Thank God For Believers

Sometimes world events or personal events pile up and the needle on my emotional dashboard veers into the red “overwhelm” zone.  Depending on the day and the circumstance, I might dial up my favorite “drown your sorrows” country songs in order to know I’m not alone in the “overwhelm” zone.
However, there are other days when [...]

Album Review: Reba McEntire – ‘For My Broken Heart’

Heartbreak is at the heart of country music. Perhaps that’s because heartbreak is the common denominator for us all. No matter our lot or station in life, we’ve all lost someone or something at some point – a job to the economy, our innocence, a lover to another, a spouse to divorce or death, a [...]

Album Review: Reba McEntire – ‘Reba’

This album is not even in my top ten Reba albums, though there are individual songs I dearly love on it. However, Reba’s 14th studio album was significant for Reba and her career for a number of reasons.
Reba reflected a time of important transition in her personal life. Her divorce became final in November of [...]

Single Review: Darryl Worley – ‘Sounds Like Life To Me’

There are those songs that just stick with you and gnaw at you sometimes. This is one of those songs for me. To be honest, I didn’t like it very much in the beginning, not so much because of the music or Worley’s interpretation, but because it just seemed so insensitive.
You probably know the story [...]

Album Review: Keith Whitley – ‘Sad Songs and Waltzes’

There are very few that can sing a sad one like Keith Whitley. At least that’s what I’ve discovered in our recent Spotlight Artist feature on Keith in May. So it’s appropriate that one of the posthumous releases featuring Keith’s vocals is titled Sad Songs and Waltzes. As a relatively new fan of country music, I fell [...]

Retro Movie and Soundtrack Review: Steel Magnolias

Magnolias are an ancient flower that, though beautifully fragile and delicate looking, have stood the tests of time and the seasons of change over thousands of years. The women in this movie are all those things and more, well, except for the thousands of years old part.
“Laughter through tears is one of my favorite emotions,” [...]

Tributes to Keith Whitley

Twenty years ago today country music lost one of its own to an alcohol overdose. Singer/songwriter and talented player Keith Whitley died at age 33, May 9, 1989. Garth Fundis, one of Keith’s producers, says in a tribute blog post on CMT.com by Edward Morris,”Twenty years is a long time to miss someone, but I’ll [...]

Song power and lead

They say confession is good for the soul, right? I have to confess that I’m a bit of a lead foot. It’s one of my few vices. I like to push it somewhere between 5 and 10 miles over the limit. You probably understand if you live in a state like Nebraska with a lot [...]

1989 Album Review: George Strait – ‘Beyond The Blue Neon’

If you’re looking for a solid classic George Strait album with some pleasant variety that’s cleanly country without all the over production, this one’s for you. Released the winter of 1989 in the year he received both the ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year awards, Beyond The Blue Neon is King George’s 12th album [...]

Class of ‘89 Album Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘State Of The Heart’

Singer/songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter’s second album (her first album saw no singles released from it) and it’s four breakthrough top 20 singles gave her a solid place in the Class of ‘89.  Originally released through Columbia Nashville, State Of The Heart rose to #28 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and has been certified gold. [...]

What makes it country?

Even after a good three years of listening to my local country station, rooting around on the internet and exploring country music blogs, I still often wonder to myself, “What makes country music, country?” There’s such a variety of artists with a diversity of sounds and looks these days. Is there a definitive element that [...]

Right there in black and white

I’m a newbie lover of Country music. There’s just something about it that’s drawn me in. I know it has a great deal to do with the stories – both in the songs and of the artists themselves. Similarly, I love it when the tune or the arrangement or the inflection in the singer’s voice [...]