Monday, June 22, 2026
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Monday, September 30, 2024
Sunday, September 29, 2024
The Legendary Kris Kristofferson Passes Away At 88
Born Kristoffer Kristofferson in the border town of Brownsville, Texas on June 22, 1936, Kristofferson changed the language of country music, with extraordinary internal rhymes, Shakespearean iambic pentameter, and socially progressive subject matter that found the personal within the political.
He was a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, a defensive back, a bartender, a Golden Gloves boxer, a gandy dancer, a forest firefighter, a road crew member, and an Army Ranger who flew helicopters. He was a peacenik, a revolutionary, an actor, a superstar, a sex symbol, and a family man. He was commissioned to teach English at West Point, though he gave that up to become a Nashville songwriting bum.
Sam Peckinpah cast him as Billy the Kid. Willie Nelson recorded an entire album of his songs, then joined him in supergroup The Highwaymen, with Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Muhammad Ali sat side-stage at his concerts. Mama Cass Elliot called him “No Eyes.” Atlantic Monthly published his short stories.
He believed that songwriting is a spiritual communion of mind, body, and soul, and he believed that William Blake was correct in asserting that anyone divinely ordered for spiritual communion but buries his talent will be pursued by sorrow and desperation through life and by shame and confusion for eternity.
“(Blake) is telling you that you’ll be miserable if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do,” Kristofferson said in the Ken Burns’ documentary Country Music.
Kristofferson’s devotion to spiritual communion brought much in the way of sorrow, desperation, and misery, but it led to triumph.
His work ethic was evident from an early age, celebrated by his parents and, when he was a teenager, a construction supervisor on Wake Island said he was the best worker on the construction crew.
“I took pride in being the best laborer, the guy that could dig the ditches the fastest,” he said. “Something inside me made me want to do the tough stuff . . . Part of it was that I wanted to be a writer, and I figured that I had to get out and live. I know that’s why I ran in front of the bulls in Pamplona.”
The son of a major general and a philanthropic mother, Kristofferson spent his childhood learning lessons in honor and civility, though he arrived at different notions of these things than did his parents. He graduated high school in San Mateo, California, in 1954, then attended Pomona College, where he played football (“I was pretty slow, but I was small,” he said) and studied writing under Dr. Frederick Sontag, who pushed him to apply for a Rhodes scholarship. At Oxford, he wrote stories and examined the works of William Blake.
Kristofferson earned his master’s from Oxford in 1960, then returned to California, married his high school sweetheart, joined the Army, and learned to fly helicopters. In the Army, he wrote funny songs inspired by Hank Williams, until he fell under the sway of folk maestro Bob Dylan.
“The direction Dylan was pointing in made it a respectable ambition, a respectable thing to do,” Kristofferson said.
The Army assigned Kristofferson to teach literature at West Point, a duty that frightened him once he found that he’d have to turn in lesson plans, explaining to superiors exactly what he’d be teaching in class. He said, “It sounded like hell to me.”
And so, in 1965, he came to Nashville to visit with Marijohn Wilkin, the songwriter of “Long Black Veil” and a relation of Kristofferson’s Army platoon leader. On Kristofferson’s first Nashville night, he met Cowboy Jack Clement, a renegade creative who would become a lifelong friend. Soon after that, Wilkin helped Kristofferson get a backstage pass to the Grand Ole Opry, where he met a pacing panther named Johnny Cash. In less than two Music City weeks, Kristofferson decided to resign his Army post and move to Nashville to write songs. Soon after, he met successful songwriter Tom T. Hall in a Nashville bar. Kristofferson introduced himself to Hall, who said “Good to see you . . . It’s a hairy-legged town.”
Kristofferson scuffled for more than four years in Nashville, entering his 30s as what his parents considered a ne’er do well who was dragging down the family name. He worked as a janitor at CBS’s Nashville studio, happy to empty trash cans and make coffee in exchange for access to recording sessions by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and others. He rode around on a well-bruised Honda motorcycle, and neglected family matters in ways that came to haunt him and that doomed his first marriage. He was heartened by praise from the people whom he hoped would become peers. When his “From the Bottle to the Bottom” was recorded by Grand Ole Opry star Billy Walker in 1969, Tom T. Hall said, “God, that’s a great song” and quoted lines back to the fledgling talent.
