REMEMBERING MARTY ROBBINS ON HIS 91ST BIRTHDAY
Martin David Robinson was born September 26, 1925, in a shack on the desert at the edge of Glendale, Arizona. When he died of a heart attack in 1982, he was a 57-year-old country music star known as Marty Robbins. Now, on what would have been his 91st birthday, his hometown finally acknowledged its native son by renaming a street in his honor. The Glendale City Council held a ceremony the afternoon of September 26 at Murphy Park to unveil the new street sign and rename a one-mile stretch of Glendale Avenue. The new Marty Robbins Boulevard extends from 51st to 59th Avenues, through the heart of Glendale’s historic downtown and near the former ice cream shop where Marty met his future wife, Marizona. KPHO/KTVK reports Ronny Robbins, Marty’s son, as saying, “His memory will be around for a long time. His motto was, ‘I’d like to be remembered as a good entertainer or as a good person, and I’d rather be a good person.’ He just hoped people would not forget him.” (more…)

NEWS
Hoot Hester (1951-2016)
Hubert Dwane “Hoot” Hester, a founding member of The Time Jumpers band and fiddle player with the Grand Ole Opry staff band, died of cancer on August 30. Born on a small Kentucky farm, he spent 43 of his 65 years making music in Nashville. In addition to being a session musician, he was a regular on television shows such as Pop Goes the Country, and he was the fiddler in the Nashville Now house band. (more…)