PureCountryMusic.Com Blog

When Porter Wagoner wasn’t entertaining thousands of fans, he was wetting a hook. Porter’s favorite pastime was bass fishing. You can actually see the picture of the biggest bass he had ever caught at Bass Pro Shops at Opry Mills in Nashville. What better way to honor his memory than kicking off the first Porter Wagoner Memorial Artists & Anglers Fishing Tournament. Some of the biggest names in country music and fishing will be there to participate. Rolland Martin, Bill Dance, Gary Yamamoto, and the female Bassmaster Women’s Classic winner Judy Wong are just some of the names among the pro anglers to attend. Vince Gill, Tracy Byrd, Bobby Bare, Jeff Cook of Alabama,  and a host of other country stars will be paired up with the pro anglers. It will be an all day event on June 3rd and will end with a 5:00 pm weigh-in at Opry Mills. Then immediately following there will be a fish fry and outdoor concert.   

 I have flown alot in my day, and I have been bounced before. It is frustrating, but what are you going to do? Now when you travel with a touring band, that is a different story. How are you going to make accomodations for all those musicians? If you are a weekend warrior, the gear and crew are minimal, but with a staff like Ronnie Milsap, what are your options? Well you first fly back to Nashville, and rent a private jet. Then you sue the airline that did this to you. That is exactly what Milsap did. In February, Milsap and his band just finished up a show in Vermont, and had to arrive in San Antonio the next day for another gig. United Airlines overbooked the flight, so subsequently, half the band was bounced. They did make the gig, but Milsap was not happy. Ronnie Milsap Entertainment is suing United Airlines for an undisclosed amount of damages. I don’t think he is going to get anywhere with this lawsuit. Airlines are pretty much exempt from anything like this. You just take your flight voucher, and grin and bear it.  

George Strait knows a thing or two about the rodeo universe. He’s an amateur rodeo competitor and hosts the annual George Strait Team Roping Classic, where some of the biggest names in the roping division come to compete. George Strait is now pairing up with Justin Cowboy Boots to give back to rodeo cowboys who have been injured in the sport. A percentage of the George Strait Collection will go to this charity. That’s just what you would come to expect from a downhome Texas country boy.  

Hank Williams fans can look forward to this fall’s release of a new Time Life set including 143 previously unreleased recordings. The songs, which were captured for a WSM radio series at the height of Hank’s career in 1951, were caught up in an eight-year legal battle. They are now property of Jett Williams and Hank Williams, Jr, who have agreed to a deal with Time Life to release the “Mother’s Best” recordings in installments over the next three years. The series will also give Hank Williams fans a rare glimpse of the star’s personality – for the first time, we will have access to recorded dialogue between Hank, his band, and the show’s host. ”Everyone will get to know the man and his musical genius as never before,” said Jett Williams of the release. ”These recordings were my vehicle to get to really know the father I never met.” This series is going to be a must-have for serious fans; check back in the future, as we will have more details as the release date nears.

Some of our blog readers also subscribe to our quarterly publication, Pure Country Magazine — written by classic country fanatics, for classic country fanatics. Those of you who don’t get the mag should keep a close eye on our main website, because we’re in the process of adding an archive of PC articles. One thing is for certain: this, ladies and gentlemen, is an excruciating process, and like most things worth doing, it’s going to take a while. In the mean time, cut your teeth on this piece by our own Michael Kosser. In addition to contributing a “Countryside” editorial like this one to each issue of PC, Kosser is a professional songwriter with cuts on Blake Shelton, Tommy Overstreet, and the Kendalls, among others. He also writes for American Songwriter Magazine, and has authored several books, including How Nashville Became Music City USA: 50 Years of Music Row (2006).  Here’s hoping this tides y’all over until we get all those back-issues of PC linked up and posted!

~Ben

Who is Country? What is Country? by Michael Kosser

On a highway headed south somewhere in Dixie…

You might remember that song, Porter Wagoner’s theme song on his long-running syndicated TV show. For me that magical highway headed south is the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 450-mile long two-lane, low speed, limited access road that snakes its way southwest from Nashville, across the northwest corner of Alabama, diagonally across the entire state of Mississippi, ending up in Natchez.

It’s a beautiful road, bordered by woods and farms, with nature trails and historic sites all along the way, plenty of deer, wild turkeys and buzzards, and on weekdays there is so little traffic you’d swear you were on a remote country road back in the thirties.

