Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 10 December 2025
This week we especially remember Faron Young and Marty Robbins and honor their memories. Marty died December 8, 1982, at age 57. Faron died December 10, 1996, at age 64. Both gone too soon. Both never forgotten.
NEWS
Raul Malo, 60, founder and frontman of the Mavericks, died Monday, December 8. In June 2024 he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer after a routine colonoscopy. He continued touring throughout his treatment. Then, this September, he announced the Mavericks would be canceling the remainder of their concerts because he had developed LMD (leptomeningeal disease), a cancer that affects the brain and spinal cord. Born in Miami in 1965, Raul was the son of Cuban parents who had fled to the United States. “They came here to pursue the American dream,” he told Rolling Stone in 2017. “The promise that here in this country, you won’t be persecuted for your religious beliefs, skin color or ethnicity.” Raul, bassist Robert Reynolds, and drummer Paul Deakin founded the Mavericks in 1989. This past weekend, December 5-6, the Mavericks reunited for a two-night tribute show at the Ryman Auditorium. Jamey Johnson, Jim Lauderdale, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and Marty Stuart were just a few of the performers who appeared during the two evenings of Dance the Night Away: A 35-Year Musical Legacy Celebrating the Mavericks & Honoring Raul Malo. Raul had been rushed to the hospital the previous morning, December 4. Betty Malo, Raul’s wife, posted on Facebook, “The boys and I had to bring him to the ER earlier today, but he is stable and ready to fight.”
President Donald Trump presented medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees during a ceremony in the White House’s Oval Office on December 6. Taste of Country reports that George Strait was the first called to receive his medal. As he started to remove his cowboy hat, Trump said he thought he could fit the medal over the brim of the hat. When George removed his hat, the president said, “Oh, he’s got good hair. I’m surprised. Sometimes they take it off and it’s not a lot.” George smiled and said, “A little bit. I still got a little bit.” Other honorees were Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor, rock group Kiss, and actor/comedian Michael Crawford. While Kennedy Center honorees have historically been selected by a committee, President Trump said he was “about 98 percent involved” in choosing this year’s winners. The 48th Annual Kennedy Center Honors were held the following night at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Vince Gill spoke on behalf of George Strait (as George recently did for Vince at the CMA Awards), and he sang “Troubadour.” Brooks & Dunn sang “Amarillo by Morning,” and Miranda Lambert closed the three-song medley with “Run.” Garth Brooks (2020 Kennedy Center Honors recipient) was present to honor KISS; he assured the crowd he wasn’t in the wrong segment and sang “Shout It Loud.” The show will air on CBS on December 23 at 8 p.m.
As of December 7, Dallas Wayne is back on the air on SiriusXM Willie’s Roadhouse and SiriusXM Outlaw Country. He had a stem cell transplant in November for Multiple Myeloma, followed by successful chemotherapy, and is heading in a positive direction toward remission. While he was gone, Mike Terry, Mandy Barnett, Mark Hamilton, and Chris Jones filled in for him. Welcome back, Dallas, we missed you!!
“My sweet little nuggets Sugar Pie and Adrianna crossed over the rainbow bridge today,” Miranda Lambert posted November 21 on Instagram. Her two miniature horses, which she’d had for 18 years, died on the same day. Country Now reminds its readers that Miranda and her mother, Bev, started MuttNation Foundation in 2009 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported entirely by donations. The organization has raised over $10 million to promote the adoption of shelter pets and educate the public on the importance of spay and neuter efforts.
Dolly Parton is partnering with the team behind the Tennessean Travel Stop to give their flagship location in Cornersville, Tennessee, a Dolly Parton makeover, reports PEOPLE. By early summer, the establishment will be rebranded and transformed into Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop. Additional locations are expected to open in Tennessee and nationwide. “I have spent the bulk of my life on the road, and more specifically on a bus,” Dolly said in a statement. “All the years spent visiting greasy spoon cafes, truck stops, and roadside pit stops have given me an understanding of what travelers desire on the road.”
After three years in Frisco, Texas, the Academy of Country Music Awards show is returning to Las Vegas, Nevada, its host city for many years. The Tennessean reports the 61st ACMs will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 17.
