News

A new tribute album to David Olney puts the late songwriter’s poetic lyrics in the hands of artists like Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Mary Gauthier. Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney will be released Oct. 18 via New West Records.

Ahead of the album’s release, two songs are available now: a rare live recording of Townes Van Zandt, who ranked Olney alongside Mozart, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Bob Dylan, singing “Illegal Cargo,” and the Steeldrivers’ version of “If My Eyes Were Blind.”

Born in Rhode...

For the majority of John Oates’ professional career, solo work was a means to keep busy and creatively fulfilled between the Daryl Hall & John Oates projects that took up most of his time. But now that the duo has hopelessly fractured after more than 50 years of partnership, Oates has the time to concentrate all his energies on his own music, beginning with his new LP, Reunion, out May 17.

The album is the culmination of years of work and features original compositions he wrote with A.J. Croce, Keith Sykes, Jim Lauderdale,...

In 1973, Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia fulfilled a longtime dream when he formed the bluegrass supergroup known as Old & In the Way. For the rock & roller, circling back to his acoustic roots was more than just scratching a creative itch — it was a spiritual calling.

“It was something that was organic and fun,” Peter Rowan, singer, songwriter, and former Oitw guitarist, tells Rolling Stone. “And that evolved into playing [shows]. ‘Let’s take this outside.’”

On the ground level, Old & In the Way’s self-titled 1975 debut album was one of the...

When Tyler Childers was named Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Honors & Awards, he let loose with an acceptance speech for the ages, denying the very term “Americana” and pointedly declaring himself a country artist.

“As a man who identifies as a country music singer, I feel Americana ain’t no part of nothin’,” he said onstage at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium that year. “It is a distraction from the issues that we are facing on a bigger level as country music singers.”

Despite that sharply worded speech,...

The first time Grammy-winning Americana/bluegrass act Steep Canyon Rangers played the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, the group was adorned in full suits and encircling a lone microphone.

“It was probably around 2004,” Rangers singer-banjoist Graham Sharp tells Rolling Stone backstage at the recent Suwannee Spring Reunion festival. “We’ve been able to trace our band and its evolution through this festival, from being a traditional bluegrass band to being whatever the hell we are now — this place is a natural home for that.”

Sandwiched...

The most common question at the annual AmericanaFest – a SXSW-style multi-venue music festival held in Nashville since 2000 – is “what is Americana?” “Diverse” seems to be the answer, after decades of favouritism shown towards white, male country singers.

At the event’s opening awards ceremony, which takes place at The Ryman, aka country music’s “mother church”, the sensational Canadian songwriter Allison Russell picks up a well-deserved Album of the Year for her illuminating solo debut Outside Child. Other gongs go to bluesy husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty, flamboyant gypsy jazz renegade Sierra Ferrell, and the Grammys-conquering LGBT+ icon Brandi Carlile. There’s still room for the old guard, too. Robert Plant, Chris Isaak and Lyle Lovett all make appearances, as does the great Lucinda Williams, while tribute is paid to late honky tonk singer-songwriter Luke Bell, who died last month aged 32.

Aside from the established names, AmericanaFest is also a hotbed of young talent.

Kelsey Waldon’s new song “Sweet Little Girl” opens with a dramatic introduction from Jim Lauderdale, who intones, “All the way from Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky, here’s Kelsey Waldon.” And with that, she’s off, delivering a country music tale of hard living, self-medicating, and yearning for home.

“I’m gonna drink myself drunk/I’m gonna get myself high/anything just to make the time pass by,” Waldon sings in “Sweet Little Girl,” the first taste of the songwriter’s upcoming album No Regular Dog, out Aug. 12. Her...

The Black Opry Revue, Joshua Ray Walker, Miko Marks, Asleep at the Wheel, Town Mountain, Sunny Sweeney, Kaitlin Butts, and James McMurtry are among the first batch of artists announced for AmericanaFest 2022. The annual celebration of roots music returns to venues around Nashville from Sept. 13 through 17.

The 89 artists announced on Wednesday marks just the initial dump of performers ­— hundreds typically play the festival. This year’s lineup also marks the official AmericanaFest debut of the Black Opry, a collective of Black country artists that, since loosely coming together for the...

Old Crow Medicine Show cut loose with a bright blast of roots-rock in their new song “Paint This Town,” the title track from the Nashville band’s upcoming album due out April 22.