“That kind of thing was enough to keep me going back then,” Kristofferson said.
After more than four years in songwriting purgatory, things began to roll Kristofferson’s way. Ray Stevens recorded his “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” and Johnny Cash recorded the same song and took it to the top of the country charts. Cash performed “Sunday Mornin’” on his ABC television show, and, despite the cries of network censors, refused to change Kristofferson’s line “Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned” to “Wishing, Lord, that I was home.” That song was voted the Country Music Association’s song of the year in 1970.
Roger Miller, one of Kristofferson’s songwriting heroes, recorded “Me and Bobby McGee,” a song inspired by publisher and Monument Records boss Fred Foster’s suggestion that a song should be written about Foster’s secretary, Bobby McKee. And Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times” was recorded by the great Ray Price and became a No. 1 country hit.
After arguing with Foster about his validity as a recording artist (Kristofferson said, “I sing like a fucking frog,” to which Foster replied, “Yes, but like a frog that can communicate.”), Kristofferson’s first solo album came out in April of 1970. It contained now-classics including “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “To Beat the Devil,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Just the Other Side of Nowhere,” “Darby’s Castle,” and “Best of All Possible Worlds.” It began with “Blame It On the Stones,” a song that opened with the decidedly non-traditional line, “Mr. Marvin Middle Class is really in a stew/ Wonderin’ what the younger generation’s coming to.”
With that debut album, Kristofferson emerged as a luminous figure whose fame expanded far beyond country music. Janis Joplin recorded “Me and Bobby McGee,” which became her signature hit. And Kristofferson became a counter-culture darling, beloved by artists and listeners who had never before paid attention to country music.
“You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris, because he changed everything,” said Bob Dylan.
Kristofferson’s second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, came out on Monument Records in 1971 and contained “The Pilgrim – Chapter 33,” a song he claimed to write about friends Cash, Chris Gantry, Funky Donnie Fritts, and others but later admitted was mostly about himself. “He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,” he sang. “Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”
All those wrong directions led to some spectacular locales. In 1971, Kristofferson began a side career as an actor. He would go on to win a Golden Globe award for his role in A Star Is Born, and to act in numerous films including Semi-Tough, Songwriter, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Lone Star, and Blade. He toured the world with his band and with Rita Coolidge, his wife from 1973 until 1980. He moved from Nashville to California. And he released seven solo albums between 1972 and 1979.
This flurry of activity and the accompanying celebrity did not ease Kristofferson’s mind, which was prone to depression, or his problematic drinking habit. The heady years of grand success proved to be some of the most difficult of his life.
“The darkness is driving me farther away from the shore/ Throw me a rhyme or a reason to try to go on,” he wrote and sang in “Shipwrecked in the 80s.” He found rhyme and reason in the graceful form of Lisa Meyers, who married Kristofferson in 1983 and helped him get his life under control. The couple would have five children together.
In 1985, Kristofferson joined Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson to form the supergroup now called The Highwaymen. The group returned Kristofferson’s voice to radio, provided a larger audience for him to relay his critical and sometimes controversial views on American foreign policy, and offered him great joy.
“Every time I look at a picture of Willie and me and John and Waylon, I find it amazing that they let the janitor in there,” he told journalist Mikal Gilmore.
After two roundly ignored solo albums for Mercury Records, Repossessed and Third World Warrior, Kristofferson began working with producer Don Was in 1995. Their creative partnership proved fruitful, with Was’ restrained production allowing the gristly character in Kristofferson’s voice to be heard to full effect, and with Kristofferson writing pensive, eloquent songs that rank with his finest works. “It’s about making sense of life at this end of the game,” Kristofferson said about his 2009 Closer to the Bone album, and that comment also applies to Was-produced works A Moment of Forever (2006), This Old Road (2009), and Feeling Mortal (2013). On his 80th birthday in 2016, Kris released The Cedar Creek Sessions, which was nominated for a Grammy for best Americana Album six months later.
Until the pandemic in 2020, Kristofferson toured incessantly in the 21st century, a quiet man in worn brown boots, commanding stages with only his guitar and harmonica for accompaniment. His Gibson acoustic might go out of tune . . . no matter. In his final years he performed with Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers.
