Category: country music

In January, Grammy-award-winning country music legend Marty Stuart brought his Fabulous Superlatives band to The Egg in Albany. Before the show, Stuart explained to WAMC how he conceptualizes the rich narrative of country and his role in it after a decades-long career. He has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and worked with heroes like Johnny Cash, who was his father-in-law for a time, and Lester Flatts.

“The old great songwriter Harlan Howard, when asked to describe country music, called it three chords and the truth,” Stuart told WAMC. “Hank Williams said, I can sum it up in one word: Sincerity. My wife, Connie Smith, says it’s the cry of the heart. So, I agree with all those things. But you’re right, it’s the stories. Ken Burns and I agree, it’s the stories that make country songs and country music kind of set apart. And somewhere along the way, I guess it was a self-appointed mission, I thought the traditional end of country music is slipping away. And it just kind of became a self-appointed mission for me to jump in, grab it, claim it, preserve it, promote it, and further it. I love having a voice in that. I love having a voice. Especially at this point in my life, I think I’m one of the people that is kind of a bridge between, you know, the past of country music and the future. I love the position.”

Dead and Company – the current incarnation of the Grateful Dead formed in 2015 – was slated to appear at SPAC this year on its summer tour. It proved to be the only cancellation of the 20-date run after a medical emergency forced the band to ditch the July 6^th date. Despite that, WAMC caught up with percussionist Mickey Hart to get an insight into how he uses light waves collected from deep space in his sonic experiments highlighted during the improvisational “Drums/Space” portion of the band’s concerts.

“In the beginning, there was noise, and noise, it begat rhythm, and rhythm begat everything else,” Hart told WAMC. “13.8 billion years ago, the blank page of the universe exploded, and creating stars, the planets, the sun, the moon, the Earth, and us. So, this vibratory universe is where we came from. We are made of vibrations, we are embedded in a vibratory universe, we are multi-dimensional rhythm machines, really, at play in the universe of rhythm. So now we’re able to go back- Well, almost to the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, but we go 400,000 light years this side is as close as we’ve gotten to the original downbeat, beat one, the beginning of time and space. So, I’m now able to take those kinds of sounds and sonify them. We call it sonifying, taking the light, the radiation, which, you can’t hear sound in a vacuum. So, when a star explodes or there’s some kind of activity up there, the sound separates from the light. The light comes through, the sound can’t travel in space. So we take that light, turn it into sound, and then use that sound in our compositions.”

Hart’s Planet Drum project released a new album “In The Groove” over the summer. Dead and Company will make up for its lost 2022 SPAC show with two appearances there on its final tour June 17^th and 18^th.

In August, Pittsfield-based Barrington Stage Company named the successor to departing founding artistic director Julianne Boyd: Associate Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Alan Paul.

“He’s a fantastic dramaturg,” Boyd told WAMC. “So he knows how to mold and shape new plays, which was important to us. And he’s also been very involved in the Washington, D.C. community, and I think that that’s really exciting. And someone said to me, he has your joy. He’s a joyful person. That’s important for our theater to have somebody who wants to spread the joy of what we do.”

Boyd stepped down September after almost three decades leading BSC.

In November, Becket dance center Jacob’s Pillow announced that a $10 million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation will allow for the rebuilding of the Doris Duke Theatre, which burned to the ground a year prior. Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge said that the gift is the largest in the Pillow’s history, and will cover a third of the cost for the new space — a space for which she has grand ambitions.

“You might have an artist who wants to be in a space where they have a 360-surround sound for the audience to experience, and maybe the audience is not going to be in fixed seating, maybe it’ll be an immersive experience where there is sound and projection all around them,” said Tatge. “Maybe this is an experience that will actually, in the building of the work, bring artists into the space through live streaming or audiences into the space through live streaming and shift where an audience member is, an artist is. Maybe it will use motion capture technology. It will have the basic fiber infrastructure so that we can put in the appropriate equipment to serve what the artist wants to create.”

The new Doris Duke is expected to open in 2025.

