Category: country music

The Country Music Hall of Fame (CMHOF) is honoring the connection between country and R&B music in an online exhibit.

Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970 examines the impact of R&B music on Nashville and how it helps define it as Music City. The exhibit begins in the late 1940s and ’50s, chronicling the legendary R&B artists who performed in the city, including Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Little Richard, and Ray Charles, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022.

Videos, photos, and audio recordings capture this illustrious time and are rooted in a series of themes exploring the roots of R&B music, famous live music clubs that were on historic Jefferson Street, a hub of Black culture and music, including New Era Club, Club Del Morocco, and Club Baron. Clips from James’ live album, Etta James Rocks the House, recorded at New Era Club, and Arthur Gunter’s rendition of his self-penned song, “Baby Let’s Play House,” that he recorded for former Nashville indie blues label, Excello Records, and was later cut and made a hit by Elvis Presley.

“The multimedia exhibit explores the significant story of Nashville’s vibrant and pioneering R&B scene and its important role in helping the city to become a world-renowned music center,” reads the press release. This is a digitized version of the exhibit of the same name that was on display at the Hall of Fame in 2004 and 2005. It’s available for free on the museum’s official website.

As the introduction to the online display adds: “During the years when Nashville grew into its title of Music City USA, Black artists such as Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix spent hours of bandstand apprenticeship in Nashvile’s Black nightclubs. At the same time, Nashville station WLAC blasted rhythm and blues across half the United States when most radio considered the music taboo, and Black and white musicians made hit records together in Nashville studios, in tacit disregard of segregation. As this online exhibit reveals, their music continues to reverberate through American Culture and Music City to this day.”

The exhibit is divided into eight online chapters, starting with City Sounds, which examines the origins of Nashville R&B. There are dedicated chapters on R&B’s live, radio and TV scenes, as well as artists, labels, and producers; the connections with country music; R&B’s “legacy and lament,” and a closing Public Program Archive of videos, interviews, and more. These include panels such as “Sunny” Days: Nashville’s Bobby Hebb and the Hebb Family, Jimi Hendrix in Nashville, and Let’s Trade a Little: The Country-R&B Connection.

The Country Music Hall Of Fame is adding an in-person component with a conversation between the Hall of Fame and the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville along with performances by R&B artists, the Fairfield Four’s Levert Allison, Jimmy Church, Peggy Gaines Walker, Frank Howard, Charles Walker, and others on January 25 at the Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater in Nashville.

Listen to the best of Jimi Hendrix on Apple Music and Spotify.

Johnny Rodriguez. Any serious fan of 1970’s country music worth their salt will know the name, the hits, and doesn’t need to be sold on the importance of this man. Six #1 songs, fourteen Top 5’s, twenty Top 10’s, including a run of fifteen Top 10 songs to start his career between 1973 and 1978, Johnny Rodriguez helped define country music as much as anyone in the decade, and continued to mint hit songs well into the 80s.

In a just world, Johnny Rodriguez would be a name at least in the discussion for the Country Music Hall of Fame at this point. But with the log jam at the Hall of Fame and the way today’s country music sweeps large swaths of past greats to the side, some people may be surprised to hear that Johnny Rodriguez is even still alive. Oh he most certainly is, and at 71 years old, people are finally stepping up to honor this country music hit maker and pioneer.

Dale Watson and Celine Lee will once again be hosting the Ameripolitan Music Awards in Memphis, TN on February 19th as part of a greater weekend of festivities and showcases after a couple of years off due to the pandemic. Johnny Rodriguez has been selected as the organization’s 2023 Master Award winner, joining previous honorees Ray Price, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charley Pride, Wanda Jackson, Billy Joe Shaver, James Burton, Johnny Bush, WS Holland, Junior Brown and Red Simpson. It’s sort of like the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Also being honored on the weekend will be The Adams Brothers with the Founder of the Sound Award, and rockabilly legend Nick Curran will posthumously receive the Keeper of the Key Award marking the 10th Anniversary of his passing. These awards will be on top of all of the winners in the various Ameripolitan Awards categories voted on by fans.

