Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1029 in the Series) is Rosanne Cash, The List When Rosanne Cash was 18, she was spending most of her time on tour with her famous father, Johnny.  One day, Johnny was checking out what she was listening to.  Most of her tastes, like most teenagers, were towards the music of the day.  He thought it was time to teach her a little bit about music. So he brought her into the tour bus, sat her down, and wrote out a list of, what he felt, were the 100 most essential country songs of American music history. She held onto that list. She would look at it year after year.  She became quite...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#971 in the Series) is Hal Ketchum, Past the Point of Rescue. I don’t know what it is. I’ve always been a sucker for those songs when an artist takes a known track, their’s or possibly another artists, and recreates it using a slower tempo.   I’m thinking of tracks like Joe Jackson’s live version (played as part of the Big World tour) of “Steppin’ Out” or Loey Nelson’s take on “To Sir with Love” if you were lucky enough to hear that. Here, Hal Ketchum does a spectacular rendition of The Vogues, “Five O’Clock World.”  Please check it out below. That was the track that first exposed me to Hal Ketchum.  As I...

Today’s Cool album of the Day (# 928 in the Series) is the self-titled debut from Lyle Lovett Lyle Lovett burst into national prominence with his Pontiac album in 1987. That was the release that gave us some of his best known tunes such as “If I Had a Boat” and “She’s No Lady.”  Some people never looked to see that he had another spectacular record the year prior. I’m referring to his debut, which was simply called Lyle Lovett. I’ve always been a fan of debut albums.  To me it seems that the one thing that many of them have it common is that they are rarely overproduced.  Why, because most of these new acts don’t have the budget...

  Today’s Cool album of the Day (#901 in the Series) is Rosanne Cash,The River & The Thread.   Many people will to want to know – is this a country album, a folk album, an Americana / Alt-country album? Well – yes to all three but primarily I think it’s a Southern album. Each of the songs are finely crafted short stories in the great Southern tradition. They each work all by themselves telling a story that’s either from the Cash family history or a work of fiction. They also work together to paint a portrait of the South that is equal to the best Southern fiction writing. There are songs of family, a feeling of community or the...

The 2013 Americana Music Festival and Conference has announced it’s final line-up. We have it for you below. Everything below is clickable for more information. The fest officially begins on Wednesday September 18th and will run for five days and end on Sunday the 22nd. If you wish to purchase wrist bands you can do so HERE! There are many highlights this year including Richard Thompson, Rosanne Case, Bill Bragg, John Fullbright, David Bromberg and many many more… ———————————————————————————————————————————————   Wednesday, September 18  Cannery Ballroom 10:00pm • The Infamous Stringdusters 11:00pm • Black Prairie 11:59pm • Pokey LaFarge Hard Rock Café, Reverb Room 5:00pm • CMT Edge Happy Hour Mercy Lounge 10:00pm • The Lone Bellow 11:00pm • JD McPherson 11:59pm • The Band of Heathens ONE...

  Today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Rosanne Cash’s great album titled The Wheel.  Rosanne was kind enough to share some tidbits about the album and its recording with her facebook friends today. We’ve gathered them together for you here. If you’re a fan of Ms. Cash I highly suggest that you check out her facebook page. It’s mostly run by her and she does a great job keeping every one informed about her goings on. Here’s a link. While you’re at it, her twitter account is also very lively. Here’s a link. — Larry Carta Here’s Rosanne’s tidings on The Wheel. ———————————————————— I can’t believe this, but my album The Wheel came out twenty years...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#588in the Series) is The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Volume II. Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol II is, obviously, the follow up to the 1971 album. If you’re not familiar with the two, they were a pair of albums released by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band that featured a roomful of guest stars. The original album gave us names like Roy Acuff, Merle Travis, Vassar Clements etc. Volume II continued the tradition. Some wonderful names are on this release. Here we find, Johnny Cash, Sam Bush, Bruce Hornsby, EmmyLou Harris, Levon Helm, John Denver (Before he made a big splash), John Hiatt, John Prine, Rosanne Cash, Randy Scruggs, Roger...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#420 in the Series ) is John Hiatt, Slow Turning. Three Dog Night- “Sure As I’m Sitting Here; Rosanne Cash –“This is the Way We Make a Broken Heart “and “Pink Bedroom,” Jeff Healey Band –“Angry Eyes,” Eric Clapton and BB King – “Ridin’ With the King – Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit and Desert Rose Band – ”She Don’t Love Nobody,” Bonnie Raitt –“Think Called Love.” You may know many of these songs. They all did quite well and they were all written by John Hiatt.  For years he was known as the guy that put out hits for others but couldn’t quite make that success carry over to his own...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Rodney Crowell, “Diamonds & Dirt.” Rodney Crowell is one of America’s great singer/songwriters. He’s written hits for Bob Seger (Shame on the Moon), George Strait/Jimmy Buffett (Stars on the Water), Waylon Jennings/EmmyLou Harris (Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This) and on and on. He also saves some good ones for himself. “Diamonds & Dirt” is a fine example.Highlights include: ‘I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried, She’s Crazy For Leavin’, After All This Time’ and a Duet with then wife Rosanne Cash ‘It’s Such a Small World’ Rodney was a member of the great 70s EmmyLou Harris ‘Hot Band.’ But he also had a hot band of his own. His guitarist during this...