Paint This Town, the group’s seventh studio album, follows 2018’s Volunteer and sees the group moving back to former home Ato Records. This time around, Old Crow kept things close to home, co-producing the album with Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, John Prine) at their own Hartland Studio.

With its jangling guitars, harmonica, and decidedly rocking drums, “Paint...

The first round of performers has been announced for AmericanaFest 2021, which takes place in Nashville September 22nd to 25th. Among the 240 total artists scheduled to showcase at venues around Music City are Kelsey Waldon, Allison Russell, and Joshua Ray Walker.

More than 160 artists were announced on Wednesday, including singer-songwriters Kathleen Edwards, Arlo McKinley, William Prince, and Brandy Clark; roots patriarchs and matriarchs Rodney Crowell, Jim Lauderdale, and the McCrary Sisters; and scruffy alternative acts Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Early James, and the Pine Hill Haints, among many others. Also of...

Americana stalwart Jim Lauderdale has released a new song titled “Memory” from his upcoming 34th album Hope, which will be issued July 30th via Yep Roc.

Following the first single, “The Opportunity to Help Somebody Through It,” the new track was co-written with longtime collaborator the late Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

A laid-back strummer that has shades of the Rolling Stones’ early Seventies output, “Memory” is both a song of mourning and praise for those who’ve departed. Lauderdale sings of the pain left by someone’s absence but...

The Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion has announced its 2021 lineup. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Tanya Tucker, Blackberry Smoke, Dr. Dog, and Yola are among the artists headlining the September festival, held at the “Birthplace of Country Music,” the Tennessee-Virginia border city of Bristol.

The 2020 Bristol Reunion was canceled because of the pandemic, but the 2021 is set to return September 10th through 12th. Along with Isbell and Tucker, the lineup includes the Steeldrivers, recent Grand Ole Opry inductee Rhonda Vincent, Hayes Carll, Jim Lauderdale, Amythyst Kiah, Town Mountain, Charley Crockett, Morgan Wade,...

Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, and Rosanne Cash are part of the all-star lineup slated to perform for the newly announced streaming concert Keep the Music Playing. Presented by Nashville online broadcaster Acme Radio Live and sponsored by Jack Daniel’s, the June 17th event will benefit Music Health Alliance.

With performances taking place in a variety of well-known Nashville locations, from the Ryman Auditorium to Dino’s, Keep the Music Playing will feature both live and pre-taped music. Radio personality Justin Hammel and Kathie Lee Gifford will host the benefit,...

Beginning today at 6 pm Et, SiriusXM Outlaw Country will become “John Prine Radio Paradise” as the satellite radio channel devotes an entire weekend of programming to the cherished American songwriter, who died Tuesday at 73.

Prine will be remembered with special episodes of shows hosted by Steve Earle, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, and Alamo Jones. Prine’s music, along with archival interviews with the singer, form the basis of the tribute. In one recollection with the radio personality Alamo Jones, Prine talks about the time he met Bob Dylan.

The unexpected rendezvous,...

Rosanne Cash, John Oates, Keb’ Mo’, Soccer Mommy, and Shovels & Rope are among a diverse group of artists banding together for a new online telethon to raise money for the MusiCares Covid-19 Relief Fund. The “People Supporting Artists Telethon” will air live from Nashville on Saturday, April 11th, at 7 p.m. Et, via peoplesupportingartists.com.

Dubbed “PSA,” the telethon will mix at-home musical performances with a lo-fi throwback vibe, skits, and personal stories from those who have benefited from MusiCares. Other performers include Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez,...

It’s easy to hear the bluegrass origins of Seattle band Western Centuries when they harmonize on the line “oh my darling” in the new “Every Time It’s Raining.” But the song, off the upcoming album Call the Captain, also shows how truly diverse this roots group is: There are elements of Muscle Shoals R&b in the guitar line, funk in the backbeat, and soul in singer Ethan Lawton’s pained delivery.

Western Centuries premiere a video for the track today, in which its members look like gang-member extras in Peaky Blinders.

North Carolina-born songwriter and Renaissance man Jim Lauderdale will pay tribute to the Tar Heel State with the March 6th release of his latest bluegrass album, When Carolina Comes Home Again. The follow-up to 2019’s From Another World, the LP features Lauderdale collaborating with other North Carolinians, including Steep Canyon Rangers, Balsam Range, Town Mountain, and Songs From the Road Band.

