RAISING EYEBROWS… “The music business is evolving. Just when you think you’ve got the hang of how something works it changes. I have found myself in situations where everyone has conflicting advice, so I listen, take it all on board and then trust my intuition to make the right decisions. I’ve made some mistakes but I […]

If I wanted snowboarding tuition from a particular coach trained in Canada, and would like the interior of my home painted by the owner of the same experienced pair of hands, then currently I would have to wait some considerable time! The reason is that this multi-talented individual is now releasing her first album of […]

HER OWN PERSON Stella Parton, will probably always be referred to as Dolly’s younger sister, despite the fact that in a career that stretches back almost forty years she has carved her very own niche in music. A multi-faceted entertainer and true song stylist, Stella has built up a fan base world-wide, not only through her […]

“This popularity fever pitch is not gonna last forever, and to be honest with you, I don’t think that I could take it …” says a contented and more mature Kenny Chesney.Kenny Chesney’s sold millions of albums as a hard-rocking country singer with lots of electric guitars and big, energetic stage shows. In America he […]

“It sort of served… as an awakening. It’s like wow—I’m just another whiny white kid with a guitar!” An inspiration to the heart of the folk tradition and an impenetrable force in the music industry, Ani DiFranco has set a precedent which hundreds of singer-songwriters, bands and artistes have followed and continue to follow. In 1989, […]

‘If we could only fly, there’d be no more lonely nights’ In the pre-dawn hours of February 1, 1989, Blaze Foley, Texas renegade and gentle outlaw, intervened in a dispute between an elderly friend and the man’s estranged son, allegedly over a welfare cheque, during which the young man discharged a single shot from a .22 […]

Country music isn’t what it used to be. It has become a mixture of pop lyrics and rock beats under the title of country while not really clinging to the original context of the genre. I’m a longtime fan of country music sticking to it through all the ups-and-downs and stylistic changes. I even like […]

Following the release of TOWN BEYOND THE TREES in March of this year, the Storys have continued to go from strength to strength and ultimately shape their career as a long-standing Americana/country-rock band on the UK country music scene. A tricky start regarding the band’s beginnings has meant they have all been ready for unhappy […]

The lyrical prowess of Two Fingers of Firewater is something that will continue to separate them from the candy coloured ten-gallon hat style of modern country that Nashville seems to love these days. Soon to be classic one-liners like: ‘I can count the grains of sand, I can count the rain’ from Endless Highway and […]

The majority of bluegrass outfits in the UK tend to be ageing, bearded guys singing in fake American accents playing banjos, mandolins and guitars at frantic speed with little of the finesse and taste of their American cousins. But over the past few years that stereotype is gradually undergoing a change with newer, younger singers […]