Clyde Lee Dennis asked:


Lyle Lovett is the latest release from Country Superstar Lyle Lovett, and I can only think of one word to describe it… AWESOME!

I wish it weren’t the case but, it’s not everyday that I get a CD from an artist that I can just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. There is usually a song or two that I just can’t force myself to get through. Not at all the case with Lyle Lovett. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

One of the refreshingly nice things about this CD is the way all of the participating artists seem to be really enjoying themselves. Combine that with the overall presentation and you’ve got one of Lyle Lovett’s most impressive releases ever.

This is a first rate CD, delivering a little something for everyone. I give it my highest recommendation. It’s quite simply great listening. A must buy for the Country fan.

While the entire album is really very good the truly standout tunes are track 3 – Farther Down The Line, track 6 – If I Were The Man You Wanted, and track 10 – Closing Time.

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – Cowboy Man. Good stuff!

Lyle Lovett Release Notes:

Lyle Lovett originally released Lyle Lovett on October 25, 1990 on the MCA Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Cowboy Man 2. God Will 3. Farther Down The Line 4. This Old Porch 5. Why Don’t I Know 6. If I Were The Man You Wanted 7. You Can’t Resist It 8. Waltzing Fool, The 9. Acceptable Level Of Ecstasy, An (The Wedding Song) 10. Closing Time

Personnel: Lyle Lovett (vocals, acoustic guitar); Mac McAnally (acoustic guitar); Ray Herndon, Billy Williams, Vince Gill, Jon Goin (electric guitar); Tom Mortensen (steel guitar); Glen Duncan (fiddle); Steve Marsh (saxophone); Matt Rollings (piano); Mark Prentice (organ); John Jarvis (synthesizer); Matthew McKenzie, Emory Gordy, Jr. (bass); Jeff Boree, Bob Warren (drums); James Gilmer (percussion); J. David Sloan, Rosanne Cash, Francine Reed (background vocals).

Jenna Jay asked:


All his rowdy friends may have settled down, but Hank Williams, Jr. is still kicking up dust in Nashville’s country music scene. This weekend Williams was in attendance at the Broadcast Music Inc.’s 56th Annual BMI Awards, where he won the high distinction of BMI Icon. Joining the ranks of his rebel-rousing pals Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, Hank Jr. won the crown of BMI Icon, highlighting his astonishing career as an Emmy and Grammy Award-winning, six-time platinum winning, 20-time gold winning redneck wonder. The BMI Awards capitalized upon Williams’ honky-tonk classics, as the country singer’s repertoire is filled to the brim with hit songs like “All My Rowdy Friends,” “Family Tradition,” “A Country Boy Can Survive,” “Dixie on My Mind,” “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound” and more, all of which Williams wrote himself.

While ol’ Bocephus (as Hank’s father nicknamed him) was sitting pretty at this year’s BMI Awards, he was in good company with the fresh new face of country music herself: southern princess Taylor Swift. Swift showed the stark contrast in country music from when Hank Jr. started rising in the country music industry, but the sultry seductress took home the coveted BMI Country Songwriter of the Year crown, propelled by her hit single “Teardrops on My Guitar,” which earned the Robert J. Burton Song of the Year award. The other big winner of the night was Casey Beathard, who won Songwriter of the Year at the BMI Awards for his contributions to Rodney Atkins’ “Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy),” Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Blink,” George Strait’s “How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls,” Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus’ “Ready, Set, Don’t Go” and Tracy Lawrence’s “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” (featuring Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw.)

While this year’s BMI Awards showcased Nashville’s new talents more than anything (Sugarland, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, to name a few,) Hank Williams, Jr.’s dominance at the awards show also demonstrates the country legend’s big-time status in the country music industry. Hank Jr. grew up in the shadow of his father, country music’s Hank Williams, but the younger Hank carved his own career separate from his father’s, ultimately taking the path of a roguish Southern country-rock act instead of just a honky tonk performer. Hank Jr. went to work in the late ’60s and ’70s garnering a fan base full of rowdy Southern rockers and country outlaws, taking his rebellious nature and independence from his father to the extreme with 1979’s “Family Tradition,” a Top Five Country Single that states, “Country music singers have always been a real close family/But lately some of my kin folks have disowned a few others and me/I guess it’s because I kinda changed my direction/I guess I went and broke the family tradition.”