I was on that highway headed south, not listening to a country song on the radio, rather, just singing to myself when my mind started wandering, and thinking about how country music had changed, and how it was always changing. Then, I thought, what makes country music country anyway? Most of you would answer, simply, “I know it when I hear it,” and that’s as good a short answer as there is. But I wanted more, as I drove across the bridge over the Tennessee River, not too far from Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, and Sheffield, Alabama.

There are three parts of a country record that may be judged for their countryness: the singer, the song, and the production.

The point is country music didn’t spring full blown into the world. It developed. Let’s talk about country singers. We like our country singers to sing in what we think of as a southern or rural dialect. We like them to have a little yip in their voice – almost a yodel—or that indefinable honest quality that goes straight to our heart. Second, the song. Country songs don’t hint at emotions and they don’t abound in obscure stream-of-consciousness phrases like a lot of pop songs. Some country songs are story songs and others are romantic ditties but we real country fans like ‘em best when they make a beeline toward our hearts. As far as production goes, we tend to think of a record as sounding country if it includes one or more of the following: steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and/or Dobro guitar. Interesting. Steel guitar I suspect developed from a Hawaiian instrument. Fiddle is a way of playing a violin with drone strings that hearkens back to the Scottish bagpipe. The banjo is an African instrument that developed into the five-string Scruggs-picked powerhouse it is today – also with a drone string. Mandolin? It’s Italian, isn’t it? I don’t know. The Dobro I think came from Czechoslovakia.

Now that we’ve defined some of the important elements, let’s get into history and truth. One of the first big country recording stars was Vernon Dalhart who sang opera and a whole lot of other things before he had country’s first million-selling record in the twenties, ”The Prisoner’s Song.” He sounded about as country as Pavarotti. “Hillbilly music,” as the record labels liked to call it, often featured tragic story songs and bright banjo and fiddle hoedown tunes. During World War II honky tonk music took over country and I wonder what the Possum Hunters and Gully Jumpers thought of Ernest Tubb singing about cheatin’ and drinkin’ with some newfangled electric guitar playing solo licks.

I’m sure some country historian can explain how cowboy songs out of Hollywood movies came to be lumped in with our hillbilly music. But country fans accepted the merger and back in the seventies folks even started riding mechanical bulls in honky tonks. To this day major stars like George Strait and Garth Brooks record songs about rodeos.

In the sixties Ray Price and Eddy Arnold, two of country’s greatest stars, left their roots behind and turned themselves into crooners, singing with acres of strings behind them. Country fans were infuriated but they simmered down, which was fine because violin sections were becoming part of the country music mainstream. Today we think of all those great Patsy Cline records as classic country but they were loaded down with orchestrations (that still sound great).

And blues and rock and roll have had been kissin’ cousins to country forever. You don’t think so? Listen to that old Hank Williams chestnut, ”Move It On Over.” Now Bill Haley’s recording of ”Rock Around The Clock.” The verses are virtually the same melody. We don’t have to talk about Elvis here. Read Clem Carter’s piece in this issue. And of course we have the outlaws, Waylon and Willie, sometimes breaking the rules and sometimes just pretending to break the rules because that’s what outlaws were supposed to do. Over the years there have been a number of great singers nearly all country fans would agree are definitely country. Patsy, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Kitty Wells, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Vern Gosdin, Gene Watson, Mel Street, Keith Whitley, John Conlee and John Anderson are among the artists who come to mind. Then there were the artists who had such great styles voices that it didn’t matter whether or not they fit any stereotypes.

Later Ray Price and Eddy Arnold were great singers, as were Marty Robbins, Faron Young and Jim Reeves and today, for my money, Martina McBride. It might be well to remember that we don’t judge an artist’s country credentials by where they started. Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Brenda Lee were major rock and roll and pop stars before they carved their niche in country.

Country groups and bands make a fascinating subject. The Statler Brothers and Oak Ridge Boys were really gospel groups weren’t they? On the other hand, bands like Poco or the Eagles often sounded very country and yet country radio did not warm up to them so country fans never really got a chance to hear them. In fact, until Alabama came along there were no real self-contained hit country bands that I can think of. It was a cultural thing. We associated self-contained bands with those rock and roll hippies, I guess.

