Hey everyone, just a quick update to give you a heads up on what projects I'm planning to work on in 2021. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the release of my debut album, 50 Years Too Late, and to celebrate we're going to reissue the album on CD for the first time since its initial release in 2006. It has been unavailable for many years and I'm always asked about how to get a copy of this album on CD and this will be your chance!

Another question I'm often asked is about a vinyl release. We're working on that as well but it will be a limited release exclusive to pre-orders and fan club members. In the coming weeks we will be launching a crowd funding campaign to help offset the cost of this project as vinyl is very expensive for an independent artist like myself to manufacture. As of right now I'm only planning on doing 100 copies of both the CD and the Vinyl. If demand is proven to be higher than that, we will press up however many are ordered, but I'm not expecting to sell more than 100 of them.

Be on the lookout for the pre-order to start sometime this month and run through February with a scheduled release date to be announced for the Spring.

There will be new music in the fall in the form of a follow up EP to "State of Heartbreak." My original intention was for there to be two EP's released in 2020, followed by a vinyl of those two EP's combined into an LP for 2021. The pandemic of course altered those plans so my goal will be to have that EP ready and released this coming fall.

Well, that's about it for now. If you haven't noticed, I am entirely off of the major social media platforms. If you're interested in what's going on just be sure to stay subscribed to this mailing list for whatever updates there may be in the coming months. I am still active on Patreon so you can follow me there if you feel so inclined. I will be making posts over there that will be available to those of you that are not members so if you're interested in being a part of it, bookmark the site or download the app to keep in touch or you can always go about things the old fashioned way and drop me an email at management@joeyallcorn.com.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your support in 2020, I hope you all made the best of the holidays and that things will improve in 2021!

Thanks,

- Joey Allcorn

The older I get (and the people around me!) the more I hear people say "it just doesn't seem like Christmas anymore." This year it's no doubt due to the ridiculous circumstances people are being asked to live under, but in general I've been hearing people say this for the better part of the last decade. I think a lot of it has to do with as we get older and the people we loved and grew up with pass away, part of what made Christmas special to us is lost when we lose our loved ones. My grandmother was the reason Christmas felt like Christmas every year. She always had a tree and other decorations up, enjoyed cooking the traditional Christmas dinner and always had Christmas music playing this time of year. After she passed away in 2006, it was never quite the same for me. 

Another aspect of things "feeling" like Christmas that is missing these days is the atmosphere that always followed Black Friday at department stores and shopping malls. All the traffic, crowds, decorations, holiday displays and again, music, made it "feel" like Christmas. This year we are missing all of that due to the pandemic, but over the course of the past decade as online shopping has started to eclipse the sales of physical retailers, it's just another piece of the puzzle that has been discarded.

Continue reading this post on Patreon

Today I'm excited and happy to announce that I have received an artist endorsement from the good folks over at GHS Strings! I would never accept such from a company who's product I didn't use and don't believe in and I can tell you that I've been stringing up my Martin guitars with their Silk & Bronze ML gauge strings for about 15 years now. Check out my page over on their site via the link below and when you buy your next set of guitar strings, give them a try! They are the best for great tone and sustain, even for those of us just making plain old hillbilly music!

https://www.ghsstrings.com/joey-allcorn

"Nothing Left To Prove" is now available from the virtual merch booth at www.JoeyAllcorn.com. This record was recorded in 2013 and released digitally in September of 2014. This is the first time it has been available on physical media and despite what you may have been told, yes, people still want CD's! 

It's so nice to hear from the folks who pre-ordered this one and received their copies last week about how much they have enjoyed listening to it. I've always felt like it was the best of my original three albums and it's great to see it released in the physical world. So head over to the official website and order your copy today! I will include the sticker with all orders while supplies last!

SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT: On November 7th, I'll be back in Stewart, Tennessee to play the 5th annual concert fundraiser for Heart in Hand Critter Hollow Rescue Ranch. We played this event last year and really enjoyed it and looking forward to seeing everyone at the ranch again! We may not be two or three hours lat this time! It's a great place and the money is for a great cause, to feed and find homes for these animals. It's only $5 to get in and there are some great acts and friends of mine on the bill this year including W.D. Miller and J.D. Wilkes! So make plans to attend for what will be a great day of music!

