New Live Music Video From Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - "The Battle of Evermore"

New Music Video From Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)"

New Music Video From Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - "Searching For My Love"

That Nashville Sound's Best Albums Of 2021 - A Year-End Best Of List

Despite two music-hampering Covid shutdown years in a row, the amount of great music that has been released into 2021 has been nothing short of remarkable. We live in an incredible time. The internet, YouTube and a variety of digital platforms give independent artists a more playing field to get their music heard than ever before- and as a result, we have more options at receiving that music than at any time in our history. From all parts of the world, artists are contributing to this incredible umbrella of music we call country music. True, a few stakeholders have a clear stranglehold on what's being heard on country radio, but clearly the tide has shifted and we are seeing time and time again, the ability of cream to rise to the top and artists become wildly successful without the support of the radio dial.

Albums still matter. Patrick McGuire wrote this in ReverbNation and I've read it several times and wanted to share: "Albums still matter because they tell the unique story of who a band is at a specific moment of time that one or two singles just don’t have the ability to do. Imagine if the songs from ... The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band were released one at a time over the course of a year. Yes, the songs would still be incredible, but the meaning of these hugely important albums would be far less impactful. Whether it’s a concept album or not, good albums feature some sort of story or larger narrative whether it’s in the lyrics or instrumentation. Singles can’t tell the stories albums can." The platform of the album continues to be a tapestry that unites songs into a thematic quilt.

A handful of those 2021 country music releases stand out above all others. That's where this list comes in.

Here's a list of our favorite albums over the last few years for comparison:

2005 - Gary Allan - Tough All Over (tie)

           Lee Ann Womack - There’s More Where That Came From

2006 - Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways

2007 - Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Raising Sand

2008 - Lee Ann Womack - Call Me Crazy

2009 - Eric Church - Carolina

2010 - Zac Brown Band - You Get What You Give

2011 - Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels

2012 - Marty Stuart - Nashville Volume 1- Tear The Woodpile Down

2013 - Brandy Clark - 12 Stories

2014 - Don Williams - Reflections

2015 - Chris Stapleton - Traveler

2016 - Ryan Beaver - RX

2017 - Jason Eady - Jason Eady

2018 - Ashley McBryde - Girl Goin' Nowhere

2019 - Erin Enderlin - Faulkner County

2020 - Hailey Whitters - The Dream

These are the albums that struck an emotional chord and moved this listener to fall in love with their projects over and over again.

1. Mike and the Moonpies - One To Grown On

2. Larry Fleet - Stack of Records

3. Darrel Scott - Jaroso

4. Addison Johnson - Dark Side of the Mountain

5. Morgan Wade - Reckless

5. Lainey Wilson - Sayin' What I'm Thinkin'

6. Robert Plant and Allison Krauss - Raise the Roof

7. Josh Grider - Long Way From Las Cruces

8. Erin Enderlin - Barroom Mirrors EP

9. Canaan Smith - High Country Sound

10. Jason Eady - To The Passage Of Time

11. Cody Johnson - Human

12. Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days

13. Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall - The Marfa Tapes

14. Cody Jinks - Mercy

15. Lily Winwood - Time Well Spent

16. Dillon Carmichael - Son Of A

17. Flatland Cavalry - Welcome To Countryland

18. Alan Jackson - Where Have You Gone?

19. Eric Church - Heart and Soul

20. Margo Cilker - Pohorylle

Best of the rest: 

- Jackson Sellers - Breaking Point

- Barry Gibb - Greenfields

- Kirsten Kelly - Something Worth Saying 

- Sturgill Simpson - The Ballad of Dood and Juanita

- Travis Tritt - Set In Stone

- Carly Pearce - 29

- Blackberry Smoke - You Hear Georgia

New Music Video From Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - "Can't Let Go"

New Music Video From Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Trouble with My Lover"

New Music Video From Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Searching For My Love"

Hear It Here: Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's New Song - "Can't Let Go"

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Collaborating On Another New Project Together

Hold the presses. A new album from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss is coming down the road. 

The duo famously collaborated on 2007’s Raising Sand, which earned platinum sales and took home five Grammy awards, including Album of the Year for this very website, That Nashville Sound. 

During a recent episode of the Everyone Loves Guitar podcast, Greg Leisz, the pedal steel guitarist who played on Raising Sand, mentioned he’d heard material earmarked for the new LP.

“I actually just recently heard a song from the upcoming record,” Leisz admitted. “[Plant] is doing another record with - has done another record - with Alison Krauss and I heard a track from it the other day.”

According to Leisz, the song, which he described as “incredible,” was titled “Searching For My Baby.” “When you hear that, it’s going to blow your mind,” the musician declared. “It’s fantastic.”

