SOUL COUNTRY

When the spaghetti-western guitar and booming drums begin, you’re in new territory, pardner: A fusion of pop, funk and Southern hard rock, heavily tinged with country sounds and gospel-style vocals. Welcome to the world of Maurice Smith and the Magnolia Outlaws. The group’s new song, “Hollywood,” is an autobiographical tale from Smith, the group’s leader. A veteran club and session singer in Los Angeles, he honors his native Mississippi and the western cowboy spirit, followin

Here are a few highlights from my recent week at AmericanaFest — with multiple articles from the festival coming soon! Tuesday tunes: I enjoyed my friend Jon Byrd’s show (pictured) at Eastside Bowl’s Low-Volume Lounge, which happens every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Nashville time. Last week, he welcomed special guest Davis Raines, a regular performer at Brown’s Diner in Nashville who writes tough and tender songs about love, violence, and the South. Byrd’s daughter Sara Byrd sang the

KITCHENER, Canada — I was fortunate to see a truly wonderful Bonnie Raitt and Maia Sharp show in Ontario recently while visiting friends in that area. Raitt’s shows haven’t slowed down at all, and Sharp is a seriously talented singer-songwriter and lovely person. I’m working on a long-term story about her. Maia Sharp in Kitchener (Also, photo of Bonnie Raitt at top of page by Sioux Nesi from an earlier concert.) The audience of about 2,000 at the Centre in the Square concert

UPDATE on Sept. 2, 2026: I’ve added additional details from my own research and rereading Dolly Parton All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track, the book by Simon Benoit, Damien Somville, and Lalie Walker. Like everyone, I’m struggling to accept the news that the great Dolly Parton has departed this world. Listening to Dolly songs on WSM Radio from Nashville all afternoon Tuesday reminded me of Parton’s magic and her versatility among all the wonderful things she gave us.

Since the release of Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album in 2024, among other factors, there’s been more conversation about Black Americans’ profoundly important connection to country music. In case you didn’t know, Black musicians were integral to the origins of American country and roots music (and all popular music as we know it), but white people controlled the recording and marketing of most such music, infusing the music industry with racist tendencies from the get-go. Not on

Listen closely to Ronnie Milsap’s golden voice and you’ll hear a singer as close to the heart of American music as anyone who’s ever made the charts. He wound through the R&B nightclubs of Memphis and Atlanta, where he sang straight-up Southern soul and rock ‘n roll, before moving to Nashville at the urging of Charley Pride. Milsap’s voice has always been one of my favorites. I was only about 12 when I first noticed his warm, beautiful tone, classy phrasing, and his way of