Gary says he really identifies with the title track. “To me, it reflects the road. The road is a very relentless grind that I love. I get off on it. So to me it's like very 'get off on the pain.' And a lot of those lines, being in the outside of the pack, you know, 'back of the pack with the dark horses,' I felt like we've been that our whole career. Just kind of on the outside of what's happening.”
YES!! Dierks Bentley is hard at work on a Bluegrass CD!!! "Up On the Ridge is Dierks "version of bluegras
s music. It's not just banjos cranked up to eleven. It throws out a big net." Dierks says, "I didn't want this to be 'Dierks Bentley and friends' or a 'Dierks does bluegrass' kind of album. I wanted each song to have something special about it, and in the end I think each song really does have its own thing going on." He is getting help from some friends - like Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, and the Del McCoury Band. It's coming out this summer!I have to wonder if Jessica Harp regrets breaking up The Wreckers to go solo. She cranked out two pretty good singles, "Boy Like Me," and her album's title track "A Woman Needs," but had no real commercial success. So she posted on her website that she has decided to, "stop pursuing my career as a recording artist and focus on songwriting full time." Obviousl
y, not an easy decision for her. She says, "I love music so much and I can't imagine it not being a part of my life. And moving forward as a songwriter, I will hopefully be able to share my music through the voices of artists who DO have their hearts in what they're doing. Of course I'll miss being the one on stage seeing those smiling faces and always will. But I have memories to last a lifetime, and I'm at a point where I feel anything's possible. I don't think I've stepped on my last stage. But I know the stage is better left for others at this time." "A Woman Needs" will be released digitally on March 16th. Good Luck Jessica!I'm looking forward to the Zac Brown Band's live release, "Pass The Jar - Zac Brown Band and Friends
Live from the Fabulous Fox Theatre In Atlanta" on May 4th. It's a two-CD/one-DVD set, and it was taped last October at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, at a benefit concert to help with the reconstruction of the historic Georgia Theater in Athens. Who are "the friends?" Oh, just the likes of Little Big Town, Joey + Rory, Kid Rock, and Shawn Mullins. It's 19 songs and includes "Chicken Fried," "Whatever It Is," and "Toes," along with covers of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."Today Matt Kennon's digital EP is available, and it includes his debut song "The Call" Matt says the title track really rings true to him. He says when he wrote the so
ng the lyrics, “spoke to me, and those words I try to live by.” Matt's self-titled debut album is due May 11th.