The latest information regarding a second Plant/Krauss collaboration aligns with details revealed last year. A May 2020 story in Uncut magazine about Lucinda Williams noted that the country singer had just gotten back from a recording session with the duo in Nashville. The magazine added that T-Bone Burnett, who produced Raising Sand, was also with them in the studio.

During a BBC radio interview two months later, Plant jokingly referred to Williams as “a little tinker,” before admitting “there’s all sorts of stuff rumbling and smoking left, right and center right now” regarding another album with Krauss.

Besides Raising Sand, the Led Zeppelin frontman and bluegrass-country singer also worked together on the 2015 single “The Light of Christmas Day,” which was included on the soundtrack to the feature film Love the Coopers. The most recent studio albums from each artist - Carry Fire by Plant and Windy City by Krauss - came out in 2017.

There's no official date on when this new collaboration might be released. 

Former Jypsi Member Lillie Mae To Relase New Other Girls Album In August

Artist: Lillie Mae
Album: Other Girls
Label: Third Man Records
Release date: August 16, 2019

Lillie Mae announces her new album Other Girls will be released August 16th on Third Man Records, sharing new song and video "You've Got Other Girls for That" via an interview with Rolling Stone. The album features eleven new, original songs written by Lillie Mae, produced by Grammy-winner Dave Cobb at Nashville's famed RCA Studio A.

From the new track's opening line, "I ain't your baby," the Nashville singer, songwriter, downtown scene slayer, and most-wanted fiddler signals a reclaimed confidence and bold evolution, telling women's stories - including her own - that build on the strength of her "nervy" (NPR Music), 2017 Jack White-produced debut.

Lillie Mae led a sequestered childhood touring in a motorhome with her musician parents, constricted by religious boundaries. In her adolescence she busked from RV parks to the Rio Grande, swIn 2008, she recorded with her three siblings in the group Jypsi, which had a Top 40 hit on Hot Country Songs with "I Don't Love You Like That."

She embraces personal triumphs on "I Came For The Band (For Show)," breathes new perspective into "Terlingua Girl," a song she wrote as a 19-year-old in the South-Texan desert, and professes brave truths as heard in "You've Got Other Girls for That." After a vagabond past, crossing paths with hundreds of musicians, she limits the cast of Other Girls to just her brother, sister, and a few trusted collaborators.

Lillie Mae will debut songs from Other Girls live this summer, as she supports The Raconteurs from the midwest to the west coast. She will also join Robert Plant on tour, both opening for him and playing in his band.

Other Girls Track List:

You've Got Other Girls for That
Crisp & Cold
I Came For The Band (For Show)
Whole Blue Heart
How?
A Golden Year
At Least Three In This Room
Some Gamble
Didn't I
Terlingua Girl
Love Dilly Love

That Nashville Sound Saturday Newsbytes: New Cassadee Pope & Patty Griffin Projects On Way

That Nashville Sound would like to send all our loyal readers out there wishes for a fun and safe weekend- and would like to share some new music videos and new music out there on the horizon.

- GRAMMY Award winner Patty Griffin has announced the release of her long-awaited new album. The acclaimed singer-songwriter's 10th studio recording and first-ever eponymous LP, Patty Griffin arrives Friday, March 8 on her own PGM Recordings label via Thirty Tigers. The album was recorded predominantly at Griffin's home in Austin, TX, with Griffin and longtime collaborator Craig Ross co-producing, while the band is made up of a number of friends and frequent accompanists, including Ross, guitarist David Pulkingham, drummer and percussionist Conrad Choucroun, cellist Lindsey Verrill, pianist Stephen Barber, and Robert Plant, who contributes backing vocals to the tracks "What Now" and "Coins."

- Cassadee Pope is set to release her new album, "Stages," on Friday, February 1st. The album, produced by Corey Crowder, is a representation of Pope's journey throughout the past year, from heartbreak to empowerment. Fans can pre-order the project here.  “It’s a validating feeling to look back at a painful moment, and see how I was able to put the pieces back together and come back stronger,” Pope said. “For the first time in my life, I’m confident in the way I navigate things thrown my way, and I hope someone listening finds the same strength.”

- Jon Pardi played his new single "Night Shift" live on the Opry stage and they caught it on film.

- Ben Rector debuted a funky new music video for his song "Duo." 

- Cody Johnson released a new music video shot live in a concert for his new single, "On My Way To You." 

- This week's Song Suffragettes performance video is the talented Madeline Merlo singing "Unraveling." 

Barnes & Noble Quietly Developing Unique Vinyl Exclusive Projects

The largest brick and mortar book retailer in the country has been expanding past their core business for some time- adding cafe's into their stores and having a push to rebrand Barnes & Noble as more than just a bookstore by expanding its offerings of toys, games, gadgets and other gifts and reshaping the nation’s largest bookstore chain into a “lifestyle brand.” 

