Here at LAist, we really love local folk music, especially The Hollow Trees. In fact, we love them so much that we've interviewed them three times: a little ">over a year ago, then in May about Stagecoach (the roots version of Coachella) and this last December. We'll spare any in depth analysis this morning, but will just say if you're looking for things to do late this morning, whether your a parent or babysitting some......

Have a beer with FEAR! Or at least with Lee Ving, who will be performing tonight for free at The Shamrock. The last time he came around solo, he was mainly playing country music. The genres are certainly varied, so there will be some surprises. This will be a weekly gig. With Lee Ving on Saturdays, and tattoos on Mondays, we're definitely going to have to hit The Shamrock. (Flyer courtesy of Lee Ving)......

Ann Coulter is not a tasteless, trouble-making, uninformed, clueless bimbo, though she often plays one on TV. At least that's what we were led to believe during a nearly ten minute, extended Wikipedia-style introduction of the lawyer-turned-talking head at USC's Annenberg Auditorium. "I’ve never seen such a friendly crowd at a college campus," Coulter beamed as the standing-room audience of about 250 settled down after the majority greeted her with a standing ovation. Coulter......

Ray Charles - "Ring of Fire" on the Johnny Cash Show, 9/23/70 One of the things the recent release of the Johnny Cash tv show on dvd reminds us is that the days of the tv variety shows and the real music shows are over. The closest thing going these days is the Henry Rollins thing on Bravo and all due respect to Henry but when you have a man with the stature of......

Hezekiah I Predict A Riot Rawkus/Soulspazm Records Release Date: 09/18/2007 Hezekiah teamed up with Rawkus and Soulspazm Records to release his sophomore album I Predict A Riot. Hezekiah has gained mass appeal by his works with Musiq Soulchild, Bilal and Bahamadia, and has now come to create an even bigger stir in the music industry. Fusing his influences of country music, Quincy Jones, and Kool G Rap, it is no wonder that the prodigy......

LA is home to dozens of classic, independent, rock clubs. Many of these clubs helped launch most of your favorite bands. But those bands would have never made it on stage if it wasn't for the booker, the person who actually schedules the bands to play the show on the particular date. We start this series in Little Armenia at Safari Sam's, a club that was originally created 20 years ago in Huntington Beach......

We have to admit that an hour of the American Idol results show is excessive -- even for LAist. So we skimmed the show and cut straight to the results: Sanjaya Malakar is still safe, and weak Haley Scarnato finally gots the boot. No surprises there, really. Haley's style is so bland that she makes Hillary Duff look, umm...what's the word we're looking for? Talented. But what did kind of surprise us was that......

We are hearing murmurings that LA classical FM station K-Mozart is about to go the way of its other Mt. Wilson Broadcasting sister-stations by trading in their bowties for bolos and going country. When KZLA stopped bootscootin to country music and switched over to the soulful jamz of Movin' 93.9 in August of '06, it left a twanging void on LA's FM dial. Mt. Wilson's KKGO (1260 AM) tried to pick up the slack......

Soul sisters reigned supreme during last night’s American Idol. It was time for the 12 girl finalists to step up to the mike – and five women blew the rest of the girls – and all the guys –out of the water. Judging from last night’s performances, here are our front runners for the competition. If they keep it up, one of these five women could be your next American Idol: Jordin Sparks has......

Recommended Dixie Chicks - Shut Up & Sing - Remember when rugged individualism was the hallmark of the "American character"? Remember when that individualism was defined by a willingness to speak your mind? Remember when criticizing your governmental overlords was a patriotic duty? Yeah, me neither. But maybe country music trio The Dixie Chicks were trying to recall that mythologized frontier spirit when lead singer Nathalie Maines criticized President Bush for launching the Iraq......

(l-r): Billy Bob Thornton, Marty Stuart, Porter Wagoner, and Dwight Yoakam perform a surprise set before Neko Case @ The Henry Fonda Theatre. Photo courtesy Ice Cream Man. For the first time in recent history, Hollywood was rattled by bonafide foot-stomping. Many in the audience at the Music Box last night had no idea what was taking place when Neko Case announced Porter Wagoner's intention to take over Hollywood. But a historic buzz took......

Is Indio the new Austin? Over two back-to-back weekends this spring, scores of the best indie, rock, pop, electronic, and country music will play to tens of thousands outside Palm Springs. The last weekend of April will bring three days of Coachella, and the following weekend will see the first Stagecoach country festival. Voici: Saturday, May 5, 2007: George Strait, Alan Jackson, Sara Evans, Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case,......

Click around LAist. We don't really listen to a lot of new-fangled country music. We love the oldies: Cash, Willie, Waylon, Hank Sr., Patsy. But when we heard that NBC refused to run the ad for the Dixie Chicks documentary Shut Up & Sing, we ran to the theater to see what the fuss was all about. This is a great film. That's why NBC didn't like it. They hate things that are good.......

