Blog Profile / The 9513
| URL : | http://www.the9513.com/blog/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Music / Country | |
| Posts on Regator: | 2216 | |
| Posts / Week: | 8.1 | |
| Archived Since: | April 1, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Scanning the Countryside: No Last Word on Country
When the venerable Vercher boys let me know recently that things were drawing to a hard stop for this site, I can’t say that I was entirely shocked, because a) they’d made it clear, even publicly, that tending to this work was beginning to demand drastic amounts of time they’d not quite expected, a real [...]
Friends, that’s about all. The clock’s caught up with us.
Sometimes we have to do things that suck, and unfortunately, today is one of those times. Brady and I decided to retire The 9513. Yep, big time suck. Believe me, it was a hard decision, and one I wish we didn’t have to make, but I could hardly find the time to write this announcement, [...]
John Oates Revisits His Americana Roots
As one-half of the famed rock-pop duo Hall & Oates, John Oates has sold millions of records, toured around the world, won numerous awards and is a member of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. Despite all the accolades, however, not many people are aware of his background and the music that inspired him to become [...]
Your Take: Google (or Amazon) It
There’s been a lot of news around technology lately centered around music cloud services from Amazon, Apple and Google. Amazon won the race in launching first, bringing cloud services to its users in early April. Labels weren’t happy, as the company didn’t secure new licensing; instead, Amazon said the service did not need licenses since [...]
Friday Five: John Henry
According to myth and folklore, some 170 years ago, a hero was born with a hammer in his hand. John Henry was a mountain of a man who developed a specialty of driving railroad steel. When the railroad owner had the foreman bring a steam-powered hammer to do the work, John Henry challenged the owner [...]
Album Review: The Blind Boys of Alabama – Take The High Road
Gospel/country hybrid album Take The High Road doesn’t waste any time cutting to the chase. The sheer joy and enthusiasm that permeates every nook and cranny of The Blind Boys of Alabama’s new album launches full-throttle in its opening seconds, seamlessly combining a breathless, preaching testimony, crisply powerful harmonies and an instrumental backing that could [...]
Scott Holstein Introduces Cold Coal Town
Ignore the artwork and poor online presence for a second and listen. “Black Water” “Clinch Mountain Hills” (a tribute to the Stanley Brothers) “I hear Carter Stanley & Larry Sparks influences here. There’s also an unmistakable Jamey Johnson, Waylon-esque quality to this stuff, and I believe either of those titans would have been right at [...]
Scanning The Countryside: What Artists Want From CDs—Still
By now, there’s not a recording artist, country or otherwise, who hasn’t heard that we’re in a new era — fundamentally, a singles era. They’ve all heard how CD album chart leaders are topping those charts with lower sales figures than anyone can remember. And they’ve all heard horror stories (as have followers of The [...]
Album Review: Del McCoury Band & Preservation Hall Jazz Band – American Legacies
Bluegrass and Dixieland jazz may, upon first glance, seem rather different from one another, but they do have several common traits, such as a shared love of improvisation. In addition, as their names suggest, both genres grew out of specific regions and remain linked to those regions and their people. These shared characteristics are part [...]
Preview Carrie Rodriguez’s Latest: Love & Circumstance
Stream the full album at her site, or own it for as little as $5 (be cool though and contribute more — it’s worth it). Don’t miss her previous release either, it’s country duet EP with Ben Kyle titled We Still Love Our Country.
Billy Currington – “Love Done Gone”
Songwriters: Shawn Camp and Marv Green Nowhere is it written that a great summer song–even a great country summer song–must be about beer and girls and trucks. In fact, from a purely competitive standpoint, one of the smartest things a writer of a fun summer song could do is make it about something else entirely, [...]
New Releases (April 19): Ralph Stanley, Robyn Ludwick & Zoe Muth; Sunny Sweeney For Free; Hayes Carll & Amanda Shires On Daytrotter
Ashlee Blankenship & Blades of Blue – Ashlee Blankenship & Blades of Blue Amazon | Artist Website Back City Woods – Dirt From Which We Came Amazon | iTunes The Dixon Brothers with The Callahan Brothers (Box Set) Amazon | MP3 edition not available until May 10, but samples can be heard on Amazon or [...]
Sugarland – “Tonight”
Songwriters: Jennifer Nettles, Kristian Bush and Kevin Griffin This is where the machine needs a little more oil. On the third single from The Incredible Machine, Sugarland trades bare emotional honesty for bad inspirational goop that hardly satisfies those who look to the duo for their humorous and heartfelt recordings. “Tonight” centers on one of [...]
Your Take: Gold Records
Today marks Record Store Day, a day-long celebration of independent music store retailers, limited-edition releases and in-store performances. This week, the Chicagoist took a look at the history and business sides of the “holiday”: Founded in in 2007 by individuals from several corners of the music industry — including education, A&R, and promotions — Record [...]
Hayes Carll and Band On Point at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge
For the first twenty minutes of his show at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge, Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll didn’t care much for small talk. Songs like “Hard Out Here” and “Trouble in Mind” passed by with barely a word uttered between them. Carll’s clever brand of country-rock, featuring incisive songwriting reminiscent of heroes Ray Wylie Hubbard and [...]
Friday Five: April 14th
Hopefully you all got through yesterday without incident, because April 14 is the anniversary of some pretty awful events. Let’s check out some songs about it. 5. “Booth Shot Lincoln” – Uncle Earl The assassination at Ford’s Theatre occurred on the night of April 14, 1865, when President Lincoln and his wife were attending a [...]
Reba McEntire – “When Love Gets a Hold of You”
Songwriters: Jessi Alexander, Gary Nicholson and Jon Randall Country audiences didn’t seem to care for all the women that Reba is. Her awkward remake of Beyonce’s 2008 R&B hit, “If I Were a Boy,” stalled out at No. 22 on the singles chart last month. The third single from her latest studio album, All the [...]
Country Heritage: Jack Greene
Although I had listened to country music for many years and had occasionally been able to purchase a 45 rpm or two, the summer of 1968 was the first time I had a summer job and was able to purchase records on a regular basis. My place of work, the Beach Theater on Atlantic Avenue [...]
New Releases (April 12): Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, Jason Isbell and More
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane Amazon Del McCoury Band & Preservation Hall Jazz Band – American Legacies Amazon Granger Smith – Poets & Prisoners Amazon Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Here We Rest Amazon ($5.99) Larry Stone – Thistle & Salt Amazon | Cool Groove Records Mark McKinney – Home [...]
Album Review: Aaron Lewis – Town Line
Your enjoyment of Aaron Lewis’ EP, Town Line, is directly proportional to how much you enjoy his debut country single, “Country Boy.” If you loved the down-home, don’t-tread-on-me sentiments, then are you ever in luck, because the song shows up three times on a seven-track album. If you thought it was a pandering, turgid tune [...]