Born in Sabinal, Texas, Johnny Rodriguez was a good kid growing up, including being an altar boy at the church, and the captain of his junior high football team. But when his dad passed of Cancer when he was 16 years old, and then his brother died the following year in an automobile accident, a broken heart led to trouble with the law and a taste for country music.

Johnny Rodriguez never did anything too bad, at least not early on. Legend has it that in 1969 at the age of 18, Rodriguez was thrown in jail after he and his friends stole a goat and barbecued it. Others say he landed in the pokey simply for an unpaid fine. Either way, while singing in his cell to pass the time away, famous Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson heard Rodriguez, and told music promoter “Happy” Shahan about him.

“Happy” Shahan in turn hired Rodriguez to sing at the Alamo Village tourist attraction where the 1960 John Wayne-directed movie The Alamo had been filmed. In 1971, Tom T. Hall and Bobby Bare were passing through town, and just like everyone else, they were floored at Johnny’s voice and told him he should move to Nashville. Johnny complied, showing up in Music City when he was 21 with just a guitar and $14. Less than a year later Rodriguez was signed to record songs for Mercury.

After scoring his first Top 10 hit with “Pass Me By (If You’re Only Passing Through),” Rodriguez minted consecutive #1’s with “You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me),” “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico,” and “That’s the Way Love Goes.” Johnny Rodriguez became country music’s first major Hispanic star, helping to open the door for Freddy Fender and Linda Ronstadt, and sometimes singing songs and phrases in Spanish, making him a crossover star to Hispanic listeners, and making Hispanic listeners fans of country music. In 1973, Johnny Rodriguez was nominated for the CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year.

Along with minting country hits with rock songs such as “Something” by the Beatles, and “Desperado” by the Eagles, Johnny Rodriguez wrote some of his bigger hits himself, like “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico” and “You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me),” earning the respect of his peers and other songwriters. Johnny’s affiliation with Bobby Bare and the fact that he was from Texas had some regarding him as a part of the era’s Outlaw movement too.

In 1979, Rodriguez signed to Epic Records and worked with famous producer Billy Sherrill. The hits stopped coming so easily, but Rodriguez would make his mark now and again, including nabbing two Top 10 hits in 1983 with “Foolin’” and “How Could I Love Her So Much.” The commercial era for Johnny Rodriguez ended when he shot and killed a man in his home in 1998, thinking the man was a burglar. Eventually acquitted on all charges, Rodriguez went on to perform for Presidents (Jimmy Carter, and both Bush’s), and be exonerated in the public eye.

Johnny Rodriguez has continued to perform, tour, and occasionally record music ever since. In December he was in the studio recording an upcoming project that will include a duets with Dennis Quaid and Tanya Tucker. But you wouldn’t know that Johnny Rodriguez was still around by the lack of attention he’s received since his heydey in the 70s and 80s.

Rodriguez has remained a hero down in Texas. He was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2010, he received the Pioneer Award from the Institute of Hispanic Culture in Houston. And in November of 2022 he was inducted into the All Cowboy and Arena Champions Hall of Fame in Kerrville, TX.

But it’s about time that the wider country music community start recognizing the contributions of Johnny Rodriguez, and while he’s still walking among us. Good on the Ameripolitan Awards for doing so. And for those who believe he’s deserving, there is also a campaign underway to get Johnny Rodriguez inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Tickets and passes to the 2023 Ameripolitan Awards and Weekender can be purchased here.

Maren Morris got emotional as she fulfilled a “decade-long dream” of serving as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The country star appeared on Friday’s (Jan. 13) episode of the series and that night tweeted: “I’ve done some cool s—. #DragRace is rivaling it all. Getting my jacket framed next to my Grammy. It is DONE.”

In a post-episode Untucked clip, Morris was teary-eyed as she spoke from her heart to the room.

“Coming from country music and its relationship with LGBTQ+ members, I just want to say I’m sorry,” Morris said. “And I love you guys for making me feel like a brave voice in country music. So I just thank you guys so much for inspiring me.”

