Hank Williams

The Ten Best Country Albums of 2012

By Alan Scherstuhl This list of the year's best country albums is assembled with two important premises in mind: First: If the people who record and listen to these records consider them country, than they're damn well country. Purists who argue that country should still sound like '68, '76, '84 or ... More >>

Notable 2012 deaths in country music

Get out your hanky so you don't spill a tear in your beer; from Susanna Clark to Kitty Wells, several legendary country singers and songwriters passed on in 2012, and their loss is felt keenly as our connection to a better time in traditional country goes slippin' away.

Lindsey Buckingham, Aimee Mann, RNDM, and more

Get out your hanky so you don't spill a tear in your beer; from Susanna Clark to Kitty Wells, several legendary country singers and songwriters passed on in 2012, and their loss is felt keenly as our connection to a better time in traditional country goes slippin' away.

Old Crow Medicine Show / Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys

Get out your hanky so you don't spill a tear in your beer; from Susanna Clark to Kitty Wells, several legendary country singers and songwriters passed on in 2012, and their loss is felt keenly as our connection to a better time in traditional country goes slippin' away.

Justin Townes Earle at Varsity Theater, 5/7/12

Justin Townes EarleVarsity Theater, MinneapolisMonday, May 7, 2012There were a few times last night when all fell silent inside the Varsity Theater, save for Justin Townes Earle. He paced around the stage, wearing a pair of round eyeglasses and a gray suit with a kerchief tucked in the breast pocket ... More >>

Dave Olson ventures into Americana with Pieta Brown (INTERVIEW)

The country music scene is often overlooked in place of more organic genres, but St. Paul-based musician Dave Olson really isn't classified as country. On his new album, Dave takes the Americana-folk genre and puts a different, yet simple spin on songwriting. Collaborating with Pieta Brown, Benson R ... More >>

Janiva Magness on the art of passion and foster care

​Blues music is the balm for the broken-hearted, and Janiva Magness sure has the magic touch for healing a broken heart. On her new album, Stronger for It, the accomplished singer reveals  and album that is milky, nourishing and intimately comforting -- all whilst acknowledging the transienc ... More >>

Hank Williams III at First Avenue, 11/29/11

​Hank Williams III November 29, 2011 First Avenue, MinneapolisIt's not every Tuesday night you get to see three (or four, or five) genres of music performed in one place, particularly genres with names like "cowpunk" and "hellbilly." If you were at First Avenue last night you were in luck - a fine ... More >>

Hank Williams' alter-ego eulogized by House of Mercy this weekend

​Funerals are a sad affair, attended perhaps more often out of social obligation than chance for celebration and commemoration. This weekend, the folks at St. Paul's House of Mercy want to give music fans a chance to change that sentiment. "So many of us don't think about death. It's a thing ... More >>

The Funereal Remembrance of Luke the Drifter

​Funerals are a sad affair, attended perhaps more often out of social obligation than chance for celebration and commemoration. This weekend, the folks at St. Paul's House of Mercy want to give music fans a chance to change that sentiment. "So many of us don't think about death. It's a thing ... More >>

11 country songs for "Occupy MN"

You load 16 tons, whaddya get? Well, you'd be lucky to get a coal mining job these days. Okay, so lucky's perhaps not the most apt word, but plenty of folks would be happy to get one, anyway. Today, in recognition of the horse muck the folks in power have gotten us stuck in, and in honor of the fo ... More >>

Roy Acuff, born on this day in country music history

​If Roy Acuff hadn't been born on this day 1903 in Maynardville, Tennessee, third of Ida Carr and Simon E. Neill Acuff's five children, Tennessee might not be the hillbilly capital of the world today. Least, if you ask former Tennessee Governor Prentice Cooper, that might be so. Not that you ... More >>

Jake Manders releases a collection of songs 15 years in the making

​Dubbing Minneapolis native Jake Manders as a songwriter is partially accurate; he is also a raconteur who has carefully crafted a collection of songs that narrate his life. Manders' self-titled project is rooted in 1994, when he first picked up the guitar and harmonica. A prolific writer, ... More >>

David "Stringbean" Akeman's murderer up for parole

​Today, we remember the gone-but-not-forgotten star of the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw David "Stringbean" Akeman, whose murderer came up for parole this week.

Top 10 country songs for Father's Day

​Another tie, another jar of cologne, another set of cuff links, another Father's Day. Do you call your dad, send him a card, buy him some tools? Or how about you dedicate a collection of Father's Day songs to him by reposting this Top 10 list to his Facebook page? First, you'll have to frie ... More >>

Lucinda Williams: Lightened up and in love

Blessed album due March 1

10 country songs about fightin'

​On this day in country music history, in an evening session in a studio on Nashville's storied Music Row, Johnny Horton recorded "The Battle of New Orleans." While his version became the best known over the years, peaking at Number One on both Billboard's Hot Country Singles and its Hot 100 lists ... More >>

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan at the Cedar, 10/23/10

​Isobel Campbell and Mark LaneganOctober 23, 2010The Cedar Cultural CenterOn one of the busiest nights for music in the Twin Cities in recent memory, the choice of which of the numerous high-profile shows I was going to attend on Saturday night was always going to be a difficult one. In the end, t ... More >>

Mac Davis's birthday and 10 ramblin' songs

Today, one of country's best relationship-phobes turns 68. Ten songs to get hooked on... but not too hooked. I don't want no clingin' vine! You're smothering me!

George Jones says call a cab or ride a lawn mower

Not that it's ever a good time, but now's an especially bad time to pull back one too many at your local saloon then crawl on to your riding lawn mower to mosey on home.

Hank III reminds us we'll never get out of this world alive

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, Hank III is whiskey bent and hellbound.

Play it again: Top 10 Reissues of 2008

C.J. Chenier

Lucinda Williams, Matthew Sweet, and more

Wayne "the Train" Hancock

Terrance Simien

Jon Langford and Rico Bell

Holmes Brothers

Van Morrison

Glad Pastures

The Rural Pop and Android Fuzz of They the Down Low

An Interview with John Fogerty

The Rural Pop and Android Fuzz of They the Down Low

After the Deluge

Surveying the Katrina benefit albums

Woebegone indeed

Surveying the Katrina benefit albums

Christmas of the Pod People

What are those little white boxes with wires telling us to do?

Just Like Heaven

Are Sufjan Stevens's love songs guided by a higher power? God only knows.

Get Stuffed

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is sometimes hard to swallow

Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Americanaphiles

Mark Thomas Stockert to country fans: "Shut up your cryin', cowboys are always alone"

Real Life Rock Top 10

Natalie Merchant does an about-face; Joe Strummer's countenance appears on the wall; Stephen Tyler loses his head

Letter to the Promised Land

Nineteen ways to keep the faith in these desolate times

One Foot in the Grave

A melancholic Beck waxes fatalistic on 'Sea Change'

Love Songs, Nothing but Love Songs

Musicians and critics discuss their favorite aural aphrodisiacs

Damned Ole Opry

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

Death Becomes Them

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

Dixie Chicks: Fly

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

Artists of the Year

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

Give Until It Hurts

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

Ich Bin Ein Berliner

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

Marah: Let's Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later On Tonight

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

various Alstons: Family Name

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home

Another Country

With their croaking vocals and enormous belt buckles, Nashville's neglected veterans seek shelter at the Midwest Country Music Theater-- a little bit of Branson back home