Freight
Train Boogie News Here
you will find recent "roots-related" stories on the internet. Keep in
mind that the links (date of article) go directly to the story or article that
is mentioned.
Upcoming
Releases
Sept. 2nd - Jerry Reed starred with Burt Reynolds in several blockbuster movies, recorded three No. 1 country singles, wrote one of Elvis Presley's biggest hits and developed a fingerstyle guitar technique that other musicians are still analyzing to this day. When he died Sunday (Aug. 31) at age 71, the entertainment world lost a genuine original who helped take country music and the country lifestyle to a larger mainstream audience.
Born Jerry Reed Hubbard on March 20, 1937, in Atlanta, he began playing guitar at age 9 and was just a teenager when he began performing in the Atlanta area on shows featuring Ernest Tubb, Faron Young and others. Following a two-year stint in the military, Reed moved to Nashville in 1962 and began work as a session musician while writing songs such as Porter Wagoner's "Misery Loves Company," a No. 1 single in 1962. In 1964, he joined RCA Nashville's artist roster at the urging of label executive Chet Atkins, one of Reed's biggest supporters.
In 1967, Reed landed his first single on Billboard's country chart. Although the track, "Guitar Man," peaked at a dismal No. 53, the song got the attention of Presley, who recorded the song and wanted Reed to recreate the funky guitar riff he used on his original version.
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Aug. 12th - Don Helms, a renowned steel guitarist who played in Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys band and on country classics by Patsy Cline and Lefty Frizzell, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 81. Helms died Monday in Nashville and was an original member of Williams' Drifting Cowboys and provided the signature steel guitar parts on tunes like "Cold, Cold Heart" and "Your Cheatin' Heart."After Williams' death in 1953, Helms played on Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight," Frizzell's "Long Black Veil" and many other songs."The sound of Helms' precise yet bluesy steel guitar (on Williams' recordings) helped usher in a honky-tonk sound that would define country music for years to come," the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum said in announcing a program honoring Helms in 2006.
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July 27th -
Want to know what kind of music Emmylou Harris is listening to on her iPod? Check out her favorite artists in this story from the NY Times.
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July 21st - Folk singer, guitarist Artie Traum died peacefully, at home on Sunday, July 20, with his devoted and loving wife of 28 years, Beverly, at his side. Four years ago, Artie was diagnosed with a rare ocular melanoma, and he had been undergoing regular treatments for it. In May, however, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to his liver, and it was incurable. Like everything else in his life, Artie handled his diagnosis with dignity, strength and acceptance – and even a little of his irreverent humor.
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July 21st - Americana literati Rodney Crowell is set to release a new album Sex & Gasoline on Sept 2nd on Yep Roc Records. He continues to write about contemporary themes. Sex & Gasoline was produced by Joe Henry and contains what Crowell says are, "some of the best performances I've given to date." For the new material Crowell and Henry brought in some of music's most skilled sidemen including Doyle Bramhall II (acoustic and electric guitar), Greg Leisz (acoustic and electric guitar, pedal and lap steel, mandolin, mandocello and dobro), Patrick Warren (piano, pump organ and Chamberlin), David Piltch (upright and electric bass) and Jay Bellerose (drums and percussion).
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July 18th - Songwriting legend Hank Cochran is recovering at a Nashville hospital following surgery performed to remove cancerous tumors from his pancreas and lymph node. "I feel so blessed," says Hank. "The diagnosis was made very early, and the doctors expect me to make a full recovery."
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July 7th -
Peace Queer, due out August 19th from Todd Snider, is, he says, "a record of brevity, humor and hope."
The eight tracks on Peace Queer include a Civil War sea shanty, a plaintive cover of the classic "Fortunate Son," a spoken-word number, a rocket-fueled meditation on contemporary culture ("Stuck On The Corner"), and a Fred Sanford-ish funeral dirge. The emotional centerpiece of the album is the wistful "Ponce Of The Flaming Peace Queer."
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June 11th -
The Americana Music Association announced the nominees for the organization’s 2008 Honors and Awards ceremony. Nominees for Album Of The Year were Alison Krauss & Robert Plant -
Raising Sand, Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind, James McMurtry - Just Us Kids andLevon Helm - Dirt Farmer ( a good list!). Artist Of the Year nominees were
Steve Earle, Levon Helm, Jim Lauderdale and James McMurtry. The winners will be announced September 18 at the historic Ryman Auditorium during the 7th Annual Americana Music Association’s Honors and Awards Show. Hosted by Jim Lauderdale and featuring a band led by Buddy Miller, the Honors & Awards ceremony will also recognize iconic troubadour John Hiatt with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting and Jason and the Scorchers with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Performance. Additional honorees and performers will be announced in the coming months.
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June 6th - Hacienda Brothers guitarist Dave Gonzalez, who founded the group with the late Chris Gaffney, will play a memorial show Tuesday, June 10 at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix, AZ. He will be aided by musicians from Arizona and California. The band's new CD, Arizona Motel, which wrapped up just before Gaffney's death, will be on sale. Gonzalez also plans to tour throughout the summer with various backing musicians to play the music that Gaffney loved and to support the Arizona Motel CD. Some of the proceeds will be donated to the helpgaff.com site, to aid Gaffney's family. "This new album is Gaff's swan song, and I know that if the shoe was on the other foot, he'd have done the same," Gonzalez says.