In 2003, Kristofferson received the Free Speech Award from the Americana Music Association and in 2004 he became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Since then, he received lifetime achievement honors from BMI, The Recording Academy, the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, among many others.
“When I got started, I was one of the people hoping to bring respect to country music,” he said. “Some of the songs I had that got to be hits did that. I imagine that’s why somebody might vote me into a Hall of Fame. I know it’s not because of my golden throat.”
On the back cover of The Silver-Tongued Devil and I, Kristofferson advised that his songs were “Echoes of the going ups and coming downs, walking pneumonia and run-of-the-mill madness, colored with guilt, pride, and a vague sense of despair.”
Sometimes divine communion, then, is holy hell. Kristofferson brought some of that hell on himself, and he lived through times when guilt and despair were anything but vague, and when pride was hard to conjure. Asked about regrets, he said, “Listen, I have those. But my life has turned out so well for me that I would be afraid to change anything.”
Kristofferson's survived by his wife, Lisa; eight children, Tracy, Kris Jr., Casey, Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly, and Blake; and seven grandchildren, who offer the following consolatory statement:
"It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home. We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all.” – The Family of Kris Kristofferson
Friday, June 16, 2023
Saturday, April 2, 2022
"Convoy" Country Artist C.W. McCall Passes Away At Age Of 93
McCall is remembered probably best for the 1975 #1 hit song "Convoy", which came at the peak of the citizens band radio fad in the United States.
The name, or “handle,” of the song’s central character is Rubber Duck, and he chats with another driver, Pig Pen, hauling a load of foul-smelling hogs, which becomes a running joke throughout the song. They join up with a driver in a “cab-over Pete with a reefer on” — a refrigerated Peterbilt truck with the cab above the engine — headed east out of Shaky Town, or Los Angeles, and “Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy.”
“I’m about to put the hammer down,” Rubber Duck says, meaning he’s going to drive as fast as he can, while keeping an eye out for “smokies,” or highway patrol officers in flat-brimmed hats like the ones worn by Smokey Bear. As more trucks follow along, McCall chants, “We gonna roll this truckin’ convoy ’cross the USA.”
“It was timely,” Mr. Fries told the Associated Press in 1990. “Back in 1975-76, that craze was sweeping the country. The jargon was colorful, and the American public liked that, too. It was laced with humor, but it had a rebellious feeling about it and people responded to it.”
Far from a one-hit wonder, McCall continued to chart with songs such as "Wolf Creek Pass", which hit #40 on the U.S. pop top 40 in 1975, and at least two other songs hit Billboard's pop Hot 100, including "Old Home Filler-Up an' Keep on a-Truckin' Cafe", as well as the environmentally-oriented "There Won't Be No Country Music (There Won't Be No Rock 'n' Roll)". A dozen McCall songs hit Billboard's country singles chart, including the sentimental "Roses For Mama" (1977).
In 1978, the movie Convoy was released, based on the C.W. McCall song and starring Kris Kristofferson.
In addition to the "original six" McCall albums released between 1975 and 1979, two rare singles exist. "Kidnap America" was a politically/socially-conscious track, while "Pine Tar Wars" referred to an event that actually happened in a New York Yankees-Kansas City Royals baseball game in 1983.
In 1982, McCall was elected mayor of the town of Ouray, Colorado, ultimately serving three terms.
In 1990, American Gramaphone Records issued a CD containing a number of old McCall tracks re-recorded for the digital CD age, plus a new song, "Comin' Back For More", which was inspired by Alferd Packer, an alleged cannibal from the 19th century.
In 2014, Rolling Stone ranked "Convoy" No. 98 on their list of 100 Greatest Country Songs.
Saturday, September 25, 2021
Willie Nelson Collaborates With His Family On Upcoming 'Family" Album Being Released 11/19
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Josh Turner To Release Country State of Mind On August 21
Album: Country State of Mind
Label: MCA Nashville
Release date: August 21, 2020
Josh Turner describes the influences on his upcoming album, Country State of Mind, as the "Mount Rushmore of Country Music," and for good reason: The new project features cuts of some of his favorite all-time country tracks as well as guest spots from a few of his heroes singing beside him- including a landmark performance from Randy Travis. Country State of Mind includes Josh's take on Randy's 1987 classic, "Forever and Ever, Amen," and the legendary artist joined him on the new version of the song. It marks the first recording session for Randy since a devastating stroke severely hampered his ability to speak and sing in 2013.
