Rolling Country 2012

Some these titles are def intriguing--would like to check "Shattered Image," "Shinola," "Jesus and Gravity."

Lebanon, Tenn. (March 5, 2012) – Mark April 2 on your calendar for An Evening With… Dolly, then be sure to stop by your nearest Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® location to pick up your copy of this first-ever Cracker Barrel exclusive two-disc DVD and CD set. The DVD and CD (w somewhat dif tracks)transport you to a front row seat in London as Dolly performs some of her most popular songs “Coat of Many Colors,” “9 to 5,” and “Jolene,” live in front of her sold-out O2 arena concert.

Classics like Dolly’s very first million seller, “Here You Come Again” and “I Will Always Love You,” along with previously unreleased live bonus tracks “Shattered Image” and “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” combine in a memorable collection. The DVD captures Dolly interacting with the audience, sharing stories about growing up in Tennessee, and in the “Soundcheck” feature, fans get to take a peek backstage and see the inner workings of the show. An Evening With…Dolly will be available exclusively at all Cracker Barrel Old Country Store locations and online at crackerbarrel.com/music.

“In 2008, we released Dolly’s Backwoods Barbie - Collector’s Edition CD and we are delighted to work with her on a second project,” said Julie Craig, Cracker Barrel Marketing Manager. "(yadda-yadda)"

An Evening With... Dolly CD Track Listing:
1. Two Doors Down
2. Jolene
3. Coat of Many Colors
4. Only Dreaming
5. Little Sparrow
6. The Grass is Blue
7. Do I Ever Cross Your Mind
8. Here You Come Again
9. Islands in the Stream
10. 9 to 5
11. I Will Always Love You
12. Shattered Image* - previously unreleased live bonus track
13. My Tennessee Mountain Home* - previously unreleased live bonus track

An Evening With... Dolly DVD Track Listing:
1. Two Doors Down
2. Jolene
3. Backwoods Barbie
4. Coat of Many Colors
5. Only Dreamin’
6. Better Get to Livin’
7. Shinola
8. Little Sparrow
9. The Grass is Blue
10. Do I Ever Cross Your Mind
11. Here You Come Again
12. Islandsin the Stream
13. 9 to 5
14. I Will Always Love You
15. Jesus and Gravity

More country criticism perhaps but I encourage folks here to check out these two threads over at Rod Dreher's blog at _The American Conservative_, both the various linked articles, his own thoughts and especially the many comments. (You're also going to figure out who I am on there pretty easily, I admit, given I mention a certain xhuxk at one point.) An interesting amount of stuff to chew on.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/2012/03/08/conservative-culture-of-country-music/

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/2012/03/08/country-music-catechesis/

I'd especially recommend this comment, which I suspect few here will find surprising but which is nonetheless expressed very well and concisely:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/2012/03/08/conservative-culture-of-country-music/#comment-105520

skipping over the posters like a stone, I agree with the libertarian-to-liberal insofar as he hears the conservative-traditional older person confronted with differences in younger generations of own family, but also, country does adapt, necessarily. Even in acting, working, playing the same way, eventually it gets heard differently, even hears itself differently as time change and memories accumulate, adapting as they pile in together. It always adapts in someway, even in reacting against changes in other forms of pop music. Pop and art and/or folk processes.

So tension of adaptation (grappling with marriage sharing rocks w whiskey, for inst) a great country sobject

Those are some thoughtful comments!

A new one from Marley's Ghost, whom xhuxx and I were discussing on RC 2006--good stuff on there, but vocals didn't hold up w repeated listenings. Lots of good guests on here, although Prine and Kristofferson are not the kind of vocal support I'd want. Oh well, there's Emmylou, Old Crow etc (and production by Cowboy Jack Clement), so here's hoping:

NEW ALBUM BY MARLEY’S GHOST, JUBILEE,
FEATURES LEDENDARY PRODUCER/SONGWRITER
COWBOY JACK CLEMENT AT THE HELM

Stellar list of guest performers include Emmylou Harris, John Prine,
Old Crow Medicine Show, Marty Stuart, Larry Campbell,
Byron House and Don Heffington.

Along with six band originals, songs include covers of Kris Kristofferson,
Levon Helm, Bobby & Shirley Womack and others.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Marley’s Ghost — a virtuoso aggregation composed of singer/multi-instrumentalists Dan Wheetman, Jon Wilcox, Mike Phelan, Ed Littlefield Jr. and Jerry Fletcher — celebrates its 25th anniversary with the scintillating roots-music tour de force Jubilee (Sage Arts, street date: June 5, 2012).

The album, produced by legendary Nashville cat Cowboy Jack Clement and recorded at the city’s venerable Sound Emporium, which Clement built, features guest performances from Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Old Crow Medicine Show, Marty Stuart, Larry Campbell, Byron House and Don Heffington.

“One of the things that we were really clear on with this record was that we wanted it to be a Marley’s Ghost album with friends sitting in, not guest stars with us as the backing band,” Wheetman explains. “And it worked.”