The Johnny Cash estate has filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville. According to Saving Country Music, the John R. Cash Revocable Trust v. Coca-Cola Co. lawsuit asserts that a commercial entitled “Fan Work Is Thirsty Work” is trying to deceive the public. Aimed at college football fans, the ad has been airing since August, with fans commenting on social media that the singer sounds like Johnny Cash. “Despite capitalizing on the intrinsic value of Johnny Cash’s legendary Voice, Coca-Cola never even bothered to ask the trust for a license,” the lawsuit claims. Along with seeking monetary damages, it requests the court to block Coca-Cola from running the ad.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has achieved its fourth consecutive accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, reports MusicRow. Only about 500 museums have achieved accreditation four times, and approximately 1,100 of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums are currently accredited–roughly 3% nationwide. All museums must undergo a reaccreditation review process every 10 years to maintain this status. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum first gained the designation in 1987. It is one of the most-visited museums in the country, with nearly 1.5 million visitors in 2024. The museum houses the world’s largest collection of country music artifacts and serves as a research hub for understanding the genre’s history and impact.
Bluegrass artist Molly Tuttle, 32, and Ketch Secor, 47, the Old Crow Medicine Show frontman, are engaged to be married. They met at the Ryman Auditorium and have been dating for five years, reports the Tennessean. “We became friends,” Molly says, “then harmony singers, then songwriters, then much more. This Thanksgiving, in an old growth forest, with our families, we decided it’s time to make our biggest move yet, forever.”
The Grand Ole Opry, which broadcast its first performance on WSM radio on November 28, 1925, celebrated its 100th anniversary on Friday, November 28, 2025. I listened to the first half on WSM radio before realizing the show was being livestreamed on Facebook, and I could watch it. MusicRow reports that more than two dozen acts, including seven members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, performed during the three-hour show. Retired Opry executive Bud Wendell (HOF), 98, raised the curtain at 7 p.m. Ricky Skaggs (HOF), 71, opened the show with a fiddle solo that Uncle Jimmy Thompson had played during the inaugural broadcast, “Tennessee Wagoner.” And he played it on Uncle Jimmy’s fiddle from one hundred years ago. Bill Anderson (HOF), 88, the Opry’s longest tenured cast member in history, joined with Kathy Mattea, the newest Opry member, to lead the assembled stars in “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Bill wrote some new words for the song. Hall of Famers Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Don Schlitz, and Charlie McCoy also performed. The entire cast reassembled to sing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” for the finale.
Tracy Lawrence celebrated the 20th anniversary of his Mission: Possible Turkey Fry and Benefit Concert by raising $355,000 to help support families and individuals facing food insecurity, reports MusicRow. The turkey fry was held at the Nashville Fairgrounds and the benefit concert at Luke Combs’ Category 10 in Nashville. The morning started with disaster when a refrigerated truck was found broken, causing 650 of the 3,600 total turkeys to spoil. Tracy put out a call via social media, news outlets, and friends to ask for donations to help reach their goal of feeding 36,000 people throughout Middle Tennessee. Over 2,400 turkeys were donated, making the new total 5,350 cooked and frozen distributed turkeys.
An FBI security detail, made up of SWAT team agents typically assigned to Nashville’s FBI field office, now protects country singer Alexis Wilkins, 27, due to her relationship with FBI Director Kash Patel, 45. “Ms. Wilkins is receiving a protective detail because she has faced hundreds of credible death threats related to her relationship with Director Patel, whom she has been dating for three years,” the agency said. Partners of high-ranking FBI officials typically only receive security protection during joint travels. (The couple is not married, and they don’t live in the same city.) The SWAT agents protecting Wilkins are separate from this security protection and may be unavailable to respond to crisis situations in the Nashville area. The New York Times reports that resources have been diverted to Wilkins several times in recent months.
Whiskey Riff recently posted an article about Rosa’s Cantina in the Marty Robbins song “El Paso,” pointing it out as a real place that has been in business since 1957. The restaurant’s website says, “Some believe that Marty Robbins named the song after the Rosa’s Cantina here in El Paso, and others believe that this Rosa’s Cantina was named after the song.” Online articles often tout the restaurant’s claim to fame as the location Marty used in his song; that just isn’t true. Whiskey Riff commented, “Many who have heard the song may have assumed that the cantina included in the song was made up by the mind of Marty Robbins.” And it was. Here’s what Marty said in a satellite interview three weeks before his death: “There was nothing really true about the story except that I found out after I had written the song, a man came from New York and did research on that and at the turn of the century there was a place in El Paso called Rosa’s Cantina. And part of the building still stands. At one time it was the hottest nightclub in El Paso. But I didn’t know that. But it’s one of those funny things that happens in life.”
