If That Ain’t Country

In this week's episode we're featuring Melba Montgomery's complete Nugget Records sessions from the year 1962. Shortly after having spent almost four years touring with Roy Acuff's roadshow and marginally before being snapped up by United Artists, Melba was offered a chance to record for Lonzo & Oscar's newly-relocated Nugget Records in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. The result was ten sides which have largely been forgotten by country fans who focus instead on her duets with George Jones and UA solo material. Ten hard country nuggets (pun intended) all of which feature Shot Jackson on dobro and Buddy Emmons on steel. The two co-founders of the legendary Sho-Bud steel guitar company help push these Nugget recordings on a young, fresh and distinctive Melba Montgomery to the heights of honky tonk gold. Superb listening.

In this week's episode we're featuring a dynamite outlier from the late 60s career of Jim Ed Brown: "Bottle, Bottle" (1968). A lot of Brown's full-length albums of this era were on the slicker side and hard country gems were a little elusive. However, "Bottle, Bottle" is a full-on dive into the hard country side of the spectrum, dripping with the steel guitar of Pete Drake. Looking and sounding typically dapper, Jim Ed Brown's silky smooth vocal sounds right at home on a country shuffle (of which there are several), songs of loving and leaving and the necessary barroom laments (with a name like "Bottle, Bottle", it's expected). The likeable Arkansan cut just enough of this kind of material on this album to have this reviewer wanting to take a second look at Brown's catalogue to see what else has been missed. A-class.

In this week's episode we're focusing on Allstar Records, a part song-poem part legitimate commercial label operating between 1953-1966 in Houston, Texas. Aside from his song-sharking tendencies, Allstar's founder Daniel James Mechura no doubt had his eyes set on recording hit country music, frequently hiring above-par backing musicians to back up Allstar's roster of artists. And that roster is all the evidence you need to see that Allstar was a legitimate commercial music operation - the talent and track records from the likes of Wiley Barkdull, Jerry Jericho and Eddie Noack (all of whom recorded for Allstar) speaks to that. In fact, we've got the microscope on the sensational hard country output of Eddie Noack on Allstar this week (1962-1966): releasing ten songs with the label during that period (many self-penned), Noack continued his Texas honky tonk ways, including a stylistic nod to the super successful Buck Owens formula on several. Noack had a long and diverse career but he was sounding honky tonk ready at Allstar!

In this week's episode we're featuring an off-the-beaten-path slice of the neo-traditional era from Larry Boone: "One Way To Go" (1991). Boone's songwriting prowess was his main claim to fame, but with a solid country vocal, movie star good looks and three albums for Mercury and two for Columbia (including this one), Boone had his chances at solo stardom. It's mostly the era that's on the table this week: a time when country was country and the world wasn't so complicated (full disclosure: your host was a kid in the early 90s). Let the fiddle punctuation of Rob Hajacos, the dobro touches of Jerry Douglas and the ethereal steel guitar of Paul Franklin ease you into an enjoyable and nostalgic three hour trip back to 1991 this week with Larry Boone and "One Way To Go".

In this week's show we're featuring a later career album for longtime Opry staple and country music fixture Little Jimmy Dickens: "Country Music Hall Of Fame" (1984). The front cover indeed depicts the moment Dickens was inducted to the Hall Of Fame after four years of nominations; a plaque tucked under his arm while being greeted on stage by Barbara Mandrell and trying not to shed a tear. For a man so long in country music, Dickens was best known for his Opry appearances, razor sharp wit and for being simply a "part" of the industry. Most fans could recognise his name but Dickens' own catalogue remains overlooked. We change that this week with "Country Music Hall Of Fame": the album Porter Wagoner called Dickens' best-to-date and an appropriate slice of the 4'11" "Tater" - his versatility and sterling treatment of a good country song is on full display. From the showstopping tearjerker "Raggedy Ann" and the peppy "She'll Party At The Drop Of A Hat" to the lovelorn "Holding On To Life", Dickens' place as "part of the Opry furniture" hides a very long and fascinating career and a voice that didn't seem to age.

In this week's episode we're featuring the debut full-length album for Texan Summer Dean: "Bad Romantic" (2021). Born in Clay County, Texas and country as a dirt clod, there's been a lot of living in the three or more years between Dean's first EP "Unladylike" in 2016 and "Bad Romantic": growing comfortable in herself and her situation served as inspiration for many of the album's tracks (six of which Dean wrote or co-wrote). Seems to this reviewer that the first half of the LP could have been done in consultation with Waylon and Haggard, and Dean's Texas dancehall roots are showing on the second; Jess Meador's rising fiddle intro from "Hey Mister" recalls in no uncertain terms the very best of Johnny's Bush's material. Well chosen covers from modern day songsmiths Simon Flory and Brennen Leigh match beautifully with contributions from Leona Williams and Linda Hargrove, all tied together with Dean's vocal, wonderfully worn around the edges: honest and working class. A sterling shuffle in "Three Timin' Game" follows on from "Distracted" (dripping in co-producer Kevin Skrla's steel) and Hargrove's "Blue Jean Country Queen" seems to fit Dean like a glove. Summer Dean fills a gap in the greater roots music scene nationwide with "Bad Romantic": a lack of good ol' hardcore Texas country music, heavy on the attitude, fiddle and steel. And I'm sure glad about it.

In this week's episode we're featuring a 2002 independent album whose name says it all from Missouri's Leland Martin: "Simply Traditional". Born into an impoverished family with eight siblings in the ironically named Success, Missouri, Leland Martin learned how to pick the guitar early on and wound up working some pretty rough venues with his younger brother as teens. Following his marriage at seventeen, Martin took a job at a sawmill and later as a truck driver, picking music on the weekends and building a loyal following around the area. A brief stint as lead guitarist with Freddie Hart in the early 80s revealed that a musician's life on the road wasn't for Martin, but it took another fifteen years before his first album materialised. IGO Records took a chance on the 45-year-old in 2002 and "Simply Traditional" received enough of a response for a series of follow-up albums. "If I Had Long Legs (Like Alan Jackson)" was a fun, who's-who of 90s country (and also a minor chart hit); Wanda Vick's melancholic dobro punctuates the big-rig themed "Stone Cold Fingers" (a topic Martin knows something about); the steel-dreched wordplay of "Freddie's Hart" was enough to have Martin's one-time boss join in on duet vocals. An excellent independent album from Leland Martin warrants the spotlight this week on "Simply Traditional".

In this week's episode we've got a magnificent snapshot of the talented United Artists country roster: "A King & Two Queens" (1964). Initially conceived as a soundtrack-centric label in conjunction with it's film wing, United Artists Records later expanded to jazz and rock and roll. Furthermore, when the legendary Pappy Daily moved from Mercury/Starday to United Artists in 1962, he brought George Jones with him. Also along for the ride was the newly-signed Melba Montgomery and Judy Lynn, both fresh to UA in 1963 and 1962 respectively. Even though "A King & Two Queens" is a compilation of previously released material, pretty typical for the era, it feels slightly more cohesive in that each artist has four cuts and they rotate evenly throughout the LP. But more importantly is the quality of the material: straight ahead fiddle-and-steel honky tonk with no messing around. A snapshot of the small but mighty country roster at United Artists in 1964.