Joey Allcorn's third album, "Nothing Left To Prove," is scheduled for a physical media release on September 29th of this year, seven years after it's "digital only" release in 2013. The album will be issued on CD only at this time with a vinyl release planned for sometime in the future along with Joey's other three full length albums, "50 Years Too Late" and "All Alone Again." Fans can pre-order the album today from his official website today. All orders will include a limited edition sticker commemorating the release. 

The music on this record features some of Allcorn's best work with fan favorites including the title track "Nothing Left To Prove," "Either Way You're Gone," the Dean Martin classic "Little Ol' Wine Drinker Me" and the Hank Williams penned "Cowboys Don't Cry." Upon it's original release, SavingCOuntryMusic.com had this to say; "Where some of the neo-traditionalists came and went from the sound of the movement, Allcorn remains firmly ensconced in the style, with very traditional modes and styles marking his songs, yet with a little extra crunch in the lead guitar thrown in there at times just to let you know this is old music, but from the new generation."

Pre-Order your copy today at www.JoeyAllcorn.com

The 2020 Hank Williams Songwriter Showcase will be live streamed from the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama on September 17th. Tune in on the night of Hank's 97th birthday on the official Hank Williams Museum Facebook Page to catch performances from members of the Live from The Lost Highway cast! Joey Allcorn, Jake Penrod, Jason James and Zachariah Malachi will be singing their own numbers as well as many of Hank's classic hits!

"Your Time's Comin'" is a song originally recorded by Faron Young that I've been doing in my show for years. It's one of the meanest, low down, what the rappers call a 'diss track' that I've ever heard and people always love it! So I was glad to finally get it on a record this year. Faron released his version in 1969 and to the best of my knowledge Dallas Wayne is the only other person to ever cut it in the 51 years since. But at any rate, this is the next single being released from the "State of Heartbreak" EP and it will be rolling out to streaming services starting tomorrow and throughout the rest of this week! I hope all of you folks will enjoy it! 

Thanks to all my Alabama Chain Gang Fan Club Members for making this song and the whole record possible! and to these fine musicians: 

David Roe Rorick - Bass 
Eddie Bayers - Drums 
Kenny Vaughan - Lead Guitar 
Eddy Dunlap - Steel Guitar 
Hank Singer - Fiddle 

Written by Kris Kristofferson and Shel Silverstein 

Recorded & Produced by Joey Allcorn & Tom Vrem 
Mixed By: Tom Vrem & Zach Seabolt

Thanks to my long time friend Robert Dean for the write up over on Farce the Music for “State of Heartbreak.” I really appreciate the kind words and thoughts from someone who totally understands where I’m coming from with my music, there’s still a lot of people that don’t seem to get it. But like I said in “Nothing Left To Prove”... If you don’t understand by now I guess you never will! Check it out and leave a comment on their website to show support for those who support independent musicians!

https://www.farcethemusic.com/2020/08/welcome-back-from-netherworld-joey.html

In case you missed it, take a listen to this interview with Joey Allcorn by Scott Wikle of "My Kind of Country" for some background information on the songs included on Joey's latest release, "State of Heartbreak."

Joey Allcorn - "State of Heartbreak" (Blue Yodel Records)

The traditional country stalwart returns with a 6 track extended play that’s released on digital and very limited edition CD. It is as good as anything he has previously released on his three full length albums and the standout track is his own Lefty Was Right but nothing here is less that convincing. 

Alongside his own songs he includes a cover of there Kris Kristofferson and Shel Silverstein penned Faron Young covered Your Time’s Coming and a version of Where Did You Sleep Last Night? also know as In The Pines, a song that has traditional origins but is often attributed to Lead Belly. It was also recorded by Nirvana on MTV Unplugged and is here given a more contemporary arrangement with some raucous guitar that is slightly at odds with the remaining tracks but still fits the overall mood of the release. 

