The 25th annual International Country Music Conference at Belmont University in Nashville provided an enjoyable three days of information and socializing. I learned how Irene Williams spent her whole live preserving the name of her brother, Hank, and then suffered the shame of getting herself busted for running drugs. And the history of Crowley, Louisiana, and Cajun music. And how a music style, clothing style, and cowboy movie popularity all converged to produce western swing music. (more…)

This is my periodic newsletter about “Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story,” published last year by the University of Illinois Press, as well as progress on “Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins.” I’ve written four chapters and will continue after research trips to Nashville and Phoenix.
INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY MUSIC CONFERENCE
I’m a presenter at the International Country Music Conference in Nashville on Saturday, May 24, at 1:30 PM. The conference takes place in the Frist Lecture Hall at Belmont University. My topic is “Faron Young and Marty Robbins–A Comparison of Two Country Legends.” The conference Web site is www.internationalcountrymusic.org.
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The law of attraction states that you attract what you think about. I learned this when I read “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books, 2006). Byrne asks, “Have you ever started to think about something you were not happy about, and the more you thought about it the worse it seemed? That’s because as you think one sustained thought, the law of attraction immediately brings more like thoughts to you.” (more…)