In this week's episode we're featuring a 1973 album from Porter Wagoner: "I'll Keep On Lovin' You". Porter was churning out three or four LPs a year for RCA at this point, his TV show was still as popular as ever and his duets with Dolly Parton were about near their commercial peak. The Grand Ole Opry star maintained a superb level of consistency in his traditional country output and does again here on our feature album. Buck Trent's electric banjo is front and centre on "Can You Tell Me" as is Porter's easy style of recitation (this reviewer is a sucker for those) on "Through The Eyes Of A Blind Man". And despite any working or personal differences that came after 1973, Wagoner was not too proud to use Dolly Parton's prodiguous skill as a writer on this album, cutting four from Dolly's pen including a couple of gems in "Jasper County Law" and "Talkin' To Myself". Like many Opry stars of the past, Wagoner doesn't get a whole lot of love in conversations about country music these days but as we'll discover, his back catalogue is absolutely worth exploring.

In this week's episode we're featuring the final album in Johnny Russell's six short years at RCA Records: "Here Comes Johnny Russell" (1975). A big man with a big heart and a big voice, Russell turned to songwriting in his mid-teens (mostly out of necessity) and in 1959 scored a B-side on Jim Reeves monster "He'll Have To Go". Russell's "In A Mansion Stands My Love" got the attention of Chet Atkins and it was that relationship which bore fruit many times over for the talented Mississippi entertainer. "Act Naturally" from Russell's pen proved highly lucrative when Buck Owens and a slew of others cut it in 1963 onwards, and he was soon hired to The Wilburn Brothers' Surefire Music where he worked for a number of years. Like many performers however, Russell wanted to sing - growing frustrated at his lack of opportunities he even moved back to California for a time before Atkins finally put him on RCA in 1971. Recognition in the form of several hits songs came Russell's way and his output over six years remained consistently strong. "Here Comes Johnny Russell" is an enjoyable listen and worthy of a feature this week.

In this week's episode we're traveling back to the mid-80s and remembering the two year, two album period where Reba McEntire could have staked her claim as the pre-eminent female voice of country's new traditional movement. Our feature album this week is 1985's "Have I Got A Deal For You", which continued Reba's sensational start for MCA Records (following up "My Kind Of Country" (1984)). Speaking of that period in her career in a later interview, Reba said: "I wanted steel guitar. I wanted fiddle. I didn’t want the orchestra coming in and playing on my songs. I wanted more country songs." And a move from Mercury to MCA saw that desire come to fruition - albums with well-selected songs dripping with steel guitar from Weldon Myrick and playful fiddle licks from fiddle maestro Johnny Gimble were hallmarks of Reba's material at this stage. As the new traditional movement really kicked into gear, however, McEntire's sound drifted further towards the pop charts and by the end of the decade 1985's "Have I Got A Deal For You" was ancient history. But what a history - let's explore!

In this week's episode we're cherry-picking the best hard country cuts from our twin feature albums on Roy Drusky: "Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2" [1965, 1968]. Blessed with a heckuva radio voice, when Drusky's baseball dream didn't materialise he found work as a DJ at several stations before coming to prominence as a songwriter. Hits with Faron Young and others in the late 50s eventually lead to a contract with Shelby Singleton's Mercury outfit in 1963. Seen largely as Mercury's answer to Eddy Arnold, Roy Drusky's smooth baritone fell firmly into the country crooner category; a subgenre out of favour with country fans today (a fact which might explain Drusky's relatively obscurity despite his success). However, with a keen ear for a good country song, Roy Drusky cut a number of great traditional country songs during his 60s heyday and we'll pull 'em out for ya this week!

In this week's episode we're jumping in the semi and travelling north to get our twang on with Winnipeg's Sean Burns & Lost Country. One of only a handful of traditional country acts playing that city, Burns and the band stayed busy in 2020. In between lockdowns they managed a Bakersfield EP and our feature album this week: an all big rig affair on "We Gotta Lotta Truckin' To Do" (2020). Anchored by Burns' unique and in-your-face delivery (bending notes within an inch of their lives), Lost Country race through a familiar-yet-fresh set of 13 truckin' covers (including one original). Leaning on the legends of this high-energy subgenre, renditions of songs made famous by Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Del Reeves, Dick Curless and The Willis Brothers will keep your eyes wide and on the road. Recorded at their home away from home in the historic Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club in Winnipeg, "We Gotta Lotta Truckin' To Do" is a twangalicious and infectious slice of Sean Burns & Lost Country live and we couldn't help but include the whole dang thing in this week's show.

Red Steagall maintains that he was twenty-five years old before he knew anything other than mesquite trees, buffalo grass, barbed wire and Bob Wills. But after a move from his Texas Panhandle home to Hollywood in 1965, Steagall learnt quickly. During twenty years in the music business he worked with many of the biggest artists, producers, songwriters and musicians in country history. From running the West Coast office of United Artists Records to pitching songs to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin with Jimmy Bowen as part of Amos Publications, Steagall learnt the ropes from the business end. His own solo career never reached the heights it should have and though he might not be a national household name, Steagall's western swing-infused country music catalogue remains sorely overlooked: from a box of 45RPM singles, this week's show is a deep dive into Steagall's cavernous body of work and a chance to re-discover "Texas Red".

Gifted with perfect pitch, technique and vocal control, Dawn Sears remains a criminally underappreciated country talent. There were few voices in recent memory quite like Sears': every time she opened her mouth to sing, you could see her soul. This week it's a stack of Dawn Sears at her country best - from two major label albums, one independent a couple with western swingers The Time Jumpers, Sears' career is thoroughly worth revisiting.

Big, bright, bold, vivid, colourful and appealing - it could only be a Starday album! And that's what we've got this time for another piece of bonus content this week - usually exclusive to our Patreon members - it's called "COVER TO COVER", where we take a great traditional country album and play it right the way through, from front to back, in order and in full. And trust me when I say it's music you won't hear anywhere else - we specifically check to make sure our COVER TO COVER albums aren't on Spotify before featuring! Aside from the regular show, we'll be doing COVER TO COVER at least once a month for our Patreon members at any level and intermittently I will be releasing a COVER TO COVER episode as a podcast to you here, but for the most part, this feature is intended as a piece of bonus content - so enjoy! This time we go cover to cover on a typical Starday album for The Willis Brothers: "Road Stop: Juke Box Hits" (1965). The unmistakable high hillbilly harmony of The Willis Brothers found at home at Starday and they enjoyed their biggest hits in the early 60s, including (as on this album) plenty of cleverly-written uptempo novelty material.

In this week's episode we're featuring the first of three albums compiled on the sensational Curtis Potter on Heart Of Texas Records: "Them Old Honky Tonks". Plucked from a budding career in Abilene in his late teens, Potter joined Hank Thompson's legendary Brazos Valley Boys as frontman and bass player and released his first solo album on Hank T.'s own label (Dot) in 1971. A working relationship with legendary producer and songwriter Ray Pennington began in about 1974 at RCA, but by the mid 80s Potter found himself without a contract. Initially co-founded by Pennington with the intention of giving Curtis Potter a home to record at, Step One Records was formed in 1984 and in those mid 80s, Potter and Pennington were busy in studio. The majority of that material, for whatever reason, remained unreleased until Pennington handed it over (with his blessing) to Potter, who sought to have it released at Heart Of Texas Records. Transferred untouched from the original reel-to-reel tapes, "Them Old Honky Tonks" became the first of three compiled albums from Potter's mid 80s time at Step One on Heart Of Texas: heavy on the honky tonk shuffles and heavy on twin fiddles and steel guitar. Curtis Potter, as a student of the "Ray Price school of singing", is in fine voice on this collection - unearthed from a period when Potter and Pennington were making some of the finest hard country music never heard until now.

NB. Big thanks to Justin Trevino for the help in compiling this episode!

