BONUS TRACKS: A Unique Way to Celebrate 100 Years of Chet Atkins

Thursday would have been the 100th birthday of country guitar hero Chet Atkins, and what better way to celebrate than with … a ballet?! The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Nashville Symphony marked the occasion by presenting a short ballet performance set to Atkins’ dreamy “Jitterbug Waltz” and staged in the Hall of Fame rotunda. In a video of the performance, Nashville Ballet dancers Cassandra Thoms and Shaiya Donohue whirl around amid the bronze plaques of Hall of Fame members and Thomas Hart Benton’s “The Sources of Country Music” mural. (The mural provided inspiration for the dancers’ costumes.) The dancers wrap up in front of Atkins’ Hall of Fame plaque, a 1954 Standel 25L15 amplifier, and a Gretsch Streamliner Special 6120 guitar, which Atkins owned and helped design. Check out the three-minute video of the performance below:

If outlaw country (the genre or the SiriusXM channel of that name) has ever reached your ears in the last few decades, you have Jeremy Tepper to thank. The beloved “musical connector,” as this appreciation from The Washington Post calls him, died from a heart attack last week at age 60. Early in his career, Tepper was a roots rocker himself in the World Famous Blue Jays and a journalist for Vending Times and Tower Records’ Pulse! magazine. He joined SiriusXM in 2004 as a program director for the Outlaw Country and Willie’s Roadhouse channels and launched the Outlaw Country Cruise with Sixthman. He championed both stalwart outlaw artists and newer generations carrying that torch, and the outpouring of love and anguish over his unexpected passing is truly remarkable. Read more about Tepper and his vital influence in the music we love here at No Depression in The Washington Post and Rolling Stone.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is setting records left and right, including for seismic activity during her shows. But one record is not yet in her grasp: the largest ticketed concert in US history. That distinction goes to George Strait, who last weekend played in front of 110,905 fans in Texas A&M’s football stadium in College Station. The previous record was set in 1977 by The Grateful Dead when they played for 107,019 fans in Englishtown, New Jersey. Read more about the feat in this story from NPR. Strait is releasing a new album, Cowboys and Dreamers, in September.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Here’s a sampling of the songs, albums, bands, and sounds No Depression staffers have been into this week:

Mavis Staples – “Worthy”
Shelby Lynne – “Butterfly,” from her new album, Consequences of the Crown, coming in August
Wild Ponies – “Hurt Your Heart,” from their new album, Dreamers, coming in August
Larry & Joe – “Runnin’ From the Weather”
The Deslondes – “Take Me Back, from their new album, Roll It Back, coming September

The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys – “Wanderers Like Me,” the title track from their new album, coming in August
Sandra Nkaké – “Heaven”
Ordinary Elephant – Ordinary Elephant
Zach Bryan feat. Noeline Hofmann – “Purple Gas”
Sophie Gault feat. Gabe Lee – “Lately,” from her new album, Baltic Street Hotel, coming in September
Bonny Light Horseman – Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free
Thee Sacred Souls – “Lucid Girl,” from their new album, Got a Story to Tell, coming in October
Willie Watson – “Real Love,” from his self-titled new album, in September