This week we especially honor the memories of Faron Young and Marty Robbins. Marty died December 8, 1982, at age 57. Faron died December 10, 1996, at age 64. Both gone too soon. Both never forgotten. NEWS The Tennessee State Capitol has honored Brenda Lee, 79, by declaring her famous 1958 “Rockin’ Around the Christmas […]
NEWS The Nashville Public Library Foundation has announced a $4.5 million investment from Dolly Parton through her Dollywood Foundation, home of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The contribution will kickstart a new program called Begin Bright, an initiative to ensure reading literacy for kindergarten-age children in Music City, reports the Tennessean. “I really believe this partnership […]
CONCERT REVIEW—LAINEY WILSON The reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year played to a sold-out 12,000-seat Denny Sanford Premier Center when she brought her “Country’s Cool Again Tour” to Sioux Falls this past Saturday night. Lainey Wilson, 32, has had a meteoric rise to stardom but is no overnight success. In 2011 she moved to Nashville […]
NEWS The newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame were inducted October 20 in an invitation-only Medallion Ceremony, held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater. John Anderson, James Burton, and the late Toby Keith, elected by an anonymous panel of voters chosen by the Country Music Association (CMA), […]
NEWS Where to begin to summarize news reports of the Garth Brooks sexual assault scandal? CNN first broke the story by reporting that Garth’s former hair and makeup artist (“Jane Roe”) had filed a lawsuit with the California Supreme Court in Los Angeles County, accusing Garth of raping and sexually assaulting her in 2019. In […]
BOOK REVIEW – AMONG THE ASHES by DON REID Can you picture Don Reid of the Statler Brothers “sitting in a dark room alone, in front of a computer screen for hours and days at a time, creating people and making up stories”? That’s how he describes writing his latest novel, Among the Ashes. In […]
NEWS Tommy Cash (1940-2024): The little brother of Johnny Cash, Tommy Cash, 84, died September 13. The Johnny Cash Museum confirmed his death without giving a cause of death. Tommy was born in Dyess, Arkansas, in 1940. He served in the U.S. Army, where he worked as a DJ for the Armed Forces Radio Network. […]
NEWS Guitarist Pete Wade, 89, a member of Nashville’s A-Team and recognized by the Nashville Cats, died August 27, surrounded by friends and family. According to American Songwriter, no cause of death was reported, and funeral services will be private. Born in 1934 in Norfolk, Virginia, Herman “Pete” B. Wade moved to Nashville in 1954. […]
NEWS At a luncheon on August 15, The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (NaSHOF) announced its 2024 inductees: David Bellamy (Veteran Songwriter/Artist), Al Anderson and Liz Rose (Contemporary Songwriters), Dan Penn and Victoria Shaw (Veteran Songwriters), with Brad Paisley (Contemporary Songwriter/Artist) being inducted next year as a member of the 2025 class because a scheduling […]
CONCERT REVIEW—LONESTAR Lonestar gave a crowd-participation concert at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls on July 25. Founding member Dean Sams is one of the best I’ve seen in talking to his audience. Of course, a smaller venue with people sitting below him in the orchestra pit makes possible a connection that can’t happen in […]