Since the 1970s, Bocephus has palled around with other legendary traditional country music acts like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe and Charlie Daniels, making his name one of the most popular and most controversial in Nashville. Through all the hell-raising bar anthems and beer-sloshing sing-along songs, Hank Williams, Jr. continues to stand atop the ever-changing country music industry, slowing down his rampant releases of albums but continuing to tour the nation with several Southern-fried live performances. If you haven’t seen Bocephus in concert yet, the time’s right to get Hank Williams, Jr. tickets, always available from http://www.stubhub.com/hank-williams-jr-tickets/.

Clyde Lee Dennis asked:


Walls Came Down is the latest release from Country Artist Collin Raye, and is another great one from this talented musician.

Unfortunately, it’s not everyday that I get a CD from an artist that I can just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. There is usually a song or two that I just can’t force myself to get through. Not at all the case with Walls Came Down. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

Walls Came Down has a pleasantly varied, mix of 13 tracks that are very well written songs by this clearly gifted artist. Most of the songs display a lot of the kind emotion that makes for a really great listen. Clearly drawing from what I can only imagine are him own real life experiences. At different points touching on the most real emotions like love, and the pain of failed relationships can certainly be heard.

Walls Came Down is a first rate CD, delivering a little something for everyone. I give it two thumbs up. It’s quite simply great listening. A must buy if you’re even mildly into Country music.

While this entire album is really very good some of my favorites are track 2 – I Wish I Could, track 5 – Someone You Used To Know, and track 13 – The Eleventh Commandment

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – Anyone Else. Outstanding!

Walls Came Down Release Notes:

Collin Raye originally released Walls Came Down on July 14, 1998 on the Epic label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Anyone Else 2. I Wish I Could 3. Start Over Georgia 4. I Can Still Feel You 5. Someone You Used To Know 6. Corner Of The Heart 7. All My Roads 8. Walls Came Down, The 9. April Fool 10. Make Sure You’ve Got It All 11. Survivors 12. Dark Secrets 13. The Eleventh Commandment

Personnel includes: Collin Raye (vocals); Murray Adler (conductor, violin); Billy Joe Walker, Jr. (acoustic & electric guitars); Paul Worley (acoustic & 12 string guitars); Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason, Dan Huff, Brent Rowan (electric guitar); Paul Franklin, Sonny Garrish (steel guitar); Aubrey Haynie, Stuart Duncan (mandolin, fiddle); Steve Nathan (piano, Hammond B-3 organ, synthesizer); Randy Waldman (piano); Jon Carrol (Wurlitzer, piano); John Hobbs, Michael Omartian, Matt Rollings (piano); Joe Chemay, Michael Rhodes (bass); Eddie Bayers (drums, percussion); Paul Leim (drums); Terry McMillan (shaker, percussion); John Wesley Ryles, Dennis Wilson, Curtis Young (background vocals).

Producers: Paul Worley, Billy Joe Walker, Jr., Collin Raye, John Hobbs, Ed Seay.

Engineers include: Ed Seay, Brett Swain, Jeff Balding, Steve Tillisch.

Principally recorded at The Money Pit, Nashville, Tennessee.

SarahC asked:


Spain is composed of many different regions with their own historical and cultural backgrounds and nowhere is this more evident than with Spanish music. It varies greatly between the different regions of Spain, with each region of Spain preferring a type of music that best reflects local cultural influences.

The influx of residents of many nationalities has broadened the range to the extent that now one can listen to music from most countries in the world. Music fans who enjoy live entertainment can listen to country music in Spain Willie Jackson at Jacksons where the very best guitar and keyboard has become extremely popular in Spain. Come down to Fuengirola Port and enjoy live musicians at their very best singing all the old favourites from the Nashville scene of the last 40 years.

