New Music Video From Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver - "That Train Don't Stop Here Anymore"

New Bluegrass Releases On The Horizon From The Grascals, Doyle Lawson and Jerry Douglas

Artist: The Grascals
Album: Before Breakfast
Label: Mountain Home
Release date: September 1, 2017

The bluegrass powerhouse steps out with a program of 12 numbers including Becky Buller's "Sleepin' with the Reaper," Webb Pierce's "Pathway of Teardrops," the gospel classic "I've Been Redeemed" and more, including "Clear Corn Liquor" highlighting the tune "Whiskey Before Breakfast," lending the album its title.

Artist: Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Album: Life Is A Story
Label: Mountain Home
Release date: August 25, 2017

With nearly 40 albums to their credit, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver have multiple Grammy, Dove, ICM, IBMA and SPBGMA Award nominations, and are 7-time winners of IBMA’s Vocal Group of the Year. Lawson is reigning SPBGMA Mandolin Player of the Year, and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver are also a winner of the Inspirational Country Music Association (ICM) Vocal Group of the Year, crowned in October 2012 at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, on the heels of Lawson’s induction into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame at the Ryman Auditorium in September of 2012.

Artist: Jerry Douglas
Album: What If
Label: Rounder
Release date: August 18, 2017

Jerry Douglas, the 14x GRAMMY award winner who has played on over 2,000 separate recordings (Alison Krauss, Mumford & Sons, James Taylor, etc.), presents a new album with a unique sound and a brand-new outfit of musicians, hand-picked by Douglas himself. On What If, Douglas decisively merges jazz inclinations with the bluegrass, country, blues, swing, rock, and soul he's spent his life absorbing and performing, forging a sound that flies beyond the boundaries of anything he - or anyone else - has done before. From the up-tempo combination of what Douglas calls 'bebop jazz and caveman jazz' on 'Cavebop' to the symphonically sweeping title track, What If delves into areas unexplored by any other musician, much less by Dobro! The album also includes a funky, soulful take on Tom Waits' '2:19' and a blistering bluegrass-meets-jam-band reinvention of the classic 'Hey Joe.'

Opry Member Jeannie Seely To Release Written In Song In January

Artist: Jeannie Seely
Album: Written In Song
Label: Smith Music Group
Release date: January 13, 2016

GRAMMY award-winning and longtime Grand Ole Opry Member Jeannie Seely will release her next album on January 13 entitled Written In Song. The project includes 14 tracks all co-written or self-penned by Seely and includes 14 songs recorded by country legends like Merle Haggard (“Life of a Rodeo Cowboy), Dottie West (“He’s All I Need”), Ernest Tubb (“Sometimes I Do”), Ray Price (“Enough to Lie”) and more.

The project includes special guests including Kenny and Tess Sears, Connie Smith, Marty Stuart, Jan Howard and Jessi Colter.

“Written In Song is such an exciting project for me for many reasons,” states Seely. “It consists of 14 songs that I have written over the years, most of them recorded by my peers and my heroes. It’s also very rewarding to know that these songs have stood the test of time and are just as viable today. I am extremely grateful to the musicians and singers who made them sound brand new.”

A BMI-awarded songwriter, Seely’s songs have been recorded by Country Music Hall of Fame members Faron Young, Merle Haggard, Connie Smith, Ray Price, Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb and Little Jimmy Dickens, as well as by many other artists including Doyle Lawson, Lorrie Morgan and Irma Thomas.

Written In Song Track Listing:

 1. Sometimes I Do
 2. He's All I Need
 3. I'm Never Gonna See You
 4. Senses
 5. Anyone Who Knows What Love Is
 6. You Don't Need Me
 7. My Love For You
 8. Leavin' And Sayin' Goodbye
 9. The Pain Once You're Gone
 10. He Always Got What He Wanted
 11. Life Of A Rodeo Cowboy
 12. Enough To Lie
 13. Who Needs You
 14. We're Still Hangin' In There Ain't We Jessi
 

Legendary Songwriter John Loudermilk Passes Away at 82

K.F. Raizor, author of the website Raizor's Edge and the book We Can't Sing and We Ain't Funny: The World of Homer and Jethro is our guest writer today on That Nashville Sound. She's ever so gracious to provide wonderful tributes to honor those to whom the music we treasure just wouldn't be the same without. Thank you, K.F.

In a year where we already lost a songwriter's songwriter (in Guy Clark), we now must mourn the death of the legendary John D. Loudermilk.

Loudermilk died (9/21) of bone cancer in Nashville.

