Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 25 July 2018

This newsletter is late because I just returned home from the national convention for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City. I received my second consecutive award for All-American Commander of VFW Post 628 in Sioux Falls. NEWS Larry Gatlin wants his Grammy back–no questions asked. He won his only Grammy in 1977 for […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 11 July 2018

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – BOBBY BRADDOCK Golden Ring – Old Flames Have New Names – He Stopped Loving Her Today – I Wanna Talk About Me – D-I-V-O-R-C-E – Would You Catch a Falling Star – You Can’t Have Your Kate and Edith Too – Her Name Is – Nothing Ever Hurt Me Half As […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 27 June 2018

NEWS Dominic Joseph Fontana (1931-2018) D.J. Fontana, 87, died in his sleep on Wednesday evening, June 13. He played drums for Elvis Presley from 1954 to 1968, both onstage and on approximately 460 recordings. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, he taught himself to play drums by listening to big band records. Hired in 1953 as […]

Power In Numbers: The Rebel Women Of Mathematics

By Talithia Williams, PhD Talithia Williams wrote Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics to give back. It fulfills her dream of making participation in mathematical sciences a reality for more women, by showcasing these role models and thanking mentors such as the ones who helped her. Williams was a high school student when […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 13 June 2018

CONCERT REVIEW – SUZY BOGGUSS Coteau Entertainment recently hosted Suzy Bogguss at the Performing Arts Center in Sisseton, South Dakota. It was a show worth driving 170 miles to see. Just Between Friends gave their usual excellent opening performance. Suzy played a 90-minute set, with the backing of Elio Giordano on upright bass and Craig […]

FBI Girl: How I Learned To Crack My Father’s Code . . . With Love

By Maura Conlon-McIvor FBI Girl: How I Learned To Crack My Father’s Code . . . With Love is the coming-of-age memoir of Maura Conlon-McIvor. Originally published in 2004, it is being reissued in softcover and as an audiobook. The story was adapted for the stage at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. The press release promised a […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 30 May 2018

FEATURED ARTIST — Wylie Gustafson If you’ve heard the three-note yodel for Yahoo.com, you’ve heard Wylie Gustafson. He told me the story when I called him last week. The Montana cowboy had moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s to pursue a musical career. Playing at the Palomino Club, he became known as one of […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 16 May 2018

NEWS One of the Geezinslaw Brothers has died. Sammy Allred, a native of Austin, Texas, died May 10 at age 84. He and partner Dewayne “Son” Smith came to national attention on the Louisiana Hayride in the late 1950s and Arthur Godfrey’s radio show in the early 1960s. Sammy later had a show on KVET […]

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams Of Laura Ingalls Wilder

By Caroline Fraser Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder recently won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. And deservedly so. Caroline Fraser did a masterful job of researching and describing both the life and the times of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Fraser writes in the introduction that Wilder’s life was “a story that […]

My Major Life Work

Another assignment in my “Personal Legacy” writing course was to describe my major life work, followed by the advice I would give a young person seeking a career. Here’s what I wrote: My major life work is being a leader. It’s an unlikely calling for a bashful farm girl who didn’t talk to people and […]