Category Archives: Country

Country, folk, Music Calendar

July 21: The late Sara Carter was born in 1898 – 116 years ago

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sara_carterSara Carter (with banjo)

Sara Carter (July 21, 1898 – January 8, 1979) was an American Country music musician. Known for her deep and distinctive singing voice, she was the lead singer on most of the recordings of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Carter Family:

The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country music stars. Their recordings of such songs as “Wabash Cannonball”, “Can the Circle Be Unbroken”, “Wildwood Flower” and “Keep On the Sunny Side” made them country standards.

BBC Documentary on Country Music – here is 15 glorious minutes about The Carter Family:

Continue reading July 21: The late Sara Carter was born in 1898 – 116 years ago →

Country, folk, Music Calendar, Singer Songwriter

July 6: Nanci Griffith is 61 Happy Birthday

Nanci Griffith 1

I got to know Nanci Griffith through the seminal music paper Beat (norwegian music magazine), this music magazine has been extremely important in my musical upbringing. They made it ok to say that you loved country music. This was a big step for us rock/punk youth. Anyway, they praised Nanci Griffith very early and we listened and we agreed, this was very special indeed.

Her voice, her way of singing, especially other people’s’ songs, it was and is beautiful. My first entry into her world was John Prine’s The Speed of The Sound of Loneliness, it is still the best song in her catalogue. Hell, it would be the best song in almost anybody’s catalogue!

Speed of the sound of Loneliness (with John Prine who wrote this masterpiece):

Nanci Griffith, (born Nanci Caroline Griffith, July 6, 1953, Seguin, Texas) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter based in Austin, Texas.

Allmusic:  Straddling the fine line between folk and country music, Nanci Griffith has become as well-known for her brilliant, confessional songwriting as her beautiful voice. A self-styled “folkabilly” singer, Griffith began as a kindergarten teacher and occasional folksinger. The country scene took her to heart in the mid-’80s, giving her a reputation as a quality songwriter through hit covers of Griffith’s songs by Kathy Mattea and Suzy Bogguss. Finding no luck with commercial country radio however, Griffith recorded several pop-oriented albums and then returned to her folk roots by the mid-’90s.

Continue reading July 6: Nanci Griffith is 61 Happy Birthday →

Country, Music Calendar, Sound

June 15 in music history

Waylon Jennings was born 77 years ago (read more)

Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing guitar at eight and began performing at twelve on KVOW radio. He formed a band, The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J. on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI and KLLL. In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings’ first recording session, of “Jolie Blon” and “When Sin Stops (Love Begins)”. Holly hired him to play bass. During the “Winter Dance Party Tour,” in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane to arrive at the next venue. Jennings gave up his seat in the plane to J. P. Richardson, who was suffering from a cold. The flight that carried Holly, Richardson and Ritchie Valens crashed, on the day later known as The Day the Music Died. Following the accident, Jennings worked as a D.J. in Coolidge, Arizona and Phoenix. He formed a rockabilly club band, The Waylors. He recorded for independent label Trend Records, A&M Records before succeeding with RCA Victor after achieving creative control of his records.

 waylon jennings
Bob Dylan released Street Legal in 1978Street-Legal is the eighteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in June 1978 by Columbia Records. The album was a serious musical departure for Dylan, who uses a large pop-rock band—complete with female backing vocalists—for the first time. bob dylan street-legal
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994) American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson. He is known for the hit singles “Everybody’s Talkin’” (1969), “Without You” (1971), and “Coconut” (1972). Nilsson also wrote the song “One” made famous by the rock band Three Dog Night. His career is notable for the fact that he was one of the few major pop-rock recording artists of his era to achieve significant commercial success without ever performing major public concerts or undertaking regular tours.  harry-nilsson
 The White Stripes is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band The White Stripes, released on June 15, 1999. The album was produced by Jim Diamond and vocalist/guitarist Jack White, recorded in January 1999 at Ghetto Recorders and Third Man Studios in Detroit. White dedicated the album to deceased blues musician Son House.  The_White_Stripes

Spotify Playlist – june 14
Country, David Crosby, Film, Neil Young, Rock

Video of the day: Hotel California LA from the Byrds to the Eagles BBC documentary


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First broadcast on 27 May 2007
Produced and Directed by Chris Wilson

The music and mythology of a golden era in the culture of California is explored in this feature-length documentary.

At the start of the 1960s Los Angeles was a kooky backwater, barely visible on the musical map. By the end of the 1970s it was the artistic and industrial hub of the American music industry. This film explores how the socially-conscious folk rock of young hippies with acoustic guitars was transformed into the coked-out stadium excesses of the late 70s, and the biggest-selling album of all time.

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Alongside never before seen archive footage, the programme features first-hand accounts of the key figures including musicians, David Crosby, Graham Nash, JD Souther, Bernie Leadon, Bonnie Raitt, Andrew Gold, Mark Volman and Van Dyke Parks, and music industry bosses, David Geffen, Jac Holzman, Ron Stone and Peter Asher, and legendary LA scenesters including Henry Diltz, Pamela Des Barres and Ned Doheny.

Set amongst the sun-dappled porches of Laurel Canyon and perched above LA’s iconic Sunset Strip, this is an epic tale of drugs, genius and greed – all set to a terrific soundtrack.

This fascinating documentary from BBC4, Hotel California: LA from The Byrds to The Eagles charts the evolution of the Southern California/Laurel Canyon rock scene of the sixties thru the seventies. … but it is also the sad story of the transformation into a corporate and money-driven scene in a relatively brief period of time.The film is very blunt in presenting criticisms of the Eagles from a number of different musicians for their approach to music.

David Crosby: “They’re boring, they take no chances, ever!”

It is based on Barney Hoskin’s book of the same name.

Hotel California L.A. from the Byrds to the Eagles BBC documentary:

– Hallgeir

Bluegrass, Country, Film

Video of the day: The Joy of Country music BBC documentary

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This celebration of the history and aesthetic of country music tracks the evolution of the genre from the 1920s to the present, exploring country as both folk and pop music – a 20th century soundtrack to the lives of working-class Americans in the South, forever torn between their rural roots and a mostly urban future, between authenticity and showbiz.

Exploring many of the great stars of country from Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams to Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, director Andy Humphries’s meditation on the power and pull of country blends brilliant archive and contributions from a broad cast that includes Dolly Parton, the Handsome Family, Laura Cantrell, Hank Williams III, Kd lang and many more.

If you have ever wondered about the sound of a train in the distance, the keening of a pedal steel guitar, the lure of rhinestone or the blue Kentucky hills, and if you want to know why twang matters, this is the documentary for you.

The film is a bit harsh when discussing the future of country music, but it is one of the better docus on the genre (the four part BBC series, The Lost Highway is still the benchmark).

– Hallgeir