Boston Country Hub

Waterloo   Revival ’s Cody Cooper and George Birge started creating music together in sixth grade, meshing guitar riffs with twangy-harmonies. Parting ways after high school to pursue education and career goals outside music, the two would return to their musical roots each time they were in Austin. With hometown support behind them, Cody and George decided to pursue music fulltime, raising funds to record an EP. Soon after, the Texas natives adopted Nashville as their new home, honing their craft and embarking on a quest to spread Austin’s iconic music scene across the country. Their Big Machine Records release  “Hit the Road”  – a product from one of their first Nashville writing sessions – is currently being introduced to Country radio and has received an overwhelming positive response from both programmers and critics.  Waterloo   Revival  is flaunting an ode to their hometown, Austin, but the  revival  across Country music has only just begun...

*It was a busy week for concerts in New England.  Eric Palsay played a packed show at Lupos Providence last Thursday.  Check out coverage here .  And check out his new music video for "She Don't Love You" below. *Love and Theft debuted their new album, " Whiskey On My Breath " for Bostonians at Toby Keith's Foxboro Friday .   *Josh Abbott Band joined fellow Texas Pat Green and Hudson Moore at the House of Blues Boston on Friday night . *Sam Hunt also has a new video out for " Take Your Time "  It's a more serious take than the I just want to pick you up at the bar vibe the song gives off with Sam rescuing a young mother from an abusive relationship. *Gary Allen has a new single out on the radio, " Hungover Tonight ".  The Brothers Osborne have one of my favorite songs of the year, "Stay a Little Longer" on the radio.  Check out this great acoustic version of it from Thunder 106. *Lance Carpenter, songwrite...

Daylight savings and Sunday night didn't deter a rowdy crowd from enjoying some country music - Texas style.  Fort Worth native Hudson Moore opened the show sharing some of his new music off his EP . Mostly fellow Texans, the Josh Abbott Band played a rocking set with their traditional country twang.  It was exciting to hear some of their songs off their new EP , "Tuesday Night".   The band covered all the bases including having Pat Green join them for a "My Texas" duet.  The highlight of the show for me was seeing the full band live.  The band features lead singer and guitarist, and band namesake, Josh Abbott with Edward Villanueva on drums, Caleb Keeter on guitar and James Hertless on the bass.  Preston Wait's fiddle and Austin Davis' banjo come across more dynamically live than on the album.  The real difference between seeing the band live or listening to the album is, as Abbott told the crowd, "If you want to hear the three...

Country duo Love and Theft played a sold out show at Toby Keith's Boston on Friday night.  The set featured new releases from duo Stephen Barker-Liles and Eric Gunderson as well as classic covers and number 1 hit Angel Eyes as well as top 40 hit, If You Ever Get Lonely . The focus of the night, other than having fun, was to share the new album.  "Whiskey On My Breath" (Check out my review of the album here ) was released independently by Barker-Liles and Gunderson and while it still features the pleasing harmonies you've come to expect from Love & Theft, there is an added edginess you haven't heard from them before. They also definitely come to party.  Whether belting out two of the new party songs from the album, Can't Wait for the Weekend or Let's Get Drunk and Make Friends , along with their last single, Night That You'll Never Forget,  the pace is uptempo.  The band can also slow it down with songs like the title track, Whiskey on ...

Eric Paslay played a sold out show at Lupos Providence on Thursday night.  This was my sixth time seeing Paslay perform and he somehow gets better each time.  The first time I saw him perform was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston for his CD release party in February '14.  That show was mainly Eric singing his the hits he's written for others from a centered mic with his guitar.  I was lucky enough to see him open for Dierks and The Band Perry as well. A year later, Paslay seems to have grown in confidence with his performance and much more willing to step away from behind his guitar and work the audience.  Paslay's distinctive smooth voice is as close to perfect as you find at a live venue.  Paslay's most moving power ballad, "She Don't Love You (She's Just Lonely) is truly remarkable live.  The set list covered most of Paslay's self titled debut record as well as songs written for other artists including "Rewind" (Rascal Flatts), "Bar...

Zac Brown Band's new album 'JEKYLL + HYDE' will be out on available April 28th .  According to Brown, the album will have both the sound that fans have some to expect, with a few new additions.  You can check out some of their new music this weekend when they appear on Saturday Night Live for the first time.   The band will be back in New England with shows in Hartford 6/6, Bangor 6/7, and Fenway Park 8/7 and 8/8.   And because it never gets old:   Colder Weather

Joe Nichols and his band played energetic set to a packed House of Blues Boston on Saturday night.   Nichols, one of the most traditional voices and sounds in country music, covered all his hits, including his six career number one hits: The Impossible, Brokenheartsville, Gimme that Girl and Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.  The set included the two number ones off of his newest album Yeah and Sunny and 75 off of the RIAA Gold Crickets.   In one of the funnier moments of the night, Joe joked that he couldn't rap like some other country artists, before launching into a rendition of Sir Mix-A-Lots, "I Like Big Butts" with a country twang of course. Joe kept the enthusiastic crowd engaged throughout with his distinctly country voice and sweet melodies.  Joe’s single, Hard to Be Cool is currently a top 25 hit.  Opener Sam Grow had the crowd rocking ahead of Nichols set with a few of his own love songs with some fun Er...

Florida Georgia Line plays New England Florida Georgia Line came to town along with Frankie Ballard and Thomas Rhett in a jam packed show.  The energetic show was started off with Ballard belting out hits from his debut album, "Sunshine & Whiskey".  Rhett followed with his own hits (but no "When I was Your Man").  Rhett is incredibly fun to watch.  You can tell how much he absolutely eats up being on stage and performing.  He concluded his set by covering "Uptown Funk" and showed off his killer dance moves. Florida Georgia Line was apologetic about having to reschedule due to weather the previous week and despite the show being on a Monday, it seemed like the crowd was willing to party like it was still the weekend.  The jam packed set list included a cover of Black Stone Cherry's "Stay" and their own hits.  Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelly brought their trademark enthusiasm to the show and kept the Verizon Wireless Arena bumping w...