Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 24 July 2024
NEWS
Congratulations to Jeannie Seely, who was featured last week in PEOPLE, shortly after celebrating her 84th birthday. She has released a new single, a Dottie West song called “Suffertime.” Jeannie says, “I’m not retired; I just quit working. They’re two different things. I only do what I enjoy. If it sounds like too much work, I just know we don’t want to do that.” She remembers attending the 80th birthday party of Kitty Wells: “I was standing there watching her and thinking, ‘I wonder what it feels like to have a career that lasts this long.’ And now mine has gone longer than hers did.” Read the whole article here.
Singer-songwriter Dave Loggins, 76, died July 10 at Alive Hospice in Nashville, according to the Tennessean. A 1995 inductee in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, he is credited with five decades of hit songs for numerous artists, such as “Morning Desire,” “Roll on Eighteen Wheeler,” “She and I,” “Forty Hour Week (For a Living),” “One Promise Too Late,” “She Is His Only Need,” “Wheels,” “We Got a Good Fire Goin’,” and “I Love Only You.” As a recording artist himself, he is best known for “Please Come to Boston.” He wrote “Augusta,” the theme song for the annual Masters Golf Tournament. He and Anne Murray won the 1985 CMA Vocal Duo of the Year Award for “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” making him the only unsigned artist to ever win a CMA award. David Allen Loggins was born in Shady Valley, Tennessee, in 1947 and lived in Bristol before moving to Nashville. He is survived by three sons and one grandson. Per his request, there will be no funeral.
Dead Girl Walking is the title of the new Lorrie Morgan album, her first in seven years. MusicRow reports the 10-cut album “showcases a rainbow of emotions, from darkest heartache to brightest humor. Writers featured on the project include Larry Gatlin, Ashley Monroe, Jon Randall, Kelly Lang, and more.” It ties together her albums from Something in Red to War Paint, both produced by Richard Landis, who died just before this album’s completion. “Richard’s brilliant, creative touch is all over this new album,” Laurie says, “and I’m eager to share every song. I miss my friend and honor him with this collection.”
Margo Price, 41, writes on Substack, in an article titled “As Plain as the Nose on My Face,” that she has undergone sinus surgery, septoplasty, and rhinoplasty after years of not being able to breathe properly and dealing with bullying. “I was bullied online constantly,” she says. “Since my career has taken off, I have often wanted to just disappear from existence.” Her blocked sinuses caused migraines, blurry vision, impaired hearing, and labored breathing that affected her career and life. Three months after surgery, she’s breathing and singing “better than ever,” but she’s having trouble learning to love her new self. “I thought ‘fixing my nose’ was going to solve everything but it was much more complicated than that,” she writes. “Women are designed to fail. You’ll be shamed for being ugly, then you’ll be called fake and shamed for having work done. We can’t win.” Her loved ones and her music have been helping her stay strong. I’m including the link so you can read the entire article.
Billy Ray Cyrus, 62, joined his son, Braison, 30, on the Grand Ole Opry stage when Braison made his Opry debut on July 6. “Talk about a full-circle moment. Literally standing in the sacred circle with my son Braison Chance Cyrus by my side,” Billy Ray tells PEOPLE. “I have never been more proud.”
Ahead of their performance at the Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Music Festival in Austin, Texas, the husband-wife country duo The War and Treaty found a cotton plant in their room. “We all know what that means,” Michael Trotter Jr., 41, said of the racially motivated act. “We all know what that represents in this country to people that look like us.” Tanya Trotter, 50, said it “hits hard when you are a granddaughter of a sharecropper.” Michael tells The Hollywood Reporter, “Anger is what I felt. Disrespect is what I felt. Sadness is what I felt. Sadness not just because of what that plant represents to people that look like me but sadness for myself because I am a son of this country. I served this country honorably in the United States Army 16th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. I’m wounded for that service. I felt betrayed. It’s something that white artists don’t have to worry about.” He adds, “I feel that it’s not enough for us to talk about it, we have to demand that we be about it.”
Shortly after his Grand Ole Opry debut, Alex Miller opened for Neal McCoy at the sold-out Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater in Decatur, Illinois. According to a press release, the pair has shared a bill before, and they visited on Neal’s bus. Neal heads to South Dakota in a few weeks, to perform at the Fort Randall Casino on August 30.

