Saturday, August 05, 2006

Country Music in NYC

In November, the Country Music Association brought its awards ceremony to NYC for move visibility and to promote Nashville. (See my blog entry on July 23, 2006.)

Here is an article talking about the homegrown country music scene in NYC and the challenges of maintaining it without a local country music radio station.

village voice > music > by Kurt Gottschalk 11/08/2005: "When the country music industry touches down in New York this week for the 39th Annual Country Music Association Awards, Nashville execs might well be smirking as they arrive in a town never known as a haven for the genre. They'll find carefully orchestrated events designed to make New York Dixie-friendly, but what they're not likely to see is the vibrant, if small, local scenes....

"But anyone who looks between the cracks of this temporary official hoopla will find small but thriving pockets of homegrown country. The last two weeks in July saw the Second Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival, a homegrown affair at Park Slope and Prospect Heights saloons. September 16 and 17 marked the Eighth Annual Park Slope Bluegrass Jamboree. On top of that, Yankee hayseeds can check Sean Kershaw and the New Jack Ramblers every Sunday at Hank's Saloon (along with Freddy's Backroom, the country HQ in the Borough of Churches), open bluegrass jams every Monday at the Parkside Lounge and Wednesday at the Baggot Inn, the 'CasHank' Johnny Cash/Hank Williams open mic at Buttermilk in Park Slope, as well as frequent gigs at Lillie's in Red Hook, Lakeside Lounge and Old Devil Moon in the East Village, and Rodeo Bar in Murray Hill. (In other words, don't look in Williamsburg.)"

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