Austin 360
James White, the owner of the legendary South Austin dance hall the Broken Spoke for more than 50 years, died at 81, his family confirmed Sunday.
Musicians who have played at the Broken Spoke and artists around Texas are remembering the man who created one of the city s best-known music venues. I met James in 1973. All the dances,movie shoots,music videos James always opened the Spoke door for us and made us feel like family, Austin musician Ray Benson wrote in a tweet Sunday.
David McClister
When writers, like myself, criticize Music Row’s stewardship of country music, it’s usually with the best interests of artists like Brit Taylor in mind. It’s never been about “pop” country. It’s about a business model that tells pure hearts and great voices to adapt or die, to fake it until they make it - and thereafter. The title of Taylor’s debut album
Real Me
rebukes this coercion at several levels, but the one that comes through the speakers is a voice of uncompromised grace, a voice The Biz couldn’t or wouldn’t let be.
Crockett waltzes to the top with I Can Help
Thursday, January 14, 2021 – Charley Crockett has the new single from the The Next Waltz, Vol. 3 compilation, a project from Bruce Robison s label, a cover of Billy Swan s 1974 country/pop crossover hit, I Can Help.
The song was the number one most added song at Americana radio this week and the eighth most added on the Triple A charts. While he works on his new album, the follow-up to 2020 s Welcome to Hard Times, Crockett said, We showed up at the studio without any idea what we were gonna cut. Once we got in there I remembered this old Billy Swan number, and I d always wanted to record it. I think we got it in one or two takes. Like everything else at Bruce s place, magic stuck to the tape.
Through pandemic, floods and protests, these Michiganders helped all of us weather 2020
Updated on Dec 30, 2020;
Published on Dec 28, 2020
20 Michiganders who stepped up in 2020 are pictured in this composite image.
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A pandemic. A 500-year flood. A summer of clashes between activists and police. In a year that turned much of what we know about the world on its head, everyday Michiganders stepped up and navigated crisis after crisis.
Some were motivated by keeping people safe. Some were nudged into new roles, or saw their current roles take on more meaning. Some challenged conventional wisdom, pushed our buttons or taught us things. But every Michigander on this list had an impact on how our state made it through its worst year on record.