Saving Country Music reports that Diamonds & Dirt has completely disappeared from streaming services. Rodney Crowell scored five consecutive #1 singles off his debut album in 1988-89. Disappearing albums on today’s streaming services are usually due to a publishing dispute between a performer and a label or a publishing company. Saving Country Music comments, “Those who never let go of their physical copies of Diamonds & Dirt are patting their own backs at the moment.” Well, yeah, I still have my well-used cassette tape.
During her headlining set at the Under the Big Sky Festival in Whitefish, Montana, Miranda Lambert stopped her show to call out a rowdy fan. “I can see your head is not turned the right way, which is this way,” she said, pointing to her face. “So, if you came to visit, you can do it somewhere else. If you came to sing and hear some country music and drink some beer and raise some hell, then we’re doing that tonight.” According to Taste of Country, she broke up a fight two weeks earlier, in the middle of her song “Tin Man.” She had those women thrown out by security. She later explained on social media that it was okay to fight during up-tempo songs like “Kerosene” and “Little Red Wagon” — but slow, emotional songs like “Tin Man” were not the time for a brawl.
The longest-running music television program in history, Austin City Limits, begins its 50th anniversary season on PBS stations around the country on September 28. Austin American-Statesman confirms that Garth Brooks will be inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame during a star-studded ceremony at ACL Live on September 5. He and his band will perform at the event, with musical highlights captured for broadcast in a later hour-long episode during the show’s golden anniversary.
Bluegrass Unlimited magazine features Rhonda Vincent on the cover of its August 2024 issue. The cover story is titled “Long Live the Queen.”

While performing to a sold-out crowd at Fenway Park on July 20, Kane Brown had to pause his show when a fire broke out in the overhead scaffolding. Boston news station WHDH reports the stage crew extinguished the flames, and the show resumed after ten minutes. Kane later apologized on social media for being forced to shorten his set by two songs, due to the delay. No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Songwriter and producer Jerry Fuller, age 85, died July 22 at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, reports Country Standard Time. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1938, he moved in 1959 to Los Angeles. He toured as a singer with The Champs, which included Glen Campbell, Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts of Seals & Crofts fame. He wrote “Travelin’ Man” and several other Ricky Nelson hits. After two years in the Army, he moved to New York, where he produced Gary Puckett and The Union Gap, as well as “The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp” and “Little Green Apples” for O.C. Smith. Others who recorded his songs include Reba McEntire (“I Still Long To Hold You Now And Then” and “That Makes Two Of Us”), Ray Price (“To Make A Long Story Short” and “Feet”), Marty Robbins (“That’s All She Wrote”), Barbara Mandrell, Eddy Arnold, Lee Greenwood, Steve Wariner, Lynn Anderson, and Hank Snow. He also produced Glen Campbell and Collin Raye.
Jay Bader, 72, best known as songwriter J. Remington Wilde, died July 20 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. He grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, enlisted in the Navy and became a surfer while in Hawaii, and later moved to Nashville in 1977 to pursue his dream as a songwriter. He wrote music under the name of J. Remington Wilde. He and his longtime songwriting pal, Byron Hill, wrote “Smokin’ the Hive,” which Randy Travis recorded with Clint Eastwood for the Heroes and Friends album. Others who recorded his songs include Ray Charles, Conway Twitty, Gary Allan, Juice Newton, and Tommy Overstreet. In 2012, according to his obituary, he moved to Florida, where he continued to write songs with a ukulele as his “instrument of choice.”
LETTERS
Michael Green says, “Congratulations on the book coming out with a great publisher! It’s always great to hear Chuck Morgan’s voice during a Texas Rangers game. He did follow Ralph Emery on the all-night show, but not immediately–his first successor was Hairl Hensley, speaking of Opry announcers.”
Bobby Fischer writes from Nashville, “I always like to get songwriter attention for a songwriter who made a mark. I was manager of Terrace Music long ago. I signed a writer named Roger Bowling. I let him out of his contract, he had a chance with a backer to record. Then all of a sudden, he co-wrote ‘Lucille’ with Hal Bynum. He bought a property in North Carolina with a waterfall. He called me and said I wrote this song ‘Highway Patrol.’ Kenny Rogers likes this one too, but he said I sing good, too, line up pickers and studio I’m coming in and record it before Kenny can. I booked some of the pickers Kenny used. I met Roger at the edge of town, took him there, we recorded it, put it out on a small label, nothing happened. Roger later died a mystery. I thought he was great.”
Diane: He also wrote “Blanket on the Ground” andco-wrote “Coward of the County” and “Southern California.” According to Wikipedia, he died by suicide in Wiley, Georgia, at the age of 38, in 1982, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer a year earlier. You’d think he’d be in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, wouldn’t you, with four BMI award winning songs?
