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Tennessee Dispatch Archives

View the BBC's Southern Rock Documentary on Swampland

Swampland has added the BBC's new Southern Rock Documentary to it front page.   Go here to view it - Swampland Front Page

"How Do You Like Your Blueeyed Boy, Mr. Death": Harry Crews (1935-2012)

Harry Crews! I guess I thought he would live forever. When all of those years of out of control drinking did not kill him, I decided he had outwitted the devil. That would be just like Crews--to make a wager with the devil and win.   When a great read more...

RIP Earl Scruggs & Jerry "Boogie" McCain & Harry Crews

RIP Earl Scruggs, Harry Crews & Jerry "Boogie" McCain Legendary banjo picker Earl Scruggs died yesterday in Nashville at 88. In 1948, Scruggs formed a band with guitarist Lester Flatt called The Foggy Mountain Boys.

The University of North Alabama Presents Renowned Author Ishmael Reed

On Monday, March 19 and Tuesday, March 20, the University of North Alabama (Florence, Alabama) will present its 29th annual Spring Writers' Series. The featured speaker this year is internationally known poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright Ishmael Reed. Reed will read more...

Reflections, Progressions & Horizons

   "Will all your money buy you forgiveness?     Will it keep you from sickness?     Will it keep you from cold?     Will all your money     Keep you from madness?

The Last One: Bootlegger Popcorn Sutton

Neal Hutcheson's Documentary: The Last One Neal Hutcheson's documentary The Last One revolves around bootlegger Popcorn Sutton. It's an interesting story. Originally from North Carolina, Sutton made his famous White Whiskey in the Tennessee hills. read more...

William Gay RIP

William Gay RIP Writer William Gay died on February 23 at 70. Gay published his first novel when he was 55. His novels read more...

A Modern Legacy of America's Finest Archivists

A Modern Legacy of America's Finest Archivists A treasure trove of old, obscure American music exists out there. Bits and pieces of lost American culture preserved between the grooves waits for any listener's ear. This

Amy LaVere Discusses Bob Dylan

Amy LaVere Discusses Bob Dylan In March, Amy LaVere will open for Black Crowe

Cormac McCarthy Sells First Film Script Titled The Counselor

Cormac McCarthy Sells First Script Writer Cormac McCarthy recently sold his first film script. McCarthy's books such as All The Pretty Horses, No Country read more...

Rich Robinson & Amy LaVere Hit The Road Together In March

Rich Robinson & Amy LaVere Hit The Road Together In March In March, Amy LaVere will tour with

Satan Is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers

Charlie Louvin Autobiography: Satan Is Real The late Charlie Louvin's new autobiography--Satan Is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers--is now available. This

Happy Holidays From Swampland 2011

Happy Holidays From Swampland "Never be impatient with the ones who love you, It might be yourself that you're hurting."

Ry Cooder's Los Angeles Stories

Ry Cooder's Los Angeles Stories Ry Cooder made music with The Rolling Stones,

No Chicago Blues For Jerry Lee Lewis

No Chicago Blues For Jerry Lee Lewis On Saturday, Jerry Lee Lewis played his first show in Chicago since 1998. Dave Hoekstra wrote a nice review in the

Satan Is Real: The Louvin Brothers

Satan Is Real: The Louvin Brothers Night falls early these days. For some reason I dropped the classic Louvin Brothers album Satan Is Real into the player this evening. Originally released in 1959, Satan Is Real contains some of the most read more...

Indie Memphis Film Fest Opens Thursday

Indie Memphis Film Festival Nov. 3-6 The four-day 14th annual Memphis Film Festival begins Thursday. The festival includes close to 50 screenings of narrative and documentary features, short-film programs, panels and music.

Duane Allman: 40 Years Later

Duane Allman: 40 Years Later 40 years ago today Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24 in Macon, Georgia. One of the greatest slide players to ever touch a guitar, Allman played with Aretha Franklin,

RIP Joel "Taz" DiGregorio

Charlie Daniels Keyboardist Passes Away On Wednesday, October 12, The Charlie Daniels Band keyboardist, "Taz" DiGregorio, died from injuries read more...

This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel On 45RPM 1957-1982

This May Be My Last Time Singing Tompkins Square's latest release is an amazing 3-CD set titled This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel On 45RPM 1957-1982. Tompkins Square released this official statement regarding this rare read more...

Tom Waits Records with Hank Williams III

Tom Waits Records with Hank Williams III Tom Waits contributed guest vocals on a new Hank Williams III album titled read more...

The Search for Blind Lemon: Words, Music, Photos & Films from Jim Dickinson's Memoirs

Jim Dickinson's Search for Blind Lemon On September 17, Mary Lindsay Dickinson will present words, photographs, films and music from her late husband's memoirs and read more...

Jamaican Blues & Southern Breezes: Blue Water, Black Soul & Rock N Roll

Jamaican Blues & Southern Breezes: Blue Water, Black Soul & Rock N Roll "I say when it drops, oh you gonna feel it Know that you were doing wrong. I say a pressure drop, oh pressure Oh yeah, pressure drop a drop read more...

Caitlin Rose's New Album & Upcoming Tour with Earle, Isbell and Carll

Caitlin Rose's Own Side Now On September 27, ATO Records will release Caitlin Rose's debut album Own Side Now. Co-produced by Mark Nevers (Lambchop &

Merle Haggard's New Album Working in Tennessee

Merle Haggard's New Album Out In October Vanguard Records will release Merle Haggard's latest album, Working in Tennessee, on October 4. Tonight, 'The Hag' is performing read more...

Booker T. Jones On The Road From Memphis

Booker T On the Road From Memphis Booker T. Jones just released an album called The Road From Memphis. The title refers to the city where Jones was born, and the place his musical legacy originated. A couple of years ago, Jones recorded

Upcoming Interview: Preston Lauterbach's Chitlin' Circuit: And The Road To Rock 'N' Roll

The Chitlin' Circut: And The Road To Rock 'N' Roll Memphis writer Preston Lauterbach's first book--The Chitlin Circut: And The Road To Rock 'N' Roll--arrived in the mail on Monday. An upcoming interview with Lauterbach is on the way, but I wanted to write a quick read more...

Swampland's Daily Duo of Reviews For 7/26/11: Levon Helm and Through The Sparks

 For Tuesday, we have the legendary Levon Helm bringing his Midnight Ramble to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.  Also, we feature the latest from Birmingham's Through The Sparks.  Although the records are stylistically and generationally different, both capture the read more...

A Southern Literary Note on Hemingway's Birthday

A Southern Literary Note on Hemingway's Birthday Today is the birthday of Ernest Hemingway. A southern literary note seems in order to salute one of America's greatest writers... 

Swampland's Daily Duo of Reviews For 7/20/11: Amy LaVere and John Paul Keith

Happy Wednesday, everyone! We've got a couple of great Memphis-based artists with new records.  Amy LaVere has been on Swampland's radar for a while, and her latest Stranger Me is her first album is a few years.  John Paul Keith's The Man That Time read more...

Swampland's Daily Duo of Reviews For 7/19/11: Gillian Welch and Mount Moriah

Today's review duo come from Gillian Welch and Mount Moriah out of North Carolina.  Mount Moriah's is a debut release while Gillian Welch's is her first in 8 years.  The connection between these two releases is their musical sensibility which is mountain country. read more...

Ben Hall Salutes Charlie Louvin on New EP

A LITTLE MORE BEN HALL Ben Hall's new Tompkins Square released EP--A Little More Ben Hall--salutes country music legend Charlie Louvin. Louvin passed away in January from his read more...

Lucinda Williams Talks Songwriting

LUCINDA WILLIAMS TALKS SONGWRITING Louisiana native Lucinda Williams is out on the road behind her latest album Blessed. She's in Canada for a few shows, and in this Edmonton Journal

Amy LaVere's Stranger Me Out July 19

Amy LaVere's Latest CD Out July 19 On July 19, Archer Records will release Amy LaVere's third studio album, Stranger Me. Stranger Me read more...

Happiness Is A Warm Gun: Trigger Hippy Tour Dates

Trigger Hippy Southern Tour Dates Trigger Hippy just released five new tour dates. Trigger Hippy consists of The Black Crowes' drummer

Swampland's Gospel, Funk & Soul Collection

Swampland's Gospel, Funk & Soul Collection It's arguable that one of America's finest contributions to history is music. Deep forms of music culminated from various influences that mold a specific style. In this dispatch, read more...

Girl Power: A Compilation of Swampland's Most Talented Female Artists

Swampland Salutes Southern Women: Volume 1 Today we'd like to salute all the great southern female artists we've covered here at Swampland. We've compiled a list of cornerstone interviews/articles/reviews pertaining to these talented read more...

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Celebrates 10th Anniversary

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Celebrates 10th Anniversary GRAMMY® ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR 2001 O Brother, Where Art Thou? CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY WITH EXPANDED TWO-CD DELUXE EDITION NEW BONUS DISC INCLUDES read more...

From Townes Van Zandt To Doc Watson

From Townes Van Zandt To Doc Watson Townes Van Zandt's Live at The Old Quarter read more...

Widespread Panic's John Bell Looks Forward To Bonnaroo 2011

John Bell On Bonnaroo Ten Years Later The 2011 Bonnaroo Festival begins on June 9. The four-day, multi-stage camping festival held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, celebrates its 10th year.

Official Duane Allman website debuts

Galadrielle Allman, the daughter of late Duane Allman, has helped create a website in tribute to her father - duaneallman.com.  Clearly a labor of love, the website provides a home for Duane's legacy as it contains discographies, stories about Duane's life, and a forum for read more...

Bob Dylan's Upcoming Southern Tour Dates

Dylan Adds Southern Tour Dates Yesterday three new southern dates were scheduled on the summer leg of Bob Dylan's 2011 tour. On July 24, Dylan will perform in New Braunfels, Texas. The Bard travels to New Orleans for a July 26 show, and then onto Memphis for read more...

Rejoice and Shout: The History of Gospel Music

Don McGlynn's Latest Documentary Rejoice and Shout Directed by Don McGlynn, Rejoice and Shout documents the 200-year history of gospel music in America. The two-hour film traces fusions of multiple musical styles such as plantation work songs, read more...

Olga's Whatever You Want featuring Cody Dickinson

Olga's Whatever You Want Out June 21, 2011 Singer/songwriter/guitarist Olga Wilhelmine Munding's latest album Whatever You Want will be released on June 21, 2011. Olga wrote Whatever You Want with

The Civil Wars Play Tornado Benefit at Historic Shoals Theatre in Florence, AL

Once again the marvelously magical duo, The Civil Wars (Joy Williams and John Paul White), took the stage in front of a sold-out house and a wildly enthusiastic audience. This time they were read more...

A Memorial Day Tribute: An Early Salute

 A Salute To All The Veterans An early salute for the upcoming weekend... In honor of Memorial Day, and all the read more...

Gregg Allman Signs Book Deal

Greg Allman Memoir Due Out Spring 2012 This week Gregg Allman signed a book deal to write his life story. The memoir will be published by William Morrow in the spring of read more...

Never A Pal Like Mother

Happy Mother's Day 2011 Happy Mother's Day to Everyone! Since it's Mother's Day weekend, I thought I write a dispatch around the great Atlanta label

Levon Helm's Ramble At The Ryman

Levon Helm's Ramble At The Ryman This Nashville Scene article outlines

Deadly Tornadoes Hit The South

Deadly Tornadoes Rip Through The South         "Sirens were blowing, clouds spat rain         And as things came through, it sounded like a train..."

CD Reviews of 2011 (So Far...)

CD Reviews of 2011 (So Far...)                     " I will see you on Good Friday..."

Film Reviews of the Past

Swampland Film Reviews of the Past Today's dispatch includes a list of various films reviewed on Swampland. This follows up recent lists of book and

Book Reviews of the Past

Book Reviews of the Past on Mystery and Manners Today I thought I'd include a list of a few books reviewed on Swampland from the past. Perhaps a title will ignite some inspiration for a reader to seek out a specific book or story. While a read more...

Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitizer Prize Winning Journalist, To Speak at University of North Alabama

Isabel Wilkerson, the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in the history of journalism, will be speaking at the University of North Alabama (in Florence, Alabama) at 12:30 PM, Thursday, April 14. read more...

Black Crowe Steve Gorman Sits In With Bobby Keys Band

Bobby Keys Band In Nashville Texas native Bobby Keys played saxophone for The Rolling Stones,

Jack White To Record Jerry Lee Lewis In Nashville On April 16

Jack White Producing Jerry Lee Lewis Jack White's Third Man Records announced Monday on Record Store Day--April 16--Jerry Lee Lewis will perform live in Nashville. White will produce the live recording with a read more...

Friendship, Love & Betrayal in Modern Times

Friendship, Love & Betrayal In Modern Times “You got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend When I was down you just stood there grinning…”

Pinetop Perkins RIP

Pinetop Perkins RIP The great blues pianist Joseph Willie “Pinetop” Perkins died today of a cardiac arrest at 97 years old in Austin, Texas. Born in Belzoni, Mississippi, Perkins played with many of America’s blues greats such as read more...

Southern College Football – End of an Era

For generations around our Swampland Footprint, the play-by-play announcer of your favorite university was like a part of the family. Yes, there was a time before ESPN and billion-dollar network deals when not every game was on television. Classic voices like Tennessee’s John read more...

The North Mississippi Allstars Talk Jim Dickinson

The North Mississippi Allstars Talk Jim Dickinson This recent NPR interview highlights the North Mississippi Allstars’ latest read more...

Jack White Explores the Art of Auctioneering

Jack White Explores the Art of Auctioneering Jack White now lives in Nashville. Best known as founder of the The White Stripes, White also spearheaded groups and projects like The Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn’s masterpiece Van Lear Rose, read more...

Southern College Football – Can the Big 12 Survive?

The world of college athletics was almost turned upside down last summer when possible conference realignment(s) seemed to be rumored on a daily basis. Would the Big 12 still exist in 2011? Texas and Oklahoma to the Pac-10? Texas or Missouri to the Big Ten? Texas A&M to the SEC? read more...

John Mellencamp's No Better Than This

John Mellencamp’s No Better Than This Recorded by T-Bone Burnett, No Better Than This counts as

Like Clockwork, SEC Tops Recruiting

There seems to be a rhythm to each winter over the last few years; an SEC team wins the BCS Championship in January and then the league cleans up in recruiting on the first Wednesday in February. Those two annual events are very intertwined, and we have written for years about how read more...

Chris Robinson Brotherhood Tour Dates Announced

Chris Robinson Brotherhood Tour Dates The Black Crowes just completed their ‘Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys Tour’ in December. Since the Crowes are on hiatus,

Pre-Review First Listen: The Drive By Truckers' Go-Go Boots

Pre-Review First Listen: Drive By Truckers’ Go-Go Boots On February 15, the Drive By Truckers officially release their latest studio album,

Arhoolie Records Celebrates 50 Years

Arhoolie Records Celebrates 50 Years Chris Strachwitz, 79, owns Arhoolie Records. The label, founded in 1960, has issued 400 albums, and more than 6500 songs of some of America’s most resonating roots music. Most read more...

RIP Charlie Louvin

RIP Charlie Louvin The great Charlie Louvin lost his battle with pancreatic cancer this read more...

Tommy Lee Jones Directs Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset Limited For HBO Films

Tommy Lee Jones Produces Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited For HBO Tommy Lee Jones directed and produced Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Sunset Limited for

Steve Earle Plans Album, Book & Tour

Busy 2011 For Steve Earle USA Today reported this afternoon that Steve Earle plans for a busy 2011. On April 26, read more...

Wanda Jackson's The Party Ain't Over

Wanda Jackson: The Party Ain't Over The Party Ain't Over counts as Wanda Jackson's first studio album in eight years. The release date for The Party Ain't Over is January 25. 'The Queen of Rockabilly' sings 12 cover songs produced by Jack read more...

Southern College Football – SEC Wins Again

LEAD STORY The numbers are staggering: five national titles in row, a 7-0 record in the 13 BCS Championship Games, and five different schools who have won a national crown during those 13 years.

20 Interviews From The Archive

20 Interviews From Swampland/Mystery and Manners Archive Amid other pressing projects, today I thought I’d construct a dispatch regarding 20 interviews from the Swampland/Mystery And Manners archive. Each artist read more...

Saying Goodbye is Hard

It is with a truly heavy heart that I report the passing of one of Southern Rock's finest guitar players, Tommy Crain. Tommy was a 15-year veteran of The Charlie Daniels Band, having co-written many CDB classics including "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." For read more...

Gregg Allman's Low Country Blues

Gregg Allman’s Low Country Blues On January 18, Gregg Allman’s latest studio recording—Low Country Blues—hits the streets. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, Low Country Blues read more...

Southern College Football – Bowl Season

LEAD STORY The BCS Championship Game is almost here, and the fans around our Swampland Footprint are very eager to see if Auburn can earn the SEC’s fifth straight national title. It’s quite the

Robert Plant Pays Tribute To Townes Van Zandt

Robert Plant’s Homage To Townes Van Zandt Robert Plant recorded Townes Van Zandt’s “Harm Swift Way” on his new Band of Joy disc. I heard the song today, and I read more...

Ben Nichols Plays The Last Pale Light in the West

Ben Nichols Plays ‘The Last Pale Light In the West’ On January 11, Lucero’s Ben Nichols will perform a solo acoustic show at Arkansas CD & Record Exchange in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The same day Nichols’ great 2008 solo effort--

Merry Christmas From Swampland

Merry Christmas From Swampland Ho, Ho, Ho…I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from Swampland. Thanks for all the support. A Happy New Year to you all! Don’t let the Devil get you down. I’ve included a couple of read more...

Let Your Feet Do The Talkin': A Holiday Gift (Part Two)...

Stuart Copeland’s Latest Documentary On the heels of yesterday’s holiday gift dispatch, today’s stocking selection emerges as another

Southern College Football – Coaching Carousel

LEAD STORY With bowl season beginning and holidays upon us, the big news in our Footprint is the gigantic transformation of the coaching hierarchy in the state of Florida. Do you realize that one-season ‘veteran’ Jimbo Fisher of Florida State is now the dean of read more...

North Mississippi Allstars Announce New Album & Dates with Robert Plant

North Mississippi Allstars' 2011 Plans The North Mississippi Allstars will release their new album--Keys To The Kingdom--on February 1, 2011. December 28 begins the Allstars' tour. On New Year's read more...

Catawompus Vocalist Dies in Auto Mishap

NASHVILLE - We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of our friend Darren Stafford. Darren was the lead singer of one of our favorite Southern Rock bands, Catawompus. Rest in peace, brother. Read about the auto accident that took his life

Southern College Football – Championship Week

LEAD STORY The amazing story of Auburn and Cam Newton will continue Saturday when they meet South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game.

Luther Dickinson & The Sons of Mudboy Earn Grammy Nomination

Luther Dickinson & The Sons of Mudboy Earn Grammy Nomination Luther Dickinson and his band The Sons of Mudboy earned a Grammy nomination for their album read more...

Buffalo Radio Show Tonight: Doug Jones (Blind Willy), Rick Cash (Silver Travis), and Author A. Lawrence Haskins

Tonight at 7 pm/est, the Buffalo Radio Show welcomes A. Lawrence Haskins, a novelist whose book "The Whisper of Serpents" is an astounding crime drama. Lawrence is also the mastermind behind his own multi-media empire which includes online talk shows and much read more...

Southern College Football - Week 13 Themes

It’s rivalry week in our Swampland Footprint. Some teams are looking towards league titles (Auburn, Oklahoma/Oklahoma State, NC State, etc.) while some usual stalwarts are just trying to become bowl eligible (Texas, Georgia, Tennessee). The last weekend of the season is the read more...

GRITZ Compilation Volume 5 FREE Dowload Ready!

We are proud to present the new Gritz Stone Ground & Southern Compilation Volume Five. A FREE dowload for the readers of GRITZ! This time we have read more...

Southern College Football - Week 12 Themes

LEAD STORY It finally happened. For the first time since joining the SEC in 1992, the South Carolina Gamecocks will represent the East Division in read more...

Keith Richards Writes About Gram Parsons In Life

Keith Richards Writes About Gram Parsons in Life I’ve been reading Keith Richards’ new book, Life. I’ve already made some notes for the Swampland review, but today I reached page 247 where Keith writes about Gram Parsons. read more...

Southern College Football - Week 11 Themes

LEAD STORY The Cam Newton saga continues to be the story of the week in college football. It seems very likely that his father was involved in seeking money for his son’s commitment. Does read more...

Billy Crain Releases Debut Solo Recording

I have really enjoyed spinning the long awaited debut solo CD from The Outlaws' Billy Crain. It is a good one. Check out my review of Skeletons in the Closet here. Keep it Real. read more...

GRITZ Salutes All Veterans Today, With Thanks

Saluting Our Veterans and My Dear Friends Frank and Nell Lutz

Today is Veterans Day--a day on which we pay tribute to all those who served this country in the armed services. Today is especially meaningful to me because it gives me an opportunity to honor two of my favorite World War II veterans: my long time friends and erstwhile neighbors read more...

The Latest Episode of Steve Gorman’s Sports

The Latest Episode of Black Crowes' Drummer Sports Show This afternoon I listened to Black Crowes’ drummer Steve Gorman’s weekly sports podcast. They discussed the read more...

Southern College Football - Week 10 Themes

LEAD STORY What an old-fashioned Southern soap opera we have on our hands. I’m sure by now you’ve read (or at least heard about) the ESPN story regarding the recruitment of Auburn read more...

Music Maker's 'Homebrew Hootenanny' (And A Lookback)

Music Maker’s Saturday Homebrew Hootenanny Music Maker Relief Foundation, a non-profit organization, dedicated to assisting neglected southern musicians with daily expenses, instrument acquisition, recording, and read more...

Southern College Football - Week 9 Themes

LEAD STORY So much of the national attention (ESPN) at this point in the college football season goes to just the handful of teams in the BCS chase. Auburn-- as well read more...

Dylan, Petty & Drive By Truckers Participate In ‘Back To Black Friday’

Dylan, Petty & Drive By Truckers Participate In ‘Back To Black Friday’ In support of independent record stores, November 26 stands as ‘Back To Black Friday’. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, The Drive By Truckers, Iron & Wine, U2, read more...

Buffalo's Radio Show Sunday Night Features Barry Lee Harwood, Rickey Godfrey

Hey y'all - please join me for my new internet radio talk show, THE BUFFALO SHOW, this Sunday night at 7 pm est when my guests will be

Southern College Football - Week 8 Themes

LEAD STORY It’s a huge weekend in the Big 12, with conference and national title implications. Top-ranked Oklahoma travels to undefeated Missouri, while read more...