“I’m gonna cry,” she admitted.

In August, Morris showed her allyship when she called out the “unapologetically conservative” wife of Jason Aldean, Brittany, who spread hurtful anti-trans misinformation on her Instagram account. When Brittany called gender-affirming care for minors “one of the worst evils,” Morris and Cassadee Pope jumped in with comments, with Morris calling Aldean “Insurrection Barbie” and telling her to “not be a scumbag human.”

When Fox News’ Tucker Carlson called Morris a “lunatic” for her comments, the singer created T-shirts that read “lunatic country music person,” and later donated more than $100,000 worth of proceeds to GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program and Trans Lifeline.

In November, Morris spoke out against Candace Cameron Bure for her plans to“keep traditional marriage at the core” of content on her new network, Great American Family. Morris commented “Make DJ Gay Again,” a reference to Bure’s most famous role as Full House‘s DJ Tanner.

“We love an ally! So grateful @marenmorris stopped by #Untucked to support our Queens with this heartfelt message,” the official Rupaul’s Drag Race Instagram account posted on Saturday (Jan. 14).

Watch Morris’ Untucked clip below.

Blake Shelton is shifting his priorities. The country music superstar, who is set to coach his final season of NBC’s The Voice, says he’s ready to focus on the personal aspects of his life.

“I’ve accomplished more than anything I would ever imagine and made plenty of money, but you can’t buy time back. [Family] is what I want to invest in now,” Shelton, who is married to pop superstar Gwen Stefani, reasoned during an exclusive cover story with PEOPLE.

Shelton has spent 22 seasons as a coach on The Voice – the same show that sparked his romance with Stefani – minus the upcoming season, which will mark his 23rd. Since becoming a step-dad to Stefani’s three sons Kingston, 16, Zuma, 14, and Apollo, 8 (Their dad is Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, Stefani’s ex-husband), he says his perspective on what matters most has changed.

“Just having kids, you know…. It truly does make you go, ‘Wait a minute. This isn’t about me anymore. It never will be again.’ If you don’t say that to yourself, I think you’re only hurting yourself because you’re going to miss out,” Shelton explained, adding that all three boys will notice when he is absent from life events. “They’ve taught me something about myself that I never knew: I’m more than just a country singer or a goofy guy. I’m someone they actually lean on, and that’s not a responsibility that I ever had and not something I ever considered even being into.”

“Even though I’m a stepparent, I take that job very seriously. The kids see me as a very important person in their life,” he continued. “[When they ask], ‘Why isn’t Blake here?’ I take that stuff to heart… It’s just a different self-worth. Maybe, it’s the opposite of self-worth because you kind of put yourself way down on the rung, and they move up, ahead of you.”

Along with enjoying time with his step-children, Shelton, 46, says he feels content in slowing down and is happiest when he’s around family in Oklahoma, where he grew up. In fact, he and Stefani, 53, have already taken up a hobby together in the Sooner State.

“You just be a family when you go there,” Shelton, who now has grown multiple gardens with the “Hollaback Girl” singer, said of Oklahoma. “Our biggest bonding besides music has to be gardening. We go way over the top. If there’s a splurge that is embarrassing, it would be how much we probably spend on, like, seeds, like, boxes of seeds.”

Shelton, who wed Stefani in the summer of 2021, says the lovebirds have managed to grow zinnias and sunflowers, but the tough flower to grow, so far, has been the Icelandic Lily.

“Knowing that you’re married makes me feel settled,” Shelton added of his relationship with Stefani, which he calls the “easiest thing I’ve ever been a part of in my life.” “We’ve done so much traveling, touring and work the first half of our lives that now, we’re just like, ‘Hey. I’m good with 6:00p.m. to put my sweatpants on and watch Ozark eight times tonight. I’m good with that. That’s our life now, and we love it.”

That doesn’t mean Shelton is quitting his career altogether. Folks can still find him on the small screen as he recently debuted his new game show on the USA Network called Barmageddon, which features Carson Daly as a co-host. Shelton will also return for the 23rd season of The Voice when the show returns in March of 2023.