Songwriters who contributed co-writes to the forthcoming project include the late Grateful Dead lyricist (and longtime Lauderdale collaborator) Robert Hunter, as well as John Oates, Charles R. Humphrey III,...

Austin City Limits presents an all-star Americana special this weekend, with more than a dozen performances and other highlights from this year’s Americana Honors & Awards ceremony.

Premiering Saturday on PBS, the hour-long episode was taped at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in September and includes a performance by Album of the Year winner John Prine, who sings his “Angel From Montgomery” with the artist who brought the song wider recognition, Bonnie Raitt.

“I’ve been singing it since 1973 or so, when I first started to tour with John,” Bonnie Raitt...

Set in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina for more than three decades, MerleFest has presented a lineup of country, folk, bluegrass, and Americana musicians that have placed the event in the pantheon of must-visit music festivals. The 2020 four-day event, taking place April 23rd through 26th, will continue that tradition with appearances from Willie Nelson and Family, Alison Krauss, the Jerry Douglas Band, Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush, Donna the Buffalo, Peter Rowan and the Free Mexican Airforce, and dozens of others. The complete lineup will be announced in the coming months.

The 30th annual International Bluegrass Music Awards took place in Raleigh, North Carolina, Thursday night with Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers taking the top prize, Entertainer of the Year, with their very first nomination in that category. Mullins and band also shared the Collaborative Recording of the Year, for “The Guitar Song,” with Del McCoury, who adds to his already impressive tally of awards with a second win in the Album of the Year category for Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass.

Other first-time honorees include Vocal Group of the Year Sister Sadie,...

Singer-songwriter and award-winning multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens will have to clear some space for a new trophy come September, as she’s one of the first two recipients — along with late folk musician Frank Johnson — of the inaugural Legacy of Americana Award. The prize will be presented at the 18th annual Americana Honors & Awards on September 11th.

The Americana Music Association, in partnership with the Nashville-based National Museum of African American Music (set to open in early 2020), created the award to honor a musical figure “who has either made a lasting...

Since Americana became an official radio format in 1995, myriad male artists have been proclaimed the godfather of the roots-based genre. But few deserve the title more than Jim Lauderdale, who, having released more than 30 albums over the past three decades, has worked in all of the elements that help define Americana: country, folk, bluegrass, blues, gospel, and rock.

With his new LP From Another World, the stylistically similar follow-up to 2018’s Time Flies, Lauderdale continues to showcase his exceptional prowess with lyric and melody, which accounts for the vast number...

Over the course of his songwriting career, Kendell Marvel has spent time in the same rooms as many Nashville heavyweights, including Chris Stapleton (“Either Way”) and Jim Lauderdale (“Twang”). Even so, he had a rare moment of intimidation when he was working on his new album and producer Dan Auerbach scheduled a writing session with beloved neo-traditionalist John Anderson.

“He’s right there at the top with Hank Jr. and Randy Travis for me,” says Marvel. “He’s got that big voice. I call him a drive-by singer — he sounds...

Nashville’s annual AmericanaFest has announced its final lineup of performers, a list that, like the Americana genre itself, represents roots-based country, folk, bluegrass, blues, and rock. Among the new additions: Shawn Colvin, Brent Cobb, Sarah Potenza, Andrew Bird, Drivin N Cryin, Nicki Bluhm, Andrew Combs, Sierra Hull, Foy Vance, the Quebe Sisters, Maggie Rose, Orville Peck, and Jesse Malin.

With 150 acts now added to the already stacked lineup, the Americana Music Association’s annual conference will feature some 500 performances from a total of almost 300 artists throughout the six-day event.

Even without the comfy chairs and floor lamp to set the mood, once Buddy and Julie Miller took the stage Wednesday night at Nashville’s City Winery it was as if they had invited the audience into their living room. Backed by a small group of musicians including Colin Linden on guitar, the couple delivered a brisk and blissful 45-minute set consisting mainly of songs from their recently released album, Breakdown on 20th Ave. South, which takes its name from the street on which their actual living room is situated.

