Columbia Records signed Vin Bruce in 1952, making the 19-year-old the first Cajun to ever sign a contract with a major label. It was his beautiful French originals that attracted the record company, who recognized the potential of a Cajun country artist after Harry Choates garnered national acclaim with “Jole Blon” in 1946. Between 1952 [...]
Tag Archives: country
YouTube du Jour: Lucky Tubb
October 13, 2011 – 9:02 am
Tonight, Lucky Tubb and the Modern Day Troubadours roll back the clock at Siberia to the days of western swing, classic country and hillbilly rock ‘n’ roll. Tubb is the great-nephew of honky-tonk singer Ernest Tubb, and he’s touring in support of his second album, Damn the Luck. Here’s Tubb with his band live in [...]
Gretna Heritage Festival: We Believe
October 1, 2011 – 12:10 am
The Gretna Heritage Festival began in 1994 as a tiny community gathering, stocked with local acts and local cuisine. In 2011, that is no longer the case. Gretna Fest now stretches across 25 city blocks and offers a variety of internationally renowned musicians without giving up its local flavor. Kerry Brown, who books the festival’s [...]
Bobby Charles, Bobby Charles (Rhino Handmade)
September 1, 2011 – 12:52 am
Bobby Charles’ 1972 self-titled album is his masterpiece, an album recorded in Woodstock, New York with members of The Band, Amos Garrett, Dr. John and David Sanborn backing him. The tracks have the loose grooves of The Band as they pull together country, rock and R&B, all of which suits the subtle wit and sly [...]
Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos
September 1, 2011 – 12:23 am
The Ponderosa Stomp is a record collector’s library come to life. The classic—and occasionally obscure— R&B, rockabilly, blues, garage and swamp pop songs that shaped pop music history are performed by the artists who made them. It’s not an oldies show, though. Producer Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos pairs the artists with bands that love the [...]
Camile Baudoin’s Blues
September 1, 2011 – 12:12 am
When the Radiators played their final shows in June, few would have guessed that the band member most prepared for life in a new musical context would be Camile Baudoin. The band’s soft- spoken, self-effacing lead guitarist was known for his intense, dexterous playing, but not for his stage presence or front man capabilities. His [...]
Spencer Bohren, The Blues According to Hank Williams (Valve Records)
August 1, 2011 – 12:51 am
Hank Williams died at the age of 29, leaving behind what sometimes feels like half the American country music songbook. Listening to the recordings, I’m always struck: this is a young man’s voice singing an old man’s songs about loss and loneliness. Spencer Bohren didn’t live through the history or the personal struggles that produced [...]
Blind Boys of Alabama, Take the High Road (Saguaro Road)
August 1, 2011 – 12:46 am
Updated Listen to Lee Ann Womack take the early lead on “I Was a Burden,” wavering from each pitch like a fast, heavy car struggling through a curve—painful, unpredictable, the least-likely superstar voice in recent years. Then hear the Blind Boys of Alabama back her up—always certain, but always shifting within that certainty, building twice [...]
Gillian Welch at Tipitina’s, August 11
August 1, 2011 – 12:23 am
Gillian Welch is the truest kind of cool, the kind that lingers in the background letting the hotshots and attention hogs perform their circus acts and press junkets and media campaigns and when their dizzying dust settles, she steps back up to the mic and shows everybody how it’s done. Her release schedule is a [...]
YouTube du Jour: George Jones + Ticket Giveaway
July 21, 2011 – 1:49 am
On the heels of his 80th birthday, fast-living country legend George Jones is back on tour, stopping at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans in October. In his heyday, Jones was known as much for his run-ins with the law as he was for his hits. Married four times, Jones’ turbulent relationship with his [...]
