If they were starting out today …

A lot has been written during the past week about The Night The Music Died. I read an excellent post in the past few days on Twang Nation about the state of modern country music. It speculated that country music icons like Hank Williams and Dolly Parton would not be able to find [...]

A genre by any other name …

Anyone who reads a country music blog for any length of time, is at some point bound to come across a heated discussion about what country music is and what it is not. There are no cut and dry definitions, and a lot of songs borrow heavily from different styles, and are thus, hard [...]

Album Review: Patty Loveless – ‘Patty Loveless’

A teenager of 14, Patty Loveless first came to Nashville with her brother Roger in 1971. Roger had a job on one of the most popular shows of the day, the nationally syndicated Porter Wagoner Show.  Brother Roger arranged a meeting with Wagoner one day, and after hearing her sing ‘Sounds of Loneliness’, Porter offered [...]

Spotlight Artist: Patty Loveless

We are delighted to announce that Patty Loveless is our Spotlight Artist for October.
Born Patty Ramey in Kentucky in 1957, a coal miner’s daughter like her distant cousin Loretta Lynn, Patty started singing when, aged 12, she replaced her older sister in a duo with brother Roger. While still in her teens, she came [...]

Album Review: George Strait – ‘Carrying Your Love With Me’

George Strait’s 1997 album Carrying Your Love With Me came out when he was at the peak of his commercial success. It followed up the triple platinum Blue Clear Sky, released the previous year, and achieved the same status itself (the last of his studio albums to do so to date). It was [...]

Classic Rewind: Loretta Lynn – ‘Love Is The Foundation’

Happy birthday, Kitty Wells!

My Kind of Country salutes the Queen of Country Music on her 90th birthday. Kitty Wells was the first female artist to have a #1 country hit back in 1952 with “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” and in doing so paved the way for other women such as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, [...]

Classic Rewind: Loretta Lynn – ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough’

The Song Remembers When

Whether it’s a breakthrough hit for a newcomer or a song that finally makes us fans of an established act to whom we’ve previously not paid much attention, we can all remember that one song that made an impression on us and made us become fans of the artist.   Prior to 1980, I didn’t have [...]

Recommendation: Live songs & albums

So being the Sugarland freak I am, I went to Wal-Mart to get Live On The Inside the morning it came out- before they had even put it on the shelves. I had to find a worker to get the box of new CDs open to get me one so I could have it. Not [...]

When two stars collide

Country music has a long history of two separate artists coming together to record a single or album together.  We’ve also seen our fair share of duos who sing and perform exclusively together.  In the 1970s it seemed like all the rage for two of country’s biggest stars to join forces.  The decade saw the [...]

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 [...]

Happy Independence Day

Here’s a selection of some of my favorite songs about America.  They’re not ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’, but they all make a statement about the state of our nation.  And though most of these tracks are 20 years old or more now, their message still rings true.   So Happy Independence Day and enjoy some [...]

Classic Rewind: Loretta Lynn – ‘One’s On The Way’

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” [...]

Classic Rewind: Loretta Lynn – ‘Blue Kentucky Girl’

Classic Rewind: Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn – ‘Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man’

Recommendation: Hillbilly songs

Last week my recommendation took on an Urban Cowboy theme. This week I want to go back a little farther to the true hillbilly singers. Some people – particularly those from this bygone era – took the term as an insult. Hillbilly was usually said in disdain by the oh-so sophisticated Yankees and anybody else [...]

Week ending 4/18/09: #1 this week in country music history

1949: Candy Kisses — George Morgan (Columbia)
1959: White Lightning — George Jones (Mercury)
1969: Woman Of The World — Loretta Lynn (Decca)
1979: All I Ever Need Is You — Kenny Rogers & Dottie West (United Artists)

1989: The Church on Cumberland Road — Shenandoah (Columbia)
1999: How Forever Feels — Kenny Chesney (BNA)

Weeks ending 4/4/09 & 4/11/09: #1 this week in country music history

Week ending 4/4/09:

1959: When It’s Springtime In Alaska (It’s 40 Below) – Johnny Horton (Columbia)
1969: Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass — Buck Owens & the Buckeroos (Capitol)
1979: I Just Fall In Love Again — Anne Murray (Capitol)
1989: Baby’s Gotten Good At Goodbye — George Strait (MCA)
1999: How Forever Feels — Kenny Chesney (BNA)
Week ending 4/11/09:

1959: [...]