Marty Stuart has lined up three all-star evenings with entirely different themes for his stint as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Artist-in-Residence, which begins September 11th in Nashville. Joining the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist throughout the series of intimate shows are fellow performers including Chris and Morgan Stapleton, Old Crow Medicine Show, John Prine, and Emmylou Harris.

The first of the three evenings, titled “The Pilgrim,” will take place September 11th and celebrate the 20th anniversary of Stuart’s album The Pilgrim. Joining him for the evening...

Choosing a life as a touring musician usually means following a path that exists outside of convention: more long drives than white picket fences, more debt than desk jobs. It’s not always easy, but it’s almost always rewarding, a dichotomy that Michaela Anne explores on her new song “By Our Design.” The first release from her forthcoming LP Desert Dove (out September 27th on Yep Roc), “By Our Design” is a gorgeous meditation on picking the road not taken, matching Anne’s rich vocals with wistful strings arranged and played by Kristin Weber.

Tanya Tucker, Jade Bird and Dylan LeBlanc are among the initial wave of artists confirmed to perform in Nashville during the 2019 AmericanaFest. The annual celebration of roots and roots-related music takes place September 10th to 15th and includes the Americana Honors and Awards on September 11th.

In its 20th year, AmericanaFest will spread out across Music City venues like 3rd & Lindsley, Mercy Lounge and the Station Inn with performances from a diverse group of artists both established and emerging. Among those are Americana Awards nominee Yola, blues rockers Marcus King...

Individually and as collaborators, married Nashville songwriters Buddy and Julie Miller have provided a steady stream of material for artists from Emmylou Harris and Levon Helm to Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert to record. But with Buddy also multi-tasking as a solo artist, producer and touring musician, and Julie slowed by years of chronic health issues, the couple have only released two albums together: 2001’s self-titled LP and 2009’s Written in Chalk. While the latter bore both their names, it was mainly cobbled together from Julie’s songwriting demos and...

The fifth annual Outlaw Country Cruise has announced its 2020 lineup, with a mix of veteran cruisers from past years and new-to-the-voyage artists setting sail in late January.

Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle, two of the 2019 cruise headliners, are set to return, along with the Mavericks, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Son Volt, Jim Lauderdale, Carlene Carter, Kinky Friedman, the Waco Brothers and Bottle Rockets. Curated in part by SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country, the lineup includes many of the satellite-radio channel’s personalities, including Shooter Jennings, Elizabeth Cook, Dallas Wayne, Roger Alan Wade,...

For the first time in a decade, Buddy and Julie Miller, two of Americana music’s most influential artist-songwriters, have announced the release of a new album. Breakdown on 20th Ave. South reunites the couple – married since 1981 – for their first collaborative LP since 2009’s Americana Music Association Album of the Year, Written in Chalk.

In advance of the June 21st album release, New West Records has issued the project’s first single, “Spittin’ on Fire” backed by “War Child,” with both tracks highlighting the couple’s ragged harmony borne of...

Jim Lauderdale goes searching for the ancient mysteries of love in his new song “The Secrets of the Pyramids,” the first track to be premiered from the Americana legend’s latest LP, From Another World.

Due to be released on June 21st, From Another World features 10 tracks all written or co-written by Lauderdale, including “The Secrets of the Pyramids,” which he wrote with new artist Logan Ledger. The sunny romance ballad comes with a cheeky music video that sees Lauderdale poring over texts in a library and, in the process,...

It’s a little after 2 o’clock on Great Stirrup Cay — Norwegian Cruise Line’s “private island” in the Bahamas — and the Bacardi Beach Bar is blaring Steve Earle’s escapist 1986 rocker “Someday.”

About 200 yards away in a discreet cabana, within earshot, sits Earle himself, reclining on a chair in sunglasses and a Shooter Jennings T-shirt. It’s an off-kilter juxtaposition, the sober since 1995 singer listening to one of the songs from his drugging years as it serves as the soundtrack to unleashed vacationers getting hammered on the beach.

That,...

George Strait will release his 30th studio album, titled Honky Tonk Time Machine, on March 29th. Its arrival ends an uncommonly long gap in output for the famously consistent Country Music Hall of Fame member, whose previous full-length album Cold Beer Conversation came out in 2015.

To coincide with the album announcement, Strait has released the new song “God and Country Music,” penned by Luke Laird, Barry Dean and Lori McKenna and featuring an appearance by Strait’s grandson Harvey. Describing the titular subjects as equally sacred (and reliable) concerns, Strait sings,...

