TNS Video History- Matt King- "Cursing The Ohio"

An Interview With Ray Wylie Hubbard Over At The Engine 145

A quick review of Ray Wylie Hubbard's bio reveals the philosophic approach that the legendary Americana/country singer takes to his craft:

With a keen eye of observation and a wise man’s knowledge, Ray Wylie Hubbard composes and performs a dozen songs that couldn’t spring from anywhere else but out of his fertile rock and roll bluesy poet-in-the-blistering-heat southern noggin. ”I like to look at both enlightenment and endarkenment,” he declares. “I feel comfortable observing each.”

His 2010 album A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment demonstrates the kind of talent that every great songwriter yearns for. Throughout the album, his focus remains on the song-constructing and performing stories set to music that resonate in a way that is completely his own. Hubbard recruits an ensemble of accomplished musicians to make the album’s larger than life outlaw tunes echo from track to track.

I had the opportunity to interview the interesting and engaging Mr. Hubbard and you can read a snippet below and then read the entire interview HERE at Engine 145.

If there’s ever a book written about it, I’ll probably be a smudge rather than a footnote. I’ve never really thought about that. I’ve just been very fortunate to be able to write these gnarly old songs and pay most of my bills. I’ve never had a lot of songs covered by other people. And the people that do are kind of on the edge anyways. I feel really good about where I am right now. I feel really grateful and really fortunate that I’m still writing songs and recording. And I’ve been able to travel the world and play them and produce other people who that I feel strong about their music. I really am in a very good position right now. I’m very happy right now.

James "Glen" Croker of the Hackberry Ramblers Passes

Guitarist, singer and emcee Glen Croker, the last surviving old-time member of the Hackberry Ramblers, passed away on August 23 in Lake Charles, LA, at age 77, following a lengthy illness.

Born in Lake Charles in 1934, Croker began playing steel guitar in the early 1950s with Eddie Shuler and the Reveliers. On the way home from engagements with the Reveliers, the young Croker would stop by the Silver Star Club in Sulphur, LA, to hear the Hackberry Ramblers. "And it's a funny thing about that," Croker recalled; "I can remember saying to myself: 'Self, one day you'll be playing with that band!' And thus it came to pass."

Croker joined the Hackberry Ramblers in 1959, 26 years after the band was co-founded by Luderin Darbone and Edwin Duhon. Croker stayed with the Ramblers through their final performance in November of 2005. His swaggering, soulful style and use of electronic amplification brought the Ramblers a post-war honky-tonk tinge that added blues, R & B, rockabilly, and classic country songs to their already-diverse repertoire. This stylistic incarnation was the sound most often heard when the Ramblers started touring nationally in the late 1980s, following an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. When first founded in 1933, the Ramblers had embodied the acoustic string-band sound of that era, and then evolved, during the 40s, into a large western swing orchestra. Despite his modernizing influences, Croker always stayed connected with the band's traditional roots, in part by singing in French on many Cajun numbers.

Croker appeared on the Hackberry Ramblers albums Jolie Blonde (Arhoolie, released in 1963), Cajun Boogie (Flying Fish, released in 1993, re-released by Hot Biscuits in 2003), and the Grammy-nominated Deep Water (Hot Biscuits, released in 1997), and on the anthologies Boozoo Hoodoo (Fuel 2000, 2003) and Christmas Gumbo (Flambeaux, 2004.) Croker was also prominently featured in the PBS documentary film Make Em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers Story (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/makethemdance/) directed by John Whitehead of Fretless Films, St. Paul, MN. Make Em Dance was broadcast nationally on the PBS series Independent Lens in 2004. He enjoyed the fulfillment of a life-long dream by performing at the Grand Ole Opry in 1999. To hear all the best elements of Croker's style as a guitarist and singer, click on the song Poor Hobo on the Deep Water album.

In addition to his musical talent, Croker was known, as the band's emcee, for his snappy patter. His shamelessly corny bandstand jokes elicited groans around the U.S. and in France, Holland, and Canada. "I really am a nice guy, once you get to know me," Croker often said; then, after a dramatic pause, he would add,"but that getting-to-know-me part is rough." He will be sorely missed. James Glenwood Croker is survived by his devoted wife, Nell, two sons, two daughters, three step-children and numerous grandchildren. Funeral arrangements, which have yet to be announced, will be posted at www.hackberryramblers.com.

Dr. Ralph Stanley Has New Music Coming In December On The Wettest County In The World Soundtrack

The Wettest County in the World is an upcoming crime film directed by John Hillcoat and starring Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy. The Nick Cave screenplay is based on a novel of the same name by Matt Bondurant about bootlegging in Prohibition-era Virginia. It is set for release in December.

Ralph Stanley has recorded three songs for the soundtrack of The Wettest County in the World. Hal Willner, whose credits include projects for Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed and Bill Frisell, produced Stanley's sessions.

New Music Video From Sara Evans- "My Heart Can't Tell You No"

Album Review- Pistol Annies- Hell on Heels

Miranda Lambert really does have the golden touch. After winning nearly every major country music award over the last year with her critically acclaimed and commercially successful album Revolution- not to mention her song-of-the-year, “The House That Built Me”- Lambert has combined forces with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Pressley to form the Pistol Annies. In with their first album release under the new trio, they’ve hit it out of the park with one of the best albums of the year- and written every track in the process.

Each one of the young ladies has adopted a stage name and that fact is important as it pertains to the album as a whole. Presley is Holler Annie since “I am from eastern Kentucky and am a coal miner’s daughter and grew up in a holler.” Monroe is Hippie Annie. “I am all love. I am a hillbilly hippy, from east Tennessee,” she said. “I do yoga while watching ‘Cops.’ I’ve always been the peacemaker.” Lambert is Lone Star Annie, since “I am from Texas. People hate us because we’re so proud,” she said.

