Country and Folk Music

The Original Rebel Heart Brings Her Brand Of AmerEclectic Music To Nashville

September 3, 2014, Nashville, TN – The legendary Bebe Buell continues her remarkable journey in Music City with the release of a new two-song single. Secret Sister and Hello Music City will drop on September 22nd. It will be available digitally on iTunes and on CD exclusively at Manuel and Grimey’s in Nashville. Buell’s highly anticipated release follows on the heels of recent sold-out shows at Nashville’s most prestigious venues. Buell and her band, The Nashville Aces will celebrate with a release party at Manuel located at 800 Broadway in Nashville on Friday, September 19th. This event is open to the public. It will feature live acoustic performances, food from M Street restaurants and cocktails by Deep Eddy Vodka. Complimentary autographed CDs will be given to the first 50 guests. The event is from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Buell will self-release the single through her new imprint, AmerEclectic Records. Buell coined the term to describe her unique blend of explosive Rock & Roll and Americana inspirations. This is what Music City Mike had to say about the single’s B-side “The new upbeat single Hello Music City used some clever words rhyming with “city” to get across how she was not sorry to leave New York. This one may just catch on as one of the best local songs of 2014.”
On Secret Sister and Hello Music City, Buell and her Aces, whose members include Shannon Pollard- the grandson of the great Eddy Arnold on drums, Sally Tiven on bass, and Jimmy Walls, Buell’s husband and associate producer on guitar. The project was produced by Grammy-nominated Jon Tiven, who is a songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, he also plays guitar and sax in the live line-up. Tiven has produced many music icons including Robert Plant, Black Francis, B.B. King and Wilson Pickett. “Handsome” Harry Stinson from Marty Stuart’s band, The Fabulous Superlatives is on board lending percussion and backing vocals along with renowned vocalist Beth Hooker. Hello Music City features Alabama Shakes’ Ben Tanner on keys and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Bruce Bouton on steel guitar.

Information At A Glance:
Who/What: Singer-Songwriter Bebe Buell’s Secret Sister/Hello Music City single release party
When: Friday, September 19, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Where: Manuel
Navigational Address: 800 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: 615-321-5444

CALENDAR LISTING: September 19, 2014, 6 p.m., Secret Sister/Hello Music City release party, Bebe Buell. The legendary Bebe Buell will celebrate the launch of new two-song single, Secret Sister and Hello Music City at Manuel. Manuel is located at 800 Broadway in Nashville. The event is free and open to the public. It will feature live acoustic performances, food from M Street restaurants as well as cocktails by Deep Eddy Vodka. Complimentary autographed CDs will be given to the first 50 guests.

