Toby Keith

For Professional Cowboys Like Dugan Kelly, It All Comes Down to 10 Days in Las Vegas

A black Stetson pulled down low over his forehead, Dugan Kelly walks with a cowboy swagger as he leads his horses to their trailer. As the animals rest under the bright lights of Las Vegas, nothing about Kelly's demeanor suggests that tonight's competition — the first night of the National Fin ... More >>

Stagecoach 2013 Lineup Announced

The lineup for Stagecoach 2013 has been announced. It will be held April 26-28, 2013 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. See also: *Stagecoach Festival: The Fashion Report *Stagecoach Festival: The Music *Johnny Cash's Anti-Semitism Touched On In New Documentary The headliners are Toby Keith on F ... More >>

How Wall Street and Washington Conspired to Spike Gas Prices

By Pete Kotz On July 11, 2008, the price of oil rose to $147 per barrel, a record high. Gas stations engaged in hot pursuit as the price of a gallon rocketed past $4. All hell was about to break loose. The country's largest banks had already begun to implode through arrogance and ineptitude. Now t ... More >>

Kristen Bell's Hosting the CMT Awards? Here Are Five Alternatives That Would Be Even Worse

See also: If You Don't Like Country Music You're a Blue State Elitist It's time for the much-anticipated annual CMT Awards, held tomorrow night on Country Music Television. But even those who don't know much about country -- or think the whole thing is little more than a red state conspiracy -- ar ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: The Complete List

​What makes a terrible band? Is it being prepared to do the wrong thing, whatever the price? That and a pair of testicles. Only, some of the below groups possess testicles only in the symbolic sense. Because, even if you're composed of ladies, it takes balls to make music that is simultaneousl ... More >>

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #5-1

See also: *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time: #20-16 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #15-11 *Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, #10-6 5. Animal Collective I really wanted to like Merriweather Post Pavilion, even going far out of my way to appreciate the record as it was surely intended: super-stoned, mi ... More >>

Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] See also: If You Don't Like Country Music You're A Blue State Elitist Song: Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" History: "Red Solo Cup" is the second single from Toby ... More >>

If You Don't Like Country Music You're a Blue State Elitist

See also: Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup": Why This Song Sucks Asking people what kind of music they like can be a loaded question. People want to seem open-minded, yet cool, which for some reason tends to inspire this insipid response: "I like pretty much everything. Except country." (The hipster var ... More >>

Henry Rollins: The Column! The War On Christmas Starts With Me

​[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] I am a veteran of the War on Christmas. It's been a few days now, and I am just emerging ... More >>

Why Do Musicians Hate America? The 5 Worst Songs With "American" in the Title

​Oh, United States Of America. We love you, we really do. Hell, we live here, so we kind of have to. We show our love through the composition of endless tributes to the land, the people and the country itself. Clarification: we do this by shamelessly co-opting the entire continental Western He ... More >>

Top 10 Country Radio Songs to Open Your Mind (Even if You Think You Hate Country Music)

Eazylanish/Flickr​We've seen it over and over on Facebook profiles. Music: "I like just about anything...except COUNTRY, of course!" As if admitting to liking mainstream country music (because, sure, everyone likes Johnny Cash) is like admitting to having a Beanie Babies collection. It's sham ... More >>

Music Picks: Circa Survive, Joanna Newsom, El-P, Roots Roadhouse

Also, Scorpions, Viza, the Park and others

Music Picks: Stagecoach Festival, Yoshitake Expe, Hole, Chicha Libre

Also, Aquaserge, Norah Jones, Dr. Dog and others

Top 10 New TV Shows From 2008: Hillary & Barack, Gavin & Stacey, Bernard & Doris

The way we watched

Hitsville: The Year in Music, by the Numbers

You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were dem ... More >>

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Week Day 4: Searching For the Elusive Identity of the "Ghetto Cowboy"

I actually own this on CD-single, which is either keeping it real, or keeping it really retarded. From the first moments of the reel, one can immediately infer that the film is going to be of quality. Why? The stamp of quality from Mo' Thugs Family Features. Like the ill-fated male fortunetelle ... More >>

Mama in Charge

Tough love at the White Horse

The Phil Zone

Aloha From Hell

Jerry Lee Lewis, still on fire

Music Picks

For the week of July 20 - 27

Foghat Does Quaaludes, Wille Does Reggae

Articulate Snarls

The return of protest rock

Like Goths to the Flame

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar . . .