This past year, Cauthen kept showing up on my Instagram feed. He seemed like a nice guy, not a total pagan. As if the wanton wickedness that once looked inviting had proved itself a fleeting mist. It seems Paul got married and even has a kid on the way. I can appreciate that; while the rest of the rockers are cocaine country dancing and playing the harlot, Cauthen answered the call to marry and be fruitful and multiply. I was pleased. Maybe Paul found the straight and narrow and the blessed yoke of Christ the King. With growing optimism, I saw him often reference “God” in his posts. Not vague nods to a distant deist God, but gratitude toward the specific God of the Bible. It felt like that Mormon girl started going to a local Baptist church and was back on the market. A win for everyone.

At the same time as Cauthen’s reforms, there were announcements of the forthcoming album “Book of Paul.” The Bible reference wasn’t lost on me. I secured a promo copy of “Book of Paul” and listened to it while I was working, not really paying attention just yet to the lyrics, but to the music. It was, of course, as you’d expect, mostly sonic perfection. Knowing I’d review the album, I found a recent interview with Cauthen and gave it a listen. I learned a lot about the walking contradiction that is Paul Cauthen. A few of note:

• He comes from four generations of pastors (Church of Christ).
• He said the lessons of his youth, especially on the Lordship of Christ, are coming back to him now. These are things his grandpa taught him.
• At 10, his granddad (whom, I think, raised Paul) died but left him a handwritten list of 10 things: keep God first, take care of your mom, find a God-fearing woman. Those marked Paul.
• Now, with a son on the way, he wants to pass those same eternal truths on to him.

So far so good.

But, (most) things never really are black and white, are they?

On one side of his mouth, he tells us what ultimate truth is, where his allegiance stands, what matters to him. But on the other, he deceives himself, clings to a life of folly, keeps the rebel image, and doubles down on sin. At one point the interviewer, who is clearly a Christian and just as puzzled as I am, said, “you’ve had some wild times.” He replied, “I’ve still got some wild times ahead of me.” What’s that supposed to mean? “Wild” like riding broncos, or “wild” as in kicking off the law and Gospel of God?

Can Christ be crucified twice?

I often wonder if Joseph Smith (the inventor of Mormonism) was a pious fraud or a diabolical tool in the hand of Satan. I’m not saying Cauthen is a false prophet, but what are we to think when he tells us that he prays before each show, asking to be used by God as he goes out and performs. He prays that he might glorify God, and that “my pulpit is the stage,” and all manner of pious talk, yet when he gets on stage, you wonder what sort of “sermon” he preaches from there. “Well, it’s all on the Book of Paul.”

The album opens with the title track, and listeners instantly see that a potential reform has happened to Paul:

I’ve cussed, I’ve drank, I’ve kicked the lights out

I’ve toked, I’ve coked, I blew the house down

This hell raising fire turned ashes to the ground

Sweep ‘em up, throw them out

Cause there’s a new man in town…

Now, you’d expect, after acknowledging the folly of one’s life, and especially speaking in the past tense as if a change has taken place, that we’d hear about the new man in town and what he is animated by, what drives him, what his conduct is shaped by, and how he operates in the world. But not so fast, this is what we get:

“I’d do it all again”? I might be wrong, but it seems that this song (and the album, and his comments from the interview referenced above) show us a man who is confused at best and an apostate at worst. The Apostle Paul, in one of his books, tells readers not to look at their face in the mirror and then walk away and forget what they look like. Has Paul Cauthen heard the truth and exchanged it for a lie? How can we continue in sin once we’ve died to it? Now, of course, it is one thing to struggle with a sin (say I have a wicked propensity to being a jerk to people and then I act on that, and when I’m done I say with the Apostle Paul, “O wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death?” and grieve over my sin, even in some small degree, then that shows the Spirit of God is at work in me). Yet, you’ve got the sort of people who don’t just struggle with their wickedness, but they exchange the truth of God for a lie and call evil “good” and good they call “evil.”

You will know a tree by its fruit.

Another line in the same song shows Paul’s double talk, acknowledging sin while, it appears to be, celebrating it:

Again, perhaps I’m reading brother Paul wrong. But we as Christians are called to give no uncertain sound, yet what we hear from these words is confusing and doesn’t offer the listener hatred of sin and love of Christ.

All that to say, Paul Cauthen comes off as a hypocrite. I know that’s a strong word, but it’s a reality. If he is a Christian, then he needs to lean into Christ and “be holy as [God is] holy” and be “hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”

I might be wrong, and I hope I am, but you can see for yourself on April 3rd when Cauthen’s “Book of Paul” comes out.

Paul, brother, if you’re reading this, share this with your pastor and elders, get their feedback, and bring this all before the Lord, for He is worthy.

