HEART OF TEXAS COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL For more than a decade, I’ve wanted to go to Texas to attend a Jody Nix dance. That finally happened when Kayo and I flew to Dallas and drove to Brady for Tracy Pitcox’s 32nd Heart of Texas Country Music Festival. We attended the final four days of the […]
By Rachel Louise Martin Rachel Louise Martin grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, with roots three generations deep. When she returned home in 2013 after an eight-year absence, she was surprised to hear about a culinary dish that had become internationally famous—Nashville-style hot chicken. How had she never heard of it? Hot, Hot Chicken: A Nashville […]
NEWS The Texas Rangers paid tribute to Charley Pride by naming a field at their spring training complex after him, reports Rolling Stone. “Introducing Charley Pride Field! You are greatly missed,” the team tweeted after unveiling the “Charley Pride Field” signage at the spring training site in Surprise, Arizona. Charley died December 12 from complications […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – RON HOGAN Steel guitarist Ron Hogan is one of the plankowners of my newsletter list. He has been there since its beginning in 2005. I had interviewed him about his brief stint, during the summer of 1981, as one of Faron Young’s Country Deputies. While we’ve had email exchanges over the […]
By Olivia Newton-John I recently read Olivia Newton-John’s 2018 memoir, Don’t Stop Believin’. Her goal in life is to find a cure for cancer. She talks about her three bouts with cancer and her relationship with the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia. She was born in Cambridge, England, in 1948. […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – LLOYD GREEN When I read on the Steel Guitar Forum that legendary steel guitarist Lloyd Green was home recovering after major heart surgery, I decided to give him a call. It was good timing. He answered the phone, I asked how he was doing, and he said, “Today’s one of the […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – NARVEL FELTS When Narvel Felts, 82, called me last week, after Dallas Wayne arranged our phone interview, I asked what he’s been doing to stay busy. “Right now, I’m pretty close to the house,” he said. He goes to the grocery store and Walmart once a week. He and his wife, […]
By Boxcar Willie, a.k.a. Lecil T. Martin I recently reread Boxcar Willie: My Life Story, published in 1995 by Boxcar Willie AKA Lecil Travis Martin. He talks directly to the reader while telling his story in a series of individual paragraphs separated by blank lines. “My wife tells me I am a little bit different […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – HOWARD BELLAMY When I called Howard Bellamy for a chat, he was enjoying the 70-degree weather and the sunshine in Florida while I was waiting for a blizzard in South Dakota. He told me we Dakotans should come to Florida. He lives on the Bellamy family ranch near Darby, just north […]
NEWS Ed Bruce (1939-2021): William Edwin Bruce Jr., known as Ed Bruce, died January 8 of natural causes in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was 81 years old. The singer, songwriter, and actor grew up in Memphis and began his music career on Sun Records at age 17. He moved to Nashville to be a songwriter, with […]