Lucero frontman Ben Nichols seems destined to be a Rock & Roll lifer, a guy who revels in playing 200 shows a year for a relatively small but passionate fan base.   

While some musicians seem to think no one wants to listen to old school Country anymore (ahem … Blake Shelton), Dierks Bentley has always embraced the past.  

Calling your band Gringo Star is a surefire way to raise some eyebrows. Throw in the fact that your music immediately conjures the holy trinity of British Invasion bands and you’re doubly damned in the eyes of many purists.  

Robert Earl Keen has always straddled the line between Americana and Country Blues music. But, more than anything else, he is a singer/songwriter who has the ability to weave sonic tales that are vivid, interesting and fun.  

Apparently, Chris Denney has only been writing songs for the past four years, but he’s clearly channeling a lifetime of pent up creative energy in the tunes he’s unleashing with his Nashville quintet, Denney & the Jets.  

With two full-length albums and a couple of EPs under their belt, Blackberry Smoke began to attract some attention from Rock music fans who wanted a little grit in their musical gravy in this new century. Then, they began to get bigger and better gigs, opening for ZZ Top and the Zac Brown Band.   

The title of Wanda Jackson’s new album is Unfinished Business. Really, Wanda? If anyone can claim to have finished business, it’s you.    

James McMurtry has gone from strength to strength in the past 23 years, compiling an estimable catalog of eight studio albums and a pair of stellar live recordings as proof of his compelling stage presence.   

To her infinite credit, Eilen Jewell has never been tempted to churn out a sanitized and commercially viable version of Country with a view toward success and fame.  

Perhaps it’s too prosaic to continue to believe that Stuart Baker created the persona of Unknown Hinson for a North Carolina public access show 20 years ago and thus began his Whackabilly onslaught of stages and studios. It may be convenient to imagine that Hinson blacks out his front teeth, glues on some cheesy sideburns and assaults his audiences with a raucous musical hybrid of Country and Rock.