A few thoughts on some of the songs:

• “Book of Paul” theologically and lyrically is one huge contradiction, but sonically it’s perfection.
• “Ain’t No Crime” hit best while doing some shade tree mechanic work.
• “Texas Swagger” is, if I recall, Cauthen’s attempt at a Texas state song. It’s a proper rodeo jam.
• “Blue Denim and Black Gold” isn’t written by Cauthen. Here we have a great tune with mediocre storytelling. All the pieces of a classic are there, but the story lands at a junior college level.
• “Dark Horse” shows Cauthen’s hipster/indie rocker roots and could’ve been a Mumford and Sons song before they went dumb.
• “Cigarettes and Billy Graham” is the best song of the album, maybe the best song of the year (well, this or “Gary” from Stephen Wilson Jr.). When you get the album, go straight to this cut. Listen to the chorus of “Cigarettes and Billy Graham” and tell me that doesn’t sound exactly like a Montgomery Gentry song. The verse could be a Tim McGraw radio hit, and even though real cowboys don’t rock the Kenny Chesney, the intro and music sound just like that. But don’t be ashamed, this is a hit.
• “Road Dog” feels like a 2010 indie rock track (think The Lumineers or Fleet Foxes). The whoops in the chorus are nails on a chalkboard.

The post Paul Cauthen’s “The Book of Paul”: Sonic Gold, Spiritual Confusion first appeared on Country Music Pride.

25 years ago I started working for my dad, who was building a house, and he played, what was to me, the sonic bile that was country radio all day. I remember the songs well. Brad Paisley “We Danced.” Toby Keith “How Do You Like Me Now.” I hated it. I wanted Minor Threat and 7 Seconds, not Shania Twain and Garth Brooks.

My dad, honorary as he was, wasn’t turning the dial. So country music it was. I was stuck with the music. No earbuds. Just me, my dad and KFRG (95.1 FM).

Eventually, I started hating certain songs less than the others. “There Is No Arizona” was a hit. “Ol Red” by the long haired Blake Shelton was a good one, and Travis Tritt “It’s Great Day to be Alive” was a window into country glory (now that I think of it I can’t fail to mention, just to get you other folks my age nodding in remembrance and approval, a few deep cuts that include Hal Ketchum “Small Town Saturday Night” and the mellow tones of the still abiding John Anderson: is there any song from that era better than “Seminole Wind”?). I was being worn down, the waves of early 2000s country radio were washing over me and transforming me – acquiring a taste for country radio, whether I wanted to or not.

Around the same time my dad invited me to go see “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” The movie was pure genius. My favorite movie to this day (with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation a close second – again, nod in remembrance and approval. If you know you know.). But really, the wit and dialogue was pure brilliance. By way of reminder, just remember this one (the scene in the car after they just picked up Tommy and they start banter on Satan and souls):

Pete: I’ve always wondered, what’s the devil look like?

Ulysses Everett McGill: Well, there are all manner of lesser imps and demons, Pete, but the great Satan himself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail, and he carries a hay fork.

Tommy Johnson: Oh, no. No, sir. He’s white, as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow voice. He likes to travel around with a mean old hound. That’s right.

(The execution was just as good as the script. Enjoy:)

Again, pure dialogue genius (for more reminiscing, do join the “’O Brother Where Art Thou’ Movie Quotes” Facebook group.)

Now that I sit here and think about it, I don’t recall if the music from the movie jumped out at first. But, somewhere right around that time, though, I got the soundtrack. The music was just as good as the movie. And, without realizing it, I had stepped into a defining epoch of country revival: It stands in line with the revivals that followed Harry Smith’s 1952 “Anthology of American Folk Music,” then the folk revival of the 60s (with the New Lost City Ramblers partially leading the charge), and then the 1972 sessions of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, and then, finally, this moment in 2000. It yielded the same digging into the past and that same sense that old songs still mattered (and, yes, I dd by a banjo that I still don’t know how to play).

For me, the O, Brother soundtrack was the gateway to Doc Watson, The Carter Family, and The Chuck Wagon Gang. And those, in turn, opened the doors to Hank III, Steve Earle, The Avett Brothers, and so on. I am sure it did the same for a lot of folks. I started this website (CountryMusicPride.com) in 2008 partly because of that soundtrack (and the other part was because I had been making a punk rock fanzine, and print was dead).

A little after the success of the soundtrack, my dad and I went and saw the “Down From the Mountain” tour, where many of the acts from the album toured together. That was the soundtrack brought to life. Again, if you were there, you know.

Of course, Dan Tyminski (the voice behind “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow”) became known to the masses. The high lonesome singing of the Soggy Bottom Boys that George Clooney lip syncs to. Always the Martin guitar. Always the cigar. He played with Alison Krauss for years, and, of course, this crossover hit where lightning struck twice for this folkie:

(While I have your ears on the subject Dan Tyminski, do yourself a solid and stream his album of a few years ago, a swampy ‘lil collection of songs called “Southern Gothic.” Here’s the title track)

I recently roped my kids into watching the movie. I pulled out the projector (try to hit em with that same feel I had when I was with my dad 2 decades back). They loved it – stayed awake the entire time (the wife is still yet to not fall asleep while watching it). You either love this movie, or you do not. The arrows of my quiver loved it.