In this week's episode we're featuring an album from the commercial peak of singing cowboy Chris LeDoux: "Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy" (1992). LeDoux's talent with a cowboy song earnt him a loyal fanbase and impressive sales as an independent artist over 22 albums in the 18 years to 1990. However, legitimate national stardom eluded him until a young Garth Brooks namechecked his idol in "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" in 1989. Though radio barely allowed him a "hit", LeDoux's fanbase only continued to grow on the back of his signing with Liberty/Capitol as well as his relatable and sometimes high-energy material and stage show. Despite pyrotechnics and coast-to-coast touring, LeDoux remained a humble, down-to-earth and sometimes shy family man who's inspiration for music remained in the sport of rodeo, his wife, kids and life in The West.

In this week's episode we're featuring a killer all-original album from classic country torchbearer Dale Watson: "Whiskey Or God" (2006). After stints in Houston, Los Angeles and Nashville, Watson ended up in Austin, Texas around the time a record deal with Hightone came to fruition in the mid 90s. Over the next decade or so, Watson established himself in that city as a very popular draw and around the world as a staunch traditionalist whose music hails back to a time when Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash ruled the airwaves. The five or six years leading up to "Whiskey Or God" were tough for Watson - his girlfriend's sudden passing in 2000 was the catalyst for a particularly rough stretch - and there was even very serious talk about giving up music for good. Thankfully, Watson was able to turn it around and "Whiskey Or God" proved he hadn't missed a beat. Fourteen all-original and sensationally twangy tracks made it exceptionally hard to narrow down the playlist for this week's show: highlights incude a handful of two-step floor fillers like "Sit, Drink And Cry" and "It Hurts So Good"; a cut later found on the "Truckin' Sessions" trilogy twangs to perfection on "No Help Wanted" and the cajun fiddle and Watson's Lone Stars rip through the infectious "I Ain't Be Right, Since I've Been Left". "Whiskey Or God" is just another Dale Watson album. They're all that good.

In this week's episode we're featuring the third album from one of the neo-traditional movement's shining lights: Holly Dunn's "Across The Rio Grande" (1988). In this reviewer's estimation, the late 80s saw only a handful of female country voices making honest-to-goodness roots-inspired country music, of which Dunn was one (another being Patty Loveless); and on this, her third album and final for MTM Records, Holly Dunn took on a much bigger production role. "Across The Rio Grande" was a mostly stripped-down affair compared to Dunn's previous offerings - there was barely an electric instrument to be seen (except maybe a bass, according to Dunn). There's some excellent songwriting with her brother Chris Waters as well as a couple of chart singles which did well enough, but the real strength lies in the heartfelt delivery of album cuts including the tender (and poignant, given Dunn's untimely passing) "On The Wings Of An Angel" and the yearning "Just Across The Rio Grande". A fine textured and multi-layered album from one of the neo-traditional era's finest young talents.

Howdy hard country fans! I thought it was time to release another piece of bonus content this week - usually exclusive to our Patreon members - it's called "COVER TO COVER", where we take a great traditional country album and play it right the way through, from front to back, in order and in full. And trust me when I say it's music you won't hear anywhere else - we specifically check to make sure our COVER TO COVER albums aren't on Spotify before featuring! Aside from the regular show, we'll be doing COVER TO COVER at least once a month for our Patreon members at any level and intermittently I will be releasing a COVER TO COVER episode as a podcast to you here, but for the most part, this feature is intended as a piece of bonus content - so enjoy! This time we go cover to cover on the one and only album Johnny Paycheck ever recorded for the short-lived Certron Records. After legendary producer Aubrey Mayhew's Little Darlin' Records went bust in 1969, he scrambled to keep the operation going and partnered with Certron Corporation, bringing a chunk of his roster and his signature hard country sound with him. It didn't last long though, and Paycheck's "Again" is one of the final original era examples of the Little Darlin' Sound that traditional country fans have come to love.

In this week's episode we're taking a long overdue dive into the sophomore album from California young gun Jesse Daniel: "Rollin' On" (2020). Co-produced by A-class steel man Tommy Detamore, this album rips right out of the gate. An all-original project, this collection is packed with punchy, catchy and relatable writing and rarely lets up on the high-energy twang - the reaction to "Rollin' On" reflects how well put together this album is. Indeed, excellent sales and streaming stats got the attention of plenty of industry players, but Daniel remains proudly independent on his own imprint Die True Records. With harmony vocals and several co-writes from Daniel's partner Jodi Lyford, highlights are plentiful: the colourful story of "Champion"; the clever metaphor of "Mayo And The Mustard"; a road-trip in song on "Tar Snakes" and the wistful ode to Daniel's hometown of Ben Lomond, CA in "Son Of The San Lorenzo". One full listen will be all it takes to understand why "Rollin' On" was at or near the top of so many "Best Of 2020" lists. Simply superb.

In this week's episode we're featuring the debut of Tennessean David Wills: "Barrooms To Bedrooms" (1975). Wills, only 23 years old at the time, was taken under the wing of Epic labelmate Charlie Rich who produced this project (as well as his second album, rushed out in the second half of '75 to capitalise on "Barrooms To Bedrooms"). Apparently driven by a desire to give back and help Wills get a leg up in country music, four Charlie Rich compositions ended up on the final product, handled wonderfully by the natural country baritone of David Wills. An accomplished writer and multi-instrumentalist himself, Wills' interpretation of jukebox-ready originals like "There's A Song On The Jukebox", "The Barmaid" as well as the Rich-penned "Sittin' And Thinkin" and "My Mountain Dew" are remarkably strong for a man who seems to have disappeared as a recording artist post-1990. A hard country debut so solid that even Rich (perhaps jokingly) admitted jealousy at Wills' ability to interpret a country song.

In this week's episode we're featuring the studio version of an event which became an Austin, Texas institution: "Happy Birthday Buck: A Texas Salute To Buck Owens" (2002). When a couple of accomplished Austin-area musicians in Casper Rawls and Tom Lewis started kicking around the idea to hold a Buck Owens birthday party, they didn't think anyone would show up. It was mostly just an excuse to pick on some Bakersfield Sound and have some fun. But on August 12, 1992 (Buck's 63rd birthday), the legendary Continental Club was a full house and the event was so popular that Buck Owens Birthday Bash became an annual event. Over 25 years, Buck's Birthday Bash attracted local musicians and legends alike, and this week's feature album commemorates ten years with a stack of names (some regular Birthday Bash attendees, some just admirers) covering Owens' hits, from the big ones to the lesser known gems - with contributions from David Ball, Rick Trevino, Rosie Flores, Jim Lauderdale, Libbi Bosworth, Jeff Hughes, Ray Benson and one very special guest who made Buck's 1995 Birthday Bash one for the history books!

Welcome back to 2021! To get us going this year, we're releasing a recent piece of bonus content, usually exclusive to our Patreon members - it's called "COVER TO COVER", where we take a great traditional country album and play it right the way through, from front to back, in order and in full. And trust me when I say it's music you won't hear anywhere else - we specifically check to make sure our COVER TO COVER albums aren't on Spotify before featuring! Aside from the regular show, we'll be doing COVER TO COVER at least once a month for our Patreon members at any level and intermittently I will be releasing a COVER TO COVER episode as a podcast to you here, but for the most part, this feature is intended as a piece of bonus content - so enjoy! This time we go cover to cover on Mel Street's final full-length, original studio album of his career: "Country Soul" (1978). A hardcore country traditionalist, "Country Soul" contains plenty of cheating songs (Street's forte) as well as his last Top 10 hit. Country gold!

