A memorial service will be held tomorrow, Saturday, April 3, for Pirates of the Mississippi’s Dean Townson. Townson died at age 50 on March 25. Kenneth Dean Townson was the bass player and harmony singer for the Pirates from 1990 to 1995. He sang on all of the group’s hits, including 1991’s “Feed Jake.” He […]
Widely beloved radio personality, songwriter and entertainer Charles “Peanut” Faircloth was buried yesterday [Sunday, March 21] in Chattanooga – he died Tuesday, March 16, at age 82. Born in Mitchell Country, Georgia, he had childhood polio which stunted his growth at 4’8.” This led to his nickname, “Peanut.” He began his radio career at WNEX […]
Vanderbilt University professor Richard “Pete” Peterson—one of the first sociologists to seriously study country music—has died at age 77. During his career, Peterson studied the Nashville music industry, popular culture, the definition of musical genres, the aging of the fine-arts audience and the impact of digital technology on music. In addition, he was a former […]
(Updated 2/3/10) Madeleine Parlatore, longtime administrator and office manager of Big Tractor Music, has passed away. The company’s Jason Krupek says she was “Mom” to everyone at the publishing company, where she spent 13 years. The funeral will be Friday, February 5 at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens, located at 9090 Highway 100. Visitation will be […]
Sheldon Kurland, known throughout the Nashville music community as a session musician and as the leader of The Sheldon Kurland Strings, died Wednesday, Jan. 6 at age 81. He can be heard on such hits as “Last Cheater’s Waltz” by T. G. Sheppard, “Rose Colored Glasses” by John Conlee, “Everything is Beautiful” by Ray Stevens, […]
Nashville r&b star Earl Gaines died on New Year’s Eve at St. Thomas Hospital. He was 74 years old. Gaines was a gruff-voiced shouter who was a central figure in Music City’s soul scene for decades. That fact was underscored by his prominence in the Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit and Grammy Award winning […]
Lifelong folk-music champion Bess Lomax Hawes died Friday, November 27 at the age of 88 in Portland, Oregon. In 1941-43 she was a member of The Almanac Singers alongside Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. In 1948, she wrote the folk classic “M.T.A.,” which became a hit for The Kingston Trio in 1959. She moved to […]
Yikes: How did it get to be the end of September already? The official first day of Autumn was Tuesday, and everyone is polishing up their late-year releases. Tim scores big points in this column with “Southern Voice,” the title tune of his Oct. 20 CD. Last night, Miranda debuted her Revolution at the Ryman. […]
No cash this week, because there’s not a clunker in sight. Everybody is playing at the top of their game, especially the ridiculously talented Steve Wariner, Gene Watson and Darius Rucker. Programmers are going to hate this next sentence. All 10 of these platters deserve airplay. Polish off a DisCovery Award for Chris Heers. He […]
The Americana music convention begins today in Nashville, so what better time to run a column about the genre? The artists we’re talking about today are all up for awards at Thursday’s gala at the Ryman Auditorium. So we’re talking the cream of Americana, here. Earlier in the year, I raved about nominees such as […]