Carlene Carter just can't be kept down.
Carter certainly does not need to cash in on her famous lineage of the Carters and the Cashes to make a name of herself.
After personal and musical ups and downs and changes throughout her career, Carter is back once again, having just released "Little Acts of Treason."
And this disc also marks yet another different musical period for Carter. "In a lot of ways it was the most I put myself into a record in the sense that I co-produced it and wrote half of it on my own," Carter said in a recent interview. "I just wanted to do it. It was almost as simple as that. I wanted to mature a little bit and move on. I still wanted to have my light-hearted and fun-loving Carlene stuff, but I also wanted to relate to the world that I am actually a woman and not a girl because I'm going to be 40. Sometimes I catch myself and I feel I'm not really being a grown up and I am very much a mom."
Carter, thrice-married with two grown children, marks number 40 Sept. 26.... »»»
Rosie Flores has done it all. She's been rock 'n' roll, mainstream country, alternative country, and now rockabilly. She's been part of groups, and she's been solo. She's been on major labels and independents.
Through it all, she's never had a major hit record, nor is she the name most people think of when discussing alternative country.
And yet, she's put together a lengthy body of work that's solid as anyone who's better known or more critically acclaimed.
Flores' latest, "Rockabilly Filly,"(Hightone), not only has a pure retro rockabilly sound, but features the two queens of '50's rockabilly, Janis Martin (known back then as "the female Elvis") and Wanda Jackson (who dated the male Elvis). Also featured is a forgotten figure from the early' 80s rockabilly revival, who is also a descendant of rockabilly pioneers. Rocky Burnette is the son of Dorsey, nephew of Johnny, cousin of... »»»
Lee Roy Parnell did not take the easy way out this time around.
And who knows? Maybe it worked to his benefit, at least based on the success he has enjoyed thus far from his latest release, "We All Get Lucky Sometimes."
The easy way would have been to keep within limited musical confines, not challenging the listener too much.
Another easy route would have been to utilize the usual assortment of Nashville session musicians to record the disc as he has done in the past.
But the Texan did no such things on his fourth disc.
The disc starts with his big hit, "A Little B it of You," a mid-tempo song before going into the honky tonk rough-and-ready stylings of "Knock Yourself Out, the soulful "Heart's Desire,"recalling Bonnie Raitt, and current single "When A Woman Loves A Man," a touching ballad with Trisha Yearwood providing backing vocals.
Parnell's trademark slide guitar playing is evident, but he does not abuse his immense talents.... »»»
Imagine it's 1985. Imagine you're a psychic with a cracked and cloudy crystal ball. This device tells you that of the country acts currently making top 10 records, only four will be doing so 10 years hence.
You could probably guess that Reba McEntire, George Strait and Alabama would still be around. Their staying power was evident even then.
But can you imagine how your fellow fortune tellers would have scorned and ridiculed you had you predicted that Sawyer Brown would be among that elite company?
"Sawyer Brown?" they'd have said. "You must be kidding. You mean those guys that jump around all over the stage with the pink tennis shoes. The guys from Star Search? The country Monkees? Please, they've got flash-in-the-pan written all over them."
Well, it's 1995, and not only has Sawyer Brown survived - they've thrived. They're still playing before sell-out crowds, still... »»»
It was back in the early and mid-'80's that acts like George Strait and Randy Travis first took country back to its roots. Now, some 10 years later, a new breed of traditional country singer has arisen. Falling squarely at the heart of the ever-growing movement is Giant recording artist Daryle Singletary. And for Singletary, traditional music is anything but new. Singletary grew up on a small Georgia-farm in a household where music was plentiful. Inspired by his parents and grandparents, who performed locally as a gospel quartet, he took up singing at the age of three for family and friends. However, it wasn't until some 20 years later that fate smiled on Singletary and landed him a management deal with an impressed Lib Hatcher-Travis, wife and manager of Randy Travis. Today, Singletary can be found performing before a crowd of thousands in support of his current hit, "I Let Her Lie," from his self-titled debut album.