Now, let’s talk about country the last ten years. Do you have the right to suggest that Shania Twain isn’t really country? Of course you do. It’s a free country. Just keep in mind that folks said that Lee Greenwood wasn’t country, or Billy Ray Cyrus wasn’t country, and yes, Elvis Presley wasn’t country. And think positive thoughts. George Strait and Alan Jackson are still selling a lot of records and there are more great country artists coming along. We still use fiddles and steels and a lot of the songs are country, even if we’re a bit short on waltzes and shuffles.

Along the Natchez Trace Parkway just south of Fly, Tennessee, there’s a hill overlooking a place called Water Valley. On a lazy summer’s day drive up that hill, get out of your car, stand on the hill and look and listen. Down below are soybean and corn fields, a couple of roads, a few houses and barns, and even a little ghost town of boarded up old stores. Now close your eyes. You will hear a dog bark. You will hear a cow moo or two; a tractor working hard pulling a bush hog; a mother calling her child. Maybe you’ll hear the wind in the power lines. Down in Water Valley the countryside is still with us. And, as I said in an earlier column, the music is still with us, if you look real hard for it.

GAC’s Master Series always features the cream of the crop in country music.  They are now sponsoring the #1 hits tour of the great Ronnie Milsap, which will kick off in June. Highlights of the tour will be shown via GAC and their website. I got the privilege to see Ronnie back in the early 90’s, and he was magnificent.  He was a great entertainer, singer, and had an incredible sense of humor. Tune in and watch a great singer and piano player perform some of the greatest country songs in the last 30 years.

Marty Robbins and Tammy Wynette are making their way onto DVD on August 19th. Wynette’s disc will feature such songs as “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” “Standy By Your Man,” and a few duets with ex-husband George Jones. The selections on Robbins’ disc will feature songs such as, “El Paso,” “Among My Souveniers,” “Don’t Worry,” and “Devil Woman.” Each dvd will have 15 performances each. These songs were taken from primo syndications such as “Town Hall Party,” the CMAs, “Pop Goes The Country,” and “The Bill Anderson Show.” We are hoping to feature these dvd sets on PureCountryMusic.com when they debut.

The fans have spoken, Kenny Chesney,  yet again, is Entertainer of the Year, and Kenny Chesney tells the fans to shut up. This has been the first year where the fans have been allowed to vote on who receives the nod for entertainer of the year. However, Kenny was quoted in saying this about the change in the new format, “The Entertainer of the Year trophy is supposed to represent heart and passion and an amazing mount of sacrifice, commitment and focus.” He goes on to state that these qualifications were the reasons why he and other artists have won it in the past. Is he saying that fans are not able to judge by these characteristics? Chesney was also stated in saying that this year the Academy lowered the bar on selecting this award. Yeah, I’ll say, about 5 foot 6.  Kenny, in the recent past has had one of the top grossing tours in the world. Are you telling me that ticket prices and the support of your fans do not mean anything to you. The fans have every right to vote on who entertains them the most. Wow, are you that pretentious. To me, the academy got it right. If the fans should have any vote on the selection of who receives, it should be this award.  Kenny, go back to your island and tan your fake implants. Country music is just fine without you.   

It looks like celebrity marriages come with expiration dates these days. This marriage is best divorced by May 15,2008.  Sultry country songstress Shania Twain and producer Robert ”Mutt” Lange are parting ways after 14 years of marriage. The reason for their divorce has been pretty vague, only that it was a private matter. The couple usually hides away with their six year old son in Switzerland, but I guess the individuals that they should have avoided were each other. Everybody knows about the multi-platinum selling Shania, but Mutt is no slouch when it comes to music. Not only is he responsible for producing Shania, but he produced Def Leppard(when they were huge), ACDC, Bryan Adams and several other artists. He co-wrote Adams’ “Everything I Do I Do It For You” and Diamond Rio’s “Unbelievable.”    

I guess everyone has heard the rigamaro with Howard Stern splicing together Dolly Parton quotes to make it sound like she is foulmouthed and a racist, but I am amazed how offended Dolly is. She might even sue.  Now I am pretty sure you can hear the actual clip on Howard Stern’s website or Youtube,  but I am not going to make a  link to it for two reasons: 1. Fear of being sued, 2. I do not want to be blamed for your intelligence diminishing while you hear the rantings of an unfunny shockjock. This is not the first time Stern has done this. He has spliced together William Shatner and Oprah to make lewd comments. Parton should just shrug it off. Dolly is only going to bring more listeners to Stern’s show. What do you think she should do? Sue, or let it go?  

