Maybe not the most interesting thing to post about (though none of this stuff is, right?), but Cold Splinters is down in Southwest Texas right now and, for the past few days, the mountain lion attack in Big Bend National Park has been the talk of the town. Well, one of the topics at least... Six year old Rivers Hobbs was attacked late Sunday as his family returned to their room from the park's main lodge. The boy's father, Jason Hobbs, pounced on THE BEAST as it clamped onto Rivers' face. Hobbs ultimately stabbed the [...]
Asleep at the Wheel with Huey Lewis : Hubbin' It [ purchase ] I couldn't let this week's theme go by without sharing some western swing with y'all. And I can't think of a better way to do that than to feature Asleep at the Wheel paying tribute to Bob Wills. Huey Lewis, (Really? That Huey Lewis? Really!) is just a bonus. Western swing is a hybrid of country music and big band swing. It arose in the 1930s and 40s. Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies are the [...]
The newest issue of Oklahoma Today is officially on newsstands today. This issue is a special Oklahoma country music collector's edition, with six different covers available. "With our state's incredible history and talent in every conceivable facet of country music, even we are a little surprised it took us fifty-five years to produce this issue. It includes a state-of-the-genre feature written by Holly Bailey, senior political reporter for Yahoo! News; a discography by Ryan LaCroix; and a history piece on Roger Miller by Randy Krehbiel. Thanks [...]
Inspired by Oklahoma Today 's September issue focusing solely on country music, we'll be counting down the Top 100 Oklahoma Country Songs over the next several weeks. Every weekday, we will unveil another five songs that helped shape the way Oklahoma country music is heard by the outside world. 10. The Highwaymen - "Highwayman" (1985) Purchase: iTunes Originally written and recorded by Erick's Jimmy Webb [...]
Inspired by Oklahoma Today 's September issue focusing solely on country music, we'll be counting down the Top 100 Oklahoma Country Songs over the next several weeks. Every weekday, we will unveil another five songs that helped shape the way Oklahoma country music is heard by the outside world. 15. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - "Faded Love" (1950) Purchase: iTunes The official country [...]
I was thinking today about how a person's tastes in music can change - the person in this case being myself, but I think it's true of most of us. I can think of a lot of examples from my own meandering course through musical waters but one that comes readily to mind is how much I now enjoy Western Swing, that oddly-matched fusion of country blues and big band music that I didn't even know was a genre for most of my life. Which brings us to Milton Brown, who has been called the 'Father of Western [...]
Inspired by Oklahoma Today 's September issue focusing solely on country music, we'll be counting down the Top 100 Oklahoma Country Songs over the next several weeks. Every weekday, we will unveil another five songs that helped shape the way Oklahoma country music is heard by the outside world. 25. Willie Nelson & Leon Russell - "Heartbreak Hotel" (1979) Purchase: iTunes Obviously "Heartbreak Hotel" was [...]
Gary Nicholson releases a new album from deep in the heart of Texas.
Ernest Tubb is gonna call up the gypsy woman. He's also sending out a worldwide hoodoo. Those are Chuck Berry's words of course, and it's a gift to us to hear Tubb sing them on his 1955 version of "Thirty Days" released two months after Chuck put out his second single for Chess. They both raced up the R&B and Country charts respectively, and established Chuck Berry as a first rate crossover artist/songwriter. Berry's guitar solo is chunky and rhythmic, soaring over and leading the rhythm section. Tubb calls out to his soloists: Billy Byrd, "Half-Moon" Bradley, and [...]
The family of Bob Wills announced plans on Friday to donate a collection of Wills' memorabilia to the Oklahoma Historical Society to be included in the planned "Oklahoma Pop" museum. The Wills family donation was made on behalf of the Bob Wills Heritage Foundation. The donation includes nearly 30 live recordings and 130 glass discs of his recordings, 350 photos, manuscripts, letters, artifacts, fiddles and more "I realized that we needed to get really serious about saving his legacy. And here we are, 'Take Me Back [...]
