Ennio Morricone was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classical works, Morricone is widely considered one of the most prolific and greatest film composers of all time. He has received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello, eleven Nastro d'Argento, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and the Polar Music Prize in 2010.
The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play unlimited glissandi and deep vibrati—characteristics it shares with the human voice. Pedal steel is most commonly associated with American country music and Hawaiian music.
Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar, Andrew DuPlantis, John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and Mark Spencer. In addition to playing alternative rock, the band is considered a staple of the alternative country rock movement of the 1990s. The band's sound also is rooted in folk rock and Americana. The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2001, before reforming in 2004.
Will Hoge is an American Americana country music singer, songwriter, and musician from Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
Roddis Franklin "Pete" Drake was a Nashville-based American record producer and pedal steel guitar player. One of the most sought-after backup musicians of the 1960s, Drake played on such hits as Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden", Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors", Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay", and Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man". Drake was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022.
Doug Jernigan is an American pedal steel guitarist and Dobro player. He is known for his infusion of country music with jazz using fast single-note solos. He was one of the first steel guitarists to play solos at speeds rivaling the banjo and fiddle. Jernigan performed with Faron Young, Johnny Paycheck, Vassar Clements, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Lorrie Morgan and was a Nashville recording session musician and teacher for decades. As of 2020, he has been the featured artist on nine instrumental albums in both jazz and country genres. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1994.
Mucca Pazza is an interdisciplinary instrumental music and performance ensemble based in Chicago, USA.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released in 1966 alongside the Western film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, directed by Sergio Leone. The score is composed by frequent Leone collaborator Ennio Morricone, whose distinctive original compositions, containing gunfire, whistling, and yodeling permeate the film. The main theme, resembling the howling of a coyote, is a two-note melody that is a frequent motif, and is used for the three main characters, with a different instrument used for each one: flute for Blondie, arghilofono (ocarina) for Angel Eyes, and human voices for Tuco.
"Crazy Arms" is an American country song which was a career-making hit for Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music. It was Price's first No. 1 hit.
Aqua Velvets are an American surf rock revival band from San Francisco, California, formed in the 1980s by guitarist Miles Corbin. Rather than simply recreate the vintage 1963 surf sound, Corbin set out to add depth and dimension with original songs that included strings, horns, keyboards, and exotic instruments. The result was a cinematic sound more akin to film composers like Ennio Morricone and John Barry. The group released their debut album in 1992, recorded over a period of several years. This album was recorded in the auto repair shop where bassist Michael Lindner worked. They signed to Atlantic Records in 1995 to release Surfmania; subsequent releases appeared on BMG subsidiary Milan Records. The Velvets continued to release a steady stream of albums through 2015, most notably Tiki Beat (2010) and El Morocco (2015). The Aqua Velvets' songs have been covered by a number of other surf artists. The group performs live mostly on the West Coast.
Buddy Gene Emmons was an American musician who is widely regarded as the world's foremost pedal steel guitarist of his day. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. Affectionately known by the nickname "Big E", Emmons' primary genre was American country music, but he also performed jazz and Western swing. He recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, The Everly Brothers, The Carpenters, Jackie DeShannon, Roger Miller, Ernest Tubb, John Hartford, Little Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price, Judy Collins, George Strait, John Sebastian, and Ray Charles and was a widely sought session musician in Nashville and Los Angeles.
Everything Comes and Goes is an EP by Michelle Branch, released to her official website on July 16, 2010, and was released at iTunes on August 27, 2010.
Ralph Eugene Mooney was an American steel guitar player and songwriter, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the original steel guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers and Waylon Jennings's band, The Waylors.
Caitlin Canty is an American singer/songwriter. The San Francisco Chronicle calls Canty's alto a "casually devastating voice" and NPR says her music mixes "a gritty side with aching ballads.".
Emily Wolfe is an American rock and roll musician based out of Austin, TX. Wolfe was born in Raleigh, NC, and moved to Texas when she was 8 years old. She started playing guitar at the age of 5 and also started to play drums at an early age. In her college years at St. Edward's University she began to perform live.
Road Less Traveled is the second studio album by American country music artist Lauren Alaina. The album was released on January 27, 2017, by Mercury Nashville and Interscope Records. It includes the number one single of the same name.
Deep South is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Josh Turner. It was released on March 10, 2017, through MCA Nashville. The album's lead single, "Lay Low", was released to radio on September 15, 2014, and reached number 25 on the Country Airplay chart. The second single, "Hometown Girl", was released to radio on May 31, 2016. The single peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay Chart and No. 1 on Mediabase, making it Turner's fifth No. 1 single. The third single, "All About You" was released to radio on May 15, 2017. It is Turner's first release since 2012's Punching Bag.
Yours is the debut studio album by American country pop singer and songwriter Russell Dickerson. It was released on October 13, 2017, through Triple Tigers Records. Produced by Casey Brown, the record follows Dickerson's 2016 EP of the same name. Its lead single, the title track, has been certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA.
Bruce Bouton is an American guitarist, session musician, producer, and songwriter. His pedal steel guitar has been featured on many country music recordings, and he helped reintroduce the pedal steel guitar to the forefront of the Nashville sound. Bouton is also a member of The G-Men, the group of session musicians who has played on the vast majority of Garth Brooks albums.
Hermanos Gutiérrez is a Swiss Latin instrumental band formed in 2015 in Zürich by Ecuadorian-Swiss brothers Alejandro Gutiérrez and Estevan Gutiérrez. In 2022, the US label Easy Eye Sound released the band's fifth album, El Bueno y el Malo.