“It’s such a fun show to make. I can make it with people I care about, have fun and do a whole season in a couple of weeks,” Shelton said of Barmageddon. “I wasn’t looking for The Voice when I found it, and it’s exciting to know what else may be out there.”

“When I started The Voice in 2011, that was ten years into my career as a country artist. I never really made it to the A-level of country artists until I became a coach on The Voice. There were way bigger artists in country music that they could’ve offered this job to, and I’m sure they would’ve jumped at it… I don’t think it’s a risk to leave the show. I don’t think if I walked away from my career at this point – you know, the only thing I run the risk of is having regrets. You don’t know what those are going to be until you look back one day,” Shelton said. “Maybe, I’ll look back one day and say, ‘man. That was it. That was my moment’…. For now, I know, at this moment, it’s time for me to step away as a coach. But, I’m glad I stayed as long as I did.”

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Maren Morris has been a staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ issues, and she’s staying true to that commitment. On Friday, after she appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race as a guest judge, the “Bones” singer shared a public apology for country music’s treatment of LGBTQ+ people.

“Coming from country music and its relationship with LGBTQ-plus members, I just want to say I’m sorry,” Morris said as she joined the queens backstage during the post-Drag Race episode of Untucked.

“I love you guys for making me feel like a brave voice in country music,” she added. “I just want to thank you guys for inspiring me. I’m gonna cry I need to go.”

After the sweet message, drag queen Mistress Isabelle Brooks thanked her for coming on the show. “Just you being here shows you’re an ally. Thank you,” Brooks said.

“I love hearing Maren share her story because a lot of times with country artists, they can’t really express their more progressive ideals,” Spice added. “Just her being here shows she’s down to roll with the LGBT.” (Was that a CupcakKe reference, Spice?)

Before the show, Morris said she would be fulfilling a “decade-long dream” of guest-judging on the show.

The country singer, who has partnered with GLAAD in the past, has long advocated for LGBTQ+ rights. Several months ago, she publicly called out Jason Aldean’s wife Brittany for making a post that reeked of transphobia, saying she was thankful for her parents “not changing my gender.”

At the time, Morris wrote back, “Sucks when Karens try to hide their homophobia/transphobia behind their ‘protectiveness of the children.’” At the time, Aldean hatefully equated transitioning with “genital mutilation.”

The timing of her Drag Show appearance was perfect. Drag queen Loosey LaDuca impersonated a God version of Dolly Parton (and did so flawlessly), and Sasha Colby, the only trans competitor this season, won the episode’s comedy-acting competition after making RuPaul cackle.

“I have loved this show for so many years and it’s crazy how far Drag Race has come because you all look like you’re walking on the finale right now,” Morris told the queen.

“Absorb as much as you can,” she added. “Learn from your sisters here in the Werk Room.”

After the second week of competition, the Drag Race cast is down to 14 members following the elimination of Princess Poppy, who lip-synced for her life against Amethyst.

Strays is Margo Price’s fourth album. A Nashville country music outsider, originally from Illinois — a stray of sorts herself — she came up through the city’s independent scene, gigging in the bars and clubs on its east side. Mainstream labels shunned her. Her debut album, 2016’s Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, was the first country record released by Jack White’s Third Man Records, a rock outpost in Nashville. It launched her as a successor to the outlaw country acts of the 1970s. The association was cemented when veteran outlaw Willie Nelson duetted on her follow-up album, 2017’s All American Made.

Her new songs were created during writing sessions with her musical collaborator (and husband) Jeremy Ivey. It does not take long to detect the pair’s use of magic mushrooms to oil the artistic wheels; no longer than the opening moments of the album, in fact, during which a trippy organ haze evokes a mirage-like vision of The Doors. The song that emerges from this haze is “Been to the Mountain”, a shamanistic psych-rock stomper inspired by Patti Smith, with lyrical riddles from the school of Bob Dylan (“Well, I wish I was God but I’m glad that I’m not”).

