This summer, Nashville, Tennessee's Runner of the Woods released their debut album Thirsty Valley. The Huffington Post has premiered the video for "Easy On Me."
 
Watch it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/elysium-chatting-with-al_b_7939142.html
 
Thirsty Valley has previously been embraced by The Bluegrass Situation, Guitar World, PopMatters and Elmore Magazine, who said that the album is "reminiscent of the vocals and vibe of fellow alt-country rockers Wilco."

In the video for "Easy On Me," Beaudoing wanted to depict the meditative effect of the great outdoors.  “Being on or near a lake makes you think differently,” he says. “You can get contemplative and let your mind drift to memories both good and bad.”

www.runnerofthewoodsmusic.com
www.twitter.com/runnerothewoods
www.facebook.com/runnerofthewoods

AUSTIN, Texas — Cold and Bitter Tears: The Song of Ted Hawkins, due October 23, 2015 on Austin-based Eight 30 Records, marks the first tribute album to the soulful Venice Beach street performer, a legend overseas later in his lifetime but a songwriter largely overlooked in the States. Hawkins simply sang like songs were stamped on his heart at birth. Evidence: High watermarks on the new record such as “Big Things” (James McMurtry), “Cold and Bitter Tears” (Kasey Chambers), “Sorry You’re Sick” (Mary Gauthier), “Who Got My Natural Comb” (Shinyribs) and several other classics. Hawkins himself backs the point with the album’s hidden track, the moving unreleased demo “Great New Year.”

The Mississippi native, who died January 1, 1995 after a hardscrabble life and brief autumnal rise in popularity, might be gone but he’s clearly not forgotten. Local Americana power trio including singer-songwriter Kevin Russell (Shinyribs, The Gourds), artist manager Jenni Finlay (James McMurtry) and writer Brian T. Atkinson (author of I’ll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt) have lovingly co-produced Cold and Bitter Tears over the past year with sessions mostly at Austin’s Wire Recording.

"There are many meaningful, inspirational, and important happenings on this musical life journey and I will say that having had the great fortune to meet Levon Helm, and play music along side him was at the very top of my list. Levon was a soulful and beautiful spirit through and through, perhaps the most soulful and inspiring musician I've ever heard or watched play. I had the great honor of playing the Midnight Ramble after recording ‘Wood And Stone’ [2011] there and I am very excited to be returning to The Barn with Donna The Buffalo. It is a truly special place. A truly hallowed hall." --Tara Nevins, Donna the Buffalo
 
Gates 6pm/ Show 8pm; Seating $35/ Standing Room $25
More info at http://levonhelm.com/midnight_ramble.htm
Levon Helm Studios: 160 Plochmann Lane, Woodstock, NY 12498 
845.679.2744

Donna the Buffalo has toured the nation for over twenty five years with an ever-evolving grassroots sound and plans to keep on doing so for many years to come.

Take a look at their official music videos:
“Working On That” -> http://bit.ly/1eXPofS
“I Love My Tribe” -> http://bit.ly/1i9fy9Q

For more information and tour dates, please visit www.donnathebuffalo.com
facebook.com/donnathebuffalo and twitter.com/donnathebuffalo

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – (August 5, 2015) – Blaster Records recording artist and former Navy veteran, Jared Ashley launches the Flight Deck Veterans Group, a national fraternal non-profit organization. Before releasing his debut single “Last Train to Memphis” and gaining national recognition for his talents as a singer-songwriter, Ashley served four years in the United States Navy aboard the USS Independence and USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carriers serving two tours in the Persian Gulf.

“I created Flight Deck Veterans Group with the mindset that flight deck veterans are a rare breed, it's a brotherhood like no other,” explains Ashley. “It's who I am and it's a cherished part of my history. I'm learning that our members have this constant urge to serve, whether it be locally in their communities or with fellow veterans.”

Shellback Caribbean Rum recently announced a partnership with Ashley, who will serve as an ambassador for the brand. Named for the brotherhood of mariners who have voyaged across the Equator, Shellback Rum is inspired by these sailors' sense of camaraderie and adventure. As someone who achieved the distinction of becoming a shellback on the USS Kitty Hawk in July 1999, Ashley will join Shellback Rum to honor this proud naval tradition and the spirit it represents. In his new role for the brand, Ashley will bring his music and vision to military bases around the country as well as events held by his new charity. The Georgia native has new single coming this fall and an album in early 2016. 

Flight Deck Veterans Group Mission Statement:

“The objective of the Flight Deck Veterans Group is to promote camaraderie between veterans of US Military Flight Deck Service. In doing so the goal is to support one another and pass on the history and legacy of our veterans and flight deck operations to each other and the public.” 

The new organization already boasts nearly 16,000 Facebook members, and has begun working to give back to various causes through events such as Operation Cherrybend: A Hero’s Hunt, a week-long pheasant hunt and songwriters event supporting wounded vets held on a 640-acre game preserve in Wilmington, Ohio set for October 7 -10, 2015. The hunt pairs five singer-songwriters with five wounded vets for a wonderful week of outdoor sportsmanship and song.

