A return to a classic album: Radney Foster’s “Del Rio, Texas, Revisited: Unplugged and Lonesome” http://t.co/FfSfNytq # Out now: Amy Cook's "Summer Sun," with guest appearances by Robert Plant, Patty Griffin and Ben Kweller. #americanamusic # Nashville's own songwriting supergroup: The World Famous Headliners http://t.co/nz5HiA1A # Real cost of 'free' downloads – http://t.co/rcz2dbUb http://t.co/uKVgLy6G via @USATODAY # The Coal Porters'…
Review: New Shoes, vintage 20/20
By Ken Paulson There’s good news for power pop fans on both the new album and reissue fronts. The new album is Ignition from Shoes, an album title that sounds like a new band launching. (See Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.) But no, Shoes have been around for more than three decades, pioneers in DIY recordings and creators of consistently engaging…
Review: World Famous Headliners
By Ken Paulson –(The World Famous Headliners will perform at the Americana Music Festival on Sept. 14 at 10 p.m. at the Rutledge in Nashville.) The World Famous Headliners’ name is tongue-in-cheek, but at the band’s core are some world-class songwriters. Al Anderson (ex-NRBQ), Shawn Camp, Pat McLaughlin have teamed with the expert rhythm section of Michael Rhodes on bass…
Sun209: The week in Tweets
Really?!! NBC cut Ray Davies from the U.S. broadcast of the closing Olympics cermonies? Stunning – and stupid. #nbcfail # New release from Skyline Drive: "Topanga Ranch Motel" Our favorite track: "Nothing Like You" http://t.co/8I4xSrrl @kimgrant1 # Coming Sept. 18: Final and first-rate album from "Female Elvis" Janis Martin produced by @rosieflorestwee. http://t.co/wAFLDyX4@conqueroo1 # After four decades, first two albums…
Review: Janis Martin’s “The Blanco Sessions”
By Ken Paulson –We came to know Rosie Flores when she lived in Nashville in the late ‘90s, and have always been impressed with her music – and her heart. Both are in abundance on The Blanco Sessions, the final album from Janis Martin, the late rockabilly pioneer, set for release on Sept. 18. Martin was billed as the “female…
Review: Natasha Borzilova’s “Out of My Hands”
By Paul T. Mueller –It’s hard enough to write a CD’s worth of intelligent, engaging songs in one’s native language. To do so in one’s second language, as Russia-born singer-songwriter Natasha Borzilova has with Out of My Hands, is a pretty impressive achievement. On her third solo release (she’s a former member of Bering Strait, a country band she started…
Radney Foster’s “Del Rio, Texas, Revisited: Unplugged and Lonesome”
Americana Music News: Out today: Radney Foster’s Del Rio, Texas, Revisited: Unplugged and Lonesome, a revisiting of his debut solo album 20 years ago. Foster, then fresh off his collaboration with Bill Lloyd in Foster and Lloyd, quickly established himself with the energetic and impressive Del Rio, Texas, lauching his solo career with classic songs like “Just Call Me Lonesome”…
New to chart: Zoe Muth,Heritage Blues Orchestra
Americana Music News — Old Crow Medicine Show’ s Carry Me Back remains at number one on this week’s Americana Music Association Airplay Chart, followed by Rodney Crowell’s Kin. Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers’ Old Gold ( #35) and the Heritage Blues Orchestra’s And Still I Rise (#40) debut on the chart today. This week’s most added albums…
Reissue: Clover’s first two albums
By Ken Paulson I find myself flipping through albums at used record stores out of habit. I’ve bought pretty much everything I’ve wanted on vinyl, and most of the scarce stuff is now available as a CD or download. Still, there are some elusive albums I’ve always wanted to hear. Over the past forty years, I’ve never stumbled across the…
Sun209: The week in Tweets
Rose’s Pawn Shop – One Man Show – Live at Good Neighbor: http://t.co/XZgzrBxo via @youtube # 2012 Americana Music Festival line-up announced http://t.co/0BHMasCz # Delta Rae offers ‘roller coaster’ of a show http://t.co/776tZkQP via @sharethis # Corb Lund’s seventh album inspired by cowboys, ranchers and family history – News1130 http://t.co/m6hkocUF # Lydia Loveless and band delivered the tunes at Smith’s…
Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Ashes and Roses”