Co-produced with Price by Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty), Strays takes the singer’s wayward path through country music almost completely off-piste. “Light Me Up” is a Led Zeppelin-indebted number in which levees break and Tom Petty’s sideman Mike Campbell plays wah-wah guitar solos. “Radio” combines twangy country guitar licks and symphonic swells of sound with an electronic beat and a guest vocal by indie music star Sharon Van Etten. Both are enjoyable, although not quite as charged as they would perhaps like to be.

Matters move up a gear with storytelling songs such as “County Road”, a touching heartland rocker about small-town suffocation, and “Lydia”, an intense orchestral ballad about abortion, drug addiction and the war on women’s bodies. It includes an example of Price’s lyricism at its sharpest, when its opioid-addicted protagonist sleeps with a man twice her age for a fix. “Really though,” Price laments, “it was anything but sleeping.”

★★★☆☆

‘Strays’ is released by Loma Vista Recordings

An update on Lisa Maria Presley.

According to TMZ, Presley is currently in an induced coma and on life support after suffering “full cardiac arrest.” She was also given a temporary pacemaker.

Her mother Priscilla Presley released a statement to The New York Post upon arrival to the hospital:

“My beloved daughter Lisa Marie was rushed to the hospital. She is now receiving the best care. Please keep her and our family in your prayers.

“We feel the prayers from around the world and ask for privacy at this time.”

We’ll update as more information becomes available…

Elvis’ Daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, Hospitalized After Suffering “Full Cardiac Arrest”

Prayers up for Lisa Marie.

Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla, had to be rushed to the hospital today after suffering cardiac arrest, according to TMZ.

EMTs responded to a call about a possible cardiac arrest at the  54-year-old’s home in Calabasas, California.

Once they arrived, they had to perform CPR as well as administer an epinephrine shot to help her regain a pulse before she could be transferred by ambulance to a local hospital.

It’s unclear what kind of condition she’s in at this point, but she reportedly suffered a “full arrest,” and she’s getting full treatment at the hospital.

She’s still the owner of Elvis’s Memphis estate, Graceland.

Presley was just at the Golden Globes on Tuesday night in Beverly Hills, where she and her mother were there to witness Austin Butler win an award for his role as Elvis in last year’s film, Elvis.

She called his performance mind-blowing, praising the young star for his impersonation of her father:

Elvis Presley’s First (And Only) Visit To The Grand Ole Opry

When you think of rock ‘n roll, what’s the first name that comes to mind?

Many would definitely say Elvis Presley.

Dubbed The King of Rock and Roll, the man changed the music world forever, although some of reasons he changed the game (shaking those hips like a madman), was the reason a lot of people didn’t like him.

Especially, in the country music world.

With rock music being relatively new, Elvis sort of fell into the country music genre when his very first single, “That’s All Right,” contained a cover of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass hit “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” on the B-side.

A 19-year-old Elvis had just burst onto the music scene, and ultimately landed him a spot at the Grand Ole Opry. However, his rocking cover of “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” didn’t sit well with the traditional country crowd.

According to NPR, Elvis actually sought out Monroe to apologize for re-working his song and performing it on the Grand Ole Opry. Monroe was rather gracious, and biographer Richard Smith says Monroe would later come to appreciate those big royalty checks.

“Bill recognized what Elvis Presley was doing with his song, and he was going with it.

And it was very, very admirable, I think, of him to pick up on that, and to tell Elvis that he was for him 100 percent if it would give him a start in his career.”

Not to be outdone by his own song, Monroe would then head back into the studio to re-record and even faster version of the song with triple fiddles.

However for Elvis, his experience on the finest stage in all of country music was… a forgettable one.

The Opry talent manager at the time, Jim Denny, allegedly even told Elvis to:

“Go back to driving a truck in Memphis.”

Needless to say, the performance was a total flop. Elvis vowed to never return to the Grand Ole Opry, and he never did.

However, much like Hank Williams before him, after Elvis shit the bed at the Opry, he started performing on the competitor show, Louisiana Hayride.

And the rest is history.

Here’s a clip of Elvis’ first performance on Louisiana Hayride, way back in 1954: