Memorial Day Speech – 2017

Memorial Day Speech by CAPT Diane Diekman, USN (ret) May 29, 2017 American Legion Post 13, Willow Lake, South Dakota If South Dakota hadn’t passed a law in the mid-1960s to allow only 12-year school districts, I wouldn’t be standing here today. I’d be a retired country schoolteacher instead of a retired U.S. Navy captain. […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 24 May 2017

FEATURED ARTIST–LEONA WILLIAMS When Leona Williams and I scheduled a phone conversation, she was in Phoenix, Arizona. She was visiting friends there in conjunction with playing several shows. Now she is off to Texas for two performances this weekend before heading back to Nashville. Ron Williams, Leona’s son, sometimes tours with her. In addition to […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 10 May 2017

I recently received this email from the Library of Congress: “The National Recording Registry is an annual list from the Library of Congress. Twenty-five recordings are named to the Registry every year. The Registry now numbers over 400 recordings. Each recording has been chosen by the Librarian of Congress, with input from the National Recording Preservation Board. These recordings […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 26 April 2017

FEATURED ARTIST – RONNY ROBBINS When I asked Ronny Robbins the other day if he still tours, he said he stopped in 1985 when daughter Courtney was born. “I knew what it felt like for Dad to be gone 200 days a year and I never wanted her to know what that felt like,” he […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 12 April 2017

NEWS 2017 inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame are Jerry Reed as the veteran era artist, Don Schlitz as songwriter, and Alan Jackson in the modern era artist. Vince Gill announced the winners at a ceremony at the Hall on April 5, 2017. The National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 29 March 2017

NEWS  After the long-running Flatt and Scruggs Grand Ole Opry Show ended in 1969, there seemed to be no surviving copies of the TV show. Twenty years later, an advertising executive discovered a box of 16-mm film in his garage. It contained 24 half-hour episodes of the show sponsored by Martha White Flour and starring […]

The Selected Letters Of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Edited by William Anderson “The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder is the final collection of unpublished writing from the author of the Little House books,” writes editor William Anderson in the introduction. “There no longer remains a well of her words left to print.” This book consists of excerpts of more than 400 letters […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 15 March 2017

Today would have been Carl Smith’s 90th birthday. FEATURED ARTIST – TOM T. HALL I’ve been trying to contact Tom T. Hall for a while now for an interview. Bill Anderson told me, “I have not spoken with Tom T. in quite some time, but Peter Cooper has been working with him on a book […]

Shadow Warriors Of World War II: The Daring Women of The OSS And SOE

By Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis During World War II, an underground army of spies and saboteurs was organized and controlled by Great Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), along with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in the United States. Women, who have been “shadow warriors” in many wars, were recruited for this effort. Shadow […]

Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 1 March 2017

NEWS Shania Twain is releasing her first album in 15 years–and her first since being diagnosed with dysphonia. She spent years in voice therapy to overcome hoarseness and speech difficulties caused by the vocal-cord disorder. Her voice is still recognizable, but deeper than it used to be. “I’m a different singer now,” she told Rolling […]