Wilco’s Solid Sound festival returned to MASS MoCA in May, and contributed to a change in North Adams: paid downtown event parking for future events in the city.

Dec. 30—Country music singer Lorrie Morgan will perform at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at the RiverPark Center.

Morgan is the first woman in country music to begin her career with three consecutive platinum albums. She is working on a new album with producer Richard Landis.

Grae Greer, marketing director for the RiverPark Center, said Owensboro has hosted Morgan in the past.

“She is an incredible artist who has won a multitude of awards,” Greer said. “She is a powerhouse of a performer.”

Greer said the center is trying to “diversify” the acts that perform there.

“Any time there’s someone new or different, it’ll spark interest for those who haven’t been attending performances,” she said.

The RiverPark Center is excited for Morgan to be back in Owensboro, Greer said.

“She did really well here, and a lot has changed for her as a performer,” she said. “We’re excited to bring back those who have seen her and those who wouldn’t be able to see her unless she’s in town.”

Ticket prices range from $34 to $49.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – It is family and faith that’s fueling the dreams of country music artist Brei Carter. After the release of her debut album, Carter sat down with WSMV 4′s Marius Payton to discuss the obstacles she faces as not only a woman in country music, but a woman of color in search of country music stardom.

Brei Carter is what you get when musical passion and opportunity collide. She’s a rising African American country music hopeful who’s all in on pursuing her dreams to make it big.

“It’s something burning deep within. I’ve always loved country music and faith has always been huge for me.” Carter said.

She has had to lean on faith. They say being a woman in country music is tough. But being a black woman in country music is an obstacle she’s found rooted in race.

“People aren’t just people. People see color. So that’s where it’s kind of like a shock because people don’t look at the voice or who I am. The inner and what they see. They look at what’s on the outside and that’s kind of been a struggle,” Carter said.

But Carter is used to hard times. She enlisted in the Army, graduated college and was commissioned as an officer. She credits the military for the tough skin. And her songs are a way to release some of the pain. The single “Stronger Than That” from her debut album “Brand New Country” tells the story of her life.

Carter is a child of the divorce in a small Southern town. She had to hold on to hope and find grace in a hurricane.

“This music is not just about me. Stronger Than That is someone else’s story. I tell stories. I want to empower people. I want to uplift people.” Carter added.

Charlie Pride was the man Carter idolized for as long as she could remember.

“I just knew someday I would meet him, but unfortunately he passed away.” Carter said.

Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline are also idols. Darius Rucker and Jimmie Allen are current artists she listens to. And just like the struggles Rucker and Allen had as black artists breaking through country music barriers, Carter is up for the challenge.

“You have to believe in yourself because there’s going to be a whole lot of naysayers. You can’t do that. You’re not good enough. You’re not capable, but if I let that rule who I am, I will succumb to what they think I will become,” Carter said. “But I’m so much more than that. I’m stronger than that.”

She tells Payton she’s up at 4:30 every morning, strumming the guitar and preparing for her day.

She also works a full-time job in the medical industry to pay for the music. She says country music is in her blood.

Copyright 2022 WSMV. All rights reserved.

The most surprising thing to Melissa Carper about her newfound success might be all the emails she has to send. A month before the release of her new solo album, Carper was still getting used to the non-musical work required of her, now that the 50-year-old indie singer-songwriter has waded into the big-time music industry. Her latest album, Ramblin’ Soul, is her first to receive a nationwide release (via Thirty Tigers). Rolling Stone named it one of the year’s best country albums and it’s shot up the Americana radio charts, introducing the musician, who’s been playing for nearly four decades, to the daily realities of being a recording artist in 2022. 

At the time Rolling Stone spoke with Carper, she was coordinating music video shoots, searching for a manager, communicating with members of her newly expanded team, and connecting all sorts of dots on her album rollout. “I feel like I’ve almost been baptized into the music business this past year,” says Carper, a Nebraska native who now lives in Bastrop, Texas, with partner (and bandmate) Rebecca Patek.