The Return of Cat Power

The Return of Cat Power Atlanta girl Chan Marshall (Cat Power) plays four shows this weekend. It’s been a while since she’s been in front of a live audience, but it’s good to see her back. On Thursday, she performs in Seattle at read more...

Southern College Football - Week 7 Themes

LEAD STORY With South Carolina’s huge 35-21 victory over Alabama, the SEC’s current streak of four straight National Championships looks to be in read more...

Benefit for Sid Yochim Will Bring Out Classic Southern Rockers To Nashville Next Week

An amazing line up of musicians will take the stage on October 21st at Whiskey Bent Saloon in Nashville to raise money to help Sid Yochim, a 30 year road veteran of The Charlie Daniels Band. Sid was diagnosed

Nobel Peace Prize Campaign For Willie Nelson

Nobel Peace Prize Campaign for Willie Nelson A Nobel Peace Prize Campaign has been launched for Willie Nelson and his FARM AID efforts. For the last 25 years Nelson has assisted the American farmer through FARM AID as well as raised awareness of healthy foods.

Southern College Football - Week 6 Themes

LEAD STORY Florida State and Miami meet Saturday night in South Beach for their usual heated clash. This rivalry has lost a little luster read more...

From Townes To Peckinpah

From Townes To Peckinpah “The hero and the artist compare notes on the 21st century…

Rickey Godfrey Releases Hot New CD, Returns to SC for Hometown Shows This Weekend

Our friend Rickey Godfrey has a new CD out called "Nasty Man" and it is just what the doctor ordered. Rickey returns to the rootsy, Suuthern Rock and blues sound of his

It's Never Too Late To Read a Banned Book

I recommend that you start with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or perhaps All The King's Men, or even To Kill A Mockingbird which just celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. The great poet T.S. Eliot once said that his parents forbade him to read more...

Southern College Football - Week 5 Themes

  LEAD STORY Alabama and Florida will meet in Tuscaloosa Saturday in a battle of the last two National Champions. It’s been over two years since the Gators lost a regular season SEC game (Ole Miss, September ’08), and it’s been read more...

President Obama Describes Meeting Bob Dylan

President Obama Describes Meeting Bob Dylan On September 17, 2010, President Obama conducted an interview with Jann Wenner for Rolling Stone magazine. It’s an extensive read more...

A Conversation with Alabama Guitarist & Songwriter Riley Watkins

Riley Watkins To Discuss Grandma's Roadhouse  Everyone likes a good story. The Riley Watkins story proves to be one you should hear. This Alabama guitarist and songwriter stands as an obscure American hero that any real music fan would love.

Southern College Football - Week 4 Themes

LEAD STORY Week 4 will be ‘Definition Saturday’ in our Swampland Footprint, especially in the SEC West. We should begin to see the true identity of many of our teams and what they have the potential to achieve in 2010.

Inside Alabama Politics: Fish Frys, Barbecues, and Chittlin' Suppers

According to my friend Dr. Susan Parker, Alabama politics is not just about politics; it is about food and lots of it. No political rally is complete without a read more...

Southern College Football - Week 3 Themes

LEAD STORY After last season, we wrote how the ACC would look for improvement in 2010. Last year’s campaign was summed as read more...

Soulful Southern Brew: Atlanta's Red Brick Brewery

Soulful Southern Brew: Atlanta’s Red Brick Brewery Yesterday and today I spoke with Red Brick Brewery’s Regional Manager Chris Caban. Yesterday he was driving through Charleston, and today he was having lunch in Columbia, South Carolina. Red Brick distributes read more...

Bloodkin Opens First Shows of Widespread Panic's Fall Tour This Weekend

Bloodkin Kicks Off Panic Tour As fall descends, the interesting season of live shows begin…Bloodkin’s Daniel Hutchens,

Shannon McNally's Debut Swampland Article: Rock & Roll Mommy

Rock And Roll Mommy By Shannon McNally I am proud to present Shannon McNally's debut Swampland contribution Rock and Roll Mommy. Shannon reveals an interesting perspective as a mother read more...

2010 SEC Season Outlook

The nation’s toughest conference looks primed for another stellar season on the gridiron. Alabama and Florida, the last two National Champions, will aim for a third straight appearance in the SEC title game.

Download the New Gritz Compilation CD Free

The new GRITZ STONE GROUND & SOUTHERN COMPILATION VOLUME 4 is ready for FREE DOWNLOADING! We are extremely pleased to present the September edition featuring an amazing lineup of songs, new read more...

Southern Music Folk Festival Dedicated To Jim Dickinson

Southern Music Folk Festival Dedicated To Jim Dickinson Throughout the years, Jim Dickinson cultivated a relationship with the Memphis Center for read more...

Bob Dylan And the Death of Elvis Presley

Bob Dylan & the Death of Elvis Presley Since yesterday marked the 33rd anniversary of Tupelo native Elvis Presley’s death, I thought a quick dispatch regarding The King would be appropriate. I came across

Jimmy Dean--"Thirty Years of Sausage, Fifty Years of Ham"

Jimmy Dean, who died on June 13 of this year, would have been 82 years old today, August 10.  In honor of his birthday, I prepared his fabulous low fat turkey sausage for breakfast. To tell the truth, I have read more...

The Dog Days Descend

Dog Day Afternoon In the Peach State A quick note as the Dog Days descend here in Georgia…I briefly visited Stanley Booth and Diann Blakely today to talk shop, so to speak. Look read more...

SEC Media Days Attract Huge Attention

The SEC tops the nation when it comes to college football so it should be no surprise that the "Media Days" in July draw so much interest. Media members from all over the country marvel at the three day spectacle that has gridiron fans counting the days until the season read more...

News Reels on Daniel Lanois, Neil Young & The Sad Passing of Nashville Legend Fred Carter Jr.

News Reels on Lanois, Young & the Death of Nashville Legend Fred Carter Jr. As reported earlier, recently producer Daniel Lanois suffered serious injuries from a motorcycle accident. Around the time of the accident Lanois was producing a new

Hank Cochran Dies At 74

Hank Cochran Passes Away Mississippi born Hank Cochran died Thursday at the age of 74 from pancreatic cancer at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Cochran wrote hits for Patsy Cline ("I Fall To Pieces"), Burl Ives and Eddie Arnold.

SEC Continues Its Run of Excellence

The SEC ended another stellar year with another national championship. South Carolina won the school’s first ever national title when they swept UCLA at the College World read more...

Luther & Cody Dickinson In Memphis Tomorrow Opening for Robert Plant

DuoLuco to Open For Robert Plant Deep South Shows The North Mississippi Allstars' Luther and Cody Dickinson join as DUOLUCO and will open for Robert Plant & The Band of Joy for a stretch of dates beginning tomorrow night in Memphis.

Video of the Day: The Charlie Daniels Band, 1975

Charlie Daniels Speaks with GRITZ About The Gulf Oil Crisis and More

by Michael Buffalo Smith Charlie Daniels has had quite a year. More recording, non-stop touring and recovering from a stroke, and he is still doing it to it as fast as he can go. And then there's the now legendary Geico commercial. I spoke with Charlie yesterday to read more...

Music For A Cause: Benefit Concerts from Nashville to Gulf Shores

One week after country music stars rallied to raise over $2 million for Nashville, TN, flood relief,Jimmy Buffet will give a benefit concert live from

Amy LaVere Stars in The Romance of Loneliness

Amy LaVere Stars in the Romance of Loneliness The Memphis-based story of The Romance of Loneliness is about a young woman from a traditional southern family. The singer/songwriter Amy LaVere stars as Amanda, the story’s main character.

Gregg Allman Undergoes Succesful Liver Transplant

Gregg Allman underwent a successful liver transplant operation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL yesterday morning, Wednesday, June 23, according to our friends Lana and Rowland at the official read more...

Larry Jon Wilson RIP

Larry Jon Wilson RIP The great songwriter Larry Jon Wilson died Monday in Virginia of heart failure at the age of 69. Born in Swainsboro, Georgia, (two hours up the road) Wilson began making albums in the 70s and enjoyed moderate success. He remained reclusive for most read more...

Ryan Bingham's Junky Star On The Rise

Ryan Bingham’s Junky Star Set For Fall Release In the swirl of T-Bone Burnett produced projects such as Robert Randolph’s We Walk This Road (released today), Crazy Heart as read more...

Past Interviews & Upcoming Artists of Note

Greetings Folks, I hope all is well, and everyone enjoyed Father’s Day… Change is afoot, and we’ve got a lot on the horizon, but for the past week much of the work has gone on behind the scenes. On the immediate agenda, the work of

Barry Lee Harwood EIght Years Later: The GRITZ Interview

Eight years ago Scott Greene interviewed former Rossington Collins Band member Barry Lee Harwood for GRITZ. At the time, Barry Lee was read more...

Conference Realignment: Gene Stallings Has A Texas-Sized SEC Vision For A&M

Consider us here at Swampland Sports a bit ahead of our time.  In September of 2007, we published an article about realigning southern college conferences so that read more...

Candy Coburn is a Country Rockin' Treasure

Candy Coburn is one rocking country read more...

Bonnaroo 2010

2010 Bonnaroo This Weekend This weekend--June 10-13--the Bonnaroo music festival will take place in the hills of Tennessee. This is Bonnaroo's 9th year. In that time it's become a formidable annual music festival.  

Ragged Jack is My Kind of Band

Ragged Jack is one fine band. The group is lead by singer-somgwriter Lyman Ellerman. Their debut CD is called Life is a Wheel, and it's today's

Neil Young Plays The Ryman Tonight

Neil Young's Second Night At The Ryman This evening Neil Young plays The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Young also played the historic Ryman last night. Over the years, Young has expressed his love for Nashville. His Heart of Gold movie was filmed at the read more...

Once an Outlaw: An Interview with Former Outlaws Member Chuck Glass

As a special treat for the Holiday, I'd like to present an interview passed on to us by my Facebook friend Hank Hart. It's a cool conversation with Nashville musician and read more...

I Ain't In It For My Health: A Film About Levon Helm

I Ain’t In It For My Health A review of I Ain’t In It For My read more...

Third Time is a Charm for Bo Bice

Hey gang. Former American Idol runner up Bo Bice has a HOT new album out. You gotta check it out. Read my review here, and be sure to vivit the link below for "all things Bo." Keep it Real. Keep it read more...

Titans and Falcons Add Solid Defenders in the Draft

One of the most important aspects of the NFL Draft is knowing your identity and drafting accordingly. Two franchises that have played that strategy well in recent years are the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons. Both teams made that Playoffs in 2008 and then barely missed a read more...

Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian & Cities of the Plain Set for the Silver Screen

Two More McCarthy Books Set To Film Todd Field (In The Bedroom, Little Children) will direct his screenplay based on the savage Cormac McCarthy novel, Blood Meridian. The film is slated for release sometime next year. In other McCarthy news, Andrew read more...

Bo Bice Donates All Profits from New Record to Nashville Flood Relief

Bo Bice has announced that he will donate all of his proceeds from his single, “Long Road Back,” to a variety of flood assistance programs that are aiding victims of the recent Nashville-area flooding disaster. Bice made the announcement during an interview on the read more...

Spotlight on Former American Idol Bo Bice

Southern Rocker and former American Idol Bo Bice has a hot new country and Southern Rock album out. Look for a review in GRITZ soon. For now, we want to spotlight our archived inbterview with this good ol' Alabama rock and roller, in which he told us just how he read more...

Nashville Music Community Devistated By Last Weekend's Floods

Here's a pretty comprehensive article from CMT on the damage to Nashville's music community in the wake of last weekend's flooding. Absolutely terrible, and so hard to believe. We continue to keep all of our Music City friends in our thoughts and prayers.

Please Help Nashville Flood Victims!

Dear Swampland readers, We wanted to pass on an important message from one our Nashville friends: Non- Nashvillians; please spread the word. Temporary shelters are at capacity, missing people are unaccounted for, Nashville has been declared a disaster area by the read more...

STAX Legend Steve Cropper's Midnight Flyer

Midnight Flyer Due Out June 15 Steve Cropper, guitarist for Booker T & The MGs and one of the primary architects of the indelible STAX sound, recently recorded a new studio album in Nashville. Midnight Flyer, due out on June 15, follows Cropper's 2008 Nudge read more...

Levon Helm's 70th Birthday Celebration at The Mountain Jam

The Mountain Jam Festival June 4-6 Warren Haynes' sixth Mountain Jam Festival will return to Hunter, New York, on June 4-6, 2010. Haynes' band Government Mule will headline the festival, which will also include Levon Helm & Friends' 70th Birthday read more...

Prayers for Victims of Nashville Floods

Our thoughts and prayers go out to our many friends on Nashville in the wake of the terrible flooding. See the CNN News video and link to photos and story below. -Michael Buffalo

Neil Young To Record with Daniel Lanois

Neil Young Chose Lanois For Next Album Neil Young recently selected Daniel Lanois to produce his next studio album. This should be an interesting collaboration since the two have never worked together. Lanois has produced records for Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Chris Whitley, read more...

NFL Draft Impressions: Rams Get Their Man; Jags Disappoint Their Fans

Did your team improve? Is your fan base excited about the direction of your squad? We will take an in-depth look at the NFL Draft over the next couple of weeks, but wanted to give our read more...

Steve Gorman Sports Covers The Kentucky Derby

Black Crowes Drummer Steve Gorman Travels Home For The Derby Kentucky-native and Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman hosts a radio “The Backbeat of Sports” show in Nashville. It’s a fine sports-music show. Steve was a serious athlete in high school and read more...

Memphis Native Kirk Whalum Named President of Soulsville/Stax

Memphis Native Kirk Whalum Named President of Soulsville/Stax Memphis native Kirk Whalum—a Grammy-winning jazz saxophonist and music read more...

Aaron Remains in the Running on American Idol

Congratulations to Aaron Kelly once again, read more...

The Black Crowes Announce New Studio Album, "Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys" Tour & Hiatus

The Black Crowes Announce New Album, Tour & 2011 Hiatus The Black Crowes announced yesterday they will release a studio album of all acoustic material to commemorate their 20th Anniversary

Celebrate Record Store Day 2010!

  Record Store Day 2010 is read more...

Buffalo Roaming: GRITZFEST II : A Review

by Michael Buffalo Smith Now where were we? On February 25th, 2010 I was staying at the Hotel Preston in Nashville with my new friends Gig Michaels and Mark Carlyle of the band Swampdawamp. We had driven in through the cold rains the night before. By the time read more...

Wanee Report: Day Two

Swampland Wanee Report: Day Two ...A Few Notes From The Swamp... Funkadelic closed the evening out last night. It's a musical read more...

Alex Chilton RIP

Big Star Legend Passes Away   Like everyone else...you never know where you'll be when you get the news...so for now, I'd like to read more...

Mark Linkous RIP

Sparklehorse Songwriter Gone At 47 Sad news to report…Sparklehorse songwriter

Buffalo Roaming: Gritzfest, Aaron Kelly and Swampdawamp

It's clear but cold here in Nashville today, and I have been having a relaxing day here at the Hotel Preston. Mark and Gig told me it is a great  place and now I know. The beds are amazingly comfortable and the staff are all just real nice folks. I took a lunch meeting read more...

The Road to Gritzfest: Buffalo Roaming Again

Well it looks like ol' Buffalo will be roaming once again a little later this evening. As y'all know by now, we have the big Gritzfest II coming to Bama on Friday, and as you also most likely know, I am still not up to par with my vision following last week's laser read more...

Jimmy Hall Added to GRITZFEST LIneup

We are happy to announce the addition of Jimmy Hall to the lineup for GRITZFEST II, to be held at Crossroads Music Hall in Huntsville, Alabama on Friday evening, February 26th beginning at 7:30 PM. The concert will benefit GRITZ Charities, with portions of proceeds going to read more...

GRITZ Presents All New Volume II Free Compilation Download

The second "Gritz Stone Ground & Southern" compilation is now available! The FREE album download features another

Reba Russell Recording at Jim Dickinson's Zebra Ranch Studio

The Latest Sessions at Zebra Ranch Memphis singer/songwriter Reba Russell is currently recording at Jim Dickinson's Zebra Ranch Studios. In light read more...

Crazy Heart Deserves an Oscar

In Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges stars as a former country star named Bad Blake, a character that is a mix of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Billy Joe Shaver, with a strong physical resemblance to Kris Kristofferson. He had a couple of chart hits once upon a time, but these read more...

A Timeless American Lineage: The Six Degrees of the Dickinson Family

The Six Degrees of The Dickinson Family Dispatch The late Jim Dickinson--along with his sons read more...

SEC Continues to Rule the Recruiting World

National Signing Day has passed, and once again the teams of the SEC were dominant in the rankings. The conference that has won the last four National Championships (with three different schools) continually pulls in the top classes, and that's what it takes to compete in America's read more...

Mavis Staples Still Singing Soulful Gospel Music

Gospel Great Mavis Staples at 71  

National Signing Day: Christmas Morning for Southern Football Fans

It’s finally here- a virtual holiday in our Swampland Footprint.

Book Reviews of the Past: Adventures in the Literary Realm

Mystery and Manners Book Reviews of the Past On this Tuesday evening, I thought I’d lash together a book review read more...

Tuesday CD Review: Crazy Heart is Chock Full of Real, Honest Country Music

Our Tuesday review features one fine soundtrack album. An amazing album produced by T-Bone Burnett that finds Hollywood actors singing their best since Walk The Line. Read my review of Crazy Heart read more...

The Drive By Truckers' Secret To A Happy Ending

The Impending Onslaught of The Drive By Truckers Congratulations to

Neil Young, Levon Helm, Booker T. and Steve Earle All Win Grammys

Downhome 2010 Grammy Winners So, after a tribute to

Buffalo's Top Ten List For The Week of January 29, 2010

Howdy guys. Well it's Friday and we are under a winter storm warning so I have assembled a playlist that i feel will warm up anyone's cold day. Check 'em out. 1. Lady 

The Long Awaited Lance Ledbetter Interview

The Long-Awaited Lance Ledbetter Interview The story of Dust To Digital is a divine one. In the late 1990s, Lance Ledbetter set out to discover read more...

Michelle Obama To Host Civil Rights Music Night At The White House

First Lady To Host White House Music Series The First Lady will host The 2010 White House Music Series, which includes a

The South Memphis String Band's Home Sweet Home

The South Memphis String Band's Debut Release   The South Memphis String Band is Luther Dickinson, Alvin Youngblood Hart read more...

Saints vs Colts Present a Dream SPF Super Bowl

Much more to come on this as the Super Bowl approaches, but yesterday's wins by Peyton Manning and the Colts and Drew Brees and the Saints presented our football-hungry region with the best reason yet to watch the Super Bowl.

Patterson Hood Scores Soundtrack for That Evening Sun

 That Evening Sun Features Patterson Hood Soundtrack  

Prelude To Interview with Dust To Digital's Lance Ledbetter

Prelude To Interview with Dust To Digital President Lance Ledbetter This evening I finished transcribing my interview with the President of read more...

Video Spotlight: Bekka Bramlett

Here are a couple of great videos of Bekka Bramlett performing live at 3rd & Lindsey in Nashville. The first song is the old r&b classic "Everybody Loves a Winner," a song her father

Neil Young Talks About The Grammys

Neil Young Honored At Grammys In

Charlie Daniels Suffers Mild Stroke

Dooley Raised in the SEC Football "Family"

Tennessee made an interesting choice to for the school’s 22nd head coach. Derek Dooley, the son of legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley, grew up around the SEC and also had quite a read more...

Tuesday Review: Bekka Bramlett - Win a Free Copy

Man oh man, am I excited. I am happy as a lark to present my review of the amazing new album from Bekka Bramlett, and even happier to tell you we have a few copies to give away. read more...

Sunday Southern Rock Videos

Here are a few videos for your Sunday spotlighting some of the artists featured on our free Stone Ground & Southern Compilation. Check 'em out and if you haven't yet downloaded your free album,

Thoughts On The Stone Ground Compilation and an Amanda Martin Video

Happy Thursday! I'll bet I'm he first one to say that to you, huh? Just a quick note to say that our debut digital Compilation is doing really well and we are very pleased that so many of you are digging the music. If you have yet to experience the bombastic read more...

Lane Kiffin Never Embraced SEC Football

The college football world-and especially the Tennessee fan base-was rocked by the news that Lane Kiffin was leaving the Vols after just one season in Knoxville. The former USC read more...

Johnny Cash's Final Studio Album American VI Out February 26

American VI Out Feb. 26

The Early Recordings of Waylon Jennings

The First Six Waylon Jennings Albums Reissued Last week I received Texas-born Waylon Jennings’ first 6 albums—Folk read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Georgia Still Searching for New Defensive Coordinator

Bud Foster, John Chavis, and Kirby Smart. That looks like a list of top defensive coordinators in our Swampland footprint, but it also the candidates who have turned down the chance to work for Mark Richt this offseason.

Download The New GRITZ Digital Compilation FREE

It's quite a special day in the Swampland. Today we begin our monthly series of digital music compilations. and every month we will be offering you the GRITZ reader a FREE download of new music from many of the artists you read about here in GRITZ. The first read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Bama Win Keeps SEC on Top

The SEC captured a fourth straight National Title Thursday night with Alabama’s 37-21 win over Texas in the BCS Championship Game.

Happy BIrthday Week: Elvis Presley and Sam Phillips (Sun Records)

Today, January 8, Elvis Presley would have celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. On Tuesday, January 5, Sam Phillips, the man who read more...

Volume 2 of Interview Series with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance

Volume Two of Interview Series with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance   So, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to my interview I read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Alabama Playing for National Title and Conference Pride

Alabama has played their way back to the national forefront over the last two years, and they will try to cap that run with a victory over Texas in tonight's BCS Championship Game. If the

Willie Mitchell RIP

Legendary Producer Passes Away at 81   Willie Mitchell--one of Al Green's read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Meyer Faces Tough Choices Between Florida and Family

Some important decisions are now at hand for Urban Meyer and the Florida athletic department. After the Gators destroyed an overmatched Cincinnati team (dealing with read more...

Looking Back at 2009

On the last day of 2009, I thought it only made sense to recount the ten most imortant events of the year from the GRITZ perspective. 1. The Allman Brothers Band read more...