I'll admit that in the past I've generally not counted myself much of a fan of Christmas music. But in the last few years, I guess I've become less Grinch-y and so when the opportunity to take part in an all-vinyl episode of a popular local radio show, I jumped at the chance! Actually, I borrowed my wife's classic country Christmas vinyl collection (with thanks!), ditched my hardline traditionalist stance (for an hour), embraced the greater classic country genre and with host Leigh Wood, we got to play some classics, some novelties and a whole bunch of classic country Christmas music on The KUAF Vinyl Hour. We swapped the fiddle and steel for jingle bells and lush Christmassy choruses, but it was heaps of fun. Maybe you'll enjoy it too! Merry Christmas! - WR [Originally aired on KUAF 91.3FM Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday 19th December, 2020].

PART TWO OF TWO: 2020 has been an awful year for everybody. But for country music, this year seems to have been especially devastating. I can't remember a year where so many country icons have been taken - it seems like we've barely had the time to mourn the passing of one country star when another one has passed. It's been utterly exhausting for me to wrap my head around, personally. But the loss of Charley Pride in December of 2020 was different. Pride was a giant of the genre, no doubt about it, and all his trailblazing aside, Pride's buttery vocal and most of his catalogue fit our format down to a T here at "If That Ain't Country". His was a big loss indeed. And so, I thought it fitting to re-release an archival episode of the show which originally aired in February of 2019. Bear with my presenting style if you can (we're always learning, but even more so back then haha): the music enclosed on "From Me To You" is typically excellent. An icon remembered this week on the show - I hope you and yours are staying safe! And despite it all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - WR

PART ONE OF TWO: 2020 has been an awful year for everybody, no doubt about it. But for country music, this year seems to have been especially devastating. I can't remember a year where so many country icons have been taken - it seems like we've barely had the time to mourn the passing of one country star when another one has passed. It's been utterly exhausting for me to wrap my head around, personally. But the loss of Charley Pride in December of 2020 was different. Pride was a giant of the genre, no doubt about it, and all his trailblazing aside, Pride's buttery vocal and most of his catalogue fit our format down to a T here at "If That Ain't Country". His was a big loss indeed. And so, I thought it fitting to re-release an archival episode of the show which originally aired in February of 2017. Bear with my presenting style if you can (we're always learning, but even more so back then haha): the music enclosed on "The Incomparable Charley Pride" is stellar. An icon remembered this week on the show - I hope you and yours are staying safe! And despite it all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - WR

In this week's episode we're featuring music exclusively from the fiercely independent and staunchly traditional Heart Of Texas Records. Based in the small town of Brady, Texas (the city nearest to the geographical center of the state, hence "Heart Of Texas"), Heart Of Texas Records is the only label (this reviewer knows of) which focuses exclusively on fiddle and steel guitar-driven traditional country music. Like Starday Records before it, Heart Of Texas Records has become a destination for up-and-coming country traditionalists as well as another chance for country stars of yesterday, giving a slew of legends a home to be heard on record once again. We'll feature a stack of music from the Heart Of Texas Records impressive catalogue and we'll also attempt to tell the story of a young Brady DJ and promoter who's passion for tradition helped establish the most important organisation in existence in the 21st Century for fans of hardcore country music.

In this week's episode we're featuring a 1969 album from prolific songwriting and singing talent Liz Anderson: "Country Style". After relocating from North Dakota, The Andersons moved to Southern California and by the end of the decade, demand was growing for Liz Anderson's songwriting. She'd routinely host many of The West Coast's greats in her living room for picking parties and song pitching opportunities and those connections paid off with her first real hit as a songwriter coming in 1961 when Del Reeves cut "Be Quiet Mind". She was an instrumental part of Merle Haggard's early career (Liz Anderson's "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers" proved the inspiration for The Hag's band name if you need any further proof of Anderson's importance), and Chet Atkins signed her to RCA in 1965. Liz Anderson enjoyed a few hits while at that label but was too often pushed towards fluffy semi-novelty material for sustained success. And while Anderson didn't possess the down-home twang of Loretta or the hurting of Tammy Wynette, to this reviewer's ears she did have some of Kitty Wells' plaintive stylings and her everywoman vocal is right at home on "Country Style".

In this week's episode we're featuring an excellent introduction to the music of Gary Stewart: "Greatest Hits" (1981). Born the son of a mining man in Kentucky but calling Fort Pierce, Florida home from the age of 12, Gary Stewart was playing music around the area as a teenager. After catching part of his performance locally, Mel Tillis (also from the area) suggested Stewart go to Nashville to work on his songwriting craft and work his way up from there. And he did. Starting in the mid 60s several back and forth trips to Music City, many with buddy and songwriting partner Bill Eldridge, resulted in some attention and gradually their songs started finding the right ears. Hit cuts were recorded by Nat Stuckey and Billy Walker (amongst others) and after brief recording stints themselves and plenty of discouragement, Gary Stewart eventually got signed to RCA. A re-release of "Drinkin' Thing" scored his first Top 10 and the ball was rolling. Somewhat pigeonholed during his time at RCA, it was songs of drinking, divorce and cheating which made up the majority of Gary Stewart's hit list. Chart success notwithstanding however, it was his emotive vibrato and unique mix of country and southern rock which remains a favourite with fans of country music delivered with feeling.

In this week's episode we're featuring the major label debut for Mark Chesnutt: "Too Cold At Home" (1990). Having dropped out of high school to pursue a career playing bars and honky tonks, Chesnutt garnered enough attention to record some independent material in San Antonio and Houston during that period (including at AV Mittelstedt's famous SoundMasters Studios). Some of that material got the attention of MCA/Decca and thus followed his signing and debut album. The title cut, written by 60s country star Bobby Harden and at one time turned down by George Jones, found a home with Mark Chesnutt and a further four big singles did well for the Beaumont native. In a cruel twist of fate, Chesnutt's father Bob, who had been a honky tonk singer himself and instrumental in helping foster his son's musical dreams, passed away the year "Too Cold At Home" was released. Solidly rooted in the sounds of the new traditional movement, Chesnutt's debut album contains some very strong material: the barroom classic "Brother Jukebox" always hits a chord; the swinging "Blame It On Texas" has you heading for the honky tonk and the title track is a masterclass in country music for those who may have forgotten what it sounds like. Barely a dud on there.

In this week's episode we're featuring a slice of Mac Wiseman's country and bluegrass history that spent almost forty years in the vaults of Capitol Records: "The Lost Album" (1964). As one of the last original members of bluegrass' "first generation", Wiseman had played with Bill Monroe, was a founding member of Flatt & Scruggs' Foggy Mountain Boys and enjoyed solo hits before signing with Capitol in 1962. Assembling the best pickers from the worlds of both country and bluegrass, Wiseman recorded most of our feature album in February of '64. But circumstances which we'll detail in this week's show got in the way, and Capitol's priorities changed - "The Lost Album" was shelved indefinitely (save for four songs released on 45) as Wiseman negotiated out of his contract and went elsewhere for distribution. Eventually re-released nearly forty years later to coincide with Wiseman's 60th year in the music business, fans can enjoy a helping of Mac Wiseman's trademark storytelling on this collection of 12 songs. Chosen with an emphasis on narrative, "The Voice With A Heart" was in it's prime in 1964 and "The Lost Album" stands the test.

PART 2 OF 2: On the occasion of Johnny Bush's passing in October of 2020, we've got a two-part podcast tribute to the man who epitomised Texas dancehall music. Part two has us digging back into the show archives for an episode which originally aired in July 2017.  

