Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 27 May 2026

NEWS

The Nashville Palace at 2412 Music Valley Drive near Nashville is celebrating a former employee of forty years ago. “In honor of the Storms of Life album and years of Randy Travis and The Nashville Palace, the front room will be renamed, forever and ever, The Randy Travis Room,” says Barrett Hobbs, owner of the Nashville Palace and grandson of John A. Hobbs. On June 3, Randy Travis will celebrate 40 years since the release of his debut album. The celebration begins at 5 p.m., with Steve and Becky Hinson and their honky-tonk band providing live music throughout the evening. In the early 1980s, when Randy and Lib Hatcher came to Nashville, they worked at the Nashville Palace, and Randy performed regularly as Randy Traywick and then Randy Ray. Owner John A. Hobbs funded the live album Randy Ray Live at the Nashville Palace. In 1986, Storms of Life became the first debut country album to achieve Platinum sales status. Whenever we go to Nashville, we stop by the Nashville Palace (not the original location where Randy worked—that is now Caney Fork) to see Becky Hinson and the Nashville Palace Band. Steve is a member of Randy’s band and a long-time reader of this newsletter. I wish I could celebrate with you that evening!

The Fayette County Country Music Club hosted a concert by Darrell McCall on May 18 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in La Grange, Texas, reports The Fayette County Record. We don’t hear much about Darrell anymore, and it’s great to know he’s still performing. Darrell started his own Saturday morning country deejay show on WSRW radio in Hillsboro, Ohio, at the age of fifteen. He and Donnie Lytle (who became Johnny PayCheck) moved to Nashville in 1958, where they toured with George Jones, Faron Young, Ray Price, and others. Darrell appeared with Faron Young in the movies Nashville Rebel, Road To Nashville, and What Am I Bid? Darrell and his wife, Mona, live in Fredonia, Texas. They record and tour with Heart of Texas Records.

The Library of Congress has announced the 25 recordings that will join its National Recording Registry in 2026. These audio treasures span 70 years of music and recorded sound and are considered worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance. The public nominated more than 3,000 recordings this year. The 2026 selections mark the first time a daughter and father have both been included in the registry; Rosanne Cash and her 1993 album, The Wheel, join Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison album selected in 2003. There are now 700 entries in the National Recording Registry, chosen from the nearly 4 million items in the Library of Congress’s recorded sound collection. This year’s entries include the following:

Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)
The Byrds: “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” (1965)
José Feliciano: “Feliz Navidad” (1970)
“The Fight of the Century: Ali vs. Frazier” (March 8, 1971)
The Charlie Daniels Band: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979)
Reba McEntire: Rumor Has It (1990)
Vince Gill: “Go Rest High on That Mountain” (1994)
Beyoncé: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” (2008)
Taylor Swift: 1989 (2014)

Deadline reports that a new version of the No Fakes Act has been introduced in Congress as a bill to regulate the use of AI replicas of a person’s voice and likeness. When a similar bill was introduced last year, Randy Travis headlined a press conference to support it. The legislation addresses the proliferation of unauthorized “deepfakes” and gives individuals the right to authorize the use of their voice and likeness in digital replication. The lawmakers reintroducing the legislation are Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL), and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA).

In a recent interview with PEOPLE about his upcoming memoir Killin’ Time: My Life and Music, Clint Black, 64, talks for the first time about his father’s suicide. G.A. Black died in December 2012 at age 78. “I just felt like I needed to tell the end of his story, what it did to me, and it’s still doing it,” he says. He wrote the memoir to show readers the real him, growing up in Katy, Texas: “I was just a scrappy little kid, trying not to drown, finding my way into the nightclubs and then the record business. I pushed through hurdle after hurdle, injury after injury, surgery after surgery, and all those things that happen in every life, and continued to strive for excellence.”

