Loretta Lynn

Nanci Griffith

The Nashville Network premiered 30 years ago today... and now it's back

Thirty years ago today, something big happened in country music. On March 7, 1983, just two years after MTV and the Buggles ushered onto our television sets a consistent -- well, for a time -- rotation of pop music programming, The Nashville Network premiered. It revolutionized the country music vid ... More >>

Ten country songs to bring on the spring

March is that time of year when we forget everything we've ever come to know about the month's wild mood swings. We ignore the weatherman's prognostications, and throw on shorts and short sleeves at the first sight of melting (read: slushy, gray, disgusting) snow. And so by our interpretation, guess ... More >>

Loretta and Doolittle Lynn got married 65 years ago today

Child marriage in coal mining country. Infidelity, alcoholism and gospel music. Loretta Lynn's success as a recording artist seems improbable unless one considers the rich vein of songwriting material that was her birthright. And it was on this day in 1948 that Lynn married Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr., ... More >>

The ten most depressing country Christmas songs

Country music is a genre of dysfunction -- between the drinkin' and the cheatin', the relentless (and borderline creepy) adoration of one's "mama" and the occasional stint in the can. And yet, for as much as country artists love singing about the holidays, these themes rarely creep into country Chri ... 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.

Ten facts 'bout Minnie Pearl on her 100th birthday

For over fifty years she was an integral member of the Grand Ole Opry, and today, Minnie Pearl would have been 100 years old. In honor of the most beloved character in country music this side of Little Jimmy Dickens, here are ten essential facts you should know about the Gossip from Grinder's Switch ... More >>

Critics' Picks: Deerhoof, Built to Spill, GZA, and more

Nanci Griffith

Miranda Lambert on her new album and married life with Blake Shelton

Country singer Miranda Lambert has made a name for herself as a feisty, strong, torch-your-ex's-house-if-he-screws-you-over kind of girl. While she's still as tough as ever, her newest album Four the Record gives fans a chance to see a softer side of Lambert. As she prepare to perform a sold-ou ... More >>

RIP, Kitty Wells: An appreciation of a banned star

By all appearances, she was the sweetest thing in the world, with her affable and rarely rowdy singing voice, her hoedown-ready ginghams, and her marriage to a cabinet-maker when she was just 18, a union that would last nearly 74 years and which would see Nashville undergo multiple musical transitio ... More >>

Bret Michaels talks Poison, reality TV, and his health ahead of solo show Saturday

By Nicole CrosbieFormer Poison frontman Bret Michaels has kicked off his solo summer tour, and will perform at the Medina Entertainment Center this Saturday. See what Michaels has to say about reality television, his health, his new album, and reuniting with Poison in his interview with Gimme Noise.

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 >>

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 >>

Top 10 sibling acts in country music history

​On this day in country music history - July 14, 1973 - Phil Everly threw a dang old fit, smashing his guitar after performing the song, "('Till) I Kissed You" and walking off the stage, effectively breaking up the Everly Brothers while performing at Buena Park, California's Knott's Berry Farm ... More >>

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 >>

Mighty Swell's Spring Sale

Loretta Lynn: Happy 73rd (75th? 79th?) Birthday!

​She's been secretive about the year, but on April 14th 1932, or '36, or maybe '38, Loretta Webb was born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, and grew up the daughter of a coal miner first in a rustic mountain home with no electricity or water, and later in a four-room house down in the holler.

Patsy Cline's strange death, on this day in country music history

​On this day in history 1963, Patsy Cline performed her last show ever before dying at the age of 30. But it was the events that happened in the ensuing weeks (and years) that were truly notable... and, well, weird.

Lucinda Williams at Dakota Jazz Club, 2/20/11

Photos by Tony Nelson​Lucinda WilliamsFebruary 20, 2011Dakota Jazz Club, MinneapolisSnowstorms be damned. While over a foot of snow came wafting down from the clouds last night, the Dakota Jazz Club was dry and packed for the first of three sold-out solo performances by Lucinda Williams.

Best Coast, Wavves, and No Joy at the Varsity, 02/11/11

Photos by Anna Gulbrandsen​Best Coast, Wavves, and No JoyFebruary 11, 2011Varsity TheaterIt's not often that an opening band steals the spotlight from two far more prominent headliners, especially by playing what amounted to only a 20 minute set. But that is just what happened at the sold-out Var ... More >>

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 >>

Best Concerts of 2010

​From beginning to end, 2010 has kept us busy running from venue to venue in pursuit of some phenomenal live music. Gimme Noise's team of writers and photographers fanned out across the Twin Cities to catch as many shows as we could, and each of us ended up with our own diverse and distinctive lis ... More >>

Crystal Gayle at the O'Shaughnessy, 11/6/10

Photo by Nikki Miller​Crystal Gayle November 6, 2010 O'Shaughnessy Auditorium There is one issue in this country that has proven more polarizing than any other, in the past 30 years reconstructing party politics, weighing deeply on the hearts and minds of every American citizen, occasionally ... More >>

Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys

Two Door Cinema Club, the Dandy Warhols, and more

Miranda Lambert leads CMA nominations; Carrie Underwood scratches, yawns

Photo by Nikki Miller​This week, The Country Music Association announced the last of its nominations for the 2010 CMA Awards, set to air live on Wednesday, November 10th on ABC with Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood returning as hosts for the third consecutive year. The awards, voted on by ind ... More >>

Lilith Fair coming to Minneapolis July 18; Heart confirmed

Lilith Fair is coming back after a long hiatus and Heart announces the date on their web page.

Eleni Mandell

Ariel Pink, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and more

Ben Kweller shines; The Watson Twins should sha-sha-shush

It was mixed bag night at the Varsity Theater.

Holly Golightly and the Broke-Offs

Matt and Kim, Joan Baez, and more

October Show Schedule: OMG

Don King's knockout video game tops this week's pop culture picks

Plays Well with Others

Never mistake a supergroup for a side project

Tacoma's Got Coal Mines, Too

A patio debate over country savior/faker Neko Case

Things Come Together

What new DVDs by the Roots and Dolly Parton tell us about hip hop and country music's parallel lines

Top 100 songs of the 2000s

Why Don't We Do It On The Road?

10 days on the road with Friends Like These

The Hipster and the Harridan Queen

Memo to Jack White: You're the reason Loretta Lynn's songs are ugly

White Lies

Caucasian rockers addicted to black blues. So-called siblings with an intimate past. Meet the myth of Detroit's White Stripes

Keeping the Faith

You Can Count on Me fulfills an old contract of honest storytelling

Sweethearts of the Rodeo

Chicago transplants Neko Case and Kelly Hogan carry the torch for 21st-century twang

Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

The Kinleys and Shelby Lynne offer womanly alternatives to Nashville's bombast of latter-day chastity

Dixie Chicks: Fly

Southern Discomfort

Hello Rock Star and other salutations that may never reach the ears of the seriously talented but lamentably underappreciated singer-songwriter Marlee MacLeod

Band Stand

35 concerts to soundtrack your summer.