By Ken Paulson –It’s been 20 years since Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Come On Come On dominated country music, a top 10 album with seven hit singles. “I Feel Lucky,” “Passionate Kisses,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” and other tracks were equal parts energy, insight and irreverence. Two decades on, Ashes and Roses reflects a much more somber Carpenter. Her albums…
2012 Americana Music Festival line-up announced
Americana Music News — The Americana Music Association issued its 2012 festival schedule today, bringing a great mix of long-established and emerging talent to Nashville in September: WEDNESDAY SEPT. 12 THE BASEMENT 10:00 Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside 11:00 Blue Mountain 12:00 Shovels and Rope THE STATION INN 10:30 Carper Family Band 11:30 Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson…
Fall tour dates for Patterson Hood
Americana Music News — Patterson Hood has a new album – Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance – due Sept. 11 and is touring in support, beginning Sept. 14 in North Carolina. The just-announced tour list: Sep 14 Jomeoke Music and Arts Festival – Pinnacle, NC Sep 15 The Southern Cafe and Music Hall – Charlottesville, VA Sep 16 World…
Sun209: The week in Tweets
Ever-protean singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet now has control over his art, and he's happy about that http://t.co/KgGM1FRV # Country star Radney Foster coming to Lexington http://t.co/d29kMplO via @examinercom # A rejuvenated BoDeans on “American Made” http://sun209.com/the-bodeans-american-made/ @BoDeans @shorefire # Billy Joe Shaver: "I'm More Like Outcast Country" http://buff.ly/LFS5my via @DC9AtNight # House Concerts Can Pay The Mortgage http://t.co/WOhum8hH via @wordpressdotcom #…
“Heaping Helping:” Great cause, great music
Americana Music News — Scott Ward alerts us to a new CD he produced to support The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama. It’s an impressive compilation, including contributions from Shelby Lynne, Kevin Welch, Bekka Bramlett, Paul Thorn, Will Kimbrough, Christine Ohlman, Sailcat, Spooner Oldham, Greg Martin of The Kentucky Headhunters, the Oak Ridge Boys and Donnie Fritts. It’s also…
Tom Smith’s “Live from the Loft”
Americana Music News: In recent mail, we received a nice note from Tom Smith, fellow occupant of Old Hickory, TN , a commmunity outside Nashville where Sun209: Americana Music News is based. The correspondence from Tom Smith included his album Live from the Loft, an impressive and often riveting showcase of acoustic guitar and fingerpicking. His very cool website includes…
Review: Chris Smither’s “Hundred Dollar Valentine”
By Terry Roland — At the end of Chris Smither’s latest album Hundred Dollar Valentine, there is a hidden track, “Rosalee,” a rough demo-like recording. According to the comments at the end of the session he wrote it 35 years ago and it has rarely been performed. If Smither’s career still holds such hidden treasures, this is reason enough to…
Sept. 19-22: Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Uncle Pen Days Festival
The 38th Annual Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Uncle Pen Days Festival has released the line-up for this year’s fest, set for Sept.19–22 in Brown County, Indiana, 2012. The schedule: Wednesday, September 19, 2012: Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Ronnie Reno & The Reno Tradition, The Boxcars, James King Band, Karl Shiflett & The Big Country Show,…
Sun209: The week in Tweets
Jackson Browne’s star shines bright for decades The Tennessean http://t.co/a1s1QH7o # Old Crow Medicine Show takes pride in making music that makes your feet move http://t.co/6IqPuvPG # 1st album from the Waymores, new band of top songwriters. Well-crafted and fun. http://t.co/qLCQNXuw @TomKimmel @SallyBarris @The Waymores # Interview with Shawn Colvin http://t.co/6bRrAZHU via @sharethis # For some veteran country acts, making…
Celebrating songwriting at Blanco’s Bar & Grill
By Paul T. Mueller The musicians and industry pros might have outnumbered the ordinary fans at Houston’s Blanco’s Bar & Grill on the evening of July 9, but you didn’t have to be an insider to enjoy a full evening’s sampling of talented Texas singer-songwriters. The event, produced by the Houston chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), was…