Like its nine predecessors, Jubilee is wildly eclectic, its 13 tracks drawn, with unerring taste, from the songbooks of Kris Kristofferson (“This Old Road”), Levon Helm (“Growin’ Trade”), Bobby and Shirley Womack (“It’s All Over Now”), Katy Moffatt and Tom Russell (“Hank and Audrey”), John Prine (“Unwed Fathers”), Butch Hancock (“If You Were a Bluebird”) and Paul Siebel (the closing “She Made Me Lose My Blues”), along with the traditional “Diamond Joe.” These deftly interpreted tunes blend seamlessly with the six originals on the album.

Marley’s Ghost is nothing less than a national treasure, the capable inheritors of the archetypal Americana blueprint drawn up by The Band. As the L.A. Weekly aptly put it, “This West Coast group deftly, and frequently daffily, dashes across decades of American music to create a sound that’s steeped in tradition but never bogged down by traditionalism.” These guys can sing and play anything with spot-on feel, from reggae (hence the double-entendre moniker) to blues to stone country, which is what they’ve been doing — to the ongoing delight of a fervent cult that includes many of their fellow musicians — throughout their first quarter century as a working unit.

“The band has always been eclectic, and that’s one of the reasons we’ve stayed together for this long,” Wheetman explains. “I’ve said this before, but instead of having to be in a Delta blues band, an a cappella singing group, a country band, a reggae band, and being a singer/songwriter, I’m in one band and we just do all that. It’s very convenient.”

When they started thinking about this album project more than a year ago, the band members agreed to each bring songs to the table that they wanted Marley’s Ghost to record. “That’s the way the band has generally operated,” says Wheetman, “and then some things naturally stick.

I brought ‘The Blues Are Callin’’ for Mike because I thought it would be a good duet song, although he wound up singing it by himself — and he sang the shit out of it, by the way. And when I heard Kris Kristofferson’s last album a couple of years ago, I thought the title song would be great for Jon, so I brought that one along as well. Jon brought ‘Growin’ Trade,’ which Eddie ended up singing.”

Phelan describes “Growin’ Trade,” written by Larry Campbell and Levon Helm, as “an emblematic Band song that was never recorded by The Band. Loving The Band and being able to make something that sounds like The Band without imitating The Band is kinda tricky, and I think we pulled it off with this one, so we’re really proud of that.” Wheetman’s “South for a Change” has a Bob Wills feel, while Phelan was thinking of Buck Owens when “Lonely Night” came to him.

The new record is the band’s second straight project with Clement, who turned 80 last year. Clement first heard Marley’s Ghost in 2009, when a mutual friend brought him to a performance at Nashville’s Douglas Corner. “Afterwards, Cowboy came up to tell us how much he liked the band,” Phelan recalls. “He said, ‘You got a lot of bang,’ whatever that means. It was love at first sight all around. He liked that we were a real band and not a bunch of session musicians who get together for one project. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but he knows a lot of those guys; he doesn’t know a lot of real bands who play and sing together and have a sound. About a month later, he sent us a letter — not an email — saying that if we wanted to come down to his place, he’d really like to make a record with us. We thought about that for two or three seconds — ‘Let’s see, do we want to make a record with a living legend, the guy who produced Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins? Okay.’ So this was a unique opportunity for us to do something with him while he’s still at the height of his powers.”

They first worked with Clement on 2010’s Ghost Town, which in turn followed 2006’s Van Dyke Parks-produced Spooked. “Working with Van Dyke was like grad school in producing, says Phelan, “whereas Cowboy is a much more subtle guy. He’d be sitting there in the control room with these gigantic speakers cranked up listening to us do a take, and we’d hear him like the voice of God over the talkback, ‘Liked that one.’ Or he’d go, ‘That kinda sucked. You got a better one in ya.’ He guided the process, but not in any way similar to what Van Dyke had done. So it was a wildly different experience. But when you ride out the whole process, you can see why he’s got so many gold records on his walls.”

“Jack brings a state of mind, a perspective about why you’re there in the first place,” Wheetman says of Clement’s production approach. “Then he lets things happen. When he started working at Sun, everything was cut live, and it was all about feel, not precision, and that’s how he still approaches it. And as you get basic tracks done, he’s got ideas about what to add. Jack really wanted Jerry on piano for the basic tracks because he’s such a great piano player, and up to this point, he’d been playing drums and piano at the same time, believe it or not. So we asked our old friend Don Heffington, who played on Spooked, to play the drums on the album. And I generally play bass in the band, but we asked Byron House come in and play bass on the sessions.”

According to Phelan, they brought in House and Heffington to serve as the rhythm section on the album “because we wanted that feel you get when the whole band plays together. We wanted to get as much in the live session as possible and change as little as possible to the record — it just feels better that way.”