Country Music Hall of Fame member Ray Stevens is recovering from his July heart attack and preparing for the release of a new Curb Records album, Ray Stevens Favorites Old and New, on February 12. “I’m trying to get strong enough to continue performing,” Ray says in a press release. “But in the meantime, I’ve got a lot of work I want to do in the recording studio, so I intend to focus my attention there for now.” Cut #11 is “Moving Out Is Easier Than Moving On,” a song written by Diane Jordan and Russ Robertson. Congratulations, Diane!!
Thanks to John Harris for sending the obituary of Wade Alan Bernard. John says, “Country Music lost an amazing talent.” Born in Thibodaux, Louisiana in 1953, Cajun musician Wade Alan Bernard grew up in a fishing village and performed in various bands as a young man. He moved to Nashville in 1981 and joined Jimmy C. Newman’s band, touring and appearing on the Grand Ole Opry. He spent 16 years touring and recording with Ronnie McDowell and began touring with Bobby Bare in 2014. The songs he wrote have been recorded by The Kentucky Headhunters, Jimmy C. Newman, and Ronnie McDowell. He produced albums by artists such as DJ Fontana and Jimmy C. Newman. Wade died November 22, at Cookeville Regional Medical Center, with his wife, Cheryl, and the Ronnie McDowell family by his side. A celebration of life was held November 30 at The Troubadour on Music Valley Drive in Nashville.
LETTERS
Dominique ‘Imperial’ Anglares writes from France, “Thank you very much for that welcome new publication. Nice to read about T. Tommy Cutrer who recorded for many labels including Abbott, Columbia, Dot, Fraternity, RCA, Mercury, and Philips. As far as I know, T. Tommy lost his leg in July 1952, not 1954. Not much important but always better to get the right information. Here’s for your pleasure a nice picture showing T. Tommy with Pete Wade. Enjoy!”
Diane: Thanks for the photo—and the correct date for T. Tommy’s accident. I hadn’t been able to find that information.
Donald Ewert says, “I want to Congratulate singer/songwriter Diane Jordan on getting a song she wrote included on the new Ray Stevens album, Ray Stevens Favorites Old and New. The song is ‘Moving Out Is Easier Than Moving On.’”
Jackie Allen Thomas writes from Arizona, “Thank you so much for another great newsletter. I was unable to watch the CMA awards and your writing about that show was great. Happy for Vince Gill, love his music. You and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving.”
Douglas Joe Guy, RMC, USN (Ret), says, “Since I refer to you in conversation with my friends as my country music guru, you are probably already familiar with Dillow Weldon’s podcast. In case you aren’t, you might want to check it out. I watched a new YouTube video of the podcast a few minutes ago and his guest was Bill Anderson. Bill discussed his career start, songs, how they came about, and characters he has met over the years. When he told a story about Faron Young, I knew I had to send you the link, just in case it was a story about him that you hadn’t heard (I doubt that, though.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez4gJsk1W-M&list=PLBQv9x0m0BovhfHgO-DV21aNrwEFkY71x”
Diane: I hadn’t heard that particular story, but I knew the punchline from Faron’s previous actions. Thanks for sending the podcast; I enjoyed it.
Joseph Allen writes, “When I started college in 1973, I joined the radio station as a student DJ. We used to get records from a bloke named Gene Price. It was like a radio station on vinyl for members of the armed forces. Does this name ring a bell for you? His records introduced me to many singers I’d never heard of, many of whom I still follow.”
Diane: The name isn’t familiar, but an internet search shows that Gene Price (1944–2013) from Shamrock, Texas, was a musician, vocalist, and songwriter. He was a bass player in Merle Haggard’s backing band, The Strangers, and a songwriter with Buck Owens. His songs appeared on various Capitol Records releases in the early 1970s, including those by Merle Haggard, Susan Raye, Wynn Stewart, and Freddie Hart.
MY NEXT BIOGRAPHY
I have signed the contract to write my fourth Country Music Hall of Fame biography for the University of Illinois Press. In about four years you should be able to read the life story of Nashville “A-team” pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins. This week I will begin contacting people for telephone interviews. If you knew Pig or have stories you think should be in his biography, email me at di***@**********an.com.