 Loudermilk was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina.  His grandfather worked on construction of the chapel at Duke University.  His great-great grandparents, Homer and Matilda Loudermilk, were part of the infamous "Trail of Tears," the forced march of Cherokee Indians from their North Carolina home to Oklahoma in 1838.  His cousins were Ira and Charlie Louvin.

 As part of the "folk revival" in the 1950s, Loudermilk wrote and recorded songs that ranged from silly ("Road Hog," a parody of "Ground Hog" that featured a "county sheriff in my unmarked car" pulling over speeders) to sublime (what may be his best-known song, "Indian Reservation [Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian]," which he wrote after some Eastern Band Cherokee rescued him from his broken-down vehicle on a snowy night in Cherokee and requested that he write a song about them). 

 Folk singers (the Nashville Teens - "Tobacco Road") country stars (Stonewall Jackson - "Waterloo"), crossover hits (George Hamilton IV -- "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" and "Break My Mind"), early rock and roll (Sue Thompson - "Norman" and "James [Hold the Ladder Steady]"), and even later rock acts (Paul Revere and the Raiders took "Indian Reservation" to #1 in 1971) did John D. Loudermilk songs.  His song "Blue Train (of the Heartbreak Line)" won the International Bluegrass Music Association "Song of the Year" in 2003 on the strength of the hit version by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.

 Additionally, he had charted songs on both the pop and country charts himself.  His biggest pop hit of his own music was "Language of Love," which hit #32 on the charts in 1961.  In country, he had two top 40 hits, "Bad News" (later covered by Johnny Cash) and "That Ain't All."

 Loudermilk was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1976.

 Farewell to the brilliant John D. Loudermilk, who was 82.
 

Concert Review Flashback - Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver and Becky Schlegel at the Bluegrass Underground

I have been blessed to write contributions/reviews/interviews/opinion pieces for several country music and roots-oriented websites and publications over the years including Saving Country Music, Nashville Scene, Country California, Country Weekly, American Noise, The 9513 and Engine 145. As a regular contributor to the last two in that list, I did several hundred features/pieces. One of those was this concert review that I will reprint here to give it a home in perpetuity. This concert review was originally published in July 2011 in Engine 145.

To say that the Bluegrass Underground concert series is one of the more unique concert locations is an understatement of magnificent proportions.  Some several miles out of the whopping metropolis of McMinnville, Tennessee- population 13,000 or so- is a bluegrass concert series that is held once a month underground. 333 feet below ground at Cumberland Caverns, Mother Nature carved a natural amphitheatre in limestone. What resulted is what the cave owners call The Volcano Room. Over 3.5 million years, time and water have created one of the most acoustically pure natural spaces on earth.

Our concert experience, a midday show featuring Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver as well as Becky Schlegel, started at the mouth of the cave. Outside Tennessee heat index temperatures blazed near 100 degrees but the breezes emanating from the cave are a constant 56 degrees. A tour guide led four groups of about 100 people each in a descent of about a quarter mile past beautiful underground water pools and waterfalls pouring out of the ceiling. Cave kisses dropped occasionally from the ceiling. When we reached the Volcano Room, we were greeted with a beautiful chandelier that hangs down from the ceiling above a chamber that had comfortable stadium style seating for several hundred people. A stage was set in front of a lower chamber that acts as a green room. This venue is so unique, WSM 650 records and PBS films each performance to play on their respective medias.

South Dakota native Becky Schlegel opened things up with her on guitar, longtime bluegrass musician Tina Adair on background vocals and mandolin as well as a bassist and guitar picker. Charming up on stage, she made many references to the concert locale through her set. “It’s so hot outside, it took me an hour to cool off. Now I’m so cold, I can’t feel my fingers. My body thinks I’m in Wisconsin in the wintertime.” Schlegel’s voice flittered and floated like a dandelion on a breeze, appropriate since Dandelion is the title of her last album. Her vocals hushed to a whisper at times and then flew up into a falsetto–sometimes in the same line. “So Embarrassing” told of the tale of an ex coming back to her former home a week after break-up, only to find her once-lover already with another woman, creating something emotional, heart-wrenching and beautiful all at the same time. Adair provided beautiful harmony throughout the evening and Schlegel even gave her a solo where she wowed the crowd with “How Great Thou Art.” Schlegel’s set included the beautiful “Patsy Cline,” a dedication to who inspired her to get into music as well as a new track called “Opry Lullaby,” a powerful storyteller’s delight about a lonesome wife hoping her husband who is away at war is hearing the same Grand Ole Opry show she’s listening to. She closed her beautiful segment with a cover of Greg Brown’s “Early,” a dedication to small town America. With just two acoustic guitars quietly backing her lonesome vocals, it seemed only fitting that a million years of quiet cave solitude lead to that moment.  

