It’s veterans’ day. No, not the holiday, silly. It’s a day when we have new music from some of country music’s vets. Aaron Tippin, Ricochet and Ronnie Milsap are all dropping by with new sounds. And the magnificent Mr. Milsap wins a Disc of the Day award. Neil Carswell is a veteran, too. He previously […]
As you might expect, the stars are twinkling for Country Radio Seminar. Toby Keith, Sugarland, Telluride and Pat Green all have terrific new tunes for the radio decision makers to savor. Universal South is bringing forth a dandy by this week’s DisCovery Award winners, Jonathan Singleton & The Grove. Less than a month ago (on […]
The Raconteurs are the latest pop act to put their toes in our country waters. Come one, come all, say I. We have several youngsters in our listening stack today. One of them, Matt Gary, walks off with a DisCovery Award. Mercury’s Billy Currington is on a roll. Thanks to his ultra-smart song selection, he […]
They may call this genre “Americana,” but the Disc of the Day comes from overseas this time. Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson have a current CD called Rattlin’ Bones that is a must-own for anyone in love with soulful, mountain-soaked music. My other two favorites in this listening session both came from veterans. It sure […]
All I have to say is, “wow.” I can’t remember the last time so many records deserved a Disc of the Day award. How to choose between Alan Jackson’s sweet/sad acoustic ballad, The Zac Brown Band’s groove-a-thon, Wynonna’s celestial performance, Love and Theft’s dizzy pop confection, Dierks Bentley’s party platter and Jefferson Ross’s brilliant songwriting? […]
This week, I’m tidying up a few loose ends in my Americana listening stack. This truly is a genre of great singer-songwriters, and three of them have current albums that you absolutely must own. They are John Hiatt’s Same Old Man, James McMurtry’s Just Us Kids and Bruce Robison’s His Greatest, which earns our Disc […]
A Nashville memorial service was held this morning, Feb. 18, for the multi-faceted music industry figure Scotty Turner. Nashville Association of Talent Directors president Rod Harris announced Turner’s death at the NATD’s monthly meeting last week. Turner was a musician, record producer, label executive, music publisher and songwriter. Early in his career, he was the […]
This week, the major labels are stepping up to the plate with quality. Mercury has two excellent singles, by the Randy Rogers Band and Holly Williams. Warner Bros. Records is offering us a dandy uptempo by Jessica Harp. Columbia has the DisCovery Award winners, Caitlin & Will. But at the end of the listening session, […]
Is it live or is it Memorex? Remember that old commercial for magnetic tape? Remember magnetic tape? Anyhow, the gist of it was guessing whether what you heard was pre-recorded or not. And that was the game I played all night long during the Grammy telecast. Not surprisingly, Music City’s finest fared best. Those were […]
It’s awfully hard to argue with the power of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the voices of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Especially when they’re backing Billy Dean on a patriotic anthem. Maybe there’s inspiration and hope in the air or something. Whatever the cause, I fell for “Wave On, Old Glory.” It’s the Disc of […]