Country music has produced two of the top selling solo artists of all time. Elvis Presley, who was known early on as “The Hillbilly Cat” and went on to become a defining figure in the emerging genre of rock ‘n roll. Garth Brooks is one of the top-selling country artists of all time.

The origins of modern country music can be traced to two artists. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be the founders of country music. The top three best selling hits of all time are Your Cheating Heart by Hank Williams, Sr. at No.3, Crazy by Patsy Cline at No.2 and He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones in first spot.

Many view CMA and the CMA Awards as one in the same. Since its founding in 1958, however, the Country Music Association has become a viable force in recognizing excellence in the field of Country Music through a wide array of awards vehicles. In addition to the popular CMA Awards, we present the following awards to individuals and organizations displaying excellence in our industry.

Jenna Jay asked:


Vince Gill was destined to be a Hall of Famer. The longtime country music singer and multi-instrumentalist has been kicking up dust on the country charts for more than 20 years, and his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007 wasn’t his last appearance at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Gill has recently been busy with public performances at the famed Ford Theater, playing a string of three performances for the Hall of Fame’s annual artist-in-residence series.

Gill performed the first show of his three-part series on Feb. 4, standing onstage at the Ford Theater while talking to the audience members with Vince Gill tickets and strumming his guitar along to his signature songs like “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slipping Away,” his first number one-charting single in 1992 and the first song of the night, also playing several more of his classics like “These Days,” “Tulsa Time,” “Go Rest High on That Mountain” and “One More Last Chance,” among several others. Vince Gill was backed by keyboardist Pete Wasner, upright bass player Mike Bubb and percussionist Billy Thomas during his Feb. 4 performance, joining the ranks of other Country Music Hall of Famers like Earl Scruggs, Tom T. Hall, Cowboy Jack Clement, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark and Jerry Douglas, who have all held musical series at the Hall of Fame, as well.

Vince Gill has made it a long way from his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, which is where he started shaping and molding his famed music career. Gill grew up in a musical family, picking up the banjo and guitar by his teenage years. After learning to play the fiddle, dobro, mandolin and bass guitar, Gill focused his efforts solely on music and joined the bluegrass band Mountain Smoke, which hit the peak of its fame when the band opened for Pure Prairie League in a concert. Gill later joined the country-rock group as Pure Prairie League’s lead singer in the late ’70s, eventually going solo in 1983 with the help of a record deal with RCA.

In 1984 Vince Gill made his solo debut to the nation, releasing Turn Me Loose and notching his first single on the country music charts with the hit single “Victim of Life’s Circumstance.” The duet “If It Weren’t for Him” with Roseanne Cash gave Gill his first Top 10 single soon thereafter, and the hits just kept rolling in from there. The wildly popular country crooner took the rest of the ’80s and ’90s as a time to experiment with contemporary country instead of his previously-signature bluegrass tunes, and Gill hit the jackpot in 1992 with the jukebox favorite “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away,” his first number one single on the country music charts. Gill packed a punch with hit singles “One More Last Chance,” “Tryin’ to Get Over You” and “The Heart Won’t Lie” (a duet with Reba McEntire), and the name Vince Gill was inescapable in Nashville thereafter.

The 2000s have been just as fruitful for Vince Gill, and although his musical heyday came in the early ’90s the Nashville star is still pumping out hits. After marrying pop/Christian singer Amy Grant in 2000, Gill has continued burning up the charts with albums like Next Big Thing in 2003 and These Days in 2006, also making waves with recent charting singles “The Reason Why” and “What You Give Away” in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Vince Gill has also spent much of the 2000s touring, and if you haven’t seen this country music icon jamming away on his several instruments onstage, get concert tickets from http://www.stubhub.com/vince-gill-tickets and enjoy the show!