Todd Nance Talk & Vic Chesnutt on Widespread Panic

Todd Nance Talk & Vic Chesnutt on Widespread Panic So, last night I interviewed

SEC Daily Fever: Meyer Saga Leaves Doubt Around UF Program

What a roller coaster of a week it’s been for Florida Gator fans. The wishy-washy Urban Meyer drama has left a cloud of uncertainty over the program read more...

Tonight's Interview with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance

Upcoming Volume Two of Ongoing Todd Nance Interview Series Tonight I’m set to read more...

Merry Christmas

Mystery And Manners Christmas Dispatch   Ho Ho Ho Folks, Merry Christmas! I'd like read more...

2009 Top 20 New Music Releases

Top 20 Mystery And Manners 2009 Music Releases    I hate to split hairs, and even begin to rank music but read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Saban Not Worried about Facing Former Assistants in Title Game

The media has raised the question recently whether or not Texas assistants Will Muschamp and Major Applewhite, who served under Nick Saban at LSU and Alabama respectively, give the Longhorns any advantage with their familiarity of the Tide coach as they prepare for the BCS Title read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Gator Fans not feeling the Sugar Bowl after SEC Title Loss

It currently looks like Florida fans are not very fired up for the Sugar Bowl against Cincinnati. As we approach Christmas, the Gators are read more...

A Little Help From My Friends: A Big Thank You

I would like to say a public “thank you” to those who helped us out during the past few months. Some donated items for an auction to help with medical bills and equipment, while others made cash and in kind donations to help both GRITZ and the ol’ Buffalo himself. read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Brooks receives accolade for another solid season at Kentucky

The website collegefootballnews.com had a very interesting choice for their conference Coach of the Year- Rich Brooks of Kentucky.

Luther Dickinson: The Hardest Working Man In Rock And Roll

Luther Dickinson: The Hardest Working Man In Rock And Roll

SEC Daily Fever: Vols Sign Simms Youngest Son

Many teams in the conference added a junior college prospect or two yesterday, and one of the more interesting names to sign was quarterback Matt Simms at Tennessee. Besides the fact that he is the son of Phil Simms, this signing is interesting because his older brother (Chris read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Meyer's December Shows the Roller Coaster of Being an SEC Boss

From the outside looking in, things appear pretty sunny for Urban Meyer at the University of Florida. He is 56-10 in five seasons in Gainesville, has won two League and two National Titles, had an undefeated regular season this year, and has another Top 10 recruiting class on the read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Spurrier Extended at South Carolina

it may not seem like a big deal that South Carolina added an extra year to Steve Spurrier's contract this week, but it shows the USC administration is sticking with the program. After some late season fizzles the last few years, it would be easy to jump right back into the coaching read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Ingram Wins Bama's First Heisman

There aren’t many “firsts” left with the University of Alabama’s football history, especially now that Mark Ingram became the Tide’s only Heisman Trophy read more...

The Best Releases of 2009

Well, it’s time once again to run down the GRITZ Best Albums of 2009. It wasn’t easy. There was a lot of good music this year, but we narrowed it down to our twenty best. Let us know what you think.

SEC Daily Fever: Kiffin denies any wrongdoing

In one year on the job at Tennessee, Lane Kiffin has become a lightning rod for the national and regional media. His brash attitude and recruiting prowess has rubbed some writers and some other coaches the wrong way.

The GRITZ Top Ten for Friday, December 11, 2009

1. “Monday Morning Meltdown”  Gov’t Mule From their new (and red hot) release. Just one of Warren Haynes’ amazing new compositions. Got Mule? 2. “Tougher read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Alabama Proves That It Takes Money To Make Money

Last January, Swampland answered the national media criticism of escalating coach’s salaries by saying “SEC Coaching Dollars Make Sense”. read more...

ACC Daily Fever: Unique Regional Rivalry Finally Takes Place in Atlanta

The matchup of Virginia Tech and Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Bowl has become a very popular ticket in that part of our Swampland Footprint. The last time these two read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Kiffin Must Replace Some Top Recruiters

A constant theme on Tribal Fever has been the importance of recruiting, and how all of the top teams in the conference recruit at the highest level.

SEC Daily Fever: All-League Squad Looks Like NFL Draft Primer

The SEC is considered the big dog conference in college football right now, especially with Alabama aiming to win the league’s fourth straight National Title. With

SEC Daily Fever: Alabama Domintates Florida in SEC Title Rematch

Alabama rode a physical offense and a swarming defense to the SEC crown as they defeated the defending league and national champion Florida Gators 32-13.

SEC Daily Fever: Championship Game Becomes the "Southern" Super Bowl

It’s finally here.  #1 vs. #2. Florida vs. Alabama- 24 wins and no losses. Winner goes to the BCS Title Game, while the loser heads reluctantly to the Sugar Bowl.

Potato Hole Nominated For 2 Grammys & 2010 Drive By Truckers Tour Dates

Potato Hole Nominated For 2 Grammys & 2010 Trucker Tour Dates   Booker T. Jones’ latest album,

Cormac McCarthy Auctions His Old Typewriter Friday

Cormac McCarthy Sells His Olivetti Tomorrow writer

SEC Daily Fever: Richt Fires Martinez, Other Defensive Assistants

About ten days ago, we wrote how Georgia fans wanted some changes in Mark Richt's staff after a frustrating season.

SEC Daily Fever: Florida Dealing with Distraction before Big Game

Florida was dealt a self-imposed blow this week in their quest to repeat as SEC and national Champions. All-American defensive end Carlos Dunlap

Video Spotlight: Betts, Hall Leavell and Trucks (BHLT)

Back in 1982 and '83 there was a short lived Southern Rock supergroup called BHLT. The band featured Dickey Betts, Jimmy Hall, Chuck Leavell and Butch Trucks with Rook Goldflies on bass. I had heard them on a live radio show, but until now I had never seen them perform read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Could Florida and Alabama Play Twice?

It’s time to address the question on the minds of many college football fans- if Texas loses in the Big 12 Championship Game and the SEC Game is a close one, could we see a Florida-Alabama rematch in the BCS Title Game?

Jim Dickinson Featured In Memphis Storytellers Project

Jim Dickinson In New Memphis Legend Storytelling Project The late Jim Dickinson appears in a Memphis-produced DVD titled “The Music read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Thrilling Weekend Shows League's Strength

The SEC saved its best for the last week of regular season play. There were a number of exciting games where the conference showed its power and depth.

SEC Daily Fever: Bama Barely Escapes in Thrilling Iron Bowl

Much like Texas on Thursday night, Alabama got a scare from their in-state rival but also remained unbeaten with a 26-21 last-minute win.

The GRITZ Top Ten for Friday, November 27, 2009

Every Friday GRITZ brings you our “Top Ten,” a playlist of songs past and present that we have been listening too here in the office - songs you just can’t live without. Check ‘em out and please leave a comment. 1. Amos Moses 

Recent Cormac McCarthy Interview

A Rare Cormac McCarthy Interview Since The Road is now showing in theatres I thought I’d dispatch this recent

Tuesday Review: Charlie Daniels' Bluegrass Christmas

Well, it's gettin' to be that time of year again. Time for the Christmas music to help set the mood for the Holidays. Two of my favorite albums to pull out and play read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Georgia and Mark Richt Could be Staring at 6-6

Many around our Footprint (and the country) believe Les Miles is having the toughest week amongst SEC coaches, but you could argue that it's even worse for Georgia's Mark Richt right read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Wild Sequence Ends with LSU Gaffe, Ole Miss Win

The ending of the LSU-Ole Miss game had fans all over the country glued to their TVs, and scratching their heads as well. The Tigers missed both chances to tie the game on a two-point conversion with 1:17 left, but then recovered an onside kick to keep their hopes read more...

The GRITZ Top Ten for Friday, November 20, 2009

Every Friday GRITZ brings you our “Top Ten,” a playlist of songs past and present that you just can’t live without. Check ‘em out and please leave a comment. 1. “Ramblin”  

SEC Daily Fever: Ole Miss Looks To Continue Late Season Surge Against LSU

The top two teams in the conference have been pretty clear for a while, and the rematch in Atlanta is already set for Florida and Alabama. But who's next? LSU has seeimngly been that third squad all year with their only two losses coming against the Gators and Tide. One team read more...

Spotlight On Duane Allman On His Birthday Friday

Tomorrow is the 63rd birthday of Duane Allman. I can think of no better tribute than the following piece, written by GRITZ reader and Facebook friend Brian Ringo. He really summed up my own feelings on Skydog as well. Thanks Brian. Keep it Real. Keep it read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Chizik's First Year Shows Promise

Auburn suffered a tough loss to Georgia last weekend to fall to 7-4, but even the heavy crtics of Gene Chizik’s hiring would have to admit it's been a good first season. The Tigers will take this Sataurday off as they prepare for the Iron Bowl. And speaking of Alabama,

SEC Daily Fever: Florida's Defense Leading the Way in 2009

While Tim Tebow gets all of the national attention, SEC fans know why the Gators have maanaged to stay undefeated once again this year-- their stellar defense. The Florida read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Brooks Making History At Kentucky

With their win over Vanderbilt last Saturday, Kentucky became bowl eligible for the fourth straight season. The Wildcats went to three straight bowl games in the read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Ole Miss' McCluster Has Record Day Against Distracted Vols

Wonder if Ole Miss would increase the speed limit on campus from 18 (Archie Manning's retired number) to 22 after Saturday? #22 Dexter McCluster had a monster read more...

Interview of the Week: The Great Jerry Reed

Over the weekend I was listening to this great Dixie Tabernacle release again and really digging their cover of "Amos Moses." That prompted me to go

The GRITZ Top Ten for Friday, November 13, 2009

Every Friday GRITZ brings you our “Top Ten,” a playlist of songs past and present that you just can’t live without. Check ‘em out and please leave a comment. 1. Save The Planet   Dixie Tabernacle From the

SEC Daily Fever: Kiffin Must Be Decisive In Dealing With Player Arrest Incident

For Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, this week was supposed to be about continuing the Vols current momentum (on the field as well as recruiting) and winning the "Coach O" game in Oxford. Instead, he's dealing with his first 'crisis management' experience as three UT freshmen read more...

Yesterday's Conversation with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance & Bloodkin's Daniel Hutchens

Ain't Life Grand When I called Widespread read more...

Luther Dickinson's Sons of Mudboy Musical Tribute To Jim Dickinson

Onward And Upward On Tuesday Luther Dickinson and The Sons of Mudboy's Onward and Upward CD was released. This collection of songs read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Georgia And Mark Richt Desperate For An Auburn Win

Georgia fans are feeling a little nervous these days. The Bulldogs have already been blown out by two rivals, Tennessee and Florida, and they will face two more in Auburn and Georgia Tech over the next three games.

Video of the Day: Darius Rucker, CMA New Artist of the Year

Former Hootie and The Blowfish front man and fellow South Carolinian Darius Rucker has a brand new music video out today and we have it for you right here. The song is called "History in the Making." By the way, Darius was voted New Artist of the Year during last read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Spurrier Says He's Staying At South Carolina For The Long Term

As South Carolina and head coach Steve Spurrier prepare to host #1 Florida on Saturday, this game is a reminder to Gamecock fans of what their coach built at his alma mater and what has not happened in Columbia.

Dixie Tabernacle Debut is My Kind of Music

One of the absolute coolest projects to cross my desk in a while is the new CD from Dixie Tabernacle. Their debut is called "A Good Excuse," produced by Larry Goad in Nashville, and featuring Jimmy Hall, Doug Phelps and a large cast of other stars. I was read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Officiating Issues Creates Negative Vibes For Top League

It’s the story that won’t go away- another week, another game where bad officiating dominates the league conversation. The SEC read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Alabama Beats LSU, Wins West

Alabama won a physical 24-15 battle against LSU on Saturday, and they now have cemented the highly-anticipated SEC Championship Game rematch with Florida. The Tide read more...

Candy Coburn and Benefit for Komen Coming December 11th

We just learned that Candy Coburn will be performing at a Christmas fundraiser for Nashville's branch of Komen for The Cure on December 11 at the Rutledge in Nashville. Doors read more...

Swampland Search Engine and Links

Dear Y'all, I have had many people asking me about our site search engine, and I want to assure you all that it is being worked on. We are aware of the issues with the searches and the bad links and our webmaster is working to resolve the issues as soon as possible. We are read more...

SEC Daily Fever: LSU-Alabama Is The National Game Of The Week

The eyes of the college football world will be on Tuscaloosa Saturday afternoon when #9 LSU meets #3 Alabama. This game has conference and national read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Meyer looks bad after Spikes debacle

Many fans around the league are asking the question this week: what kind of program is Urban Meyer running in Gainesville? While many have questioned Meyer’s recruiting read more...

Gritz Fan Page On Facebook to Offer Special Surprises

The Gritz Fan Page at Facebook is up and running. I hope you will all take the time to

SEC Daily Fever: Georgia's Richt looks to right ship in Athens

While much of the attention following the Florida-Georgia game has been on Brandon Spikes eye-gouging of Washaun Ealey, the reality for the Bulldogs is that they have the feel of a program that has slipped a notch from past seasons.

The Top Ten Instrumentals of The Southern Rock Era

This list might be very different if one were to count the instrumental jams at the end of “Free Bird,” “Green Grass and High Tides” and “Highway Song.” But alas, we are listing only full instrumental tracks. Also note that their are

SEC Daily Fever: Seemingly Insufficient Punishment For Spikes Sparks Controversy

Is a half-game suspension at home against Vanderbilt  really a punishment? That’s what many are wondering after Urban Meyer read more...

SEC Daily Fever: "Cocktail Party" Remains A Great Southern tradition

It's more than just a football game. Whether it's golf tournaments, concerts, or just a long weekend with friends, the Georgia-Florida game has become a can't miss event for both fan bases and for read more...

Video of The Day: Dickey Betts Jams with The Charlie Daniels Band at Musicians Hall of Fame

Ah yes, these are the moments I live for! The Charlie Daniels Band doing "Southbound" with Dickey Betts read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Ole Miss Looks To Finish Strong

As Ole Miss prepares to travel to Auburn this Saturday, Houston Nutt's team will look to build the same second half of the season momentum that they did in 2008.

Happy Birthday to Charlie Daniels

We at Swampland want to wish a mighty big Southern style Happy Birthday to the father of Southern Rock,

SEC Daily Fever: Tebow Shuns The Media

An interesting scenario happened after the Florida win at Mississippi State; Tim Tebow did not meet with the media.

At The Intersection of Bell, Williams, Parsons & Redding

A Brief Note At An Intersection of Country Soul The second volume of

SEC Daily Fever: Bama Hangs On Against Tennessee

We have used the term "survive and advance" several times during league play, and that's just what Alabama (barely) did with their 12-10 victory over read more...

SEC Daily Fever: LSU needs Auburn win to stay on league's top shelf

Most in the local and national media are already looking towards December for the highly- anticipated Florida-Alabama matchup in Atlanta, but one team who has the talent to throw a wrench in that scenario is LSU.

SEC Daily Fever: Nutt Back In Spotlight As Ole Miss Prepares For Arkansas

When the 2009 season kicked off, Ole Miss looked to be a contender in the West while the Arkansas was supposed to play the role of spoiler - but roles could be reveresed after this Saturday's game.

SEC Daily Fever: Kiffin And Saban Build Their Programs Using Past NFL Perspective

As Tennessee and Alabama prepare for their annual October clash, the Vols seem to be a couple of recruiting classes behind the Tide in building a roster to compete for a league title.

SPF Daily Rating: Team In Turmoil #1 - Washington Redskins

We knew it was going to be a tough year for several SPF teams.  We are going to spend some time this week on a few individual teams to give a sense of their respective level of desperation. Our first team is the Washington Redskins.  Their fall might be the read more...

SEC Daily Fever: League Refs Under Scrutiny After Missed Calls

It seems to happen every week- fans gripe about the refs. While part of that is just fans being fans, this season has seen an especially high number of questionable calls around the SEC.

SEC Daily Fever: Florida Squeaks By Arkansas, Drops to #2 in AP

We wrote on Friday that Florida could be in for a classic trap game against Arkansas, and that’s what it turned out to be.

Jerry Wexler Memorial Celebration October 30

Tribute To Jerry Wexler In New York City on October 30 a memorial will be held for the great

SEC Daily Fever: Should Florida be on Upset Alert?

Is this the one? Even though the Florida Gators have won two of the last three National Titles, they lost a surprising game in the middle of both of those seasons. Urban read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Bengals Blackout?

 The Bengals have had a dream season so far. They've beaten their arch rival (Steelers).  They've beaten their in state rival.  They are a last minute tipped pass away from being undefeated, but they are still at 4-1 and lead the AFC North.

SEC Daily Fever: Can LSU Still Challenge For the West Crown?

We wrote earlier this week that it’s beginning to look more and more like a Florida-Alabama rematch in the SEC Title Game.

SEC Daily Fever: Snead and Ole Miss Are Struggling

Along with Georgia, one of the most frustrated fan bases in the league at the halfway point has to be that of Ole Miss. Their record will not look that bad after read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Saints Fever Sweeping the Gulf Coast

 As we predicted, it has been a pretty dire year for SPF teams.  Even one of our playoff locks, the Tennessee Titans, is surprisingly winless and going nowhere fast. The best news amongst our SPF teams comes from the Saints who made an off season commitment to read more...

Country Music Hall of Fame Benefit Tonight - Watch Online

Oklahoma's own Vince Gill has been one of Nashville's brightest lights over the last few decades.  He's a top level picker, singer, and songwriter.  He has kept traditional country music alive while also read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Georgia Coaching Staff Under Fire

There is some extra heat radiating from Athens these days, as Mark Richt tries to regroup his Bulldogs after being blown out by Tennessee. AJC columnist Mark Bradley called Georgia’s 45-19 loss in Knoxville “

SEC Daily Fever: Florida and Alabama On Path For Title Rematch

Tim Tebow did start and play against LSU Saturday night, but it was the Gator defense that dominated the game and propelled Florida to a 13-3 road victory in Death Valley.

SEC Daily Fever: Will LSU's Running Game Beat Florida?

Prime time national television audience, Baton Rouge, #1 vs. #4; this one should be fun. That’s the scenario as Florida travels to LSU amid questions read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Blank Talks About A New Stadium In Atlanta For Falcons

Amidst a serious economic downturn, Falcons owner Arthur Blank has again begun engaging in public discussion about a new stadium to replace the Georgia Dome.  The fact read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Arkansas Has Much To Prove Against Auburn

Arkansas came into the season with the goal of at least being a factor in the SEC West, if not more. Already at 0-2 in league play, the Hogs begin a stretch this Saturday read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Del Rio Keeps Playing Silly Games #3

We guess Jack Del Rio's two game win streak has further emboldened him. After already playing silly media games with players on two different occasions (here and read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Are the Cowboys and Texans Going In Opposite Directions?

As always, there is panic in Cowboy Nation. Panic like this always ensues when their beloved team isn't undefeated or at least in the top half read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Saints Look Consistent, Perhaps Elite At 4-0

  It's early, but the 2009 New Orleans Saints look like a very, very good team.  No one has ever questioned this team's read more...

SEC Daily Fever: LSU's Tight Win Sets Up SEC Mega-Clash

It may not have been the most well played game, but what a finish we all got to see in Athens Saturday. LSU led Georgia 6-0 after three quarters, read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Del Rio Cancels Garrard's Radio Show

We hate piling on, but Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio has been asking for it. Just recently, we wrote about Del Rio's penchant for playing silly games - most read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Jaguars to Orlando?

Orlando Sentinel sports columnist, Mike Bianchi, made some big sports news today when he reported that the Jacksonville Jaguars might be looking to move

SEC Daily Fever: Auburn Faces Litmus Test in Tennessee

It has been quite the successful beginning at Auburn for new coach Gene Chizik. His Tigers have started 4-0 while putting up 45.3 points and 526 yards a game, read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Dolphins Trade for Thigpen

 The Miami Dolphins wasted no time replacing injured QB Chad Pennington by trading for former Chiefs and Coastal Carolina QB Tyler Thigpen in the wake of Pennington's decision to have read more...

Buffalo's Top Ten List For The Week of September 29th, 2009

1. Kris Kristofferson  Closer to the Bone  (CD)     I wear this one like a warm winter coat. To me, it is what music is all about - great songs, no frills, read more...

The Black Crowes, Widespread Panic and Bloodkin Week on Mystery and Manners

Mystery And Manners Highlights Three Rock and Roll Forces   This week on Mystery And Manners read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Chad Pennington to Miss Season

Although they don't want to officially announce it yet because of a possible misdiagnosis, the immediate signs are that Dolphins QB Chad Pennington will miss the 2009 season with a shoulder read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Is Bama the league's top dog?

Florida still has the #1 spot in the national polls, but many believe Alabama is staking a claim as the best team in the read more...

Sam Carr RIP

Sam Carr RIP   Sam Carr, the last of the great Delta drummers, died Monday. Carr’s drumming made him a sought after musician read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Texas Stadium RIP

Last night, the Irving (TX) City Council approved the funds to demolish Texas Stadium.   Lost in all the hype of the new Cowboys Stadium, it's hard to believe that a place with so read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Gamecocks Embrace the Spotlight While the Rebels Wither

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. South Carolina played a physical game led by their relentless defense and took down #4 Ole Miss 16-10, Thursday night in Columbia in a classic SEC headknocker.

Robert Johnson's Last Fair Deal Gone Down

Robert Johnson’s Last Fair Deal Gone Down A Journey Into The Heart of Folklore “Early this morning when you  knocked upon read more...

SPF Daily Rating: What if Redskins Lose To Lowly Lions? Bye, Bye Zorn

 It's the unthinkable times two. The first unthinkable is that an NFL team can finish 0-16.  That already happened with last year's Detroit Lions.  Now that the Lions are 0-2 to start the 2009 season, the question starts - "who will they finally read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Rebels-Gamecocks Ready To Prove It in Primetime

It should be a great Thursday night national television matchup between Ole Miss and South Carolina, two teams that have a lot to prove.

SPF Daily Rating: Del Rio Playing Silly Games in Jacksonville

 In what should be a small story, Jags coach Jack Del Rio has brought back WR Nate Hughes to the practice squad after cutting him on read more...

SEC Daily Fever: It's Offense vs Defense When Arkansas faces Alabama

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. One of the more interesting storylines this Saturday will be seeing

SPF Daily Rating: Lack of Playmakers Leave Florida Teams Winless

"I'm not interested in Pro Bowl players, I'm interested in world champions." "[I'm interested in 'non-talent issues' [namely] the hustle, the effort, the technique, the fundamentals, all of those things." The above quotes read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Verbal Jabs Between Meyer and Kiffin Escalate

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. New Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin may have gotten the first word in between him and Urban Meyer when he boldly (or stupidly depending on your point of view) announced read more...

