Cheyenne Mize: Shades of Blue & Grey By James Calemine "If I could think of a way to do it right now, I'd head back to Louisville, sit on the porch drinking beer, drive around Cherokee Park for a few nights, and try to sink back read more...
As March fades and the first quarter of 2012 comes to a close, Swampland has used this moment to look back on 2011 putting together our list of last year's best music releases from the South. Although we've named 25 records on our Top 25 Albums of 2011, each one serves as read more...
Welcome to the official information page for the GRITZ Stone Ground and Southern Music Compilation Series. We hope you will enjoy these free downloads, visit the band websites and order their albums. Please be sure to give us your read more...
In April of this year I had the opportunity to spend four glorious days in that queen of cities, New Orleans. One of the highlights of the trip, as recorded in my
It’s Championship week in college basketball, and it’s a thrilling time to watch teams from smaller conferences earn their way into the Big Dance. While few believe that the regular season is what it used to be (especially when compared to college football), the read more...
SEC 01/01 –.Auburn vs. Northwestern - Outback Bowl (11 am EST – ESPN) 01/01 – LSU vs. Penn State - Independence Bowl (1 pm EST – read more...
SEC 12/27 – Kentucky vs. Clemson - Music City Bowl (8:30pm EST – read more...
As we head into October, we've learned quite a few things about this current college football season. SEC - This conference remains on top, not only for our Footprint, but also nationally. There are still 3 SEC teams in the top 5, and there are two teams read more...
It's going to be a briefer than normal weekly fever. We will take a look at some key games coming up and how they affect our teams and conferences as a whole, but first let's start with a subject that really has us a bit miffed.
We would be remiss if we didn't start our Weekly Fever with some big news - the College Football Hall of Fame will relocate from South Bend, Indiana (home of Notre Dame) to Atlanta by read more...
Now that week two of the college football season is behind us, we've learned a little more about our teams and what the season might have in store.
We thought we'd provide a few thoughts after the first week of the college football season just before tonight's Clemson - Georgia Tech game. In the months that pass between each football season, certain things are put under the microscope by the media and the fans. Here read more...
The New Lost City Ramblers Last Ever Concert at Clifftop 2009 By Derek Halsey It is the night of July 30th, 2009 at the Appalachian String Band Festival, an annual musical gathering also referred to as simply “Clifftop” held read more...
Sometimes, a picture truly is worth a thousand words... Welcome to the GRITZ Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook. This will be an ongoing, often updated, collection of classic and new Southern Rock photographs, many of which have never before read more...
Volunteer Jam: Toy Caldwell, Dobie Gray; Henry Paul; Jimmy Hall.
by Michael Buffalo Smith The definitive Southern Rock era began in 1969. In Macon, Georgia. Phil Walden, who had previously been known for his work with r&b acts like read more...
Watch out - Rick Pitino and Louisville! John Calipari gave Kentucky what it wanted - a coach that makes them instantly competitive in their state, their conference, and the nation at large. There is little doubt that it has been hard for Kentucky to watch their read more...
THE RANTS: Toy Caldwell and George McCorlkle's pre-Toy Factory, pre-Marshall Tucker band. read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith I am really excited about the recent comeback of vinyl records. I mean, not only is the old analog sound richer and warmer, but the big LP jackets were always a treat in and of themselves, from the liner notes and photos to the inserts. (Our read more...
When it comes to college football, just ‘Google’ the phrase “recruiting is the lifeblood” and you’ll see a ton of results. The fact that quality recruiting is the number one key for long-term success in the big-time world of college football has never read more...
by Patrick Snow With the football season fast approaching, we thought it was time to take a State-by-State look at the schools and traditions that make up the religion that is college football in our Swampland footprint. Gold read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith One of my favorite wrestlers was always Ox Baker. I witnessed many a smack down at the hands of big Ox, the 6’5,” 342 pound Sedalia, Missouri export. Ox was born Douglas A. Baker on April 19,1934, and began his career in 1964 when read more...
by Penne J. Laubenthal When he was only 31 years old, the brilliant and talented John Kennedy Toole killed himself by using a garden hose to asphyxiate himself with exhaust fumes from his car. His read more...
17. Bonnie Bramlett’s Run On Roseanne (1991) Bonnie (Then called Bonnie Sheridan) shows up as a waitress in a diner and a friend of Roseanne in both the third and read more...
BUFFALO ROAMING
by Michael Buffalo Smith And we continue.... 28. “Stompin’ Room Only” Released (2003) The “Holy Grail” for Marshall Tucker Band fans, read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith 39. Jammin’ for Danny Joe Brown - (July 18, 1999) An all star concert headed up by Riff West to raise money for
59. “Freebird” The Movie Premiers (1996) Drawn mostly from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1976 show at Knebworth Fair in England. the movie also included footage from a few read more...