"Randy has always been my hero. He was the reason I wanted to become a country singer," Josh explains. "He's an inspiring figure, not just to me but to a lot of people, so to have him sing on this record is pretty special."
But Randy isn't the only high-profile country act who helped Josh make his new album. Kris Kristofferson and John Anderson also lent their voices to the album, as did Chris Janson, Runaway June, Maddie & Tae and Allison Moorer.
In addition to collaborating with a diverse and impressive roster of collaborators, Josh shows off his country music history expertise with his solo performances on Country State of Mind. The track list features his renditions of Johnny Cash's 1959 gospel tune, "The Caretaker," as well as Hank Williams' 1955 original, "Alone and Forsaken." On Wednesday, Josh shared the album's title track, in which he and Chris duet on a Hank Williams Jr. classic.
Country State of Mind will drop in full on August 21.
Monday, November 4, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
Country Music Hall of Famer Fred Foster Passes Away at 87
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.
For the third time this year, we need to pause and remember a Country Music Hall of Fame great.
Fred Foster, the guiding force behind Monument Records, died Wednesday (2/20) in Nashville. He had been in weak health for a number of years.
The greatest legacy of Fred Foster is his ear for talent. While he worked for Mercury Records in the mid-50s he heard a young man who was on the rockabilly Sun label and begged his superiors to sign the singer. Mercury passed on Elvis Presley, and the rest is history.
Maybe that failure led Foster to believe he could run a label better, so in 1958 he took every penny he had and formed Monument Records, with the logo showing a replica of the Washington Monument. Determined not to let the same mistake happen again, Foster signed another fledgling artist on Sun: Roy Orbison. From there, Foster's skills helped launch or improve the career of a number of country (Billy Walker, Billy Grammer) and rock (Tony Joe White) acts.
His two biggest successes, however, came with the discovery of an east Tennessee songbird named Dolly Parton and a Texas Army veteran named Kris Kristofferson.
Parton's early hit "Dumb Blonde" was released on Monument and produced by Foster. After her first two albums on Monument she moved on to RCA Victor and international superstardom.
Kristofferson's legacy may be linked to the infamous story about him landing a helicopter on Johnny Cash's lawn to pitch "Sunday Morning Coming Down" to Cash, but it was Fred Foster who first signed Kristofferson to a publishing, and later recording, deal. Foster was also the one who suggested that Kristofferson incorporate the name of one of the secretaries in the building, Bobbie McKee, into a song. Kristofferson's "Me and Bobbie McGee" is one of the most important songs in country and rock (thanks to Janis Joplin's cover).
Foster never slowed down, producing the Grammy-winning Last of the Breed album with Willie Nelson, Ray Price, and Merle Haggard in 2007. In 2016 Foster produced a tribute album to Ray Price. That year Foster was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in the rotating "non-performer" category for his decades of service to country music as a producer, publisher, and promoter.
"I am heartbroken that my friend, Fred Foster, has passed on," Dolly Parton said in a statement. "Fred was one of the very first people to believe in me, and gave me chances no one else would or could."
Fred Foster was 87.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Kristofferson, Stapleton, Church, Fogerty, Willie & More On Upcoming John Lennon Tribute Concert Album
Label: Blackbird Productions
Release date: January 18, 2019
In honor of what would have been John Lennon’s 75th birthday, Blackbird Presents and AMC brings you Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert, an all-star concert event celebrating the music and message of the legendary music icon. Blackbird Presents Records will release the full-length concert as a double CD, DVD and LP in January 2019.
Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert features "captivating performances, in-depth interviews, and compelling behind-the-scenes action with Aloe Blacc, Eric Church, Sheryl Crow, Brandon Flowers, John Fogerty, Peter Frampton, Juanes, Kris Kristofferson, Pat Monahan, Tom Morello, Willie Nelson, The Roots, Spoon, Chris Stapleton and Steven Tyler."
“It’s beautiful to see so many wonderful and talented musicians come together for this special show to celebrate John’s birthday,” said Yoko Ono. “John’s art continues to give hope, light and happiness to generations of people everywhere. His belief that each of us can change the world continues to inspire the human race to believe in themselves, and his influence is everlasting in everyone’s hearts as we all share in the possibilities and power of music.”
Track listing:
1. Come Together (4:26) Feat: Steven Tyler
2. Instant Karma (3:56) Feat: Brandon Flowers
3. Don't Let Me Down (3:55) Feat: Sheryl Crow, Brandon Flowers, Chris Stapleton
4. Jealous Guy (5:09) Feat: Pat Monahan
5. A Hard Day's Night (3:29) Feat: Sheryl Crow
6. In My Life (3:39) Feat: John Fogerty
7. Watching The Wheels (4:17) Feat: Aloe Blacc
8. Woman (3:36) Feat: Juanes
9. Hey Bulldog (2:36) Feat: Spoon
10. Working Class Hero (4:30) Feat: Tom MorelloKris Kristofferson
11. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (3:42) Feat: Aloe Blacc, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton
12. Give Peace A Chance (4:11) Feat: John Fogerty
13.
14. Mother (6:45) Feat: The Roots
15. Steel And Glass (5:49) Feat: Aloe Blacc
16. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (2:52) Feat: Peter Frampton
17. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (3:17) Feat: Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Chris Stapleton
18. Revolution (3:34) Feat: Eric Church, Steven Tyler
19. Power To The People (8:19) Feat: Tom Morello
20. A Special Thank You From Yoko Ono (1:40) Feat: Yoko Ono
21. Imagine (4:19) Feat: Willie Nelson
22. All You Need Is Love (With Full Ensemble) (4:11)
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Uncovered Highwaymen Performance To Be Released As Upcoming Live Album
Album: On The Road Again: Aberdeen Broadcast 1992
Label: Go Faster Records
Release date: October 5, 2018
When the Highwaymen came together in 1985, consisting of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, the phrase super-group was, for once, applied with inarguable precision. With all members having been hugely influential on the Outlaw Country sub-genre, and each having earned huge plaudits and enormous success in their own rights, as both composers and performers, the project could still have failed had it been undertaken by a quartet of super-egos.
On August 14, 1992, they played Scotland's Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, a show which was recorded for live FM transmission, both locally and across the US. This CD includes this dazzling performance in full, providing as it does one of the finest shows the band ever played, and one which showcases many of their most loved cuts, alongside a host of songs that made these outlaws so successful individually.
Tracklist
1. Highwayman
2. Good Hearted Woman
3. Theme From 'The Dukes Of Hazzard' (Good Ol' Boys)
4. Folsom Prison Blues
5. Help Me Make It Through The Night
6. Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
7. Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
8. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way
9. Always On My Mind
10. Me And Bobby McGee
11. Get Rhythm
12. Crazy
13. (Ghost) Riders In The Sky
14. Luckenbach, Texas (Back To The Basics Of Love)
15. Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground
16. Big River
17. On The Road Again
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Tribute Album To Honor Roger Miller Recruits Brad Paisley, Eric Church, Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Dozens More
Album: King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller
Label: BMG
Release date: August 31
King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller, out Aug. 31 via BMG, pays long overdue respects to one of American music's premier entertainers and songwriters. The two-disc collection contains new renditions of Miller's songs by Ringo Starr, Dolly Parton, Eric Church, Loretta Lynn, John Goodman and more than two dozen others, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard on one track. Produced by Miller's son, Dean Miller, and Colby Barnum Wright, 'King of the Road' offers a fresh look at the work of a creative giant who has been gone 26 years but whose genius continues to shape contemporary music in ways both overt and subtle.
Before Miller's premature death of cancer at age 56, the Country Music Hall of Famer had 31 Top 40 Billboard country hits (10 of which crossed over to the pop chart), including his signature songs "Dang Me" and "King of the Road." He held the record for most GRAMMY wins in a single night until Michael Jackson and 'Thriller' broke it in 1984. Miller wrote songs and voiced a character for Walt Disney's 1973 Robin Hood film. He also wrote the music and lyrics for the Tony-winning Big River, helping launch the career of actor John Goodman, who reprises the musical's "Guv'ment" on 'King of the Road.' As Dean Miller writes in liner notes accompanying 'King of the Road,' "Roger Miller was too gigantic to be contained by genres and definitions."