Then came Doyle Lawson and the rest of his Quicksilver band. With roughly 40 albums under his belt, one of bluegrass music’s elder statesmen proved to be full of energy and humor at 67 years young. He shared stories and reflections of artists that he played alongside and artists he aspired to play like- including Bill Monroe, Jimmie Rogers and other Grand Ole Opry stars. A six piece band backed him including a fiddle, banjo, bass, dobro, acoustic guitar and percussi on. Jessie Baker, a 20 year old banjo prodigy that just joined the band in January, was a musical stud. Lawson joked that, “I have t-shirts older than him” but it was clear that there was a great since of satisfaction on having him on board. Baker pulled off a fantastic Lester Flatts impression doing lead vocals on “I Wonder How the Old Folks Are At Home.” Lawson himself played impeccable mandolin and Josh Swift wowed on the dobro. Lawson regularly let his Quicksilver band mates take the lead vocals with Mike Rogers getting most of the load- sounding a bit like Vince Gill. The result was a robust fuller sound than what Schlegel’s set had produced and it filled every corner of the cave. Sharp and pleasant, it was tremendous instrumentation at its best.

The band played crowd favorites such as “Blue Train,” “Precious Memories,” Country Store,” instrumental “Dear Ole Dixie,” Deford Bailey’s “Evening Prayer Blues,” Paul Simon’s “Gone At Last” and “Help Is on the Way.” All in all, they covered nearly two hours of music.

But the highlight of their entire set was when they put the instruments away and did four straight four-piece a capella gospel songs. “My Lord Is Going To Move This Wicked Race,” “I’m Going To Heaven Some Sweet Day,” “Since Jesus Came Into My Heart,” and “Hide From The Storm Outside” were near-spiritual songs to behold in this environment- almost revival-like. At 333 feet below ground, this was as close to hell as I’ll hopefully get. It only seems appropriate then, that heavenly gospel stole the show.

That Nashville Sound Tuesday Newsbytes

Three new albums got unveiled over the holiday weekend. In no particular order, they are:

- Mountain Home Music Company has announced a July 8, 2016 release date for Burden Bearer from Bluegrass Hall of Famer Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver.

- Big Machine Records will be releasing The Cadillac Three's project Bury Me In My Boots. "It's 14 songs of badass shit that we're real proud of. We know it's been a long time, but it comes out August 5th," said singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston.

That Nashville Sound favorite Cody Johnson has a new album coming out this summer as well called Gotta Be Me on August 5th. Says Johnson on the project, "I really believe this is my best album yet, and a lot of hard work, late nights, and FUN went into making this for y'all. This is a special one for me because I’ve gotten to play some of these new songs out on the road, and seein’ the energy and everyone singing along to these songs makes me that much more excited to release it."

New Live Performance Music Video From Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver- "O Holy Night"

New Album Projects Announced From Shooter Jennings, American Young, Marty Stuart, Doyle Lawson and Stoney LaRue

Several critically-acclaimed artists announced new upcoming projects recently including Shooter Jennings, American Young, Marty Stuart, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver and Stoney LaRue. Here's the lowdown on what you can expect from each one:

Shooter Jennings - Don't Wait Up (for George) (8/5 release date)- Said Shooter to CMT's Chris Parton, "I don’t do tributes and I don’t do covers very often and all that. So, for me, this was really thanking George (Jones) for his support all these years and being inspired by him to do these works. I didn’t know if I was going to just record the two songs or do more, I just went into it fooling around in the Coil [Jennings' studio in Los Angeles]. After several months of work, Don’t Wait Up (for George) emerged. I’m really proud of it, though."

American Young - Self Titled EP (6/24 release date)- Jon Stone and Kristy Osmunson may seem familiar to you. They’ve both been in Nashville and have explored their options in country music before. Jon as a solo act, then a successful producer and songwriter (“Me and My Gang,” “A Woman Like You”) and Kristy as a founding member and sizzling fiddle player of the duo Bomshel. Here on their debut together on this Curb Records release. “American Young represents a sound with no boundaries. We are squarely focused on delivering our own brand of music and hope that folks will find our songs everything from haunting to dramatic and intense”, says Jon.

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver - Open Carefully Message Inside (7/15 release date)- One of the top mandolin players in bluegrass music since the early days of his career in the 1960s, Doyle Lawson incorporated traditional gospel quartet singing into his music after forming his own band, Quicksilver, and honed his unique bluegrass-gospel sound to a remarkable intensity. Lawson has also become the one of bluegrass music's resident sages and icons.

