Country Music Star Doesn’t Have an Opinion on ‘American Sniper’
Everywhere you turn, the new movie about American Navy Seal Chris Kyle called American Sniper has been causing a political stir amongst movie goers and beyond. But one country star, Jimmy Michael...
View ArticleAlbum Review – James McMurtry’s “Complicated Game”
As a quality, not quantity kind of songwriter, James McMurtry, waiting six years to release this newest album Complicated Game, made it well worth the aching wait. McMurtry has been quoted as saying he...
View ArticleThe Best Country Albums of 2015 So Far
So we're close enough to the half way pole in 2015 to start thinking about what the best has been so far, and to get ready for what is sure to be a pretty exciting second half of 2015 for album...
View ArticleThe Best Country Songs of 2015 So Far
Being willing to see where a song takes you is at the heart of every music lover, and in this spirit I present eleven hand selected songs released in the first half of 2015 that will hopefully take you...
View Article2015 Nominees for Saving Country Music’s Album of the Year
2015's Album of the Year candidates might constitute the most wide open field of contenders since this exercise has been in practice. There's no clear front runners, anyone could win, and each...
View Article2015 Nominees for Saving Country Music’s Song of the Year
Being willing to go where a song takes you is the challenge in the heart of every music lover. Hopefully one of these songs released in 2015 will take you some place you want to be, or somewhere you’ve...
View ArticleSaving Country Music’s 2015 Album of the Year
Too often in music we tend to focus on the here and now, the young and the new. Who are the hot names that are rising up in the ranks? Who's going to make a big splash in music in the coming months and...
View Article“Dreamer” Kent Finlay to be Honored with New Book / Tribute Album
We've all heard of the "Class of '89" in country music, right? That was the year that Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Travis Tritt, and others came to power. Well have you ever heard of the...
View ArticleJason Isbell Announces New Dates for Winter Tour
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit just started an incredible six-night sold out stint at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Monday (10-9), and after a tour in Europe this fall, Isbell & Co. will be...
View ArticleThe Greatest Country Albums of the Decade (2010-2019)
Here are the greatest country and roots albums of the last decade in Saving Country Music's estimation. Albums were regarded primarily on quality, and how they held up over the decade, as well as the...
View ArticleJames McMurtry Announces New Album ‘The Horses & the Hounds’
In a brilliant economy of words, James McMurtry can bring alive entire characters and expansive landscapes in songs, revealing details down to the crevices in the dried soil, and the contours of a face...
View ArticleNewest Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#85)
Now that the summer has commenced in earnest and the COVID-19 pandemic is mostly behind us, it's time to hit the road, and hang out with friends, and listen to the country songs from artists that the...
View ArticleDeclaring August 20th an Official New Country Music Holiday
Once or twice a year, you have one of these mega release days in country music where the albums are so important, and the amount of releases so daunting, you need a field guide, or a Sherpa to help...
View ArticleAlbum Review – James McMurtry’s “The Horses and the Hounds”
James McMurtry is old school. He knows how character and nuance is worth so much more than namby pamby bromides. He can evoke the dimension of location in a song like few others, rattling off...
View ArticleNewest Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#89)
As you get together with friends, family, and co-workers for the Labor Day holiday, it's the perfect excuse to aggressively ambush them about their bad choices when it comes to country music. Instruct...
View ArticleOld Settler’s Fest Announces 2021 Lineup
Like so many other festivals over the last 1 1/2 years, Old Settler's fest just outside of Lockhart, TX has been attempting to hold what will be its now 34th annual installment. Normally conducted in...
View Article2021 Old Settler’s Fest Features the Present & Future in Country Roots
pound for pound, the 2021 Old Settler's Fest lineup conveyed as much entertainment value as any other event you'd find out there, with smart and studious curation that resulted in a stellar lineup and...
View ArticleCountry & Roots Music’s Best Live Performers of 2021
Live music in 2021 saw its return after the worst moments of the pandemic, but only in fits and starts, with multiple postponements and cancellations wrecking many plans, yet a few important moments...
View ArticleRay Wylie Hubbard Calls Upon More Friends in ‘Co-Starring Too’
Well if it ain't broke, then don't fix it. And with the extended Rolodex of influences and acolytes Ray Wylie Hubbard has assembled, why not release a sequel? That's what Ray Wylie will do on March...
View ArticleAlbum Review – Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Co-Starring Too”
This album will have you blowing speaker cones and doing air guitar poses on coffee tables---sideways looks from your significant other be damned. I don't know what's gotten into Ray Wylie Hubbard, but...
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