The 37th annual broadcast of the National Memorial Day Concert aired live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on May 24 on PBS. Hosted by Gary Sinise and Mary McCormack, it honored 250 years of courage and sacrifice of our military men and women and their families, with musical salutes and powerful stories of patriots who have defended our nation since 1776. Jamey Johnson and Mickey Guyton each sang two songs. I enjoyed hearing the stories of the Revolutionary War soldier, the sailor who survived the Pearl Harbor attack, and the nurse in the Pentagon on 9-11. Alan Jackson appeared in a previously recorded performance at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. I knew which song he would sing. Watching him, I relived the feeling of the first time he sang “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning.” At the CMA Awards in 2001. Powerful.

Musicians On Call recently held its “Music Heals Live!” event at The Pinnacle in Nashville. MusicRow reports the evening raised more than $700,000 to support Musicians On Call and bring the healing power of music to healthcare facilities across the country–through bedside, virtual, songwriting, and streaming programs. Reba McEntire received the Music Heals Golden Ukulele in recognition of her longstanding support of the organization. “Tonight is about the caregivers who take care of all of us in our most challenging times,” Reba said. “It’s about the patients. The ones who have gone on and the ones who have survived. It’s about the singers and musicians who go room-to-room putting smiles on people’s faces.” Vince Gill, Wynonna, and Belle Frantz honored Reba with songs and stories.

Nashville will be the host city for Super Bowl LXIV in 2030, after the new Nissan Stadium opens in 2027. Whiskey Riff poses the question, “Will we finally be getting a country music halftime show?” Eric Church was on the committee that put together the winning bid to bring the Super Bowl to Nashville, and he says, “I’m advocating for country music to have its part in that Super Bowl halftime. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that’s involved.” The last all-country music halftime show occurred in 1994, with Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, and The Judds headlining Super Bowl XXVIII at the Georgia Dome. The most recent country music halftime headliner was Shania Twain in 2003, sharing the bill with No Doubt.

Gold & Platinum Nuggets of Wisdom: Bite-Sized Perspectives For Navigating the Music Business is the title of a new book by music executive and songwriter Shelby Kennedy, youngest son of the late Jerry Kennedy. According to MusicRow, Kennedy draws from three decades of experience and offers insights on how to effectively navigate the music industry. “When people try to fit into the music industry, they can get confused and lose sight of what is meant to be their unique contribution,” Shelby says. “My book is an alternative attempt to have a few meetings with the reader so they can get on the fast-track with better understanding to cut through the clutter in their career path.”

When George Strait recently performed at Moody Center in Austin, Texas, he was honored by the dedication of a new backstage lounge named “The Troubadour.” Music Matters Magazine reports, “The lounge features a refurbished vintage jukebox programmed with his extensive catalogue, a burnt orange pool table, a restored neon sign, and carefully curated décor.” It captures the feel of the classic Texas honky-tonks where his career began. His boot prints are enshrined in a bronze plaque imbedded in the floor.

A collection of previously unreleased recordings by Gary Stewart is on a new album, One Track Mind, being released by Delmore Recording Society in July, reports MusicRow. Most are songwriting demos from when he first arrived in Nashville to be a songwriter. Last month, Jimmy McDonough published the biography, Gary Stewart: I Am From the Honky-Tonks.

Approximately 2,500 attended the 2.5 hour show by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the Opry House on May 13, reports MusicRow. It was the exact anniversary date of the group’s first concert, in Long Beach, California, on May 13, 1966, when Jeff Hanna founded the act. Ten dates remain on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s farewell concert tour, which concludes in Denver on June 18.

