The pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll and what we now call American Music are in their eighties now. It’s remarkable that Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino are still playing, but we’ve lost many other legends of that generation. Marshall Grant, the last living member of Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, died on Sunday. His bass playing…
Jimmie Fadden on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Americana music
Jimmie Fadden reflected on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s many influences and how they helped shape the band’s own brand of Americana music in an interview with Timesdaily.com: “We have a lot of different interests in the band. It’s kind of what propelled us from rather obscure mountain music to Delta blues artists to more contemporary players. Just a variety…
Review: Nick 13
You don’t often see the words “psychobilly” and “Lloyd Green” in the same sentence, let alone on the same album. Yet that’s truly the charm of “Nick 13,” the solo debut by the artist of the same name. Nick 13 is best known as singer and songwriter for Tiger Army, a psychobilly band that draws on the genre’s punk and…
Bob Dylan, Leon Russell at the Ryman
A legendary music figure took the stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville tonight, performing his greatest songs in faithful, spirited versions. That was Leon Russell. Of course, Bob Dylan took a different path. Born just one year apart, Russell, 69, and Dylan, 70, were a study in contrasts. Russell was determined to please. The newly-elected member of the Rock…
Cayamo road trip scheduled
Sixthman, the company that stages the annual Cayamo music cruise, has announced a landlocked tour featuring performances by Cayamo artists. Chuck Cannon, Tim Brantley, Bronze Radio Return and Trailer Park Ninjas will play in various combinations over the month of August The schedule: Wednesday, Aug 3 – Miami, FL – Transit Lounge Thursday, Aug 4 – Orlando, FL – The…
Aretha Franklin returns to the Ryman
Tickets are now available for Aretha Franklin’s return to the Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday, October 19 at 7:30 pm. Franklin’s recent illness led many to wonder if she would ever grace this stage again; her booking is great news. As we wrote on Sun209 in November 2010, “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a crowd at the Ryman as excited…
Nell Robinson – On the Brooklyn Road
You have to love Nell Robinson’s story. From a booklet accompanying her new CD “On the Brooklyn Road: “So I just turned 50 and one of my good friends characterized my new-found devotion to music as a midlife crisis. I sang by myself in my car for 30 years and ventured out to sing in public at age 45. All I can…
James Burton at Hall of Fame
James Burton, the legendary guitarist who wrote the lick for Dale Hawkins’ “Suzy Q,” played lead guitar for Ricky Nelson throughout his television years and played in Elvis Presley’s band from 1969 on, was saluted at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville today. Part of the Nashville Cats series hosted by Bill Lloyd of Foster and Lloyd, the…
Updated Cayamo line-up: Lucinda Williams on board
Lucinda Williams has been added to the roster of the 2012 Cayamo cruise, a music festival on the ocean set for Feb. 5-12. Williams, whose most recent album is Blessed, joins a roster that includes Lyle Lovett, John Prine, Keb’ Mo’, John Hiatt, Buddy Miller, Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright III, Greg Brown, the Civil Wars, Sara Watkins, James McMurtry, Iris Dement, Shawn Mullins, Edwin McCain, Maia Sharp, The…
Allman, Plant and Jayhawks set for Americana Music Festival
The Jayhawks, Gregg Allman, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, Foster and Lloyd. Justin Townes Earle, North Mississippi Allstars and The Civil Wars are among the first artists announced for the 12th Annual Americana Music Festival and Conference, scheduled for Oct. 12-15, 2011 in Nashville. It’s always an extraordinary festival, and the Americana Awards show is always a highlight.…
Rock and Roll Joe
There are songwriters with more melodic voices and some with more chart success, but few are as consistently interesting as Chip Taylor. Best known as the writer of “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning,” and more recently as an Americana artist, Taylor is never complacent. His 7 Days in May told of his complicated romance with a young French…
John Hiatt album, Ryman concert scheduled
John Hiatt’s new album Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns is due for release on August 2. Details from Hiatt’s website: “As an added bonus, a deluxe version of the album will be made available, which will include a special behind-the-scenes DVD, The Making of Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns and 24/96 High Resolution audio mix of the entire album… Dirty…
Connie Smith to be Country Music Hall of Fame artist in residence
Connie Smith has been named the 2011 resident artist at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and will be performing and hosting shows there on Aug. 22 and 29 and Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. Past honorees have included Earl Scruggs, Tom T. Hall, Vince Gill, Guy Clark, Jerry Douglas, Kris Kristofferson and my favorite to date, Cowboy…
James Burton at the Country Music Hall of Fame
The legendary James Burton will be Bill Lloyd’s guest on the July 23 installment of “Nashville Cats” at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Burton drove Ricky Nelson’s early recordings and later was a pivotal member of Elvis Presley’s band. He also played on Dale Hawkins’ classic “Suzy Q” and Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried.” That’s as good a resume as…
Sarah Jarosz: Follow Me Down
Sarah Jarosz knows no bounds. Building on her promising debut “Song Up In Her Head,” the new “Follow Me Down” is both a genre-bridging and compelling recording. Jarosz is a talented mandolinist and banjo player with an inviting voice and an education at the New England Conservatory. She taps all of those resources on “Follow Me Down,” while also drawing…
New live set from Guy Clark
Peter Cooper of the Tennessean reports that Guy Clark will release a live CD recorded at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre. Songs and Stories is scheduled for Aug. 16. Two other Guy Clark live CDs are currently available:Together at the Bluebird Cafe with Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt, and an Austin City Limits performance (also on DVD.)
Presley, Armstrong and Foster among most influential Americans
In the spirit of the holiday, a friend posted a link to a 2006 Atlantic Magazine article listing the top 100 influential Americans. I went through the list and was glad to see that three musicians made the cut. The list, compiled by a panel of historians, identified Elvis Presley (#66), Louis Armstrong, (#79), and Stephen Foster (#97) as the…
U2 salutes Johnny Cash at Nashville show
U2 surprised its Nashville audience last night with a performance of “The Wanderer,” a Zooropa song featuring Johnny Cash that had never before appeared in the band’s setlists. Bono spoke of his admiration for Johnny and June, promised to visit their hometown of Hendersonville on his next visit and did a pretty fair job of channeling Cash’s voice on the…
Philip Gibbs: Petroleum Age
Philip Gibbs is a topical singer-songwriter, although his topics come from past and present. He clearly loves his Texas heritage, as evidenced by songs like “Stephen F. Austin’s Blues” and “Sam Houston’s Blues.” But the highlight of his new album is the title song, “The Petroleum Age,” a jaunty protest song about the era of oil dependency. It’s written in…
Keep Austin Weird
Sun209 is based in Nashville, so we’re taking Austin’s claim of being the “”Live Music Capital of the World” with a grain of salt. That said, the line-up at the Keep Austin Weird Festival was truly impressive, particularly the bands that hit the stage in the late afternoon and early evening. There’s some of the Band in Deadman and Motown/Stax…