This includes a vast collection of exclusive vinyl projects including reissues as well as exclusive distributions of new album introductions as well. This isn't just some fad. According to a recent Billboard story, "The comeback of vinyl records, covered just a half-decade ago as a wacky trend, is now a bona fide business story: vinyl accounted for $182 million in sales in the first half of 2017, according to the RIAA. And although the format represents a small percentage of unit sales, revenue from deluxe packages means that it accounts for 29 percent of revenue from physical retail."  Yep- you read that right: 29 percent of revenue from store music sales are coming from vinyl. Sony Records announced earlier this year that they were getting back into the vinyl business after a 28-year break.

As a result, Barnes and Noble has made exclusive agreements with several of the labels and music distributors and developed unique projects that only their stores will be selling this holiday season. What can music aficionados add to their Christmas lists from exclusive vinyl offerings from this retailer?  Here's just a sampling of some of the ones that caught this reader's eye.

- Johnny Cash - Greatest!  This Sun Records classic record has been reissued and has been pressed on a unique distinctive white vinyl.

- Johnny Cash & Jerry Lee Lewis- Sunday Down South - This collaborative album was originally released in 1970 and will be re-released exclusively on vinyl from B&N.

-  Willie Nelson - Willie and the Boys - Willie's upcoming release featuring a collaboration with his two sons will be released exclusively through the retailer.

- Alison Krauss - Windy City
- Robert Plant - Carry Fire
- Margo Price - All-American Made
- John Mellencamp - Sad Clowns and Hillbillies
- Urban Cowboy Soundtrack
- Marty Stuart - Way Out West

New Music Video From Alison Krauss and Robert Plant- "Light of Christmas Day"

Robert Plant Releases New Americana DVD in July

Rock and roll legend- and more recently, Americana star- Robert Plant is set to release a new live in concert DVD next month, and you can now get a sneak peak thanks to a new video trailer. Robert Plant & the Band of Joy: Live From the Artists Den was filmed at a special performance at the historic War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

Certain selections from the show previously aired on the PBS program Live From The Artists Den, but the DVD also features bonus interview clips and concert footage not included in the television broadcast. And yes, Robert’s ever present past is part of the show, as he and the Band Of Joy dish out six Led Zep numbers during the show. Also included are favorites from Plant’s solo years as well as some traditional songs.

“Some years back I was propelled by chance, with little planning or expectation into an American way,” says Plant in the DVD liner notes, “with a lean and pull into a new direction…voices and harmony, restraint and explosion, tight and loose, great joy in great company….in a blizzard in Nashville. My thanks to one and all for aiding and abetting this exciting bend in the road.” The Blu-ray and DVD will be released on July 10.

Buddy Miller Leads 2011 Americana Music Association Award Winners

Last night at the Americana Music Association Awards, Buddy Miller took home two big awards in a minor upset of bigger name Robert Plant. Miller's win in both the Artist of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year categories led the way. 

Five Lifetime Achievement Award honorees highlighted the evening as well. The five stand out as some of the most innovative and inspirational leaders in the Americana genre.

Lucinda Williams received the Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting. A three-time Grammy winner, Williams was named "America's best songwriter" by Time magazine in 2002. Albums such as Car Wheels on a Gravel Road received almost unanimous critical acclaim, and earned the reclusive Williams legendary status rare for musicians her age.

Dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas was distinguished as an outstanding instrumentalist for his solo work and collaboration with Alison Krauss and Union Station. He has won 12 Grammy Awards, a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was named the Artist in Residence for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Gregg Allman received tonight's honor for performance. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Allman Brothers Band founder is known for his powerful voice, for his work on Hammond B3 Organ, and for composing much of the Allman Brothers Band's material alongside Dickey Betts.

As owner of the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., Rick Hall has recorded some of the most significant musicians in American history, including Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman, Wilson Pickett and Etta James. He was presenteded with the Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for an Executive.

The Trailblazer Award is for "Whispering" Bob Harris, who has been widely acknowledged for his long-running rock, country and folk program on BBC Radio 2, culminating in his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 for his services to music broadcasting. Harris also helped found Time Out magazine and pioneer the BBC's digital station BBC6.

THE 2011 AMERICANA MUSIC ASSOCIATION WINNERS:

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Buddy Miller

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Winner: Band of Joy, Robert Plant

NEW/EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Mumford & Sons

DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR
Winner: The Avett Brothers


SONG OF THE YEAR
Winner: Justin Townes Earle, "Harlem River Blues"

INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner: Buddy Miller

New Music Video From Robert Plant- "Angel Dance"

Following his Grammy-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss on 2007's Raising Sand album, Robert Plant is back with a brand new Rounder Records album called Band of Joy. This is the first single off of that album entitled "Angel Dance." This one's got a great groove...