While there’s certainly no doubt that John Hiatt is a true living legend of songwriting, he blazed through his Friday night (Sept. 14) Americana Music Festival showcase slot at Cannery Ballroom like he was trying to make sure there weren’t any lingering questions in anyone’s mind.

On the first night of the Americana Music Festival, the Showcase performance schedule may have been abbreviated by the Americana Music Awards show taking place earlier in the evening at The Ryman, but there was still plenty on offer in the 6 official Americanafest venues across Nashville. We spent our evening in the Mercy Lounge, where breakout artist Corb Lund performed a solo set, followed by an all-star tribute titled "This Wheel's on Fire: A Tribute to Levon Helm."

Watch Buxton's performance at the Living Room in New York via Paste Magazine. 

Check out the Paste Magazine exclusive listen of The Whigs new album, "Enjoy The Company" (available everywhere 9/18).

Listen here

"And, just like that, after almost 40 years of recording music, John Hiatt has done it again. He has written a hit song, so relevant, so melodic, so universal, so human that it hooks deep within the listener's soul and takes you on a musical journey into the beautiful world of John Hiatt -- a world of love, heartbreak, hope and rebirth that we have come to understand, embrace and even anticipate, with each new record." - Huffington Post

Read the full article here

"A State of Texas" | Old 97's ~ The Longhorn Network from Timothy Horgan | Bluefoot on Vimeo.

More a shelved Jimmie Dale Gilmore album than a long lost Flatlanders' 8-track, The Odessa Tapes reiterates the fact that the all-star West Texan troupe originally formed as a backing band for the golden warbler from Amarillo.

"Did you ever see Dallas, from a DC-9 at night?"

Even after 40 years, it's still easy to hear the wonder in Jimmie Dale Gilmore's tenor when he sings "Dallas," one of the 14 demo tracks that he and his Flatlanders bandmates recorded in one marathon session in Odessa, Texas in 1972. "That line came to me just when it happened," remembers Mr. Gilmore. "I was actually on a DC-9 flying into Dallas. I was looking out the window and I was suddenly struck by the immense beauty of it."

For Mr. Gilmore, who hails from Lubbock, the glittering big-city sprawl below sparkled with the promise of a bright future. But the Flatlanders would prove to be as out of step with their times as that DC-9 seems to those flying into Dallas on a 747 today.

Singer-songwriter, actor and occasional author Steve Earle has announced that he will write a memoir. Earle wrote a collection of short stories, Doghouse Roses, in 2010, and the Hank Williams-centered novel I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive in 2011.

On August 28th, the iconic grassroots group the Flatlanders will release The Odessa Tapes on New West Records. The collection of 14 tracks, four of which are previously unreleased, were originally recorded in 1972 in Odessa, Texas, and thought lost for 40 years. 

"The fact that these recordings found residence in a closet on a side street in Lubbock, Texas, for 35 years is not only unbelievable but is highly unlikely," member Joe Ely tells Rolling Stone. "That The Odessa Tapes survived floods, droughts, dust storms and tornados is nothing short of a miracle." 

One of the tracks recorded back in Odessa was Al Strehli's "I Know You," which you can watch the band play live above. Flatlander Butch Hancock points to singer-songwriter Strehli as a notable influence. "Growing up and before the Flatlanders were living together, Al lived in a house between Joe's and mine," he explains. "I would pass by his house and stop to listen to his songs and think someday, it would be great to be able to write songs with that kind of visual poetry. Who would have thought that all these years later, I would still be working at it."