What results is a set of ten songs that are rich in poor-redneck-women-power-empowerment that on the surface might seem like an urban vs. rural comparison that is currently cluttering up the radio airwaves right now. It’s so much richer. “Beige” is the color of the bride’s shotgun wedding dress and it is tender, innocent and oozes the naivety of the protagonist. “Lemon Drop” is the favorite of the album and compares the sucky early part of life where dreams and money are at opposite ends of the spectrum to the candy where you have to get through the sour part to get to the sweet. The ladies southern are phenomenal. Their sass and spitfire on “Bad Example” and “Takin’ Pills” are charming as can be. And the great writing and southern charm bleeds through any redneck reservations on “Trailer For Rent” and the post-mortem free-for-all of momma’s things in “Family Fued.” 

Song after song shine with topics told from fascinatingly flawed characters. They’ve taken subjects that are typically associated with backwoods mentality and told stories with wit and grit that are smart as hell.

Four and a half stars out of five

Songwriter Jerry Leiber Passes Away

Jerry Leiber, half of one of the most celebrated and successful songwriting teams of the 1950s and '60s, has died of cardiopulmonary failure following a lengthy illness. He was 78.

Leiber will be most remembered in country circles for co-writing the legendary Johnny and June Carter Cash song, "Jackson." Additional country stars to cover Leiber-written tunes include George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Buck Owens, Ray Stevens, Peggy Lee, Elvis Presley, The Rascals, Old Crow Medicine Show, Hank Snow, Jerry Reed, Ray Charles, Clay Aiken, Mandy Barnett and Ronnie Dunn.

With his partner Mike Stoller, Leiber was the author of such hits as "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Loving You," "Yakety Yak," "Stand by Me" and many others. Leiber wrote the lyrics, Stoller the music. The two were among the first and most successful songwriters and producers to merge rhythm and blues with pop music in the 1950s.

Leiber came from Baltimore and met Stoller in Los Angeles in 1950. They bonded over a mutual love for rhythm and blues and had a profound impact as pop music began to absorb black music as it mutated into rock 'n' roll. Before they were 20, the two had written songs for such R&B stars as Ray Charles, Big Mama Thornton and Charles Brown. Besides writing a number of Elvis Presley's biggest hits, Leiber and Stoller produced the Coasters, for whom the pair produced the hits "Charlie Brown," "Young Blood," "Little Egypt" and "Poison Ivy." Their other songs included Ben E. King's "Stand by Me," the Drifters' "On Broadway," the Clovers' "Love Potion #9" and Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is."

Leiber and Stoller's catalog was used as the basis for the 1995 Broadway revue "Smokey Joe's Cafe." Their last major hit as producers came in 1972, when they produced Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You," which was later used to great effect in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs."

They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985, the Producers Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years later.

The Band honeyhoney Releases Details On Upcoming Album, Billy Jack

The band honeyhoney introduced their distinctive strain of country, folk, bluegrass, jazz, soul and pop with the 2009 album First Rodeo, on the Ironworks label founded by Kiefer Sutherland and Jude Cole. The band has since parted ways with the label (“We asked for a divorce and they kept the kids,” they joke). The band continues its jazzy, twangy, rollicking collaboration between vocalist Suzanne Santo and guitarist Ben Jaffe. Prior to joining the duo, Jaffe recorded music for TV and film; he then met Santo (an actress whose resume included stints on Law and Order and Blind Justice) through a mutual friend, who took Jaffe to see one of Santo's solo gigs. The two began holding informal songwriting sessions and soon discovered a musical partnership. The duo made their studio debut by issuing the Loose Boots EP in early 2008; the musicians then hit the road with Lifehouse (another band on the Ironworks roster) while finding time to work on their debut album. First Rodeo was released later that year, featuring varied influences that ranged from crossover jazz to neo-soul to engaging alt-country. In a letter to their fans released earlier today, they unveil the plans on the new album and upcoming tour:

In September we will be going out on our first headlining tour, the ‘Ten Buck Tour’, with the talented and devastatingly good lookin', Joshua James. Why the ‘Ten Buck Tour’ you ask? Well, because the face value of every ticket is Ten Bucks or less, and cause it just sounds cool (note to fans, we can't control credit card fees or walkups!). We are incredibly excited and titillated at the thought of seeing you all again and sharing with you our soon to be released litter of song puppies, Billy Jack on October 24th . If you like us already, we promise you will like us more and will most likely want to have us over for a meal. Please have us over for a meal. We get so hungry sometimes. (Also we may need a place to sleep.)

Sample off of the album of "Ohio" Live performance of "Don't Know How" Album EPK:

Little Big Town Covers The Jackson 5- "I Want You Back"

Watch Little Big Town cover the classic Jackson 5 Motown hit "I Want You Back" at the Carson Theater in Paducah, Kentucky.

That Nashville Sound's Exclusive Jeff Bridges Music & Film Giveaway

The Dude abides. That Nashville Sound is excited to be working with EMI Music, Jeff Bridges' new music label on a prize package that includes a Limited Edition copy of The Big Lebowski on Blu-Ray DVD, and Jeff Bridges’ self-titled debut album that just came out this past week.

All you need to do to enter is leave your email address and your favorite Bridges film in the comments below.

We'll pick a winner on Friday the 26th. 

Visit Jeff Bridges’ official YouTube channel to watch his new music video for his first single, “What A Little Bit Of Love Can Do”: http://www.youtube.com/jeffbridgesmusic

Get it on iTunes here: http://goo.gl/ys3qM

Get it on Amazon here: http://goo.gl/HzNoX

TNS Video History- Daryle Singletary- "I Let Her Lie"