By Steve Fishell Buddy Emmons is known as the world’s foremost steel guitarist from the latter half of the twentieth century. His musical and technological innovations revolutionized the pedal steel guitar, a console-type instrument with knee levers and foot pedals to alter the pitch of the strings. Brought to Nashville by singer Little Jimmy Dickens […]
NEWS Founding member and guitarist of the Country Music Hall of Fame group, Alabama, Jeffrey Cook died peacefully at his beach home in Destin, Florida, on November 7, at age 73. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012. Born in Fort Payne, Alabama, in 1949, he began playing in bands at age 13 […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – RANDY TRAVIS When Kayo Paver and I drove to North Texas in 2016, we included Tioga on our route and an excursion to find the Randy Travis ranch—which we did. No one answered when I punched the call button at the gate, so we headed home to South Dakota. Never could […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – BRUCE WILLIAMS While doing research for my Randy Travis biography, I called Bruce Williams (of Williams & Ree) to talk about their USO tours; he had emailed me his phone number. He and Terry were in Minot, North Dakota. “There you are, Diane, just calling me right out of the blue, […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – DON REID Since the Statler Brothers retired in 2002, lead singer Don Reid has spent much of his time writing books. Last year he published The Music of The Statler Brothers: An Anthology. We talked about that book when I spotlighted him in my newsletter: https://dianediekman.com/dianes-country-music-newsletter-5-may-2021/. Now, he has published a […]
CONCERT REVIEW – THE BELLAMY BROTHERS Howard and David, the Bellamy Brothers, sang for a solid ninety minutes at the Sisseton Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 17. That we recognized almost everything they sang shows how many hits they have had. David introduced himself by saying he’d celebrated his 72nd birthday the previous day. […]
By Don Reid Don Reid describes his latest novel, Piano Days, as “just one big Statler Brothers song without the music.” And that’s how I felt while reading it. I’ve been a Statler Brothers fan since they started recording country music in the 1960s. Reid was the quartet’s lead singer and primary songwriter. In the […]
CONCERT REVIEW – THE MUSIC OF RANDY TRAVIS I finally met Randy Travis!! I’ve been his fan and have followed his career ever since first hearing “On the Other Hand” on my car radio while driving to Susie’s Nashville East in Virginia Beach in 1986 to go dancing. After getting my University of Illinois Press […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – DENNIS McCALL My last newsletter mentioned the McCall family (Darrell, Dennis, Diane, and Dee Jee) had been inducted into the Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame, and that Dennis received his plaque during the Heart of Texas show we attended while we were in Nashville. I introduced myself to Dennis McCall […]
NASHVILLE TRIP REPORT The day before flying to Nashville, I received an email from United Airlines that suggested changing my flights to avoid weather congestion in Chicago. But rescheduling before knowing there was a problem seemed like an unnecessary hassle. Kayo Paver, Perry Steilow and I showed up at the Sioux Falls airport on Friday […]