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
May 8th -
Country Music Hall of Fame Member Eddy Arnold Dies at Age 89. One of the Nashville area's wealthiest residents, he also leaves an estate estimated to be in excess of $40 million. Before Garth Brooks came along, Arnold was easily country music's biggest record-seller. Sales of his discs from the mid-1940s to the present, in every recorded medium from 78s to CDs, have topped 80 million. Along the way, Arnold became a key figure in "urbanizing" country music -- smoothing it out, opening it to influences from the wider world of pop music. N.Y. Times story by Bill Friskics-Warren.
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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. |
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.
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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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Feb. 9th - The amazing story of Rounder Records is recounted. The label is up for some Grammy awards for CD's by
Tony Trischka,
J.D. Crowe and
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand.
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Jan. 11th -
Lightning Rod Records will release singer/songwriter James McMurtry's new CD, titled Just Us Kids, on April 15, 2008.
McMurtry has long been known as fine storyteller, but he has lately received nationwide attention for his role as a musical activist. On Just Us Kids, McMurtry picks up where he left off with his controversial anthem "We Can't Make It Here." On "Cheney's Toy," McMurtry once again reminds us that the war in Iraq is still going on, with veiled references to Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and the stark image of a soldier who returned from the conflict, blind and brain damaged. The lyrics of "God Bless America" call out the corporate profiteering and cronyism of the heads of state who led the country to war. McMurtry's songs introduce the listener to characters that exist on the fringes of society. Drug addicts, murderers, crooked politicians, and other unsavory folks all play a part on Just Us Kids.
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Jan. 9th -
The Americana Music Association announced today the results of the annual elections for their Board of Directors. Nine incoming directors have been elected to the board for 2008-2009.
Re-elected for new terms are Ray Kennedy in the artist category, New Frontier Touring owner Paul Lohr in the booking agent slot, John Allen of Bug Music in the music publishing panel, KNBT's Mattson Rainer in radio and Rounder Record's Brad Paul in the At Large category. New board members include JT Turner of Thirty Tigers in the New Media category, Avenue Bank's Van Tucker in the banking/finance category and Sin City's Shilah Morrow and industry veteran Tim DuBois in the At Large category.
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Nov. 7th - Texas Western Swing veteran Hank Thompson died yesterday at the age of 82. He died of lung cancer late Tuesday at his home in the Fort Worth suburb of Keller. "He was battling aggressive lung cancer," Pitcox said Wednesday in a statement. "He remained conscious until the last couple of hours and passed away peacefully at about 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday night surrounded by his friends and family." Fans loved Thompson's distinctive voice and his musical style, which drew on the Western swing first developed in the 1930s by fellow Texan Bob Wills. Thompson was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
According to Hank's site, a celebration of his life will take place Nov. 14 at Billy Bob's Texas, in Fort Worth.
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Nov. 6th -
Singer/songwriter/author Rosanne Cash has announced that she will cancel her four remaining concerts this year in order to undergo brain surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital for a rare but benign condition. Rosanne is expected to make a full recovery and will return to the studio to complete the recording of her debut for Manhattan Records.
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Oct. 29th - Country Hall of Famer Porter Wagoner dies at 80.
Wagoner, a Grand Ole Opry institution and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died Sunday at Alive Hospice in Nashville. An Opry star since 1957, the well-loved Wagoner had been the show's goodwill ambassador for many years and was photographed by fans millions of times as he clowned onstage in the flashy rhinestone suits that became one of his trademarks.
CMT story.
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tr>
lways
check Austin
City Limits (PBS) as they usually have great root-oriented artists.
Upcoming
artists on Austin City Limits...
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