From the original show notes: In this episode, we're featuring a hard country album from Johnny Bush: "Here Comes The World Again" (1973). After having served in Ray Price's and Willie Nelson's bands, he had paid his dues and this was Bush's first release on a major label (RCA). "Whiskey River" (written by Bush) was just about to become a big hit and it seemed Johnny Bush's star was on the rise. In the summer of 1972, however, a mysterious vocal condition put Bush's well-known high notes at risk. He adopted tricks to get around it, but the impact was profound: within a few years, he could barely speak, and it was only many years later with some enterprising medical treatment that Bush was able to regain his singing abilities. This album came at a very uncertain time for "The Country Caruso", but you wouldn't know it from the material included. This is a fantastic collection of jukebox-friendly shuffles, drinking songs, broken-heart ballads and beer joint singalongs - fiddles and steel guitar abound. Highlights include the "Cold Grey Light Of Dawn", dancehall favourite "Green Snakes On The Ceiling" and "Here Comes The World Again".

PART 1 OF 2: On the occasion of Johnny Bush's passing in October of 2020, we've got a two-part podcast tribute to the man who epitomised Texas dancehall music. Part one has us digging back into the show archives for an episode which originally aired in December 2016.  

From the original show notes: In this week's episode we're featuring the most successful commercial album for Texas icon Johnny Bush: You Gave Me A Mountain (1969). Bush's career, as detailed by Pete Drake on the rear of the vinyl album, had hit stumbling blocks at every turn, and had been turned by down by most of the major labels of the day. Drake, though, heard something in his voice which "just needed the right song". So the steel-guitar maestro signed the unknown Bush, and the one-time drummer for Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys launched himself to the brink of stardom with this album - the title track going to #7 on the charts. But overall, it must be said that this is one of the finest examples of why Johnny Bush is regarded as a Texas honky tonk icon - the notes that he hit are mountainous, sure enough.

In this week's episode we're featuring yet another sterling album from Mel Tillis: "Love Revival" (1976). After a stint in the US Air Force and moving from his native Florida to Nashville in the mid 50s, Tillis struck paydirt as a songwriter relatively quickly. Hits with good friend Webb Pierce, Carl Smith and Brenda Lee helped him earn a recording contract with Columbia and later Kapp Records, but solo success didn't really happen until the 70s. Seemingly one of the many overlooked figures on classic country radio today, Tillis' catalogue is absolutely chock-full of solid country gold. "Love Revival" is one such album - packed with fiddle and steel and a good dose of country shuffles. "Good Woman Blues" was the big hit, but dig past it and there is a lot to like. The intertwining fiddle and steel intro on "I Order One For Me" is simply addictive; included is an excellent cover of Hank Thompson's "The New Green Light"; the excellent shuffler "My Only Strange Love" deals with a husband and wife grown apart and "Gator Bar" is a typically self-deprecating slice of Tillis humour. An easily overlooked sterling album release from front to back.

In this week's episode we're featuring the debut country record for Louisiana's Alecia Nugent: "The Old Side Of Town" (2020). After three top-notch bluegrass albums on Rounder Records, Nugent elected to slow down and came off the road to spend more time raising her three daughters. Life got in the way, however, and after an extended period at home but with the intention of recording another project, Nugent moved back to Nashville, secured a backer and her first album in ten years was born. Even during the making of her third album "Hillbilly Goddess", the Rounder folks noted that Nugent had a penchant for picking country-flavoured songs - so it seemed natural that "The Old Side Of Town" would be her country music debut. Classic country too - fiddle from Stuart Duncan and steel from maestro Paul Franklin under the deft production of Keith Stegall - Nugent's return to form is steeped in tradition and is an intensely personal, emotional and enjoyable album. The tearjerking tribute to her Dad in "They Don't Make 'Em Like My Daddy Anymore" is the album's lynchpin; a cover of mentor/employer Tom T. Hall's "The Old Side Of Town" is right on point and the Texas shuffle style of "Tell Fort Worth I Said Hello" is another highlight. Thoroughly enjoyable comeback which will likely appeal to fans of both country and bluegrass music.

In this week's episode we're featuring the debut album from Missouri's Leona Williams: "That Williams Girl, Leona" (1970). As a young woman in St. Louis working as a beautician by day and playing music several nights a week on the side, connections that Leona Williams made during that time would serve her young career well. A friendship with Loretta Lynn saw Leona move to Nashville and join Loretta's first band "The Blue Kentuckians" and a former bandmate who landed an Opry role helped her to get her first recording session. Leona's traditional-edged style got the attention of industry heavyweight Wesley Rose, and she was signed to Hickory Records in 1967. Rose deliberately helped set her up for a lifetime in country music, and that's exactly how it panned out for this modest gal from The Show Me State. Leona herself will say "she's just as plain as an old shoe" (an expression her mother liked to use), but hopefully the music featured in this week's show will serve to convince you that Leona Williams' 50+ year in country music is testament to an entertainer who had the charisma, talent and drive to deserve it.

In this week's episode we're featuring a 2020 release from The Reeves Brothers: "The Last Honky Tonk". Distilling the best of 70s country down to a twelve-song collection, the most refreshing part of this album lies in it's original material. All but three of the tracks were written by brothers Matt & Cole Reeves who both ooze country music pedigree. The Reeves Brothers come by their throwback sound honestly, without pretence or effort it seems - this gloriously grimy brand of honky tonk IS their sound. Recorded between producer Kevin Skrla's Wolfe Island studios and Sugar Hill in Houston, the result contains significant Haggard overtones and features prolific steel guitar from Caleb Melo. Cole Reeves' twangy vibrato and Matt Reeves gritty growl serve to bring fans of hardcore, traditional country music an album worth it's weight in Lone Star beer and quarters for the jukebox. Get into it!

In this week's episode we're featuring an irresistible live album from Hank Thompson & The Brazos Valley Boys: "At The Golden Nugget" (1961). Recorded over two nights in March of '61 during a six-week, six-night-per-week stint at Vegas' famous Golden Nugget Gambling Hall & Casino, Thompson & band are at the top of their game. Steel Guitar Hall Of Famer Bobby Garrett once said that his three years with Hank Thompson & The Brazos Valley Boys (1960-1963) was the highlight of his illustrious career. On "At The Golden Nugget" we are treated to a prime example of the musical innovation, tight musicianship and infectious brand of western swing and honky tonk that made Thompson so popular during his 50s and 60s heyday. The set list incorporates incendiary instrumental breaks and solos from the accomplished band, delightful casino ambience and Thompson's friendly disposition during and between songs. A glittering example of Billboard magazine's "Top Country & Western Touring Band" at their very peak.

In this week's episode we're featuring the first album in seven years for JD Crowe & The New South: "Lefty's Old Guitar" (2006). Never one to be rushed into releasing new material, banjo institution JD Crowe worked more than six years of road and bluegrass festival dates with the nucleus of The New South's line up in perfecting this album. Rickey Wasson is superb on lead vocals for the first time in his tenure with Crowe and Dwight McCall on mandolin and occasional lead offers fine accompaniment. Pioneering since his days with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, Crowe again brought in Steel Guitar Hall Of Famer Doug Jernigan on several tracks on "Lefty's Old Guitar" (including the title track) and the album's classic country overtones are deliciously plain to hear. A wistful cover of Max D. Barnes' "In My Next Life" (also recorded by Merle Haggard) is the jewel in the crown of this fine collection; a cut from hard country gem Wayne Kemp is an excellent addition in "She Knows When You're On My Mind Again" and a romping cover from fellow Kentucky banjo legend Red Spurlock on "Loneliness" is only a taste of some of JD Crowe & The New South's finest work since the 70s.

