Entries by Diane Diekman

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 11 March 2020

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JEANNIE SEELY “I’m so proud of this area of Nashville, that people are all pulling together to help each other,” Jeannie Seely told me when I called her last week. “The tornado has left such destruction here, and such heartache.” She knows of what she speaks. She lost all her possessions […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 26 February 2020

This week we think back 88 years, to February 25, 1932, the day a little boy was born in a two-bedroom rental home in Shreveport, Louisiana. Five-year-old Dorothy Young stood in the front yard and yelled at those passing by, “We got a new baby brother!” Faron Young remains in our hearts and in our […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 12 February 2020

NEWS The last original member of the Kingston Trio has died. Bob Shane of Phoenix, Arizona, died of complications from pneumonia on January 26, a few days before his 86th birthday. He, Dave Guard, and Nick Reynolds formed the Kingston Trio in the 1950s and won a Grammy for Country & Western Performance for “Tom […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 29 January 2020

NEWS Bakersfield.com reports the death of 67-year-old Mark Yeary, a California native who spent 19 years as pianist and occasional record producer for Merle Haggard and the Strangers. He died January 17 after suffering a heart attack at his home in Arizona City, Arizona. “He played music Thursday night,” his longtime girlfriend said in a […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 15 January 2020

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – MO PITNEY When Mo Pitney returned my call last Monday night, he said, “I just left the studio. We put the final vocal on our record. So we’re a little closer to having it put out.” He remembered seeing me at his Sisseton, South Dakota, concert in November. And he appeared […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 18 December 2019

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JOE STAMPLEY It’s been almost four years since I featured Joe Stampley in this newsletter. shortly after his heart bypass surgery (http://dianediekman.com/dianes-country-music-newsletter-10-february-2016). When I called him for an update, he told me he feels good. “The thing that hurt me more than anything,” he said, “four months after my bypass surgery, […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 4 December 2019

CONCERT REVIEW – KRIS KRISTOFFERSON When I stepped up to the ticket window at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, and asked for one ticket to see Kris Kristofferson and the Strangers, the lady said, “We have one free ticket. Would you like that, or would you rather buy one?” The free ticket was in […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 20 November 2019

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – DAVID BALL The first time I saw David Ball in concert was when he opened for Alan Jackson in the mid-1990s at the US Air Arena in Maryland, east of Washington DC. I lived in Virginia and had to drive halfway around the beltway, into unfamiliar territory, to get to his […]