SPF Daily Rating: The Saints Roll Again Behind Smart Decisions

The New Orleans Saints keep their high powered offense rolling once again as they went into Philadelphia and smoked the Eagles 48-22. What read more...

Jim Dickinson Memorial Folk Festival Tonight In Memphis

Jim Dickinson Memorial Folk Festival Tonight in Memphis at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park, the

SEC Daily Fever: New Coaches Show Early Promise

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. The story of the early SEC season continues to be the impact of the new coaches. We already knew the strength of the top teams in the league (Florida, read more...

Buffalo's Top Ten List For The Week of September 19th, 2009

1. Swampdawamp  Rock This Country  (CD) The singer has one of the most unusual voices since Jim Dandy, and the band just plain rocks, read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Houston Texans Don't Like Being Called "Soft"

To say the Houston Texans have been disappointing since entering the NFL as a expansion team in 2002 would be an understatement.  In a way, however, everything about the Texans seems understated, including their presence on the field according to those who have been calling read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Meyer Looks To Make Statement Against Kiffin

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. The national media has had this game circled since Lane Kiffin's hiring press conference earlier this year. Kiffin and Tennessee will travel to the Swamp this read more...

16th Trail of Tears Ride and Commemorative Sculpture in Tennessee

Tne Sixteenth Annual Trail of Tears Remembrance Motorcycle Ride will begin this weekend (Saturday, September 19) in Chattanooga, TN.  Held annually on the third Saturday in September, the

SPF Daily Rating: Jacksonville Mayor Makes Personal Plea For Fans To Buy Jags Tix

The Jaguars lost an astonishing 17,000 season ticket holders between this season and last.  Expectations are that most of their games will be blacked out locally. So who have the Jags turned to?  

SEC Daily Fever: Hogs-Dawgs Could Be The SEC Game of The Weekend

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. One of the more interesting matchups of the weekend has to be Georgia traveling to Arkansas. (Give Mark Richt credit - his tough schedule has kept his team on read more...

SPF Daily Rating: Delhomme Under Fire In Carolina

Things are getting ugly in Charlotte and Carolina for Panthers QB Jake Delhomme.  Delhomme is getting major flack from fans. read more...

Buffalo's Recording History (So Far)

I received a nice e-mail the other day from a lady in Alabama who said some very nice things about Gritz and my writing. She said she had been following my career since 1999, and that she was equally into my music. She asked if I could send her a complete discography and also tell read more...

Pat Conroy Contest Topic #2: The Significance of Family in Southern Writing

"You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood stick to you" says the barn-burning father Ab Snopes to his ten year old son Sarty shortly before Ab burns yet another barn and Sarty turns his back on his father and runs away into the dark read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Chizik Tries To "Manage" Auburn Fans' Expectations

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. Auburn fans have had more than a little frustration with their offense over the last few seasons.

SPF Daily Rating: The Falcons Display Winning Formula in Week One

The Atlanta Falcons have opened 2009 just like they did 2008 - by winning decisively.   The main difference is that they beat the ultimately 0-16 read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Kiffin Continues Tennessee's Recruiting Gains

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. Saturday was a tough day for Lane Kiffin and the Vols.

Cody McCarver Puts Some Southern Rock in His Country

I have been listening to Cody McCarver for years, both as a member of Confederate Railroad (a band he joined in 1999)  and as a solo artist. He is a staple of the annual Angelus event read more...

SEC Daily Fever: UGA and South Carolina Deliver Early Season Drama

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. What a game between Georgia and South Carolina. With their recent history, we all expected a low scoring, defensive affair.

Charlie Daniels Band Reissue Features Buffalo Liner Notes

I was so excited when I went to the mail box today and received my copy of the new reissue of Midnight Wind, the 1975 album by The Charlie Daniels Band. Not only was I excited to read more...

9/11: Never Forget

I watched a special on National Geographic channel night before last that recounted the events of 9/11/01. All of the horror of that day came back as I sat on the sofa, my eyes welling up with tears. I am of a mind that we should never ever forget the families and lives lost that read more...

SEC Weekend Fever: Mullen vs. Chizik

SEC Weekend Fever Previews Top Stories for the Upcoming Weekend Auburn hosts Mississippi State in 2009's first meeting between SEC rookie coaches.  Quite a lot has changed in a year for both squads. 

SEC Daily Fever: Georgia & South Carolina Ready Defenses For A Tight Game

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. Mark Richt and Steve Spurrier are both offensive-minded coaches, but it looks like they have to rely on their defenses to win early in 2009.

SEC Daily Fever: Gut Check time for Georgia

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. After dropping the opener at Oklahoma State, it is a huge week for Georgia as they try to avoid an 0-2 start when they battle South Carolina Saturday.

SEC Daily Fever: Solid Debuts For New Coaches Makes Conference Even Deeper

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. With the exception of the Georgia loss, it was a pretty solid start for the SEC. The biggest story had to be the debut of the three new coaches.

SEC Daily Fever: Spurrier Lets Defense Rule Over Wolfpack

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. It wasn’t pretty, but South Carolina relied on their defense for a hard fought read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Tide Duo cleared to play in Opener

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. Although the NCAA did find a violation in the Alabama case involving receiver Julio Jones and running back Mark Ingram,

Widespread Panic's Todd Nance Calls From Chicago

Widespread Panic’s Todd Nance Courtesy Call With all the current and upcoming excitement regarding this

SEC Daily Fever: Auburn Opener Provides Dilemma for Vince Dooley

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. An interesting scenario presents itself for SEC legend Vince Dooley in the Auburn-Louisiana Tech opener.

SEC Daily Fever: Embattled Dawgs D Gets Opening Challenge

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. While much of the talk in Athens has been about replacing Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, the key to the 2009 Georgia season may lie in the improvement of the read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Bama Locks Up Saban For Another 3 Years

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. A contract extension for Nick Saban, whose megadeal already runs through 2014?

SEC Daily Fever: Ole Miss Fans Hoping For a Monumental Season

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. Coming off a Cotton Bowl win and with quarterback Jevan Snead returning, the expectations at Ole Miss are as high as ever. The fan base has responded by

SEC Daily Fever: Vols' Brown cleared by the NCAA

$(document).ready(function() { $('p > a[href*=swampland]').after(''); $('p > read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Latest On Julio Jones and Alabama

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. It's the story that just won't go away in Alabama.

No Holds Barred: Blackjack Mulligan

Of all the wrestlers I have seen step into the squared circle, none was more exciting than the “man in black,” the Texas giant known as Blackjack Mulligan.

SEC Daily Fever: How will Kiffin's offense fare in Year 1?

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. As expected, Tennessee has named senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton the read more...

SEC Daily Fever: The Gamecock Spotlight Shines on Garcia in South Carolina

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know It’s nothing new for Steve Spurrier to seem upset with the play of his quarterbacks.

SEC Daily Fever: SEC Media Policy Upsets the Press

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know A huge debate is about to happen regarding the direction of the league’s media coverage.

Big 12 Daily Fever: Fans Are Lining Up In Stillwater

Big 12 Daily Fever is the top Big 12 story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. As a highly-anticipated season approaches for Oklahoma State, we know about the preseason Top 10 rating, the renovations to Boone Pickens Stadium, and the read more...

Charlie Musselwhite Writes On The Passing of Jim Dickinson

Harp Legend Praises an Old Friend In pursuit of collecting quotes about the sad passing of

Big 12 Daily Fever: OU Linebacker Sues NCAA

Big 12 Daily Fever is the top Big 12 story of the day. Disagree? Let us know.   We wrote earlier in the week about read more...

SEC Daily Fever: Eligibility of Prized Vol Recruit Under NCAA Scrutiny

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know   The highly-publicized recruitment of Tennessee’s Bryce Brown has taken an interesting turn a few weeks before the top running back is set to make read more...

Bloodkin's Daniel Hutchens Writes About Jim Dickinson

Daniel Hutchens' Fond Memory of Jim Dickinson I've been reaching out to many friends and musicians to speak about or write about

SEC Daily Fever: Tough Break for Improving Vandy

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know   Vanderbilt’s defense suffered a major blow with

SEC Daily Fever: Tough Injury for the Razorbacks

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. The Arkansas defense has suffered a major loss with the news that

SEC Daily Fever: Auburn Names QB Starter

SEC Daily Fever is the top SEC story of the day. Disagree? Let us know. Chris Todd was recently named the starting quarterback at Auburn, and he

The Late Great Jim Dickinson's Swampland Contributions

Jim Dickinson's Favorite Films, Musicians and Barbecue Articles

Jim Dickinson RIP

Another Brave Man Is Dead And Gone With great sadness, it is difficult to write

Toby Keith's Controversial New Video, See It Here

Toby Keith has never been one to hold back on his feelings. Now he has a new song and video that are already stirring up controversy. Imagine that. I'll leave the commenting up to you, our readers. Let us know what you think! Meanwhile... Keep it Real. Keep it read more...

James Burton Travels To Memphis For Elvis Week

Elvis Guitarist Travels To Memphis   It’s Death Week in Memphis. Elvis Presley’s guitarist,

Art from Alabama to New Orleans and Along the Trail of Tears

This week's feature is about Going Green in New Orleans--how one city is turning trash into treasures. As we become more and more environmentally read more...

More Legends Added to Photo Scrapbook

Howdy y'all. I hope everyone is having a great weekend. It's time once again to add another page to our ongoing Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook. No theme this time, read more...

Lucero & Amy LaVere Hit the Road on Rambling Roadshow & Memphis Revue

Memphis Friends Hit The Road Memphis star Amy LaVere read more...

Jim Dickinson's Memphis Benefit

A Memphis Benefit August 8 On August 8th at 6PM a benefit will take place at the Peabody Skyway in Memphis, Tennessee, for

In Defense of Steve Spurrier: How The Ole Ball Coach's Honest Humility Might Help Carolina

Is the SEC seeing a new side of Steve Spurrier in the wake of what seemed to be an uncharacteristic performance at this year's SEC Media Days? His current situation hinges around a piece Swampland Sports wrote last February

That's What I Like About the South: Whitt's, White Sauce, Dale's Sauce, and Sundrop

In this series of blogs, I would like to talk about victuals (pronounced "vittles") that are uniquely southern. The first stanza of the song "That's What I Like about read more...

Singing With Vince Gill, Writing For Trace Adkins: Our Interview with Singer/Songwriter Amanda Martin

I first met Amanda Martin when we did a gig together at The High Lonesome Saloon

Hank Williams, Jr Kicking His Record Company to The Curb

According to an online interview/blog, Hank Williams, Jr. is fed up wih his record company and looking for a new recording home. He says this is his last album for CURB read more...

Guest Writer Diane Lehr and Renowned Ceramicist James Watkins

Swampland is honored to have Diane Lehr as our guest writer for this month. Lehr graciously consented to do a feature on renowned ceramicist James read more...

Levon Helm's Electric Dirt Remains True To American Musical Soil

Levon Helm's Electric Dirt You can't say enough about

Hank William's, Jr's Best Album in Years, New Scrapbook Pics Lynyrd Skynyrd 1971

After eleven years of listening to new CD releases in country and Southern Rock I admit I have become somewhat jaded. It takes something really special to stop me in my tracks. Well campers, that is exactly what happened with the new release from the living legend Hank Williams, Jr read more...

Summer Tour Notes Volume 5: Music Maker Relief Foundation

Mystery And Manners' Summer Tour Notes Number 5: Music Maker My friend

Can the Big 12 or the ACC catch the SEC?

With every football season, the conversation around the nation leads to the inevitable question- who is the best conference? Many fans answer the same every year (their favorite) while others look a little more objectively. I found it interesting a couple of weeks ago when separate read more...

28th Handy Blues Fest in Florence, Alabama, July 17-26

W. C. Handy's autobiography Father of the read more...

Orrin Hatch's Folly: Senator, College Football Is About Conferences, Not Teams

After concluding Senate hearings about the BCS, Senator Orrin Hatch wrote an op-ed piece that appeared on ESPN.com.  Here's a selection of that article: During the June 7 read more...

Candy Coburn Speaks With Swampland

I must apologoze to Candy Coburn and her team for taking so long to get her interview posted. Honestly, my health issues started the weekend I went to Nashville for her showcase, and have just now begun to heal. Thank God. I am so excited about the interview and read more...

New Albums From Commander Cody, Oak Ridge Boys

Happy Saturday folks. I have been listening to some pretty awesome CDs today, and I am very happy to present my humble reviews of the new Commander Cody album Dopers, Drunks and Everyday read more...

An Excerpt From Tuesday Interview with Cody Dickinson

Excerpt From Tuesday’s Cody Dickinson Interview   Two days ago I interviewed

Classic Allman, Skynyrd and More Added To Legends Scrapbook

Greetings from South Carolina! Today I am happy to present yet another page of historic Southern Rock photographs in our ongoing Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook. Great old pictures of Gregg and Duane Allman, Toy and Tommy Caldwell, Ronnie Van Zant, Bonnie Bramlett read more...

Exploring The Swampland

Hi Guys. Just a note. Don't forget to check out the rest of our Swampland,com site for great stuff like James Calemine's new interview with 

Cody Dickinson: Q & A From the Tour Bus

Today's Interview with Cody Dickinson I just conducted an insightful interview with Cody Dickinson. He was riding on the tour bus on the way to Canada read more...

Dylan, Nelson & The Dead Rock Rothbury

Mystery And Manners’ Summer Tour Notes Volume 2 This

The Shocking Loss of Steve McNair

So there I was in Nashville- relaxing by the water with friends on the 4th of July like most of us like to do. Then I heard something that made the festive holiday mood fade quickly; “Steve McNair had been shot”. Could this really be, or maybe it was just bad read more...

Summer 09 Tour Notes: Dylan & Willie at Summerfest

Mystery And Manners' Summer 09 Tour Notes

Time Flies Like An Arrow

                                              “Time read more...

A Return From Outer-Space with Cody Dickinson

Greetings Good Folks,     After some technical difficulty and personal turbulence, I’m able to get back online. Much to read more...

Non-Southern CD of The Week: Dublin City Ramblers

I feel kind of odd calling this  “non-Southern” album. I mean, most great music comes from the south, but many Southerners originally came from Ireland, including my Great Grandfather Smith. So really, it don’t get much more Southern than

NBA Draft: Swampland's Pro Hoops Teams

Pro sports has a problem in the Swampland Footprint.  Considered the top level of competition and interest throughout the rest of the country, the pro game doesn't resonate with read more...

FedEx's Fred Smith Could Be The Perfect New Owner for the Rams

In our post-draft update, SPF wrote about the murky future of the St Louis Rams.  Since then, they've officially put up the "For Sale" sign leading many read more...

Buffalo Roaming: Winters Brothers Band 30th Annual Summer Jam Rocked

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I can hardly believe this was the final Winters Brothers Southern Summer Jam. But man oh man, was it ever a good one. I can truthfully say I have never seen a bigger crowd at the jam, and I have never heard

Buffalo Roaming: Friends Gather at Dennis Winters' House for Southern Dinner

Friday night was a lot of fun. Dennis and Lynda Winters hosted a pasta dinner for a whole bunch (I have no real body count, sorry) of friends and family. It's a Winters Brothers tradition. Don Swensen (formerly of Rebel Storm) is in from Washington with his wife read more...

Medusa Meets Bride of Frankenstein: A Night at the Sleep Clinic

After my very serious piece about US Highway 72, I thought all of us could use a little levity. Hope you get a laugh out of my recent night at the read more...

The Winters Brothers Present Final Summer Jam Saturday

One of the annual events I look forward to each year is the Winters Brothers Band Southern Summer Jam. Me and my friend Scott Greene have been going every Father’s Day weekend for many a year now, and this read more...

Tennessee Rules: Places to Experience, Music That Rocks, Vistas That Amaze

This month I want to share with you the incredible diversity and exquisite beauty of my neighboring state, the "volunteer" state of Tennessee. From geography (Tennessee is often referred to as the read more...

Muscle Shoals Swamper Barry Beckett Has Died

The Swampland flag is once again flying at half mast. A member of the Muscle Shoals “Swampers” has died. Producer and Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section keyboardist Barry Beckett, 66,  died Wednesday, June 10, at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn., after years of read more...

Southern Baseball Leads the Way Again

On the eve of the College World Series and Major League Draft, we thought we should take a look at some of the top baseball prospects in our Swampland read more...

Mongomery Gentry and Cracker Barrel Help Wounded Warriors

To me, one of the single greatest things a successfull artist can do is give back. Sure, they have worked hard to get to where they are now, but there is also quite a bit of good luck involved in achieving fame. One of the bands that never forgot where they came from is

Get Well Wishes For Jim Dickinson

Memphis Great Jim Dickinson In Hospital Last night at midnight

Allman Brothers, Bonnie Bramlett and More Posted On New Legends Scrapbook Page

Hey gang! More new Southern Rock photos have been posted in the Legends Scrapbook. Allmans, Tucker, Bonnie Bramlett and much more. Check it out here! Keep read more...

New Scrapbook Photos of Winters Brothers, Charlie Daniels, Toy & Tommy Caldwell

Page Ten of our Legend of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook is now posted, and it's a doozey. Good ol' photos of The Charlie Daniels Band, The Winters Brothers Band and The read more...

Gritz Loses Another Old Friend, Koko Taylor

A long time friend of Gritz and a Grammy Award-winning blues legend, Koko Taylor, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. She was 80. I first met Koko while writing read more...

Koko Taylor RIP

Koko Taylor 1935-2009 Born in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 28, 1935, the great Koko Taylor died today in Chicago at 80. Orphaned at 11, she began to read more...

The Tennessee Titans Only Need to Stay on Course

 The 2008 Tennessee Titans played Jeff Fisher football- run the ball, limit mistakes, pressure the passer- all the way to the NFL’s best read more...

The Cormac McCarthy Papers

The Cormac McCarthy Papers on Display at Southwestern Writers Collection Greetings folks, For the Lit fans I wanted to pass along this read more...

Marc Ford Talks About Joining Booker T. Jones' Band

In our interview last week Marc Ford and I discussed him producing

Guy Gilchrist's New Video Blends Country Music with Star Trek

Our friend Guy Gilchrist has done it again. The cartoonist, famous for his strips Nancy and The Muppets, has posted a music video online. You see, the talent of Gilchrist runs read more...

The Tampa Bay Bucs Try to Re-Imagine Rather than Rebuild

Who are these guys? No team in the world of SPF has had more turnover and change than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  So far, reaction in Tampa to that change has not been promising for the Glazer family.  For the first time in years, there's no season ticket waiting read more...

A Friday Conversation with the Great Jim Dickinson

Today’s Conversation with the High Priest of Memphis Mojo I just got off the phone with the legendary

Jimmy Hall, Artimus Pyle, And Other Southern Rockers Band Together For Dixie Tabernacle

There has been an abundance of “all star” Southern Rock groups over the past few years. Some of them stay the course, while others fall by the wayside, often due to scheduling conflicts. Well, there’s one band that I sincerely hope keeps it together to record an read more...

Last Night's Interview with Marc Ford

Last Night’s Interview with Marc Ford Last night Marc read more...

Win a Dean Guitar Signed by Legends of Southern Rock

Hi Guys. It's time for the much talked about, long awaited Legends of Southern Rock Contest, brought to you by Swampland and the Facebook Groups

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun with Diane Durrett

Hi Y'all. I am happy today to post two reviews of one particularly talented artist, one Diane Durrett. Diane is both an acomplished singer and songwriter, as well as being a fine writer. Her latest album ,

Marc Ford Joins Booker T. Jones' Touring Band

  In preparation for my upcoming review on Ryan Bingham’s new CD,

Random Notes, Hoopee Jam, Boxmasters and Such

Greetings, Sports Fans. I was hoping to have our new Boxmasters interview ready for you today, but it turned out to be quite an opus. Still transcribing. But man oh man, is it a good one. I had the opportunity read more...

Parcells Formula Works Again in Miami

Retirement and South Florida mix very well for many of us, but not for Bill Parcells. He left the comforts of retired life to return to football and resuscitate the fading Dolphins, who had been such a successful franchise for many years. Coming off a 1-15 debacle in 2007, the read more...

The Colts and Peyton Manning Look to Sustain Their Run of Excellence

Over the last seven seasons, the Colts have been as recognizable as any team in the NFL-same GM, same coach, and same MVP quarterback. They have made the Playoffs in all seven of those years and currently have a league-record six straight 12+ win seasons. Under Bill Polian, read more...

Stephen Bruton Dead at 60

Stephen Bruton, the super talented songwriter, musician and actor died on Saturday in Los Angeles at the age of 60. Among his many accomplishments, Bruton was a member of Kris Kristofferson's touring band for over twenty years. He had been fighting throat cancer for two years.

Texans Need to Break Through the Wall of Mediocrity

The pressure will be coming from the top for the Houston Texans to have their first winning season and first postseason appearance in their eighth year in the NFL. Dom Capers, who read more...

2009 Season Represents a Change in Philosophy for the Cowboys

We must start out by saying that our thoughts and prayers here at Swampland are with the Dallas Cowboys family after the horrific collapse of their read more...

Bengals Have Glimpse of Hope with Stellar Draft

Marvin Lewis is entering his seventh season as the Bengals head coach, and 2009 could very well be his make-or-break season to get the culture of losing changed in Cincinnati.

Panthers Making Every Effort to Win Now

It all seemed to be falling into place for John Fox’s club last season. Coming off a losing 2007 campaign where Jake Delhomme only played three games, Carolina rediscovered their physical running game identity in 2008 and won the NFC South. At 12-4 and the #2 seed in the NFC, read more...

Back Home From Nashville and My Head is Still Rockin'

Back from Nashville, after the absolute longest, hardest ride of my life. Yep, it’s true. The six-hour drive took over eight hours, thanks to yet another traffic jam in Knoxville, a truck wreck, and road construction near Asheville. What can you do? At least I read more...

Falcons Future Looks Bright with Dimitroff in Charge

To borrow a line from Robert Randolph, the Atlanta Falcons are now a team that is definitely “going in the right direction". Just two years ago, this organization was in turmoil. Their franchise quarterback, Michael Vick, was arrested on federal charges and consequently read more...

