NEWS Toby Keith (1961-2024) Toby Keith, 62, died the evening of February 5, peacefully and surrounded by family. He had been battling stomach cancer for almost two years. He was born in Clinton, Oklahoma on July 8, 1961. MusicRow reports he got his first guitar when he was eight, and he formed the Easy Money […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – WILSON FAIRCHILD When Langdon Reid called me a week ago for our scheduled interview, his first question was, did we have any snow. I said we had a foot of snow, and the temperature was below zero. He told me they’d had an unexpected snowstorm in Staunton, Virginia, the previous night, […]
NEWS Vintage Guitar Magazine reports that rockabilly guitar great Larry Collins, 79, died January 5 at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, California. He was 10 and his sister Lorrie was 12 when they joined the cast of Los Angeles television’s Town Hall Party as the Collins Kids in 1954. The Collins family had […]
By Alton Delmore The first time I remember hearing of the Delmore Brothers was when the Country Music Hall of Fame inducted them during its catch-up year of 2001. More recently, I mentioned them in my newsletter in 2022 as Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees in 1971. Alton and his youngest brother, Rabon, performed as […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – TONY JACKSON One of the performers at A Heroes & Friends Tribute to Randy Travis – 1 Night, 1 Place, 1 Time in Huntsville, Alabama, was Tony Jackson. He agreed when I asked to spotlight him in my newsletter, and I called him several weeks ago for a conversation. His latest […]
By Carrie Rodgers Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman, died in 1933 at age 35, following years of suffering from tuberculosis. In 1935, his wife, Carrie, kept her promise to write his biography. She privately published My Husband, Jimmie Rodgers, which was republished by Ernest Tubb in 1953 and the Country Music Foundation Press in 1975 […]
This month, 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. IN THE SPOTLIGHT – THE TENNESSEE FOUR When Johnny Cash recorded “Hey Porter” in 1955 with Luther Perkins on guitar and Marshall Grant on upright bass, […]
By CAPT Diane Diekman, USN (ret), at Deuel School, Clear Lake, South Dakota, November 9, 2023 Good morning. It’s always great to be back in my hometown. Thanks to Superintendent Schiernbeck for inviting me here today. I would like to talk about what is possibly the most amazing document ever written, the United States Constitution. […]
NEWS Fifty-year music industry executive and former CRB/CRS Executive Director Bill Mayne, 72, died November 28 after a long-term illness, reports MusicRow. I called him a year ago to ask if he would speak with me for Randy Travis’s biography; he told me his health was too poor for him to do interviews. He began […]
By Ruth Sheldon Hubbin’ It: The Life of Bob Wills was written by a fan, Ruth Sheldon, and privately published in 1938. It is one of four books recently republished in a cooperative effort by the Country Music Foundation Press and University of Illinois Press. The new title is Bob Wills: Hubbin’ It. Wills biographer […]