'King of the Road' includes versions of Miller's biggest '60s hits, like "Chug-A-Lug" (Asleep at the Wheel ft. Huey Lewis) and "England Swings" (Lyle Lovett), and lesser-known treasures from a catalog full of gems. As with Miller's own output, the album contains plenty of unexpected turns -- country superstar Eric Church's playful take on Robin Hood's "Oo De Lally," for instance, or Starr's selection of "Hey, Would You Hold It Down?," a song from Miller's long-out-of-print 1979 'Making a Name for Myself' album. By any standard of measurement, Miller was "one of the greatest songwriters that ever lived" -- even if he did say so himself. And he did, in the first of a handful of the album's live-performance interstitials that capture the spontaneous wit of a mind that operated at a breakneck pace.
The scope of material and performances on 'King of the Road' both capture Miller's personality and convey an astonishing legacy that's still felt today. "Roger Miller didn't have to say much," Dean writes in the liners. "You were simply drawn to him. He had a magnetic smile, and electric wit and a passion for life and music that transcended generations."
'King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller' Tracklist:
Disc One
Greatest Songwriter (Banter)
Chug-a-Lug - Asleep at the Wheel ft. Huey Lewis
Dang Me - Brad Paisley
Leavin's Not the Only Way to Go - The Stellas/Lennon and Maisy
Kansas City Star - Kacey Musgraves
World So Full of Love - Rodney Crowell
Old Friends (Banter)
Old Friends - Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard
Lock Stock and Teardrops - Mandy Barnett
You Oughta Be Here With Me - Alison Krauss ft. The Cox Family
The Crossing - Ronnie Dunn, The Blind Boys of Alabama
In the Summertime - The Earls of Leicester ft. Shawn Camp
Fiddle (Banter)
England Swings - Lyle Lovett
You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd - Various Artists
Half a Mind - Loretta Lynn
Invitation to the Blues - Shooter Jennings, Jessi Colter
It Only Hurts Me When I Cry (Live) - Dwight Yoakam
Disc Two
Hey, Would You Hold It Down? - Ringo Starr
Engine, Engine #9 - Emerson Hart ft. Jon Randall
When Two Worlds Collide - Flatt Lonesome
Oo De Lally - Eric Church
You Can't Do Me This Way and Get By With It - Dean Miller ft. The McCrary Sisters
Chicken S#$! (Banter)
Nothing Can Stop Me - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Husbands and Wives - Jamey Johnson ft. Emmylou Harris
I Believe in the Sunshine - Lily Meola
Guv'ment - John Goodman
Old Songwriters Never Die (Banter)
The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me - Dolly Parton ft. Alison Krauss
I'd Come Back to Me - Radney Foster ft. Tawnya Reynolds
Reincarnation - Cake
One Dying and a Burying - The Dead South
Do Wacka Do - Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
King of the Road - Various Artists
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
That Nashville Sound Tuesday Newsbytes: Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Kacey Musgraves, Morgan Wallen & More
- Zac Brown's side band Sir Rosevelt came out with a new music video for their latest single "Something 'Bout You."
- Deana Carter has announced that she's back in the studio recording new music for an upcoming project.
- Luke Combs is releasing a deluxe version of his debut album This One's For You on 6/1 with five additional songs.
- The duo of LOCASH released a new music video for their hit single, "Don't Get Better Than This."
- Morgan Wallen is parlaying his success of "Up Down" to the release of his new 4/27 album release, If I Know Me. “I moved to town three years ago and have gotten to write with some of the best songwriters and artists in Nashville,” says Wallen. “I’m ready for people to hear this album and get to know what I’m all about. There are songs that have made the journey with me and I’m just really proud to be putting If I Know Me out there.”
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Record Store Day Releases On Black Friday To Include Previously Unheard Waylon Jennings Project
Bonafide country outlaw Waylon Jennings has left us with more music than we probably deserve, even after his untimely death. According to Record Store Day, Jennings was working on a collection of new material to be recorded for a prospective new album in the late 90’s. Before that album could be recognized, Jennings passed away, and while going through his fathers things, Shooter Jennings recovered a cassette tape labeled “New Stuff.”
A collection of new songs performed by Waylon and his guitar was what played from that tape. Shooter restored the tape and the outcome was a zealous collection of songs. New Stuff is a part of the special 2017 Black Friday edition of Record Store Day. The album will be on a limited colored 12” vinyl from label Black Country Rock. Waylon Jennings’ last recorded album was Goin’ Down Rockin’.