After releasing Daddy’s Country Gold, produced by Andrija Tokic and Dennis Crouch, in 2021, Carper slowly started building a small but passionate audience. The album arrived like a relic from a long ago time, with the vocalist-bassist sounding like a cross between Patsy Cline and Iris DeMent while delivering come-ons about milking goats. Musicians, especially, took notice: Chris Scruggs, John Cowan of New Grass Revival, and members of the touring band for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, including JD McPherson, all became fans.

All of this came as a surprise to Carper, who got her feet wet on the live stage at just 12 years old, playing four-hour gigs at Elks Lodges and in local bars in Nebraska with her family band. Together, they covered everything from Hank Williams to Eighties country-pop. As a child, Carper was fond of singing Sylvia’s 1982 radio hit “Nobody.”

As she got older, she started writing songs too, and when she finally got around to recording her first proper country record (she had self-released a raw collection of blues tunes in 2015), her goal was to pair what she had been performing for years with a world-class group of musicians. She recruited Scruggs, pianist Jeff Taylor (The Time Jumpers), Lloyd Green on pedal steel, and other A-listers. “I had no expectations,” she says of Daddy’s Country Gold, “absolutely no expectations, for how it would do.”

But the reception for the album inspired Carper to record more. She still had an immense backlog of songs from her years of gigging and writing and she set about assembling them for Ramblin’ Soul. This time, Carper expanded upon the mid-century country-jazz stylings of Daddy’s Country Gold, incorporating gospel, western swing, and soul. 

When she told Tokic, who returned to produce with Crouch, that she wanted to lean more into classic R&B sounds for Ramblin’ Soul, Tokic’s eyes lit up. “I was like, ‘Easy,’” says Tokic, who’s known for modernizing those classic sounds on albums by Alabama Shakes and Benjamin Booker. 

Neither Carper nor her collaborators wince when they hear words like “classic,” “throwback,” and “retro” being used to describe Carper’s music. It’s a compliment to them. “It’s just what seems like normal to us,” as Tokic puts it. “Melissa is not out there pandering to anything. She is what she is, and she sounds how she sounds, and she does it because she wants to do it.”

Carper, for her part, finds power in using decades-old styles as a backdrop for narratives and melodies that feel more contemporary. “I realize I’m obviously not doing anything that progressive, stylistically,” she says. “But I’m also not doing anything intentionally. It’s just what comes out.”

If Daddy’s Country Gold was a primer, then Ramblin’ Soul is a more fleshed-out representation of Carper as a vocalist, arranger, and songwriter. There are the bluesy leanings of “1980 Dodge Van,” a cover of Brennen Leigh’s gorgeous ballad “Hanging On to You,” and the mid-century crooning of “From What I Recall.” 

The album’s centerpiece is the piano ballad “Ain’t a Day Goes By,” which Carper wrote years ago about the passing of her dog Betty. Betty had been by her side as Carper suffered a series of personal losses and crises. Her parents both died within a year, and she had come to feel as though she’d lost a brother struggling with schizophrenia, too. Then her dog died.

“Betty’s death finally forced me to deal with grief that I had been stifling,” Carper writes in a follow-up email. “I feel like [her] death sort of pushed the grief over the edge. In the past I had used alcohol to numb myself with this kind of loss, but I knew I couldn’t keep that up.” Writing the song, she says, helped her process what she’d been bottling up. 

But while the grief may finally be out in the open to confront, Carper has yet to fully feel comfortable as an artist releasing music under her own name. She has reservations about standing onstage by herself and in being a front person, without the safety net and familiar comfort that comes with being a member of a group. 

“That’s why it’s taken me this long to even make a solo album, because I’m not that comfortable as the leader in a band,” she says. “It’s definitely something that’s challenging for me, and I’m trying to meet the challenge and overcome my discomfort.” After using up many of her old songs on Daddy’s Country Gold and Ramblin’ Soul, Carper has already written an entire new album’s worth of material. She’s excited to start making her third record — even if that means more emails to send.