Prepared by Milton

Anita, Iowa….. It may be the ONLY museum in America’s upper Midwest devoted to Iowa’s pioneers, settlers and homesteader’s music. It is without a doubt the ONLY museum that contains a Hall of Fame devoted to the music of these same people. According to the curator of this unpretentious undertaking, Bob Everhart, “We’ve been working hard for the past 39 years, accumulating, sorting, filing, displaying, and telling the stories about the musical instruments and the music itself that found its way to Iowa. It’s called the Pioneer Music Museum. It’s an ongoing task, and to have the museum broken into, with thieves making off with Johnny Cash’s harmonicas and Patsy Montana’s guitar is heart breaking to those of us who find their celebrity, their music, and their memories taken away so easily. I guess that’s why we keep working so hard on the building in Anita, Iowa, that has become a focal point of Iowa’s musical history.”
Everhart is a recording artist for the Smithsonian Institution. He and his wife Sheila have developed a program for the Smithsonian called a “Traveling Museum of Music.” In their performance they do the music that was popular during all the wars America has fought. According to Everhart, “We will be doing this musical presentation for a number of Iowa museums this summer. It’s especially attractive, not only to seniors, but to kids who might not know what the music was like so long ago, or what the wars were like on such a personal basis.”
The Everhart’s were honored by American Profile Magazine for their preservation work dealing with Iowa’s old-time music, and their continuing work as museum music curators in Anita, Iowa. They are members of the Iowa Museum Association, and as such, work hard keeping Iowa’s musical heritage alive.
The Pioneer Music Museum has become a focal point for tour groups, and smaller gatherings like the ‘Red Hats.’ According to Everhart, “We’ve had a number of tours already this summer, and expect more. At the same time, we are trying hard to stem some leaks in the old building’s roof, and that has become a challenge to say the least. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit group, very dedicated to Iowa’s musical memories, but we haven’t found that special sponsor or grant donor to help us keep up with Iowa’s very changeable weather, so we keep spot-fixing, hoping for the best.”
To keep the museum financially going, the Everhart’s produce and direct a festival of old-time acoustic music, now in it’s 39th year. “We’ve had to move the festival locations a few times,” Everhart said, “either because of rate increases or non-availability, but we are now in our 6th year at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds in LeMars, Iowa, the ice cream capital of the world. The event is seven days long, August 25-31 this year, and has ten stages going from 9am to midnight everyday all seven days, to accommodate the many performers of old-time music that attend. It’s also where we conduct the induction ceremonies of those going into America’s Old Time Music Hall of Fame, which is why we have the Pioneer Music Museum. Some amazingly famous and popular artists come for the ceremonies, this year is no exception with John Carter Cash being inducted on a Tuesday. John is the only child of Johnny and June Carter Cash, and is very busy and productive keeping his own family’s traditional music alive. Also going into the Hall of Fame is LuLu Roman a comedienne from the very popular television show Hee Haw, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Thursday. She is a very popular gospel singer today. Add to that David Davis of the Warrior River Boys, from Alabama, who goes into the Hall of Fame on Monday, and a host of other celebrities awaiting confirmation, and anyone who likes an older style of acoustic music can begin to see why this event has been going for 39 years in Iowa.”
The University of Iowa Mobile Museum “Iowa’s Ancient Agriculturalists” will be at the festival on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and another display at the fairgrounds ‘Round Barn’ will also be open. “It’s all about Iowa’s history,” Everhart said, “and Iowa’s music, from the very first homesteader to today. It’s incredibly entertaining, and for young people it’s incredibly educational. We even have a Tipi Rendezvous Village in an old ghost town that will be hosting an autoharp gathering, a dulcimer do, a fiddler’s jubilee, a poet’s corner, a songwriters circle, a guitar pull, a mandolin pickin’ and even a storytellers sit. We’ve offered free admission to any school that wants to have a ‘field day’ to be with us during our stay in LeMars.”
More information about the ONLY museum in Iowa devoted to Iowa’s pioneer’s music is available at their website at www.ntcma.net or telephoning them at 712-762-4363.

I thought this new, highly personal interview with Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires – just release today–might be of interest.

While not household names, these two musicians – married to each other – have achieved critical acclaim. Americana Award-winning musician Jason Isbell, formerly of Drive-By Truckers and whose latest solo album Southeastern was hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the year’s best in any genre,” recently married Texan fiddler Amanda Shires who was praised by the Huffington Post as “ha(ving) a way with words that goes far beyond her 31 years.”

Though they’ve only been married a year, the couple has already had their share of hardship: Isbell checked into rehab, Shires and Isbell both released solo albums, they’ve spent lots of time on the road, and they are still navigating the everyday complexities of settling into marriage all couples face.

On the latest episode of WNYC’s podcast DEATH, SEX & MONEY, Isbell and Shires open up to host Anna Sale for a very revealing conversation about marriage between artists, sexual temptations on the road, and the challenges of living a clean & sober life as a touring musician.

Some excerpts from the interview:

On their first year of marriage:
Isbell: I think we did a great job, we got along for a large part of it, and we don’t have the same arguments at the end of the first year that we had at the beginning of the first year. And I think that’s important. I think for anything to be successful, your problems have to become different problems over time.

On the importance of trust and how it can be unsettled by technology:
Isbell: Trust. Trust, we didn’t know each other very well. And I was a philanderer in a past life, so it was hard for her to trust me. That I was actually going to stick around, and wasn’t gonna make a fool of her. As far as—relationship wise. I wasn’t an easy person to trust, because I hadn’t been sober very long. I felt like hadn’t been a grown-up very long at that point. But I was determined. And I think we’ve had some more proof of that over the last year.