Eztracks asked:


Quick country music fans. What’s the significance of Bristol, Tennessee? If you’re really a country music buff, you should know that in 1998, the United Stated Congress named this small, sleepy southern town the birthplace of country music. It all began in the 1700s when the region’s southern Appalachian settlers brought with them—in old world ballads and songs, the music of their native Scottish Highlands. During the 1800’s and early 1900s, the region was separated from outside influences by geography. But around the time of the Civil War it was opened up to the outside world by the advent of railroads. During this time, there were touring vaudeville, minstrel and medicine-show troupes in the community that introduced new forms of music. In addition, the railroad workers themselves brought rapid changes to the settlers’ original music by introducing a variety of work songs reflecting their African heritage. The native fiddle of the English, Scotch, and Irish settlers was joined by the banjo of African origin. After WWI, the guitar, autoharp, and dulcimer were introduced into the mix.

The music that was coming out of Bristol, Tennessee took another giant leap forward with Edison’s invention of the phonograph in the 1920s. A man named Ralph Peer realized that there was an untapped market for rural mountain music and set out to discover area talent. During this time period most musicians traveled to New York to record there music, but when remote recordings became a possibility, Bristol became the hub of Peer’s musical enterprise because of its proximity to such local talent as Ernest and Hattie Stoneman, the Johnson Brothers, and Henry Whitter. Soon talent from other southern states, including West Virginia, Virginia (the Carter Family) and North Carolina (Jimmie Rodgers) was recorded by Peer. These early recording sessions which took place in 1927 were known as the “Bristol Sessions” and signified the birth of country music.

The sound that came out of the “Bristol Sessions” influenced the bluegrass of musicians such as Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs, as well as the song-writing of Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie. This influence could also be seen in the guitar-playing of Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins, in the sound of Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, and in the song-stylings of Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, Merle Travis, Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakum and Dolly Parton. This country music sound became extremely popular during the “barn dance” shows of the radio era and bluegrass festivals of the 1960s and 70s. In the mid-1990s, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance (BCMA) was founded in Bristol to call attention to and support the musical traditions of the area.

Today, nestled between quiet mountains, Bristol is thriving community with the unique quality of being located in two states–half in Tennessee and half in Virginia. However, there is no question that Bristol stands at the heart of all country music fans hold near and dear.

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Where does your favorite top country songs rank? Visit EZ-tracks to check out top country music charts.

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Alexa Trotta asked:


 

Don’t miss out on your chance to experience a great country music concert, get your pair of Josh Turner tickets today. The highly acclaimed country singer is making a trip around the country and you will want to grab a seat at the show.

Turner’s traditional tunes have been noticeable on the charts since he made his first appearance in Nashville, Tennessee. He charmed the listeners in attendance one night at the Grand Ole Opry with his memorable song, “Long Black Train.” That particular tune went on to receive critical acclaim nationwide and the album of the same name remains one of his most popular records to this day.

In the beginning, Turner sang in his church choir and he also formed a gospel quartet in which he sang bass and every once in while he took the lead vocals. In a troubling turn of events, Turner developed a lesion on his vocal chord limiting his ability to sing. To supplement his desires to carry a tune he developed an affinity for whistling. After resting his voice for a good year, Turner went on to attend college, but discovered that his true passion lay within his music. In addition to “Long Black Train,” this country cowboy also had hits with “What It Ain’t,” and “Your Man.” The latter song eventually reached the number-one slot on the country music charts in 2006 and it also reached platinum. Turner has received Grammy nods for both “Best Male Country Vocal Performance” and for “Best Country Album.”

In addition to his musical endeavors, Turner has taken an interest in the promotion of teaching music in schools with his “Josh Turner Fund for the Arts,” a non-profit account that was set up to help generate the inclusion of music in education nationwide.

The man seems to be a firecracker himself, with songs that just keep blasting onto the charts. You will always find a memorable tune of his to sing along to. Be sure to watch this boy strum his guitar and serenade you with his secrets. Get your Josh Turner tickets today!