A Tennessee Music Pathways marker will be installed in Hendersonville, behind Moby Dicky’s Restaurant, the former site of Morningstar Sound Studio (founded by Kyle Lehning and Tony Gottlieb) to honor Randy Travis and the late Dan Seals. The dedication ceremony will take place at noon on June 2. According to a 117 Entertainment Group press release, the location holds historical significance as the former recording studio where artists such as Randy Travis, Dan Seals, Anne Murray, and George Jones recorded hits that included “Forever and Ever, Amen” and “Bop.” Kyle Lehning once told me, “My partner, Tony Gottlieb, and I had a studio in Hendersonville called Morningstar. Tony managed Dan Seals, who was also an artist I produced. We did some actual tracking, but most of the time I used the studio for overdubbing and mixing. That’s where pretty much all of Randy’s records were mixed.” When they finished Storms of Life, Kyle recalls, “we sat in my studio and listened to the entire album, top to bottom, just the two of us sitting in the control room and listening to it. When it was over, I said, ‘Well, I think that’s pretty good.’ Randy said, ‘Yeah, me, too.’ I said, ‘I’ve done the math. I figure if we sell 40,000 albums, they might let us make another album.’” On the 40th anniversary of the release of that debut album, the site on a peninsula on Old Hickory Lake will be dedicated “Point Amen” as part of the Tennessee Music Pathways celebration. Tennessee Music Pathways is an online planning guide that stretches across all 95 counties and features hundreds of landmarks to connect visitors to the state’s rich musical heritage.

In Las Vegas, during the 52nd American Music Awards show on the evening of Memorial Day, Darius Rucker received the Veterans Voice Award. PEOPLE reports this year’s award came from USAA’s Honor Through Action. Rucker, 60, was acknowledged for his commitment to organizations like the Military Warriors Support Foundation, with which he helped provide more than 20 mortgage-free homes to veterans. He also completed multiple overseas USO tours and performed at events like the DoD Warrior Games. “It’s called the Veterans Voice Award, and I take that to heart big time because all of us can use our voice to support these brave men and women who are serving our country,” he said in his acceptance speech. Last year, Zac Brown received the inaugural Veterans Voice Award presented by Easy Day Foundation.

Whiskey Riff reports on a song that has extra significance on Memorial Day–“I Drive Your Truck,” sung by Lee Brice. The song idea came to Connie Harrington after listening to an NPR interview with Paul Monti, father of Medal of Honor recipient Jared C. Monti, an Army staff sergeant killed in Afghanistan in 2006. During that interview, Monti talked about how he would drive his son’s truck around to feel close to him. Jessi Alexander and Jimmy Yeary joined Connie in writing the song. Paul Monti didn’t know he had inspired Brice’s hit song until Connie invited him to Nashville. Monti died in 2022. Jimmy Yeary will be coming to the Military Heritage Alliance in Sioux Falls on August 15 for a songwriter night called “The Blue Bird Cafe Experience with Jimmy Yeary and Friends.”

LETTERS

Cor Sanne writes from The Netherlands, “Here is a picture of me with Marty. This picture was taken in Rotterdam, Netherlands on April 12th of 1982, where a lot of big stars were sceduled. Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc.etc. I was the MC and I had a lot of fun with Marty. What an act. They don’t make them that way anymore. Marty Robbins was singing his heart out!!! And….his showmanship was unique. Period! I am also glad my dear friend Diane Jordan got one of her songs recorded by Ray Stevens. Congratulations to a lifetime friend. Happy trails from Nieuwkoop (Netherlands).”

Cor Sonne and Marty Robbins

Jackie Allen Thomas in Arizona says, “Sad to hear about David Allan Coe’s death. Doesn’t sound like a happy man and may he rest in peace. Healing prayers for Dolly and glad she and Willie, two greats, are still active in country music. Thanks for keeping us up to date.”

Mark Casstevens writes from Nashville, “Garth is having three nights of 200 Million gatherings at his downtown Friends in Low Places. Suits on Wed – Players and songwriters Thurs – Tonight (May 15) is the road band/crew.”

Mark Casstevens and Garth Brooks

Nobuhiko Ogino writes from Kobe, Japan, “Thank you, Diane. I enjoy your blog every month.”

Martha Moore of so much MOORE media writes on May 20, “Billy Jam artist Alex Miller was on air this morning with WGSQ Radio PD/MD/midday host Philip Gibbons in Cookeville TN. Miller performed his radio hit, ‘The Byrd,’ and his brand new radio single, ‘Just A Mom’ from his new album, MORE COUNTRY THAN YOU.”

