Get Along Down to Town Bakersfield, California is a long way from Nashville - a little under 2,020 miles west, actually. But the distance isn't quite as great when one considers how much significant country music came out of the city in Kern County. Recent years have seen numerous reissues from legendary Bakersfield artists like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, as well as a fine exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame. But now Bear Family Records has delivered the ultimate tribute to the
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Jethro Tull, Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Edition (Chrysalis) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Jethro Tull continues its long-running box set series with a new 4CD/2DVD expansion of 1979's Stormwatch, the final Tull album to feature the "classic" line-up of Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Glascock, John Evan, David (now Dee) Palmer, and Barriemore Barlow. The new edition features: The original album and associated recordings
Can the circle be unbroken? asks The Carter Family on the opening track of Legacy Recordings' new 5-CD, 105-song soundtrack to Ken Burns' epic documentary Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns. The 1935 funeral hymn is a most appropriate way to begin this collection exploring the manifold branches of country music, but the tone on the box set is far from funereal as it gallops from "hillbilly music" to blues, folk, western swing, rockabilly, countrypolitan, outlaw country, and beyond. Country Music
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Hootie & The Blowfish, Cracked Rear View: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Atlantic/Rhino) 3-CD/DVD Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-CD Expanded: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Hootie and the Blowfish are revisiting their 21x platinum smash Cracked Rear View with a new 3-CD/DVD Deluxe Edition and 2-CD Expanded Edition. The Deluxe Edition includes a new
Tomorrow, May 31, Omnivore Recordings releases the third and final volume of country legend Buck Owens' Capitol Records singles - the most recent in a long-running series of releases on Omnivore from the late Bakersfield, California-based artist, songwriter, musician, and bandleader. Now, the label is teaming with Owens' estate for a special initiative also beginning Friday. Forty original, vintage, sealed Buck Owens LPs will be made available for sale exclusively through Omnivore's
Are you ready for the third and final volume of Omnivore Recordings' comprehensive series of Buck Owens' Capitol singles? The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971-1975 is due to arrive Friday, May 31, and will include every side that the legendary country picker/singer/songwriter recorded for the label until the end of his tenure there - 42 tracks in all across two CDs. The 1970s saw Buck embracing the creative freedom of his own studio, built in a converted theater in his home base of
Omnivore Recordings' third and final volume in their comprehensive series of Buck Owens' Capitol singles is due May 31. The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971-1975 will include every side that the legendary country picker and singer recorded for the label until the end of his tenure there -- 42 tracks in all across two CDs! The 1970s saw Buck Owens embracing the creative freedom of his home studio. Away from the confines and strict schedules of a conventional recording studio, Owens was free to
Welcome to another Release Round-Up. Here's a look at what's coming out today, December 14! Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen on Broadway [2CD] (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Springsteen on Broadway captures songs and selected stories from The Boss' acclaimed, Tony Award-winning engagement on the Great White Way. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig, the album arrives one day before the closing show, and also just before it's broadcast in full on
Buck Owens and His Buckaroos were among the hottest country acts of the 1960s, thanks in no small part to Tom Brumley's masterful pedal steel guitar work. Tomorrow, December 14, Omnivore Recordings will release a new compilation, Steelin' The Show, which collects some of "Tender" Tom Brumley's best work. The collection will be available on CD and through digital download and streaming services. As music historian Scott Bomar notes, Brumley was a true craftsman on pedal steel and dobro. "He
Buck Owens and His Buckaroos were among the hottest country acts of the 1960s, thanks in no small part to Tom Brumley's masterful pedal steel guitar work. With 17 tracks culled from nine Buck Owens and His Buckaroos releases, Steelin' The Show is the perfect introduction to Brumley's peerless musicianship. And for longtime fans, it serves as a rich overview of his greatest work. Steelin' The Show also includes rare photos from the Brumley Family collection, as well as introductory notes from
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Neil Diamond, Hot August Night III (Capitol) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Neil Diamond's August 2012 concerts at Los Angeles' Greek Theater marking the 40th anniversary of the original Hot August Night are captured on this new live release which also follows 1987's Hot August Night II and 2009's Hot August Night/NYC (with
2018 has already seen the announcement of lost albums and never-before-heard recordings by Prince, John Coltrane, and Bobby Darin. Now a fourth late icon is recipient of a vault excavation that's sure to delight his fans. On August 17, Omnivore Recordings will issue Country Singer's Prayer from the great Buck Owens. The country hero was in the final year of his contract to Capitol Records in 1975 when he recorded Country Singer's Prayer in his Bakersfield studio. Buck had
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Glenn Frey, Above the Clouds: The Collection (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 3-CD/1-DVD Above the Clouds: The Collection celebrates the musical legacy of Eagles' Glenn Frey, presenting key tracks from Frey as a solo artist on 2 CDs as well as the long-awaited, official CD premiere of Longbranch/Pennywhistle as newly remixed by J.D. Souther and Elliot Scheiner, and a live concert DVD, Strange Weather/Live in Dublin,
