The Zac Brown Band's third major-label studio album, Uncaged, is the first with new member percussionist Daniel de los Reyes, and features guest spots from Amos Lee and Trombone Shorty, as well as songs co-written with Jason Mraz and fellow ...

Includes liner notes by Mickey Raphael, Booker T. Jones and Willie Nelson. Digitally remastered by Chris Athens (Sterling Sound, New York, New York). 15 years before Tony Bennett made the Great American Songbook safe for the MTV generation, there was Willie Nelson's ...

Iris DeMent isn't a pop star, although she probably could have been had she been at all interested in playing that game. She's a careful, detailed songwriter with a confessional edge and a good sense of narrative, and her voice ...

Scotty McCreery celebrates the holidays with his 2012 seasonal set, Christmas with Scotty McCreery. Working again with producer Mark Bright, who helmed the American Idol winner's 2011 debut, McCreery sings many familiar standards on this 11-track album -- "Let It ...

The '60s C&W sound is still great in the '90s. ~ David A. Milberg Live Recording

Want to hear part of the reason why Johnny Cash is an icon, a singer respected and influential in country, folk, and rock & roll? THIS is it! In 1968--one of the most tumultuous years in American history since the ...

Recording information: Brighter Shade Studio, Atlanta, GA; Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas; The Sound Station Nashville, TN; Wedgewood Sound. Photographer: C. Taylor Crothers. Personnel: Brent Mason (electric guitar); Greenwood Hart (accordion, keyboards); Gary Prim (keyboards); Marcus Petruska (drums, background vocals). Audio Mixer: John ...

The 1996 reissue of WANTED! THE OUTLAWS includes nine additional tracks from the original sessions and one new song ("Nowhere Road"). Digitally remastered by Benny Quinn (Masterfonics, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee). In the mid-1970s, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and a few other cohorts ...

It's no coincidence that maverick country star Dwight Yoakam rose to prominence in Los Angeles during the 1980s, playing clubs with the likes of Los Lobos, X, and the Blasters. Yoakam's roots revivalism, which borrows equally from the Bakersfield honky-tonk ...

Favorite Country Hits is a condensed, 18-track single disc of Floyd Cramer's mid-'90s double-disc set, which was only sold through television. On the album, Cramer runs through a number of country classics, including his trademark "Last Date." Though Cramer's talent ...

Kenny Chesney insists the title song for Welcome to the Fishbowl, his 13th studio album, isn't specifically about his own celebrity, but even at that, he's handled that part of his job with grace and good humor. Fishbowl shows a ...

Lady Antebellum have previously released a holiday EP, but 2012 brings On This Winter's Night, a full-length Christmas album recorded with deliberation and care by the country-pop trio. Working once again with their longtime producer Paul Worley, Lady Antebellum have ...

From the early 1980s onward, there's been no greater champion of traditional country-music values in the mainstream (and none more successful) than George Strait. Like a virtual Ramones of country, he's remained unshakeable in his devotion to a straightforward, no-frills ...

After the success of their first two singles -- "If I Die Young" and "Hip to My Heart," the Band Perry issued a self-titled teaser: a five-track EP that featured a different mix of the latter track. This is confusing, ...

On 2006's PRECIOUS MEMORIES, country superstar Alan Jackson ventures into gospel territory, offering up a set of warm and inviting faith-themed songs. These spare tracks feature no percussion and rely almost solely on piano and acoustic guitar, allowing the focus ...

16 TRACKS ECO-DIGIPAK Audio Mixers: Howard Willing; Julian Raymond. Liner Note Author: Robert K. Oermann.

Contemporary country singer and songwriter Eric Church has been on a roll since 2006. He's had a slew of charting singles and albums, won Top New Solo Vocalist at the Academy of Country Music Awards for 2010, and in early ...

Blake Shelton's sixth album (not including compilations), Red River Blue features production by the in-demand, award-winning Scott Hendricks. It is preceded by smash single "Honey Bee," which reached number one on the Billboard and Mediabase country single charts within seven ...

Returning to the Columbia/Sony family after nearly two decades away, Willie Nelson once again tries to be everything to everybody on 2012's Heroes, an appealingly misshapen collection of classics, contemporaries, and originals. Heroes -- its title signifying no great concept ...

Changed, Rascal Flatts' seventh studio album, and the first with the Big Machine Label Group, was recorded in bassist Jay DeMarcus' studio, and includes tracks produced by the band and the group's longtime producer Dann Huff. Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, ...

As a rule, tribute recordings are a mixed bag; they tend to be well-intentioned yet fall short of the mark musically. Jamey Johnson's Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran is a risky offering because it's his follow-up ...

Maybe it's just the times but Toby Keith has had drinking on his mind, calling his 2011 album Clancy's Tavern, which rode up the charts on the back of the boozy hit "Red Solo Cup" and now, for its sequel, ...

2011 collection from the late Folk/Pop superstar. This collection features all his great hits and ends with Denver's biggest songwriting success, 'Leaving On A Jet Plane', which now seems inseparable from Peter, Paul & Mary. But to hear Denver sing ...

After spending much of 2011 touring with his Staind, Aaron Lewis returned to the studio to create a full-length follow-up to his country EP Town Line. Like that 2011 EP, The Road is a modern country album celebrating Lewis' redneck ...

This is an enjoyable budget sampler highlighting Gene Watson's Capitol honky tonk hits. These 18 tracks include his earliest chart-toppers from the mid- to late '70s, including "Love in the Late Afternoon," "Farewell Party," "Cowboys Don't Get Lucky All the ...