In this week's episode we're featuring the second album (of three) for Michigan's Larry Ballard: "Honky Tonk Heaven Is A Hell Of A Place To Be" (1976). "Discovered" and produced by the legendary Pete Drake, there is precious little information out there about Larry Ballard's three albums for Capitol in the 70s. The second of those, however, features some of the finest country singer/songwriter material you've never heard of. With audible ties to multiple genres a la Gary Stewart of the same era, it's no surprise to learn Ballard has a background in rock 'n' roll. Once the switch to country came, Drake assembled a fine studio group to back Larry Ballard and the steel strains of Paul Franklin are simply delightful. Pictured in a cafe corner booth on the front of the album nursing a half-empty beer, cigarette in hand staring wistfully out the window, such classic country imagery doesn't lead us astray: "Honky Tonk Heaven" has plenty to like for listeners willing to dig past the big names in the record bin.. and it makes you wonder why Ballard seemingly disappeared after 1977.

In this week's show we're featuring a duet album that time forgot - Kitty Wells & Red Foley and their "comeback" LP on Decca: "Together Again" (1967). First paired together on a record label hunch in 1953/54 in Springfield, Missouri while Foley was hosting the popular Ozark Jubilee TV show - three singles were released on Wells/Foley and all were hits. A full LP followed but busy schedules meant it wasn't until 1967 that the two were truly "together again" for our feature album. On paper, Kitty Wells' high-pitched hillbilly warble and Red Foley's buttery-smooth baritone seems an odd pairing. But it just works. Three singles from the album charted and those cuts were Foley's first (and last) to do so in almost eight years. A somewhat poignant posthumously-released of Scotty Wiseman's "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" became Foley's last single after his passing in 1968, and Wells/Foley's final duet album serves as a pleasing reminder of the talents of two of country's elders (even in 1967) past their respective commercial (but not vocal) peaks.

This week we're celebrating 400 episodes (!) of the show by playing a stack of that twangy, steel-rich brand of country music known as The Bakersfield Sound. We'll pack in as much West Coast country as we can this week til we run out of time - a tonne of the big Bakersfield names right through to the less-than-household figures. From Buck Owens and Merle Haggard to Roy Nichols and Tommy Collins - it's our Bakersfield Birthday Bash and it's gonna be twangalicious! Yes, that's a word (as of now).

In this week's episode we're featuring a mid-80s album on for the always-country Moe Bandy: "Motel Matches" (1984). Bandy made traditional country music and rarely deviated from it. Respected country historian Bill Malone called Moe Bandy's music "a breath of fresh air through the fetid morass of country pop" - and even though it was 1984, "Motel Matches" was more of the same. Throughout his career thus far, Bandy had specialised in hard country songs about drinking and cheating (often depicted in the artwork on some of country's most glorious album covers) and a good chunk of our feature album is firmly in his wheelhouse once more. A relationship with songwriter Whitey Shafer which began with "Bandy The Rodeo Clown" and "I Just Started Hating Cheating Songs Today" in the early 70s continues with "In Mexico" and "Don't Start Me Cheatin' Again". Other highlights include one of two singles in "It Took A Lot Of Drinkin' (To Get That Woman Over Me)" and a comfortable song for Bandy (a 2007 Texas Rodeo Hall Of Fame inductee) in "The Horse That You Can't Ride".

In this week's episode we're featuring a sterling album from the son of a western legend in Rex Allen, Jr.: "Ridin' High" (1976). His Daddy was Rex Allen Sr - "The Arizona Cowboy" or "The Golden Voice" - and he remained an overarching figure throughout his son's career. Blessed with the same set of incredibly rich vocals as his father, Rex Allen. Jr became a truly country AND western performer, earning a string of mainstream hits in the 70s and 80s as well as induction into the Western Music Hall Of Fame in 2008. "Ridin' High" has Allen's wonderful voice on full display - not an uptempo album by any means but one which fits like a glove. Steel guitar from Pete Drake compliments Allen's version of "Teardrops In My Heart" (cut by his Daddy in 1947); the sultry "While The Feeling's Good" would give Conway Twitty a run for his money; the mournfully guilty "I Love Everything I Get My Hands On" sits sensationally next to a couple of old western classics in "Streets Of Laredo" and "San Antonio Rose". A snapshot of Rex Allen, Jr. at his finest.

In this week's episode we're featuring the third and final album on Giant Records for Daryle Singletary: "Ain't It The Truth" (1998). One of the 90s finest and loudest voices for traditional country music, Singletary was only with Giant a short time and was dropped from it's roster following this album's three singles lacklustre chart performance. The year before it's release, Giant Records had been restructured and Singletary was rightly nervous about his position - however, when president Doug Johnson saw the Georgia baritone perform Randy Travis' "1982" and Vern Gosdin's "Do You Believe Me Now" at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon, he was sold. There was genuine label hype around "Ain't It The Truth" - plenty of speak of a "career record" and "The Note" was supposed to be a big smash, but none of that happened. However, Singletary's third and last record for Giant gives us a taste of what was to come: a hardcore country traditionalist slipping into the shoes of a torchbearer for a cause and an artform, which is what he remained until his terribly sad passing in 2018. Sterling stuff from a legend.

In this week's episode we're focusing on "The Man Behind The Music": the prolific songwriting talent and success of Oklahoma's Roger Springer. A diehard Merle Haggard fan since his teens, Springer was born and raised around Caddo, OK and at age 28 in the late 80s, he quit his job at JC Potter Sausage Company and moved to Nashville. After a record deal fell through there was two choices ahead of Springer: go back to the sausage company or become a hit songwriter. Backtracking wasn't an option - so, taking notes from greats like Dean Dillon and Whitey Shafer, Springer began songwriting in earnest. Over the rest of the next decade, Roger Springer enjoyed several big hits with his good buddy and kindred spirit Mark Chesnutt, George Strait, Daryle Singletary, Wade Hayes and a host of the 90s best: from the decade of hats, mullets, square jaws we celebrate the songs of Roger Springer, some of the stories behind them and a good ol' boy who's down home ways and easy-going demeanour didn't seem changed in over three decades and counting in country music.

In this week's episode we're featuring Vern Gosdin's final charting album on Columbia: "Out Of My Heart" (1991). Already into his 50s by the time commercial success finally came his way in the 1980s and having suffered his share of setbacks, Gosdin's voice had aged to perfection by 1991. Described as "a walking heartache" by one reviewer, Gosdin's music during his commercial peak relied heavily on haunting background vocals - hearkening back to his history with brother Rex Gosdin in the 60s as some of the West Coast's finest harmony singers. With three divorces to draw from it was true that Gosdin's musical trademark was sorrow. And there are plenty of weepers on this week's feature album. The equally painful "A Month Of Sundays"; "The Song Wrote Itself" (while I cried) and the forlorn "The Bridge I'm Still Building On" have Vern in comfortable territory. But to see the lines on his face when Gosdin sang the exquisite and tragic "The Garden" on The Grand Ole Opry in 1991 is to understand the feeling the man put into his music and how he earned the nickname "The Voice".

In this week's episode it's all Little Darlin' Records. Every single song you'll hear was recorded for Aubrey Mayhew's independent Little Darlin' label, mostly between 1966-1970. At a time when smaller labels were prolific in Nashville, Little Darlin' stood out - and it still does. The lynchpin of the Little Darlin' sound was Lloyd Green's innovative and inventive steel guitar, and Green's picking from that era still has fellow steelers scratching their heads in awe. Little Darlin's brand of country music was hard-edged, twangy and perfectly engineered to jump out of the radio and grab your attention. Oftentimes Little Darlin' specialised in the darker side of country and their roster boasted many big names over it's stuttering existence, including LD's centerpiece in Johnny Paycheck. This week it's all magnificent, hardcore country music from the deep Little Darlin' vaults and our feature is a 1967 album from a talented LD trio in The Homesteaders: "A New Frontier".