(Nashville) Singer Sammy Sadler is still best known in country music circles as the survivor of the 1989 shooting on Music Row that took the life of his friend, Cash Box chart manager Kevin Hughes. The stalwart performer, however, has never wavered in his devotion to sharing the music that he loves. Now, he’s got a new single, and a straight up country tour with some well-known friends.

Sadler has released “Thinking About Mexico,” a song that appears on his latest album, Heart Shaped Like Texas.Music journalist Robert K. Oermann calls the tune “solid” and “listenable” and says that it “features the strongest singing of [Sadler’s] career to date.” With the characteristic “Texas sound” that Sadler loves, “Thinking About Mexico” includes pedal steel and mariachi horns in a lilting melody.

Sammy hasn’t restricted his music endeavors to the studio. Along with some gifted pals, he’s launched the Takin’ The Country Back Tour, feeding the public’s fervor for a taste of more traditional country music. The tour features music from Salder’s Everything’s Gonna Be Alright and Heart Shaped Like Texas albums. Sammy is joined by Ken Mellons, who shares his own fan favorites, including “Jukebox Junkie,” “Rub-A-Dubbin” and “Working for the Weekend.” The team has begun touring at festivals, fairs and venues across North America, and is accepting bookings for 2016.

New to the tour is Jeff Carson, whom fans will remember for his hit single “Not On Your Love” which shot to #1 in the mid-90’s and was followed by the Top 10 hit, “The Car.” Carson stepped away from music in recent years, and joined the police force in Franklin, Tennessee, where he still works. He’ll join Mellons and Sadler on upcoming Takin’ The Country Back Tour dates.

Sadler was signed to Evergreen Records and reached the country charts in January 1989. Before his third chart entry, "Once in a Lifetime Thing," in 1990, the singer wounded when he and Hughes were approached and shot in Nashville. Hughes had been the target, as the result of his uncovering a chart-fixing scheme. Although he was just a bystander, it took Sadler more than 10 years to reestablish his career. He released Hard on a Heart in 2004, and has continued to perform and record.

Now living in Texas, Sadler is also writing his autobiography, planned for release in 2016.

(New York, NY) — August 6, 2015 — When “The View” called Grammy-winner Lee Ann Womack to appear on a special show honoring the military, she was scheduled for a vacation with her family. But considering the show – where she’d appeared after receiving her 2015 Best Country Album Grammy nomination for The Way I’m Livin’ – she asked her family if she could take a two-day detour to Manhattan before meeting them in Montana for their camping trip.

“You plan these things with your family so far in advance, and everyone starts looking forward to it,” says the East Texan. “Then you realize all these folks have been looking forward to being reunited as a family, and what else would you do? Thankfully, Frank and Anna share my feelings about families who’ve been separated being reunited.”

Womack literally rebooked, rescheduled and returned to New York to perform a very intimate version of Hayes Carll’s vintage country-feeling “Chances Are” for the audience, many of whom had been brought in for this very special show. When she finished the ballad, there was a moment of silence, then the crowd erupted into applause; ultimately turning the cheers into a standing ovation.

“I wasn’t really sure if it was going to go over,” says the 6-time Country Music Association Award winner. “I know how much I love classic country music, but it’s not for everyone. Then when I finished and saw people’s faces, there wasn’t a person sitting there who couldn’t identify with what the song’s about: making mistakes, or decisions that didn’t work out – and still wanting to hang onto that hope, because that hope is all there is.”

Womack understands. Stepping away from the mainstream record business, she’s spent the last year supporting The Way I’m Livin’, a stripped back progressive country album featuring songs from Grammy-nominee Adam Wright, Julie Miller, Chris Knight, Bruce Robison and Neil Young. The Wall Street Journal was the first to recognize her passion, writing “she sounds as if she’s making up for lost time.”

The only country album on Esquire’s Top Albums of 2014, Livin’ received a rare four star (out of four) review from USA Today, while Rolling Stone offered it “feels like something Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings would have crafted back in the Seventies.” Spin was more succinct: “The best of her career.”

Beyond the Grammy nomination, Womack received two Americana Music Association nominations –  Artist and Album of the Year – and two CMT Video Music Award nominations –  Female Video (“The Way I’m Livin’”) and CMT Performance (“Crossroads” with John Legend). Just as importantly, she found herself recording with Dr. Ralph Stanley, part of the Fairfield Four and McCrary Sisters’ PBS “Rock My Soul” gospel special with Lucinda Williams, Amos Lee and Buddy Miller, part of tribute shows for Emmylou Harris in D.C. and Waylon Jennings in Austin and co-hosted the International Bluegrass Music Awards with Jerry Douglas.
You can see the performance and an interview about her incredible year August 11 on ABC’s “The View.” Check your local listings for air time.