Sale: Would you put it the same way?
Shires: Yeah trust too, cus, he pretended like he put his trust more than he did. I think. All this technology and stuff, it’s easy to develop a new relationship with somebody else if you wanted to, but we got over that.

On co-parenting and family planning:
Shires: Generally when a woman has a child, the child is always left to the woman. The guy can go off touring or gallivanting around the world. I understand there’s sacrifice and everything, but I’m still a selfish person. I still want my own career and freedom and time. I want the — and I don’t know how this is gonna work, I guess I’ll see. I feel like if I do have a child, it’s something I’d be very involved in.
Isbell: I’ll be there until the baby or I’m gone from the earth. I’ll take care of it. I’m not gonna screw up on that responsibility. But at the same time, that motherly instinct when it’s combating the desire to be your own individual person for a woman, I can’t even weigh in on that. That’s just incredibly difficult for me to even wrap my head around.

On how cheating is a lose-lose situation:
Isbell: We don’t ignore it, the fact that there are other people vying for our attention. And that when you’re on the road, it makes it easier to think you can get away with stuff like that. We discuss it. If somebody’s worried, we talk about it. And usually if you name something, it becomes a lot less difficult to defeat.
Shires: Some days, I’m like, whatever he does, I have no control over his actions. Whatever he does or does not do, it’s no reflection on me. . . . Sometimes it helps me to say it right out, or say it in my brain, I’ll feel so bad for you if you f*** this up. I say it all the time.

On communication helping maintain sobriety
Isbell: I have certain things that I do when I want to drink, and usually the first thing I do is tell her I want to drink. I’m not gonna have one, so I’m not telling you this because you need to be on guard. I’m telling you this to say it out loud.
Shires: When you do that, it winds up being that we talk about why that is. For me it’s cool, I like to know what and when and why, and then, I’m just glad to be a part of it, I’m proud of you.

To hear the entire interview and read a full transcript, go to: http://www.wnyc.org/story/episode-preview-jason-isbell-long-distance-marriage/

You can also hear Jason and Amanda performing songs off “Southeastern” on WNYC’s Soundcheck here: http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/story/jason-isbell-in-studio/

Prepared by Mallika Dattatreya, Publicist of New York Public Radio, 160 Varick Street, New York NY 10013
T: 646.829.4331, F: 646.829.4327, E: mdattatreya@nypublicradio.org

 LeMars, Iowa…..”1976 was a big year for the National Traditional Country Music Association,” says Bob Everhart, current president of the organization. “That was the year of its founding, and it has been running continuously ever since. It conducts the upper Midwest’s most successful festival of early American country, bluegrass, folk, mountain, hillbilly, and western music. There’s lots of labels and genres to describe ‘country’ music, but we are pretty much in the time-frame before it became what it is today. Thirty-eight years is a long time to keep any kind of event going, and to see Mickey Gilley one of the best known country music piano players ever, to become one with America’s Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame, is indeed a recognition of the importance of the roots of country music. Mickey Gilley’s most prestigious year was that same year the NTCMA was founded, 1976, when the Academy of Country Music awarded him with Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Song of the Year, Top Male Vocalist of the Year, and Music City News proclaimed him the Most Promising Male Artist of the Year. 1976, bicentennial year celebration of the birth of America. Amazing isn’t it, that in 2013, 38 years later, this same man, Mickey Gilley, will be inducted into this kind of Hall of Fame, that emanates from rural America.”

 Gilly joins a spectacular star-studded event, that just in the past few years have inducted the likes of Bill Anderson, Jim Ed Brown, Michael Martin Murphey, Lynn Anderson, Charlie McCoy, and the legendary Patti Page. “I couldn’t hardly believe it when Patti Page told me she was coming out of retirement to join us in LeMars, Iowa, for our annual old-time music festival,” Everhart said. “She was such a gracious lady, the one single artist that made the “Tennessee Waltz” an international favorite. She made the trip just fine, came on stage to a staggering number of people, accepted their standing ovation of appreciation for her contributions to the musical genre they love, and sang some of her favorite songs. She had to use a cane, but she certainly blossomed as the entertainer she was her entire life. That was in 2010. She passed away in 2011, our event was her last performance. It is so distressing that the largest Hall of Fame for country music only inducts two or three people a year. We try to honor deserving individuals on many different levels. International, national, regional. state-wide, even locally. There are so many incredibly gifted artists in America today, many of them go un-noticed simply because the entertainment world is so locked-up in corporate control. Locked-out might be a better term.”