Rockin' Southern Style with Candy Coburn in Nashville

Buffalo’s big adventure continues... Well, at first my buddy Rick Broyles didn’t think he was going to make it out to The Exit/In for the big Candy Coburn showcase, so I drove on over, walked through the stark darkness, and found myself a table down front. read more...

How I Ended Up In Kentucky On My Way Down To Nashville

Well, I got up early today, and even though my back was still ailing me and it was raining outside, I chose to seize the day. I made a few calls, checked e-mail, packed up the Honda, and turned the ignition key. The sound coming from under my hood was not a good one. Long story read more...

Swampland's NFL Draft Impressions

How did your team do? That’s the question that NFL fans are trying to answer following this weekend’s annual NFL Draft. We will take an in-depth look at each team in our read more...

The Road to Nashville: A Side Trip To Portland To See Lee Bogan

After a few delays I hit the road this morning for my drive to Nashville. I love Nashville. In fact, I love middle Tennessee. The weather couldn’t have been better for the drive. That made it really palatable when I came upon the hour-and-ten-minute traffic read more...

Buffalo Roaming Once Again

Happy Sunday, guys. Well, I am getting packed and ready and to head out to Nashville for a few days. I have a full schedule of meetings and greetings and stuff, and will be reporting in nightly right here at GRITZ.NET. I hope you guys will check ot out. Also, stay read more...

Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson On the Road Again

Dylan & Nelson Hit The Road Together Luminaries Bob Dylan read more...

NFL Teams Draft Their Identity This Weekend

Well it's finally here-Xmas in April for football fans. The ultimate convergence of pro and college football happens today with the annual NFL Draft. This is a day of hope for every fan base, and it's also the day(s) that NFL executives decide on the identity of their respective read more...

Should NFL Teams Lean Towards Drafting Local College Favorites?

A theme that seems to arise every season in our Swampland footprint is the choice of NFL teams to draft a local college favorite. Most professional organizations will deny that this decision ever enters their thinking, and that they always select the next best player on their Draft read more...

Black Crowes Drummer Steve Gorman Hosts Nashville Radio Sports Show

Black Crowes Drummer Steve Gorman Hosts Nashville Sports Show Last night, NASCAR enthusiast

Back To Where it All Began: The Southern Rock Era

I have pretty much decided that the whole "Southern Rock" thing began in 1969. Sure, there were many rock and rollers and rockabillys that lead up to this new genre at the time. Not to mention all the country, blues and gospel players that served as influences on read more...

Matthew Stafford: #1 Pick or Bust? SEC Fans Have Doubts

Few players have a cloud of doubt on them as thick as Matthew Stafford's.  Where did these clouds come from?  Some have chalked it up to the standard over-analysis during the overly long NFL Draft period that lasts from the end of the college football season to the third read more...

A New (Media) Day Dawning for the SEC

We ran across this video recently, and we thought we'd put it up for everyone to view.  It ran at the end of Raycom Sports final SEC game during this past SEC basketball tournament in Tampa. We all know about the SEC's new ESPN deal

Authors Michael Knight and Nanci Kincaid To Speak at Alabama Writers' Conferences

 On Thursday, April 16, Calhoun Community College will host its Eighth Annual Writers’ Conference. The featured author for the 2009 conference will be Alabama native

To Our Friends in Murfreesboro, Tennessee

In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 30 miles southeast of Nashville,  42 homes were destroyed and 140 confirmed damaged as part of a bizarre weather situation spawning tornadoes across the Southeast last night. The weather is being blamed for three deaths and dozens

Crosstown Allstars Get New Bassist, and He's a Southern Rock Star

I just got an exciting piece of news from Terry Reeves at Music Matters Entertainment. Tommy Crain & The Crosstown Allstars, who suffered the passing of their bass player and friend

In Defense of Jay Cutler: Why Most SPF Teams Still Don't Get It

I wish it hadn't come to this [trading Cutler]. I'm disappointed. . . . It's a sad day for one of the elite franchises in football and all the Broncos fans, and I'm sad - John Elway The saga of Jay Cutler has mesmerized the NFL landscape just like Brett Favre did read more...

Songs & Stories: An Allstar Memphis Benefit Show

Memphis Heavies Perform Benefit On Sunday April 19, 2009, an allstar benefit show will take place at Minglewood Hall in Memphis. This show is not read more...

Guest Article on Willie King by Andy Moore

Andy Moore on Blues Great Willie King Greetings folks...as everyone knows, now and then we have guest contributions. Today I'd like to bring read more...

Blues Legend Willie King Dies at 65

The music world mourns the passing of blues musician Willie King. Funeral services were held yesterday, March 15, in Aliceville, Alabama, for King read more...

Quarter Notes: Derek Trucks welcomes Bobby Whitlock; Brothers of The Southland Arrive; Tommy Talton Band Rocks

The Derek Trucks Band welcomed a very special read more...

Jack White's Dead Weather Skyline

Jack White’s Dead Weather Skyline Nashville transplant, Jack White, announced Wednesday that he has a new band called Dead Weather. On read more...

Big Medicine Come Soon

"Beyond the horizon, in the Springtime or Fall Love waits forever for one and for all." --Bob Dylan Greetings read more...

Join Our Southern Rock Group On Facebook

I am very happy to announce our new "Legends of Southern Rock" group on Facebook. If you are a Facebook member, just follow the Legends link above and join us. We have one discussion already read more...

Swampland Remembers and Salutes Nashville Songwriter Dennis Linde

On February 9  a very special event was held in Nashville to honor the late songwriter and all around creative artist, Dennis Linde, who died on December 22, 2006.

Allman Brothers, Mule, Betts: Great Southern Rock On Demand on The Tube

I was sitting around chillin’ after a long day of writing, paperwork and a nice long walk in the park. Remote in hand, I was channel surfing like a mad man, and getting kinda frustrated that there are a million and one channels and nothing worth watching. Then I remembered the read more...

Mickey Rourke and The Nature Boy: Pro Wrestling and The Oscars

I am more excited than usual about this year’s Oscars, for several reasons, but the primary reason is the one movie that just blew me out of the water lately. That movie was

SEC vs ACC: Clemson and South Carolina Try to Make the Palmetto State Relevant

In continuing our look at the states with both ACC and SEC teams, we move to the Palmetto State, where a ton of changes occurred in the offseason.

SEC vs ACC: Georgia and Georgia Tech Battle for Peach State Supremacy

With recruiting classes signed and spring practices approaching, it’s a good time to look at states in the Swampland Footprint that share SEC and ACC teams.  We’re going to start in the Peach State, where a long time

Ready For the Flood

Technical Difficulty & The Path Onward A drizzling rain hit Atlanta last night as I navigated through the shallow waters of technical difficulty…in read more...

The Clock is Ticking for Spurrier at South Carolina

As we continue to take a post-Signing Day look at the coaches and programs in our Swampland Footprint, it’s an interesting time to examine the state of the South Carolina program under Steve Spurrier.  An SEC legend as a player and coach at Florida, Spurrier has not yet read more...

Derek Trucks Talks About The Beacon and Cowboy

Breaking Video News: Tommy Talton turned me onto this current video interview with Derek Trucks. Makes me wonder about the Beacon. Boyer and Talton? Bonnie Bramlett? C'mon somebody throw the Buffalo a bone!

In Defense of Lane Kiffin: The SEC "Family Feud" with Urban Meyer

There is no other conference more proud of itself than the SEC.  SEC fans from rival teams hate each other with a passion bordering on the pathological, but when success arrives, it is embraced not just for the winning team but for the conference at large.

SEC Dominance - From the Field to Recruiting (And It Isn't Stopping Soon)

The reaction to Signing Day is always interesting as every coach in America is thrilled with their class while fans have mixed reactions to their school’s ranking and new players.  Everyone that followed Wednesday's coverage saw plenty of ESPN's favorite big-market teams read more...

A Visit to The Charlie Daniels Museum

Located on 2nd Avenue in downtown Nashville, The Charlie Daniels Museum is a site to behold. If you are a fan of

Xmas in February for Southern College Football Fans (SEC, Big 12, ACC, Big East)

It’s finally here! National Signing Day is upon us, and this is the time where quality programs establish themselves for the upcoming years. The welcoming of a new recruiting class energizes fans and provides coaches with the opportunity to show that their school will be-or read more...

Mack Brown and the Longhorns Must Judiciously Draw Talent from their Texas Base

Water is wet, the sky is blue, and the University of Texas is working on another top-notch recruiting class. The Longhorns Mine Their State's Natural Talent Base Most BCS schools try to comb their region (if not the read more...

UNC's Butch Davis Challenges the ACC to Rival the SEC

With the rapid approach of National Signing Day, we’ve focused recently on the critical lifeblood known as recruiting.  One of the new players that has emerged in read more...

SB Sunday Reflections on the SPF Season: Teams Fell Short; Dungy & Gruden Gone

As the Footprint wakes to a Sunday featuring the 43rd Super Bowl hosted by one of our great Swampland cities, it gives us a chance to reflect on the past SPF season.  Although five of our 13 SPF teams made the playoffs, none made any noise since they all were "one and read more...

To Stewart Mandel, We Say, "SEC Coaching Dollars Make Sense"

Chalk SI.com's Stewart Mandel as the latest member of the national media that just doesn’t understand the culture of the SEC football landscape.  Mandel's latest involves

Chris Robinson-The Jackdaw of Perception: From The Black Crowes to California Folk

Chris Robinson-The Jackdaw of Perception: From The Black Crowes To California Folk "Windswept stars blink and smile Another read more...

Lane Kiffin is Already Making an Impact on the SEC (and Paul Finebaum)

A few weeks ago, I wrote how I thought Tennessee and Lane Kiffin were going to be a great fit for each other. There was quite a bit of criticism for a major power in the SEC choosing a read more...

John Rich and Gone Country, a Great Way to Chill On a Saturday Night

It turned out to be a CMT kind of night at the Buffalo home last night. First, i watched the premier of season three of Gone Country, followed by CMT Cribs, which took us on a visit to the home of our friend Charlie Daniels. Yes, My Big Redneck Wedding was read more...

Eric Quincy Tate, "Drinking Man's Friend," a Look Back to '72

It’s really sad that  Eric Quincy Tate never really received the acclaim they so richly deserved. From their stellar albums to their smoking concerts and gigs in Piedmont Park with

From The GRITZ Vaults: The Legendary Godfather of Southern Rock, Charlie Daniels

The first time I ever saw Charlie Daniels in person was on one summer afternoon in 1977 at The Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. The Marshall Tucker Band’s Homecoming Concert.

Booker T. Jones & The Drive By Truckers

Booker T & The Truckers Along with Neil Young & Bloodkin

President-elect Barack Obama and The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was a blistering day in August of 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and read more...

Quentin Tarantino: Natural Born Killer

Quentin Tarantino: Natural Born (Southern) Killer Quentin Tarantino, born on March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee, exists technically as a read more...

Cormac McCarthy's Meridian of Darkness

Cormac McCarthy's Meridian of Darkness On the heels of last night’s homage to

Dungy and the Colts Both Needed a New Direction

A good thing happened in Indy on Monday – Tony Dungy retired from the NFL to spend more time with his family in Tampa Bay. It’s nice to see the veteran head coach pursue his dream read more...

Ole Miss and LSU Cruise; Alabama and South Carolina Snooze

Overall it’s been a pretty good bowl season for the SEC, going 5-2 with Florida left to play in the National Title Game. The highlights include Mississippi and Houston Nutt getting a

Lane Kiffin fits the Vols and the SEC

Tribal Fever did a great job of presenting the challenge that is coaching in the 21st century SEC. I wanted to focus on the Tennessee job where Phil read more...

Swampland's Legends of Southern Rock

Hey gang, check out our Swampland Legends of Southern Rock Series. We are always adding new bands and updating the existing pages, which chronicle the histories of these awesome bands and link to various articles and interviews within GRITZ.  Phone the neighbors, wake the read more...

Alvin Ailey, Otis Redding--and Fifty Golden Years!

I recently returned from taking a very small bite out of a very big apple. I traveled to New York City this past weekend with my daughter and a longtime friend to experience Christmas in the city and to attend read more...

The Soul And Songs of Dennis Linde

The Soul And Songs of Dennis Linde 12/19/08 Born in Abilene, Texas in 1943, Dennis Linde ranks as one of the most insightful songwriters read more...

Will Chizik, Kiffin (or Mullen) Meet The Urban Meyer/Nick Saban SEC Standard?

This season has seen another massive shift in the SEC coaching ranks.  Counting last season and this, almost half of the SEC has changed coaches.  There's nothing like coaching SEC football.  It remains a

The Best Releases of 2008

We are happy to present what we feel are the very best album releases of the past year. Please let us know what you think.  Buffalo

SEC and Big 12 Championship Game Reax

The college football regular season ended by giving us the matchup that made the most sense--the SEC Champion vs. the Big 12 Champion. The BCS title game should be a high-scoring, exciting affair and one that all of the fans in our Swampland footprint will appreciate. Florida will read more...

Excerpt #4 From Stanley Booth Interview Series Volume 1: Otis Redding

Excerpt #4 From Stanley Booth Interview Series Volume 1: Otis Redding 12/08/08 In Excerpt #4 Booth discusses his career after learning the read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Fourteen): NFC South Showdowns!

We had to take a couple of weeks off due to technical issues with the site.  Check out our Faulkner-inspired T.I. Poll to see how the teams rank. On to this week's read more...

Saturday's Slate: Conference Championships

Here we are, after a week off due to technical difficulties, to find ourselves on the verge of crowning some conference champions and setting up the BCS Title teams.  It has been a long and exciting year.  Luckily for us, today's games have the potential to live up to the read more...

Mystery And Manners' Top 25 Releases of 2008

Mystery And Manners’ Top 25 2008 Releases 12/5/08 Here’s a list (in no specific rank or order) of Mystery And Manners’ top 25 releases of 2008. The category includes new releases, DVDs, books, re-issues and relevant CDs that read more...

Swampland Footprint National Title: Big 12 vs. SEC

So it’s Oklahoma that gets the chance to represent the Big 12 South in Kansas City, and they will probably get a shot at the National title with a victory. Of read more...

Excerpt 3 From Stanley Booth Interview Series Volume 1: Otis Redding

Excerpt #3 From Stanley Booth Interview Series Volume 1 12/2/08   In Mystery And Manners’ ongoing interview series read more...

Excerpt 2 From Stanley Booth Interview Series Vol 1: Otis Redding

Excerpt 2 From Vol 1 of Mystery And Manners' Stanley Booth Interview Series 11/23/08 In continuation of

Excerpt From Stanley Booth Interview Series Vol. 1: Otis Redding

Excerpt From Mystery And Manners' Stanley Booth Interview Series Volume 1 11/22/08 Tonight I thought I'd include a small excerpt from read more...

Snowman's Six-Pack of Reax from Saturday

1. It has finally happened. For the first time since 1982, the Vanderbilt Commodores will be eligible to go to a bowl. Vandy rode D.J. Moore read more...

Time to Cowboy Up

Yeeee hah! Legacy Recordings celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Finals Rodeo with an absolutely killer boxed set of cowboy songs, old and new. This one really brought back memories of my old Roy Rogers guitar, playing in the back yard with my little  black read more...

The Fearless Youth of Taylor Swift

Okay, I was skeptical at first. I have never really been one to jump on the band wagon of the latest "teen idol." Well,  I have come close, especially if she's cute.  But after due consideration and several spins of her new CD, I have found that country music's read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Eleven): Key Swampland Showdowns in Jax, DC, and Indy!

After four SPF teams have byes last week (Dallas, Washington, Tampa Bay, and Cincinnati), we are heading into the home stretch.  Intra-division matchups will determine playoffs berths.  This week our two SPF NFC East teams and the entire AFC South face off. As read more...

Billy Bob and The Boxmasters On The Road Again with Willie Nelson

I just got word from Billy Bob Thornton's folks that The Boxmasters will hit the road with

Saturday's Slate: SEC vs. Big 12 South Looking Good!

After a season of many a wild ride, a little clarity emerged from last week's games.  The SEC has their championship game set.  The Big 12 is now down to three (maybe four) potential BCS participants.  The rest of our TF conferences have a ways to go, but none of read more...

Stanley Booth Reports On William Eggleston Photo Show in New York City

Stanley Booth Returns From New York City 11/13/08 I spoke with Stanley Booth this read more...

It Wasn't Your Daddy's CMA Awards Show!

I could hardly wait to watch the 42nd Annual CMA Awards on the boob tube last night. Airing from Music City and hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, the three-hour extravaganza featured performances by great country artists like The Eagles, Kid Rock, The Wailers and the guy read more...

CMA Awards are Rockin'

I am watching the CMA Awards on TV, and Lady Antebellum just burned up the stage with what, by all accounts, was a blazing Southern Rock performance. I am making a lot of notes, and tomorrow I will be writing about the show, the music, and the current face of country music. Oh, read more...

Classic Photos: Mark Emerick and BHLT

Once upon a time there was an absolutely killer Southern Rock band called BHLT, made up  of Dickey Betts, Jimmy Hall, Chuck Leavell and Butch Trucks, along with "Rook" Goldflies on bass and Danny Parks on fiddle. I have heard several boots of these guys, as well as read more...

Australia Rocks Classic Bonnie Bramlett Collection

I am such a lucky cat. Seriously. I have been loving Delaney and Bonnie ever since Junior High, and I still find it hard to believe just how nice both of them are. I met

Snowman's Six-Pack of Reax from Saturday

1. After all of the Nick Saban drama last week in Baton Rouge, we finally got a close game from a SEC marquee matchup. Alabama and LSU staged a very hard-fought battle, but as we’ve written about so much this season in the SEC, the quarterback play was the difference. Alabama read more...

Southern Soul Music Dominates "Soul Men" Film

SOUL MEN It is a truly strange feeling going to see a film on opening day knowing that one of its main actors is dead. It was that way with The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger, but even

The Sunday Slate (Week Ten): Byes Galore

Four SPF teams have byes this week (Dallas, Washington, Tampa Bay, and Cincinnati).  There are only a few good-looking games on the schedule.  The rest, outside of a select few, look like virtual byes - either be easy wins or sad losses. As Always, SPF teams in read more...

Notes From A Fall Saturday Afternoon

"May this shovel Loose your trouble, Lay them far away..."            read more...

Saturday's Slate: The November Home Stretch Begins!

College football remains the Footprint's most compelling and spectacular sport.  The 2008 season has delivered us yet again a roller coaster ride of sporting goodness.  The stakes have been high all season.  So far, at least two key programs (Tennessee and read more...

End of an Era in Knoxville and the SEC

The Dean of SEC football coaches, Phillip Fulmer, announced on Monday that he would agree with the University of Tennessee’s decision for him no to return for the 2009 season. It was one of the

The Best of The Allman Brothers Band

Time once again for another GRITZ List. We are happy to present our latest ,The 25 Best Songs by The Allman Brothers Band. Check out the list and by all means let us know what you think. It was really read more...

Snowman's Six-Pack of Reax from Saturday

1. Wow – what an instant classic in the Lonestar State. Texas Tech pulled off an amazing upset of #1 Texas with one second to go and sent their raucous fans read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Nine): SPF Inter-league Barometer Time

Carolina and New Orleans have bye weeks.  There's one Swampland Showdown.  The rest of today's Slate features matchups between SPF teams and the rest of the NFL. There is a chance that SPF teams can go undefeated this week sending a huge message to the rest of the read more...

Charlie Daniels Kicks it Bluegrass Style

Today was a great day. After a few days of downright cold winter-like weather, the sun returned, we hit 72 degrees and all was well in the world. But before trhe temp went up,  I decided to get up early watch the new

Saturday's Slate: Top Games in Each Conference Will Decide Champions

Georgia and Florida in Jacksonville The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party has more at stake than ever – read more...

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section Inducted into Hall of Fame

Huge congratulations go out to my friends in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who were inducted into The Musician's Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening in Nashville. Here is a link to a great read more...

Still Missing Duane Allman, 37 Years Later

We lost one of the very best guitar players of the Southern Rock era on this day (October 29th) back in 1971. Virtually every true blue Southern Rock fan knows that brother Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident just months after the release of everybody's favorite read more...

Tuesday Tastings (Week 8): Midway Point

Thanks to Patrick "Snowman" Snow's item early Monday morning, he helped us cover a lot of ground for our tastings.  Without any further waiting... FINGER-LICKIN' read more...

Snowman's Six-Pack of Reax from Sunday

1) The Titans and Colts will go at it on Monday Night Football in the Music City. Tennessee comes into the game undefeated and looks to deliver the ultimate knockout blow to the usual AFC South Champ. The

Buffalo's Soap Box: The Economy, The Election and Stealing Music

I'm stepping back up onto my reinforced industrial strength Soap Box. You have been warned. Something has to be done. No matter who becomes the president in a few days, there is a huge task ahead. The economy has never been so bad, at least in my life time. It seems read more...

Snowman's Six-Pack of Reax from Saturday

1) The biggest difference between teams in the SEC this season is simply quarterback play. Alabama, Georgia, and Florida came into the season with experienced/quality signal callers, and they have been the class of the league. Lack of experience or just poor play at quarterback has read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Eight): Big Games in Big D, Music City

Finally, we have a few big games to savor. As Always, SPF teams in CAPS with (Week 7's T.I. Poll Ranking) TAMPA BAY (4) @ DALLAS (1) - This pivotal Swampland read more...

Saturday's Slate: A Bit of Relative Calm Before the Storm

Although you can't take a week off in college football, this week seems like a palate cleanser before some of the biggest homestretch games are played.  November will feature great game after great game and next week's

A Nice Weekend of Hate in the SEC

One of the most hate-filled rivalries in college football will see another chapter written on Saturday when the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide invade Knoxville to take on the Volunteers. The “Third read more...

Rays to Host World Series

The Tampa Bay Rays improbable run to the World Series commences tonight, and their success should be a huge boon for Southern baseball. With the Braves’ NL East dominance over and the Texas teams struggling, Tampa Bay’s club of youngsters provides a blueprint for other read more...

Tuesday Tastings (Week 7): Rams Recognized, while Dallas Declines

It was a tough week of football in SPF land.  Two of our teams were off (Jacksonville and Atlanta) and several others played like they were taking the week off. FINGER LICKIN' GOOD St. Louis Rams - It is time to read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Seven): Find Some Magic

With only four games worthy of interest and two teams off (Atlanta and Jacksonville), we are looking for a little magic in our Sunday Slate. The NFL usually provides a few unexpected surprises.  Maybe this is that week.  It certainly won't be hard with entertaiment read more...