Jim Fogle says, “Thanks to Jon Philibert and Bill Anderson for correcting me after I stated Bill Anderson never released the song ‘Get A Little Dirt On Your Hands.’ I apologize for sharing incorrect information. It’s a nice song so I’m glad other people enjoy it as much as I do. I made the statement after reading the description below the Johnny Tillotson video: ‘This is Johnny’s version of Bill’s song previously unreleased.’ The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band puts on a great show. I’m glad you enjoyed the performance. I’ve enjoyed Eric Calhoun’s suggestion to listen to WJLE, 101.7 FM. Right now, I’m catching up on everyone who has been ticketed for traffic infractions; good stuff!”
Dominique Anglares writes from France, “Thank you for that first summer’s newsletter. Wishing you all the best for your forthcoming book dedicated to Randy Travis. A much welcome and awaited publication. Wishing you all a nice summertime.”
Bill Nogosek in Winona, Minnesota, says, “A friend of mine sent me your July 10th newsletter and it is just amazing. What a great newsletter and wealth of information. Could you please include me in your list of people who receive this newsletter? Thank you for all the work you do putting together this newsletter. It is truly appreciated.”
Martha Moore of so much MOORE media says, “Thanks so much for running Alex Miller news/photos. So very sad about Joe Bonsall’s passing. Back in the late ‘70s, when I spent time on the road with the Oaks, Joe and I would skate to get some good exercise. He is the one who gave me my music industry nickname ‘skates.’”
Judy Cowart writes from Oklahoma, “Great newsletter as usual. I enjoyed your concert review for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I’ve liked them for a long time but have never been to a concert by them. Glad you got to see them. My main reason for writing is to ask if you plan to have Randy’s book also released in audio form? I’m sure there are people on your newsletter list who would love to read it by way of audiobook. I can’t wait till it comes out.”
Diane: The University of Illinois Press retains the audiobook rights; I don’t own them. The intellectual property manager is working to get an audiobook deal in place. The plan is for the audiobook to be released near the same time as publication of the book.
Joseph Allen says, “Patty Loveless recorded ‘My Old Friend the Blues’ on her Dreamin’ My Dreams CD. Fantastic version hers is.”
Eric Calhoun says, “I am writing to you from Braille Institute, and if I didn’t listen to the news that William Rusty Lee Golden had passed, and that Joe Bonsall had passed, I would have really missed this newsletter. Two Oaks have gone together. I grew up here in Los Angeles, listening to the Oak Ridge Boys. California Gold, Thank God For Kids, sometimes played at Christmas, Elvira, and You’re My Soul, My Inspiration were favorites of mine. Raul Malo of the Mavericks? I’m sorry! Many people don’t know that Florida is really rich in country music, with Pam Tillis, Billy Deen, and the Mavericks. As always, Diane, great newsletter. I love Bill Anderson’s newsletter, too. Congratulations to 650 AM WSM for moving into the lobby of the Grand Ole Opry. I have wanted to visit the Opry, ever since I started going to camp in Nashville. The people in Nashville tell me the Opry is disability accessible.”
Diane: A couple of notes, Eric. It was William Lee Golden’s son who died, and WSM is now in the Roy Acuff House, out the front door of the Opry House, not in the lobby.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Here is a 40-minute documentary of Jeannie Seely’s “Suffertime” RCA Studio B Recording Session, with Steve Wariner as producer. RCA Studio B is now a museum owned by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Kayo and I toured it the last time we were in Nashville. Jeannie recorded her first Nashville session there in 1964. This night was a throwback to the days when singers and musicians all gathered onsite to record a session.
BOOK REVIEW
I ran across a book published in 2007 by Trace Adkins and co-written with Keith and Kent Zimmerman. It’s called A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck. Trace tells about growing up in the small town of Sarepta, Louisiana, in the 1970s. He spent years working as a roughneck on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, at the same time pursuing a music career playing in honky tonks. He talks about the numerous times he was almost killed, including being shot in the heart by his first wife, the mother of his first two daughters. He married again and has three more daughters. He writes, “I have to make an effort to act like I’m enthusiastic because I believe girls are needier than boys. They require reassurance all the time, just like women.” He is a conservative Republican who believes Islam is the greatest threat to this country. He says, “I stand for personal responsibility and against anything that undermines it. So much of what I see in our country today represents a hell-bent flight from responsibility to victimhood.” It’s interesting to read his take on numerous events in the news in 2007. He also talks about the music business, how he’s been fortunate to have a great career: “I’m living proof that the American Dream is alive and well. . .. I was lucky. Desperation was never my story. Hard work was.”
NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME – 2021
Rhett Akins, born Thomas Rhett Akins in Valdosta, Georgia, in 1969, got his start in Nashville as a performer at Opryland theme park in 1992. As a Decca Records artist, he topped the charts with “Don’t Get Me Started” and “That Ain’t My Truck” in the mid-1990s. His co-written hits for other artists include “Put A Girl In It” by Brooks & Dunn, “All About Tonight” and “Honey Bee” by Blake Shelton, “Boys ’Round Here” by Blake Shelton w/Pistol Annies & Friends, “All Over Me” by Josh Turner, “Take A Back Road” by Rodney Atkins, and “What’s Your Country Song” and “It Goes Like This” by his son, Thomas Rhett. He was named ACM Songwriter of the Decade in 2019. He is 54 years old and has a website at https://rhettakins.com/.
Buddy Cannon, born Murray Franklin Cannon in Lexington, Tennessee, in 1947, began his music career as bass player in the bands of Bob Luman and Mel Tillis, also writing for Mel’s publishing company. Mel hit #1 with Buddy’s “I Believe In You.” Buddy has had a diverse career as songwriter, singer, musician, publisher, producer, and label executive. He has produced hit songs for Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney, and Willie Nelson, among others. His co-writing credits include “She’s Not Cryin’ Anymore” by Billy Ray Cyrus, “Look At Us” by Craig Morgan, “I’ve Come To Expect It From You” by George Strait, “I’m Still Crazy,” “Set ’Em Up Joe,” and “Dream Of Me” by Vern Gosdin, along with “Anywhere But Here” and “If You’re Gonna Walk, I’m Gonna Crawl” by Sammy Kershaw. “Give It Away,” written with Bill Anderson and Jamey Johnson and recorded by George Strait, was named 2007 ACM Song and Single of the Year and 2007 CMA Song of the Year. Buddy is 77 years old and has a website at https://www.buddycannon.com/.
Amy Grant was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1960 and raised in Nashville. She signed a record deal at age 16. She had the first Platinum-selling album in the new Contemporary Christian genre’s history, Age to Age in 1982. She and her first husband, Gary Chapman, wrote “Tennessee Christmas.” Other co-written hits include “Find A Way,” “Lead Me On,” “Baby Baby,” “Every Heartbeat,” “Good For Me,” “I Will Remember You,” and “That’s What Love Is For.” A song she and Michael W. Smith wrote and performed, “Place In This World,” earned the 1992 GMA Song of the Year. Amy was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2003 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. She has been married to Vince Gill since 2000 and is 63 years old. Her website is https://amygrant.com/.
Toby Keith, born Toby Keith Covel in Clinton, Oklahoma, in 1961, received his first guitar at age eight. Following high school, he worked in the oil fields by day and played with his band at night. One of his demo tapes found its way to producer Harold Shedd, who signed him to Mercury Records. In 1993, his solo-written debut single, “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” hit the top of the Country chart. Toby wrote or co-wrote many of his hits: “You Ain’t Much Fun,” “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” “You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This,” “Beer For My Horses,” “I Love This Bar,” “American Soldier,” “A Little Too Late,” “God Love Her,” and “As Good As I Once Was.” He was NSAI’s Songwriter/Artist of the Decade (2000-2009) and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York in 2015. Toby died February 5, 2024, at home in Norman, Oklahoma, after battling stomach cancer for almost two years. News of his death, at age 62, came out shortly before the announcement that he was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
John Scott Sherrill was born in New York City in 1950 and raised in New Hampshire, Uganda, and Bolivia by parents who were book and magazine writers. He played folk, country, and rock music in Boston coffeehouses and in Amsterdam. In 1975, on his way to California, his van broke down in Nashville, and he stayed there. By 1982, he had his first #1 hit, one of my favorite recordings, “Wild And Blue” by John Anderson. John Scott’s co-written hit songs include “Some Fools Never Learn” by Steve Wariner, “That Rock Won’t Roll” by Restless Heart, “(Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes” and “Cry, Cry, Cry” by Highway 101, “The Church On Cumberland Road” by Shenandoah, “No Doubt About It” by Neal McCoy, “How Long Gone” by Brooks & Dunn, “Would You Go With Me” by Josh Turner, and “Nothin’ But The Wheel” by Patty Loveless. He is 73 years old and has a website at https://www.johnscottsherrill.com/.