When you read the Bible, you get something new every time. That is kind of how “O Brother” is. Every time I rewatch it I get something again.

The highest meta-reality, that’s no mystery, is that it is loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey (of course, a Depression era Mississippi retelling of the ancient Greek epic). But, there’s a slew of  Easter eggs (is that a real term? The Swifties taught me that). Gillian Welch, looking old timey as ever, cameos in her asking for a Soggy Bottom Boys disc. Chris Thomas King played himself. The Whites played themselves, etc. There are the deeper historical threads. The Coen Brothers clearly have encyclopedic knowledge of early 20th century America. Politics. Radio. Religion. Race. Populism. Revivalism. Medicine shows. One example is John R. Brinkley. The notorious quack doctor of the 1920s and 30s who made millions implanting goat testicles into men. At the same time, he built massive radio stations in Mexico that blasted The Carter Family across North America at night.

Ok, last one: the bizarre, hyper-choreographed “KKK rally” scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a spitting image, and musical echo, of The Wizard of Oz scene at the witch castle with her henchman marching around and chanting (start at the 28 second mark here on the Wizard of OZ video and compare with the KKK scene):

But hot damn, the music!

It is still a regular on my turntable (yes, I went with the clear vinyl option). And, by the way, Lost Highway is re-releasing it on Gold slab!)

Back to the concert, I knew this year marked the 25th anniversary of the O Brother soundtrack, and I was excited it was being talked about again. I had heard whispers there might be something at the Grand Ole Opry and now it is official.

On Saturday, February 28, 2026, the Grand Ole Opry is hosting a 25th anniversary celebration for (the 8x Platinum… That is, 8 million units) O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

The show will feature folks from the original soundtrack (and beyond). We’re gonna’ see Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Del McCoury Band, Emmylou Harris, Old Crow Medicine Show, Molly Tuttle, The Fairfield Four, The Whites, Sarah Jarosz, Billy Strings, Jerry Douglas, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and more. Tim Blake Nelson (Delmar) will be on hand.

The soundtrack itself went to number one on the Billboard 200, won multiple Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, and was named Album of the Year by the CMA, ACM, and IBMA. It became the biggest selling soundtrack of the decade (again, 8 million).

Not bad for a bunch of old songs.

As mentioned, Lost Highway Records is releasing a 25th anniversary vinyl gatefold edition on February 20, 2026. There will also be a special Hatch Show Print poster (Hatch Show being the genre defining poster design co in Nashville that has been leveraged almost since the inception) available at the Opry.

I am still out west. But the first thing I did when I heard was call my dad, who lives in Tennessee now, and said, “Let’s go.”

Not to be morbid, but, he’s getting older. Twenty-five years ago we had job site radios. Then the movie together. Then Down From the Mountain together. Now this, Lord willing, together. I do not know how much longer my dad will be on his earthly pilgrimage. This might be one of our last notable outings together. And that makes it matter.

Of course, Dr. Ralph Stanley is gone now. John Hartford is gone. James Carter, the voice that lead out “Po’ Lazarus” is gone. But the lineage remains. The Fairfield Four. The Fisk Jubilee Singers. Del McCoury. Emmylou Harris. Alison Krauss. Billy Strings. Old Crow Medicine Show all still carrying the banner.

We can only hope Gillian Welch and T. Bone Burnett show up. But even if they do not, it will still be special.

The circle will come full circle on February 28, at least for me and my dad.

And I wonder how many other people will be traveling from all over, gathering under that roof, because of a movie and a soundtrack changed their musical life. Regardless, if you love this music, this history, and this strange little movie that somehow reshaped American roots culture, this is one worth making the trip for.

Ok, here’s the details:

Grand Ole Opry
Saturday, February 28, 2026

Opry House
Nashville, Tennessee

Tickets and info available through the Grand Ole Opry website.

The post O Brother, Where Art Thou? at 25: How a Soundtrack Followed Me for 25 Years (Feb. 28 at the Opry) first appeared on Country Music Pride.

Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis – the First Female Folk and Old-Time Recording Artists, 100 Years Ago Today in Country Music, April 22 and 23, 1924

On April 22 & 23, 1924, North Carolina folk singers Samantha Bumgarner and Eva Davis became the first ever female folk and old-time country recording artists. Following only Eck Robertson, Fiddlin’ John Carson, Henry Whitter, Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, and maybe George Reneau, they were among the first handful of all country recording artists. Bumgarner and Davis’ session also wins honors as the first female duo, first female solo, and likely the first 5-string banjo recordings.

