Diane’s Country Music Newsletter — 29 October 2025

NEWS

A three-hour ceremony of songs and ovations honored the 156th, 157^th, and 158th members of the Country Music Hall of Fame as they were inducted during an invitation-only Medallion Ceremony on October 19 in the museum’s CMA Theater. iHeart.com reports that George Strait made a surprise appearance to honor record producer Tony Brown, who was inducted in the Non-Performer category. George sang his hit “Troubadour,” which the two of them had produced. Lyle Lovett sang “If I Had a Boat,” Steve Earle sang “Guitar Town,” and Trisha Yearwood sang “Perfect Love.” Vince Gill presented Tony with the medallion to officially induct him into the Hall of Fame. June Carter Cash was inducted posthumously as the Veterans Era artist and Kenny Chesney as the Modern Era artist.Kenny said, “Taking the group shot with a lot of my heroes and a lot of my friends, it was the first time that I have ever felt accomplished in my life.”

Merle Haggard’s artist/tour manager, Frank Mull, died October 16, reports MusicRow. He worked with Merle for nearly 40 years and headed his own artist management company, Mull-Ti-Hit Promotions. He served the Country Radio Broadcasters organization for 24 years and was executive director of the Country Radio Seminar, growing it from 70 attendees its first year to eventually surpassing 2,000. He received the CMA’s Founding President’s Award in 1984.

The September 18 plane crash that killed singer-songwriter Brett James, 57, his wife and stepdaughter was captured on camera, reports PEOPLE. He was piloting a Cirrus SR22T and, around 2:48 p.m., requested a visual approach to land at Macon County Airport (MCA) in Franklin, North Carolina. He said he was at 6,800 feet and “intended to perform a 360° turn to land” on the runway. Air traffic control received no further transmission. The National Transportation Safety Board report describes what the surveillance cameras caught. As the plane was descending with a left turn, it went into a “tightening spiral” and slammed into the ground. It was “rocking from side-to-side” and eventually began “rolling inverted and descending behind a tree line.”

Ahead of a scheduled performance in Louisiana on October 16, Mark Chesnutt, 62, was rushed to Baton Rouge General Hospital that morning after his flight arrived for the concert. PEOPLE reports that his band went ahead with the performance to open for Alabama despite his absence. Doctors determined he had a low sodium count and very high blood pressure; he remained in the hospital the next day, Friday, undergoing tests. He was released from the hospital on Saturday and went home to Beaumont, Texas, with plans to see his doctor on Monday for sodium count and blood pressure testing comparisons. His shows for the weekend were canceled.

Keith Urban also missed a show on October 16, this one in Greenville, South Caroline. Country Now reports he was battling laryngitis, and his laryngologist directed him to rest his voice and take time off to recover.

A new CBS television show, The Road, premiered October 19. It stars Keith Urban, 57, with Blake Shelton, 49, as executive producer. PEOPLE reports that Keith was asked in the opening scene about the challenges of being on the road. “It’s a calling and you’re born to do it — or you’re not gonna make it,” Keith said. “When you wake up on a tour bus at 3:30 in the morning and you’re sick as a dog, you’re in the middle of nowhere and you’ve got to play your fifth show later that night and you haven’t slept and you miss your friends and you’re missing your family and you’re completely lonely and miserable and sick and you say to yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?'” He continued, “The only answer could be, ‘Because this is what I’m born to do.’ We’re going to find out who’s made of that stuff.” The Road is a singing competition show where twelve musicians hope to catch their big break by joining Keith on tour. The eventual winner will receive $250,000 and a recording contract, as well as performing at Stagecoach Country Music Festival in California in April.

Anne Murray retired from recording and performing in 2008, choosing to conclude her 40-year career on her own terms and while her voice was still at its best. Now she is issuing Here You Are, a CD containing eleven previously unreleased tracks. “It’s shocking because it just came out of left field. Just totally out of left field,” Anne, 80, tells PEOPLE. “I never would’ve known about it had it not been for this superfan who dug deep and found all of these things that were in the archives.” She didn’t want to listen to them because she thought they must not be good if they’d been set aside back then. With the fan’s persistence, she finally listened to the recordings. “I was very pleasantly surprised at what I heard,” she says. “I was shocked, actually. I went, ‘Wow. How could I leave these behind? They’re good songs.’ ” In addition to the release of new music, Anne was honored on the Grand Ole Opry stage this past Monday night with The Music of My Life: An All-Star Tribute to Anne Murray. Trisha Yearwood and Martina McBride, as well as fellow Canadians Michelle Wright and k.d. lang, performed in honor of her legendary career and impact on country music.

