Posts Tagged Country Music
Archive
October 5, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 240
Jerry Lee Lewis, Country Songs For City Folk (1965) I always thought “The Killer” was incredible – Jerry Lee Lewis, just a ferocious talent. And the narrative I knew, for the longest time, was that he was done at the end of the 1950s. A blast. A fall from grace. And then in fact total […]Archive
December 30, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The 1001 Albums Challenge # 115: Dwight Yoakam – “Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room”
I remember in the very early 1990s or possibly right at the end of the late 80s – might even have been New Year’s Eve programming – seeing a video clip from Dwight Yoakam and I thought it was cool. The rest of the family did not. They are not country music fans. At all. […]Archive
May 22, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Buckle Up: Ten Important Country Albums In My Life of Listening
I started this thing a while ago where I decided I was going to name ten albums important to me (and important for me) in a particular musical genre. I started with hip-hop (see here). And then I decided to do my list of seminal and sentimental metal albums (see here). And most recently it […]Archive
March 24, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
This Be The Perverse: Just For Larks
I often talk about the (musical) influence from my parents – mum and dad’s music collection was a lot of fun to work through as a kid. I learned a lot from it – obviously it was the starting point and I’d head off in search of information and more music (pre-internet days). The Beatles […]Archive
May 3, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
The Sound of Her Guitar: Film
The Sound of Her Guitar Director: Bill Morris Wild Islands Media I’ve enjoyed some of Donna Dean’s music but I really enjoyed this version of her life story, a documentary about her travel through America, her early life in New Zealand, the redemptive power of the country music she sought out as both means to […]Archive
April 20, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 19 – Tami Neilson
Here’s Episode 19 of Sweetman Podcast – my chat with Tami Neilson. I caught up with Tami the morning after she played a terrific gig, accompanied by her phenomenal band. And so we talked about that – and about her time in New Zealand, the progression across the albums. We also talked about how I […]Archive
April 17, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Sturgill Simpson: A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
Sturgill Simpson A Sailor’s Guide to Earth Atlantic If you’re just catching up, and this will be the album to catch you up (his third in three years) Sturgill Simpson is one of the finest new songwriters working today. And he works hard. So hard in fact that this album, nine songs (eight originals, one […]Archive
April 6, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Merle Haggard
One of the greatest voices in country music has been silenced. Merle Haggard looked and sounded like he was carved from stone, even the name ‘Merle Haggard’, those words, looked on paper like something chiselled away at,all that was left from the starting granite. Merle was one of those names and faces and voices and […]Archive
August 4, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Billy Sherrill
Sad to hear, just now, of the passing of one of the all-time great behind-the-scenes players, perhaps the greatest arranger and producer to ever work in country music, Billy Sherrill. Best known for his work with Tammy Wynette and George Jones Sherrill had a hand in so many hit records – working also with the […]Archive
April 27, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Mountain Soul
There’s a type of CountryMusicTM they call it Mountain Soul. People like (until recently) Doc Watson and (until even more recently) Ralph Stanley the “living legends” of the genre. To have a Mountain is to be born to a tribe. (To have a soul – is to be born). Every person has a Mountain; it […]Archive
April 26, 2013 by Simon Sweetman