Marley’s Ghost had brought in guests on several of their previous records — “friends who happened to be in the neighborhood,” according to Wheetman — but nothing approaching the all-star cast that graces Jubilee. “That was all Jack,” says Wheetman. “As we were doing ‘Unwed Fathers,’ he said, ‘That one needs a girl’s voice —it needs an angel on there.’ So he called Emmylou. Marty Stuart used to live at Jack’s house back when he was still playing mandolin with Johnny Cash. And Jack produced a couple of records for John Prine. We had sent Prine a CD of ‘This Old Road,’ and he really did his homework — he came in ready to go. They were all incredibly wonderful to work with — really giving and friendly. With every one of them, it was, ‘Is that what you want?’

“Emmy was in the studio trying to work out the harmony part for ‘Unwed Fathers,’ and because I’ve got a low voice, she was figuring out where to put it in her range to make it work. She said, ‘I’ll be out here ’til the cows come home,’ and I got on the talkback and asked her, ‘What time do the cows come home?’ She said, ‘As soon as I get this part!’”

The lone non-Nashville guest was Woodstock-based guitarist and fiddle player Larry Campbell, a former key member of Bob Dylan’s band, Levon Helm’s producer and musical director, and the co-writer, with Levon, of “Growin’ Trade,” one of the highlights of Helm’s Grammy-winning 2009 LP Electric Dirt. “We wanted some fiddle and some electric guitar on a couple of things, so we invited Larry down,” says Dan. “He came into the studio and cranked for two day and just killed it. He played hellacious guitar on ‘Hank and Audrey,’ and he was great fun to work with.”

With each album, the band’s mastery of all manner of roots forms becomes more captivating, and more seamless in its variety. “When you’ve been together for 25 years, there’s an approach, and that just automatically puts a certain spin on everything you do,” Wheetman points out. “One thing that’s always been important in the band is that you do what you can to serve the song, and that creates a cohesiveness from song to song.”

“We’re five singers who don’t think genres mean much,” says Phelan. “If you connect with the song and the song connects with you, that’s what’s important, and that’s a real core belief of the band. When I go to a performance, I want to hear passion; I want to hear somebody up there doing it because they can’t not do it. That’s what we’re going for with everything we tackle. We have so many diverse feels, and we can pull them off in an authentic way — and after all this time, we’re playing the best we ever have.”

One listen to Jubilee will confirm that assertion. In every note, and every measured silence, you can hear the miles they’ve traveled together, the jaw-dropping closeness they’ve attained, and the magical place where the men of Marley’s Ghost now reside.

Oh wait, Kristofferson isn't actually on there, they just do one of his songs. Here's the cover, from a painting by Thomas Hart Benson, who also invented a system of harmonica notation I believe.
http://e2ma.net/userdata/1400488/images/large/e1332960768.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TM7tZRp4iHk/TV70xhN9ZcI/AAAAAAAAALs/Z_oJjvOmZxo/s1600/Marley%2527s%2BGhost%2BGhost%2BTown.JPG

http://www.billyates.com/wilcox/images/ghost.jpg

Here's the one we were discussing, might be RC 2007, since that's when it was released, unless advances were '06.
http://goodnewmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/0603-marley_large.jpg

i need to give the hunger games soundtrack a spin

Yeah, interesting about Appalachoid District 12, but just read Joe Levy's Rolling Stone review: says it's verrry uneven, w credit and blame mainly going to producer/co-writer T-Bone Burnette. Pretty blunt review for Stone.

from the Takoma rarities thread: we got into a discussion of Norman Blake, and the following also has some links useful re other Nashville etc cats:
Back in the 70s, we were having a plastic suburban house party, playing the first three Aerosmith albums over and over and over, 'til I finally freaked out and flipped on the TV. There was Norman, just picking away: not speedy and flashy, but cutting across, unstoppable. We were the ones who stopped, looked, and even listened. My first Norman Blake experience, unless you count my already having had whiskey before breakfast. You can also find a number of situations involving Norman (and sometimes Nancy) on The Steam-Powered Preservation Society's download/stream site http://thespps.org
However! They don't have a search function, so you gotta scroll down and read the descriptions of the sets, and even so, let your finger linger on the download link, while you write it down, cos when you get into the archive you'll see a whole dizzying tower of links, not nec near yr target. Or you can just do a control + F search for a name you're looking for in there, and hit info under a promising label, sometimes get a pretty thorough commentary that way. Being of the jazzier-grass tendency, I also searched for and found clements & friends (Vassar w Grisman etc), Tony Trischka, Peter Rowan (w a line-up incl Trischka & Statman), Country Gazette etc. Blake plays w Tut Taylor alot, so check their Tut stash.

Oh yeah, Taylor and Blake worked as a duo at the Marin County Bluegrass Festival of 1974, which also involved Garcia and Grisman in various line-ups, plus Doc & Merle, Jim & Jesse, Frank Wakefield, and a monster Nitty Gritty Dirt Band set folding in several of the above and more. Can find that w no trouble at
http://smadacounty.blogspot.com He's also got lots of Garcia, w Dead and others, Townes (Lou Reed, Bird, Trane), etc etc. See the reposts link in left rail for complete list.