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Jo Stafford, It Had to Be You: Lost Radio Recordings (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Jo Stafford's It Had To Be You: Lost Radio Recordings features 24 performances from the legendary vocalist's stint as co-host (with crooner Tony Martin) of The Carnation Contented Hour on CBS Radio from 1950-1951. With songs by mainstays of the Great American Songbook like Harold Arlen ("I've Got the World on a String"), Rodgers
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Randy Newman, The Randy Newman Songbook (Nonesuch) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Randy Newman Songbook box set marks the first-ever combined release of all three of the legendary songwriter's piano-and-voice Songbook albums (including the new Vol. 3) recorded in 2003 and 2010 with producers Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker. All songs have been resequenced as one cohesive, thematically-linked listening experience spread over 4
Buck Owens changed the face of country music, and all he had to do was "Act Naturally." With his back-to-basics, honky-tonk approach, Alvis Edgar Owens defined the Bakersfield Sound, an antidote to the slick, guitar-and-choir-laden style coming out of Nashville in the 1960s. Omnivore Recordings, the label home of a number of stellar Owens-related projects, is about to issue a definitive 2-CD collection from his prime era - The Complete Capitol Singles 1957-1966 - as well as a compilation
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up with titles from legends of pop, jazz, country and more! Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto '76 (Resonance) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) In 1976, Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto reunited at San Francisco's Keystone Korner alongside pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Clint Houston and drummer Billy Hart. Their never-before-released set arrives in lavish fashion from Resonance Records on CD and vinyl. The deluxe CD includes a
It may be Friday the 13th, but today's choice releases are hardly scary, with box sets, archival releases, new music from veteran artists, and much, much more! Aretha Franklin, The Atlantic Albums Collection (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 19-CD box set brings together 16 of the Queen of Soul's Atlantic albums as previously released on CD including the deluxe 2-CD Live at Fillmore East, the 2-CD Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of
Releases from two legends of country and blues highlight Omnivore Recordings' November slate. On November 13, the label will drop the second 2-CD retrospective dedicated to the music of Bakersfield's favorite son Buck Owens, while two weeks later on the 27th, it will unveil a 4-CD box set spotlighting the singular career of Bobby Rush. Buck 'Em! Volume 2: The Music of Buck Owens (1967-1975) picks up where the first volume of the series, issued in 2013, left off. Its 50 tracks trace the many
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! We kick off with a quartet of releases drawing on never-before-released live material! Leonard Cohen, Can't Forget: A Souvenir of The Grand Tour (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Leonard Cohen offers ten selections - including two songs never previously recorded and a pair of covers - from his recent world tour. Andrew Gold, The Late Show - Live 1978 (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) You'll say "thank you for being a
No less an eminent personage than American author William Faulkner once said that "a writer needs three things - experience, observation, and imagination - any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others." Country music legend and Bakersfield Sound pioneer Buck Owens, however, utilized all three of those key elements in his songs, which may help explain their timeless stature. Fifty of those recordings are anthologized on Omnivore's new Buck 'Em! The Music of
Occasionally the aisles of your local grocery or big-box store turn up releases you won’t find even in your local indie music store. Such is the case with a recent batch of holiday-themed titles from Sony Commercial Music Group. Just in time for Christmas ’13, CMG has unveiled a number of holiday compilations – and a handful of straight album reissues – for fans of classic pop (Bing Crosby, Patti Page), country (B.J. Thomas, Buck Owens, Roy Clark), rock-and-roll (Elvis Presley) and R&B
David Bowie, The Next Day: Extra (ISO/Columbia) The year's biggest comeback album is now available as a 2CD/1DVD set featuring B-sides, remixes, unreleased songs and four music videos. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Bob Dylan, The Complete Album Collection Vol. One (Columbia/Legacy) Dylan's "official" albums discography from 1962 to 2012 is collected on this 47-disc set, featuring studio and live titles, 14 newly remastered albums and a two-disc compilation of non-LP material. CD: Amazon U.S. /
Omnivore Recordings is saying, “Buck, yeah!” to the legacy of the late Mr. Owens. Though the Bakersfield, California country-and-western legend died in 2006, his autobiography will arrive on November 5 from Backbeat Books and Hal Leonard Books. Colorfully entitled Buck ‘Em!, it’s co-written with Randy Poe, author of Skydog: The Duane Allman Story. And Omnivore is at the ready with the perfect soundtrack. Buck ‘Em! The Music of Buck Owens (1955-1967) hits stores the very same day as the book,
“Who’s going to want to listen to the band with Don [Rich] playing the melody line to the song, when you could hear Buck [Owens] doing the real deal?” queried drummer Willie Cantu of The Buckaroos when called upon to record 1965’s all-instrumental The Buck Owens Song Book. Capitol Records surely thought there would be an audience for the LP, proclaiming on its back cover that “you too can sing Buck’s country-western songs to the rousing, rhythmic playing of his buddy Don Rich and The