JW: A Sentinela (Fácil de Ler) (wsT MP3): Recent Episodes
Born in 1989
On the eve of the biggest and most expensive festival in the UK Country music calendar, why have the genre's promoters suddenly gone 'on-sale' crazy? There's been a deluge of concert announcements and ticket on-sales in the week leading up to this year's C2C festival and that continues in the week after too.
James speculates why this is and argues that some tough choices may be having to be made in ranches, homesteads and corals around the UK this week as surely people can't afford to go to everything?
Thomas Rhett released his new single, 'Look What God Gave Her' on Friday 1st March. It prompted James to get all philosophical about Rhett's musical journey and our own evolution as fans and as consumers of music. Is Thomas Rhett doing a 'Taylor Swift' and transitioning into a pop artist or should we all accept the blurring of the genres and the breaking down of the barriers between styles?
In this week's episode James looks at the car crash of a song that is 'Women' by Florida Georgia Line. Released last Friday (Feb 1st) in anticipation of the the February 15th release of their new album, 'Can't Say I Ain't Country' and featuring Jason Derulo - 'Women' is the third in a trilogy of songs performed by male Country artists after Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley also added their voices to the conversation last year.
Is this is a case of 'down with the patriarchy' or have the FGL boys something meaningful to add to the ongoing discussion of gender politics in Country music?
Listen in and you'll soon hear what James has to think about the whole thing.
This week, James reacts to the announcements from the C2C festival regarding the artists chosen to play the Spotlight stage, the Indigo stage and all the other stages and rooms around the O2 site in London this March. Tickets for Aftershow parties go back on sale this week and James helps guide you through his recommendations of which singers and bands to check out across the three days. Two things to add to the podcast: 1. Caroline Jones should have featured but for some reason James missed covering that bit from his notes. Please check out her 'Bare Feet' album, one of the best produced, multi-layered and damn catchy Country albums you'll hear this year and catch her at C2C too 2. We recommended Foreign Affairs and billed them as Lyric Magazine Class of 2019 Artists, which they aren't, unfortunately! It's wishful thinking on our part - we wish they were and we would have them join the group in a heartbeat because they are that good.
Enjoy and start planning your weekend now!
This week James looks at his own changing tastes and those of the people he sees around him and proposes a philosophical statement that the longer you are into Country music, the more Country you become. He goes on to suggest this is why mainstream Country music, so derided and shunned in some quarters of the genre these days, is still important and that you have to see people's musical journey's as an ongoing, fluid evolution and not something static.
This week 10 Minute Country is more like 40 Minute Country!! We have a big chat with Lars Pluto, who is a larger-than-life musician and character on the UK scene right now. His band, The Reavers, have new music, 'Dear Country Music' coming out on January 24th.
Lars is an American, born in Georgia to a family of professional musicians but he has lived over here in the UK for about 8 years now, playing gigs and appearing on stage in touring productions playing the likes of Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.
He has strong opinions about Country music and speaks on subjects like UK Country, the Nashville scene and the American Country charts, The Wandering Hearts, Ags Connelly, the BCMA and the UK festival scene with passion. You may not always agree with what he has to say but it is fascinating to listen to Lars speak.
So, sit back - grab a coffee and enjoy a huge conversation about American and British Country music with someone who was born right in the beating heart of Georgia.
Welcome to the first episode of 2019. In this one, James looks forward to the year ahead and tries to pinpoint some of the highlights on the way. Whether it be album releases, tours of festivals, James gives a shout out to the events he is most intrigued and excited by.
This week James looks at his top ten albums of the year. He also examines a few close misses and gives a shout out to some awesome Country Christmas albums. It will be the final podcast of the year but he will be back and talking all things Country in early 2019.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
James was blown away, again, by seeing The Wandering Hearts live in Birmingham. They are well on their way to becoming national treasures with their brand of undefinable Country-Folk and with Ruston Kelly in tow, someone who, in 'Dying Star', has produced one of the best albums of 2018, this was a gig not to be missed. Going to see a 'roots' gig in Birmingham is a double edged sword these days - listen and find out why.
Country radio is never far away from the news these days. Whether it's because of a lack of female artists or because a lot of the songs sound the same on there, social media is continually awash with chatter about it. The top 60 Country chart is particularly weird this week and James explores some of the oddities surrounding it and poses the question, ultimately, does anybody actually need Country radio anymore?
This week James examines whether you have to have a good album out to win the coveted Entertainer of the Year award from the CMA. He looks at the criteria for the award to see if Keith Urban was a deserving winner and then goes further to look at artists that he feels have been overlooked in this category before. James also predicts, almost a year in advance, which artist will win the award in 2019!
In this week's episode James, inspired by a recent review he did for Lyric Magazine of Lucy Grubb's new EP, 'Dear Walter', re-imagines the TV show Game of Thrones and the great ruling houses of Westeros by replacing the actual characters with singers, writers and performers from the UK Country music scene! It's a bit of fun and no offense is intended to anyone, particularly not Robert Gulston from Holloway Road, who might have got the rough end of the deal for no reason whatsoever really!
Good luck to all the UK artists featured in the upcoming BCMA awards event in Harrogate across the weekend of the 24th November - you're all winners in our book!
Social media has been full of tales of people's Country concerts being spoilt this Autumn by people talking, shouting and using their phones during Country music concerts in the UK. This is a worryingly new development so, this week, James is addressing the issue of why it might be happening and what we can do about it.
James caught up with Chase Rice in Birmingham this weekend and managed to grab a quick 10 minutes with him on his tour bus before showtime. The interview starts with Chase 'sound checking' a new song, 'Buddy's Bar' which he then played for the first time anywhere that night. We talked about the success of 'Lambs & Lions', Chase returning next March for C2C, 'Cruise', Manchester City and much, much more.
In this episode we get to hear all about Sarah Darling's exciting new project, 'Wonderland', which is due for release on March 1st 2019. She talks about the feel and theme of the album, drops a couple of teaser song titles and discusses the Pledge Music Campaign behind it. For more details about our chat, including her thoughts on the artwork and imagery for 'Wonderland', Christmas time & Christmas music and life as an independent artist versus record label check by Lyric Magazine's website - www.lyricmagazine.co.uk - on Monday 29th of October for the full interview.
James is back, with a 10 Minute Country special, recorded on the evening of Monday 22nd October after the announcement of the 2019 C2C Festival line up. Listen to his thoughts on the bill and reactions to Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Chris Stapleton being confirmed as headliners.
This week James looks at the issue of 'authenticity' in Country music. Being 'authentic' is something that a lot of artists are applauded or criticised for and we look at what that means and whether 'authenticity' is in the eye of the beholder or whether it can be defined and analysed.
In this week's episode James looks at what he considers to be the five greatest Country albums of the past 25 years although in reality it's really the past 28 years, he'll explain why in the podcast. There are some shout outs to some honourable mentions too that nearly made the top five.
In this week's episode James looks at what he considers to be the five greatest Country albums of all time, although when he says 'all time' he really means since 1993 and even then one of the albums pre-dates that! There are some shout outs to some honourable mentions too that nearly made the top five.
In this episode, which is episode 11 and not 10 as stated by James in the podcast, we catch up with UK singer/songwriter Danny McMahon to discuss his entrance into the UK Country scene, his influences and his two EP's. You can also hear clips of Danny playing live. He has recently been nominated for two BCMA awards so we are not the only people catching on to his talents!