Nongrass-wise, A Truer Sound has for instance some Ray Wylie Hubbard tracks linked to his wife's posts, a live RWH set, even, if you go back far enough a mega-disc set involving Hubbard's Three Faces West, which A Truer Sound ecstatically describes as a Texas Crosby Stills & Nash (h'mmm), plus Steve Fromholz, Michael Martin Murphy, Bill & Bonnie Hearne (only ones here I've heard much, later work anyway, which is nice). Dunno if I'll try all that or not. Also an OOP print Johnny Paycheck collection, haven't checked the link yet though, ditto the live Merle radio set. We must lobby for re-post of the Mike Cooley live solo set. You'll see a re-direct to new site, but check this older one first:
http://atruersound.blogspot.com

"linked *from* his wife's posts"--think that's how it works.

As long as I'm doing this, might as well mention a lover of West Coast buckskin--my main interest is the Gram & Emmylou & Fallen Angels show, not the same as on the officially released LP, CD. Also a Byrds x Flying Burrito Brothers live interface--no Gram on there, alas, but Clarence White, Sneaky Pete etc. Lots of other Byrds-related, a ton of Young, the Complete Last Waltz (w tracks not in the official box, and none of it fixed in Robertson's official mix), live Kinks in '89, lately live The Band. Here's the link:
http://bbchron.blogspot.com

"live Kinks in *69*," that is! An audience tape, but still.

http://www.acmcountry.com/about_the_show.html

Sunday night April 1 is the Academy of Country Music Awards. How many different country music award shows are there? It seems like a lot.

Indeed. Been wondering about this, haven't gotten promo yet

http://rodneycrowell.com/splashpage/images/kin-cover.png

Joe Henry produced that and I think he sometimes turns stuff into just ok middlebrow NBR music. Guitarist Steuart Smith is on it, so maybe he livens it up. I haven't heard it yet either.

NPR

You remember this right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Td_1ZcEaY

Well here it is again. Shameless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76kuL0qCIRE

Ah yeah, I need to dig deeper into YouTube country, thanks. xpost curmudgeon: Crowell, Karr and Smith will tour. Dunno if Karr reads, sings, or both. Hope Crowell does both; excerpts of his memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks were pretty pungent, if sometimes overwritten (pot to kettle, yeah).

Anybody heard this?

The Lacs 190 Proof Available In Stores Today
Collaborations with Big & Rich, Bubba Sparxxx and Crucifix Included on the Anticipated Sophomore Album

The Lacs gear up to open for Colt Ford on his
2012 “Declaration of Independence” tour

Nashville, TN (April 5, 2012) — Backroad Records’ high-powered duo The Lacs are now serving up their intoxicating blend of southern rap and rock on their sophomore album, 190 Proof. Available now in stores and online everywhere, the highly anticipated release includes collaborations with country music stars Big & Rich, as well as platinum selling rapper Bubba Sparxxx, and new artist Crucifix.

Taking the partying, country mud truckin’ lifestyle to the next level, 190 Proof is creating quite a buzz with songs like “Drinks Up” “Shake It (featuring Big & Rich)” and “4 Wheel Drive.” Produced by Phive Starr Productions and Shannon “Fat Shan” Houchins, 190 Proof is filled with 14 tracks of their unique inebriating mix of slinky southern guitar riffs with booming beats and rhymes about life in the dirtiest parts of the Dirty South. The album is available on iTunes and can be downloaded here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/190-proof/id513376545

Hailing from the sandy dirt roads of Baxley, GA, hip-hop artist Clay "Uncle Snap" Sharpe and lead vocalist/guitarist Brian "Rooster" King make up The Lacs (short for Loud Ass Crackers). Their unique brand of hick-hop/southern rock captured a national audience when their song, "Shindig" (featuring Colt Ford), appeared on the Mud Digger album series, selling over 100,000 albums and 150,000 digital downloads. Their Backroad Records album debut, Country Boys Paradise, released in 2010, went on to sell over 50,000 albums and over 150,000 downloads.