"One of the things Bob (Wills) used to say was 'get it,' which meant to come on as strong as you could. Junior Barnard had the ability to turn it on and keep it there. He had an aggressive, hard-swinging style that was like rock 'n' roll for its time. Junior was a great guitarist." -- Jimmy Wyble , Texas Playboys guitarist "Ugly! YEAH!!!" --Bob Wills Bob Wills was the king of western swing from the late 1930s through the late '40s, and was still a [...]
Merle Haggard and The Strangers - Corrine, Corrina Civic Center, Philadelphia March 14, 1970 Featuring Chubby Wise on fiddle A couple of weeks ago, I asserted that Merle Haggard is the greatest singer/songwriter the state of California has ever produced. I stand by that. Hag has one of the most understated, yet soulful voices I've ever heard and he's a great songwriter, not by country standards, but by Bob Dylan / Duke Ellington standards. And yet, like those two men, it's Merle's vision and diligence as bandleader [...]
Seventy years ago today, on February 25, 1941, Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan recorded "Take Me Back To Tulsa" in Dallas, Texas for Okeh Records . Read This Land 's tribute to the iconic song. MP3: Aqueduct - "Take Me Back to Tulsa" Download Aqueduct 's "Take Me Back to Tulsa", which mixes Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan's song of the same name [...]
In this segment we briefly turn our focus on some of the individuals featured on this mix and the 1950/51 compilation . Pictured on the cover is the 1952 Cadillac in which Hank Williams died of heart failure on New Year's Day 1953, aged 30 (though he always looked much older than that). His was the first of a series of young celebrity deaths that created legends for all times. Among the more unexpected names in country must be that of Ole Rasmussen , a western swing bandleader who with [...]
Get ready for a hot time in cow town.
"I´m a plumb fool ´bout Ida Red..." One more eclectic, hand picked six pack for your to chew on. Bob Wills swings Western with his Playboys, New York´s Marbles take the powerpop route, while former Japan frontman David Sylvian weaves a red dreamscape. Henry Thomas whistles the blues, my fave Aussies the Triffids deal in horses, and Canadian punks the Diodes cover the Cyrkle. Like what you hear? Buy the featured albums for further exploration. Can´t be beat. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Ida Red MP3 Marbles - [...]
After a hiatus of a few months we return to the history of country music. In the last narrative instalment ( Volume 4 ) we noted the rise of female country singers; some of them will feature in this mix, which covers the years 1950-51, and its follow-up, 1952-53. In the course of the 1950s we will also review country's contribution to rock & roll, and discuss some of the artists featured. What follows then is a brief overview of country music in the 1950s. [...]
A few years ago I decided that I'd studied and absorbed rock music pretty thoroughly from its mid-fifties birth to the present day, and went looking for its antecedents. After all, it clearly hadn't sprung fully-formed, quiffed and greased, in the persons of Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. Tentatively working backwards through the likes of Asleep At The Wheel , I discovered the jump-jive of Louis Jordan And His Tympany Fiv e and the Western swing of Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys. It was immediately clear to me where the inspirations for rock'n'roll had come from. [...]
Aqueduct has re-emerged with two new songs for FREE download. "Past the Point" will appear on their upcoming 2011 album. MP3: Aqueduct - "Past the Point" MP3: Aqueduct - "Take Me Back to Tulsa" "Take Me Back to Tulsa" mixes Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan's 1940 song of the same name with Jay-Z's 2000 single "Big Pimpin". You can [...]
"That´s when they hung my name, in the fool´s hall of fame..." Country trivia fact of the week: only five performers were inducted into three Halls of Fame: the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Here´s a classic song by each. Jimmie Rodgers - Blue Yodel No. 8 (Mule Skinner Blues) MP3 Hank Williams - My Son Calls Another Man Daddy MP3 Bob Wills - Time Changes [...]
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The National - The Rains Of Castamere [Game of Thrones Soundtrack]
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