(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1955) Johnny Cash’s daughter topped the country charts 11 times in the 1980s, starting with ‘Seven Year Ache’ (1981). Ten were solo hits and ‘It’s Such A Small World’ (1988) a duet with her then-husband, Rodney Crowell. In 1985, she won a Grammy for Best Country Female Vocal Performance. Covering her father’s ‘Tennessee ...
One of the most revered figures in modern country music, Johnny Cash’s vast, half-century-long body of work as both a songwriter and singer encompasses an extensive tapestry of musical Americana – everything from prison songs and railroad ballads, to folk-style broadsides and even clever novelty tunes like ‘A Boy Named Sue’. As a singer, he immortalized a ...
(Guitar, singer-songwriter, 1932–2003) Arkansas-born Cash enjoyed a 49-year career involving several periods of huge popularity. After USAF service, he formed a trio with Luther Perkins (guitar) and Marshall Chapman (bass). Auditioning for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, Cash played rockabilly. He scored more than 20 US country hits and several US pop hits before signing ...
(Vocals, b. 1955) Born Rebecca Carlene Smith, the daughter of June Carter and Carl Smith, she worked on The Johnny Cash Show and with The Carter Family after her mother married Cash. During the first half of the 1990s, she returned to country music, after a period in the rock world and early albums with Dave ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1950) A member of The Hot Band from 1975–77 as Emmylou Harris’s duet partner, Crowell wrote contemporary classics for her, including ‘’Til I Gain Control Again’ and ‘I Ain’t Living Long Like This’. After a modest start in chart terms with Warner Bros. in the late 1970s, his second Columbia album, Diamonds ...
The Carters (A. P. 1891–1960, Sara 1899–1979 and Maybelle 1909–78) are the most extensive clan in country music, encompassing three generations of performers and connections by marriage to other artists. This is fitting, for their musical influence is pervasive, too. Near the dawn of country music as a commercial entity, they were its first successful family ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, b. 1957) Oklahoman Vince Gill paid his dues, first in high-school band Mountain Smoke, then with Sam Bush in Bluegrass Alliance around 1975, and was a member of Pure Prairie League from 1978–80. Gill joined The Cherry Bombs in 1981, backing Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash, and befriended musician/producer/label executive ...
When Steve Earle (b. 1955) was released from prison on 16 November 1994, it had been four years since he had released a studio album and three years since he’d done a tour. During that time lost to heroin and crack, much had changed in the world of country music. The charismatic but mainstream-pop-oriented Garth Brooks (b. 1962) was ...
New country took many years and miles of travel before its current evolution – not least the new traditionalist movement of the 1980s, which returned country music to its roots. Garth Brooks (b. 1962) did it far more quickly, but that’s a different story. Sometimes it seemed like these artists were chipping away at a mountain with nothing more ...
The most influential country act of 2001 was a band that didn’t even exist. The Soggy Bottom Boys were the prime attraction on O Brother, Where Art Thou ? the soundtrack album that topped the country and pop charts and sold more than four million copies. The group revived the late 1930s and early 1940s sound when old-time string-band music ...
The legend of Sun Records seems to expand and shine brighter with every passing year, as successive generations discover the almost unbelievable array of musical gems that were created at that modest little studio at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis. Sun was the brainchild of one man and it is no exaggeration to say that without his contribution, not ...
Country music and gospel have always been close partners, since many gospel acts come from the American South, and Nashville, the home of country music, lies in the heart of the Bible Belt. Numerous influences abound within the Church, stretching from traditional shape-note singing that goes back several hundred years, to today’s contemporary and Christian ...
The singing cowboys did not have the monopoly on country music on the silver screen, although it was their breed that first caught Hollywood’s attention. By the time the 1940s rolled around, several of Nashville’s top stars found that they could expand their careers by bringing their talents to the vast new audiences. Singing Stars In the earlier decade ...
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band started out in 1966 as a student jug band in Los Angeles, and in an early incarnation it included a teenage Jackson Browne. Among the group’s founder members was singer and guitarist Jeff Hanna. Both Hanna and multi-instrumentalist Jimmie Fadden are still Dirt Band members 40 years on. The extremely ambitious Will The Circle Be ...
Hank Williams and George Jones would have found the whole notion of alt-country unfathomable. Why would anyone seek an alternative to bestselling country records ? For these sons of dire southern poverty, the whole point of making country records was to sell as many as possible and maybe catch hold of the dignity and comfort that a middle-class life might ...
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An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.