The Lacs will join label mate Colt Ford on the road as one of the opening acts on the 2012 “Declaration of Independence” tour. For a complete list of tour dates visit www.thelacsmusic.com

190 Proof Track Listing:

190 Proof
Drinks Up
Po Dunk University (Skit)
Shake It featuring Big & Rich
Old River Road
Wylin featuring Bubba Sparxxx
Great Moments in Redneck History #2 (Skit)
Country Biy Fresh
Island Time
Just Another Thing featuring Crucifix
4 Wheel Drive
Drink Too Much
Ease Along
What I Need

I do like their ride
http://www.selectohits.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/AVJ-238.jpg

Was not wowed by some of those youngin' who were up for best new artist at the Academy of Country Music Awards, but maybe I need to give 'em more of a chance. XChuckx probably knows their rock influences and can 'splain which ones are worth following. Scotty McCreery won as best new artist--he looks like he is 14 but he has a pretty deep voice

That live stream upthread has now been archived, or at least "highlights" have, w more Folk Alliance performers unveiled: we get the aforementioned Mary Gauthier, Steve D. and Malcolm Holcombe, plus Jimmy LaFave, the Dunwells, some you may even give a shit about:
http://www.folkalley.com/festivals/folk-alliance-2012

Heard the Lacs album today. Or skimmed it anyway. As country rock rap goes, maybe better than the most recent and worst Colt Ford one (maybe), but that's not saying much. Opener, which is the title track, rocks and crunks hardest -- had me going there the first time through, I admit it. Big & Rich and Bubba Sparxxx collabs both seem to be country strip-pole rock, and both seem negligible. Skits are as dumb as all rap skits, maybe dumber -- for Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy fans I guess. They get kinda smooth in a not awful way toward the end, but by then it's kinda too late. "Kickin Up Mud," mentioned upthread as a big country linedance or whatever song last year (and which I've still yet to hear), isn't on the album. Though "4 Wheel Drive" (no relation to BTO, unfortunately) does probably refer to mud being kicked up.

Oh well word to the Lacs: Necs! I mean Next! True that xpost Joe Henry can stuff some boredom into tracks, but he does great w with the ones he produces and writes and co-writes on Bonnia Raitt's new Slipstream. The co-write's with Loudon Wainwright, melds with the real good Dylan-written track before it, which he also produced, so Raitt's playing with Bill Frisell and Greg Leiz, no ambient 'llowed, not in the usual elevator sense anyway, just some eloquent picking. She and ex NRBQ/long-time Nashville cat Al Anderson play great elsewhere (she produced most of the set, sounds like she and Al may have co-written some too)They even squeeze and slap some juice out of "On Down The Line," basically a boring-ass yacht rock barnacle. The only other song choice I'd quarrel with so far is one about a Hollywood marriage as run through the evil media blah blah, but some musical diversion there too. So far seems like if you jumped from her 70s peaks to this, you'd be on the same level, or close enough to keep your balance--streaming here for nownhttp://www.bonnieraitt.com/slipstream

Player's in the right rail, despite blank in the middle of page.

Might be good. See link below for some of the tracks. Support record stores yall, wherever you find 'em.

New West Records and WXPN-FM's World Cafe®
Collaborate For
Special Record Store Day Release
NEW WEST RECORDS PRESENTS
ON AIR AT WORLD CAFE®
limited Edition Sampler Available Free With Purchase

At Participating Record Store Day Stores
Los Angeles, CA - April 12, 2012 - New West Records and WXPN-FM's acclaimed music program World Cafe® have joined together to produce a special, limited edition Record Store Day sampler available for free with purchase at participating stores worldwide on April 21st. New West Records On Air At World Cafe® features 14 special performances that have aired on World Cafe® but have never been made available on CD.
New West Records On Air At World Cafe® spans New West's 14 years as a label with performances from early signings Shaver and Tim Easton recorded in 2001 to shows recorded in 2011 with Buddy Miller and Steve Earle. Other artists featured on this exclusive release include Delbert McClinton, Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman, Drive-By Truckers and Mark Olson & Gary Louris.
"World Cafe® has been integral in building the careers of many of our artists. We were thrilled to work with WXPN to curate this special release," says Michael Ruthig, General Manager of New West Records. "We hope to spread awareness for the show and celebrate the terrific performances on World Cafe® by making this stellar collection available to fans supporting Record Store Day.
"Looking through our archives for sessions with these amazing New West artists took us back over our 20 year World Cafe history as well," adds World Cafe® host David Dye. "I was struck with the artistic integrity of the artists and the consistent quality of the work. Kudos to New West. Now even more people will be able to hear them."
Track Listing:
1 Buddy Miller - Don't Wait
2 Steve Earle - This City
3 Old 97's - Dance With Me
4 Tim Easton - Lexington Jail
5 Mark Olson & Gary Louris - Turn Your Pretty Name Around
6 Drive-By Truckers - 3 Dimes Down
7 The Flatlanders - South Wind Of Summer
8 Jason Isbell - Dress Blues
9 Billy Joe Shaver - Restless Wind
10 Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman - Midnight In The City Of Destruction
11 The Majestic Silver Strings (Buddy Miller, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot & Greg Leisz) - Freight Train
12 Randall Bramblett - Playing Card
13 Ben Lee - We're All In This Together
14 Delbert McClinton - Going Back To Louisiana
Click here to listen to a selection of tracks from the sampler:

http://soundcloud.com/newwestrecords/sets/nwr-world-cafe-sampler

I condensed that a lot, should've done more, sorry.