Saturday's Slate: BCS Busters vs. Disciplined Talent

Last week was a lesson in symmetry.  Many teams met on the field that looked like mirror images.  Something had to give, and it did.  3 of the top 5 teams lost giving the nation a new number one, Texas, who beat Oklahoma in what was probably a top 10 of all time Red read more...

Recalling The Nature Boy's Hey Day: Ric Flair

Let's get ready to rumble! On our second "No Holds Barred" feature, we recall the glory days of the one and only Nature Boy, Ric Flair. Perhaps the most flamboyant rassler of all time, read more...

Tuesday Tastings (Week 6): Burt Reynolds Loves The Falcons!

It was a very weird week in SPF land.  Many teams lost games they weren't expected to lose.  A few others had surprising wins.  (The Titans were off so they don't get included this week.) FINGER LICKIN' read more...

This Evening's Stanley Booth Call

The Latest News From Writer Stanley Booth 10/13/08 This evening I received a call from my old friend

Pro Wrestling in The Seventies: Ox Baker

I am really excited about our brand new, ongoing series No Holds Barred. The series will look at the stars and memories of the hey day of pro wrestling in the south, especially here in the Mid Atlantic area. I will be profiling many of the stars of the sport during the read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Six): The "Must Wins" Begin

The NFL is a game of inches.  Each week matters.  The stories of each of our SPF teams are told as the season unfolds. There have been enough games to know that this week has more than a few teams in desperation mode.  Simply put, more than a few of our teams read more...

Saturday's Slate: Symmetry Saturday

We've already been treated to upsets throughout the Tribal Fever landscape, but let's not forget that upsets require a precondition of disparity between teams, etiher real or imagined. This Saturday's games are of a different sort.  It seems across the board that all read more...

Tuesday Tastings (Week 5): Nothing Is Easy

St Louis was off last week, so we are spared another missive on how terrible they are.  The good news is that their temporary absence sways our SPF teams well into the positive over all. The best of our teams are living by a simple rule - nothing comes easy in SPF read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Five): Separation Sunday

This week doesn't have the same drama as a Cowboys/Redskins weekend, but SPF teams pushing towards the playoffs, a solid 8 of 15, can further prove their mettle this week by taking care of business. As Always, SPF teams in CAPS with (Week 4's

Pro Wrestling in the South Back in the Day

I was on the phone with a friend last week, just catching up on this and that, when my buddy posed a question. “Did you ever get into pro rasslin’?” Now, for the record, I spell it

Saturday's Slate: Picking Up The Pieces

Last week had USC losing on Thursday which appeared to set up big things for Georgia and Florida.  Then, both stumbled last week, but both have a chance to redeem their season. This shapes up to be another great season filled with surprises as another team with destiny read more...

Tuesday Tastings (Week 4): Hail To the Redskins!

Since Miami and Indy had byes this past week, we're leaving them off our weekly Tastings dispatch.  That still leaves us with 11 samplings of varied quality. Let's start off with the best of the bunch... FINGER LICKIN' read more...

Big & Rich Rock My Monday Night; Jimmy Farrar Health Update

As I write this little ol' blog, I am tapping my number 13's on the hard wood floor, watching Big & Rich in concert on Direct TV and they are just ripping it up. Dang I love them guys. They combine elements of country, Southern Rock, classic rock and anything else that fits into read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Four): Cowboys vs Indians, er Redskins

Week Four features the only classic pro football rivalry in the Footprint.  That's reason enough to tune in. Two of our teams have byes (Indy and Miami) and several others have critical games.  We will quickly break it down for you. As Always, SPF read more...

Conversation with Stanley Booth

A Conversation with Southern Scribe Stanley Booth 9/27/08 When things get weird, I always call my old friend

Saturday's Slate: Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead!

Of course, this means that the two perennial pretenders that stand in our way, Ohio State and USC, have both lost and neither appear to have the right kinds of games left to springboard back into the national title hunt.  That should mean that the national championship game read more...

Auburn Rules!

If not on the gridiron, at least in the classroom. According to an article in the New York Times (September 21 ) entitled The read more...

38 Special and Trace Adkins Join Forces

Country superstar Trace Adkins' new music video finds him live in duet with 38 Special on their classic

New Johnny Cash Recording & Documentary Set For Release

New Documentary Airs October 23 9/25/08 A new read more...

Special Edition of Magazine Features Great Southern Rock Articles

Heads up, Southern Rock fans. There’s a magazine out on the stands right now that you are going to want. It’s called Guitar Legends, and the issue is called  “The Complete History

Tuesday Tastings (Week 3): We're Dolphin-safe now, but the Goat, er Ram, is Smoked

After getting a full-sized Sunday helping of SPF games, some things have improved while others took a turn for the worse. "Finger Lickin' Good" Yum, yum.  These teams served it up on Sunday leaving their fans hungry read more...

The Sunday Slate (Week Three): The NFC South Goes North While the AFC South Faces Off

Week 3 doesn't feature as many interesting games as last week, but the AFC South faces off and the NFC South heads up north.  As Always, SPF teams in CAPS with (Week 2's T.I. Poll Ranking) Here's a read more...

The Trail of Tears 2008

Today, Saturday, September 20th, some 150,000 motorcycles will make their way toward Florence, Alabama.  This is the 15th Annual Trail of Tears read more...

GRITZ News Items: Americana Rocks, Shaver, Hayes Carll, FAME and Skynyrd

LEVON HELM NAMED AMERICANA ARTIST OF THE YEAR The 7th Annual Americana Music Honors and Awards show took place on Thursday (Sept. 18) in Nashville at the Mother Church of Country Music, The Ryman Auditorium. Wish I could have been there. It’s read more...

Saturday's Slate: Barometer Games (Intra- and Inter-Conference)

This weekend marks the beginning of some classic early season rivalry games inside the SEC.  TF has a rundown of all the key games. BEST INTRA-CONFERENCE GAMES

Our Week Two SPF Tastings: Give Us Some Panther, but Steer Clear of Ram and Bengal

After getting a full-sized Sunday helping of SPF games, not everything we sampled was up to par.  Let's do a quick break down in hopes that maybe some of the team cooks can get their wares "Finger Lickin' Good" Although read more...

The Only Serious Philosophical Question

The recent death (September 12) of novelist David Foster Wallace (I

Chuck Leavell Praises Widespread Panic

Chuck Leavell Praises Widespread Panic 9/14/08 In my interview with the great

The SPF Week 2 Slate: Pretender/Contender Separation Begins

It's only Week 2, but many of today's games determine how seasons will unfold for our SPF teams.  One game may mean nothing, but two games often represents a trend. Let's start with our inter-SPF matchups.  SPF teams in CAPS with (

Amanda Martin is The Real Deal

I first heard Amanda Martin sing earlier this month when we shared a stage while appearing at the High Lonesome Saloon in Rome, Georgia, and I knew then that she is a star in the making. She is bursting read more...

Another MuzikMafia Star is About to Go Supernova - James Otto

James Otto is the bomb. He's Donnie and he's Marie. He's a read more...

Bo Bice is Proud to Be Called a Southern Rocker: The GRITZ Interview

Back in 2005, I had developed a somewhat passing interest in the American Idol TV show. It was a guilty pleasure to be sure. I blame it on Kelly Clarkson who had won me over in the first season, so I kind of continued to watch here and there. At the same time the new season read more...

New Candy Coburn Video Pays Tribute to George McCorkle

Up and coming country music sensation Candy Coburn has released a new music video of her version of "Fire On The Mountain," and the great thing about it is that it is a duet with the late

The SEC Upgrades To College Football 2.0

The nation at large now sees what the Footprint has long known - SEC Football is dominant and truly in its own league.  Despite the hue and cry against it, the BCS has allowed sports fans to see top teams, by and large, go against each other on the field.  Since read more...

Marc Ford and the Neptune Blues Club

Another Transmission From The Great Marc Ford 9/3/08   We've missed each other's messages for the past couple of days, but I finally spoke with read more...

Memories of Jerry Reed

Sadly, we have lost another old friend of GRITZ. Country music star, songwriter and actor Jerry Reed died on August 31, 2008 at the age of 71 of complications from emphysema. I first discovered Reed as a teenager when I was dreaming of being the next superstar disc read more...

Gamecocks Destruction of Wolfpack Serves Notice to Clemson and the ACC

Last night was the glorious kick off to the 2008 college football season.  Teams from almost every conference had games allowing us some very early previews of what might be coming in the weeks ahead. Everyone now knows about the

Southern Music's Best Friend, Jerry Wexler Has Died at 91

Jerry Wexler was rock and roll. He was also rhythm and blues. Oh, and Southern rock. Oh, yeah, Wex was a huge fan of Southern music of all sorts, and of the key architects in the history of music over the past 50 years. He was instrumental in helping Phil Walden read more...

Fun Music Videos: Winters Brothers, Danny Joe Brown, Charlie Daniels Band and Drive By Truckers with Kelly Hogan

Just for fun, I thought I'd post some very cool YouTube videos. I hope y'all dig 'em. Keep it Real. Keep it Southern. Buffalo  

A Humorous Comparison of College Football Between the South and the North

As our beloved college football season nears, we at Tribal Fever thought everyone should read this comparison between college football in the South versus our Northern counterparts. (This has been making the rounds via email so many of you might have already seen it - read more...

Barbeque is Not a Verb: A Musical Tribute To Southern BBQ

There's nothing us Southerners like more than barbeque. Football comes close, as does Southern Rock, NASCAR, professional wrestling and cold beer, but when all is said and done, the pork will always rise to the top. Well, some guys from read more...

RIP Isaac Hayes

Soul Legend Passes Away Today 8/10/08 Soul legend Isaac Hayes died today at 65. Hayes played a vital role in the

Random Notes: Beijing, Bernie Mac and New Music

Well the Summer Olympics are underway in Beijing, and I watched a good bit of the opening ceremony last night on the boob tube. While some of it bored me to tears, I must admit that the show was filled with grandeur and color, especially during the march of the nations, with various read more...

Buffalo Roaming: Day Four, Cooper's Party

What a great weekend. Sunday morning, I woke up and went downstairs for one of those great made to order omelets at the Hilton. The lady there is one helluva cook, and my grits were damn near perfect too. I sucked back four cups of coffee. It wasn’t

The Dog Star Rages and Leos Roar

It is August and the dog days of summer are upon us. The ancient Romans noticed that the hottest days of the year, late July and early August, coincided with the appearance of

Buffalo Roaming: Day One, Down By The Lazy River in Bamalama

Well, after seven hours of driving, two torrential storms and one near death experience, I find myself in the comfort of a beautiful two story home on the Elk River (which feeds into the Tennessee River down the road a ways as a matter of fact), sitting comfotably read more...

Ten More Defining Moments in Southern Rock History

Did any of you see Gregg Allman in the movie Rush? He played a drug dealing king pin, and a pretty spooky character.  That movie disturbed me more that ten Stephen King flicks, because it was so real. That's why Gregg's role in the movie made our list of

Still More of The Defining Moments in Southern Rock History

Hi guys. My apologies for the two days of down time. We experienced a problem with our DSL internet service that virtually crippled the GRITZ offices for almost two days. We are happy to come back kicking with the

An Ongoing Journey To the Heart of Southern Culture

A Sunday Service On Southern Culture 7/20/08 “The artist penetrates the concrete world in order  to find at read more...

Montgomery Gentry (Southern) Rock The Country

When it comes to injecting country with a big ol' dose of Southern Rock, nobody does it better than Montgomery Gentry. Case in point, their newest album, Back When I Knew it All, which may read more...

An Afternoon with Old Friends

An Afternoon with Old Friends 7/18/08 Yesterday afternoon I visited the married writers

Is 8 Wins The SEC's New Over/Under For Coaching Success?

An interesting debate was sparked last week when the University of Tennessee announced it had extended Coach Phillip Fulmer’s contract: What is an read more...

A Forgotten Hero: Chips Moman

A Forgotten Hitmaker Chips Moman 7/13/08 "She's not just a plaything, She expects love just like a man."

Bonnie Bramlett's Favorite Southern Rock Albums

Just a quick heads up. We have added Bonnie Bramlett's Top Ten Southern Rock albums to the list of favorites of the stars. Check out Bonnie's list and let us know what you think. Buffalo

Steve Cropper Remembers First Meeting with Otis Redding

Steve Cropper Remembers His First Meeting with Soul Legend Otis Redding 7/11/08   From coastal Georgia, near the Florida line, I'm enjoying the read more...

Southern Rock's Most Defining Moments

You've all heard of "going the extra mile" for your art, right? Well, fellow babies, The Buffalo has been doing that for a few days now, assembling a list of The 100 Defining Moments in Southern read more...

Rare Bonnie Bramlett Video

Every Bonnie Bramlett fan knows that Bonnie was a regular on the old Roseanne TV show during the eighties, but how read more...

GRITZ Radio Hour Premieres Online

Hey guys. As an experiment of sorts, we are presenting a pilot episode of The GRITZ Radio Hour, a two hour program of music hosted by yours truly, and airing over the Mighty Field of Vision internet radio station, now read more...

Words From Charlie

Charlie Musselwhite On Muddy Waters 7/5/08 ...I hope everyone enjoyed their Independence Day... I wanted to send a few lines read more...

The Beautiful Bonnie Bramlett: The GRITZ Interview

We are proud to present an all new interview with Southern Soul Sister Number One, the only ever "Allman Sister,"  the magnificent Bonnie Bramlett, our first interview with her in over eight years. Bonnie talks about her great new album Beautiful, as well as read more...

Booker T & The MGs, The Memphis Horns and The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section Inducted Into Musicians Hall of Fame

Musicians Hall of Fame Announces 2008 Inductees 7/2/08 Yesterday I interviewed the great

An American Hero: Steve Cropper

Mystery And Manners Interview with The Great Steve Cropper 7/1/08 "I left my home in Georgia Headed read more...

NBA Draft Post-Mortem

It was an interesting NBA Draft night with Miami and Memphis from our region making big headlines. Before I take a look at some of the specifics, the question has to be asked: Does the NBA have to make the Draft so complicated for the fans? It’s amazing how many picks are made read more...

Midnight Shakedown

Midnight Shakedown: Renaldo & Clara, Marc Ford & Widespread Panic...And Beyond 6/28/08 "Odds and Ends Odds and read more...

...A Dog Day Afternoon...

Georgia Falls In College World Series...Random Notes... 6/25/08 The Fresno State Bulldogs beat The Georgia Bulldogs tonight 6-1 in the read more...

Female Soul Opens the Summer

A Cast of Female Artists Bloom In Summer 6/23/08 "One day I woke up to find Right in the bed next to mine Some woman broke me read more...

Winters Brothers Band Summer Jam : A Photo Retrospective

Well, judging from all reports, it was another extra special Winters Brothers Band Southern Summer Jam up in Tennessee last weekend. Everyone had a great time. I sure wish I could have been there, but I plan on being at next year's big 30th Anniversary Jam to be sure. Donnie read more...

The Cities That Gave Us Southern Rock

I find it interesting just how many of our greatest Southern Rockers come from the same cities. Especially our number one city for Southern Rock, Jacksonville, Florida. Check out our list of the Top Ten read more...

The Great Charlie Musselwhite

An Interview with The "Greatest Living Harp Player" 6/19/08 He would never admit to it, but many legendary musicians have referred to read more...

GAC Contest, Vote for The Southern Boys Band

Greetings from South Carolina. I just heard about this contest that our friend

New Documentary Project Will Present the Definitive History of Country Music

I just got the word that Shout! Factory Records and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum are planning to produce a multi-part original series of specials on the history of country music for television and DVD. The partners will seek worldwide broadcast read more...

Mystery And Manners Honorary Southern Artist Volume Seven: Neil Young

Mystery And Manners Honorary Southern Artist: Volume Seven—Neil Young  6/18/08 “I’m a vampire Sucking blood from the read more...

Will Jags' Fans Respond?

An interesting question was asked last week in the local Jacksonville paper regarding the Jaguars and their fans: “What has this team not done to legitimately pursue a Super Bowl read more...

Southern Literature Series to Premiere on Swampland

“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past” ( Requiem for a Nun) In William read more...

Bonnie, Delaney Back On Top Individually This Summer

During the sixties and early seventies Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett changed the face of popular music forever with their read more...

Watch and Listen: Ten Great DVD's for Southern Rockers

Man oh man do I love movies. I guess movies are my second favorite entertainment besides music. Well, truth be told, books rank right up at the top of that list as well. But when you combine music and movies, look out, you have my attention. For my new list, I wanted to read more...

It's All About The Song: The Greatest Songwriters of The Southern Rock Era

I am probably going to get some other opinions on this one. We're happy to present our list of The Ten Best Songwriters of The Southern Rock Era. Check out the list and let us know what you read more...

With Leadership In Flux, the BCS Proves Its Worth to the Big East

Tribal Fever will never stop its defense of the greatest sport in our Footprint - college football.  How a sport that has record ratings and revenue would ever be under scrutiny is beyond us, but we believe the heart of that line of criticism lies in its "limited" read more...

Overrated? Let's Start with Sal Paolantonio and other "National" Sports Analysts

Here we go again. I guess ESPN has nothing better to feed NFL fans during the offseason than more of Sal Paolantonio’s “Overrated/Underrated” drivel. read more...

Southern Remedy On The River: The Black Crowes In Chattanooga, Tennessee

Southern Remedy On The River: The Black Crowes Perform Chattanooga, Tennessee 6/7/08                           "Windswept stars blink and read more...

Wash Boards and Chicken Coups: The Ten Best Instrumentalists of Southern Rock

Let me begin by wishing everybody a GREAT weekend. Only one week until the big annual Winters Brothers Band Summer Jam. See you there! Our latest Top Ten list runs down the

Duke Over Notre Dame: College Sports Are Still The King Down South

Since the SEC just wrapped up its meetings down in Destin, Tribal Fever thought it would be a good time to check in.  College sports are the glory of The Footprint, and the rest of the nation is taking notice. The significance of yesterday's news that Notre Dame's AD read more...

Random Notes: Bo Diddley, MTV Awards, Boxmasters, Winters Jam

Well, summer has made it to South Carolina, and it's hotter than Angelina Jolie in a sweat lodge. But I ain't complainin’ none. I am pretty tired of the cold.

Amy LaVere & The North Mississippi All-Stars Storm Atlanta

Amy LaVere & The North Mississippi All-Stars Storm Atlanta: Notes From A Soundcheck  5/31/08

Winters Brothers Annual Jam is On The Way

It’s almost time again for one of our favorite events of the year. The Winters Brothers Band will host their 29th Annual Southern Summer Jam on Saturday, June 14, 2008 at the family's farm in read more...

A Trip to The Keys: Southern Rock's Greatest Keyboard Players

And the lists just keep on coming... This time we run down the Greatest Keyboard Players of the Southern Rock Era. They're all here, the Hammond B-3, the piano - from Chuck Leavell to Taz read more...

Four Strings and An Attitude: Southern Rock's Best Bass Players

How about another Southern Rock List? This time we run down the Ten Greatest Bass Guitar Players of The Southern Rock read more...

The Amazing Amy LaVere

The Amazing Amy LaVere & Topanga Days 5/22/08 This evening I conducted an interview with the beautiful and talented Amy LaVere. Amy read more...

The Top 25 Songs of The Southern Rock Era

And the lists just keep on a comin.' Our latest addition to our Southern Rock Lists is our accounting of the 25 Greatest read more...

South Dominates College Baseball

by Patrick Snow There is one more week of college baseball before the conference tournaments, and the teams in our Swampland footprint are looking very strong. I had the pleasure this past weekend to attend a great 3-game series between Vanderbilt and Georgia. The Bulldogs read more...

New GRITZ List: Top Vocalists of the Southern Rock Era

"Way down in Alabama/Shoutin' Bamalama..." What a rocking song. What a great singer. I never get tired of listening to Jimmy Hall. Never. Which is why he landed in the top spot in our list of

Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland Movie Looks Great

Growing up in Spartanbrg, SC, I was always running into people who were under the misconception that guitar legend Hank Garland was dead. The truth was, Hank had been read more...

Southern Gospel Icon Dottie Rambo Dies in Crash

Southern Gospel singer-songwriter Joyce "Dottie" Rambo died early this morning (May 11, 2008) when the bus she was in ran off a road in southwest Missouri and struck an embankment.

New Features, Capricorn Records, Southern Rock Lists

We are happy to add a couple of new ongoing features here at GRITZ. The first is our Tribute to Capricorn Records Page, which features links to all of the articles and interviews related to the Southern read more...

Eddy Arnold Dead at 89

Eddy Arnold died this morning (May 8, 2008) in Tennessee. The Country Music Hall of Famer was 89 years old. Growing up in Spartanburg, SC, I recall Eddy read more...

Tom Waits Glitter And Doom Tour Dates (Mostly Southern)

Tom Waits Glitter And Doom Tour Dates Mostly Southern 5/6/08   “Well they call me William the pleaser/I sold opium read more...

Charlie and Hazel Daniels Honored by Cumberland University

Nashville, Tennessee - May 5th, 2008 Cumberland University recently honored Wilson County resident and country music icon Charlie Daniels read more...

SEC Football Update, Memphis Style!

Ron Higgins was on fire over the weekend.  He's one of the best writers about SEC football newspaper writers outside of Tony Barnhart.  (For those of you just finding out about Ron, please

The Legends of Southern Rock, a Guide

Greetings from Carolina. We are happy to present our new index page for our Legends of Southern Rock series. From here, you can always surf over to your favorite Southern Rock band's Swampland read more...

Why Swampland Sports Loves the BCS

Despite winning back to back national titles in football, the SEC susre seems to hate the BCS.  Lately, this hatred has been reaching a new level. It all started when University of Georgia President Michael F. Adams announced a proposal for

Post - NFL Draft Newspaper Wrap Up

We found this article from a week or so back that is about NFL Network being the tail the wags the dog for that league.  Swampland Sports has long written now about the ways read more...

New CD Reviews: Jackson Rohm, Beat Daddys and Mighty Handful

Well, it's 50 degrees at 6:15 PM here in Greenville. Tell me again what the date is? Of course, it was almost 80 degrees yesterday, so... I hope you will check out our three new CD reviews just posted today. All three are really good discs. Singer songwriter

SPF's NFL Draft First Round Log (Live All Day!!)

read more...

Rick Godfrey Returning to Upstate South Carolina

Former Garfeel Ruff guitarist Rick Godfrey returns to Upstate South Carolina this weekend to perform at a benefit for read more...