While she may be surprised by the business realities she’s now staring down, she’s also refreshingly honest in talking about them. Two of the songs on her album are suggestions from a new sync company she started working with: The company wanted her to record Odetta’s “Hit or Miss” and also include a song “about freedom and individuality,” which resulted in the lovely “I Do What I Wanna.” 

None of that bothers Carper, but the larger picture does present her with some decisions to make. After decades of playing music as part of a local community, does Carper want to deal with what’s required to raise one’s national profile? Carper mentions a recent in-depth story about her in the Austin Chronicle that asked, “Her version of authentic revivalism seems primed for broad attention. The only question: if Carper herself is ready for that attention.”

“When I got to that sentence, I was kind of like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know.” Carper says. “Is this what I want to be doing? Am I ready for it?’”

Here’s a round-up of news briefs from around Southwest and Southside. Send yours for possible inclusion to news@cardinalnews.org.

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Author to discuss role of banjo in Black history

Author Kristina Gaddy will discuss the history of the banjo, particularly its key role in Black spirituality, ritual and rebellion, during the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s monthly free Speaker Sessions program Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. EDT.

Speaker Sessions are free and open to the public, and you may join the discussion online via Zoom or in-person at the museum.

The Speaker Sessions program will explore the earliest history of the banjo through music, images, and a reading from Gaddy’s book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History, with a special focus on the history of the banjo in Virginia and the resurgence of Black banjo players in American music today. Gaddy’s book will also be available for purchase and signing after her talk. 

Kristina R. Gaddy is a Baltimore-based writer and fiddler who has also authored Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates and Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis. She has received the Parsons Award from the Library of Congress, the Logan Nonfiction Fellowship, and a Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Rubys artist award.

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Speaker Sessions are free and open to the public. Participants are asked to please RSVP if they plan to attend in-person or pre-register if joining the conversation online via Zoom. For more information, visit the Events page at BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org.

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VCEDA grant will be used to fix roof at Visitors Center at Breaks Interstate Park

The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority has awarded an $80,000 grant to be used for improvements at the Breaks Interstate Park.

The grant will be used to develop infrastructure and improvements at the park, specifically to replace the roof and gutters at the park’s Visitor Center, according to a release from VCEDA. The project will consist of replacing existing shingles with metal panels, replacing any wood that is rotten and installing new gutters on the building.

According to the park’s application, the Visitor Center roof was last replaced more than 30 years ago and is beginning to leak due to normal deterioration of the shingles. The current project, the application noted, will ensure the facility continues to serve the needs of its guests.

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Basketball tournament in Alleghany County postponed after frozen water pipes break

The Alcova basketball tournament scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 28, and Thursday, Dec. 29, at Clifton Middle School has been postponed due to maintenance issues. 

School officials are working to reschedule the tournament. The tentative dates are Friday, Jan. 13, and Saturday, Jan. 14. 

The gym and locker room areas of the school received minor water damage when frozen water pipes broke on Dec. 24. Maintenance staff has been working to address the water damage, but the cleanup will not be completed in time for the basketball tournament to be held on Wednesday.

Boys and girls teams were scheduled to participate in the tournament. Teams that were slated to participate included Clifton Middle School, Covington, Beverly Manor and Maury River. School officials are working to find teams with open dates on Jan. 13 and Jan. 14. 

Country singer and Army veteran Craig Morgan performed for troops in freezing cold weather ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The Army reported Morgan went to visit U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria to deliver a “Taste of Home” to Germany for the holiday season.

From Dec. 19 to 21, he performed three concerts for troops and their families who are stationed at USAG Bavaria.

On Monday, Dec. 19, Morgan held a meet and greet and then an outdoor performance for Soldiers in Camp Algier.

“He performed outdoors in 25 F (-4 C) weather and took time out before and after his concerts to meet with troops to share his experiences as a former Soldier,” George Morel, a concert attendee and U.S. Army civilian employee, told the Army’s wesbite.

He added, “That made this concert really special and lets our troops know that although they are far away, they are not forgotten.”

The website noted Morgan was active duty in the Army for 10 and a half years and a member of the Army Reserves for 6 and a half years.