Allcorn’s vocals, as one would expect, have echoes of ol’ Hank but that’s his vocal style and it perfectly suits these recordings. He has again gather some notable players around him for the sessions. Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Eddy Dunlap on steel guitar, UK born guitarist Sol Philcox-LittleField (a player who has added his skill to Miranda Lambert) but here shows his understanding of the genre’s roots in the main. The rhythm section of Dave Roe and Shawn McWilliams are solid and dependable - all are players who understand where this music has come from and where it can, equally, go to. 

There are those who won’t get the retro sounding honky-tonk infused direction that has been taken here but that is to deny a musical genre heritage that needs to survive against the unappealing cross over pop and (un)hip-hop that pervades the mainstream content on country radio. You won’t hear these song played there but you should seek them out for a listen. Allcorn is his own man and is producing the music he feels most comfortable with and this release just makes you want to hear his next instalment, but for now I have been playing State Of Heartbreak on repeat - because it is worthy of that. 

Review by Stephen Rapid

Here is an interview Joey did recently with Lonesome Highway out of the UK. Check it out HERE.

Back in 2006, Joey Allcorn released his debut record. “50 Years Too Late” it was called. He has a point. 

His Wikipedia page describes his style as “neotraditional country”. That’s cool too, but it’s a bit too academic for my tastes. This is about a feeling. None of this “neo” nonsense. 

I always say that the first country record I bought, the one that opened me up to country and western, if you like, was a compilation called “Elvis Country” that I bought when I was busy collecting everything The King did in the early 90s in my late teens. 

Listening to “A Sense Of Heartbreak” though, and I am not sure that is right. 

See, here I have regressed to my Gran’s council house in the 80s, listening to the local radio request show on a Sunday morning, while pouring over the league tables with my Grandad, trying to convince ourselves that “with a late run we can make the play off’s, Grandad can’t we?”. 

On this show, there was always loads of old time country, Jim Reeves, Hank Williams, and loads more. It was superb. The sort of thing you couldn’t help but love. 

The sort of thing I hadn’t really heard for years until this arrived, frankly. 

These crowd-funded tunes, four originals and two covers. Are faithful recreations of the traditional “Bakersfield” sound, and yet more, so much more. 

If these had been found in some dusty basement, you wouldn’t have been surprised, but to have the likes of the title track as a new song is truly phenomenal. The musicianship here is perfect. Eddie Dunlap’s Lap Steel and Hank Singer’s Fiddle are so, so good. 

And the words too, somehow they tap into that feeling of lost innocent times. “Same Ol’ Blues” is catchy, but entirely in keeping with the early 50s feel, like he’s just been dumped at the drive in cinema or something. 

“Lefty Was Right” sounds as mournful as can be, while “Ramblin’ Man” is three minutes of perfection – surely it wasn’t written in 2020? Except it was, and somewhere Jason Ringenberg is looking on with pride that someone else is doing this with so much love and authenticity. 

The two covers are equally good. “Your Time’s Coming” (co-written by Kris Kristofferson and made famous by Faron Young) is a honky-tonk romp, and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” might not have the raw emotion it does when Nirvana covered it, but its dark blues prove that the boy Leadbelly wrote a classic here – not to mention that in the context of this record the guitars of Sol Philcox and Larry Jones take it somewhere else entirely, while still keeping the feel of the EP as it should be. 

50 years too late? Make that 60 these days, I suppose, but “State Of Heartbreak” is truly both lovely and wonderful. My gran would have loved this too, so thanks, Joey. 

Rating 8.5/10

- BY: ANDY THORLEY (MAY 25, 2020)

Original Article

When the country music underground was really taking form in the late 90’s and early 2000’s behind artists like Wayne “The Train” Hancock, Dale Watson, and Hank Williams III, another big name with a sound that hearkened back to the classic era of country and had fans raving was Joey Allcorn. His 2006 album 50 Years Too Late remains one of the standout and defining releases from the era. 

