Emmylou Harris photo by Rocky Schenck, courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

Emmylou Harris is teaming up with Rodney Crowell, her famed Hot Band’s original guitarist, for a duet album, reports Billboard.com. They are working with producer Brian Ahern, who first worked with Emmylou on her major label solo debut, Pieces of the Sky, in 1975.

“At one point before the Hot Band, the Hot Band was me and Rodney sitting around with two acoustic guitars learning Don Gibson songs,” Emmylou said. “It’s kind of a thing we always said, ‘We’ve got to do a duet record,’ and he’s been busy and I’ve been busy. But earlier this year I just decided that I wanted to do a record with him, and if we didn’t book it and plan it and set aside some time, it would be something we’d get to the end of our lives and regret we’d never done it.”

The album will feature mainly cover songs, but they have considered songs Rodney wrote for others but never recorded himself. They are pretty far along in the recording process, but have been battling sickness and hope to finish the project soon. They are hoping to play a few shows together as well.  “I’m sure we’ll do something, but he’s got his career and I’ve got mine, so I don’t know what we’ll be able to do for sure,” Emmylou said.

This year is also the 25^th anniversary of Emmylou’s first Trio album with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton. To celebrate, the GRAMMY-winning collaboration will be re-released alongside 1999’s Trio 2 (as well as session outtakes), in a boxed set. Emmylou will also keep touring in support of 2011’s Hard Bargain. Emmylou wrote 11 of that album’s 13 tracks. Continue Reading

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Hazel Dickens, a bluegrass pioneer, social activist, and once one half of the duo Hazel & Alice, died Friday at a Washington, D.C., hospice of complications from pneumonia, reports the LA Times. She was 75. Raised in poverty in West Virginia, Hazel was the eighth of 11 children. Her father was a Primitive Baptist minister and musical instruments were not allowed in his church, teaching her love songs for their content.

“You learn to listen to the lyrics and to the melody,” she told the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette in 1996. “I never thought about it until I got away from home. I used to feel instruments got in the way of listening to the melody and the lyrics. I think it’s very beautiful to hear that many voices, untrained, singing from the heart and soul.”

Hazel moved to Baltimore as a teenager. In the 1950s, she met Mike Seeger, half brother of folk artist Pete Seeger. The pair started performing together and through Mike she met Alice Gerrard. Hazel and Alice became a fixture on bluegrass circuit in the 1960s and 70s and she continued as a solo artist when they split in the mid-70s. Continue Reading

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Jennifer Nettles, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood and The Judds perform during the Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women Of Country concert. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

If you were in Las Vegas last Monday night and were lucky enough to attend the Academy of Country Music’s Girls’ Night Out: Superstar Women Of Country taping, you saw many once-in-a-lifetime performances. Each part of the show – which spotlighted honorees Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, The Judds, Sugarland‘s Jennifer Nettles and Martina McBride – featured a musical collaboration as well as a video tribute and performance salute. Click HERE to see photos from the taping!

Country Aircheck reports that Miranda’s fiancé Blake Shelton sang “Famous In A Small Town” for her. Miranda also debuted her new group Pistol Annie with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley to perform “Hell On Heels.” Vince Gill sang “Jesus Take The Wheel” for Carrie, who then joined Vince on “How Great Thou Art.” Rascal Flatts performed “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” for Reba, who sang “The Heart Won’t Lie” with the Flatts. John Fogerty performed “Rockin’ With The Rhythm Of The Rain” for the Judds. Wynonna and Fogerty then performed “Proud Mary,” while Naomi Judd observed. Sugarland partner Kristian Bush hosted a video tribute for Nettles, who joined Ronnie Dunn on “Let Him Fly.” Dunn also performed Sugarland’s “Stay.” Little Big Town and McBride sang Linda Ronstadt’s “When Will I Be Loved.” Honoree Loretta Lynn couldn’t attend the taping because of recent knee surgery, but she spoke via a satellite video feed. Continue Reading

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Harley Allen photo courtesy of MySpace.com/harleyallenmusic.

GAC extends condolences to the loved ones of singer/songwriter Harley Allen, who died today after fighting lung cancer. Harley came from a musical family; his father was bluegrass artist Red Allen. Harley was an artist on Mercury Records in 1996 and his album Another River contained the song “Between The Devil And Me,” which Alan Jackson recorded a year later.

Harley’s body of work will be enjoyed for years to come. The list of country hits penned by him is long, but includes:

Blake Shelton’s “The Baby”
Alan Jackson’s “Everything I Love” and “The Angels Cried” Continue Reading

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Carrie Underwood performing in a pickup truck, suspended high above the crowd at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on October 13, 2010.

One thing is very clear about Carrie Underwood: She’s not afraid of heights!

Carrie brought her Play On Tour to Music City’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday night, playing quite often with the altitude in the place. A series of hydraulic platforms lifted her at times 15 feet above the stage, which was already several feet above the venue’s floor. A swing lifted her 12 feet or so as she belted out “Just A Dream.” And the night’s biggest effect had her singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” from the back of a pickup truck that travelled over the audience, hung from a track cabled to the ceiling.

But the real heights were the tone and volume of her performances. Carrie’s recordings are always big, but in person, she’s even more impressive, kicking out those challenging vocals for an hour and 45 minutes, letting up only long enough for the occasional costume change. She hit those notes with impressive precision, not only holding the tones but also delivering them with power.

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Kenny Edwards main photo by Gabriel Judet-Weinshel. Inset: Kenny with Linda Ronstadt. Photos courtesy of kennyedwards.com.

Bass player and guitarist Kenny Edwards, who worked extensively with Linda Ronstadt and played on a number of country hits in the 1980s and ‘90s, died Wednesday in California at age 64.

Kenny had a rare blood disorder and had been in chemotherapy for prostate cancer, according to the Los Angeles Times, yet he continued to tour with singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff. He collapsed in Denver earlier this month and, after reaching out to fans via his website, received funding to be airlifted back to a hospital in Santa Barbara, where he passed away.

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John Fogerty photo courtesy of Shore Fire Media.

He’s a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but that doesn’t mean John Fogerty doesn’t know a little somethin’ about country music.

His latest album, The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, is dominated by classic country songs, including John Denver’s “Back Home Again,” the Kendalls’ “Heaven’s Just A Sin Away,” Ray Price’s “I’ll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)” and Buck Owens’ “I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me).” He enlisted a band that includes Americana stalwart Buddy Miller and standup bass player Dennis Crouch, and it actually leans closer to pure country than a lot of the material that’s now accepted as commercial country.

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Emmylou Harris photo by Rocky Schenck, courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

According to the UPI, Emmylou Harris was presented with an honorary doctor of music at a bluegrass festival in San Francisco by the Berklee College of Music yesterday.

Berklee President Roger Brown made the presentation, along with Emmylou’s longtime friend Linda Ronstadt and bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs — both Berklee honorary doctorate recipients. Continue Reading

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