Samantha Bumgarner was born Sarah Samantha Biddix in about 1878, and although most biographies note her birthplace as Dillsboro, North Carolina, early census records indicate her birthplace as Tennessee. A marriage record for Samantha Biddix and John Lyle is recorded in Cocke County, Tennessee in 1895, and in Haywood County, North Carolina in 1898, hinting that the Biddix family lived near the Tennessee-Noth Carolina line. Samantha’s father, Haselton ‘Has’ Biddix, was a fiddle player of local renown, and by the time she was fifteen Samantha was playing banjo and fiddle. Mr. Lyle may have passed away because in 1902 she married Carse (aka, Carson) Bumgarner. By 1910 Samantha Bumgarner was working as a dressmaker in Dillsboro, North Carolina. She was already in her mid-40’s when Columbia records recruited her the late April 124 session in New York City.

Who is Eva Davis? One of the best deep dives was published in the Sylva, North Carolina Herald in 2019, and they still couldn’t come to a definite conclusion. Some think her name was Eva Smathers Davis, others believe her to be Edith Smathers Dozier, while others think she may be a lady named Eva Mundy Davis. A brief note printed in the Jackson County Journal on April 25, 1924, was headlined “To Make Columbia Records,” and it reads, “Mrs. Carson Bumgarner and Mrs. M.M. Davis left, last Sunday, for New York, where they will be for a week or ten days for a try-out with the Columbia Grafonola people to make banjo and vocal records.”

According to the Columbia logs, the duo cut five sides together on April 22nd, including “Cindy in the Meadows,” “Big-Eyed Rabbit,” and the instrumental “I Am My Mamma’s (Darling) Child.” The duos feature Bumgarner on fiddle and vocals and Davis on banjo. Later that same day, Eva Davis cut two banjo-vocal solos, “John Hardy” and “Wild Bill Jones.” The next day on April 23rd, Samantha Bumgarner recorded seven solo sides including the banjo instrumental “The Gamblin’ Man.” Columbia also pressed most of the titles on their budget labels Harmony, Diva, and Velvet Tone with the pseudonyms ‘Gardner and David,’ ‘Luella Gardner,’ and ‘Eva David,’ with one Harmony pressing credited to ‘Luella Gardner and Davis.’

Samantha Bumgarner was active in the Western Carolina folk music scene for decades after the Columbia session. When Bascom Lamar Lunsford started his Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, Bumgarner joined as an annual participant beginning in 1928, attending most years until just before her death in 1960. When future folk icon Pete Seeger was just 16 years old in 1935, he attended Lunsford’s festival with his musicologist father Charles Seeger and stepmother composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, who worked with the Depression Era Work Progress Administration (WPA). Pete Seeger later credited Bumgarner as his inspiration for learning the 5-string banjo, saying “I learned to play the banjo after first hearing one played by a mountain girl named Samantha Bumgarten (sic) who came from the Great Smokies.”

Davis apparently never recorded again and Bumgarner did not record again until after World War 2 during the folk revival movements, but their April 1924 session with Columbia stands as a remarkable window into pre-War folk and country music.

This article was reposted, with permission, from the Document Records Facebook page. We thank Document for their great labors in all they do. Follow them on Facebook for more posts like this and visit their website for the recordings.

The post The First Ladies of Country Music: Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis’s 1924 Recordings first appeared on Country Music Pride.

Several years ago I was shocked when I heard that a Texas country singer whose music I really enjoyed was a Beto O’Rourke-supporter (Ryan Bingham). For the life of me, I couldn’t understand how someone associated with rural West Texas could be on the left.

Around the same time, I heard Kacey Musgraves’ breakout album. I loved (and still do) her western sound and style, as well as her songwriting ability, but the final track on the album (“Follow Your Arrow”) made her leftist persuasions plain.

Over the next few years, a number of country artists (many mainstream) revealed their varying levels of dedication to leftist causes. Some prominent names range from Marren Morris to Sturgill Simpson to more recently Kelsea Ballerini and her drag participants at the CMAs.

One of the best examples of the increasing leftist political colonization of country music came in 2020 when Luke Combs participated in an awkward struggle session with Marren Morris where he ostensibly apologized for his associations with the Confederate flag.

However, mainstream country music is often more subversive than the off-brand, hipster, “authentic” country – snap tracks and hip-hop beats with an accompanying steel guitar is the current vehicle for marketing country, but not as much for marketing progressive politics.

The “raw,” “real,” and “authentic” music of coffee house country is where the social-political goals of Marxist activists really shine the brightest. This stripped-down, folksy, regional, traditional instrumented crooning is seen by its adherents as “the real thing.”

Tyler Childers & Jason Isbell are poster children for this hipsteresque/traditionalist country. Both are products of Appalachia and have legitimate connections to much of what they sing about. Unlike corporate country their music often actually features ties to land and history.

