Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 11 June 2025
NEWS
“I almost died,” Mark Chesnutt says about his years-long journey to reclaim his health. According to American Songwriter, he had lived with a fractured spine for years, and it eventually deteriorated to bone-on-bone with a lot of nerve damage. Following surgery that included inserting two titanium rods in his back, he started physical therapy in 2022. He drank excessively and returned to touring before his back was healed. His alcoholism made him desperately sick, but going to an alcohol rehab center might leak to the tabloids. He told his wife, Tracie, to call an ambulance because he didn’t know another way to get help. They were in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he stayed in the hospital for a week because his organs, especially his heart, were shutting down. He had to quit drinking or die. His last drink was November 1, 2023, when he was 60 years old. Rehearsals started in February, and he learned how to perform sober, for the first time ever. Several months later, Tracie made a second emergency call for an ambulance to pick him up from his tour bus. He had barely made it through a show near Houston. The ambulance took him to a hospital where he had emergency quadruple bypass heart surgery. Now his heart, mind, and body are healthy, and he is on his 2025-2026 Redemption Tour.
A deed obtained by WLBT 3 On Your Side in Jackson, Mississippi, shows that the former Burlington Coat Factory in the Metrocenter Mall was purchased by the Randy Travis Foundation in March. Metrocenter Mall opened in March 1978 and became the largest shopping center in Mississippi. The final anchor store, Burlington Coat Factory, moved out in 2022. The developer told 3 On Your Side that plans were to bring in a Randy Travis Country Store and Randy Travis Travel Center, also that it would be used by the foundation for its work. Zach Farnum, Randy’s spokesman, said the Travises were involved in the purchase but have no plans to develop anything related to Randy.
Taylor Swift now owns all her music videos, concert films, album art and photography, along with unreleased songs. CNN reports that she purchased her music “outright with no strings attached, no partnership, full autonomy,” from Shamrock Capital, a private equity company that bought the master recordings of her first six albums from Big Machine Records in 2019. At the time, after negotiations failed for her to purchase them herself, she pledged to re-record those six albums. She released what she called “Taylor’s Version” albums for the first four and included previously unreleased songs from the vault. The success of her Eras Tour enabled her to negotiate this new deal with Shamrock. She writes in a letter on her website: “I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs to me. All of my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life’s work.”
Randy White, husband of Lorrie Morgan, died June 1 at the age of 72. Lorrie announced in April 2024 that Randy had been diagnosed with mouth cancer. In April 2025 she canceled her upcoming performances after he was hospitalized. Jesse Keith Whitley, 37, announced in a Facebook post the death of his stepfather. He is Lorrie’s son with the late Keith Whitley. Lorrie’s daughter from her marriage to Ron Gaddis is Morgan, 44. Lorrie married Randy White in a private beachside ceremony in September 2010. “Randy has been my partner, my champion and my rock for 17 years,” Lorrie said in a statement. Randy, born in 1953, was a retired entrepreneur who owned a successful landscaping business. PEOPLE reports that Lorrie, 65, performed at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg, Kentucky., on Friday, June 7, with Jesse Keith as opening act. The following day, she sang in Nashville at CMA Fest and on the Grand Ole Opry. Randy’s visitation will take place from 4-6 p.m. June 16 at the Springhill Cemetery in Madison, Tennessee, with a funeral mass held at St. Joseph Church on June 17. Both visitation and funeral are open to the public.
In the past two years, Tim McGraw has had four major surgeries. “It’s been a rough go, but you know, I beat myself up over the years pretty badly,” he said during a recent interview with Audacy’s Katie Neal during Superstar Power Hour. Following two back surgeries last year, he returned to touring. “During the tour,” he said, “the back started going cattywampus on me and in about three weeks, my knees went out, so I had to do the whole tour with my knee shot, my back shot, so right after I had double knee replacements. And that was the worst, having to lay there for 6, 8 weeks and not do much.” While still healing, he has three shows scheduled for this summer, according to Country Now. On May 31 he headlined the Music City Rodeo at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. In August he will perform at the MLB Speedway Classic in Bristol, Tennessee, and then at the first-ever concert event at the Field of Dreams in Iowa.
In a recent interview with The Independent, Dolly Parton, 79, spoke about her late husband of almost 60 years, Carl Dean, who died in March at age 82. “I really feel his presence. I just try to go on, because I know I have to,” she said. “He was ill for quite a while, and part of me was at peace that he was at peace and not suffering anymore. But that still doesn’t make up for the loss and the loneliness of it.” As a person of faith, she says, “I truly believe I’m going to see him again someday. I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things we’ve built together. You just kind of have to learn to make new plans – but that’s the hardest part.” After his death, she decided, “Well, I’m going to take all of that energy, and I’m just going to put that back into other things, and I’ll keep him ever-present in everything that I do.”
