News Analysis India

Tag: Nashville

  • Country legend Willie Nelson reveals he was driven to brink of suicide in his late twenties

    By Online Desk

    Country legend Willie Nelson has revealed that in his late twenties he reached a “definite low point” and was driven to the brink of suicide after struggling to find success.

    “Looking back over my life, my early days in Nashville were a definite low point. I’m not one to easily fall prey to depression, but depression had me in its grips,” Willie wrote.

    He added: “My get-up-and-go attitude was challenged. That’s saying something because my get-up-and-go attitude is deep inside my DNA.

    It was in his tribute to his late friend Paul English, that The On The Road Again singer spoke candidly about his mental health struggles, reports Daily Mirror.

    The country music icon, 89, first met Paul in 1955, but had no idea just how much the relationship would change his life. The two remained close friends up until Paul’s death two years ago at the age of 87.

    The singer has memorialised his pal with his new memoir Me and Paul: Untold Stories of a Fabled Friendship.

    The book, which is released on Tuesday, recounts the ways in which Paul supported Willie for more than six decades, according to Daily Mirror.

    Country legend Willie Nelson has revealed that in his late twenties he reached a “definite low point” and was driven to the brink of suicide after struggling to find success.

    “Looking back over my life, my early days in Nashville were a definite low point. I’m not one to easily fall prey to depression, but depression had me in its grips,” Willie wrote.

    He added: “My get-up-and-go attitude was challenged. That’s saying something because my get-up-and-go attitude is deep inside my DNA.

    It was in his tribute to his late friend Paul English, that The On The Road Again singer spoke candidly about his mental health struggles, reports Daily Mirror.

    The country music icon, 89, first met Paul in 1955, but had no idea just how much the relationship would change his life. The two remained close friends up until Paul’s death two years ago at the age of 87.

    The singer has memorialised his pal with his new memoir Me and Paul: Untold Stories of a Fabled Friendship.

    The book, which is released on Tuesday, recounts the ways in which Paul supported Willie for more than six decades, according to Daily Mirror.

  • Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith dies

    By Associated Press

    NASHVILLE: Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter from Texas whose literary songs like “Love at the Five and Dime” celebrated the South, has died. She was 68.Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said Griffith died Friday but did not provide a cause of death. “It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.Griffith worked closely with other folk singers, helping the early careers of artists like Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris. She had a high-pitched voice, and her singing was effortlessly smooth with a twangy Texas accent as she sang about Dust Bowl farmers and empty Woolworth general stores. Griffith was also known for her recording of “From a Distance,” which would later become a well-known Bette Midler tune. The song appeared on Griffith’s first major label release, “Lone Star State of Mind” in 1987. Her 1993 album “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” earned a Grammy for best contemporary folk album. Named after a Truman Capote novel, the album features Griffith singing with Harris, John Prine, Arlo Guthrie and Guy Clark on classic folk songs. In 2008, Griffith won the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award from the Americana Music Association. Country singer Suzy Bogguss, who had a Top 10 hit with Griffith’s song “Outbound Plane,” posted a remembrance to her friend on Instagram. “I feel blessed to have many memories of our times together along with most everything she ever recorded. I’m going to spend the day reveling in the articulate masterful legacy she’s left us,” Bogguss wrote.Darius Rucker called Griffith one of his idols and why he moved to Nashville. “Singing with her was my favorite thing to do,” he wrote on Twitter.Keeping in line with the tradition of folk music, Griffith often wrote social commentary into her songs, such as the anti-racist ode “It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go,” and the economic impact on rural farmers in the 1980s on “Trouble in the Fields.””I wrote it because my family were farmers in West Texas during the Great Depression,” Griffith told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview. “It was written basically as a show of support for my generation of farmers.”Griffith gained many fans in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where she would often tour. 

  • Counting on country music

    Express News Service
    Sheridan Brass has haboured a dream to go to Nashville, USA for as long as he can remember. The American city is nothing less than the ‘it place’ for country music, and as a country artiste himself, Bengaluru-based Brass knew it’s where he wants to be to work on his first album.

    A musician turning to fundraising to make his dream come true is not new but Brass has decided to do it differently. Recently, he launched a campaign called Building the Nashville Dream, and the words were chosen with care. Because Brass plans to build this dream brick by brick.

    Donators can buy virtual bricks of Rs 2,000 each and with 3,750 of these, the musician would have collected enough to head to Nashville for six months and rent a place and studio to record his album. “I wanted to raise funds in a way where people can visualise the dream with me and be invested in my journey as well,” says the 33-year-old. 

    The bricks may be virtual but they come with benefits. For example, those who buy a lone brick get a shout-out on Brass’ weekly Sunday shows on Facebook, their name on a virtual brick wall that’s a part of his online show. Other benefits for those who buy five, 10, 25 and 50 bricks include private concerts and an inclusion in his album credits. 

    The Grand Ole Opry, he explains, is like the holy grail for country musicians. Getting to Nashville for six months is the goal, and he is 400 bricks closer to achieving this. “I am hoping to close the fundraiser by the year-end and get to the US by March next year,” says Brass, who grew up listening to Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson, among others.

    Though a big fan of the genre, Brass knows it isn’t all that popular in India – something he wishes to change with his music. “It’s sad because country music holds family, love and hospitality close to its heart, and these are all things India is known for too,” he says.

    Brass has even dubbed himself a ‘country music evangelist’ and with his album, he hopes to infuse hints of Indian elements with instruments like the sarangi or tabla in some tracks. “I want to spread word about the Indian country music scene abroad and help the genre become more welcoming back home,” he says. 

    (For more details about Brass’ campaign, reach out to him on [email protected])