Snowflakes: Jake Long Goes #1 (and Other 2008 NFL Draft Thoughts)

The NFL Draft is this Saturday, and some of our Southern teams appear to hold the key to the most important non-gameday of the year. The Miami Dolphins have the #1 pick, and the Miami Herald reports that OT read more...

Why I Love Bonnie Bramlett

I remember reading about Delaney and Bonnie a lot back in high school, during those days when I was constantly read more...

Charlie Daniels' GRITZ Guest Blog; Memories of Toy Caldwell

We are happy to present our second Guest Blog, this one written by our good buddy the legendary Godfather of Southern Rock himself, Charlie Daniels. Charlie writes about his dear old friend Toy read more...

Vintage GRITZ Articles Unearthed; Hatchet, Skynyrd, Tucker, Ricky Skaggs and More

It's time once again to add a few more Vintage Gritz articles to the archives, and I hope you'll check 'em out for a "blast from the past." Added today is one of our first interviews from 1999 with

Snowflakes: What Are SEC Football Critics Going To Do Now?

With spring football in full gear, it’s never too early to look ahead to the upcoming season. We at Swampland have focused many times on the ongoing theme of the SEC “arms race” in America’s toughest conference schedule to navigate. With Florida and LSU read more...

Ex-Trick Pony Singer Heidi is Back to Rock Your World

I always loved Trick Pony, and had the chance to see them up close and personal several times during the annual Angelus concerts in Tampa, Florida. One night during the 2006 show, somewhere after read more...

Outward Bound

“The eye and mind would be functioning as a camera. The writing would be selective and necessarily interpretive—but once the image was written the words would be final.” --Hunter read more...

Billy Bob Thornton's Boxmasters Signed to Vanguard

Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters have signed a deal with Vanguard with a 2-CD set due out June 10. The Boxmasters, who we first wrote about after attending their

Dickinson's Eats & Dylan's Prize

Bob Dylan Wins Pulitzer Prize & Jim Dickinson's Best On The Road Eating 4/7/08 Evening Folks, I hope all is well on this read more...

A Shot of the Blues

A Daily Dose of Authenticity...Keith Richards...James Burton...MLK...Widespread Panic...The Black Crowes...Jim Dickinson... 4/4/08 As Spring read more...

The Legacy of Ardent Records

The Legacy of Ardent Records 4/2/08 In light of my recent interview with the great

Montgomery Gentry Have a Hot New Album On the Way

"Back When I Knew It All"  has been Montgomery Gentry's fastest rising single to date, and on June 10th, they will release the album of the same name. This will be their seventh read more...

Shooter Jennings Rocking On Video

I just spent an hour on YouTube listening to some mighty great music. In keeping with my recent post about the remarkable Shooter read more...

The Lost Shooter Jennings Interview

Shooter Jennings rocks. There's no doubt about it. Shooter represents everything GRITZ is about, blending classic Southern read more...

Snowflakes: Southern Sweet 16

Here a quick primer for our teams in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament. East – This is definitely the Heavyweight bracket for our Swampland region. With #1 overall seed North Carolina playing near home in Charlotte, the Tar Heels have to be read more...

Lady Antebellum Rocks Their Country with Free Download

In keeping with our mission to bring together the best of Southern rock and the best of the new country music, I want to highly recommend a new country act by the name of

Snowflakes: Tar Heels are the Tourney's Favorite

The best postseason in sports is upon us with the NCAA Tournament beginning. Brackets will soon be ruined as productivity takes a break for a couple of days in offices across the country. College football will seemingly always be king in our Swampland region (with a few exceptions read more...

Snowflakes: Why SEC Hoops is No Longer Just Kentucky

With Mississippi and Florida both dropping first round games in the conference tournament, the SEC contingent for the Big Dance seems to be set at five (TN, UK, VU, Ark., MSU). While there’s an outside chance the Rebels could get an at-large berth, the rest of the weekend will read more...

Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops Does the Footprint Proud

It’s the most exciting time of the year for many of the smaller schools around our region. Their conferences tournaments have become an extension of the NCAA Tourney as winning the automatic bid fulfills their dream of having a shot at the big boys. Many pundits feel it would read more...

Snowflakes: Conference USA's Mediocrity is True Source of Calipari's Frustration

Memphis has their sights set on the Big Dance and the Final Four as they cruise through another C-USA Tournament at home. When the Tigers beat UAB, John Calipari became the only coach besides Adolph Rupp to win

Midnight in the Garden of Good Southern Rock: Late Night Tea & TV

I love it when things like this happen. I was sitting up late tonight writing, as I often do. Beside me a nice hot cup of ralaxation tea that tasted as good as it smelled. My wife had brewed it up for me before she headed off to bed. She's good that way. What would I do read more...

The Dickinson's Mojo & The Black Crowes' Voodoo

Mystery & Manners Investigates The Mojo of The Dickinson Family & The Black Crowes' Voodoo 3/11/02 "Don't bring down the read more...

Volunteer Jam to Feature 38 Special, Shooter Jennings, with Hosts CDB

On April 11th, The Volunteer Jam 2008 Tour kicks off. This year's dates will feature our friends The Charlie Daniels Band, 38 Special and Shooter Jennings.

John Rich is Recording a Big Solo Album

I am really intrigued with John Rich. I just finished watching the finale of his CMT reality show Gone Country, and while I disagree with his choice of winner (Julio Iglasias, Jr., whereas I was just sure Bobby Brown was going to win)  I am read more...

Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops

* It will be quite a battle this weekend in the Big South for the coveted automatic berth to the Big Dance. North Carolina-Asheville and Winthrop both finished at 10-4 in the Big

Snowflakes: SEC Hoops

* I’ve written all season about the banner year for basketball in the state of Tennessee. The two best teams in the league appear to be from the Volunteer State in Tennessee and Vanderbilt (although detractors would qualify the Commodores inclusion as long as they are playing read more...

Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops

* Well, it finally happened. The 47-game home winning streak and the perfect record on the season ended for Memphis last Saturday when Tennessee defeated them, 66-62, in the raucous FedEx Forum. Surprisingly, the Tigers were outhustled and outrebounded by the smaller Vols who made read more...

Black History Month: Look Back, but Move Forward

“Look back but move forward” was the credo of civil rights activist Johnnie Carr who died Friday at the age of 97.

Snowflakes: #1 vs #2

With all due respect.to the other games this weekend, there’s only one mammoth matchup read more...

Water, Water, Everywhere, Nor Any Drop To Drink

Today the New York Times ran an article entitled “Georgia Claims a Sliver of the Tennessee River.” The quarrel is not just about boundaries. It is about water, read more...

Little Richard Gets Standing Ovation at Ryman

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- It's a standing ovation for rock 'n' roll pioneer Little Richard -- and he didn't even perform. He was seated at the rear of the Ryman Auditorium Sunday night attending a concert by 1960s Motown stalwarts The read more...

Blackfoot is Our Latest "Legends of Southern Rock" Entry

"Highway Song" and "Train, Train," "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie" and "Wishing Well"- all of these bring to mind the fierce, four man attack of Blackfoot - wildman Rick Medlocke out front, Charlie Hargrett on lead guitar, Greg T. Walker on bass and read more...

Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops

We often focus on teams that reach the dream of an NCAA tournament or special players who make the NBA, but sometimes it’s just about playing for the love of the game. That thought takes us to tiny Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. The Blue Hose

New CD's from Delaney, Bonnie and Whitlock

This may be the only time in history that the stars have lined up like this. Literally. If you check out the GRITZ CD reviews, you'll see that  our three latest reviews have a common thread. The artists were all  members of  the legendary Delaney  Bonnie read more...

Snowflakes: Big East Hoops

Louisville got a monster win last Saturday night when they knocked off first place Georgetown. The Cardinals are playing much better ball of late, having won 5 of 6, and looking solid for a good run in the postseason. However, I’ve got to give at least an assist to Rick read more...

A Night to Remember at The Bluebird in Nashville

It was a night to remember at Nashville's famed Bluebird Cafe on February 1st as Tim Krekel performed songs from his acclaimed new release, Soul Season, at the famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville recently with noted songwriter / artists Bill Lloyd,

Jim Dickinson On The Line

Mystery & Manners Interview With Memphis Legend Jim Dickinson 2/9/08 "She shivers just like jelly in the bowl."

Ryan Bingham Gets Help From Ford

Marc Ford & Son Join Texas Songwriter Ryan Bingham In the South 2/9/08

Weekend Notes and Tom Dowd On Ronnie Van Zant

I really hope everyone is enjoying the new look of GRITZ, as well as our “Mothership” Swampland.com. The powers that be have worked really hard for months on the redesign, and I for one am very pleased with the results. I hope you feel the same. We at read more...

John Rich to Release Big Solo Album

John Rich, who along with Big Kenny Alphin makes up genre-bending duo Big & Rich, will release a solo album later this year on Warner Bros. There's no read more...

Snowflakes: SEC Hoops

* The Kentucky Wildcats finally look to be playing the kind of winning ball that Big Blue fans expect. It took a while to adjust to new coach Billy Gillispie (and his gameday practices), but now the ‘Cats are sitting only one game behind SEC East leader Tennessee. In a recent read more...

Snowflakes: Smaller Conference Hoops

One mid-major club that higher seeded teams will not want to see in the Big Dance is Davidson from the Southern Conference. The Wildcats are perfect 13-0 in league play

Adventures In The (Pig) Skin Trade On Super Bowl Sunday

Roving Notes On Super Bowl Sunday 2/3/08 "There is some kind of back-door connection in my head between Super Bowls and The Allman read more...

Snowflakes: SEC Hoops

by Patrick Snow * Someone forgot to tell 2-time National Champion Florida that they were supposed to struggle this season. After winning their second NCAA title in a row, the Gators lost the top six players off their depth chart and lost their coach for a day or two. read more...

Lest We Forget: Four Spirits

January 30, 2008, marked the 60th anniversary of the assassination of India’s political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. It was Gandhi whose name was most invoked

From The Archives: Our Interview with Lonnie Mack

It's time for another new post from our interviews archives. We are happy to present the interview I conducted back in 2000 with blues rock guitar legend Lonnie Mack. Stevie Ray Vaughan's old buddy opened up for us about his Flying V guitar, his career and future read more...

John Rich Hosts "Gone Country" On CMT

Nashville star John Rich (Big & Rich) hosts Gone Country, a new show on CMT that brings musicians from the world of rock and r&b to Nashville to have a go at becoming country performers. The show is quite a lot of fun. Read a Blog about the show by

Skynyrd and Hank Return with Rowdy Frynds Tour 2008

(Nashville, TN)- Fans will have the opportunity to enjoy some of the best music imaginable when Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members, Lynyrd Skynyrd join country music icon, Hank Williams, Jr. for another round of their Rowdy Frynds Tour hitting cities nationwide beginning April read more...

Video is Uniquely George McCorkle

On January 29th it will be seven months. Seven months since we lost one of Southern Rock's true greats. A man I was lucky enough to call my friend. A man I was lucky enough to share stages with and read more...

A True Jewel of Country Music

I have been a Jewel fan since her first video. I love her voice, her songwriting and her cuteness. That is why I was thrilled to get word from her people today that Jewel's next album will be a country record.

Charlie is in The Opry, and the Ryman was Rockin' !!

It’s 9:45 PM on Saturday night January 19th, 2008. I just dropped an e-mail to our friend Charlie Daniels telling him how proud I was watching him on

Garfeel Ruff Guitarist Ready to Return to Southern Rock Roots

I was talking to my old friend Ricky Godfrey on the telephone yesterday.  Rick is living in Nashville, but he still returns home to Greenville, SC very often to play gigs. Rick was telling me that after many years as a succesful beach music guitarist and singer, he is read more...

Luther Dickinson: Night Before theTour...

Luther Dickinson Talks Present, Past & Future 1/16/08 Things have been quite busy as of late. I've just about completed my interview read more...

My Favorite Southern Rock Song?

I was talking to one of my pals down Florida way the other day when the conversation shifted to great Southern Rock songs.We started reliving the first time we heard this song or that song, and how much particular songs meant to us.

Charlie Daniels Grand Ole Opry Induction Airs Friday

On Friday, January 19th, the Opry Live broadcast on GAC will feature the induction of it's newest member, the legendary Charlie Daniels. Charlie and his band along with

Six Degrees of Separation

In the south we not only claim kin we also claim friends. I have learned that behind every new acquaintance there lies the possibility of finding an old friend—not to mention discovering a new one. Such was the case this week when I was working on a feature about read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 4): Down By The River

12. Cincinnati Bengals and 13. St. Louis Rams - Our final Poll spots are held by two teams that have a connection via the river culture from which they arose.  Like railroad tracks in towns across the south, rivers often appear to be a cultural divide, but they read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 3): Teams at the Crossroads (aka the NFC South)

We've now gone through the first 7 teams in the T.I. Poll.  So far, the entire AFC South has been covered as well as the traditional big market teams in Dallas, DC, and Miami. This leaves us with a group that the NFL has neatly placed in a division they call the NFC read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 2): Teams "On the Verge"

This is SPF's group of teams that are "On The Verge" of reaching elite status.  They all have challenges, but they are clearly heading in the right direction. 4.  Washington Redskins - A lot can happen in a week.  The Redskins' read more...

SPF's Divisional Playoffs Pre-Pregame Show (or T.I. Poll Week 19)

There are three SPF teams left in the Super Bowl hunt, but the news doesn't stop with them.  Of the 4 current coaching vacancies, SPF has three of them (Miami, Atlanta, and Washington). Signs point to a year of great transition.  The SPF footprint has some of the read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Wild Card Weekend Edition)

We're mixing it up again going into the playoffs.  In an up and down year, six of the 13 SPF teams made the playoffs.  Two, Washington and Tennessee, made it in the final weekend. SPF is rooting for an all-Footprint Super Bowl, and this isn't out of the realm of read more...

SPF's Week Seventeen Pre-Pregame Show

 Playoffs and draft slots.  It's all on the line in a strange season-ending weekend in the Footprint. EARLY GAMES Jacksonville (11-4, 5-2 away) Houston (7-8, 5-2 home)

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Seventeen)

It's the last week of the NFL season.  There isn't much left to be decided.  Two SPF teams (Washington and Tennessee) can get in the postseason fun if they win.  We expect them to do so if only because they are playing two other SPF teams (Dallas and Indy) who are read more...

GRITZ Best Albums of The Year

Lots of great music rocked my world in 2007. Here are my choices for the 15 best of the best. Feel free to log on and comment. Let me know if you agree or disagree. read more...

Full Moon Fever With Stanley Booth

Full Moon Fever With Stanley Booth 12/24/07 Full moon on the Little Satilla River...I return to my homesoil for the holidays, and it ain't the read more...

SPF's Week Sixteen Pre-Pregame Show

SATURDAY NIGHT Dallas (12-2, 6-0 away) Carolina (6-8, 2-5 home) NFL Films Video Preview This is a much better read more...

Charlie Daniels Grand Ole Opry Induction Set for January 19th

Charlie Daniels will be inducted as the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry on January 19, 2008 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Daniels was surprised with the invitation from Opry member Martina McBride during his annual Christmas For Kids benefit show in November. read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Sixteen)

SPF laid down the gauntlet before last weekend's games.  Many teams answered the bell.  With two games left in the regular season, teams out of the playoff picture may have as much to play for as those that are in. Don't sleep SPF fans, there is still much to be read more...

New Willie Nelson Album Out January 29, 2008

New Nelson CD, Moment of Forever, Hits Streets Early 08 12/19/07 Great American read more...

SPF's Week Fifteen Pre-Pregame Show

It has been a largely disappointing season for SPF, but these final weeks can redeem or further decimate a team's momentum for 2008. There are three shoe-in playoff teams in the Footprint - Dallas, Indy, and Tampa.  Two others (Jacksonville and Tennessee) have to keep read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Fifteen)

SPF will say it - this has been a very tough year for pro football in the Swampland Footprint.  Of our 13 teams, more than half of them have been in serious disarray.  At best only 5 or 6 teams will have a clear direction heading into 2008.  Most will be going back to read more...

Brothers of the Southland Advance CD Download Available Now

The Brothers of the Southland with Bo Bice CD is now available for a limited time as an  advance download of the CD.  The Download is available exclusively thru www.SouthernAlliance.org

SPF's Week Fourteen Pre-Pregame Show

SPF has been beating a few drums this year, but one is about letting players play.  Coaches coach systems.  GMs find players to fit into these systems (or in the case of special players, systems are designed for their talents). Except for read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Fourteen)

SPF has looked at the coach/QB relationship.  Now, it's time to look at the owner/coach relationship.  When this relationship is good, everything clicks for the fans.  The fans want to see the coach as an extension of the owner, an extension that helps build a bridge read more...

No Country For Old Men Voted Best Film

Joel & Ethan Cohen's Film Earns High Praise 12/06/07 Southern writer

Like Father, Like Son: John Carter Cash Speaks with GRITZ

John Carter Cash, son of famed country music couple Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, took some time out of his extremely busy schedule to speak with us about the new Johnny Cast TV Show DVD set, the Cash Cabin Recording Studio and of course, his legendary parents. For me, read more...

Picture of the Day: Buffalo and T. Graham Brown

Gritz man Michael Buffalo Smith hangs out with country r&b legend T. Graham Brown at the Angelus event in Tampa, Florida.  

SPF's Week Thirteen Pre-Pregame Show

While Tribal Fever nation witnessed their conference championships this weekend, SPF has found a few of their own.  There are four key head to head matchups in the SPF footprint this week - two of which will probably decide the winner of the AFC and NFC South. Our other read more...

Charlie Daniels Rocks The Angelus: Day One

It was a beautiful day for a drive to Florida, and my old buddy Scott Greene and I set sail for the annual Angelus weekend down in Tampa. It’s one of my favorite events and I always look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones, listening to some old school Southern read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Thirteen)

Coaching changes.  They happen every year even though it seems as though jobs are more than safe.  Changes are usually made because the coach no longer has the confidence of the fans.  Once that occurs, the owner is left with little choice. As long term, one read more...

SPF's Week Twelve Pre-Pregame Show

Leadership.  Is it there?  The leader(s) of each SPF team define that team to their fans.  Already, Thanksgiving solidified a sense of leadership between coach and QB with both the Colts and their Manning/Dungy duo and the Cowboys with their Wade/Romo combination read more...

TF Rivalry Week Preview

Rivalry games define college football.  More than bowl games or even conference championships, a win against your rival means bragging rights for a year.  That is why this weekend's game can often be the hardest to call.  A team with a losing record can suddenly make read more...

Swampland Salutes Great Southern Writer Paul Hemphill

Mystery & Manners Highlights Writer Paul Hemphill 11/21/07 I'd like to take this opportunity to direct everyone's attention to the read more...

Charlie Daniels to Join the Grand Ole Opry

Our friend Charlie Daniels has been asked to become a member of the legendary Grand Ole Opry. GRITZ correspondent Rick Broyles was in attendence last night, November 20,  during Daniels’ read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Twelve)

SPF often talks a team's style when it comes to identity.  Style, though, is kind of a catch all.  Dig a little deeper and it comes down to coaching and, of course, a team's QB.  This week  seems like a good one to put the QB position under the read more...

Johnny Cash's First Wife's New Book

New Book From the Late Vivian Cash 11/19/07 Vivian Cash,

SPF's Week Eleven Pre-Pregame Show

This week, more than any other this NFL season, the fan will find out who their teams are.  Are teams going to the playoffs?  Will they be Super Bowl contenders?  Are they on the rise even if playoffs aren't likely? We shall see.

TF Saturday Preview: The Year of Transition Nears An End

The wild year continues.  In many ways this was just a sign of the transition college football around the Footprint has experienced.  In some ways, it shouldn't be as surprising as it has been. Nick Saban's arrival lit a fire under everyone.  The ante was read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Eleven)

Week Ten was a very weird football weekend.  Many of the SPF teams lost games.  Few had important wins.  It just seems like this was a week to stumble. Desperation might be the biggest factor in any NFL game.  The teams that are desperate have an edge read more...

Loretta Lynn Returns To The Ryman

Loretta Lynn Returns To The Ryman 11/12/07 On Thursday, November 15, Loretta Lynn returns to perform at the fabled Ryman Auditorium. The read more...

Picture of the Day: Jimmie Van Zant at CMA Awards

Jimmie Van Zant and his wfe Zohra at CMAs talking about his new upcoming CD  My Name is Jimmie.  

Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film

Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film 11/11/07 A new Coen Brothers movie, based read more...

SPF's Week Ten Pre-Pregame Show

SPF will stick by this point - no team set the NFL back more than the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.  This "champion" brought the worst part of hip-hop's "thug" culture to NFL through the real life violence of Ray Lewis, whose murder acquittal and read more...

TF Saturday Preview: Everything's Still To Be Decided

Patrick Snow has it right.  This year's season of college football has shown that it is one of the most compelling sports to follow as a fan, especially in the Footprint.

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Ten)

Everyone knows that football is the dominant sport in the Footprint, but it has always been college dominating the pro variety.  The goal of SPF's "Team Identity Poll" is to gauge the connection of each team to their fans. This week, two different studies were read more...

Tribal Fever's Weekend Observations

1. That enormous exhale coming from the Oxford, Mississippi area would be the sigh of relief of Ole Miss Coach Ed Orgeron. His Rebels had to hold on for dear life to beat Northwestern State 38-31 on Saturday. The non-Division 1 Demons went into the game with a 2-3 record in the read more...

SPF's Week Nine Pre-Pregame Show

It's it the "Clash of the Titans!"  The Colts-Pats game deserves the hype that it is getting.  Both teams have built long term consistently excellent football teams in the "salary cap era " - something that is supposedly impossible. This read more...

Tiger Rag

In the spring a young man’s fancy may turn to baseball, but in the fall in the South everyone’s fancy turns to football, and in Alabama there is only Auburn and

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Eight)

Things continue to settle out in the SPF Footprint.  This week's big question is whether the South's best is the NFL's best.  The Colts were just that last season, but their old New England nemesis seems to have stolen their thunder again. Here's last week's read more...

Porter Wagoner Dead at 80

Porter Wagoner died Sunday in Nashville. He was 80 and lived in Nashville. He had been hospitalized with lung cancer earlier this month. Mr. Wagoner had 81 singles on the country charts, including read more...

SPF's Week Eight Pre-Pregame Show

Much like yesterday's college slate, this week's SPF schedule features teams looking towards the season's end and where they want to be at that point.  Teams know that the season is half over at this point and they need to be making their final pushes. The best teams read more...