Everyone knew that John Michael Montgomery had a problem when he sang these wrong words to his first hit, “Life’s a pill, you learn as you go, sometimes you drink sometimes you swallow.” I kid, I kid. But seriously, Montgomery has checked himself into rehab, citing substance due to severe anxiety and sleep disorder. We asked for some feedback here at work to what might be his drug of choice. The consensus was Xanax. All joking aside, John you were great during the 1990’s, there is still place in our hearts for you, don’t worry there’s room. 

When it comes to authoring a book, research is relative. Getting your facts straight can be the difference between being a respected writer or being debunked as a charlatan. You might have read in an earlier blog about the collection of short stories, A Guitar and a Pen, co-edited by Robert Hicks. This book is recently under scrutiny. Oral tradition is only accurate when you hear a story firsthand, apparently Hicks does not understand this. The book is entirely made up of short stories written by Nashville songwriters, except one. Hazel Smith, a prominent figure in the music business, was to collaborate on a story that Hicks had heard at one time about the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe at the Whitehouse during the  Clinton administration. Apparently, the lines of communication got crossed and Smith never recounted the story to Hicks. So what did Hicks do? He took it upon himself to write down the story from what he has heard fourth or maybe fifth hand. Too bad Hazel was never even there. He has since apologized for the embellishment, but the damage might be irreparable. Maybe he could join forces with Stephen Glass and Jason Blair.

Accomplished Southern Gospel songwriter Dottie Rambo was tragically killed in a tour bus accident on May 11. Authorities are unclear to what made the bus steer out of control, all I do know is that gospel music lost someone very special. In the same vein as Bill Gaither, Dottie was known for great gospel songs such as “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before.” and “I Go To The Rock.” But these two songs are just an inkling of the amount of compositions that she has contributed. Ms. Rambo has hundreds of hymns that have touched Christendom. She will certainly be missed.

Country music lost yet another great artist with the passing of Jerry Wallace, 79, on May 5. Wallace’s hits include “Primrose Lane” (1959) and “If You Leave Me Tonight I’ll Cry” (1972). Wallace, who was nicknamed “Mr. Smooth” because of his singing style, retired in the late ’70s. He had put out over 45 chart successes in his career.  

It is with great sorrow that we report the death of Eddy Arnold at age 89. Arnold, whose hits included “Make the World Go Away” and “The Last Word in Lonesome is Me,” was one of the most successful country singers in history. Joel Whitburn’s book, “Top Country Singles 1944-1993,” ranks Arnold the No. 1 country singer in terms of overall success on the Billboard country charts. It lists his first No. 1 hit as “It’s a Sin,” in 1947, and for the following year ranks his “Bouquet of Roses” as the biggest hit of the entire year. After a half-decade lull in his career during the late ’50s, Arnold revitalized his career in the early ’60s by adding strings to his recordings. This initially drew criticism from some of his contemporaries; however, most of them eventually adopted this technique, and Arnold is credited with pioneering the “Nashville Sound” used so effectively by Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves. Many of Arnold’s hits were produced by legendary guitarist Chet Atkins.

Eddy Arnold’s wife of 66 years, Sally, passed away in March. He is survived by a daughter, Jo Ann Pollard of Brentwood, TN; a son, Richard Edward Arnold, Jr., of Nashville; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Bluegrass’ resident scholar Ralph Stanley has intermittenly recorded 18 tracks during the last 30 years. However, the tracks were recorded through Rebel, but when Stanley switched to Sony, the release was put on hold. Finally, this summer these recordings will be available to the public. “Old Time Pickin’:A Clawhammer Banjo Collection will hit stores later this summer in August.   

It seems that the country music we know is dying off, literally. If it’s not from old age it is by their own hands. George “Leo” Jackson was found dead Sunday, apparently by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Jackson was a prodigy guitar player, who worked for the likes of Jim Reeves and Hank Williams Jr. Friends and Family of the guitar-great are shocked. They said that he was suffering from Chronic pain, and that could have been the catalyst.   

You may recall an entry I wrote for this blog some time ago when Tim McGraw’s PR company announced his plan to collaborate with ’80s sensation Def Leppard. When I wrote the post, I decided to be charitable, to abstain from criticizing it until I heard it. “After all,” I thought, “who knows? It might be good — I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.” I mean, Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain” video on YouTube has been viewed 21,221,014 times! Point being, anything can happen. Sure, a single that couples modern country and ’80s glam rock will probably make me want to puncture my eardrums; but maybe, just maybe, it will be one of those songs we’re embarrassed to like (think: “Since U Been Gone”).