COUNTRY MUSIC DISC JOCKEY HALL OF FAME – 1982
Jim Christie, born Clyde Martin Caswell in Minnesota in 1909, was a radio pioneer who hosted a number of country and western music programs in the 1940s and 1950s. He spent more than twenty years as an executive in the radio broadcasting industry, serving as announcer, copy writer, salesman, program director, and station manager. He was the head of the Columbia College Radio Department and then Dean of Students at the college. His stage name Uncle Jim Christie was formed by combining his father’s given name with his mother’s maiden name. He served in the Army from 1943 to 1945. His radio show, Uncle Jim’s Jamboree, featured poetry, interviews, gospel, and country music. He appeared on coast-to-coast radio networks. He died at age 49, in 1958, in Evanston, Illinois.
Bill Mack, known as the Midnight Cowboy, was born Bill Mack Smith Jr. in 1929 in Shamrock, Texas. He worked at a variety of radio stations before taking the overnight DJ shift at WBAP-AM in Fort Worth in 1969. There he gained fame while playing country music and interviewing the stars who dropped by his show. A clear channel station that didn’t share its frequency with other stations, WBAP could be heard over most of the continental United States. Bill’s show became a favorite of truckers, who could listen for hundreds of miles while driving through the night. Bill was also a songwriter, whose best-known songs are “Blue,” by LeAnn Rimes in 1996, and “Drinking Champagne,” a hit for Cal Smith in 1968 and George Strait in 1990. Bill was named to the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, and he served two terms on the Country Music Association’s board of directors. He left WBAP to join XM Satellite Radio in 2001. Ten years later, Sirius/XM terminated his contract when two channels were merged. Bill commemorated his fiftieth year in radio by writing his autobiography in 2004: Bill Mack’s Memories from the Trenches of Broadcasting.
I called Bill in 2002 for an interview about Faron Young. Although we never met, that phone call began an email friendship. I sent him the manuscript of Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story for a beta review in 2005, and he interviewed Robyn Young and me on his radio show when the book came out. He encouraged me to write more biographies, and he occasionally emailed me to say he enjoyed my newsletters. His final email came on July 23, 2019; the long message began, “It’s been a while since I sent you a note, but that doesn’t imply I don’t enjoy your columns/newsletters more than ever.” He last posted on Facebook in October: “I haven’t forgotten you folks, just been busy!” According to his son, that was the month Bill was diagnosed with dementia. He and his wife, Cindy, lived in Fort Worth, Texas. Bill died on July 31, 2020, at the age of 91. According to his family, he died of COVID-19 two days after being diagnosed with the disease.
Donald Charles “Smokey” Smith was born in 1922 in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. He landed his first radio job as a singer and guitar picker in 1938 at WREN in Lawrence, Kansas. He moved to California in 1940, where he spent most of the 1940s as a recording artist and ballroom singer. His reputation for constantly puffing on a cigar earned him the lifelong identity of “Smokey.” In 1949, he went to work at KRNT in Des Moines, Iowa, where he continued doing live and deejay shows, along with making personal appearances with his band throughout the Midwest. He had the first commercial live country TV show in Iowa on KRNT-TV in 1953. He promoted country music shows at KRNT Theater for 24 years and became one of the premier promoters in the nation, as promoter and owner of Smokey Smith Tours. Smokey helped create the Country Music Disc Jockey Association in 1953 and served as a board member. In 1958, he encouraged the membership to disband in favor of creating a much broader organization, the Country Music Association. He was one of the first CMA board members.
I was living in Maryland when I called Smokey in 2008 for an interview about Marty Robbins. In 2010, he sent me a copy of his newly published biography, Smokey Smith: The Legendary Life of Iowa’s “Mr. Country Music.” He autographed it, “To Diane–I enjoyed your book on Faron.” Smokey died at his home in 2014, a week before his 92nd birthday, due to complications following two surgeries for a traumatic brain injury. He had proudly told me how he purchased his two-story, nine-room house for $20,000 in 1960. “If it hadn’t been for Marty and Webb, I might not be living in this house,” he said. He explained how he usually booked four or five acts, with at least three headliners. “I booked one show with two acts, the only show I ever booked with two acts. I headlined the show with Marty Robbins, with Webb Pierce right under his name,” he said. “In those days that was unheard of. The show was a tremendous success. I’m talking back in the days when you charged $1.50-$1.75 admission. I made $3000 on this show here in Des Moines. I took that $3,000 and made a down payment on the house I still live in today.”