It’s common for millennials/zoomers who vehemently dislike country music to make special exceptions for the likes of Childers, Simpson, Isbell, Musgraves, or on the more “based right” side, Colter Wall and Cody Johnson.

However, it’s impossible not to notice a significant leftist trend among the “musically authentic,” rurally focused musicians. They don’t tend to play big stadiums, opting instead for “art houses” and old theaters in downtown Lexington, Charleston, Birmingham, and Knoxville.

So while the hick-lib celebrities would have us believe that Appalachia and rural Oklahoma is home to covert gay coal miners and queer cowboys, the overwhelming majority of those who they claim to represent can be found at large stadiums cheering Kenny Chesney and Luke Bryan.

For more on this from David Harris head over here – and for more from David in other areas head over here.

David Harris is the president of TruthScript. He has been a teacher for a decade, working in private and public schools. Originally from the Hudson Valley region in New York, he currently lives in East Tennessee with his wife and daughter.

The post On the “Hick-Libs” first appeared on Country Music Pride.

Join us as we sit down with Louis Michot (best known as the fiddle player and lead-singer for the Grammy award winning Lost Bayou Ramblers, but blowing minds on the sonic masterpiece that is his solo record “Rêve du Troubadour”) and discuss all things Cajun, Zydeco, Old Timey Music, Race Music, the birds of the air and the beauty of precise Louisiana French. “Rêve du Troubadour” was objectively without a doubt one of the finest album releases of the last 10 years and so it was a delight to talk with this humble genius.

Michot’s passion for Louisiana French and local folklore, and sustainability in the fastest disappearing landmass in the world are what fuels his career as a musician. With over 20 LPs under his belt, his music career continues to push the boundaries of the Louisiana French music traditions. Rêve du Troubadour, the first solo album from Louis Michot, is out now and will be the best thing your ears have heard in moons. Special guests on these recordings include Nigerian Tuareg guitar wizard Bombino, and critically acclaimed singer / cellist Leyla McCalla among others. Known as a fiddle player, Michot primarily performed on guitar, bass, T’fer (triangle), samplers, percussions, and accordion. Some of finished tracks feature him playing every part, while others find him backed with bassist where Bryan Webre and drummer Kirkland Middleton of the Ramblers and Louis’ other regular band, Michot’s Melody Makers as well as guests like Bombino, McCalla, Quintron, guitarist Langhorn Slim, Shardé Thomas with and without her Rising Stars Drum and Fife group, Grammy-nominated accordion player Corey Ledet, and Dickie Landry on sax. Kirkland Middleton of the Ramblers engineered and mixed the album at Nina Highway Studios in Arnaudville, Louisiana with various musicians building on basic tracks Louis had recorded at his home, houseboat studio. The album’s title, “Rêve du Troubadour” — “The Troubadour’s Dream” in English — refers to the manner in which Michot pulls his music from dreams into daylight, then fills it with storytelling. Though Michot has published over 100 songs, he feels that Rêve du Troubadour is his first collection of “writing” as these songs tell their stories in much greater depth than he’s achieved before and utilize words peculiar to Louisiana French which seldom appear in musical compositions. 2023 marked the start of Louis Michot touring under his name, as a trio featuring Kirkland and Bryan on drums, bass, synths, and samples. The year started with a four show residency at New Orleans’ iconic music venue The Maple Leaf, and continues with a debut at Festival International de Louisiane, and tours of the Midwest, East coast, and West coast later in the year. Louis’ solo trajectory started while tracking his original songs in 2022, starting the recordings in his dry-docked house boat named “Sister Ray”, and completing the tracking at Mark Bingham’s Piety Studio, the album being engineered and mixed by Kirkland Middleton. 2021 brought special challenges for Michot, from restarting his live music during the pandemic, to doing hurricane relief work as noted in Rolling Stone (Can This Cajun-Punk Musician Protect His Culture From Climate Change?, September 16, 2021) while raising funds to get solar generators and panels to residents of Terrebonne Parish affected by Hurricane Ida, as written about in New Yorker magazine (The Lost Bayou Ramblers Get Lit, January 3, 2022). Louis was named Louisianian of the Year in 2020 along with his brother Andre, and their band Lost Bayou Ramblers was named Entertainers of the Year by New Orleans’ Big Easy Awards in 2019. 2017 brought the Lost Bayou Ramblers’ first Grammy award for their 8th LP release, Kalenda, and 2019 marked the bands 20th anniversary along with a live album release “Asteur” and a documentary aired internationally on TV5 Monde, “On Va Continuer”. In 2012 Louis’ violin and vocal work was the main feature for score of the Oscar nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild, and that same year the band’s 6th release, “Mammoth Waltz” was named 2nd most important Louisiana album of the 21st century by nola.com and won New Orleans’ Best of the Beat Award.