 Everhart is a strong advocate of keeping America’s ‘roots’ music alive, and no longer refers to contemporary country music as ‘country’ music. “We have to place ourselves in a different genre entirely,” Everhart said. “We refer to our music as ‘rural’ music now. Mickey Gilley, unlike many country artists today, grew up in that same ‘rural’ atmosphere. Natchez, Mississippi, produced not just Mickey Gilley, but his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis who emerged as one of America’s most popular rock n’ rollers, as well as cousin Jimmy Swaggert who emerged as an evangelist. What’s amazing about these three gifted cousins is they all played the piano. All three developed their own style, their own genre, their own musical personality on the piano. Certainly not the electric digitalized keyboards of today, but good old-time upright pianos, whose tones and sounds have never been adequately imitated by the electronic revolution.”

 Gilley will be inducted into America’s Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame at the annual convention/festival that Everhart still directs. Dates are August 26 through September 1, the full week before Labor Day in LeMars, Iowa. “It’s amazing,” said Everhart. “We started this with just three stages and three days, now we have ten stages and seven days, to accommodate the many pickers and players that come. There must be well over 600 entertainers, so we start at 9am and go to midnight every day for seven days, and even then we sometimes don’t have enough time for all of the participants to get stage time. We’re also very stringent about instruments, they must be acoustic, meaning we can survive even if there isn’t any electricity. We’ve had to relax the rules on a number of occasions, the bass-guitar being a substitute for the upright acoustic bass simply because there are not that many acoustic bass players around. Add to that the celebrities that attend, and it’s a formidable undertaking to say the least. Joining Mickey Gilley this year is: Joanne Cash (Johnny Cash’s younger sister); Ed Bruce (composer of ‘Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys”); Terry Smith (composer of ‘Far Side Banks of Jordan’ for Johnny & June Carter Cash); Michael Martin Murphey (probably America’s best and most successful cowboy and western singer); LuLu Roman (from HeeHaw); Kenny Seratt (the man who taught Merle Haggard how to sing like Merle Haggard); and Dr. Harry Yates (founder of Cowboy Church).”

 Everhart likes to include ‘beginners’ in the celebration. “We’ve consistently been aware that any musician or entertainer needs to ‘start’ somewhere. Just picking up an instrument doesn’t necessarily mean that person will become good at it. Therefore we have one of our stages devoted to workshops, giving free lessons and instruction on nearly every musical instrument used in early country music. It’s the same with what we call ‘jamming.’ One of our most popular jam spots is the “Patio Jam” that almost qualifies as a ‘stage’ area. We even have ‘contests’ for those a little further advanced, and then we have shows, all kinds of shows on no less than ten stages. Mickey Gilley is one of those gifted entertainers that has already seen what the top looks like. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a theater in Branson, induction into the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame, and he appeared in ‘Urban Cowboys.’ From where he came, and where he went is absolutely incredible, and we welcome him with open arms as we induct him into “America’s Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame.”

 The NTCMA also owns the Pioneer Music Museum where the Hall of Fame is located. According to Everhart, “We have been offered considerable amounts of money to either sell or move this Hall of Fame to a more touristy area, but we firmly believe that ‘country’ music should stay in the ‘country’ and Iowa is one fine ‘country’ state. Our problem with the museum is that it’s getting so full of mementos and memories of our great country music artists. We need to expand but we’re not quite at that point yet.”

 The NTCMA has a website that also features the Hall of Fame as well as their many activities at www.ntcma.net

Prepared by Bob Phillips, Correspondent for the National Traditional Country Music Association, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corp.
P.O. Box 492, Anita, Iowa, 50020 – 712-762-4363 – ruralcountrymusic@gmail.com – www.ntcma.net