Last week, the Grand Ole Opry celebrated the life of Merle Haggard. Merle was never a “Nashville guy,” he did not like the cookie-cutter way Nashville made their music and preferred the rougher, Bakersfield outlier sound. Still, Merle was a country music icon and an influence on many country music entertainers. In Bakersfield, California on … More Merle Haggard
I love to be surprised by music I didn’t know about or was convinced I would not like. As I get older, I have to fight harder to move out of my comfort zone of musical tastes. Retracing my steps over many decades, there are some game-changers. Although I will not likely be shouting the … More Musical Surprises
Nanci Griffith passed away this week. She had been out of the new for a long time. Her last album release was in 2012. In January 2020, I wrote the blog below, so I thought I would reflect on it and push it back into the universe. Peace, Nanci. ☀️ With a voice, every bit … More Remembering Nanci Griffith
I did not really explore the Marshall Tucker Band until I was college in the mid 1970s, although I knew a few of their songs that got played on the radio, but there was more to this band than what disc jockeys offered. MTB did not fit into any singular category. They were country-rock, country, … More Marshall Tucker Band: Where We All Belong (1974)
Country singer K.T. Oslin recently passed away. She had a hit record called “80s Ladies” and it got me to thinking about my interest in country music back in the late 1980s. There were some very successful female singers that flirted with pop music. K.T. Oslin – Sadly, it seemed she did not release a … More 80s Ladies
Kenny Rogers passed away, silencing a six decade career. There will be many articles and blogs about his life and long career, so I won’t focus on that. Kenny Rogers did a very unusual thing, he was a successful entertainer in just about every medium and genre. As such, he charted a large number of … More Kenny Rogers: A Dozen Songs
With a voice, every bit as distinctive as Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith blended folk, country and pop into vignettes of struggle and joy. Griffith wrote most of her own songs, and was covered by many other artists, but also released albums of songs that influenced her. Mary Chapin Carpenter is … More Nanci Griffith
Once in a while, you get to meet someone whose career is not only long and successful, but influential. John McEuen, former member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was scheduled to play a concert at a local venue and spent part of the afternoon talking and playing for a small audience at a music … More John McEuen: Musical Royalty
Tennessee Ernie Ford was the first to have a weekly television show in the late 1950’s, featuring country as well as show tunes and contemporary music. This was more than a decade before Hee Haw. Ford’s show was folksy and traditional. Then along cane Jimmy Dean, who also got a musical show. Dean was arising … More Jimmy Dean & Roger Miller
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