loretta Lynn Live at Ft. Worth’s Bass Hall

  • Dallasnews.com has a nice write up on the grand dame of Country Music, Loretta Lynn’s sold out show last Saturday at Ft. Worth’s Bass Hall. The night before Lo-retty had played Stubb’s in Austin’s (latter part via the 9513)
  • The New York Times covered the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant show at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. I was at this fantastic show and my review is forthcoming (I swear! Really!)
  • Jonathan Yardley at the Washington Post reviews Dana Jennings’ book about country music and his hard scrabble upbringing in rural New Hampshire “Sing Me Home.” I have read this excellent book and my review is forthcoming (I swear! Really!)
  • Stephen M. Deusner at Pitchfork.com uses Miranda Lambert’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” release as a jumping off point to other great country albums over the last few years that “demand to be heard with the same open-mindedness and enthusiasm as Lambert.”

  • Barnes&Noble.com has posted a video of “One on One with Emmylou Harris”, recorded live at their Union Square store in New York. Emmylou talks about her new release “All I Intended To Be” and performs her songs off the album “Gold,” “Not Enough,” written about her dog Bonaparte after he dies, and “How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower” which was written after seeing a PBS documentary on the Carter Family. She also tells a great story about how her babysitter was the conduit for her and Gram Parsons to meet.
  • Willie Nelson and Carl Cornelius are ready to take the wrapping off the new 30,000-square foot renovation off of the renovation of Carl’s Corner truck stop, the one with the old Tango nightclub giant musician frogs on the roof.
    The new space is now christened “Willie’s Place,” and will includes a honky tonk, restaurant, a poker room and trucker amenities, with a concert July 3. “Willie’s Place” is on IH-35 about 40 miles north of Waco “Willie’s Place at Carl’s Corner” will also process and sell biodeisel fuel.
  • Cross Canadian Ragweed frontman Cody Canada draws a line in the Red Dirt between their sound and pop country: “It just keeps getting more pop and more pop. We’re only in our 30s, but we’re kind of old-school, old-fashioned when it comes to country music. If it’s called ‘country music,’ it ought to sound like country music.”
  • And last but not least, Twang Nation HQ will be pulling up stakes from beautiful, balmy New York City for new digs in San Francisco, CA. on July 15th (with a long stretch in the homeland, Texas, in between.

Yahoo Music Blog’s 25 Music Legends

Rob O’Connor compiled a list of 25 Music Legends (With At Least 25 Years of Service) for his Yahoo music blog. His list speaks well of the longevity of great country music by including some legends scattered in with Blues and Rock greats.

Merle Haggard bows in at #23 (as a country music artist, he’s about as close to rock ‘n’ roll as a country musician can go without acting crossing over the line.) Loretta Lynn comes in at #21, Dolly Parton at #18, Willie Nelson at #12 (I assume it’s his Zen-like state that enables him to endure the rigors of the road after all these years. He’s able to get to that mental state where you don’t know where you are and you don’t care.) George Jones is in at # 9 and Johnny Cash makes the grade at #5 (He owned the color black.)

Topping the list at #1, no surprises, is Robert Allen Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan)