Twang Nation

Despite Nashville’s best efforts to sanitize it for mass-consumption country and roots music has a long history of dealing with the dark side of life. Murder, violence, inebriation, the Devil, graveyards -  all the classic themes that also weave through All Hallows Eve are there. Hard times,  hard feelings and the tension between a righteous [...]Related posts:Americana at SXSWTop 30 Country/R

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• Artist:
  Bruce Robison

Check out the video tour diary from Bruce Robinson as he Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider proceed up and down the East Coast and back into Texas on their Barstool Tour. Linda Lee at the super Willie Nelson blog StillIsStillMoving.com interviews Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck. Check out the excellent videos of Casey Driessen's 5-string fiddle hunt video over [...] Related posts:News Round Up:...

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• Artist:
  Lindsay Fuller
• Album:
  Lindsay Fuller and The Cheap Dates

Seattle based artist by way of Alabama and Texas, Lindsay Fuller plumbs the deep, dark well of Southern Gothic narrative and, with the help of her excellent band the Cheap Dates, hauls up a mossy bucket of songs splendid in rich narration and bitter in their wretched fates. Southern Gothic yarns are bleak by design [...]Related posts:Music Review – Rita Hosking – Come Sunrise (self released)MU

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• Artist:
  Rosie Flores
• Album:
  Girl of the Century

The Austin Chronicle’s Audra Schroeder reviews Texas’ own honky angel  Rosie Flores  new Bloodshot Records release Girl of the Century. Rosie is backed by the Pine Valley Cosmonauts led by the Mekons and Waco Brothers’ front man Jon Langford. Rosie and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts recently performed at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, and [...]Related posts:Merlefest 200

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• Artist:
  Heidi Newfield

The Country for Our Country benefit concert will occur  in Tyler, Texas this Saturday night (10/24). The event will celebrate the troops and benefit wounded soldiers by providing them with counseling and support during a difficult transitional period in their lives. The benefit will feature performances by Joe Nichols, Heidi Newfield, Derek Sholl, and Kacey [...]Related posts:News Round Up: Cou..

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• Artist:
  Robert Earl Keen, Jr.

Add this to your awesome festivals to attend list! The annul MusicFest (now approaching its 25th year) features some of the finest Americana and roots music to the world-class ski resort of Steamboat, Colorado for 6 days (January 4-11th) of snowy fun. Performers already booked for the next MusicFest are: Robert Earl Keen, Randy Rogers [...]Related posts:First Annual Ray Wylie Hubbard Grit-N-Gro...

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• Artist:
  Elizabeth Cook

Head over to Elizabeth Cook’s Facebook page to see inside pics of EC working on her new album with her ace live band (including her guitarist and husband Tim Carroll),  producer Don Was and engineer Krish Sharma. Also sitting in with Cook was the producer of her lest record, Balls, Rodney Crowell.USA Today talks to [...]Related posts:Elizabeth Cook – BallsNews Round Up: Rosanne Cash to Perfor

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• Artist:
  Garth Brooks

Terry Clark follows Gretchen Wilson and Tim McGraw with frustration with the management and distribution practices of the Nashville big label system. I keep hoping this new found independence will result in these undeniably talented performers taking some risk with their material. Bit after hearing Wilson's bland 'Work Hard, Play Harder' (produced on her own [...] Related posts:News Round Up:...

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The Wall Street Journal’s Dave Shiflett covers (it’s not really a review) the  new autobiography of bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley, Man Of Constant Sorrow.  Shiflett details Stanley’s birth in Dickenson County, Va., his early sometime dangerous career playing alongside his older brother, Carter, and how a man named Elvis upended the country and bluegrass [...]Related posts:Sugar Hill C

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• Artist:
  Terry Allen

Legendary Texas singer/songwriter legend Terry Allen talks to the Austin Chronicle's Robert Faries about his colorful life that led to his skill as a storyteller and his new solo play, Dugout III, written and directed by Allen playing at Austin's Sate Theater. Willie Nelson's long-time harmonica player Mickey Raphael will be holding a twitter press conference

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As you might have noticed, Twang Nation is trying out a new look. After 4 years + the other theme was showing some wear and tear and I wanted something snazzier that handled RSS better. Here it is.  I’ll be hacking around on it for the next, well, forever.. so let me know what you [...]Related posts:Twang Nation – Acting NaturallyCreative Loafing Interviews Dale Watson – Spooks Twang Nation

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• Artist:
  Rusty Weir

Austin singer-songwriter Rusty Weir died October 9, after two years of struggling with cancer. Wier was considered a country legend and he was inducted into the Austin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.The New York Times reviews the Jamey Johnson show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Johnson played two new songs, Back [...]Related posts:News Round Up: Country Music Is Dead (RIP Joh...

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• Artist:
  Waylon Jennings

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 [...]Related posts:Waylon Jennings Featured on PopmattersWi.

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• Artist:
  Jim Lauderdale

Birmingham Weekly sits down with Mr. Americana himself – Jim Lauderdale. Jim discusses hosting the Americana Awards ceremony at the Ryman auditorium, having the first single off the George Strait new album Twang and at one point Jim pauses the interview to help push a car to a station for a lady that ran out [...]Related posts:News Round Up: Lucero Releases New Videos ; RIP Amy FerrisNews Round.

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• Artist:
  Jamey Johnson

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 [...]Related posts:Shooter Jennings and Jamey Joh.

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• Artist:
  Neko Case

The crowds were large  an estimated 750,000  – more than Coachella, Lollapalooza and All Points West combined – urbane, hippies, street buskers and hipsters all in Golden Gate Park and under mostly warm Indian Summer skies. The bill on all 6 stages (one more added this year) were all impressive and walking from stage to [...]Related posts:Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Partial Lineup AnnouncedNew

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L.A. Times Pop & Hiss holds court with Texas songwriting royalty Billy Joe Shaver. Shaver discusses Bob Dylan, how after all life has thrown at him he still stays optimistic and voices frustration over somewhat indifference to some of his recent releases.Beaufort County News reviews the latest Bearfoot show at Washington’s Turnage Theater.while in San [...]Related posts:The Last Rites of Ransom.

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• Artist:
  The Avett Brothers
• Album:
  I and Love and You

To use a threadbare, but in this case useful, musical duality that has fueled decades of heated rock music discussions for (in SAT analogy form) – the Avett Brothers are to the Beatles what the Felice Brothers are to the Rolling Stones. (Sure lots of people like both bands but that’s boring.)Like the Beatles and [...]Related posts:Felice Brothers Ready New ReleaseThe Avett Brothers Sign with A

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The winners of the 20th annual International Bluegrass Music Awards went to: Dailey & Vincent : Entertainer of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper : Instrumental Group of the Year, Dan Tyminski – Male Vocalist of the Year, Dale Ann Bradley – Female Vocalist of the Year, Wheels : [...]Related posts:Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Partial Lineup AnnouncedHardly Strict

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