He can be peppery live, wish there were more new songs though.
TEXAS LEGEND BILLY JOE SHAVER RELEASES
LIVE AT BILLY BOB’S TEXAS,
FIRST NEWLY RECORDED PERFORMANCES
IN NEARLY TWO DECADES

Twenty-two track package features CD and DVD;
includes two new previously unreleased songs

WACO, Texas — Country songwriting icon and honky tonk hero Billy Joe Shaver and his Heart of Texas Band offer the best from his catalog of legendary songs in concert from the stage of the world’s largest honky tonk. Shaver’s Live at Billy Bob’s Texas, slated to be released July 17, 2012 on Smith Music Group is his first album in five years. The fully loaded special package includes 20 live renditions of some of his most notable compositions on an audio CD and DVD as well as two bonus tracks, and is the first set of new concert recordings since 1995 to be issued to the public. Included among Shaver classics and favorites are two new songs: “Wacko From Waco” (co-written with his longtime friend Willie Nelson) and “The Git Go,” proving that his muse remains as fertile as ever.

Born, raised and still living in the rolling plains of Central Texas, Shaver is not just the epitome of a songwriter’s songwriter, but a singer, recording artist and performer as well as actor and published author. A genuine salt of the earth natural talent whose acclaimed work is free of any artifice. The esteem he has accrued since 1973 — when he issued his first album, Old Five and Dimers Like Me, and Waylon Jennings recorded nine of Shaver’s songs on his landmark Honky Tonk Heroes LP that heralded the arrival of country music’s outlaw movement — is best measured by the fellow writers and talents who admire, perform and have recorded his compositions. Revered American novelist John Steinbeck’s favorite song was “Old Five and Dimers,” which has also been played at live shows by Bob Dylan, who mentions Shaver in his recent song “I Feel a Change Comin’ On.” Just some of the distinguished artists who have recorded Shaver’s works are Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kris Kristofferson, The Allman Brothers, Bobby Bare, John Anderson, George Jones, Tex Ritter, Patty Loveless and Willie Nelson, who says that “Billy Joe Shaver may be the best songwriter alive today.”

At the same time, there’s nothing else like Shaver himself performing his songs. Live at Billy Bob’s Texas delivers all the dynamism, musical variety, emotion and personality of a Shaver show in both audio and video. The set opens with his paean to his home place, “Heart of Texas,” a Lone Star dancehall two-step with a rock kick from his band: guitarist Jeremy Woodall, drummer Jason Lynn McKenzie and bassist Matt Davis. Included are vibrant renditions of such signature Shaver numbers as “Georgia on a Fast Train,” “Honky Tonk Heroes,” “Old Chunk of Coal,” “Live Forever” and “Old Five and Dimers,” along with gems from across the range of his career. Shaver rocks numbers like “That’s What She Said Last Night,” “Black Rose,” “Hottest Thing in Town” and others. He hits an electric Western groove on “Thunderbird,” harks back to ragtime on “Good Old USA,” country-waltzes Texas style on “I Couldn’t Be Me Without You,” tenderly renders “Star in My Heart” a cappella, and wraps it all up with a rousing “You Can’t Beat Jesus Christ.” His recent legal troubles are wittily recounted on “Wacko From Waco” while the hauntingly bluesy “The Git Go” deftly summarizes the facts of life since the dawn of history. The double-disc set is the ultimate Shaver live experience as well as a de facto greatest hits collection, and finds Shaver as potent as ever in front of an enthusiastic audience.

H'm-m, maybe, got some of his more reliable associates aboard anyway:
THE FINAL RECORDINGS OF WAYLON JENNINGS
TO BE RELEASED 10 YEARS AFTER
COUNTRY MUSIC ICON’S DEATH

GOIN’ DOWN ROCKIN’:
The Last Recordings of Waylon Jennings
DUE SEPTEMBER 2012
ON SAGUARO ROAD RECORDS

Nashville, TN (April 16, 2012) --- A new album from outlaw country legend Waylon Jennings will be released this September, filled with recordings the icon made during the last few years before his death in 2002. Jennings spent hours in a recording studio with his longtime accompanist, Robby Turner and together they laid down twelve tracks using just Waylon’s guitar and vocals and Turner’s bass. All songs were personally selected by the country star, ones that resonated in a deeply personal way and reflected his state of mind, his passions, and important statements he wanted to make about his life. The duo planned out the future instrumentation that would be added to the tracks, but Jennings was never able to complete them. 10 years after his passing, Turner returned to the recordings, finishing each song to honor Waylon’s vision of what would turn out to be his very last album. Bringing in musicians who had long worked with Waylon, such as Reggie Young, Richie Albright and tour mate Tony Joe White, Turner painstakingly created the album that Waylon set out to make. "Waylon knows he's surrounded by friends and all that hear this will feel as if they know Waylon in all his authenticity," explains his widow, country singer Jessi Colter. With his family’s blessing, Goin’ Down Rockin’: The Last Recordings of Waylon Jennings will be available on September 11 (Saguaro Road Records).