When the fourth annual Outlaw Country Cruise docked in Nassau in the Bahamas on Wednesday morning, it picked up a new passenger: Country Music Hall of Fame member Bobby Bare. The 83-year-old singer, who became synonymous with the Outlaw genre via progressive albums like Bobby Bare Sings Lullabys, Legends and Lies, boarded the ship for two special concerts, one with his son Bobby Bare Jr., and another that evening as the subject of an all-star tribute.

Emceed by Deadwood actor — and perennial tribute host — W. Earl Brown, the production was a loose,...

With four days of eclectic roots-based music set in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the 2019 MerleFest lineup continues a longstanding tradition of diversity. Wynonna & the Big Noise, first-time MerleFest performers, will be joined by Keb’ Mo’, the Earls of Leicester, Sam Bush, Tyler Childers, Peter Rowan and the Free Mexican Air Force, among many others at next year’s event, set for April 25th through 28th on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

“I’m thrilled to finally be a part of MerleFest and...

On Wednesday night, the Milk Carton Kids stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to play a pair of songs off their latest LP, the spritely “Younger Years” and a brooding, somber rendition of “All the Things…”

Pulling both songs from their June release, All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do, the duo started off with “Younger Years,” a true group effort that saw Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale share the singing, with Pattengale trading off guitar solos with the steel and violin players.

Lucinda Williams had been knocking around the music business for two decades by the time she released Car Wheels on a Gravel Road in the summer of 1998. By that point she had released four other solo albums, but she was still best known as the writer behind the Mary Chapin Carpenter hit “Passionate Kisses.” It was a time when country was going in an aggressively pop direction thanks to the enormous success of Shania Twain’s Come On Over, and Top 40 was just beginning to be consumed by the likes...

As the 17th annual Americana Honors & Awards drew to a close at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Wednesday night, the star power came out in full force. Lined up along the front of the stage were Brandi Carlile, Irma Thomas, Courtney Marie Andrews, the War and Treaty, and Ann McCrary of the McCrary Sisters to sing Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools.” Having accounted for at least three of the evening’s biggest musical highlights to that point, it was a surefire cast for the grand finale.

There was...

The Americana Honors & Awards ceremony is the flagship event of every AmericanaFest, which officially got under way on Tuesday in Nashville. First held in 2002, the ceremony honors both emerging talent as well as genre icons, and has, over the last 18 years, championed the careers of beloved artists like John Prine, Margo Price, Jason Isbell and Bonnie Raitt.

This year, the Milk Carton Kids, who released their latest album All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do earlier in 2018, will host the show for the first time.

In a city marked by rapid population growth and an ever-changing skyline, one annual tradition has brought some sense of regularity to Nashville’s late summer: the Americana Music Festival and Conference. The festival has ballooned in size over the years, matching Nashville’s own growth with an increasing number of participating venues, day parties and attendees.

The Americana Honors & Awards ceremony is the festival’s centerpiece. While the Grammys unveil their Americana category winners before the actual TV broadcast, this event is a different beast, pushing roots music — and...

Lucinda Williams will mark the 20th anniversary of her Grammy-winning LP Car Wheels on a Gravel Road with a 10-city tour this fall. Launching November 2nd in Collingswood, New Jersey, the trek includes a two-night stand at the Paradise in Boston, with stops in New York, Chicago and Toronto, Ontario. Williams will perform the critically acclaimed album in its entirety, followed by a second set of songs from throughout her career.

The late Nineties recording — then shelving and re-recording — of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is now the stuff of legend.

On July 15th, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium kicked off the first show in a series of six called “Americana at the Ryman.” Slated to become an annual event, the series celebrates the best and brightest in Americana and roots music in the city at the epicenter of the rapidly growing genre.

The first show was an all-star celebration billed as Buddy Miller and Friends, featuring Lee Ann Womack, Tony Joe White, the McCrary Sisters, Elizabeth Cook and Parker Millsap. That show was followed by the July 22nd installment, which showcased...

The final group of artists slated to perform during the annual AmericanaFest in Nashville have been revealed, with Amanda Shires, Tyler Childers and Rosanne Cash joining the annual music festival’s lineup.

