alt-country stalwarts Old 97’s made their return to CBS Saturday Morning to perform three songs, “Falling Down,” “American Primitive” and “Where The Road Goes,” from their excellent 13th studio album ‘American Primitive,’ out now. Official Site | Buy American Primitive ..read more

Photo Credit: Dan Bradner Hawthorne says she’s happily married and I’ll take her word for it. But she’s done a dang good job portraying a troubled woman. Sure her newest cut, “Where Did I Go Wrong,” marks off many country music cliches – a broken heart, sitting in the bar pining on what went wrong – with her Miranda Lambert-belt meets Bonnie Raitt-bluesey swagger she sends the tune into another dimension. She was obsessed with music since her childhood on the East Coast, Madeline planted roots in Bozeman, MT during college and never turned back. She honed her talents through countless backup a ..read more

In a time of sobriety the alt-country Memphis rockers bring us a round and and takes us back to the rowdy old days. There was a time, in the early 90s, when if you swung a car you’d hit a country influenced rock band. Local hers Slobberbone and the Old 97s as well as the underground kings, Uncle Tupelo. The Drive-By Truckers developed in their wake and MTV brought Lone Justice, The Georgia Satellites and Jason and the Scorchers into unsuspecting suburban households. Dwight Yoakum moved from the L.A. underground to start a neo-trad movement as he and his skin tight jeans took off into stardom ..read more

Summer Dean embodies the spirit of country music in a way that is difficult to find nowadays. And she’s been delivering her brand of solid gold country from local Texas stages for so long I’m surprised that this is her first full-length release. Her full-length debut album Bad Romantic, out August 27th, struts out of the speakers, but also finds balances moments of tenderness and vulnerability. The album stakes a claim for Dean in the same genre that first captivated her attention as a girl in rural Texas. Her grandfather raised cattle and her father worked in land conservation. Dean develope ..read more

It’s been a couple of years since Alt.country stalwarts Son Volt last release, Union and Jay Farrar and company have not been idle in these pandemic times. Their tenth studio album will be released July 30th and will feature Son Volt’s current lineup of Mark Spencer, Chris Fame, Mark Patterson and Andrew DuPlantis.. The title, Electro Melodier, is taken from the names of two vintage amplifiers from the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, and will feature more intimate and socio-political musings from Farrar, who originally set out to make a nostalgic record that paid tribute to the music of his youth ..read more

Folk Alliance International commissioned ten musical collaborations between U.S.-based and global artists, applying their exceptional talent to address this moment in history, presented in partnership with Chris Thile. The first is out today, featuring John Paul White and Rose Cousins (below) Each will be available via the FAI YouTube channel every two weeks. The whole project also asks folk fans to contribute to FAI’s COVID-relief Village Fund and each video features Thile speaking on its importance at the close of each video. Fans can donate to the Village Fund ..read more

Whenever the topic of great bands you’ve probably never heard of comes up The Felice Brothers have to be near the top of ant roots music list. For 15 years the upstate New York band has delivered their brand of DIY ramshackle roots music to adoring fans over 16 albums and delivering dynamic live performances that feel more like a tent revival than a rock show. The band’s last release, “Undress” was in the pandemic halcyon days of 2019 and now thy’ve released a new single “Inferno.” The title is from the the third of Tom Hanks’ Dan Brown films 2016 film. The song continues like a kaleidoscopic ..read more

Record Store Day has revealed its list of releases for the 2021 season. The releases will follows the 2020 pattern of spreading out releases over multiple days in response to the pandemic which, in this case will be 6/12 and 7/17, instead of the usual one day its usual April occurrence event. This year’s batch of releases includes the usual mix of reissues, rarities, and notable exclusives. Highlights include 2 releases by John Prine, one a curated collection of songs from the Oh Boy Records catalog by independent record stores and the other a live recording from New York City’s Other End fro ..read more

The legendary Marty Stuart will soon release ‘Songs I Sing In The Dark,’ an acoustic 20-song album comprised of 20 “Obscure songs, old favorites” as Stuart describes them in the introductory video below, and was recorded just outside of Nashville. Stuart will be sharing one tune each month alongside a personal statement about the song’s importance, both personally and in the context of country music history of which Stuart is a participant as well as a student. Whether that means that the album will then be formally released after all 20 songs have been shared once per month which would be Oc ..read more

Nominees for the 2021 Grammy Awards were announced with Miranda Lambert dominating the Country Music Categories (3). The Queen of Americana in the roots music category with 2 and ties with The Secret Sisters (Laura Rogers & Lydia Rogers) and John Prine’s last composition , “I Remember Everything, which has been nominated in two categories Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song. The Grammy Awards for roots music takes place before the televised receding the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, the 63rd GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will take place Sunday, March 14, at noon PT ..read more