Jennings wrote 11 of the 12 songs that appear on the new album, a testament to the personal nature of the recordings, and they reveal an artist in the midst of a final creative peak. In addition to his own songs, the album includes Tony Joe White’s “Goin’ Down Rockin’” (on which White himself is a guest). In all, the album will feature eleven songs that have never been released before.

Goin’ Down Rockin’: The Last Recordings of Waylon Jennings Tracklisting:

1. Goin’ Down Rockin'
2. Belle of The Ball
3. If My Harley Was Runnin'
4. I Do Believe
5. Friends In California
6. The Ways of the World
7. Shakin' The Blues
8. Never Say Die
9. Wasting Time
10. Sad Songs & Waltzes
11. She Was no Good for Me
12. Wrong Road To Nashville

Isn't there still a Waylon Jennings with Tupac unreleased album?

Yeah that's the hologram for BamaJam.

Holabamajamma

Anybody heard the new Don Williams? I'm intrigued...

Oh yeah

He's still got it

Spotify, I love you

Luke Bryan's "Drunk On You" is getting a lotta play around here (I see it's #9 on the charts this week, no wonder) & I like how the vocal's cadence is like a rapper's: like I can almost believe you could straight cover it as a rap song. good song!

I like it too.

I should buy his records; I loved "All My Friends Say" a few years back, & "Country Girl" is good dumb fun.

Bamajam 2012, sure wish I could go. Never been to a *country* festival, wonder how it compares to a rock festival ("Get yer meth makin's here"?) Latest news flash (note good opportunities for golf!) and complete lineup by now, prob:
BAMAJAM 2012 REVEALS EXCITING NEW DETAILS FOR
ON-SITE ENTERTAINMENT AND AMENITIES

High Demand and Early Purchasers Have Campsites Filling Up—
Buy Now to Reserve Your Spot and the Lowest Ticket Price

Enterprise, AL (May 30, 2012) – With only two weeks to go before BamaJam 2012, organizers are pleased to reveal details about on-site entertainment and amenities that are sure to excite festival attendees. The event, to be held in Enterprise, Ala., June 14-16, will not only feature performances by some of today’s hottest music artists, including Tim McGraw, Zac Brown Band, Kid Rock, Alan Jackson, Eric Church, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow and more, but the premier festival will also offer a wide array of lifestyle activities including a water park, a par 3 executive golf course, ATV trails and more. Tickets for each of these individual activities will be exclusively offered to BamaJam 2012 attendees during the festival for the discounted rate of $15 per person.
.

Due to high demand and early purchasers, the BamaJam 2012 RV Camping Central Lot is SOLD OUT. But don’t worry because there is still limited space available in the RV Camping North Lot ($175 per spot), RV Camping South Lot ($160 per spot) and tent camping ($85 per spot). In addition, there are a very limited number of all-inclusive RV spots available with water, power and sewer hook-ups ($1,500 per site). Reserve your campsites now to ensure a spot!

BamaJam 2012 will introduce new and innovative dual-headlining stages, allowing the music to keep flowing without having delays due to set changes, resulting in three days (over 2,520 minutes) of non-stop music!

BamaJam 2012“We thought about our audience and the excitement that each act generates,” said Rendy Lovelady, executive producer of the festival. “We wanted to keep that excitement going.”

These two stages are the largest portable ones ever built. When they arrive on site, they will transform into two huge 50’wide X 40’deep X 35’ tall stages in less than a day. All together this rig is over 216’ wide and weighs in at about 400,000 lbs. A special sound system has been designed and custom built in Valencia, Spain. Production is topped off with three large high definition 11’ X 21’ LED video walls, giving even the furthest person an up-close-and-personal view of their favorite artist.

Surrounding these two stages will be VIP double decker viewing stages giving festival attendees an unparalleled view of the artists as they perform on stage. Also, the downstairs area will host a VIP lounge. To see more pictures of the stage, please visit http://bamajam2012.com/ or http://www.fb.com/BamaJam2012.
BamaJam 2012 is a production of BamaJam Productions, LLC. For more information about BamaJam 2012 artists, tickets, camping, directions, parking, sponsors, jobs and vendors, please visit www.bamajam2012.com.