Alex Miller and Philip Gibbons

Eric Calhoun in Los Angeles says, “I love that song, ‘Horses and Divorces.’ I’ve enjoyed both Kacey Musgraves’s music and Miranda Lambert’s music. I am also a person who rides horses. Nice to see Willie Nelson still riding high at 93. Prayers to Dolly Parton, hopefully, her strength continues to return. Also nice to see the Mavericks going out on shows.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Vince Gill recently played for NPR‘s Tiny Desk series on May 18, 2026. Accompanying him were John Meador (guitar), John Jarvis (keyboard0, Jimmie Lee Sloas (bass), and Billy Thomas (drums). His five-song set sandwiched ’90s hits with new material. “One More Last Chance” has always been one of my favorite songs. Vince wrote “Whenever You Come Around” about the first time he saw Amy Grant’s smile. “Heroes” will eventually appear on the 50 Years from Home project where Vince is releasing one EP per month for one year. “When a Soldier Dies,” inspired by a visit to Arlington Cemetery, has already been featured on an EP. Vince introduced his closing song by saying, “This song came from losing my brother 33 years ago.” “Go Rest High on That Mountain” has just been added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress,

COUNTRY MUSIC DISC JOCKEY HALL OF FAME – 2000 (second half)

Noble F. “Smokey” Stover, born in 1928 in Huntsville, Texas, had his own honky tonk band by age 16. He began working in radio in 1949 at KLVL-AM in Pasadena, Texas. His influence was so strong that KLVL switched its programming entirely to country music. He worked at numerous stations across the U.S. and hosted a midnight-to-6 a.m. show on KVST in Conroe/Huntsville. He retired from radio in 1995 but made several late-career returns. His most famous composition was Sometimes You Just Can’t Win, recorded by George Jones in 1962. Linda Ronstadt, The Osborne Brothers, Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb, and Little Jimmy Dickens are some of the artists who recorded his songs. Known for his ability to connect with audiences, and his role in launching and shaping country radio, he is remembered as a “Grand Pap of the Airwaves.” He died in 2005, at age 76, after a long battle with cancer, and is buried at Willis Cemetery in Texas.

Romeo Sullivan, born in Alabama in 1936, made his first stage appearance at age five, winning five dollars and a cake after singing “Mule Skinner Blues.” He had his own band by age 15, playing in places that were “really scary.” To get his first radio job, he begged the station manager of WPBB, Jackson AL, to let him work weekends for free. His first full time job was at WTUF in Mobile. In 1967 he became program director of WVMI in Biloxi MS. When Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, he kept the station on the air, providing information and entertainment. He moved to WBKH in Hattiesburg MS in 1970 and later became its manager. He was a key figure in Country radio in the South Mississippi/Alabama area during his 45-year career. Romeo Sullivan retired in 1997 and died in 2013, at age 77, in Collins, Mississippi.

I’m proud to be acquainted with Johnny Western, whom I interviewed over the phone in 2000 for my Faron Young biography and met in 2001 at the poetry festival in Valencia, California. I visited him several years later at KFDI Radio in Wichita, Kansas. He is possibly most famous for writing and singing “The Ballad of Paladin” for the TV show Have Gun, Will Travel. Born in Minnesota in 1934, Johnny knew on his fifth birthday, when his parents took him to see Guns and Guitars starring Gene Autry, that he would be a singer. By 1949, he was singing with a trio on KDHL Faribault MN. He also acted as a DJ and introduced live and recorded music. Billboard magazine listed him as the youngest DJ and singer on American radio. In 1954 he moved to Hollywood and replaced Johnny Bond in Gene Autry’s band, as a guitarist and singer. He appeared in numerous Western TV shows. He joined Johnny Cash’s band as singer/guitarist for six years, playing rhythm guitar on recordings such as “Johnny Yuma, The Rebel” and “The Little Drummer Boy,” among many others. Playing 200 shows a year, he also worked on his own and with other performers, including Marty Robbins. In 1986, he resumed his radio career by joining KFDI Wichita. Now 91, Johnny Western and his wife, Jo, live in Mesa, Arizona.

Johnny Western and Diane Diekman, Valencia CA, 2001