Jonny Fritz (the recording artist formerly known as Jonny Corndawg) spoke with 73-year old country music icon Billy Joe Shaver, who just released his 21st album Live At Billy Bob’s. No one was harmed in the making of this interview. Click here to listen to the audio version of this interview I was over at [...]

Lilly Hiatt is a recording artist for the newly minted Normaltown Records and the daughter of celebrated singer-songwriter John Hiatt. Let Down, her debut album with her band The Dropped Ponies, was produced by Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, Gretchen Peters) and is due October 23. Check out the impressive album track “Young Black Rose” below. [...]

In the early history of recorded country music, the recordings were done in places other than Nashville. Country guitar players in the 1920s included Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, and the legendary songwriter Jimmie Rodgers, but there was no such thing as a “session player” back then. Maybelle Carter and The Carter Family recorded the classic [...]

Willie Nelson Live! At the US Festival 1983 (Shout! Factory) Rating: By the time Willie Nelson was asked to headline Country Day at Steve Wozniak’s US Festival on June 4, 1983, he’d been a major instigator of the outlaw country movement, racked up 30 Top 40 country hits (eight of which were chart-toppers) and had [...]

On February 7, Scatter Records/Average Joes Entertainment will release The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume II, the follow-up to last year’s hit record Volume I. This album is the second in a three-volume series, and as expected, features an all-star line up –  Dierks Bentley, Hank Williams Jr., Jessi Colter, Montgomery [...]

Shooter Jennings has a bone to pick with pretty boys. Specifically, ones cloaking themselves in the mantle of “outlaw.” His new song, “Outlaw You,” premiered today in lyric video form on CMT.com, and while he doesn’t name names, Jennings takes aim at the “pretty boy in the baseball hat,” who gets his boots from his [...]

You already love American Songwriter magazine, but are you ready to take it to the next level? Introducing the American Songwriter iPad App (includes the May/June 2011 for free). The brand new App offers the rich media experience of video, streaming music and exclusive contests, aimed at inspiring musicians and songwriters with stories and tips [...]

Waylon Jennings had not yet realized his potential as a songwriter when he first played “Good Hearted Woman” for Willie Nelson at a poker game. After hearing it, Nelson sneaked in this line right before the hook: “Through teardrops and laughter/we’ll walk through this world hand in hand.” And suddenly that collaboration, now a country [...]

“Good Hearted Woman” is the title cut from Waylon Jennings’ first of two albums for RCA in 1972.

We caught up with Grace Potter during her recent sold-out show at Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom. The intrepid rocker has been touring relentlessly  with her crack band in support of their third album, the classic-meets-modern rock opus Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. We asked Potter about life on the road, having her own line of chocolate [...]

With 40 million records sold and 16 #1 singles, the late country music icon Waylon Jennings has left a storied legacy. On February 8th, ScatterRecords and Big Machine will release the first of three volumes of Waylon Jennings’ most loved music, as performed by his admirers: Kris Kristofferson, Patty Griffin, Trace Adkins, John Hiatt, James [...]