September 21, 2010

Steel Magnolia - Steel Magnolia (Big Machine)
Steel Magnolia will release their debut after having previously released an EP. The new collection includes the singles Keep On Lovin' You and Just by Being You (Halos and Wings)plus a cover of Keith Urban's Homespun Love. The duo, comprised of Meghan Linsey and Joshua Scott Jones, helped write 7 of the 12 songs. They landed a record deal after winning CMT's Can You Duet competition in August 2009.

Rhonda Vincent - Taken (Upper Management)
After a long career on Rounder, bluegrass star Rhonda Vincent goes her own way.

Randy Houser - They Call Me Cadillac (Show Dog-Universal)
Randy Houser is back with his sophomore disc.

Zac Brown Band - You Get What You Give (Atlantic/Southern Ground)
Zac Brown Band came out of nowhere for a highly successful debut with a bunch of hits.

September 14, 2010

Joey + Rory - Album Number Two (Sugar Hill)
Joey + Rory had a hit on their hands the first time out with Cheater Cheater from their debut together. Rory Feek and his wife Joey hope to continue it on their soph effort. Feek wrote the first single This Song's For You with Zac Brown. On the recording, Zac Brown Band gives a helping hand.

Robert Plant - Band of Joy (Rounder)
Robert Plant goes the rootsy bent again, but this time without sidekick Alison Krauss. The disc includes Plant's take on Harm's Swift Way by Townes Van Zandt.

Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues (Blood)
Justin Townes Earle follows up his very well-received "Midnight at the Movies" with his third CD for the label. Earle's career has received a boost from his steady touring as well.

The SteelDrivers - Reckless (Rounder)
The driving bluegrass band The SteelDrivers release their sophomore CD, but there's a difference. Former lead singer Chris Stapleton left the band, replaced by Gary Nichols. However, Stapleton sings on the new CD.

Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore - Saints & Sinners (Remington Road Records / Virtual)
Molly O'Brien and Rich Moore team up on an album of folk, gospel, American blues and show tunes by Tom Waits, Jesse Winchester, Harry Nilsson, Richard Thompson and George Harrison plus O'Brien-penned songs New Boots and Mighty Close To Heaven and Moore's instrumental, Cuba.

James Otto - Shake What God Gave Ya (Warner)
James Otto continues getting soulful with his brand of country on his second release for the label and third overall. Recorded in Nashville and co-produced with Paul Worley (Big & Rich, Lady Antebellum, The Dixie Chicks), Otto penned 11 of the 12 tracks including the Top 25 hit country single Groovy Little Summer Song and the duet Good Things Gone Bad, featuring Ronnie Milsap.

Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song (MCA Nashville)
Jamey Johnson follows up his successful CD "That Lonesome Song," with a 2-CD, 25-song marathon. The latter disc contained the hit In Color.

September 7, 2010

Ryan Bingham - Junky Star (Lost Highway)
Ryan Bingham picked up a Grammy with his singing of The Weary Kind from the "Crazy Heart" soundtrack. T Bone Burnett produced that disc, and he turns the knobs again on Bingham's third CD. All 12 songs were written by Bingham and performed by his longtime band The Dead Horses, featuring Matt Smith (drums), Elijah Ford (bass) and Corby Shaub (guitar/mandolin). The tracks on Junky Star range from narratives with imagery (The Poet), to introspective confessionals (Hallelujah) to bluesy roadhouse stomps (Direction Of The Wind) to Sticky Fingers-era Stones (Depression). Bingham previously released "Mescalito" (2007) and "Roadhouse Sun" (2009).

Jerry Lee Lewis - Mean Old Men (Verve/Universal)
Jerry Lee Lewis puts out his first CD since "Last Man Standing" in 2006. The 18-song deluxe version features Lewis playing with such folks as Ringo Starr, Keith Richards, Merle Haggard, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. The CD also will come as a 10-track. Songs include Roll Over Beethoven, Bad Moon Rising and Dead Flowers.

August 24, 2010

Marty Stuart - Ghost Train (The Studio B Sessions) (Sugar Hill)
Marty Stuart releases his 14th disc, this one a traditional country album. The music was recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville where Stuart played in his first-ever recording session with Lester Flatt's band at the age of 13. The set includes Hangman, which Stuart wrote with Johnny Cash.

Ricky Skaggs - Mosaic (Skaggs Family Records)
Ricky Skaggs gets inspirational on his latest. He worked with Gordon Kennedy (Eric Clapton, Garth Brooks, Bonnie Raitt) to create an album that mixes elements of country music with Beatles-esque melody and lyrics. Skaggs and Kennedy take mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and violin and mix them with percussion, a hammered dulcimer, a string section, bagpipes, a bouzouki, electric guitar, keyboards, slide guitar and more.

Jon Langford & Skull Orchard - Old Devils (Bloodshot)
Jon Langford of The Mekons and Waco Brothers fame teams with Skull Orchard. This is the band's second CD and first in about 10 years.

Little Big Town - The Reason Why (Capitol Nashville)

August 17, 2010

Trace Adkins - Cowboy's Back in Town (Show Dog-Universal)
Trace Adkins leaves Capitol behind for a new label. Adkins co-wrote the title track with Jeff Bates and Kenny Beard. Beard co-produced the 11-track album with Michael Knox, who also produced Jason Aldean.

John Mellencamp - No Better Than This (Rounder)
Heartland rocker John Mellencamp makes his debut for a new label. was recorded over the course of a few break days afforded Mellencamp when he was on a tour of minor league ball parks last year, sharing the bill with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. The album was recorded on vintage equipment - a 55 year-old Ampex tape recorder with just one microphone - in Savannah, Ga. at the First African Baptist Church, in Memphis at Sun Studios and in San Antonio in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel. Mellencamp wrote the 13 songs included on the album during a 13-day span last spring.