The post Louis Michot: Cajun, Zydeco, Old Timey, Race, Solo Records & a Humble Genuis that is “Rêve du Troubadour” first appeared on Country Music Pride.

The Dead South are back with another masterful album of bluegrass framed Americana. On Chains and Stakes, we are shown the full gamut of The Dead South’s talents, from simple songs with cavernous and hollow picking that can shake you to the core, to songs that suffocate with intensity. Any fan of what The Dead South have done in the past should appreciate this album, as well as the creative paths these world class musicians are going down.

With equal parts fret board dexterity and powerful songwriting, this should appeal to music fans far outside of bluegrass. We are shown doomy, walking pace tracks and powerful shredding, like an unstoppable locomotive. Songs of blood, death, and dirt, give way to moments of love, loss, betrayal, and eventually the powerful closer of judgement and revenge. This 38 minute proof of The Dead South’s mastery flies by and doesn’t have a single dull moment. 

I am a fan of music that sounds genuine, but is also well crafted. A great deal of the time, I will reach for an uplifting metal album to cure my desire for powerful music, but all week I have had Chains and Stakes on my playlist between Iron Maiden and Manowar, and it fits perfectly. All off the Maiden-esque fret hopping doesn’t hurt any. There are certainly radio ready, ear friendly tunes here, but there really are no down moments, even in the mid tempo, walking paced songs. At moments the songs will have intensity that boils up to a sort of dark busking, which may not appeal to everyone, but these are my favorite moments. It really can get the adrenaline pumping in between moments of reflection. Give this one an earful, you won’t regret it. 

