Today, while I was trying to come up with a post that merges music with Mother's Day, I discovered something quite alarming and not a little disturbing. No musical tributes to the women responsible for giving us the gift of life, the person with whom most of us form our first real bond, came immediately to mind. In fact, the first "mother" songs that popped into my head -- "Mother" by John Lennon, "Mothers of the Disappeared" by U2, "Mother Son" by Psychedelic Furs -- are all depressing and full of angst, not exactly the musical message [...]
The 1980s were the MTV years; as radio once helped spread country beyond its natural habitat, so did TV channels dedicated to broadcasting country music disseminate the new crop of stars. As importantly, for the first time since Jennings and Nelson attracted the attention of rock fans, some country singers, such as Earle and Yoakam, were acknowledged by the rock press. County, or at least some strands of it, was hip again. The rock press also rediscovered legends such as George Jones and Dolly Parton. So Parton's collaboration with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt was celebrated as a music event [...]
At a Country Music Association awards show in the late 1970s, Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel showed up wearing a stetsons. He and the similarly behatted and long-haired Charlie Daniels and John Anderson were politely asked to remove their headgear. But as the rhinestones faded, the Stetson would become an obligatory sartorial item in the country fraternity. We might credit the mercifully brief Urban Cowboy movement — spearheaded by John Tavolta's Honky Tonk Night Fever movie — for popularising the cowboy hat, which had been sported by many people over the years but never was standard apparel in [...]
The Judds Nutty Jerry's August 19, 2011 "I have two teenagers at home now, so I went on tour with my mother to relax," says Wynonna Judd about halfway through her own solo set in the middle of t... Continue reading "Friday Night: The Judds Say Farewell At Nutty Jerry's" >
True story: just before midnight Friday I got an email from a producer at OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) saying "Hi John, I hope things are well with you. I'm contacting you on behalf of the Oprah Winfrey Network. In anticipation of the new docu-series "The Judds" coming to OWN- Naomi and Wynonna Judd will discuss the series documenting their lives on a conference call Q & A with members of the media next Monday". Now, in my tenure as a Louisville music concierge, I have been tracked down and asked to do some pretty strange and interesting things (including painting [...]
The title of a classic country song could be used to describe what is shaping up to be one of the fall's hottest tours, as The Judds are Together Again. Naomi and Wynonna—the ladies that brought us such chart-toppers as "Mama, He's Crazy" and "Love Can Build A Bridge"—are back for an 18-show reunion tour this fall, aptly titled The Last Encore . "We've come up with the tour name of The Last Encore, which to me is funny. Somebody suggested The Country Cougars, which would get us on the six o'clock news," she said with [...]
The Judds (mom Naomi and daughter Wynonna) are country music royalty who, due to Naomi's contraction of hepatitis C in 1991, have spent years reuniting for small bursts. In fact, the last album they made together was 2000's Big Bang Boogie . But perhaps stemming from a few recent reunions (like at this year's Country Music Awards), Wynona told Billboard.com that they might be getting the band back together for some bigger plans. "We sang for 50,000 people and they sang back to us and it was a holy [...]
The apostrophe at the end tells it all. Lissie's recently released single, "Little Lovin'" is a solid artifact of post-millenial approximation of that wonderful era of country, the one that came after the seminal gents now thought of as "old country" - the kind hipsters feel comfortable hat-tipping on their facebook profiles - but before the CMT-driven new country dreck that polluted the airwaves in the 90s. As a track, "Little Lovin'" immediately earns "play on repeat" status for me. Twenty seconds in, you get a real good idea of what it is - a Marshall [...]
The apostrophe at the end tells it all. Lissie's recently released single, "Little Lovin'" is a solid artifact of post-millenial approximation of that wonderful era of country, the one that came after the seminal gents now thought of as "old country" - the kind hipsters feel comfortable hat-tipping on their facebook profiles - but before the CMT-driven new country dreck that polluted the airwaves in the 90s. As a track, "Little Lovin'" immediately earns "play on repeat" status for me. Twenty seconds in, you get a real good idea of what it is - a Marshall [...]
Edjakatin' y'all about hep C, turnin' y'all on to The Judds.
The first official concert in a young person's life can be a monumental occasion. 15 years and countless shows later, you always remember your first. The ATH offices were surveyed, and today's Top 5 is a random ordering of the first concert from 5 ATH staff members. Although I was hoping to find some suppressed NKOTB or Debbie Gibson concerts among us, I had no such luck. Some of us were a little embarassed to fess up, while some us were happy to gloat. But this list isn't just about us. We want to hear about your first concert experience [...]
![Thank You, YouTube, For Bringing Me Unedited "Solid Gold" [Videodrone Super Extra]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1642076_lg.jpg)
Any day that I'm on blogging duty, I wake up with the hope that the internet will have something magical for me that day. Most days, my level of satisfaction with what's out there is around a five or six on a scale of one to ten. But a day when I happen to stumble upon an entire episode of Solid Gold from Jan. 11, 1986—complete with commercials? That's a solid ten. Take in the other five segments below the cut, complete with performances by the Judds , Whitney Houston [...]
![Wynonna Deserves Better Than "Kath & Kim" [Rescues]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1514670_lg.jpg)
While lying on the couch in a Nyquil-induced haze waiting for The Office to come on last night, I happened to catch the last five minutes or so of Kath & Kim . Despite my deep appreciation of the work of John Michael Higgins, I gave up on the Molly Shannon/Selma Blair vehicle early in its run and, frankly, was a little surprised to see that it was still on. But soldier on it does, and this week's special guest was Wynonna Judd . Thanks to last night's depiction of [...]
For those who've been emailing wondering where I've been and what's taking me so long to finish up my year end lists, it is with a heavy heart that I explain that my family suffered a great loss last week and all of my time and attention has been focused on keeping busy so I don't have to think about the gaping hole we've no way to fill. In November I made a post and mentioned my Grandpa and
100 Years (in Ten Jumps) 1986: Ivor Cutler, Roget. The Mekons, Oblivion. Pete Townshend, Save It For Later. David and David, Swallowed By the Cracks. Big Stick, Drag Racing. John Carter, Moon Waltz. Prince, Girls and Boys. The Judds, Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days). Robert Cray, I Guess I Showed Her. Timex Social Club, Rumors. Megadeth, Peace Sells. Dwight Yoakam, Guitars,
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Monday Music – 28 May 2012
Music Singles Chart #109
