Welcome to The Boot’s News Roundup, a morning rundown of the news country music fans need to know. Read on to learn more about the latest goings-on in the country, Americana, bluegrass and folk genres.
For fans of the late Merle Haggard who have a few (several?) thousand dollars laying around, the country icon’s former tour bus will soon go up for auction. The bus, a 2008 MCI J4500 “Super Chief,” features a Texas license plate inscribed with “HAGGARD” and a photo plate of “The Hag” playing guitar. The auction will be held by Burley Auction Gallery in New Braunfels, Texas, on Feb. 10.
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Lindsay Ell, Brett Young and Chase Rice have been added to the lineup for the 2018 NHL All-Star Game. According to Nash Country Daily, Young will perform the U.S. National Anthem, and Ell will be on hand to sing “O Canada,” the anthem of her home country. Rice will sing during player introductions, and, as previously announced, after the game’s second period, Kid Rock will perform. The 2018 NHL All-Star Game is set to take place on Jan. 28 in Tampa Bay, Fla.
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Bluegrass legend Rhonda Vincent could soon have a highway named after her in Missouri. The Show Me State is currently considering a bill that would, according to Bluegrass Today, designate part of U.S. Highway 83 in Missouri as the “Bluegrass Queen Rhonda Vincent Highway.” The bill was introduced by Rep. Nate Walker, the state representative who represents Vincent’s hometown of Kirksville, Mo., and is expected to pass through state legislature in the next couple of months.
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Country artist Craig Morgan will soon be the star of a brand-new docuseries. Called Morgan Family Strong, the show will follow Morgan, his wife Karen and their sons Kyle and Wyatt and daughter Alexandra as they go out on tour, launch their new business, Gallery at Morgan Farms, and pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the death of Morgan’s son Jerry, who drowned in a tubing accident in 2016. Morgan Family Strong will premiere on March 1 on Up TV.
Frederick Breedon, Getty Images
On March 30, Mary Chapin Carpenter will celebrate 30 years in country music with the release of a new album, Sometimes Just the Sky. Produced by Ethan Johns (Ray LaMontagne, Paul McCartney), the record will feature 12 tracks recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in England. “Heroes and Heroines” is the lead single for the album, and also the only newly written tune on Sometimes Just the Sky; the rest of the tracks are updated versions of some of Carpenter’s most beloved songs.
Rick Diamond, Getty Images
The Weight Band, a Woodstock, N.Y.-based consortium of former members of the Band, the Levon Helm Band and the Rick Danko Group, will release an original studio EP in February. Titled World Gone Mad, the project is the group’s first full-length effort; it will feature two original, never-before-released songs that examine the “divisiveness of today’s political climate and hardship of life in America,” both co-written by Levon Helm, whose famous barn was where the Weight Band got its start. World Gone Mad is set for release on Feb. 23.
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