The first night of Sugarland’s Love On the Inside tour coincided with Jennifer Nettles’ 34th birthday, a present she cherished before working the crowd into a frenzy with duo partner Kristian Bush, and according to Craig Shelburne, earning their nomination for entertainer of the year from the CMA Awards.Honky tonker James Hand (MySpace) completed his [...]
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Songwriter: Taylor Swift An obvious criticism of Taylor Swift's "Love Story," the debut single from her upcoming sophomore effort Fearless, is that the song, muddled by its prominent and clunky Romeo and Juliet references, completely misses the point of one of the English language's seminal literary works-thereby undermining its own effectiveness. After all, the syrupy, [...]
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Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame member Charlie Walker passed away on Friday at age 81. Peter Cooper eulogizes: In 1958, Mr. Walker decided to record "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down," from the pen of an aspiring songwriter named Harlan Howard who was a forklift driver at a California [...]
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Billboard posted a slew of lists commemorating their 50th anniversary, but the most interesting, for the sake of country, is the Top Billboard Hot 100 Country Songs. Johnny Horton takes the top spot with the perennial favorite “Battle of New Orleans,” but at a quick glance it appears that Olivia Newton-John has the most representation [...]
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The band One Night Rodeo came out on top of last night’s finale of the Next GAC Star, making them the first winners of the competition. Their first single will be released on iTunes next week. Here’s a little info on the band from a press release:One Night Rodeo is composed of band members Duane [...]
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George Jones joins Barbra Streisand, Morgan Freeman, Twyla Tharp, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey as the 2008 class of Kennedy Center Honorees–the nation’s highest arts award.“I am completely overwhelmed,” Jones said in a statement. “I can’t believe that I have been included in the same company as previous winners that are country music legends: Dolly [...]
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Here are the nominees for the 42nd CMA Awards which will be broadcast live from the Sommet Center in Nashville Wednesday, Nov. 12 (8:00-11:00 PM ET) on ABC. There are lots of interesting things here, let us know what you think of the selections in the comments.Entertainer of the YearKenny ChesneyBrad PaisleyGeorge StraitSugarlandKeith UrbanMale Vocalist [...]
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In an attempt to discover and highlight the best music every month, I’ll be publishing a list of the best songs released throughout that period. Hopefully, this will present an opportunity for everyone to discuss the month’s releases, discover new and worthwhile music, and debate over the order of the list and the inclusion or [...]
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Most of the artists I’ve written about in this series, with the obvious exception of Charley Pride, have been artists of merit who never became huge stars. This is not the case with Webb Pierce. For a five year period (1952-1957), Webb Pierce was the dominant artist in the genre, charting 39 songs during [...]
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After the success of a few experimental combined shows throughout the summer, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton made the decision to co-headline a tour this fall. The new album from Amber Digby, Passion, Pride, & What Might Have Been, is available for sale on her label's website and you can listen to full-length versions of six [...]~~
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You won't find soaring vocals, full-bodied production, loud arrangements, or a hint of pop on The World Left Is Mine. In fact, you're unlikely to even hear Lucas Hudgins' name mentioned anywhere else, but what you will find is classic country music that's simple, but effective, from an artist whose covers of Webb Pierce [...]~~
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Anything described as amped-up country is typically nothing more than rock with a dash of twang (usually contrived), but in the case of Aaron Watson's latest single, "Love Makin' Song," amped-up country is an apt moniker. At the same time, it can't be described as anything other than honest to goodness country. The first [...]~~
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A study of 36,000 participants and carried out by Professor Adrian North tries to establish a link between musical tastes and personality types. According to findings, listeners of country music are hardworking and outgoing. Jessica Simpson made her first Opry appearance over the weekend and performed the lead single from her new album, "Come On Over," [...]~~
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A traditional country album laced with bluegrass sensibilities, This One Is Two is neither glamorous nor expected—among names like Randy Travis and Patty Loveless, both of whom released outstanding new entries this year, I daresay few people would have thought the best country album of the 2008 to-date would emerge from southwest Virginia at the [...]
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That little white flag flapping in the wind when "Country Boy" comes on the radio is Alan Jackson surrendering to the mediocrity of contemporary country music. It's four minutes of triviality that declines to say anything more significant than "I'm a country boy, I've got a 4 wheel drive." How does a song like [...]~~
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The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame plans to induct Matraca Berg, Tom Shapiro and John Hiatt during ceremonies on Oct. 26. Hiatt is being inducted in the songwriter-artist category while Berg and Shapiro will go in under the songwriter moniker. Sugar Hill Records announced that they've slashed most of the prices in their catalog to the [...]~~
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Songwriters: Libbi Bosworth and Gary Griffin The third single from Sunny Sweeney's debut album, Heartbreaker's Hall Of Fame, is a cover of "East Texas Pines," a song originally performed in a more straight-laced country manner by writer Libbi Bosworth. Sweeney dresses it with rocking elements, but her interpretation is just as straight forward and doesn't [...]~~
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Taylor Swift made her debut in London last night to a sold-out crowd and The 9513 forum member SamB was there to catch all the action. She did most of the hits (no Tim McGraw, which was odd), and some stuff off the new album, including Change, which I loved, and Love Story, which she said [...]~~
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Too many cover albums fall into the comfortable paradigms of reserved, standard interpretations of oft-covered standards (Martina McBride, Timeless and recent Shanachie Records projects by Gene Watson and David Ball) and irreverent statements of artistic independence (Various Artists, Johnny Cash Remixed). Despite the proliferation of projects in these categories, most of the artistry of the [....
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Big State Festival is officially done, at least for this year. Charlie Walker, co-owner of C3 Presents, cites "a lack of top tier talent" as the reason behind the festival's demise. John Gerome says starting in 2005, life for Patty Loveless took a hairpin turn. She lost her mother-in-law, brother, and mom, which spurred a [...]
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