IN THE SPOTLIGHT – DALLAS WAYNE

When Dallas Wayne, 64, announced he had moved from Austin, Texas, to Bristol, Tennessee, I decided it was time for an update from the Willie’s Roadhouse (SiriusXM) deejay. (more…)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JEFF CHANDLER

When Jeff Chandler woke up in the middle of the night, unable to breathe and with the feeling of an elephant sitting on his chest, his wife immediately called 9-1-1. By daybreak, he had four stents in his heart and was in the recovery room. Carole’s phone call saved his life, Jeff told me during our telephone conversation last week. His heart attack occurred early on a Friday morning, and he spend the holiday weekend in the hospital, returning home on Memorial Day. (more…)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT – RAY BENSON

It’s been fifty years since Ray Benson dropped out of college at age 18 to form a band. When we connected last week for a phone conversation, and I asked him to summarize the early days, he told me, “I was in college and realized I was not going to continue, so I got two friends of mine who had the same idea.” They worked as caretakers at an old apple and peach orchard outside of Paw Paw, West Virginia, in exchange for a place to live, while putting their band together. They lived in a 125-year-old log cabin that had been a stage stop in the 1800s. After several years of playing in little bars and honky tonks in West Virginia, they moved Asleep at the Wheel to California, where they got a record deal and then moved to Texas. (more…)