Montgomery Gentry Joins Opry; Hall to Highlight Matraca Berg

from The 9513 by Brody Vercher

• Montgomery Gentry officially joined the Grand Ole Opry last night.
  

  “Uh, my daddy, he loved what it stood for and what it was about. And I promise you, me and T won’t let you down. And uh, omagosh, Dad…” Eddie said, clutching his Opry trophy and looking up, “we made it.”

• Matraca Berg is the next songwriter to be highlighted by the Country Music Hall of Fame in its Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters series. She’ll participate in an interview and perform briefly at the Hall on July 18.
• In order to add more of a rock edge to some of his songs, Jack Ingram pushed the release of his next album, Big Dreams and High Hopes, back to August 25.
• Starting Nov. 9 in Glasgow, Scotland, Toby Keith plans to take his first tour of Europe.
• Jeff Dykhuis reviewed and photographed performances from Jack Ingram, Billy Joe Shaver, Robert Earl Keen, Wade Bowen, Jackson Taylor and more at the recent Country Fever festival in Pryor, Oklahoma.
• Listen to Neko Case perform a set of songs mostly culled from her album Middle Cyclone acoustically on Mountain Stage.
• CMT’s Edward Morris shared ten of Keith Urban’s best videos.
• The episode of CMT Crossroads featuring Jason Aldean with Bryan Adams premiers on Friday. Aldean’s performance of “Heaven” from the show is currently available on CMT.
• Twang Nation is giving away a copy of Elvis Costello’s Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. Leave a comment naming an artist who has successfully crossed into the roots/Americana genre to enter.
• American Classic, an album of Willie Nelson covering standards, will be released August 25 and consist of: “The Nearness Of You,” “Fly Me To The Moon,” “Come Rain Or Shine,” “If I Had You” featuring Diana Krall, “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “I Miss You So,” “Because Of You,” “Baby It’s Cold Outside” featuring Norah Jones, “Angel Eyes,” “On The Street Where You Live,” “Since I Fell For You,” and “Always On My Mind.”
• Anyone who doesn’t like music deserves a sackpunch.
• The Eye of the Hurricane posted a Ryan Bingham bootleg from a 2008 performance in Paris featuring several cover songs.
• Listen to Drew Nelson’s “Grandmother Moon” at Songs:Illinois.
• Chris Neal on Gloriana’s EP, The Way It Goes: “Sometimes production clutter gets in the way of the music here, but The Way It Goes is nonetheless the sound of a talented group making a great first impression.”
• Doug Freeman published an interview with Steve Earle about his early years in the music business and his relationship with Townes Van Zandt.