“When I get to hang out with Soldiers from the 101st and 82nd [Airborne Divisions], it’s like hanging out with family,” Morgan said.

He explained, “Those are my brothers and sisters and it’s exciting to see them again. Imagine you haven’t seen your family in a long time, and you get to go home and see them. That’s what that’s like for me. Most of them are younger family. But it’s family nothing the less.”

Additionally, the Army pointed out Morgan was a joint fire support specialist (MOS 13F).

“I was a 13 fox, we got to experience a lot and it was just a real privilege,” Morgan told the Army.

He added, “I got to go all over the world an experience multiple cultures, working with multiple armies from all over the world, until this day I consider it as one of the greatest jobs I ever had.”

Terri Lerma, a concert attendee, and U.S. Army civilian employee, said Morgan “being a veteran himself made the concert ever so special, he knows what the troops are experiencing and expressed his appreciation for all their sacrifices.”

Lerma continued, “Undoubtedly, it’s a great way to show our appreciation and boost troop morale.”

According to the singer, it is “important and special for me to give my time and talents to support the troops here because I was a Soldier once and I remember being deployed during the holidays and how important it was for me to have someone come visit us.”

He stressed it is also “important for me to be able to give back in any way that I can.”

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GRAFENWOEHR, Germany – Country singer and 17-year Army veteran Craig Morgan visited U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria to bring a “Taste of home” to Germany during the holidays.

During his three-day trip, Dec. 19-21, he performed three concerts for troops and their families stationed at USAG Bavaria.

His Germany trip started off with a meet and great, Monday, Dec. 19, followed by an outdoor performance for Soldiers in Camp Algier.

“He performed outdoors in 25 F (-4 C) weather and took time out before and after his concerts to meet with troops to share his experiences as a former Soldier,” said George Morel, concert attendee and U.S. Army civilian employee. “That made this concert really special and lets our troops know that although they are far away, they are not forgotten.”

Morgan served in the Army before becoming an American country music star. He was active duty for 10 and a half years and a member of the Army Reserves for 6 and a half years. While here at USAG Bavaria he was reunited with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, both of which he was a part of during his years of service.

“When I get to hang out with Soldiers from the 101st and 82nd [Airborne Divisions] it’s like hanging out with family,” said Morgan. “Those are my brothers and sisters and it’s exciting to see them again. Imagine you haven’t seen your family in a long time, and you get to go home and see them. That’s what that’s like for me. Most of them are younger family. But it’s family nothing the less.”

Morgan used to be a Joint Fire Support Specialist (MOS 13F). Even today, he proudly looks back to those days.

“I was a 13 fox, we got to experience a lot and it was just a real privilege,” Morgan explained. “I got to go all over the world an experience multiple cultures, working with multiple armies from all over the world, until this day I consider it as one of the greatest jobs I ever had.”

On his second day in Germany, he performed for the USAG Bavaria community and friends in the Tower Barracks Theatre.

“Craig Morgan being a veteran himself made the concert ever so special, he knows what the troops are experiencing and expressed his appreciation for all their sacrifices,” said Terri Lerma, concert attendee, and U.S. Army civilian employee. “Undoubtedly, it’s a great way to show our appreciation and boost troop morale.”

His Christmas concerts in Germany were possible through the annual United Services Organization Entertainment Tours. Morgan started doing USO tours back in 2002 and while he has been to Germany several times this is the first time he has been to Bavaria.

“It’s important and special for me to give my time and talents to support the troops here because I was a Soldier once and I remember being deployed during the holidays and how important it was for me to have someone come visit us,” explained Morgan. “So, it’s important for me to be able to give back in any way that I can.”

During the holidays the USO tries to bring home to service members and their families that can’t be home for the holidays.

“Bringing a taste of home to our service members and their families when they can’t be home is a small way to let them know we are grateful for their sacrifices,” said Jennifer Wahlquist, vice president, USO Global Entertainment.

The three-day Bavaria trip ended with a trip to Hohenfels, Dec 21.