Other projects worth noting coming out on that day include:
- Eric Church - Mistress Named Music - 7" vinyl with two live tracks
- Willie Nelson - Spirit - LP - Originally released in 1996, Spirit is issued here for the first time on colored vinyl as a special Record Store Day Black Friday release. It comes newly remastered with a deluxe, gatefold, 'tip-on' uncoated jacket, this is a chance to own this unique album in its most beautifully presented form.
- Willie Nelson - Yesterday's Wine - LP- 1973's Yesterday's Wine has been long out of print on vinyl and is coming to record stores as part of the Friday Music 180g Audiophile Vinyl Series on burgundy vinyl, in a gatefold sleeve and with a poster depicting the cover art included.
- Gram Parsons - Live 1973 Featuring Emmylou Harris - LP - Live album by Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels was recorded at Sonic Studios in Hempstead, New York during a live radio broadcast from WLIR-FM.
- Chet Atkins - Guitar Blues - LP - Originally released on 78 in 1946 on Nashville's Bullet Records, this is the first ever vinyl reissue of Chet's very first release! Packaged in an envelope style picture sleeve with liner notes by Chet historian Pat Kirtley. Limited edition blue vinyl.
- Lou Reed and Kris Kristofferson - The Bottom Line Archive Series: In Their Own Words - LP - An exclusive, limited 1000 quantity picture disc LP of select' tracks from Lou Reed and Kris Kristofferson's 'In Their Own words with Vin Scelsa' set from 1994 at the famed Bottom Line in NYC.
- Gentle Giant: The Songs of Don Williams - Tribute LP - Williams' longtime producer and friend Garth Fundis have produced a tribute album, Gentle Giants: The Songs of Don Williams, featuring an all-star lineup of artists. Some of the artists on Gentle Giant include Jason Isbell, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Alison Krauss, John Prime and Garth Brooks. The 11-track album is being released on Slate Creek Records exclusively for RSD Black Friday 2017.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Hear It Here: Shooter Jennings & Friends (including Musgraves, Kristofferson, Benson & More) - "Do You Love Texas?"
The idea came about when Jennings, 38, was in the studio with Music City power producer Dave Cobb in the days before Harvey hit Houston. “Dave and I are like little kids in the studio. When nobody else is around we say goofy, kid things to each other. Some of our greatest collaborations came from ideas like that. Dave turned to me and said, ‘Hey man, Texas loves you. We need to write a song for Texas.’ I looked at Dave and sang, ‘Do you love Texas?’ And he said ‘Hell yeah!’ And I sang ‘So do I.’ And the rest of it fell right into place. We had a great time crafting a song that playfully talks about why Texas is so much damn fun.”
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Sunday, September 10, 2017
That Nashville Sound Sunday Newsbytes - New Music Videos & Upcoming Releases
- Tracy Lawrence has set November 10, 2017 as the release date for one of the most ambitious and significant albums of his career. Good Ole Days celebrates the country legend’s indelible mark on country traditionalism with an album of 11 duets pairing a selection of his most iconic hits with some of country and rock’s contemporary superstars and newcomers. See a video about the project HERE. The collaborative collection includes guest appearances by Jason Aldean, Big & Rich, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Easton Corbin, Dustin Lynch, Tim McGraw, Justin Moore, Kellie Pickler and Chris Young. 3 Doors Down leader Brad Arnold makes his country music debut on the title track “Good Ole Days,” which is the second of the two original songs.
- On November 10th, Jeff Bates will be releasing an EP called Troublemaker.
- Blake Shelton released a new music video for the song "I'll Name The Dogs."
- Alison Krauss released a new music video for the track "Windy City."
- Whitney Rose released a new music video for her new song "Better To My Baby."
- Maggie Baugh released a new music video for "Catch Me."
- On the eve of Irma making landfall, it seems appropriate that Georgia-native Derek Hoke's next album is titled Bring the Flood. It comes out on Oct. 13 on Little Hollywood Records.
- Award-winning bluegrass artist Donna Ulisse has a new project out on Sept. 22 on Mountain Home Records called Breakin' Easy.
- Jack Ingram will be releasing a new song on Sept 19, a Next Waltz project with a cover of Jason Eady's "Why I Left Atlanta."
