NEWS Sonny James 1928-2016 Sonny James, 87, died February 22 in hospice in Nashville, Tennessee. James Hugh “Sonny Boy” Loden, born May 1, 1928, in Hackleburg, Alabama, received his first mandolin at age three. His father made it from a molasses bucket. He also learned to play guitar and fiddle, and became a teenaged fiddle […]
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By Barbara Taylor Bradford The Cavendon Women, the thirtieth novel of Barbara Taylor Bradford, takes place in the mid-1920s and is the sequel to Cavendon Hall, which covered the Great War of 1914-18. Bradford, born and raised in England, was inducted by Queen Elizabeth into the Order of the British Empire in 2007 for her […]
FEATURED ARTIST – JOE STAMPLEY Joe Stampley is recovering from unplanned heart bypass surgery. He had just returned from a tour and was carrying a fifty-pound sack of corn out to feed the deer on December 21, when his chest started hurting enough to make him drop the bag off his shoulder. It was a […]
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–This is a speech I gave to a veterans’ group at the Center for Active Generations in Sioux Falls on January 27, 2016– Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to be here. It’s so good to be living in South Dakota again. I graduated from Augustana College in 1972 and joined the Navy, […]
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NEWS Mel Tillis, 83, underwent emergency colon surgery at Nashville’s Centennial Medical Center on January 8. The Tennessean reported on January 15 that reports indicating Mel was in frail health were overstated. After several weeks of recovery, he plans to be back in action. The surgery prevented him from joining the scheduled Country Music Cruise […]
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By Jo Ivester “Many Americans live on the outskirts of hope,” President Lyndon Johnson said in his historic 1964 War on Poverty speech. “Some because of their poverty and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity.” The Outskirts of Hope: […]
https://dianediekman.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/theoutskirtsofhope.jpg200132Diane Diekmanhttp://dianediekman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Diane-Diekman-Logo.pngDiane Diekman2016-01-21 11:44:302026-02-05 11:44:59The Outskirts Of Hope: A Memoir Of The 1960s Deep South
FEATURED ARTIST – RED STEAGALL When I called Red Steagall at his Fort Worth, Texas, office the other day, he told me he’d first visited Sioux Falls at age twelve. Although he grew up in a “little bitty town in Texas,” he spent the five most important summers of his life on his uncle’s farm […]
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NEWS A five-time national country music disc jockey of the year is retiring. Billy Parker, 78, made his radio debut in 1959 and has been on KVOO Radio in Tulsa continuously since 1971. The last taping of Billy Parker’s Country Junction took place on December 22. The playlist for his farewell show, which aired twice […]
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FEATURED ARTIST – JOHNNY WESTERN “For the first time in 64 years, I have no schedule–and I’m loving it.” That’s what Johnny Western told me when I called him last week at his home in Mesa, Arizona. The little boy who lived in a CCC camp in the Minnesota north woods and dreamed of being […]
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By William Doyle PT 109: An American epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy makes a strong case that Kennedy might never have become President of the United States without the publicity generated by the saga of his war heroism. William Doyle, a New York Times bestselling author and historian, expands […]
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Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 9 March 2016
NEWS Sonny James 1928-2016 Sonny James, 87, died February 22 in hospice in Nashville, Tennessee. James Hugh “Sonny Boy” Loden, born May 1, 1928, in Hackleburg, Alabama, received his first mandolin at age three. His father made it from a molasses bucket. He also learned to play guitar and fiddle, and became a teenaged fiddle […]
The Cavendon Women
By Barbara Taylor Bradford The Cavendon Women, the thirtieth novel of Barbara Taylor Bradford, takes place in the mid-1920s and is the sequel to Cavendon Hall, which covered the Great War of 1914-18. Bradford, born and raised in England, was inducted by Queen Elizabeth into the Order of the British Empire in 2007 for her […]
Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 10 February 2016
FEATURED ARTIST – JOE STAMPLEY Joe Stampley is recovering from unplanned heart bypass surgery. He had just returned from a tour and was carrying a fifty-pound sack of corn out to feed the deer on December 21, when his chest started hurting enough to make him drop the bag off his shoulder. It was a […]
“Lessons I Have Learned”
–This is a speech I gave to a veterans’ group at the Center for Active Generations in Sioux Falls on January 27, 2016– Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to be here. It’s so good to be living in South Dakota again. I graduated from Augustana College in 1972 and joined the Navy, […]
Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 27 January 2016
NEWS Mel Tillis, 83, underwent emergency colon surgery at Nashville’s Centennial Medical Center on January 8. The Tennessean reported on January 15 that reports indicating Mel was in frail health were overstated. After several weeks of recovery, he plans to be back in action. The surgery prevented him from joining the scheduled Country Music Cruise […]
The Outskirts Of Hope: A Memoir Of The 1960s Deep South
By Jo Ivester “Many Americans live on the outskirts of hope,” President Lyndon Johnson said in his historic 1964 War on Poverty speech. “Some because of their poverty and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity.” The Outskirts of Hope: […]
Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 13 January 2016
FEATURED ARTIST – RED STEAGALL When I called Red Steagall at his Fort Worth, Texas, office the other day, he told me he’d first visited Sioux Falls at age twelve. Although he grew up in a “little bitty town in Texas,” he spent the five most important summers of his life on his uncle’s farm […]
Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 30 December 2015
NEWS A five-time national country music disc jockey of the year is retiring. Billy Parker, 78, made his radio debut in 1959 and has been on KVOO Radio in Tulsa continuously since 1971. The last taping of Billy Parker’s Country Junction took place on December 22. The playlist for his farewell show, which aired twice […]
Diane’s Country Music Newsletter – 16 December 2015
FEATURED ARTIST – JOHNNY WESTERN “For the first time in 64 years, I have no schedule–and I’m loving it.” That’s what Johnny Western told me when I called him last week at his home in Mesa, Arizona. The little boy who lived in a CCC camp in the Minnesota north woods and dreamed of being […]
Pt 109: An American Epic Of War, Survival, And The Destiny Of John F. Kennedy
By William Doyle PT 109: An American epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy makes a strong case that Kennedy might never have become President of the United States without the publicity generated by the saga of his war heroism. William Doyle, a New York Times bestselling author and historian, expands […]