In this case, however, it is not one of those songs. To the contrary, it is more hilariously godawful than anyone could have imagined. From the cookie-cutter modern country intro to the bland, impotent excuse for a guitar solo, this piece of crap represents everything that disgusts me about the sort of music that gets terrestrial radio play. I challenge you to watch as much of this as you can stand, all the while considering that, according to a January press release, this took THREE YEARS to put together. Now, without further ado, we are ashamed to present THE WORST MUSIC VIDEO EVER MADE.

Jim Hager, a member of the Hee Haw cast from 1969 until 1988, died on Thursday of a heart attack. Hager, who was discovered by Buck Owens while performing at Disneyland and later signed a recording contract with Capitol Records, collapsed in a the parking lot of a coffee house on 12th Avenue South in Nashville, and died at Vanderbilt Hospital shortly thereafter. “Jim was a delightful, funny, loyal friend,” said longtime Hee Haw cast member Lulu Roman. “He will be missed greatly as one of my true friends.”

I always thought that Glen Campbell was a poser, and his newest release is a testament to that fact. Campbell will be doing a covers album containing hit songs by artist such as Green Day, U2, Jackson Browne, and Tom Petty. Meet Glen Campbell is hitting stores on August 9th. This cd will probably be just as ridiculous as Will Ferrell as Robert Goulet on SNL covering rap songs. Hey! Maybe Glen will cover Green Day’s “Welcome to Paradise,” unedited.  Seriously, who does he think he is, Willie Nelson. Wille could get away with an album like this, but not this Beach Boys reject! Talking about this, is just making me angrier, I am out.

I was lazily surfing the internet, when I found a diamond in the rough. Robert Hicks has written a book that has been long overdue. His book, A Guitar and a Pen, digs beyond the surface of songwriting and allows songwriters to share their inspiration and the process by which they go through to craft a song. Bobby Braddock, Hal Ketchum, Charlie Daniels, Kris Kristofferson, and Tom T. Hall are just some of the writers that contributed insight their masterful art form. Let’s not forget that music inspires far more than mere words can. This book looks like a must have for a true country fans.   

I think it is safe to say we all miss Randy Travis resonant nasal twang on the radio. He has lately been baptizing his music with the sounds of Gospel. These recordings are a must have, but I have wanted Travis to jump back in the saddle and pick up the reins of traditional country music. Well, we will not have to wait for long, as Randy Travis is set to release his first country album in eight years. The title will be Around the Bend.

This past weekend I got the pleasure to visit Canuck country. I sing in a gospel quintet and we performed a series of concerts around the Beamsville area. We got to the see the Niagara Falls and taste the local fare. We got into a discussion with the promoter, a friend of ours, about country music. She was a huge fan of modern country, but wasn’t really that familiar with classic country. I was happy to find out that she was not a Shania Twain fan. Shania is about as country as a bag of toenail clippings. I brought up Hank Snow, and she said, “Hank Snow, who?”. I told her about the song “I’ve Been Everywhere.” She thought it was just another Johnny Cash song, but I told her it was originally sung by Hank Snow. She was surprised. I am sorry that it’s sound like I am rambling, but country music is in this world’s blood. You can’t escape it. Rock and Roll could never bridge the gaps that country music has.  

Everybody should be getting ready for the rapture. It is official, Tim McGraw has his own Fritos flavor, Tim McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeno. The newest flavor will hit Walmart’s shelves next week. Frito’s is one of the sponsoring companies for Mcgaw’s “Live Your Voice” tour. I wonder if these new Fritos has a wicked side effect, consisting of sleep depravity and uncontrollable hyperactivity?  

Randy Owen, the lead singer of Alabama, is receiving the coveted Ellis Island Medal of Honor. This award is bestowed upon it’s recipient for the imigrant experience and individual achievement. The latter characteristic is why Owen is receiving this award. He has given valuable time and money to St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital. He actually started the foundation, “Country Cares for St Jude’s Kids.” Owen is among an impressive list of actors, celebrities, and politicians who have been given this award. A-listers such as Bob Hope and Bill Clinton have received this award.