Album Review: ‘Hank Williams Revealed: The Unreleased Recordings’

A year after the arrival of the Time-Life first box set of previously unreleased Hank Williams performances comes a second set. Like the first set, all the material comes from a series of pre-recorded performances Hank did for sponsor Mother’s Best in 1951, which were then broadcast ‘as live’. This edition, however, is [...]

Album Review: Brooks & Dunn – ‘Brand New Man’

In 1990, Tim DuBois, an executive with Arista Records’ newly established Nashville division, introduced two struggling solo artists named Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn and suggested that they record together as a duo. Few, if any, realized at the time that the meeting would result in the formation of one of the most successful [...]

Album Review: Joe Nichols – ‘Old Things New’

A few years ago, Joe Nichols looked to be one of the brightest young country stars, with an interestingly textured voice and a sound with genuinely country roots which still worked on country radio, thanks to some very good songs. His career seems to have gone off track since them – no doubt not [...]

Album Review: Patty Loveless – ‘Sleepless Nights’

Patty Loveless was dropped by Epic following disappointing sales and minimal airplay for her last album for the label, Dreamin’ My Dreams. She was in no hurry to make her next move, taking some time off the road to move down to Georgia, and dealing with family deaths and illness, but in 2008 she signed [...]

The year of the tribute

Several of my favorite artists have chosen 2009 as the year to pay tribute to the songs and artists that built country music as a commercial genre, and made it the American art form it is today.  Collections from Wynonna and Tanya Tucker released earlier this year have both contained songs from the Great American [...]

Album Review: Patty Loveless – ‘If My Heart Had Windows’

Signed to MCA in 1985, Patty Loveless enjoyed some modest success on the singles charts, which did not translate into album sales by the time her eponymous debut disc was released in 1987. Her second album, released in 1988, didn’t fare much better at retail, but it did provide a much needed breakthrough at [...]

Album Review: Shane Worley – ‘Mister Purified Country’

It’s easy to get discouraged by the state of today’s country radio and the majority of major-label releases. But there are still artists out there making real country music, even if most of them are on independent labels and can be hard to track down sometimes. One singer I’ve been interested in for [...]

Album Review: Deryl Dodd – ‘Together Again’

Texan singer-songwriter Deryl Dodd emerged in 1996 with his excellent One Ride In Vegas album on Columbia. He had a couple of top 40 hits, a cover of ‘That’s How I Got To Memphis’ and ‘A Bitter End’, before his career was derailed by serious illness. He never regained the lost momentum, and eventually lost [...]

Singers & songwriters

Country music has a long, rich heritage of artists who were both accomplished singers and songwriters — Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton are just a few examples of those who excelled not only as vocalists, but at writing their own material. Others, like George Strait and Reba McEntire, have occasionally [...]

Album Review: Tanya Tucker – ‘My Turn’

After seven long years, Tanya Tucker is finally back with My Turn , a collection of covers of classic country songs, recorded as a tribute to her late father and mentor, Beau Tucker. This album is different from anything Tanya has done in the past. We’ve never heard her sound so “retro” [...]

Week ending 6/13/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: Lovesick Blues — Hank Williams (MGM)
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Running Bear — Sonny James (Capitol)
1979: She Believes In Me — Kenny Rogers (United Artists)

1989: A Better Man — Clint Black (RCA)
1999: Please Remember Me– Tim McGraw (Curb)

More than one outlet

Hank Williams recorded under the guise of Luke the Drifter in the early 1950s, Garth Brooks was Chris Gaines, and George Jones as a rockabilly singing duck.  These are just a few of the alter egos country music has created.  An alter ego is a second self – ‘the other I’.  So what drives a [...]

Week ending 6/6/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: Lovesick Blues — Hank Williams (MGM)
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Singing My Song – Tammy Wynette (Epic)
1979: She Believes In Me — Kenny Rogers (United Artists)
1989: Where Did I Go Wrong – Steve Wariner (MCA)
1999: Please Remember Me– Tim McGraw (Curb)

Create a covers album

There are some songs that are so closely associated with their original performers that they just sound foreign coming from the mouths of even the best singers. Covers albums can be a blessing or a curse for this reason. And in my opinion, some get it right and some don’t. Some artists make [...]

Week ending 5/30/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: Lovesick Blues — Hank Williams (MGM)
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Singing My Song – Tammy Wynette (Epic)
1979: If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me — Bellamy Brothers (Warner Bros.)
1989: After All This Time — Rodney Crowell (Columbia)
1999: Please Remember Me– [...]

Week ending 5/23/09: #1 this week in country music history

strong>1949: Lovesick Blues — Hank Williams (MGM)
1959: The Battle of New Orleans — Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: My Life (Throw It Away If I Want To) – Bill Anderson (Decca)
1979: If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me — Bellamy Brothers (Warner Bros.)
1989: If I Had You– Alabama [...]

Album Review: Keith Whitley – ‘Kentucky Bluebird’

RCA had a lot of unreleased Keith Whitley recordings in the vaults, and in 1991 the label got his last producer, Garth Fundis, to work on a number of these, leading to the release of Kentucky Bluebird. The album is a bit of a hodgepodge, comprising a mixture of these re-produced tracks, snippets from radio [...]

Week ending 5/16/09: #1 this week in country music

1949: Lovesick Blues — Hank Williams (MGM)
1959: White Lightning — George Jones (Mercury)
1969 My Life (Throw It Away If I Want To) — Bill Anderson (Decca)
1979 If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me — Bellamy Brothers (Warner Bros.)
1989 If I Had You– Alabama (RCA)
1999 Please Remember Me– Tim McGraw [...]

Week ending 5/9/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: Lovesick Blues — Hank Williams (MGM)
1959: White Lightning — George Jones (Mercury)
1969: Hungry Eyes — Merle Haggard & The Strangers (Capitol)
1979: Don’t Take It Away — Conway Twitty (MCA)
1989: Is It Still Over? — Randy Travis (Warner Bros.)
1999: Wish You Were Here — Mark Wills (Mercury)

Playlist: Favorite George Strait songs

Thursday, April 23rd, is St. George’s Day. George is the name of the patron saint of England. One of the most prominent of the military saints, legend has it that George slayed a dragon that had been terrorizing the people of Silene, in modern-day Libya, doing so on the condition that they convert to Christianity.
And [...]