Tim McGraw

Eric Church

Willie Nelson

Darryl Worley

Third Day

Outlaws

Herrick

Dustin Lynch

Tyler Reeve

The FARM

David Kroll

The Lost Trailers

John Nemeth

Joanna Smith

ConnorChristian
& Southern Gothic

Bill Gentry

Martin McDaniel

Buffalo Clover

Honey Island Swamp Band

Aerias

Zac Brown Band

Alan Jackson

NEEDTOBREATHE

Ronnie Milsap

Stryper

Michael Sweet

John Elefante

Casey James

Wood Brothers

Badfinger

Sonia Leigh

Nic Cowan

Aaron Parker

Levi Lowrey

Dugas

Albert Castiglia

Wheeler Boys

Kid Rock

Sheryl Crow

Jamey Johnson

Gov’t Mule

Uncle Kracker

Yelawolf

Randy Montana

Breaking Laces

Drake White

Rosehill

Big Smo

Mockingbyrd

Tyler Farr

Moreland
& Arbuckle

Jaida Dreyer

Bridge To Grace

Ph well, mebbe I'll save up and be ready for this:
Alabama's Quest for Gay Rodeo
Maggie Martin (2012-05-29)
Listen Now:
FORT WORTH, TEXAS (APR - Alabama Public Radio ) - More than 100 people gathered in a large arena in Fort Worth, TX to watch and compete in what was called a "traditional" rodeo. However, the term traditional may depend on your point of view. The event is a gay rodeo. It's like a traditional rodeo with bull riding and calf roping, but it's open to the LGBT community. John Beck of Denver is an expert on the gay rodeo. He's hard to miss with his large, red feather on his cowboy hat.
"That's been my signature for close to ten years," he says.
Beck is known as the Grandfather of the Gay Rodeo and is one of the oldest competitors on the circuit. He rode in straight rodeos too, but says the atmosphere of a gay rodeo is more welcoming.
"We work together better than in straight rodeos," says Beck. "Straight rodeos, I hate to say, is more of a cut throat type business. We're out here for camaraderie and fun and give the people who win a pat on the back. You don't find that in other rodeos."
Even though gay rodeos aren't as competitive as their traditional counterparts, Beck says they're just as dangerous.
"I've had five ribs broken, both collar bones, both legs, one ankle. It doesn't bother me."
On the other side of the arena is a woman who's also made a name for herself on the rodeo circuit. Lisa LeAnn Dalton of Fort Worth, TX is just above 5 ft. tall with short blonde hair and blue eyes. She's dressed the part of a rodeo competitor with a black cowgirl hat and a championship buckle. But she's not competing today. Five years ago, she had a bad accident in the arena that took her off the circuit.
"I broke C5 and C6 and damaged my spinal cord and was paralyzed completely from the shoulders down. It's been almost five years, but I can walk now."
Dalton competed in gay rodeos for about five years before the accident and made her name riding bareback broncs. Among her other prizes, Dalton won the national rodeos twice. But Dalton isn't gay. She's straight, but she prefers gay rodeos because there are no gender restrictions. In traditional rodeos, women can hold the reins with both hands. That didn't work for Dalton.
"I rode one-handed so I technically could ride in any rodeo and then I could qualify for and compete against the guys, but not all of them were interested in having girls so I was turned down some."
Dalton says of the rodeos she competed in, gay rodeos were the funnest. But some of that fun has gone away now that she's restricted to the sidelines.
"I love to come back and see all my friends but it's a bummer because it's not fun watching for me. I'd much rather competing," says Dalton.
Music starts to blare in the arena and the crowd roars as chutes open for one of the most popular events-bull riding. Competitor Russell Schnitz of Gonzales, TX hangs on tight to his bull. But he doesn't stay on long. He hits the dirt and barely gets out from under the bull. He has a bad scrape on his left cheek.
"I almost got him covered. Right at the buzzer I bucked off him and fell under him. He stepped on my face. And that was that," says Schnitz, who is still slightly shaken by the incident. He's been competing for 15 years and it's taken a toll on him.
"I used to do every single event, but now that I am older, I just do a few. Today was the first day I rode the tough bulls in a long time. I usually just ride the smaller ones because I'm too old to be hurt and my friends talked me into the regular ones today."
Schnitz, Dalton, and Beck have been competing in gay rodeo circuits for years in states like Texas and Colorado. But not in Alabama. That's because there isn't a gay rodeo here yet. A man in Birmingham wants to change that. Rick Vaughn is president of the Cotton States Gay Rodeo Association in Birmingham.
"I just felt it was a very positive thing for the gay community. And to show the rest of the world that we do things like everybody else does."
Vaughn says he wants to be seated by the International Gay Rodeo Association, or IGRA, by November. He wants to hold Alabama's first gay rodeo by 2014.
© Copyright 2012, APR - Alabama Public Radio

12,000+ words I wrote (plus an intro where I use the editorial "we" under duress) on 50 really good country songs, from the '20s to the '10s.

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/06/50-country-songs-that-dont-suck/

Great songs, xhuxk. I went to find Milsap-disco immediately.

Yep, and I think the dB's' new "She Doesn't Drive In The Rain" is a real good contemporary country jangle-ballad. Would really like to hear the Pistol Annies With Special Guest Lee Ann Womack cover, but the orig should be on the radio rat now.

Turns out Holsapple wrote it w Kristian Bush of Sugarland, so maybe they'll do it too.

Eric Church, some McGraw performing at this weekend's Bamajam 2012, hope more music surfaces later, mostly yadda-yadda so far
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9VNYsKxdKc&feature=related