Texas native Clay Walker will host his annual Band Against MS Gala on November 22 in Houston. You can register for the event here. It honors the Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) community and was established in 2012 by the Clay Walker Foundation. Clay founded that organization in 2003, following his own Relapsing-Remitting M.S. diagnosis in 1996. He set out to learn about the disease and find solutions to make daily life easier for patients like him. To date, the organization has raised over $2.6 million for families and M.S. research. “Living with MS has taught me a lot about myself and the work that is needed to bring this disease to its knees,” he says in a press release. “Our foundation is determined to make a difference in people’s lives now, and to protect those who are at risk in the future. “

I watched the premier episode of ABC’s new first-responder drama, 9-1-1: Nashville, to see what would be familiar and how interesting the characters would be. I recognized Kane Brown as the performer at the country music festival struck by a tornado, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as the emergency dispatcher, and LeAnn Rimes as the troublemaking ex-lover and mother of Blue. Country Now introduces the main characters as Station 113 firehouse captain Don Hart (Chris O’Donnell), his wealthy wife Blythe (Jessica Capshaw), their firefighter son Ryan (Michael Provost), and Don’s other son, Blue Bennings (Hunter McVey), a stripper who wants to be a firefighter. The series captured 12.4 million viewers in its first week. One episode was enough for me–too many characters, too many emergencies, too much family stress. It reminds me of Nashville, which I watched regularly and enjoyed during its first years.

Brad Paisley sang the U.S. national anthem at Game 3 of the 2025 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers. After splitting the first two games in Toronto, the teams moved to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Five North American AT-6 planes from the Condor Squadron flew over Dodger Stadium during the Star-Spangled Banner. Canadian singer JP Saxe sang the Canadian national anthem. Country Living Nation reports that Brad is a lifelong Dodgers fan. During the 2024 series, he performed prior to Game 1, and the Dodgers won the series. They didn’t win in 2017, when Brad also sang the anthem.

LETTERS

Gladys Van Dyke writes, “Thank you for including Leroy in your newsletter. We really enjoy receiving your wonderful newsletter each and every time. And a big thank you to Cor Sanne for sharing the picture and memories of Leroy’s show in The Netherlands, January 4th of 1986, in the city of UTRECHT. We really appreciate his very kind words. Keep up the good work, Diane. You truly are appreciated.”

Carolyn Berry says, “Wonderful newsletter. I look forward to reading it. It keeps me informed of good country music and the artist who performs.”

Dominique ‘Imperial’ Anglares writes from France, “Thank you very much for that welcome Country Music newsletter. Good news about the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. Keep the good work going on. Your friend from across the ocean.”

June Thompson says, “As always, such a good newsletter. I meant to write after the last one but got busy. Sonny Curtis’s greatest song according to me is ‘Atlanta Georgia Stray,’ I gave a pretty penny for a copy of a 45 record of it probably 20 years ago, before getting music off the computer was so easy. But I didn’t mind because I hadn’t heard it since I was a young ‘un. I appreciate all the work you do to keep us up on all the country news.”

Karon Hamilton in Wisconsin says, “Happy belated birthday. I want to thank you for giving us all the news about classic country music. You do a wonderful job, and I sure enjoy the newsletter and wanted you to know.”

Jackie Allen Thomas in Sun City, Arizona, says, “Thanks again for another great newsletter keeping us up to date on our country music heroes. So good to see that note from Leroy Van Dyke and he’s still going good at 99, wow!!!”

Bobby Fischer writes from Nashville, “Thanks di, fun to have my name connected with a great naval officer. Several years ago, me and Helen went to Las Vegas; a great guitar player that played in my little band was now playing guitar for Wayne Newton at the Flamingo Hotel casino. He got us tickets for the show. Wayne came out and said a few things. One was, ‘I remember when I was just a tear in mama’s eye,’ I wrote that down. Back in Nashville I had the good fortune to write songs with Pat Alger. He got the song rollin’. Love how it came out.”

Bob Jennings says, “I often wonder how their Lives and Music would have turned out had they Lived a full long Life–Hank Williams Senior–Marty Robbins–Elvis Presley–Patsy Cline–Jim Reeves…”

Martha Moore of so much MOORE media reports: “Billy Jam Records artist Alex Miller visited RFD-TV studios this week as a part of the ‘Countdown to the FFA Convention.’ He shared his many experiences in FFA from high school to being honored with the American FFA Degree for Excellence in 2023. Along with chatting about farming, Alex got a chance to promote his current single, ‘Secondhand Smoke,’ written by Alan Jackson and Jim McBride. Alex continues his strong agricultural ties as he travels on behalf of the Kentucky Dept of Agriculture as their Kentucky Proud brand ambassador.” She adds, “I attended the Nashville Songwriters Gala, and it is one of the best events all year. Also loved seeing Cor Sanne’s pic and comments.”