TF Saturday Preview: Pole, er.. Bowl Position

If you aren't a Florida or Georgia fan, this weekend might be a good one to spend with the kids.  This is a pretty thin weekend for good games in the Footprint.  That's why Athlon's college football preview spends most of its time previewing games outside our read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Seven)

SPF's season previews are looking pretty good so far.  The teams we singled out like the Jags, the Texans, and the Dolphins have shown themselves to be in hot water with their fan base.  The Jags and the Texans suffered "must win" losses that neither could read more...

One of My Heroes, Porter Wagoner Has Lung Cancer

October 24, 2007 I was really taken aback to hear Country Music Hall of Famer Porter Wagoner has been diagnosed with lung cancer. To me, Porter is one of the last of the true country music superstars. He hangs right in the same category as Merle Haggard, read more...

SPF's Week Seven Pre-Pregame Show

Getting on the same page.  Coaches and players that have the same sense of urgency signify teams that are winning.  The NFL is a business, and like all business deals - interests must align. This is the reason that ownership, the front office, and the coaching read more...

TF's Saturday Preview: Act Like You've Been There Before!

It's the old saying when a player celebrates a little too much - act like you've been there before.  This rules seems to also hold true to some of our Footprint's winning neophytes. When programs are new to winning, they don't know how to handle themselves.  That's read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Six)

Here we are again for SPF's weekly Team Identity Poll.  Things have shaken up a bit.  We are much closer to how we saw things at the beginning of the season. Let's start with a look at last week's Poll: 1.  Dallas Cowboys 2.  Indianapolis read more...

George McCorkle To Be Honored by Memorial Concert November 3rd

Spartanburg, SC - George McCorkle, an original member of The Marshall Tucker Band, will be memorialized read more...

On the Road Again

Sorry I have been incommunicado lately. I am still struggling with allergies that seem to get worse rather than better. Ah, fall in North Alabama. Speaking of fall, this weekend my sister, her husband, and two of our friends made a road trip to the hills of middle Tennessee read more...

SPF's Week Six Pre-Pregame Show

It's week 6 for the SPF teams.  Four teams are basically done, but the rest have critical games that will go a long way to determining how the rest of the season will play out for them. Here's this week's slate (video links courtesy of read more...

TF's Saturday Preview: The History Behind SEC Dominance

Tribal Fever would like to start this weekend's festivities by directing everyone to a fantastic series on ESPN.com about the SEC.  Which leads us to this week's focus - the historical read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Five)

The rich seem to be getting richer (and the poor, poorer) in the SPF Footprint.  There is happiness at the top, confusion in the middle, and desperation at the bottom. Let's start with last week's T.I. Poll 1.  Dallas Cowboys 2.  Indianapolis read more...

SPF's Week Five Pre-Pregame Show

It's week five in the NFL season.  Overall, the SPF Footprint is shaping up to be a year of the haves and have-nots.  The Footprint contains two of the NFL's winless teams (Dolphins and Rams) and several other struggling squads.  However, we also have two of the best read more...

Tribal Fever's Weekend Slate (10/6/2007)

Let's start with this week's College Football Preview from Athlon.  Swampland's own Patrick Snow hosts each week.  (Read Patrick's new column on the state of baseball in read more...

William Eggleston: The Father of Color Photography

The Photography of William Eggleston 10/4/07 Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1939,

Check Out a Dickey Betts, Bonnie Bramlett, Charlie Daniels Jam from 1970's

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again - YouTube rocks. Whoever came up with that idea is a genius, and I feel very lucky to be able to share some of the very best Southern Rock from YouTube right here at GRITZ. When I was in my late teens, I was quite the read more...

SPF T.I. Poll (Week Four)

Just like in the college ranks, it was a bit of a crazy week in the SPF Footprint.  Right now, there are more bad teams than good, but the good teams are pretty darn good so we guess that evens things out a little. Here's last week's "Team Identity" read more...

Otis Redding Film Premier October 8

Dreams To Remember Premier October 8 10/1/07 The new Otis Redding documentary, Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis read more...

SPF's Week Four Pre-Pregame Show

Welcome SPF fans!  Here's today's slate.  (SPF teams in BOLD) Early Games Dolphins v. Raiders preview Rams @ read more...

People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938

Tompkins Square Releases Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs This Week 9/29/07   This week Tompkins Square released this

Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored

Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored 9/28/07 In Walls, Mississippi, the female guitarist and songwriter Memphis Minnie was honored with a read more...

Swampland welcomes Tribal Fever!

It was only a matter of time before Swampland Sports starting covering the colleges in earnest.  Today marks the start of Tribal Fever, Swampland.com's dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South. We have new features up including Patrick Snow's latest read more...

SPF T. I. Poll (Week Three)

Back to our weekly gauge of how each SPF team is resonating with its fans.  First, let's take a look back at last week's Team Identity Poll: 1.  Dallas Cowboys 2.  Washington Redskins 3.  Indianapolis Colts 4.  Tampa Bay Bucs

SPF 's Week Three Pre-Pregame Show

Here we are again.  Let Week Three begin!   SPF Teams in BOLD Early Games  Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans (

Dylan Plays The Ryman

BOB DYLAN PLAYS THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 9/21/07 Thursday Bob read more...

Swampland Sports Thursday Links

Just a few quick hits here on Thursday.... Snowman's Latest Column Patrick Snow's new column is up.  As a Vol himself, it pains him that he's calling out Phil Fulmer read more...

CD and DVD releases for week of September 18, 2007

New Releases Doyle Bramhall Is It News (Yep Roc) Jim Dickinson

The Shadow And the Truth

9/19/07 ...THE SHADOW AND THE TRUTH... It's important to realize how blurred the fine line between reality and illusion co-exist. At read more...

SPF T. I. Poll (Week Two)

Time for our Week Two "Team Identity" Poll.  Things keep getting interesting, and that's how we like it.  Let's start off with a recap of last week's T.I. Poll: 1.  Dallas  2.  Indianapolis (tie) 2.  read more...

SPF's Week Two Monday: Playmakers making plays

THE "BEATING THE DEAD HORSE" THEME Our theme for this week is similar to last week's - the importance of playmakers.  In the Footprint, we all love great coaches.  We all love great schemes.  However, it usually comes read more...

SPF 's Week Two Pre-Pregame Show

Each week, it will be SPF's pleasure to bring you the best pregame show on the Net.  We provide our audience with clips from NFL.COM mixed in with our commentary and insight.  Let's run down today's slate of games: Early games (SPF Teams in read more...

SPF Friday Fishwrap-up: LeBatard vs. Galloway

Another great southern tradition is writing.  We have a whole section called Discourse that is dedicated to this pursuit.  Newpapers (aka fishwraps) around the Footprint have great sportswriters that deserve to be read, and sometimes needled.

Long Time CDB Road Crewman Jackie Williams Dies

Jackie Williams passed away on September 8, 2007 at the age of 50, following a single car accident in Nashville. Jackie was  Lighting Designer/Production Manager for The Charlie Daniels read more...

Picture of the Day: The Winters Brothers

 Dennis and Donnie Winters of The Winters Brothers backstage in Macon recently. Check out the archived interview I did with Dennis. The Winters Brothers will appear at the Jam for George read more...

SPF's T. I. Poll (Week One)

Team Identity.  This is our constant gauge for the success or failure of NFL teams in the South.  College football reigns because people see themselves as part of the team.  In the Swampland footprint, allegiances don't change at the college level.  Coaches read more...

J4G: The Jam for George (McCorkle) Set for November 3rd

SPARTANBURG, SC - The highly anticipated Jam for George: A Concert Honoring The Memory of George McCorkle, will take place in beautiful Barnett Park in George's hometown of Spartanburg, SC on Saturday, November 3, 2007, beginning at 1 PM. The list of performers is being read more...

CD and DVD releases for week of September 11, 2007

New Releases Billy Joe Shaver Storyteller: Live At The Bluebird (Sugar Hill) Kane read more...

SPF Week One Game Log

Thursday's game didn't do nearly what yesterday's college slate did to pump us up here at SPF.  Our own James Calemine is a little distraught about his Bulldogs going down to the dreaded read more...

Picture of the Day: George McCorkle and Doug Gray

Our friend, the late great George McCorkle was reunited with singer Doug Gray of The Marshall Tucker Band just months before George's passing. George wrote several of the songs on the new MTB record. Plans are being made right now for a George McCorkle Memorial Concert in late read more...

Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 9/2/07

Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. Our biggest story of the week was the biggest in the nation as the whole country has now learned about read more...

Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 8/26/07

Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. What an interesting day for the Atlanta Falcons as they play their first home contest under new coach Bobby Petrino while Michael Vick

Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 8/19/07

Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. Although college athletics has become (mega) big business, there are a few reminders every now and then that it’s still a game for ‘kids’ and that the best coaches tend to be read more...

Welcome Back!

Greetings to all you football fans around the Swampland footprint! Southern Pro Football is back to cover another NFL season. Patrick Snow and I will be making sure that SPF covers the NFL from a Southern perspective.  For all of you that didn't tune into

It Was Thirty Years Ago Today

I can remember exactly where I was when I heard that Elvis was dead. I was in my Barracuda, turning left into the Westgate Mall in Spartanburg, SC. I used to go to that mall a lot, haunting the record and book stores. The guy on WORD-AM sounded genuinely broken up as read more...

DEATH WEEK

The 30 year anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death falls on August 16, 2007. Like it or not, Elvis ranks as a southern icon. Elvis changed the way people looked at music the way Ted Turner changed the way people look at TV.

CD and DVD releases for week of August 7, 2007

New Releases Bruce Hornsby/Christian McBride/Jack DeJohnette Camp Meeting (Sony read more...

All Star Southern Rock Benefit in Macon This Weekend

A Benefit for a Brother, Sid Yochim, will take place in Macon, Georgia this Saturday,  August 4th. Tickets are on sale now. Many of you know Sid Yochim, a member of the Charlie Daniels Band family for many years driving the trucks and buses. Sid’s father read more...

CD and DVD releases for week of July 24, 2007

New Releases Billy Bob Thornton Beautiful Door (New Door) Billy Ray Cyrus

In The Studio: New Southern Rock & Country Releases On The Way

TOMMY TALTON says that he and SCOTT BOYER have been writing new material for a COWBOY reunion album which will begin recording in September. Talton has also been in the studio recording for a new BONNIE BRAMLETT read more...

IBMA Coming in October

The International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) annual World of Bluegrass takes place in Nashville, Tennessee October 1-7 at the Nashville Convention Center and the Grand Ole Opry House. The week includes the International Bluegrass Music Awards, a business conference and the read more...

Big & Rich Have Top Song of The Week

Big & Rich and Brad Paisley enjoyed having the top country song and album on Billboard for the week ending July 21 with "Lost In This Moment" and " 5th Gear" respectively. On the song chart, Big & Rich notched their first career number one read more...

CD and DVD releases for week of July 10, 2007

New Releases Chris & Rich Robinson Brothers Of A Feather [Live] (Eagle)

07-07-07

Isn't seven the most powerfully magical number? -- Tom Marvolo Riddle to Horace Slughorn     Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Whether you are superstitious, mystical, fascinated by numerology, or simply curious, you have to be just read more...

Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/1/07

1. The NBA Draft was this week’s big sports story. The Draft is all about hope for the future. Despite recent expansion in the Swampland footprint, the NBA has struggled to find an audience down South. The problem starts with the NBA’s inability to connect with the read more...

Funeral for a Friend

It was slightly overcast in Spartanburg, SC this morning and a bit cooler than it has been. Well, at least until about halfway through the graveside service, when hundreds of cardboard church fans came out and my sweat soaked black blazer was peeled off and tossed over my shoulder. read more...

CD and DVD releases for week of July 3, 2007

Reissues Asleep At The Wheel Western Standard Time/Big Wheel (Evangeline) Buddy read more...

McCorkle Memorial in Nashville, Funeral to Be Held in Spartanburg

A memorial service and visitation for George McCorkle will be held on Sunday July 1, 2007 from 4:00-8:00PM.at Carthage United Methodist Church (Church George Attended) 608 N. Main Street, Carthage, TN.This will be a service for George's Friends, read more...

George McCorkle Dead at 60

George McCorkle of the original Marshall Tucker Band died this morning, Friday, June 29th at 11:30 in a Nashville Hospital. He was 60. He had entered the hospital two weeks ago following an accident, and examination revealed terminal cancer. George was a founding read more...

Guitarist McCorkle Remains Critical, Spartanburg Newspaper Features Article

Marshall Tucker Band guitarist George McCorkle remains in critical condition in a Nashville hospital with terminal cancer. An article read more...

Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 6/24/07

Swampland’s Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 6/24/07 Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South

CD and DVD releases for week of June 26, 2007

CDs New Releases Charlie Daniels Live From Iraq (Koch) James Burton read more...

Fire On The Mountain

6/25/07                                             read more...

George McCorkle Fighting Cancer

We have received some very sad news here at GRITZ. Our long time friend George McCorkle, a founding member of The Marshall Tucker Band, is in the hospital fighting cancer. We at  GRITZ and SWAMPLAND are keeping George and his family in our thoughts and prayers. Below is read more...

Winters Brothers Summer Jam Was a Blast

It was a perfect weekend for a festival. Just ask anyone who attended Bonaroo, and if they can remember the weekend, they will agree. As for those of us who have been making the trek to Nashville yearly for many moons to attend The Winters Brothers Southern Summer read more...

Johnny Cash Radio & Elvis Auction Items

6/18/07  The Sun Records boys are in the news again... Bill Miller is now hosting

Jimmy Hall to Sing Anthem in Rome, Marshall Tucker to Perform

Rome, GA - The Rome Braves announce today that Southern rock legend Jimmy Hall will perform the National Anthem at the 48th South Atlantic League All Star Game Tuesday June 19th. Hall, lead vocalist and harmonica player for Wet Willie, has a long and varied background read more...

Benefit for a Brother, Sid Yochim, Coming to Macon

Many of you know Sid Yochim, a member of the Charlie Daniels Band family for many years driving the trucks and buses. Sid’s father was the late great Pappy Yochim. Sid has had some very read more...

Winters Brothers Summer Jam This Weekend

NOLENSVILLE, TN - The Winters Brothers Band will host their 28th Southern Summer Jam this weekend on June 16th on the family farm just out side of Nolensville, TN. The event has become a favorite for read more...

The True Adventures of Stanley Booth

6/10/07 THE TRUE ADVENTURES OF STANLEY BOOTH As I wrote in the intro to my Charlie Louvin

Nashville - the NHL's Waterloo?

News arrived last week that owner Craig Leopold is selling the Nashville Predators to Canadian businessman (and Blackberry tycoon) Jim Balsillie.  This development has Nashville hockey fans in a desperate state.  The thought is by many in mid-Tennesee, including Tennessean read more...

Dolly Parton, Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, Harlan Howard Honored by Academy of Country Music

The Academy of Country Music has announced  that country music movers and shakers Harlan Howard, Waylon Jennings, Jack Lameier, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton and Don Williams will be honored at a special ceremony on Wednesday, June 20 in Nashville. Howard, Jennings, read more...

Emmylou's Animal Shelter

4/16/07 Emmylou Harris opened a new animal shelter in Nashville, Tennessee. Harris started the humane shelter in memory of her own pet, Bonaparte.  James Calemine

Nashville Super Group Pays Tribute to Classic Albums

4/14/07 Long Player, a Nashville super group gathers every several months to perform classic music by musicians like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and the Beatles. It appears more performances are on the horizon. James Calemine

Johnny Cash's Tennessee Home Destroyed By Fire

NASHVILLE, Tennessee-- The Hendersonville, Tennesse home of the late Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash has been destroyed by a fire that broke out at appoximately 2pm CST on Tuesday, April 10. The house was immortalized in the movie Walk The Line. The 13,000 read more...

Bluebird Cafe Celebrates 25th Anniversary

The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, long a mainstay for singer/songwriters in Music City, will kick off a year-long celebration commemorating its 25th anniversary in May through a nationwide "Bluebird on the Road" tour to 12 cities later this year, a private birthday bash read more...

Former Alabama Member Jeff Cook Signs Record Deal

Former Alabama member and Country Music Hall of Famer Jeff Cook and newcomer Mitch Glenn inked with Lofton Creek Records. Cook and Glenn's first single will be "Shining Star" and ship in April. Label head Mike Borchetta was on the promotion team that promoted Alabama's first read more...

Montgomery Gentry Gives Swampland an Exclusive Interview

They are the baddest boys in country music, and I am including Big and Rich, Hank III, and even Kid "Sometimes I Want to Be Country" Rock in that list. Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry are bad to the bone, All-American, Southern (rock) fried and country and western read more...

Luther Ingram Dead at 69

Tennessee born Luther Ingram, the R&B singer and songwriter best known for the hit "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)," has died. He was 69.

Get Front Row Seats For Skynyrd and Hank, Jr.

STUBHUB FORGES NEW PARTNERSHIP TO PROVIDE FANS EXCLUSIVE FRONT ROW ACCESS TO LYNYRD SKYNYRD, HANK WILLIAMS JR. SPRING TOUR StubHub Designated as the “Rowdy Frynds” Tour Official Premium Ticket Provider SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. read more...

Collector May Be Allowed to Keep Hank Williams' Notebook

Collector could keep Hank's notebook Theft case brought by Sony thrown out A notebook containing 17 songs that Hank Williams wrote but never recorded may wind up in the hands of a collector who bought it from a janitor who found it in a read more...

Willie Nelson Partners To Launch Label

Willie Nelson has partnered with longtime manager Mark Rothbaum and veteran producer/label exec James Stroud on Pedernales Records. The first act on Austin-based Pedernales will be the band 40 Points, which features Nelson's sons, guitarist and singer Lukas and drummer Micah.

New Gretchen Wilson Disc Coming in May

Gretchen Wilson will release her third album, "One of the Boys," May 15. Wilson produced the disc with Mark Wright and John Rich, both of whom produced Wilson's first two discs. She also had a hand in writing 9 of the 11 songs. Rich helped write 4 read more...

J.D. Crowe & The New South Announce Spring Tour

Bluegrass Hall of Honor inductee J.D. Crowe and his band The New South are hitting the road this spring in support of their newest album, Lefty’s Old Guitar.  One of the true pioneers of read more...

Montgomery Gentry To Host Bike Rally

Montgomery Gentry will host the Academy of Country Music Celebrity Motorcycle Ride to be held May 13 in Las Vegas. After the ride, a concert will feature past and present ACM nominees. "I love that this is me and Troy's fourth year to host this event," said read more...

Willie Nelson Records Anti-War Song

Willie Nelson may oppose war in Iraq, but also supports the troops with his recently released single, "Whatever Happened To Peace On Earth"" available as an online download. The song features Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Michael McDonald, Patrick Simmons of The Doobie read more...

Hank Jr. Assault Charges Dropped

Memphis prosecutors dropped assault charges against Hank Williams Jr., citing lack of evidence about the 2006 incident. A hotel cocktail waitress alleged that Williams yelled obscenities and grabbed her in the March 18, 2006 incident. Williams was in Memphis because two read more...

Porter Wagoner Rocks Hollywood With Billy Bob, Marty and Dwight

HOLLYWOOD, Ca. - Porter Wagoner played in Los Angeles on Saturday,  February 17 for the first time in over 40 years. Wagoner was celebrating his 50th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry (coming this Friday, Feb. 23.)

Alan Jackson, George Strait, Jimmy Buffett Together Live

NASHVILLE -Alan Jackson, George Strait and Jimmy Buffett performed together for the first-time ever May 29, 2004, at Texas Stadium in Dallas. That concert is now set for release, and  features all three artists. Among the highlights of the CD is  "Seven Bridges read more...

Sir Mack Rice Keeps On Keepin' On

2/18/07 Stax Records songwriter Sir Mack Rice penned "Mustang Sally" (Wilson Pickett), "Respect Yourself" (Staple Singers), "Cheaper To Keep Her" (Johnny Taylor), and "Cadillac Assembly Line" for Albert King. Sir Mack survives as one read more...

Hank Williams, Jr. Files For Divorce

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Country star Hank Williams Jr. has filed for divorce from his wife, Mary Jane, claiming she has a problem with addiction, he said in a statement Friday, according to The Tennessean, "Today is one of the toughest days in my life. My read more...

June Carter Cash Tribute Album, Biography Coming This Summer

The life of the late country music legend June Carter Cash will be celebrated this June 19, four days before her birthday, with the simultaneous release of an all-star tribute album and a memoir/biography written by her son, John Carter Cash. "Anchored In Love: A read more...

Del Reeves RIP

Del Reeves, a Grand Ole Opry star who sprinkled his performances with humor and hit No. 1 on the country charts in 1965 with the song "Girl on the Billboard," has died. He was 74. Reeves died Monday, New Year's Day, read more...

Tony Joe White Releases "Uncovered" on Swamp Records

1/1/07 On Tony Joe White's latest CD, Uncovered, he renders new versions of "Rainy Night in Georgia", "Did Somebody Make a Fool Out of You", and "Taking the Midnight Train", as well as seven new compositions. Musicians such as Elvis read more...

Texas Writer Terry Southern Makes Music News...Again...

12/29/06 Texas writer Terry Southern's legend lives on. On January 9, 2007, a new set of Beatles stamps become available in England. Southern is the only person on the cover of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (positioned between Dylan Thomas read more...

Volunteer Jam Ready to Hit the Road Again

NASHVILLE- Charlie Daniels, leader of the Charlie Daniels Band, has announced the legendary Volunteer Jam Tour will, once again, hit cities all across America. The Volunteer Jam started back in 1974 when Charlie wanted to record "Fire On The Mountain" in front of a read more...

Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam Returns, CDB To Perform with Symphony Orchestra

After a few summers without a Jam, the famous Charlie Daniels Band Volunteer Jam returns in the summer of 2007. So far, the line up includes The CDB, The Marshall Tucker Band and The Outlaws. Yes sir! The first show will be May 31st in Denver… In recognition of the read more...

Porter Wagoner Signs New Deal, Marty Stuart to Produce

Los Angeles based Anti Records announces the signing of Country Music Hall of Famer, Porter Wagoner in celebration of his 50th year with The Grand Ole Opry in 2007. The project entitled “Wagonmaster” will be produced by Marty Stuart and is the first in a series read more...

Lucinda's Latest

12/10/06 Lucinda Williams' new CD, West, hits the street on February 13, 2007 on Lost Highway. West, Lucinda's eighth CD, resonates an enduring collection of songs which may be among her finest. We anticipate her return. JC

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