This year’s edition of the six-day festival will also include showcases by Birdtalker, Buddy Miller, Chris Shiflett, Elizabeth Cook, Paul Cauthen, Richard Thompson, the Lone Bellow and many more. They’ll join a vibrant list of previously announced Americana-friendly singer-songwriters and bands like Brandy Clark, American Aquarium, John Prine, Milk Carton Kids, Ashley Monroe, Jim Lauderdale, Asleep at the Wheel,...

Jim Lauderdale has long been a man with cool to spare. That makes him well-placed to recognize the warning signs, and so the Americana legend gives an even-keeled pep talk on “Wearing Out Your Cool,” the latest release from his upcoming LP Time Flies.

Barreling along with a sped-up Peter Gunn backbeat, “Wearing Out Your Cool” swings and boogies with finger-snapping nonchalance. Augmented by female backing vocals and a lounge-singer-smooth sax solo, Lauderdale gives some helpful advice to someone who needs to pump the brakes a bit. “You don’t...

If you think country music is all about love and pickup trucks, then it's time to take a walk on the dark side of a genre where houses with abusive husbands are routinely blown up and you don't want to imagine what's lurking at the bottom of the river. From women who have had more than enough from their lying, cheating spouses to a boy named Sue hellbent on finding his scoundrel of a father, these are some of the best country songs about revenge. Some of these anthems are funny - like Travis Tritt offering his ex a quarter when she comes crawling back to him - but many of them will send a chill down your spine.

Just remember: dusty country roads hold plenty of secrets, and before you go seeking revenge, you might want to channel Tritt instead of Carrie Underwood, no matter how jaw-dropping her anthems about making men pay are.

MerleFest, presented by Window World, finished its 31st year on a high note with an unparalleled performance by the Steep Canyon Rangers, special guest Steve Martin, and surprise appearances from Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Bryan Sutton, and Jens Kruger of the Kruger Brothers.

Early estimates show that from its start on Thursday, April 26, to its close on Sunday, April 29, participation over the festival’s four days exceeded 75,000 attendees and artists from across the world. MerleFest, held on the campus of Wilkes Community College, is the primary fundraiser for the Wcc Foundation, which funds scholarships, capital projects, and other educational needs.

More than 120 incredible performers contributed to the success of this year’s festival, some as returning artists and some as newcomers. In addition to The Steep Canyon Rangers and Friends with special guest Steve Martin, this year’s lineup included Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson, The Mavericks, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn,...

MerleFest, presented by Window World, is proud to announce the initial lineup for MerleFest 2018, which will be held April 26 – 29.

The annual homecoming of musicians and music fans returns to the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The complete lineup for MerleFest 2018 will be announced over the next few months. Today’s lineup announcement includes legendary artist Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson, Robert Earl Keen, The Devil Makes Three, Balsam Range and the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble, “Mission Temple Fireworks Revival” featuring Paul Thorn & Band, the Blind Boys of Alabama and the McCrary Sisters, and many more. The 2018 Midnight Jam presented by The Bluegrass Situation on Saturday, April 28th will start at 10:30 p.m. and run well past midnight, with special hosts Town Mountain and Jim Lauderdale. This very popular after-hours hootenanny gathers many performers from the festival for impromptu...

The moment is finally here! After four seasons of Seriously Why Can't They Be Together, Rayna (Connie Britton) and Deacon (Charles Esten) are finally getting married on Nashville. And yes, this wedding is actually happening. "Forever and Always," the wedding episode, will be chock full of performances from the series regulars you know and love (including Esten, Clare Bowen, Sam Palladio and Lennon and Maisy Stella) and cameos from country music superstars (Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts and singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale). Of course, there will be a few last-minute wrinkles in the plan, but what would a TV wedding be without an eleventh hour disaster? The important part is that at the end, Rayna and Deacon will...

After a long winter's break, Nashville returns to ABC this week with new episodes and the long-awaited wedding of Deacon Claybourne (Charles "Chip" Esten) and Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton). The show, now in the last half of its fourth season, continues to blur the lines of fiction and reality, with upcoming appearances slated for Kelsea Ballerini and Thomas Rhett, who will portray themselves. Also just announced to appear as herself, according to the Hollywood Reporter, is pop singer Kesha.

In addition to their cameo roles (in separate episodes), Ballerini and...