79. Cameron Crowe Puts The Allmans On the Cover of the Rolling Stone (December 6, 1973) Cameron Crowe went on the road with The Allman Brothers at the age of 15, and read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith 100. “Pony Boy” Hand bone (1973) Dickey Betts brought country music sensibility into
by Patrick Snow Some recent events in the world of NASCAR have made us here at Swampland ask the question: In what direction is this sport going? I’ve expressed frustration before about how NASCAR seems to want to forget its Southern roots as they try to put read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Almost Famous (2000) The semi-autobiographical story of read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Dickey read more...
INSTRUMENTALISTS (OTHER THAN GUITAR/KEYS/DRUM KIT) by Michael Buffalo Smith
The SEC sets the pace in all of college athletics. The question is what will it do for an encore? Last week's meetings in Destin, FL ended up largely becoming a time to reflect on
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Chuck Leavell Take one look at the Georgia boy’s
1. Tommy Caldwell - According to all of the members of The Marshall Tucker read more...
"There are three kinds of record producers. The first kind is the documentarian -- someone like Leonard Chess, who goes into a bar on the South Side of Chicago, sees Muddy Waters with a six-piece combo, then pulls him into the studio the next day and says, read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Jakson Spires of Blackfoot In my opinion,
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd As if there was any doubt read more...
by Michael Buffalo Smith
SWAMPLAND'S SOUTHERN ROCK LISTS
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known
A handful of bands from the Southern Rock Era have earned the title of "Legend." These are the bands that defined the genre and set the bar for all other bands in their wake. These are the few, the originals, the Legends of Southern read more...
We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most read more...
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS
A review of “The Tentshow Trilogy”, consisting of “Believe”, “Pandelirium” and “Swampblood” (All on Yep Roc Records) by Frank Gutch
On the heels of my own Top Twenty Five Southern Rock albums, we asked a few of our friends to share their own lists of Favorite Southern Rock albums, and we got a few real surprises, but one fact read more...
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate read more...
The Appalachian Sounds of Fonotone Records By James Calemine “I went out in the open field/Black snake bit me on the read more...
GOODBYE, BABYLON A Patchwork Quilt of American Music By James Calemine
In the end, it was a surprise. But the surprise came in the school chosen, no the destination - the SEC West. Bobby Petrino finally made it to the coaching promised land when he was named the head coach of Arkansas late last night. Fresh off of a Monday Night read more...
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic read more...
By Patrick Snow 2007 - What a crazy and dramatic season of college football. It seems like the Number 1 or 2 position in the national polls is the most dangerous place to be this year. As hard as it may be for many teams to adjust to all the parity, I believe read more...
By Patrick Snow Just like many a bad segment of talk radio, another ‘label’ book was recently released into America to get football fans arguing with each other. We have Philly-based ESPN field reporter Sal Paolantonio to thank for this latest read more...
Writing and storytelling have always been deeply ingrained in Southern culture. The people that combined that art with the Swampland Footprint's passion for sports make the whole experience more special and unique. Swampland Sports is proud to offer this series of read more...
By Patrick Snow Another college football season--another initial release of the BCS standings. This annual ritual seems to send everyone running to call a local talk show to scream about a Playoff system and how the middle letter should be removed from read more...
By Patrick Snow Many of us who grew up in the South have always believed that the SEC was King when it came to sports and our allegiances. We watched and cheered for professional teams, but our passion was always at the collegiate level. For many years, read more...
by Derek Halsey On October 4th, 2007 the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) held their 18th annual bluegrass music awards show. In a break from past years, when a lot of the same people seemed to win the awards year after year, the read more...
Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the read more...
Southern college football-we live it and breathe it year-round, and it has become abundantly clear that the stakes of the game have been raised with some of the recent coaching hires. The ‘price of poker’ is increasing steadily, and if your school is not ready to ante read more...
“If Beale Street could talk Married men would have to take up their beds and walk…” Beale Street Blues W. C. Handy wrote those words when he was read more...
Breakfast With Hunter: A Film By Wayne Ewing Starring Dr. Hunter S. Thompson by James Calemine Feb. 2005 “There may be flies on you and me, but there are no flies on Jesus.” read more...
by Derek Halsey August 2003 The International Bluegrass Music Association’s yearly convention is already a couple of days old when I arrive on Wednesday afternoon on read more...
IBMA BLUEGRASS AWARDS ROAD TRIP By Derek Halsey December 2002 As I drove into Louisville, Kentucky on this misty October night I reached for the radio dial to see read more...