- Kelly Clarkson will return with her debut project for Atlantic Records on Friday, Oct. 27. The new album, Meaning Of Life, will feature songs including “Move You” and the album’s first single, “Love So Soft.”
- Valerie June and her top flight band stopped by Los Angeles' legendary public radio station KCRW on June 7th, 2017, for a live session on the their flagship Morning Becomes Eclectic program and released it into an live EP this week. Valerie June - Live at KCRW features eight songs from her critically acclaimed album The Order of Time (released earlier this year.)
- Blackbird Presents Records and CMT have combined forces and have announced the broadcast premiere and CD/DVD release of The Life & Songs Of Kris Kristofferson. The broadcast, concert film and music release features a collection of legendary singers, songwriters, and rising superstars who came together for a once-in-a-lifetime concert event taping in Nashville, Tennessee at the Bridgestone Arena to celebrate the songs of music icon Kris Kristofferson. CMT will premiere the 90-minute broadcast on Friday, October 27 at 10 PM ET/PT, and Blackbird Presents Records will release the full-length concert film as a CD/DVD combo, which is available for immediate preorder at http://songsofkristofferson.com and http://pledgemusic.com/projects/songsofkristofferson. The Life & Songs Of Kris Kristofferson features captivating performances, in-depth interviews, and compelling behind-the-scenes footage with Kris Kristofferson, Jessi Alexander, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Ryan Bingham, Rosanne Cash, Eric Church, Jessi Colter, Rodney Crowell, Larry Gatlin, Emmylou Harris, Jack Ingram, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Alison Krauss, Martina McBride, The Travelin' McCourys, Reba McEntire, Buddy Miller, Willie Nelson, Jennifer Nettles, Jon Randall, Darius Rucker, Hank Williams Jr. and Lee Ann Womack.
- Calico the Band, the California Americana country group led by the female duo of Manda Mosher and Kirsten Proffit, premiered their Western-themed music video for "Cold Cold Love," the latest single from the band's forthcoming album Under Blue Skies. Click here to watch the video that was filmed just outside of Joshua Tree, a Southern California location which has a "mystical cosmic country connection that is inspiration for us," says the band. -
Monday, May 8, 2017
Margo Price, Kris Kristofferson And Dolly Parton Join Adele And Others On Brandi Carlile's Benefit Album
Label: Columbia
Release date: May 5, 2017
Nearly everything you need to know about this project is in the foreword that former President Barack Obama wrote for the album. He said, "As an artist, Brandi Carlile is using her talent on behalf of the most vulnerable among us, children living in areas of conflict. She reminds us that, together, we can build for our children a more just, peaceful world."
Carlile has collected covers of many of her songs from her heroes, artists who are fans of hers and mutual fans of one-another and put together an album in which 100% of the proceeds will end up going to benefit War Child.
In Carlile's own words:
Do you remember Sunday school? Goliath was a giant, he was undefeated, menacing and a paralyzing presence in his time. Goliath is our refugee crisis and the apathy it breeds. In particular, this giant is most devastating in that it is destroying the lives of the truly innocent, the hope of the world - children.
To quote Barack Obama – “These children are no less curious, hopeful and worthy of love than our own”. Instinctually, we understand this with such sobering clarity that it paralyzes us, frozen in the realization that Goliath might just be too big.
I am not big, or tall, or rich, or very powerful at all, are you? I close my eyes at the movies and although I’ve dreamed of being a singer my whole life, I’ve never really wanted or achieved monumental fame. I’ve lived in proximity to it for long enough though to know that The Story might be the biggest rock I’ll ever get my hands on and that’s more than enough for me. The Story is our rock, I’ve never had much of an arm though… and this story isn’t about me.
You are David.
Be David.Track listing:
“Late Morning Lullaby” – Shovels & Rope
“The Story” – Dolly Parton
“Turpentine” – Kris Kristofferson
“My Song” – Old Crow Medicine Show
“Wasted” – Jim James
“Have You Ever” – The Avett Brothers
“Josephine” – Anderson East
“Losing Heart” – The Secret Sisters
“Cannonball” – The Indigo Girls
“UntiI I Die” – Torres
“Downpour” – Margo Price
“Shadow On The Wall” – Ruby Amanfu
“Again Today” – Pearl Jam
“Hiding My Heart” – Adele