... »»»
It would be the easiest thing in the world to cast Wayne Hancock as a man born into the wrong era. Like Lyle Lovett, his looks are out of place in a modern Nashville where style has seemingly triumphed over substance; where a Stetson and tight jeans come with your video budget.
His voice, by the same token, bears no resemblance to anything that's come out of Nashville in 40 years; eerily reminiscent of Hank Williams Sr. but also occasionally harkening back to the likes of the late, great Texas Playboys vocalist Tommy Duncan and even to the shadowy Georgia-born minstrel singer of the '20's and '30's, Emmett Miller.
And, finally, his resistance to using drums on his records would meet with a bemused reaction from just about any Nashville-based producer.
Hancock has a terrific new album out, "That's What Daddy Wants." The album, recorded and mixed in a week in May, builds on the... »»»
It's been a long ride from the open spaces of New Mexico to the streets of Nashville for honky tonker Stacy Dean Campbell.
A veteran of the music business, Campbell, a perfectionist with a style described asschizophrenic" in the best sense of the word, is celebrating the long awaited release of his second album, "Hurt City."
His first outstanding effort, "Lonesome Wins Again" released in 1992, established him as a significant talent even though it did not the win the chart topping numbers.
Now with two discs under his belt, Campbell can look back where he's been and be proud of his accomplishments as a contemporary country and western artist who did not forsake the heritage of the music.
But Campbell's life was not always so glorious. A shy child, whose parents divorced when he was three, Campbell was influenced early on by his father, Buddy, a gospel singer.... »»»
Terri Clark has better things to do nowadays.
After years of trying to make it in country music, she finds herself on the verge of being the industry's newest "overnight sensation."
That leaves her with lots of things to do, including putting together her first band. Clark is not a novice performer - she spent many years as "house singer" at Nashville's legendary Tootsie's Orchid Lounge - but she's never had a full-time band.
Nor has she done any touring. She'll be doing plenty this fall, opening shows for the likes of Clay Walker, George Strait, Mark Chesnutt and Tracy Lawrence, plus a Jim Beam-sponsored tour with James House. "We're gonna be busy," she said happily from Nashville, before running off to another band rehearsal.
Clark spoke shortly after the release of her initial single, "Better Things To Do." The single received an enthusiastic response from radio programmers, but it was too early to know just how high it might get.
It was not too early for the excitement to hit, however. "I'm very excited, elated, walking on air", she said Then she added, "I'm keeping my fingers crossed and saying my prayers."... »»»
Mention the name Shelby Lynne to country music fans and you'll get one of two reactions - a knowing nod and a smile from the ones who discovered the artist Tammy Wynette said has "the best voice in country music" and Entertainment Weekly called "the hippest woman in Nashville" - or a head scratch and a comment along the lines of "Shelby Lynne? Isn't she Loretta Lynn's sister or something?"
Both responses are understandable. Shelby Lynne does indeed deliver - to those in the know, who consider her their secret - an irresistibly unique blend of country, Texas swing and big band music that is true to her varied musical roots but with a contemporary, progressive even, edge to it.
Her music is hard to describe, yet difficult not to tap your feet and sing along with.
And almost impossible to find on the radio.
"Yeah, sure," Lynne said in her unmistakable Alabama drawl, "The lack of... »»»
Nola Rose Shepherd likes her traditional country music just fine.
And while Nola Rose & The Thorns will perform covers of other artists in the clubs, they do set limits.
People will approach the Boston-based band with requests. Not all of them get met. "It can be unsettling," Shepherd said. "People come up, 'Do you know 'Trashy Women?' No. I don't know all the words."
And that may typify the battle that Rose & The Thorns, a band getting acclaim, has to face.While those attending the clubs may want to hear the tried and true familiar hits they hear on the radio, that's not what a lot of the bands out there are all about.
The band does about one-third apiece of original, older music, such as Buck Owens and Hank, and covers of recent music, a la Dwight Yoakam and Pam Tillis.
The band - Kit Dennis on bass and Nola's husband of almost a year, Tom Yates on lead guitar, Phil Lipman on guitar and lap steel and Scott Sherman on drums - plays in the Boston area about half a dozen times a month.... »»»
