Archive | March 25, 2013

Nikki Williams, “Glowing” World Premiere [Matt Williams Exclusive Interview]

By Matt Williams on March 25, 2013 in Artists to Watch, The Latest

Rising pop star’s video for her latest single premieres TODAY on VEVO

Since I have been relentlessly plugging Nikki Williams for a while now (for good reason), I was excited to catch up with her about her new video for the single “Glowing” which premiers today on VEVO. She may live outside the 615 area code now, but she did move here from South Africa before finding her way to LA. Not only that, she cut her teeth writing country songs (“Like My Mother Does,” “Fly Again”), so we’re gonna count it!

The 24-year-old songstress also talks about the song itself as a departure from her online debut of “Kill, F***, Marry” and her first album… all while getting a foot massage and eating a chicken sandwich.

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Country Music Blog Rodeo: “Mainstream” Hasn’t Fallen In Love With Country Music… Just The Opposite

By Matt Williams on March 25, 2013 in Special Events, The Latest

If you listen to pop radio you’ve noticed country stars showing up on the playlists more and more. If you watch awards shows, country artists and country music categories are featured more and more. ABC’s Nashville is a huge television success. And country seems to be taking over singing reality competitions (Tate Stevens won The X Factor, and let us not forget Blake Shelton is The Voice’s reigning champ two seasons in a row… and by the way, Cassadee Pope, last season’s winner, has just signed with country label Big Machine). So why has “mainstream” fallen in love with country music?

It’s simple: “Mainstream” isn’t coming around to country. Country is going to it. Not in a conformist way, but a revolutionary way.

“What is country music, really?” is a topic debated ad nauseum, and I won’t touch it. I’m far from knowing where the exact line is that separates country music from not country music; however, there is certainly no need to hold the country music genre captive in a box anymore. Those boxes are obsolete.

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Country Music Blog Rodeo: Remember When Country Wasn’t So Cool?

By FOCUS admin on March 25, 2013 in The Latest

I remember when country wasn’t considered so cool. In fact, I was one of them that couldn’t listen to “that twangy stuff”. Obviously, I’ve come to love the genre now, but even I didn’t always think it was so cool.