In this week's episode we're featuring another ultra-consistent album from George Strait: "Beyond The Blue Neon" (1989). Over Strait's career (especially in his 80s and 90s heyday) his output was dizzyingly reliable. Just enough modernity in it's production to appeal to country radio but music stubbornly rooted in Strait's Texas country heritage. That's what you got. And fans loved it, helping Strait move over fifty million records in his first twenty years alone. Johnny Gimble was dragging the bow on fiddle on most all of George Strait's hits between 1983 through the early 90s, and he's in his element on "Beyond The Blue Neon". "Neon" has a distinct western swing flavour which suits Gimble (a former Texas Playboy) down to a T. Something about the clean-cut Strait leaning up against a pool table and the title track's lyric "a hole in the wall from some free for all" (as if King George would ever get into a fight) seems incongruous but highlights are plentiful: the cleverly worded "Hollywood Squares" swings right into "Ace In The Hole" and several years before Diamond Rio hit with it, "Oh Me, Oh My Sweet Baby" is given the sterling Strait treatment.

In this week's episode we're featuring an excellent compilation on Johnny Bond: "The Very Best Of Johnny Bond" (1998). Strangely, of the seventeen tracks only one was a chart hit for Bond - as such, this week's show turned into an excellent opportunity for a deep dive into Bond's catalogue. A truly versatile artist, after Johnny Bond relocated from his native Oklahoma to Hollywood on an invite from Gene Autry, he found work in the movies and was cast as Autry's sidekick in the Melody Ranch radio show on the CBS network. A recording contract with Columbia soon followed and as country music's sound changed in the 40s and 50s, so did Bond's. From a bluesy, harp-driven sound to proto-rockabilly, hillbilly boogie, western swing and straight-ahead country music, Johnny Bond wasn't afraid to try different styles and he enjoyed a good amount of hits in the late 40s/early 50s. As a songwriter Bond's material provided hits for artists from Ernest Tubb to Tennessee Ernie Ford and several Bond compositions have since become standards. However, Bond's roles as Autry's sidekick and the "hick" character on several TV shows out on the West Coast seemed to dog him, and his biggest sales always came from his comedy and novelty material. A Nashville Songwriter Hall Of Famer and a Country Music Hall Of Famer, this week's show was an excellent chance to mine Bond's wide range of material and prove that beyond the jokester, Johnny Bond was a layered artist with a real knack for a country song.

In this week's episode we're featuring a typical David Houston album from his Epic heyday: "Where Love Used To Live/My Woman's Good To Me" (1969). Aside from his monster million-selling, Grammy-winning 1966 hit "Almost Persuaded", Houston hardly rates a mention in most conversations about 60s and 70s country music. A man gifted with an extraordinary vocal range, David Houston could effortlessly glide from warm baritone to lofty tenor and is a prime example of just how good the Nashville Sound could be. After Billy Sherrill signed Houston to Epic in the early 60s, Houston delivered the label it's first real hit with "Mountain Of Love" in 1963 and remained with the outfit for the next thirteen years or so. Sherrill's genius production touches are all over "Where Love Used To Live" - very similar touches on some tracks to Tammy Wynette hits of the same era - and with tasteful use of a chorus, sparing strings and the steel guitar of Pete Drake never far away, Houston's Epic output remains unmined gold. Highlights include a plodding lament to jealousy in "Where Love Used To Live" (catch those "I Don't Wanna To Play House" licks!); a tearjerker in "Lullaby To A Little Girl" and a reminder of how many hits David Houston had while at Epic on "David's Song".

In this week's episode we're featuring a hardcore country album from Vernon Oxford: "If I Had My Wife To Love Over" (1979). If you didn't know you were in for a traditional country release from the title alone, it won't take long to figure it out: epitomising hard country music, Vernon Oxford's story is one of genuine hillbilly talent. Despite that talent, Oxford faced stiff resistance, demoralising rejection and continued setbacks on US country radio and it's a crying shame he's not better known today. Somewhat unfortunately (as it turned out) likened to Hank Williams in appearance, stature, style and sound - Vernon Oxford maintained an extremely loyal fanbase around the world, hit high notes in Europe but couldn't get traction Stateside. We'll cover a lot of ground in this week's show, taking you from Oxford's first trip to Nashville in 1964 right through to our feature album's release on Rounder Records and there are some traditional country delights along the way: "State Of Depression" is up there with the bleakest country songs ever recordded; "Joanna" and "Maggie, The Baby Is Crying" are two heartbreaking slices-of-life and "Kaw-Liga" seems a gratuitous but enjoyable tip of the hat to Hank. If it seems incongruous to call a sad country song a "delight", you haven't heard the sincerity and treatment given one by Vernon Oxford.

In this week's episode we're featuring a 1978 album for Texas icon Red Steagall: "Hang On Feelin'". Recorded and released during a period of continued commercial decline, "Hang On Feelin'" was Steagall's last outing for ABC/Dot Records. That commercial decline does not translate to a decline in quality however, and fans of traditional country and western swing will find plenty to like. Based in Nashville for much of the 70s, this record has backing from many of Music City's top flight sidemen but as usual for Texas Red, there's a definite Lone Star flavour. We could've featured the whole album this week (it's that good), but just a few of the highlights include a Jim Glaser cut (the album was recorded at Glaser Sound Studio) on "Sittin' In An All Nite Cafe"; the dark single "The Devil Ain't A Lonely Woman's Friend"; a wistful cowboy's recollection in "About Horses And Wars" and the self-explanatory "All I Knew To Talk About Was Texas". If Red Steagall ever put out a bad record, this wasn't it.

Welcome to the expanded edition of the show! Featuring an extra hour's worth of music not included in the radio version! This week we're featuring a slice of Texas dancehall music at it's best from Johnny Bush & The Bandoleros: "Live! At Dance Town USA" (1979). Recorded on New Years Eve 1979 (a Monday night) home town boy Johnny Bush brought his tight Texas country dance band back to Houston's Dance Town USA, a cavernous venue on the north side of town which he'd been a popular draw at for most of the 70s. Twin fiddles from Jimmy Harriss and John Schattenberg and steel from longtime Bandolero Rick Price lead the way through a dynamite hour-long set, whittled down by producers from the standard four hour show. "Whiskey River" was already a signature song for Bush by '79, and included are two-step-ready crowd favourites to this day: "Undo The Right" and "What A Way To Live", along with an ever relevant dig at mainstream country radio with "The Last Country Song". We dig into some fascinating, behind-the-scenes stories from the recording of this album and we'll also seek to recreate the sounds of a greater South Texas honky tonk circa 1979 in the process.

In this week's episode we're featuring an excellent slice of 60s Texas country from Al Dean & The Allstars: "From Texas To Nashville" (1967). Hailing from "The Golden Triangle" in South Texas, Al Dean already had a loyal following when his recording of "Cotton Eyed Joe" became a massive smash in Texas in 1967 - eventually becoming the most programmed song on jukeboxes in that state, ever. "From Texas To Nashville" was probably recorded to capitalise on that success as Dean tripped to Music City to make an album under the production of Pete Drake, who also played steel. Al Dean & The Allstars was a true family affair - both Al's wife Maxine Dean and his son Galen Dean sing lead on and wrote several cuts on our feature album. Dean's brand of fiddle-and-steel country music is infectious and intentionally suited to all variations and beats of the Texas two-step - our feature album helps partially explain why Al Dean & The Allstars were working well into the 21st Century. Highlights include an ode to the oilfield worker in "Ruff Neck Pay Check"; some excellent lead from an 18-year-old Galen Dean on the jumping "Change Your Ways Of Living" and a man who just can't get out of the service in "Just One Of The Boys".