Eric Calhoun in Los Angeles says, “Congratulations to both Kathy Mattea and Suzy Bogguss for their inductions into the Grand Ole Opry. Yes, I miss Ronnie Milsap, but I still remember his great songs, and the late Bob Kingsley telling us that he went to the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind (SCSDB).”

Gene Atkins says, “I was listening to your comments with Dallas Wayne, and I was going to get in touch with you then. I was driving and when I got to my destination I had forgotten about it. Senior moments. Anyway, I met Faron in Paris, Tennessee, years ago at Hank Williams Jr’s place. He asked me where I was from & when I told him I was born in Utah, he told me, ‘Brigham Young is my grandfather.’ That said with a twinkle in his eye. I was really saddened to hear he’d taken his own life those years ago. I’ll be ordering the audio books about him & Marty Robbins. That was a very interesting interview with Dallas. I knew some things you mentioned about both of them, but some things were new.”

COUNTRY MUSIC DISC JOCKEY HALL OF FAME – 1976 and 1977

1976
Texas native Joe Allison was born in 1924 and joined Tex Ritter’s touring show in the 1940s. In 1949 he moved to Nashville where he worked as a radio host before moving in 1953 to KXLA in Pasadena, California. He wrote “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young” for Faron Young and “He’ll Have To Go” for Jim Reeves. In 1960, he founded the country department at Liberty Records and signed Willie Nelson. He returned to Nashville in 1965 to head the country division of Dot Records, and in 1967 he became head of the country division of Capitol Records. I visited him at his home in Nashville in 2000 as I was beginning my Faron Young research. He had degenerative lung disease, with a paralyzed diaphragm, and had been bedridden and on oxygen for the past three weeks. He sat on one side of his king-sized bed. His wife showed me into the bedroom, where I plopped my recorder on the middle of the bed and sat on the other edge. Joe said, “I’ll tell my friends I was in bed with a Navy captain this morning.” We had an enjoyable conversation. He died two years later, at age 77, in Nashville.

Randy Blake was born Harold Winston in Chicago in 1906. He sang in vaudeville and trained for opera. By the early 1940s, Randy Blake’s Suppertime Frolic was heard in more than half of the 48 states. World War II brought radio to the troops around the world through The American Forces Radio Service. Following the war, the U.S. government gave Blake a medal for his help in bringing music to soldiers overseas. His smooth, resonant voice delivered a more sophisticated presentation to what was then known as “hillbilly” music. He stayed with WJJD in Chicago until the late 1950s when he created the Stewart Sales Company, a surplus record company, and started recording television commercials. He died on February 18, 1976, at the age of 69. Eight months later, he was posthumously inducted into Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame.

1977
Lowell Blanchard was born in 1910 in Palmer, Illinois, and received his first radio broadcasting experience as a college student. He served as master of ceremonies and public address announcer at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago, Illinois. After working at radio stations in Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan, he moved in 1936 to Knoxville, Tennessee where he hosted Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round and Musical Clock Show on WNOX. Both live radio programs continued until the early 1960s. The careers of Roy Acuff, Archie Campbell, Kitty Wells, Chet Atkins, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, Pee Wee King, Martha Carson, Don Gibson, and the Louvin Brothers got started on Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round. Blanchard was active in his community and served as city councilman for a time. He died in Knoxville at age 57 in 1968.

Kentucky farm boy Hugh Cherry, born in 1922, spent the years 1946 to 1976 working as a country music deejay in Louisville, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles. He was a self-styled “hillbilly” who could alternate between the folksiness of his upbringing and the urbane, deep-voiced polish learned during his long broadcasting career. Cherry said his alcoholism ruined three marriages, before he quit drinking in 1978 and became a lecturer and group leader for a privately run alcoholism education program in Torrance, California. He credited cycling with restoring his health in the late 1980s after a bout of emphysema. Timothy Cherry, the son who prodded him to start riding a bike, was killed in a bicycling accident in 1989, and his father became a campaigner for bicycle safety. He lived in Seal Beach since the early 1960s and died there in 1998, of lung cancer, at age 76.