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May 24th - Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp U. Utah Phillips dead at 73.
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April 27th - Emmylou Harris was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Ceremony included a host of Country and Americana stars performing. Music City TV has a news report about the event. CMT story. Peter Cooper's story on the Tennessean.
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April 24th -
Jed Hilly, Executive Director of The Americana Music Association announced today one of America's most respected and influential singer songwriters John Hiatt will be the recipient of the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting. The award will be presented during the 7th Annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards at 7pm CT on Thurs., September 18 at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville.
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April 23rd - I recently received this email... "My name is Torchy Blaine; I'm an alt.cosmic.country.canaroots DJ out here in the barrens of New Jersey / USA, and
I knew Gram Parsons. He was the very first "real musician" that I'd ever met when I was just a little kid. Saw him less than the amount of times that I can count on two hands, but he was a friend: kind, funny, gifted, beautiful, sweet, and good-hearted.
I, along with at this point over 1700 other people, would like to see Gram inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Yes, the very same CMHOF that will see Emmylou Harris' induction this year. (If the student must lead in the master, fine with me. I bear no negativity about that.)
The CMHOF petition, under the sponsorship of Will Harnack (known as Will and the G3P), is online at www.gramparsonspetition.com It is referred to as the "Bridge Petition" as the goal is not only to give Gram a place in one of the organizations that he deserves a place in, but to hopefully finally "bridge" the years of bickering, arguing, and bad vibes between the traditional country camp, the alt-country camp, and even the factions of Gram's friends and family themselves. Go check it out, read it, read over the names of some of the signers, and sign it yourself if your heart is with us. Then pass it on to your colleagues, listeners, whomever you know that appreciates Gram!"
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April 19th - Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has opened a new 5,000 square-foot exhibit Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy. It’s an incredible array of rare memorabilia, photographs, autographs, letters and many other things that document the legacy of a family whose history is so intriguing and unusual it proves as riveting as any of Hank Williams’ compositions. The exhibit continues through Dec. 31, 2009.
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April 18th - Hacienda Brothers' vocalist and songwrither Chris Gaffney passed away yesterday morning, April 17, 2008 in the Orange County hospital in California with his wife Julie at his side. He suffered a fall at home last night and died in his sleep after being admitted to the hospital. Further details are unavailable at this time. Funeral arrangements are yet to be announced. To send a donation go to the HelpGaff website.
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April 5th - Rosanne Cash is taking part in a collaborative blog/column in the New York Times called Measure for Measure: How To Write A Song and Other Mysteries. Here is the link to her first column called
"Well, Actually, It Is Brain Surgery".
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March 2nd - Following a lengthy struggle with cancer, guitarist and bandleader Jeff Healey died in Toronto hospital. Healey, arguably one of the most distinctive guitar players of our time, died today in St. Joseph's Hospital, Toronto. He was 41, and leaves his wife, Cristie, daughter Rachel (13) and son Derek (three), as well as his father and step-mother, Bud and Rose Healey, and sisters Laura and Linda. Funeral and memorial arrangements are pending. Robbed of his sight as a baby due to a rare form of cancer, retino blastoma, and he started to play guitar when he was three, holding the instrument unconventionally across his lap. He formed his first band at 17, but soon formed a trio which was named the Jeff Healey Band.
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Feb. 19th - No Depression, the bimonthly magazine covering a broad range of American roots music since 1995, will bring to an end its print publication with its 75th issue in May-June 2008. Plans to expand the publication's website (www.nodepression.net) with additional content will move forward, though it will in no way replace the print edition.
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Feb 15th - Willie P. Bennett passed away.He spent many years playing with the Fred Eaglesmith band. More information from Willie's website. |
Feb. 12th -
Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, the Statler Brothers and country-bluegrass music pioneer Ernest "Pop" Stoneman are the newest inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Harris spoke of falling in love with country music when she was in high school and living in Woodbridge, Va., near where her Marine father was stationed. She said she listened faithfully to a folk music show on a Washington, D. C., radio station, WAMU, as she learned her first chords on a cheap guitar her uncle had given her. But it was meeting Gram Parsons later, she explained, that really taught her to appreciate country music.
"It's the music that gave me my true voice," she said. |
Feb. 11th - CMT reports on the recent Grammy Award winners. They included
Lifetime Achievement awards to bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs, Burt Bacharach, and The Band among others. Vince Gill got
best country album award for his fine 4-CD project These Days. Willie Nelson and Ray Price shared the Grammy for best country collaboration with vocals for "Lost Highway," a track from Last of the Breed, their album with fellow Country Music Hall of Fame member Merle Haggard. The award for best pop collaboration with vocals went to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss for "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)," an old Everly Brothers song, from their Raising Sand album.
Jim Lauderdale's The Bluegrass Diaries was named best bluegrass album, while the best Southern, country or bluegrass gospel album honor went to Ricky Skaggs and the Whites for Salt of the Earth. Levon Helm, The Band's former drummer and vocalist who has rebounded following a battle with throat cancer, received the best traditional folk album award for his solo project, Dirt Farmer. Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade was named best contemporary folk/Americana album.
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lways
check Austin
City Limits (PBS) as they usually have great root-oriented artists.
Upcoming
artists on Austin City Limits...
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