GUNFIGHTER BALLADS AND TRAIL SONGS Fifty-eight years ago, as our nation moved into 1960, “El Paso” was riding at the top of Billboard’s country AND pop charts. In 2016, the Library of Congress chose the Marty Robbins album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, as one of its 25 annual additions to the National Recording Registry. […]
NEWS Leon Rhodes (1932-2017) The last early member of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadour band has died. Leon Rhodes, 85, died December 9 at his Nashville area home. By age 16, the young Texan was already gaining acclaim for his precision guitar playing in the Big D Jamboree band. Lefty Frizzell and Ray Price hired him […]
FEATURED ARTIST—ERNIE REED When I called Ernie Reed, it was the day after Mel Tillis’s funeral and burial in Clarksville, Tennessee. “I was glad when yesterday ended,” he told me. The funeral was a private event for family, friends, and Mel’s band, the Statesiders. Ernie had known Mel for 50 years, having first played in […]
NEWS Mel Tillis (1932-2017) Mel Tillis, 85, died of respiratory failure on November 19 at the Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Florida. After colon surgery in Nashville in January 2016, he’d gone home to Ocala for medical care and physical therapy. He never recovered. Lonnie Melvin Tillis was one of the best, and best-loved, […]
NEWS Billy Mize (1929-2017) One of the last remaining founders of the “Bakersfield Sound” has died. William Robert Mize, 88, died October 28 at a nursing home in Pleasanton, California. He was a singer, songwriter, steel guitarist, and television host. The Academy of Country Music chose him as TV Personality of the Year three years […]
CONCERT REVIEW – JEANNIE SEELY Jeannie Seely entertained for ninety minutes at the Performing Arts Center in Sisseton, South Dakota, on October 15. The audience in the almost-full theater chose to spend Sunday afternoon with this Grammy Award winner and 50-year Grand Ole Opry member. Jeannie was accompanied by Tim Atwood, Opry pianist and Nashville […]
NEWS In his Saturday Night Live debut, Jason Aldean gave a tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. Cmt.com reports it was his first public appearance since the night 58 people were killed and 489 injured when a gunman opened fire on the crowd […]
We remember Marty Robbins on September 26, the 92nd anniversary of his birth. CONCERT REVIEW – GARTH BROOOKS My first memory of Garth Brooks is 1990. When I moved to Jacksonville, Florida, from Guam, the radio airwaves and nightclubs were filled with the sounds of his wonderful music. I bought his first two CDs, Garth […]
NEWS Don Williams (1939-2017) “The Gentle Giant,” Don Williams, died September 8 after a short illness. He was 78. Born and raised in Texas, he won his first talent contest at age three. The prize was an alarm clock. His first chart-topping song was “I Wouldn’t Want To Live If You Didn’t Love Me. Other […]
CONCERT REVIEW – BILL ANDERSON The Performing Arts Center in Sisseton, South Dakota, hosted the Bill Anderson concert Saturday night. Bill invited me to come up from Sioux Falls for the evening, and I took sister Kayo and friend Perry with me. The folks at Coteau Entertainment Company treated us well, complete with a delicious […]