Marty Stuart - Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (9/30 release date)- This one will be a double album. The Saturday Night – Rough Around the Edges disc will feature rowdy bar room songs, while the Sunday Morning – Cathedral disc will include gospel-themed songs one may hear while sitting in a church pew. “A few years ago, I rededicated myself to traditional country music,” he told Radio.com. “We spent some time in RCA Studios in Nashville, where so much of modern country was created, and we worked to imitate that style of production and songwriting.”

Stoney LaRue - Aviator (October release date)- After the critically-stunning That Nashville Sound-favorite Velvet, LaRue returns with a new collection of songs in October. As he told Brandy McDonnell for The Oklahoman, "With ‘Velvet,’ it was more of kind of like establishing a direction. You know, kind of setting down a post and saying ‘this is my path’ type of thing, and I think this is just an extension of that, just getting a little further down it. It has a lot of similarities. Songwriting is honing a craft. I think ultimately you want the next thing you do to be better — or at least different in a better way.”



 

Fab Four January- A Quartet of Things TNS Is Digging

We start the second year of this monthly feature this month- a segment that is going to highlight four new, new to me, or recently rediscovered items that have made my own personal country music ESPN highlight reel over the last month. Some will be singles, some might be albums and some just might be a live performance or two from the past. It’ll be a little look inside the head of this mad-about-country-music-man.

And away we go....

1. Tom Skinner - "All You Can Do"

Outside of Oklahoma, Tom Skinner is probably a name you recognize only if you're a super-fan of someone named Garth Brooks. Brooks has recently been quoted as that he was to be first in line to buy this album from of his inspirations for his career. Inside Oklahoma, Skinner is a legend of a songwriter who has written and played about every corner of the state. He put out a long overdue album this past couple months and this stand-out track seems timely as can be with both sides of our government parties seemingly playing chicken with our futures.

2. Dolly Parton - "A Gamble Either Way"

One of my Christmas gifts was a nearly impossible to find England import 1983 album called Burlap and Satin. While Parton has sung some of my favorite all-time tracks, I discovered a brand new one that is added to the list in this 30 year old gem. Dark and gritty lyrics of an underage orphan having to use her body to sustain are contrasted with Dolly's ethereal voice and beautiful piano-driven instrumentation.

3. Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver - "Blue Train"

The last month has spent going through a lot more of my bluegrass catalog than normal as we've been culling our top bluegrass albums of 2012 for another site I write for at Engine 145. I keep coming back to this track released in 2006 on The Hard Game of Love. Frantic and frenzied, it highlights all the perfect qualities of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver with their amazing harmonies and unmatched musician skills.

4. Ashley Monroe - "Like a Rose"

Country music fans know Monroe best from being 1/3 of the group known as the Pistol Annies. She has a much-anticipated album being released early this spring and this was the first single released to the public. Deeply autobiographical, it highlights Monroe's struggles trying to make it in "the hard old road" known as the music business. Monroe's unique vocal delivery and beautiful storytelling make this track a terrific one.

Vince Gill Wins Song of the Year at Inspirational Country Music Awards

The 18th Annual ICM Faith, Family & Country Awards rolled out the red carpet at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony for Inspirational Country artists last night. Vince Gill was a big winner of the night, taking home two awards—Mainstream Inspirational Country Song and Mainstream Country Artist. Other winners included Chuck Day for Entertainer of the Year, Joyful Noise for Faith, Family and Country Movie and The Roys for Inspirational Bluegrass Artist.

Highlights of the evening included performances by Mac Powell, performing music from his new country album, as well as moving performances from Andy Griggs, John Berry, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver and Crawford Crossing. Dr. Johnny Lee Cook was the recipient of this year’s Living Legend Award. Ronald McDonald was on-hand representing Ronald McDonald House Charities of Nashville—a portion of the proceeds from the week-long event were donated to the charity.

In addition to being aired on Total Living Network, Golden Eagle Broadcasting, TCT Television Network and NRB Network, Nashville's News 2, WKRN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Nashville, Tenn., will be airing the awards this year for the first time. The 18th Annual ICM Faith, Family & Country Awards will air on Dec. 23 from 1pm-3pm.

