|
Last Of The Breed (album)
''Last of the Breed'' is a two-disc album by American country music artists Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price, released in 2007. It debuted at number 64 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, selling about 13,000 copies in its first week. The album has 100,000 copies in the U.S. as of May 2015. The album was ranked number 33 on ''Rolling Stone''s list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007. Critical reception Mark Demming of Allmusic wrote "...at its best Last of the Breed really sounds the way these things did in the old days, and Nelson, Haggard, and Price achieve something more than nostalgia—they offer a stirring reminder of the strength of this music when country music spoke to something deeper than just a marketing demographic." In his review, music critic Robert Christgau wrote "Not much kidding around here—they're feeling their varying ages. But they ain't dead yet." Steven Deusner writes of the style, "...most of these songs sound like the trio are trying to re-create a style ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana. Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. Christgau spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for ''The Village Voice'', during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for ''Esquire'', ''Creem'', ''Newsday'', ''Playboy'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Billboard'', NPR, ''Blender'', and ''MSN Music'', and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world – when he talks, people listen." Christgau is best known for his terse, letter-graded capsule album reviews, composed in a concentrat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Beck (record Producer)
James Albert Beck (August 11, 1916 – May 3, 1956) was an American country music talent agent, record promoter, recording studio owner, A&R engineer, record producer, and music publisher from Dallas, Texas. Born in Marshall, Texas, Beck is credited with discovering and, in 1950, being the first to record Lefty Frizzell. He is also credited for introducing Frizzell and Ray Price to Frank Jones (1926–2005) of Columbia Records, which led to their first major recording contracts. Marty Robbins recorded his first hit — " I'll Go on Alone" — at Beck's studio. Beck's studio also recorded a few hits by Carl Smith at his studio. Record labels and producers who recorded at Jim Beck Studios included Decca (via Paul Cohen), Bullet, King, Imperial, and Columbia Records."Ray Price," by Don Cusic, '' The Western Way'' (magazine), Vol. 20, Issue 2, pg. 18 (Spring 2010) Voices of the Country: Interviews With Classic Country Performers'' Michael Streissguth, Routledge pg. 147 (2004) Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leon Payne
Leon Roger Payne (June 15, 1917 – September 11, 1969), "the Blind Balladeer", was an American country music singer and songwriter. Life He was born in Alba, Texas, United States. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight in the other eye in early childhood. He attended the Texas School for the Blind from 1924 to 1935. He married Myrtie and they had two children together, as well as two children from Myrtie's previous marriage. Payne died at age 52 from a heart attack in 1969 in San Antonio, Texas. Myrtie died in San Antonio in 2008, and Leon's composition "I Love You Because" was played at her funeral service by pedal steel guitarist Emmett Roch, accompanied by musicians who were members of her church. Career Leon wrote hundreds of country songs in a prolific career that lasted from 1941 until his death. He is perhaps best known for his hits "I Love You Because", "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" and the 1948 song " Lost Highway", a song made famous by Hank W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lost Highway (Leon Payne Song)
"Lost Highway" is a country music song written and recorded by blind country singer-songwriter Leon Payne in 1948. It was released in October 1948 on Nashville-based Bullet label. In the early days of Leon Payne's career, he used to travel from one place to another, trying to find jobs wherever he could. Once he was in California hitchhiking to Alba, Texas, to visit his sick mother, he was unable to get a ride and finally got help from The Salvation Army. He wrote "Lost Highway" on the edge of the road while waiting for a ride. Payne wrote hundreds of country songs in a prolific career that lasted from 1941 until his death in 1969. He is perhaps best known for his hits "I Love You Because", "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart", and for the two songs that Hank Williams recorded: "Lost Highway" and " They'll Never Take Her Love from Me". Payne released his version in October 1948. Hank Williams version As Williams' biographer Colin Escott observes, "In recent years, 'Lost High ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night", all of which were hits for other artists. In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in the country music supergroup The Highwaymen, which was a key creative force in the outlaw country music movement that eschewed the traditional Nashville country music machine in favor of independent songwriting and producing. As an actor, Kristofferson is known for his roles in ''Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid'' (1973), ''Blume in Love'' (1973), '' Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' (1974), '' A Star Is Born'' (1976) (which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), ''Convoy'' (1978), '' Heaven's Gate'' (1980), '' Lone Star'' (1996), ''Stagecoach'' (1986), and the ''Blade'' film trilo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Why Me (Kris Kristofferson Song)
