January 5, 2009 - James Otto underwent surgery today to repair a torn rotator cuff and remove the bone spurs that caused it.
Otto said on his myspace page that "I won't be canceling any shows, but could be in a sling for a few. I should recover pretty quickly, but will require six weeks of physical therapy.... »»»January 5, 2009 - Keith Urban will play 58 cities in North America, including Nashville, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver, during his tour, which follows on the heels of a new, as yet untitled, disc out March 31.
The tour kicks off in May, and likely go through the summer and into the fall,... »»»January 5, 2009 - The Time Jumpers, the Grammy-nominated bluegrass band from Nashville, will be featured on today's edition of All Things Considered on NPR stations. The audio from today's show will be available online after 7 p.m. eastern at www.npr.org. The piece was produced by music writer Craig Havighurst of local... »»»January 5, 2009 - Country music sales suffered a 24-percent drop in 2008, the second biggest decline of any genre. A total of 47.7 million country CDs were sold, compared with 62.7 million in 2007.
The brightest star for country was Taylor Swift, who was the top selling artist in the U.S. last year, racking up sales of... »»»January 5, 2009 - The Americana Music Association is offering an early bird rate ending today for the 2009 Americana Music Festival and Conference being held in September. A discount of $200 for members and $300 for non-members will last until the end of today.
The dates for this years Festival and Conference are... »»»January 5, 2009 - Ray Price will celebrate his 83rd birthday, Monday, Jan. 12 with a party at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and Tex Ritter Museum in Carthage, Texas. The public is invited to join the festivities.
The country singer retains an active touring schedule. Two years ago, he released "Last of The... »»»January 5, 2009 - Taylor Swift, who had an ultra successful 2008, will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this week.
Swift joins host actor Neil Patrick Harris on the first new SNL this year on Jan. 10. Other country artists, who have appeared in the past, are Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton and Tim McGraw.... »»»January 4, 2009 - One of the leading bluegrass music magazines, which turned into a web site, is no more. Wayne Bledsoe announced on the web site of the longstanding Bluegrass Now that he was closing, a victim of the economy.
On the ezine's web site, Bledsoe wrote, "the current downturn in the U.S.... »»»January 2, 2009 - Tanya Tucker and Collin Raye will try in 2009 to duplicate the success that label mate Patty Loveless received last year.
Saguaro Road Records, a division of Time-Life, will release new album from Tucker and Raye this spring, Raye's disc, "Never Going Back" will be out April 7. The disc will include a... »»»January 2, 2009 - Merle Haggard is returning to the stage tonight in California for his first shows since undergoing lung cancer surgery in early November.
In an interview with Reuters, Haggard said, "I think we can stir up some good humor out there among the folks that are crying for good news, and just give them a... »»»January 1, 2009 - Bob Boatright, 69, fiddle player for Bob Wills Original Texas Playboys, died Sunday of cancer.
Mr. Boatright was born Sept. 30, 1939, in Denison, Texas. "He started taking lessons when he was 10 years old on the fiddle,"
said Mr. Boatright's wife, Linda in an obituary in the Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram.... »»»December 30, 2008 - A slew of bluegrass stars, including Ronnie Bowman, Rob Ickes and Kenny and Amanda Smith, will hit the road in January for concerts.
Artists on the tour include Ronnie Bowman, Mike Bub, Missy Raines, Terry Baucom, Rob McCoury, Alan Bibey, Mike Compton, Phil Leadbetter, Rob Ickes, Kenny Smith, Tim... »»»
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Country News
December 30, 2008 - Grasstowne is fast at work on a second disc, which will be out in 2009. The bluegrass band's second CD "is nearing completion" on a yet to be titled album, according to Pinecastle Records.
Look for a release in early summer 2009. Grasstowne also announces the addition of bass player Travis Greer,... »»»December 30, 2008 - The Country Music Hall of Fame reached a settlement with the estate of a Tennessee man, who gave instruments belonging to Bill Monroe and Mother Maybelle Carter, but set up a Ponzi scheme, to the hall for $750,000
Negotiations with Robert Waldschmidt, trustee for the Robert W. McLean Bankruptcy... »»»December 29, 2008 - The new year will bring new music from John Rich. One-half of Big & Rich will release a new single in January and a disc is slated to drop in May.
The album will be called "Son Of A Preacher Man" (Rich's father is a minister) and will be out via Warner in May. The label is also the home of Big & Rich.... »»»December 29, 2008 - Charles Kelley, one-third of Lady Antebellum, popped the question on Christmas Day to his now fiance. Kelley is engaged to Cassie McConnell, a Nashville music publicist.
Kelley and his band mates, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, enjoyed a very successful 2008 with several hit singles and a Grammy... »»»December 26, 2008 - Despite some big name debuts, Taylor Swift kept her perch at number 1 on the Billboard sales charts for the week ending Jan. 3, 2009, with 330,000 units of "Fearless" sold this past week. Swift bested debuts from Keyshia Cole, Jamie Foxx and Fall Out Boy. On the singles chart, Rascal Flatts scored a... »»»December 25, 2008 - Whitney Duncan was slated to release her Warner debut in January 2009, but that date will apparently have come and gone. Warner seems to have decided to get Duncan's music out to the public for sale anyway - her five-song"Right Road Now" EP, a precursor to her CD, came out Tuesday in digital format.... »»»December 24, 2008 - In what seems to be an increasing trend in Nashville, Danielle Peck released a digital only CD on Tuesday. "Can't Behave" is the second CD for the singer, whose first album was "I Don't" back in 2005.
The new CD includes 10 songs - Bad For Me, Brick By Brick, Can't Behave, Do It For Me, Get You Back,... »»»December 23, 2008 - Alan Jackson - Good Time (Arista). AJ has been a solid purveyor of traditional country since the get go with odes to small town America, rural life and love, not to mention a sense of humor. Jackson proves ultra generous with 17 songs on a most meaty, enjoyable, enduring batch of songs.
2.... »»»December 23, 2008 - By Jeffrey B. Remz
Remembering that any sort of year-end comments are solely in the ears of the observer. So, the following are just one person's opinions ranging from the best new country act to best concert to whatever.
Best country pop album - Kenny Chesney - Lucky Old Sun (BNA) Chesney knows... »»»
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