Nashville, TN --- August 6, 2015 --- Critically acclaimed rock artist Jonathan Tyler and his longtime band announced a list of Texas tour dates this afternoon. Over the next week, the band will be making stops in Austin, Dallas, Wichita Falls, The Woodlands, New Braunfels and Hitchock.  It’s a virtual homecoming for the Dallas bred band that burst onto the national musical and touring scene in 2010 with the release of PARDON ME.  The friends are back with their highly anticipated follow up album HOLY SMOKES due in stores this Friday, August 7. 

Rolling Stone is raving about HOLY SMOKES boasting “The new album plunges deep into Tyler’s ability to conjure oozing, brooding take on Americana full of dirty riffs and distortion; spinning pedal steel into atmospheric wisps of smoke on songs like “To Love Is To Fly,” mixing in strokes of Seventies southern rock on others, like “Honey Pie,” that sounds like a Creedence Clearwater lick wrapped in Lou Reed’s leather jacket.”  Today, fans will have a chance to listen to the full album for the first time exclusively on RollingStone.com.

The new album reveals a more pensive and sophisticated Tyler and band who have learned their lessons while navigating the rollercoaster of life on the road, major festivals, major labels, drugs, booze, great love and great loss. HOLY SMOKES delivers a solid dose of the sexy swagger, blistering rock guitars and rebellion that fans have come to expect from the group. Also present is an older and wiser Tyler who tips his hat to the Gram Parsons style of country that set the Hollywood Rock scene ablaze in the late 60’s. 

“It's time for the band and I to get back on the road and play,” said Tyler. He added, “It's what we love to do more than anything else. We spent the past 3 years tangled up in contractual webs (leading us to part ways with our label and drop the name The Northern Lights.   Brandon, Jordan and I can’t wait to get back on the road, and we’re bringing a few new faces with us, a rotating cast of players if you will.   We’re looking forward to sharing the new music with the fans we've come to love over the years.  We also look forward to making news fans out of people that are hearing our music for the first time. “ 

The first single “River Bottom,” was penned by Brandon Pinckard the group’s long time guitar player (formerly known as The Northern Lights).  The single is currently available at iTunes and is being played at AAA radio across the country. Tyler wrote or co-wrote the bulk of the tracks on the album including the infectious groove of “Honey Pie,”as well as “My Time Ain’t Long,” a co-write with renowned Texas troubadour and legend, Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Texas Tour Dates:
August 6 - Austin, TX - Waterloo Records
August 6 - Austin, TX - Stubb's
August 7 - Wichita Fallas, TX - Iron Horse
August 8 - Dallas, TX - Good Records
August 8 - Dallas, TX - Trees
August 12 - Houston, TX - Cactus Records
August 13 - The Woodlands, TX - Dosey Doe
August 14 - New Braunfels, TX - Gruene Hall
August 15 - San Marcos, TX - Superfly's Lone Star Music Emporium
August 15 - Hitchcock, TX - Rowdy Day Festival

For more information or a complete list of tour dates log onto www.jonathantylermusic.com.

OLLERSODE, Germany — Inarguably a major recording act, Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991) sold an estimated 90 million albums worldwide, and charted 17 Top Ten country singles and four Top Ten pop singles over a 35-year recording career. And he played significant — and pioneering — roles in radio and television broadcasting.
 
On September 25, 2015, Bear Family Records will release Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of an American Singer (1949-1960). The deluxe 12x12x1.5-inch box set contains 154 tracks on five CDs including all of the secular-themed studio recordings from the first dozen years in the career of one of the most important crossover acts in the history of American popular music. The package also contains a 124-page hardcover book with newly written essays, track-by-track album notes, a discography, label scans, and many rare photographs and illustrations. The book was authored by three-time Grammy Award-nominated music historian Ted Olson, Ph.D., from the department ofAppalachian Studies/Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Studies Program at East Tennessee State University. Olson also produced the reissue.

Announced today, via an email newsletter, is something that makes me incredibly happy. Singer-songwriter Jeff Crosby will release a new album, Waking Days, on November 6th. We'll watch for more information as it becomes available. 

For now, preview new music here.
For more informaiton visit his official website.

Nashville, Tennessee -- The Nashville Songwriters Association International(NSAI) has announced April 5-9, 2016 as the dates for the 24th Annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival. The ever-popular event presents hit songwriters from all genres of music performing at a variety of intimate Nashville night spots.Regions Bank returns for the ninth year as the presenting sponsor of the event.
Produced by NSAI, Tin Pan South reigns as the world's largest all-songwriter festival. This year, over 350 talented songwriters performed 92 shows at ten of Nashville's top music venues. Thousands of music fans attend the event annually to hear songwriters tell stories behind hit songs they have written and perform the songs as they were originally composed.

Stay tuned to tinpansouth.com in the coming months for information about venues, lineups, the popular Fast Access Passes and more.

About NSAI: The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world's largest not-for-profit songwriters trade organization. Established in 1967, the membership of more than 5,000 spans the United States and 10 foreign countries. For more than 40 years, NSAI has been dedicated to protecting the rights of and serving aspiring and professional songwriters in all genres of music. For more information, visit nashvillesongwriters.com.