The 18th Annual ICM Faith, Family & Country Awards Winners

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR:
Chuck Day

MALE VOCALIST:
Chuck Hancock

FEMALE VOCALIST:
Laura Dodd

VOCAL DUO / VOCAL DUO PERFORMANCE:
Branded

VOCAL GROUP OR BAND:
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

MAINSTREAM INSPIRATIONAL COUNTRY SONG:
“Threaten Me With Heaven” Vince Gill

MAINSTREAM COUNTRY ARTIST:
Vince Gill

CHRISTIAN COUNTRY SONG:
“Jesus Is Enough” Russ Murphy

SONGWRITER:
Chuck Hancock

NEW ARTIST:
Larissa

VIDEO:
“Loves Gotta Go Somewhere” Steve Richard

MUSICIAN:
Greg McDougal

COMEDIAN:
Johnny Lee Cook

RADIO PERSONALITY:
Rich Miller

RADIO STATION/NETWORK:
WSM AM 650

INSPIRATIONAL BLUEGRASS ARTIST:
The Roys

YOUTH IN MUSIC AWARD:
Isaac Cole

MUSIC EVANGELIST OF THE YEAR:
Tommy Brandt

FAITH, FAMILY, & COUNTRY MOVIE:
Joyful Noise

TELEVISION NETWORK:
Gospel Music Channel

23rd International Bluegrass Music Award Winners Announced

New IBMA Hall of Famer, Doyle Lawson

The 23rd International Bluegrass Music Award were held last night in Nashville, TN and The Gibson Brothers took home the honors of the coveted Entertainer of the Year. The night was webcast on LiveStream via the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Bluegrass Nation website.

BLUEGRASS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Doyle Lawson
Ralph Rinzler

IBMA DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Byron Berline
Joe & Lil Cornett (Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival)
Orin Friesen
Kitsy Kuykendall
Darrell "Pee Wee" Lambert

2012 IBMA AWARD WINNERS
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
The Gibson Brothers

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Blue Highway

INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
The Boxcars

EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Russell Moore

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Dale Ann Bradley

SONG OF THE YEAR
“A Far Cry From Lester & Earl" by Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, written by Tim Massey, Rick Purdue & Harry Sisk Jr.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The Heart of a Song by Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice (artists), Wes Easter & Ramblers Choice (producers), Rebel Records

GOSPEL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
“Singing As We Rise" by The Gibson Brothers (artists); Joe Newberry (songwriter); Eric Gibson, Mike Barber & Leigh Gibson (producers); Compass Records

INSTRUMENTAL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
“Angeline The Baker" by the Lonesome River Band (artists & producers), Rural Rhythm Records

RECORDED EVENT OF THE YEAR
“Life Goes On" by Carl Jackson, Ronnie Bowman, Larry Cordle, Jerry Salley, Rickey Wasson, Randy Kohrs, D.A. Adkins, Garnet Bowman, Lynn Butler, Ashley Kohrs, Gary Payne, Dale Pyatt, Clay Hess, Alan Bibey, Jay Weaver, Ron Stewart & Jim VanCleve (artists); Bob Kelley, Jack Campitelli & Darrel Adkins (producers); Rural Rhythm Records

INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR
Banjo: Sammy Shelor
Bass: Marshall Wilborn
Fiddle: Stuart Duncan
Dobro: Rob Ickes
Guitar: Doc Watson
Mandolin: Adam Steffey

BLUEGRASS BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR
Kyle Cantrell; Sirius XM Satellite Radio; Nashville, TN

BLUEGRASS EVENT OF THE YEAR
ROMP, produced by the International Bluegrass Music Museum; Owensboro, KY

BLUEGRASS PRINT MEDIA PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
Marty Godbey, author of Crowe on the Banjo: The Music Life of J.D. Crowe (Univ. of Illinois Press)

BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR A RECORDED PROJECT
Bedrock Manufacturing (designer) for Nobody Knows You, by the Steep Canyon Rangers (Rounder Records)

BEST LINER NOTES FOR A RECORDED PROJECT
Marian Leighton Levy (liner notes), for Tony Rice: The Bill Monroe Collection, by Tony Rice (Rounder Records)

The 2012 Momentum Awards are:
Band of the Year: Monroeville
Vocalist of the Year: Emily Bankester (performs with The Bankesters)
Instrumentalists of the Year:
Bassist Samson Grisman
Fiddler Alex Hargreaves (performs with Sarah Jarosz)
Fiddler Christian Ward (performs with Sierra Hull)
Event/Venue of the Year: Appalachian Uprising, produced by Steve Cielic (new festival in Scottown, Ohio)
Industry Achievement: Crash Avenue publicist Emilee Warner
Mentor of the Year: Five-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year and producer Mike Bub

New Music Video From Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver- "Country Store"

Trailer provided by Video Detective