LACityNerd comments on LA Curbed's commentary on Daily Bruin's article about DOT's proactive enforcement of cars in driveway aprons at sidewalks. We've had our own parking problems in Westwood, but as to parking in aprons, you deserve a ticket -- it gets in the way of our bikes. As one commenter on Curbed said, "Living in the City 101: YOU CANNOT PARK ON THE SIDEWALK." NPR reports that in Los Angeles, 67.8 percent of......

Where: Molly Malone's When: Tonight, 9pm ($5 cover) What: Sweethearts of the Rodeo All Star Jam Why: Ok listen up people. There is a steady and strong country scene in LA and it's called Sin City All Stars. It's called Shiloh Morrow and Lisa Jenkins. It's called the first Wednesday night of the month since Y2K! It's ending tonight to move onto bigger and better things (and believe us, we'll be there when it......

Gram Parsons left us for a better place 23 years ago. If he were still alive, he would be coming up on celebrating his 59th birthday. Gram is often referred to as the worlds first Country/Rock Star. He has maintained an incredible cult following through the years - how could he not being one of the first to discover Emmylou Harris, he played shortly with the Birds and had the ultimate rock-star notch in......

Before you get your high-heeled thigh-high devil boots in a bunch, just know that there are other Gene Simmons's and the most famous of all is not 69. The one who passed away yesterday had a Top 20 hit in 1964 called "Haunted House" and was signed to Sun Records which meant that he had a chance to work with Sam Phillips and Mr. Elvis Aaron Presley. A true singer/songwriter, Simmons wrote or co-wrote......

Last Thursday morning started out great. I jumped in my car listening to mix of morning shows, but left off listening to Kenny Chesney’s “You Save Me” on KZLA. When I returned to my car around noon to venture off downtown, KZLA had a grand surprise – it vanished, leaving the LA and OC counties country-less. LA has now joined the side of New York City and other metropolitan areas in life without a......

John Bennett, not the US Rep from Michigan, not the acting governor of New Jersey, but the dashing troubador formerly of San Francisco, and now of Hollywood, is releasing his "here tomorrow" under the name Johnny Bennett. A little more stripped-down acoustic flavor than his previous material, Bennett's record-release party will be tonight at 9pm downstairs at the Key Club on Sunset. If you close your eyes you might think you're at an Anthony......

Bedroom Walls All Good Dreamers Pass This Way (Baria Records) – The All Music Guide gives this local band a 4.5/5 and says: “"If Elliott Smith were still alive and decided to get together and jam with Neutral Milk Hotel, the results might sound a lot like this self-described ‘romanticore’ quintet.” That’s very high praise indeed. They’re appearing live at the Troubadour on 5/30. Download a demo of “In Anticipation of Your Suicide” Johnny......

Are Ben Stiller, Christina Applegate and Taye Diggs American Idol groupies? While they weren’t the only celebs that Fox tcaught on camera at the Kodak, the sightings show how much this pop competition has become a red-hot ticket in Hollywood. Even the networks pulled their regular programming, and those not watching AI were given the choices of Stephen King’s “Desperation” on ABC or the Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS. NBC really threw......

LAist doesn't listen to a lot of country music (because like Donny we're a little bit rock & roll). But we wanted to applaud the Dixie Chicks and the big country station here in LA -- KZLA 93.9 -- for playing their new single, "Not Ready to Make Nice." It's pissing off a lot of people, uh like, their core fanbase. It's very subversive, kind of like the Sex Pistols thumbing their noses at......

Buck Owens, Bakersfield's favorite son, passed on yesterday at the age of 76. The Bakersfield Californian has a lengthy obit, including: Owens, born in near-poverty just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border and raised from the age of 8 in the Phoenix area, moved to Bakersfield at age 21, hoping to make it as a club musician. He died the multimillionaire king of a regional radio and media empire, renowned as one of country music’s......

KABC has wasted no time in getting the awkward questions, stammered remarks, and best wishes to everyone coming down the red carpet. So far we've already heard them refer to Ben Stiller as "studly", and Naomi Watt's very current gown as "vintage". It's almost too painful to watch, but you know we'll keep doing it. Our highlight so far has been hearing Paul Giamatti say, in reponse to the interviewer asking if he'd ever......

As LAist posted earlier this week, ready or not, Christmas is just around the corner. (See your local Starbucks baristas in their spiffy new red shirts hawking who knows what.) And so what if it's not even Thanksgiving? Does anyone really care? Well, we do. And we don't just have a bone to pick with retailers. We're also kinda ticked off at a few local L.A. radio stations. In particular, KOST 103.5 and KZLA......

The hook of Crash is its language. The characters, while archetypes and stereotypes through and through, sound real when they speak to each other and at each other, almost always leaving the conversations misunderstood. Outside of a Persian shop owner and his family, everyone in the film speaks English yet each character's assumptions about each other limit recognition and comprehension. More often than not, a character is too busy hearing his or her own......