CHAINS & STAKES WORLD TOUR

Cleveland, OH: TempleLive Masonic, Feb 12

Pittsburgh, PA: Stage AE, Feb 13

Silver Spring, MD: The Fillmore, Feb 14

Philadelphia, PA: Franklin Music Hall, Feb 16

Norfolk, VA: The NorVa, Feb 17

Charlotte, NC: The Fillmore, Feb 18

Atlanta, GA: The Eastern, Feb 19

Austin, TX: ACL Live at the Moody Theatre, Feb 21

Dallas, TX: The Factory, Feb 22

San Antonio, TX: Aztec Theatre, Feb 23

Houston, TX: House of Blues Houston, Feb 24

Memphis, TN: Minglewood Hall, Feb 26

Fayetteville, AR: JJ’s Live, Feb 27

Tulsa, OK: Cain’s Ballroom, Feb 28

Steamboat Springs, CO: Winter WonderGrass, Mar 1

Perth, AU: Metropolis Fremantle, Mar 20

Adelaide, AU: Hindley Street Music Hall, Mar 21

Melbourne, AU: Forum Melbourne, Mar 23

Melbourne, AU: Forum Melbourne, Mar 24

Brisbane, AU: Fortitude Music Hall, Mar 26

Tyagarah, AU: Byron Bay Bluesfest, Mar 29

Sydney, AU: Enmore Theatre, Apr 2

Sydney, AU: Enmore Theatre, Apr 3

Auckland, NZ: Powerstation, Apr 5

Wellington, NZ: San Fran, Apr 6

Wellington, NZ: San Fran, Apr 7

Hamburg, DE: Freilichtbühne im Stadtpark, May 30

Berlin, DE: Zitadelle Spandau, June 1

Leipzig, DE: Clara-Zetkin Park, June 2

Prague, CZ: Žluté Lázně, June 4

Bratislava, SK: Stars Auditorium, June 5

Budapest, HU: Budapest Park, June 6

Linz, AT: Posthof Zeitkultur Am Hafen, June 8

Stuttgart, DE: Kulturbetrieb Wagenhallen, June 9

Cologne, DE: Palladium, June 11

Wiesbaden, DE: Schlachthof, June 12

Munich, DE: Zenith, June 13

Saarbrücken, DE: Garage, June 15

Tilburg, NL: 013 Poppodium013, June 16

Brussels, BE: Ancienne Belgique, June 17

Paris, FR: Salle Pleyel, June 18

Nashville, TN: The Ryman Auditorium, July 12 + 13

Mount Carroll, IL: Rhythm Amphitheatre, July 14

Bonner, MT: Kettlehouse Amphitheatre, Aug 5

Seattle, WA: Paramount Theatre, Aug 7

Portland, OR: Edgefield, Aug 8

Boise, ID: Revolution, Aug 9

Salt Lake City, UT: Deer Valley, Aug 10

Jacksonville, OR: Britt Pavilion, Aug 12

Reno, NV: Grand Sierra Resort, Aug 13

San Francisco, CA: Warfield, Aug 15

Los Angeles, CA: The Novo, Aug 16

Las Vegas, NV: Brooklyn Bowl, Aug 17

Phoenix, AZ: Van Buren, Aug 18

Del Mar, CA: The Sound, Aug 20

Regina, SK: Conexus Arts Centre, Oct 11

Saskatoon, SK: TCU Place, Oct 12

Kansas City, MO: Midland Theatre, Oct 16

Oklahoma City, OK: Criterion, Oct 17

Mexico City, MX: Fronton Mexico, Oct 19

Columbus, OH: KEMBA Live!, Oct 21

Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Paramount, Oct 23

New Haven, CT: College Street, Oct 24

Portland, ME: State Theatre, Oct 25

Boston, MA: House of Blues, Oct 26

Indianapolis, IN: Egyptian Room at Old National Centre, Oct 28

Winnipeg, MB: Burton Cummings Theatre, Oct 30

Edmonton, AB: Flair Airlines Hangar at Edmonton Expo Centre, Nov 1

Kelowna, BC: Prospera Place, Nov 2

Vancouver, BC: Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, Nov 3

Moncton, NB: Casino New Brunswick, Dec 2

Halifax, NS: Lighthouse Arts Centre, Dec 3 + 4

Montreal, QC: MTelus, Dec 6

Toronto, ON: Massey Hall, Dec 7

Grand Rapids, MI: GLC Live at 20 Munroe, Dec 10

Detroit, MI: The Fillmore, Dec 12

Chicago, IL: Riviera, Dec 13

Maplewood, MN: Myth Live, Dec 14

Madison, WI: Sylvee, Dec 15

The post Blood, Grit, and Hoedowns: The Dead South “Chains and Stakes” Album Review first appeared on Country Music Pride.

Shane Smith and the Saints just released a new single “It’s Been Awhile” ahead of their forthcoming album “Norther” (dropping March 1st). 

“It’s Been Awhile” captures the universal sadness and desire of the human heart to “go home.” 

“I’m gonna take a train back to Texas

Freight-liner, won’t you call my name

Cause it’s been a while

Yeah, it’s been a while

Since I’ve seen your face”

Several years in the making (‘cause sometimes songs need time to “cook”), this is the tale of a man who misses his love, misses his home, but can’t scrape together enough cash to get there. So much for being a rock star. Shane says: 

“l’d started this song years and years ago, during a very low point of touring. There were many moments of desperation to be back home, without having the means or money to get there. The lyrics here are derived straight from that time, but can often times still continue to hit home for us now.”

“It’s Been Awhile” is really a prayer, like a psalm in the Old Testament, like something King David would utter in desperation.

“So turn the wheels at the quickest of time

Put the wind on my back, send me right down the line

Before she is gone, it won’t be long”

This is a train station lament for home. The wear and tear of the road, being broke (and broke down), the loneliness, the sleepless nights, the “glory” of being a rock star- none of that compares to “home.” 

Why? Because home is where we really are who we are. It’s where we find our identity because it’s where our identity started. It’s like that verse in the Bible, in the book of Hebrews, that says Abraham was looking beyond the promised land in Canaan to the City to come, Heaven itself:

“By faith Abraham went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” Hebrews 11:9-10

Abraham understood “life on the road.” Though not a rock star by any means, he felt the wear and tear of this life. He felt the ache for his real home. And that ache is the undertow of what Shane Smith sings. His longing for Texas, longing to see his wife, longing to be home is just the echo of the ache that we all have for Home. 

*Pre-order “Norther” by Shane Smith and the Saints here: https://orcd.co/norther

The post It’s Been Awhile for Shane Smith and the Saints first appeared on Country Music Pride.

How Important Is Authenticity?

Most country music fans, and certainly the classic country fans, will remember Tammy Wynette’s heartbreaking song “Til I Can Make It On My Own” which was one of her many #1 hits. Making this song a duet implies the relationship is between the singers, and this isn’t about friendship. These are lovers, not buds. 

Sam Williams and Carter Faith are up and coming “Nashville Stars” competently singing covers and originals in the New Nashville Sound. That just means it is very clean contemporary adult pop country, and yes it is just as plastic as it sounds. With Sam Williams, Son of outlaw great Hank Jr, coming out as gay last year, him being part of a love ballad with Carter Faith is all the more plastic. 

As a country music fan that was raised on Outlaw Country, I feel that authenticity is important in songwriting and performing. Im certain a lot of that was crafted with the bigger stars of the day, but David Allen Coe’s story of why he was on death row, for using a mop bucket to kill a man that approached him for sex in the shower, was real and was a key piece in his story. It’s doubtful that Sam Williams would handle the situation the same, but all joking aside, revivalist and outlaw country were alluring because we were sold their authenticity. 

How Important Is Authenticity?

Most country music fans, and certainly the classic country fans, will remember Tammy Wynette’s heartbreaking song “Til I Can Make It On My Own” which was one of her many #1 hits. Making this song a duet implies the relationship is between the singers, and this isn’t about friendship. These are lovers, not buds. 