A recent injury left Gretchen Wilson, 51, wheelchair bound for months. On Taste of Country Nights with Evan Paul, she explained how she shattered her leg while dancing with a six-year-old at a wedding. “You gotta watch them younger men, they’ll get ya every time,” she joked. They were doing “Ring Around the Rosie” at a wedding reception on the beach, where an Astroturf-type carpet had been placed on the sand. During the circle dance, Gretchen said she was “doing the spin at 100 mph” when her ankle hit one of the pockets on the Astroturf. “You’ve seen those videos online with the foot hanging the wrong way? It was one of those,” she said. “Once I went down, I did not get back up.”
“You never know what’s gonna go down on a Saturday night in Eleuthera! I just love the music scene and atmosphere here,” posted Shania Twain, 59, on TikTok. The video clip showed her wearing a baseball cap with her hair pulled into a ponytail. She sang “You’re Still the One” while playing the guitar in an impromptu set with other musicians at a restaurant in the Bahamas. According to PEOPLE, she lives part of the year in the Bahamas. Shania will do a limited North America tour this July and August.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Shakira and Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn performances originally scheduled for May 29 and May 30, respectively, at Fenway Park have been canceled,” a social media post from Fenway Concerts reads. Taste of Country reports the Boston shows were canceled due to safety concerns, not security concerns. The city’s inspection services department saw something suspicious with the intended stage and could not give the green light for the shows to take place.
The Last Honky Tonk Tour is the title of the 36-city Jamey Johnson tour that begins June 4 in Wichita, according to MusicRow, and ends in Nashville in October. “The Last Honky Tonk” was the title track of a 2010 album by The Wayne Mills Band, featuring musician Jason “Rowdy” Cope on guitar. Mills was murdered at a Nashville bar in 2013, and Cope died in 2021 from complications from diabetes. Both were Jamey’s dear friends. He played the song over the years and recently recorded it (with producer Buddy Cannon) and named the tour as a tribute to his friends. “Wayne’s son, Jack, is a badass guitar player,” Jamey explains. “He says he learned it all from Rowdy. I thought, ‘Man, his dad would be proud. Let’s break that song out and get Jack to play guitar on it.’” Jamey adds, “I thought that the name sounded pretty good as a tour name – The Last Honky Tonk Tour.”
On the fifth anniversary of his passing, Jimmy Capps was honored with the dedication of a permanent monument at Spring Hill Cemetery on Gallatin Pike. The public event on Sunday, June 1, brought together family, friends, fans, and fellow musicians to celebrate the life and career of “The Man in Back.” According to a press release, the memorial unveiling included live music, remarks from fellow musicians, Opry members, and family, and a blessing over the newly installed monument. The event was hosted by Jimmy’s wife, Michele Capps, to honor “the legendary Mr. Jimmy Capps, who passed away on this day in 2020 at the age of 81.” He is a member of the Musicians Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
The Ryman Auditorium added a new statue to its outdoor Icon Walk on June 3, that of George Jones. At the ceremony attended by about a hundred family members, friends and fans, speakers included George’s widow, Nancy Jones, 76, who helped design the life-size bronze sculpture. Choosing to depict George in his early 60s, she guided Mississippi artist Ben Watts on its appearance. The statue sports George’s perfectly coiffed hair, scimitar sideburns, snakeskin boots, a bedazzled Nudie suit, and a wide smile. The statue joins the likenesses of Charley Pride, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, and Little Jimmy Dickens. According to PEOPLE, Nancy is now working to reopen the George Jones Museum, which closed in 2021 in the wake of the COVID pandemic and the downtown bombing on Christmas Day 2020.
“She Won’t Be Lonely Long,” a number 4 Billboard hit by Clay Walker in 2010, has been certified double platinum by the RIAA with over 2 million sales and streaming equivalents. The song was written by Galen Griffin, Doug Johnson, and Phil O’Donnell. According to a press release, the Beaumont, Texas native continues to release “true Country music, reflective of the heart and soul of the genre, with ‘Cowboys in Heaven’ earlier this year and more music on the horizon.”
The Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) and the Texas State Legislature have named Miranda Lambert as the official Texas State Musician, Non-Classical for 2025. Saving Country Music reports the appointments are one-year terms, and artists are selected based on nominations submitted by the public, reviewed by an evaluation panel, and selected by the Texas Poet Laureate, State Musician, and State Artist Committee, composed of members appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
Anthem Music Publishing has acquired a catalog of Marty Robbins songs, including “Big Iron,” “El Paso,” and “My Woman, My Woman, My Wife.” The Marty Robbins Estate says, “We’re confident that Anthem will not only preserve Marty’s legacy but elevate it—introducing his work to new audiences while honoring the timeless spirit of the originals.”
LETTERS
Jeannie Seely writes from Nashville, “Thanks so much for keeping up with me and what’s going on. Just one short correction, though. It wasn’t our family that created the scholarship for Gene. It was Cutter & Cash and the kids at Clinton County school.”
Eric Calhoun in Los Angeles says, “Jamie and Brittney, congratulations on your marriage. and congratulations to Jamal and John for their Idol showings. I want to give all the credit to Martina McBride for standing up to these AI people. Sometimes, people don’t realize what the real thing is. Martina showed up at a Diamond Bar, California, dealership about 10 years ago, invited by K-Frog Radio. And to those going to CMA Fest, there will be shuttles from 7 a.m. till 1 a.m., reports WSMV 4.”