But after releasing his 3rd album Nothing Left to Prove in 2014, Allcorn signaled he had made his point about the benefits of classic country and had given back as best he could, and was moving on to greener pastures. However for the last year or so, Allcorn has been plotting a comeback, and he’s recently released his first music in six years with a couple of singles, the latest called “Same Ol’ Blues” (listen below). 

Joey Allcorn says the song “…definitely hearkens back to the hillbilly / early honky tonk era of country music. As always, had some phenomenal players on this one; David Roe Rorick, Shawn McWilliams, Stuart Duncan, Eddy Dunlap and Sol Philcox-Littlefield laid down some solid, old school hillbilly sounds on this one!” 

The new song is part of a 6-song EP that Joey Allcorn will be releasing exclusively through his website and in physical form Wednesday, May 20th called State of Heartbreak. He’s limiting copies to 250 total, and this will be followed by a second EP later down the line that will eventually be combined into a full blown LP. 

Frustrated by the unsustainable business models for making music and the poor streaming payouts, Joey Allcorn recently started a Patreon account, and is releasing his music in this unique way in hopes of supporting himself and his music into the future. New tracks will be made available digitally over time, but direct supporters and buyers will get to hear the music first. 

Along with a performer, Joey Allcorn is also a strong country music preservationist and Hank Williams fan who has worked closely with institutions such as the Hank Williams Museum and other places to keep the music and memories of classic country alive. 

If you like the sounds of 50’s country, especially the moans and the unique sound of the stand up pedal-less steel guitar indicative of Hank Williams and early Hank3, Joey Allcorn will be right down your alley.

- By: Triggerman (May 19, 2020)

Original Article

"State of Heartbreak is officially released today. The album includes six tracks, four of which we're written by Allcorn and two covers including Faron Young's "Your Time's Comin" and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," originally by blue legend Leadbelly and made popular by Nirvana in their 1993 "MTV Unplugged" performance. The CD is limited to 250 copies and is available in the online store right here on the website. 

We've made a limited run of the "Graveyard Bound" face masks featuring the image of a plague doctor for anyone who might be interested in such a thing. They are made of two layered cotton with two cotton straps that go behind the ears. Only 24 of these were made and that's probably all there will be so if you want one, head over to the store and put your order in today! These will ship out on or around May 20, 2020.

This fictional Spring 2020 US Tour Shirt showing all the dates as cancelled has just been uploaded to the online store here on www.JoeyAllcorn.com. Order yours today and always remember a tour that was never booked and never happened! www.JoeyAllcorn.com/store

"State of Heartbreak" has been re-scheduled for release on May 20, 2020 and is now available for pre-order on the Joey Allcorn web store. You may be asking why am I even pressing up CD's of this album. Well, the answer is some people still want them and this record will have a limited run of 250 copies. It will never be reissued or available again in this format. Each copy will be hand numbered and autographed per your request. We also have the t-shirt and stickers available on the store individually as well as in a package with the CD. About 60 of these are already spoken for via Patreon / Fan Club members, so if you want one head over to www.JoeyAllcorn.com and place your order today!

This Saturday, Joey Allcorn will be live-streaming from The Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. The stream will be available on the Hank Williams Museum Facebook page as well as the Live from The Lost Highway group on Facebook. Donations will be accepted during the performance that will go directly to the museum to help pay their bills during the mandatory shut down put in place by the state of Alabama.

The scheduled April 9th release of "State of Heartbreak" has been delayed indefinitely as we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The album will still be up for pre-order on the official website, but will not be available until after this national emergency has been dealt with. An early Summer release is most likely based on current information from the United States government. All tour dates through July have also been canceled. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for information!

The first single from Joey Allcorn's new album, "State of Heartbreak," will be released on Thursday, March 12th to all streaming services. The track will also be available for download here on the official website as well as CDBaby, Amazon, etc. The full album will be available later in the month with Alabama Chain Gang Fan Club members receiving their copy two weeks before it's official street date. This is the first new album from Joey Allcorn in over five years and if "State of Heartbreak" is any indication of what the rest of the album sounds like, fans are in store for a heavy dose of hardcore honky tonk with this long awaited album!