"Why Me" is an American country and gospel song written and recorded by American country music singer and songwriter Kris Kristofferson. Song history Kristofferson had become the toast of Nashville in the early 1970s, with the massive success of compositions including " For the Good Times", "Me and Bobby McGee", " Sunday Morning Coming Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night", among many others. He had a hit of his own as well, with " Lovin' Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)". "Why Me" was recorded by Kristofferson in 1972, featuring backing vocals by soon-to-be wife Rita Coolidge and up-and-coming singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin. It was released on the album ''Jesus Was a Capricorn'' in 1973, and became the biggest hit of his career. According to country music historian Bill Malone, Kristofferson wrote the song during an emotionally low period of his life after having attended a religious service conducted by the Rev. Jimmie Rogers Snow.Malone, Bill, "Class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floyd Tillman
Floyd Tillman (December 8, 1914 – August 22, 2003) was an American country musician who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the Western swing and honky tonk genres. Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984. Biography Early life He was born in Ryan, Oklahoma, United States, and grew up in the cotton-mill town of Post, Texas as a sharecropper's son. One of his early jobs was with Western Union as a telegraph operator. In the early 1930s, Tilman played mandolin and banjo at local dances and eventually took up the guitar. Musical career Tillman moved to San Antonio played lead guitar with Adolph Hofner, a Western swing bandleader, and soon developed into a songwriter and singer. He took a job with Houston pop bandleader Mack Clark in 1938, and played with Western swing groups fronted by Leon "Pappy" Selph and Cliff Bruner. He also worked with Ted Daffan, and singer and piano player Moon Mullican. Till ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted in the Top 10 of the Hot Country Songs charts. His success did not carry on into the 1960s, and after becoming an alcoholic, he died at age 47. Life and career Early life William Orville Frizzell was born the son of an oilman, the first of eight children, in Corsicana in Navarro County in North Texas, United States. During his childhood, his family moved to El Dorado in Union County in south Arkansas. As a child he was called "Sonny," but later took the name "Lefty." It was believed they called him "Lefty" because he had won a neighborhood fight; however, it turned out that this tale was a part of a fake publicity stunt set up by his label. Frizzell's largest influences included the blues yodeler Jimmie Rodgers. He began listening t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harlan Howard
Harlan Perry Howard (September 8, 1927 – March 3, 2002) was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists. Career Howard was born on September 8, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up on a farm in Michigan. As a child, he listened to the Grand Ole Opry radio show. In later years, Howard recalled the personal formative influence of country music: I was captured by the songs as much as the singer. They grabbed my heart. The reality of country music moved me. Even when I was a kid, I liked the sad songs… songs that talked about true life. I recognized this music as a simple plea. It beckoned me.Retrieved 2019-03-09. Howard completed only nine years of formal education, though he was an avid reader.‘ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart Hamblen
Carl Stuart Hamblen (October 20, 1908 – March 8, 1989) was an American entertainer who became one of radio's first singing cowboys in 1926, going on to become a singer, actor, radio show host, and songwriter. He underwent a Christian conversion and became a Temperance movement supporter and recurring candidate for political office. He is best known as the composer of the song "This Ole House" (1954), most notably recorded by Rosemary Clooney and Shakin' Stevens. Early life Hamblen was born into the family of an itinerant Methodist preacher on October 20, 1908 in Kellyville, Texas, United States. He married Suzy Daniels and they had two children. Hamblen's father was Dr. J. H. Hamblen, a minister in the Methodist Church in Texas, who in 1946 founded the Evangelical Methodist Church denomination in Abilene, Texas. Career From 1931, Hamblen began hosting the popular radio program ''Family Album'' in California. He also composed music and acted in motion pictures with cowboy stars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Robert Christgau")