Adam Gosdin says, “Great reading as always.”
Judy Cowart requests, “I think I might have missed a newsletter from you. It was the one that came out just after our dear Johnny Rodriguez passed away. Someone mentioned you wrote something about Johnny, and I figured you probably had mentioned his passing. Is there any way you could send me a copy of the newsletter where you mentioned Johnny? He’s one of my very favorite artists from when he first came out with ‘Pass Me By.’ “
Diane: I hope you received it, Judy, the second time around.
Jackie Allen Thomas in Arizona says, “Another great newsletter, thanks so much. I always look forward to hearing all the country music news as it’s the only way we can hear about what’s happening. Thank you and please keep well.”
Bill Anderson writes in his fan club newsletter: “Lots of summertime excitement in Whisperville what with the release of our Barbra Streisand-Tim McGraw duet cut on ‘I Love Us’ coming on June 27th. Some of our more traditional country music fans are probably wondering why I’m so up in the air over a song of mine being recorded by a pop singer, but this is not just any ol’ pop singer. Barbra Streisand is beyond an icon, and her recordings have been known to sell in the many millions of copies. You may or may not agree with her outspoken social and political stances, but there’s no denying her talents as a singer. And her teaming up with Tim McGraw lends a welcome country touch to her much-anticipated new record. Her album, titled The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, features other superstars like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and more, but ours is the only country-oriented recording among them.”
RANDY TRAVIS: STORMS OF LIFE
The book release party for RANDY TRAVIS: STORMS OF LIFE will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 28, at Legends of Country Music Museum, 2613 McGavock Pike in Nashville. It is free and open to the public. I had hoped to have a collection of Randy’s musicians to play music and tell stories, but this is a busy weekend, and it seems everyone is touring or holding family gatherings. I still do want to have an open mic event and invite audience members to share stories of their interactions with Randy Travis. Let me know if you would like to participate.
MUSICIANS HALL OF FAME IN NASHVILLE (5th annual induction) – 2016 (final third)
Following the 2016 induction ceremony at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, The Tennessean reported, “Few moments encapsulated the evening’s spirit quite like the rousing standing ovation that greeted four recording engineers: Lou Bradley, Mark Miller, Ron Reynolds, and Joe Tarsia. It’s a field that never makes the Grammys telecast, but according to the honorees, the work was its own reward.”
Lou Bradley left his hometown of Pensacola, Florida, to serve in the Army, after which he attended electronics school and worked in Georgia radio stations and studios. In 1969, he was hired as a recording engineer for Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville and worked with producer Billy Sherrill on projects for Charlie Rich, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, and Bob Dylan, to name a few. His thousands of projects in 13 years at the Owen Bradley (no relation) studio included “If We Make It Through December” by Merle Haggard. Lou engineered the last studio session in the Quonset Hut (Columbia Recording Studio B) in June 1982: John Anderson’s recording of “Swingin’.” He then became a freelance engineer and worked with Merle Haggard in California. I couldn’t find his age or what he is doing now.
Mark Miller worked with producer Allen Reynolds at Jack’s Tracks Studio in Nashville, engineering albums with artists such as Hal Ketchum, Don Williams, Kathy Mattea, Crystal Gayle, Emmylou Harris, Garth Brooks, Paul Simon, and George Jones. His songs include the Garth Brooks standards of “Friends in Low Places,” “The Thunder Rolls,” and “The Dance.” Since 1977 he has owned Wheresville Productions in Durham, North Carolina, where he serves as producer, engineer, and musician. I couldn’t find a bio or website.
Nashville native Ron “Snake” Reynolds sang and played guitar in local bands as a teenager before deciding he preferred being an engineer and producer rather than a singer. He was chief recording engineer at Fred Carter, Jr.’s Nugget Studio, staff engineer at Columbia Recording Studios, and a freelance engineer. He recorded George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, Marie Osmond, Dave Loggins, Elvis Costello, Merle Haggard, Ray Charles, John Denver, Keith Urban, and others. He most notably engineered Shania Twain’s 12-million-selling album, The Woman In Me. The songs he wrote were recorded by John Anderson, Johnny Cash, Earl Thomas Conley, Johnny Rodriguez, Sonny James, Levon Helm, Billy Joe Royal, Neal McCoy, Toby Keith and others. He produced albums for Merle Haggard. Snake died in 2021 at age 76.
Philadelphia native Joe Tarsia, born in 1934, was founder and owner of the legendary Sigma Sound Studio, which became synonymous with “The Sound of Philadelphia.” Growing up with a love of music and electronics, he combined both as a recording engineer. His skills benefited such artists as Thom Bell, Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, The Dovells, Bobby Rydell, Billy Paul, and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. His Sigma Sound Studio became the recording base of Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International Records. Joe Tarsia died at age 88 in 2022.