Sam Williams and Carter Faith are up and coming “Nashville Stars” competently singing covers and originals in the New Nashville Sound. That just means it is very clean contemporary adult pop country, and yes it is just as plastic as it sounds. With Sam Williams, Son of outlaw great Hank Jr, coming out as gay last year, him being part of a love ballad with Carter Faith is all the more plastic. 

As a country music fan that was raised on Outlaw Country, I feel that authenticity is important in songwriting and performing. Im certain a lot of that was crafted with the bigger stars of the day, but David Allen Coe’s story of why he was on death row, for using a mop bucket to kill a man that approached him for sex in the shower, was real and was a key piece in his story. It’s doubtful that Sam Williams would handle the situation the same, but all joking aside, revivalist and outlaw country were alluring because we were sold their authenticity. 

I think Sam Williams and Carter Faith are very talented performers, and although it is cool to see new performers pay an homage to classic country songs, I need to be able to believe what I’m hearing. Does that mean a gay dude can’t sing a love ballad with a female? Or course not. But I really don’t want to hear it, and I don’t think it was wise for Sam Williams to have “come out” while trying to build a country music career. It would be genuinely interesting to hear the logic behind this choice when there is a huge cultural blowback against this form of virtue signalling. If someone wants a country music career and they live an alternative lifestyle, its probably wise to keep it to themself. The single drops today (February 9th) and it might bring back some fond memories of the past. It might be worth one listen, but it wont revolutionize anything. Here it is:

The post How Important Is Authenticity? A Question for Sam Williams (Gay Grandson of Hank) first appeared on Country Music Pride.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

“Wish a buck was still silver. It was back when the country was strong.”, opines the first line of a lamentation from Merle Haggard backed by The Strangers that describes the United States’ “hangover” after the “revolution” of the 1960s and the “Me Decade” of the 1970s. Written by Merle Haggard and released on May 15 1982, the song asks the listener the all consuming question, “Are we rollin’ down hill like a snowball headed for Hell?” As one listens they are compelled to wonder if there is indeed no chance for The Flag and The Liberty Bell those proud symbols of a seemingly failing nation. The lament continues by invoking memories of strong men who would work hard for their living, fathering, providing for, and protecting strong families; and of women who lovingly and dutifully care for those men and the children that strong families produce. Going further, the hearer is caused to question if numerous icons of American life are truly a thing of the past and if we are all doomed to face a future of utter despair.

Well in the fourty two years since the song came out the same questions continue to be asked. The wishing that Coke was still cola has given way to people screaming about fentanyl deaths, and the memory of the Vietnam war has been replaced by the spectre of one war after another in the Middle East. People still complain about their means of conveyance costing a fortune and not lasting as long as they should like our favorite car from our younger days, whether Ford, Chevy or any other model of vehicle. And the media continues to opine about one alleged injustice after another and the viewer is fed political solution after political solution as if government were the solution. Well, the song has already warned the listener of lying so called “statesmen” by recalling to our minds the events of the Watergate scandal which ruined President Richard Nixon. The words of King Solomon seem to ring over and over as one listens to Merle sing, there is truly nothing new under the sun.

This tune does not leave us wanting for hope however, in the final chorus, as if mustering all of the courage and might left within him, the admonishment comes. STOP ROLLIN’ DOWN HILL LIKE A SNOWBALL HEADED FOR HELL! STAND UP FOR THE FLAG AND LET’S ALL RING THE LIBERTY BELL! There is hope out there for the nation and each individual in it. It takes free people who are not afraid to be free. Who embrace not just their liberty but the risks and responsibilities that go along with it. We can face the future with hope as long as we accept the fact that faith and hope are to be directed to something greater than ourselves. Something outside of mankind. As the Book of Psalms says, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” Ps 146:3 There is a greater hope than all governments and nations combined. That hope is found through faith in the one who upholds all things by his power, the King of all Kings. In Him the best of the free life is indeed still yet to come, and the good times ain’t over for good.

The post Are the Good Times Really Over? Musings upon a great Merle Haggard tune. first appeared on Country Music Pride.

Join us as we sit down at the table with Diane Diekman to discuss her book about the life of Marty Robbins, the legendary country music artist and NASCAR driver who scored sixteen number-one hits and two Grammy awards.

Robbins saw himself as a drifter, a man always searching for self-fulfillment and inner peace. Born Martin David Robinson to a hardworking mother and an abusive alcoholic father, he never fully escaped the insecurities burned into him by a poverty-stricken nomadic childhood in the Arizona desert. In 1947 he got his first gig as a singer and guitar player and soon changed his name to Marty Robbins, where he cultivated his magnetic stage presence, and established himself as an entertainer, songwriter, and successful NASCAR driver.

The post Marty Robbins: Twentieth Century Drifter with Diane Diekman first appeared on Country Music Pride.