#068 - Cain’s Ballroom, Tay-Tay-Today, CMA’s No-Drama Drama, Vinyl Decline

Just a few hours prior to recording, a couple stories grabbed Greg’s attention & inspired our newest named segment, which he’s calling “Tay-Tay Today”. A little over a year ago, former Kanye West manager Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Label Group which owned the rights to Taylor Swift’s first six albums. In spectacular fashion, the Swifties unleashed on Scootie and drama ensued (interesting to note, Scooter has incredibly thin skin, which is really surprising, given his name, which is Scooter). So this week news dropped that Mr. Braun sold the rights to her catalog & Taylor confirmed that she’s been re-recording her entire catalog to give fans a way to listen to her music without supporting her adversaries. Oh Taylor, we genuinely love you! [Variety & Variety]
Song: Here Lies Man - “I Told You (You Shall Die)”

In other news, Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires announced that they were leaving the Country Music Association over the CMA’s failure to honor John Prine (as well as Jerry Jeff Walker and Billy Joe Shaver) during the ceremony. So, basically the most perfectly assembled Jay story ever. We get into it and pivot to some overall issues facing Nashville today. [Pitchfork]
Song: Barry Gibb - “Word of a Fool”

Nick has some bad news, apparently vinyl is on its way out & we have COVID-19 to blame!! Actually, it looks like production is down because of plant shutdowns and sales haven’t been as high (probably because of the aforementioned drop in production, resulting in reduced availability). Nevertheless, Pitchfork is proclaiming the “Vinyl Revival” in jeopardy & we proclaim that assessment “Total BS”. [Pitchfork]
Also, he’s really been digging Microphones in 2020 & everything else Phil Elverum has ben making the past few years.
Song: The Microphones in 2020