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 [...]
Originally published in The Oxford American Magazine twelfth annual music issue. I pity the fool that does not subscribe. The Denunciation of Ricky Skaggs From On High by Steve Scafidi [...]
The Skaggs Family Christmas Vol. 2 is both down-home and polished, a treasure for lovers of country Christmas music.
Progressive bluegrass and old-time jazz collide on the forthcoming Old Brooklyn in the person of Andy Statman, the clarinet and mandolin virtuoso. There are times, in fact, when you hear a little of both even within one of his brilliantly multifaceted solos throughout this two-CD set, to be issued Oct. 25 on Shefa Records. Actually, there's more still to Statman, [...]
Country stars re-tell the story of Mark Twain.
The CleverlysThe Minnesota State Fair kicks off its entertainment schedule today, and as every good fair should be, it's jam-packed with country acts big and small. And bonus? It features the return
It's almost as if Skaggs is afraid to sound too good, as if the songs are somehow more authentic if played and sung unexceptionally. Ricky Skaggs' turn as a bluegrass musician has been well documented. He was only six years old when he played mandolin on stage with Bill Monroe and a year later he was on television picking with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Since then he's been a member of Ralph Stanley's Cinch Mountain Boys, J.D. Crowe's New South, and Emmylou Harris' Hot band. During the '80s he broke through as a country artist, even winning the...
Last weekend's Stagecoach , the country music cousin to Coachella, capped three consecutive weeks of music at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, offering a diverse lineup of veterans, commercial stars and indie artists. Photographer Scott Dudelson sent along this gallery. For a good read, check out Randy Lewis' review in the Times.
You don’t have to be a believer to be enthralled by this heartfelt collection.
Short and simple today. I'm still recovering from a little adventure I had on U.S. Highway 40. I was driving back from a visit with my daughter, who lives almost two hours away, and I was still a half-hour from home when I developed car problems. Her and I had gone to a late movie, so it was almost midnight by then - much later than I would usually be coming back. I normally enjoy the drive on U.S. 40, which is one of those iconic roads with a colorful history, but it is almost empty at [...]
July 18th marks the birthday of one of music’s true artists, Ricky Skaggs . Born in 1954 in Cordell, Kentucky, Skaggs helped to usher in a new tradition of country music during the “Urban Cowboy” era in the early 1980s. Along the way, he took classics by Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Mel Tillis, and Carl Butler, and made them hip to a new generation. Since 1997, he has done much the same for bluegrass music, which he has recorded exclusively for his Skaggs Family Records label. Let’s take a look at five of Ricky’s top singles, as well [...]
Aimee Mann, Ben Gibbard and Annie Clark at the Summerstage 2010 Gala Photo : Jon Klemm On Tuesday of last week ( June 8 ), the 25th Anniversary season of Summerstage officially kicked off with an all-star benefit featuring the music of Simon and Garfunkel . A few performances stood out. Marc Cohn and Jonatha Brooke presided over a “Sound of Silence,” redone as blue-eyed soul with Memphis horns. Dar Williams and Stephen Kellogg sang “We’ve Got a Groovy Thing Goin’ [...]
Just got wind of this new deal* on the SummerStage 25th Anniversary Gala show: When you purchase 4 General Admission tickets to the June 8 SummerStage 25th Anniversary Gala, you get four no-waiting, guaranteed entry admission passes good for any free Central Park SummerStage show, including The xx on August 8, St. Vincent on August 1, The Specials on August 22, Chrisette Michele on August 21 or Public Enemy on August 15 More info (including the artist lineup and song choices) on the SummerStage Gala after after [...]
The Lowlands Return to Philadelphia... The Lowlands , Philadelphia’s beloved bluegrass project featuring: Chris Kasper, Adrien Reju, Todd Barneson, and Jeff Hiatt, will reunite this weekend for a few, very special performances in the Philadelphia, PA area. The details about these upcoming shows are listed below. If you have a chance to make one of these shows I highly recommend you do so. Friday, February 19, 2010 [...]
Derek Hoke 's new album 'Goodbye Rock N Roll' (Electric Western Records) is set for release March 16, 2010 during Austin's SXSW Festival , which Derek will be attending. Goodbye Rock N Roll is Derek Hoke's first release and establishes him as a strong country songwriter, having already received rave reviews from local and national publications, including Nashville's Music Row Magazine . Goodbye Rock N Roll is a record with shades of Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly , and Lyle Lovett intertwined. [...]
Everyone's favorite "occasionally blugrass" festival kicks off today in San Francisco. Check out the full three-day lineup and stage times over at Hardly Strictly's official site or enjoy some MP3s from some of this year's highlights. Friday: John Prine - "The Great Compromise" Lyle Lovett - "Record Lady" Saturday: Gillian Welch - "The Devil had a Hold of Me" Steve Earle - "Ellis Unit One" Laurie Lewis - "Who Will [...]
Everyone's favorite "occasionally blugrass" festival kicks off today in San Francisco. Check out the full three-day lineup and stage times over at Hardly Strictly's official site or enjoy some MP3s from some of this year's highlights. Friday: John Prine - "The Great Compromise" Lyle Lovett - "Record Lady" Saturday: Gillian Welch - "The Devil had a Hold of Me" Steve Earle - "Ellis Unit One" Laurie Lewis - "Who Will [...]
Sequels are common in the world of movies. More often than not, they’re not worth the wait. That makes the new album from Patty Loveless , Mountain Soul 2 , all the more special due to the fact that it lives up to its predecessor, 2001’s Mountain Soul . The singer admits that while she took a musical risk by releasing the bluegrass album for Epic eight years ago, it was well worth it. “It actually gained another audience for me,” she says proudly, “along with fans I already had.” The success of the disc [...]
For folks who saw the holographic Jerry Jeff Walker in the Austin airport yet still demand the real live thing: LIMITED NUMBER OF RESERVED SEATS JUST MADE AVAILABLE FOR STAGECOACH: CALIFORNIA’S COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL ON SALE THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 27 A limited number of reserved seats have just become available for STAGECOACH: California’s Country Music Festival, [...]
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