In this week's episode we're featuring a 1977 album from the clear and resonant vocal of Rose Maddox: "Reckless Love & Bold Adventure". A suitably colourful title for Rose, whose roots in performing came as part of The Most Colourful Hillbilly Band In America: The Maddox Brothers & Rose. After plenty of West Coast success with her brothers, in 1958 Rose Maddox went solo and over the next few years on Capitol enjoyed a good number of hit singles including several with Buck Owens. Maddox also recorded one of the first female-led bluegrass albums in 1962 - and it was indeed the bluegrass and folk communities where she found a musical home as her country music star waned into the 1970s. Bluegrass influence permeates much of our feature album: with fiddle from the legendary Byron Berline and his longtime associate John Hickman on banjo, Maddox teamed up with good friend Wayne Gailey on pedal steel and the combination is electric. Highlights include an excellent fiddle-and-steel cover of Johnny Rodriguez's "Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through)"; an excellent re-recording of a 4-Star hit for The Maddox Brothers & Rose in "Gathering Flowers For The Master's Bouquet" and the autobiographical "Heart Of A Country Song (Rose's Song)" where Rose gives a shoutout to Gailey on steel guitar. Overlooked but solid material.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a 2018 album for RFD-TV personality Merlin Gene, "People, Places & Things". With the first season of the popular Hee Haw-style variety program "The Merlin Gene Show" well underway at the time of recording, Merlin Gene's star was on the rise. Combining an effortless vocal and an excellent sense of humour with a deep reverence for country music's heritage, "People, Places & Things" strikes an excellent balance between originality and tradition. With the twangy bark of a Bakersfield telecaster from the legendary Eugene Moles and steel from Hall Of Famer Doug Jernigan, Merlin Gene sparkles on stage in Manuel-tailored rhinestone suits a la Ray Price, Porter Wagoner and Little Jimmy Dickens. And the music reflects those classic country influences - with a definite Del Reeves connection, Merlin Gene covers Jerry Chesnut's "Good Time Charlie's" and "Looking At The World Through A Windshield". The Kentuckian powers his way through some excellent country drinking tunes on "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Glass" and "I Think I'll Give Drinkin' Another Try" - the latter of which deservingly racked up a stack of streams in it's first months after release. Get you some Merlin Gene.

In this week's episode we're featuring another huge album from Conway Twitty: "Play, Guitar Play" (1977). There were two singles and two obligatory number ones. But sales and chart certification aside, this is an album as diverse and enjoyable as anything Conway ever put out. We'll work our way through some country boy rock 'n' roll, swing, a few recitations and the necessary two-steppers: and we'll also remember the side of Conway Twitty which commanded such longevity and loyalty from bandmembers and dedication from fans. A casual observer can get lost in the sheer volume of Twitty's single and album output during his heyday, but when one takes the time to listen more intently there's overlooked country gold to be had. "Play, Guitar Play" is no exception: highlights include an extremely original cover of "Wolverton Mountain", a recitation/tearjerker combo in "The Letter" and the dancehall-ready "I Can't Help It If She Can't Stop Loving Me".

In this week's episode we're featuring Merle Haggard's first album for the 1990s and his first for his new label, Curb: "Blue Jungle" (1990). After his former label's parent company (Columbia) fired Johnny Cash in 1985, Hag was mad. Cash's mistreatment and consistent disagreements over artistic direction pushed Haggard to buy his way out his contract and he signed with Curb. What could have been a renaissance, however, turned into a commercial curtain call for Merle - apparently the label routinely delayed the release of new music and put almost no promotion behind his work, and his three albums for Curb tanked on the charts. Add that to a 90s country radio scene already more attuned to "Young Country" and the decade was an exceedingly tough one for Haggard and other country icons. Musically, however, "Blue Jungle" has plenty of highlights - produced by Strangers pianoman Mark Yeary, the album is loaded with vintage Haggard chops and his rough and ready vocal stands up to the new decade well. Hitting several topical issues head on in typical Haggard style, "Me And Crippled Soldiers" and "My Home Is In The Street" address the current affairs of the day - Norm Hamlet is prolific on steel and the final track on the project co-written with hit 80s collaborator Freddy Powers is also the best of the ten song collection - a contemplative cut wondering what might have been if Haggard had never "made it" in "A Bar In Bakersfield".

In this week's episode we're featuring the third album from The Mavericks, "What A Crying Shame" (1994). With roots in Miami's alternative and punk scenes, country music became the common ground upon which the band came together, and after two albums with moderate sales success (including one for MCA) producer Don Cook was brought on board for their third. Cook's work with Brooks & Dunn was instrumental in the success of that duo - and he allowed The Mavericks a tight but diverse record on "What A Crying Shame". Given their name by an old manager, The Mavericks fell into it over time; causing country radio programmers headaches since the get-go with elements of Latin, country, blues, rock 'n' roll, vintage pop and rockabilly in their music - their product was hard to define. But anchored by the sensational Orbison-esque vocal of Raul Malo, The Mavericks wouldn't be pigeonholed. Despite sales of over a million units, radio's reaction to "What A Crying Shame" was luke warm. But for those willing to listen cover to cover there was some excellent country music to be had: a couple of updated Ray Price shuffles in "Just A Memory" and "Ain't Found Nobody", and a pair of excellent honky tonk floor fillers in "There Goes My Heart" and the belly-rubber "Pretend" are worth the listen alone.

In this week's episode, we're featuring George Jones' last album of the 20th Century: "Cold Hard Truth" (1999). After an association with MCA for most of the 90s which resulted in decent sales but not so many radio hits, he found himself signed to Asylum Records - a signing which turned out to be his last major label deal. At 68 years of age, Jones was still in sterling vocal form and all that was asked of him was that he "do the record he would have done 20 years ago had he been sober". Jones approached the project with vigour, laying down the vocal with the pickers live in studio for all ten tracks with the intention of coming back to touch up certain parts later. However, after a serious alcohol-related SUV crash, those touch ups never happened. The Possum's near-death experience scared him into sobriety for good, and while he was hospitalised, Asylum released the album's first single. "Choices" wasn't given the radio attention it deserved - but to many fans, and perhaps to Jones himself - it served as a bittersweet summary of his career. Alongside the stark title track this album saw Jones return to his hard country best - after half a century of doing it better than just about anybody else, despite his self-inflicted pitfalls.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a sensational album from bluegrass progressives The Country Gentlemen: "Joe's Last Train" (1976). The Gents boasted an excellent line up in '76, including of course founding member, guitarist and lead vocalist Charlie Waller, Doyle Lawson on mandolin and vocals and with Bill Holden on banjo this collection of songs reflects that talent. Labelled bluegrass progressives for their masterful combination of folk, country, gospel and bluegrass traditions - The Gents appealed to and influenced a broad range of listeners and their music marked a beautiful, respectful but nuanced shift in the music of Bill Monroe to a more expansive interpretation of the same tradition. Waller's vocal similarity to Hank Snow was one he played on and with his enthralling picking technique, this album hasn't many dull moments. From a banjo-driven cover of Willie Nelson's "Bloody Mary Morning"; to the title track and it's dealings with the timeless country and bluegrass themes of trains, hobos and ageing - The Gents have an absolute winner on their hands with "Joe's Last Train", and the four bandmembers dressed as railroad bums on the original album cover is only the beginning of the appeal.

In this week's episode, we're featuring Jean Shepard's return to form: "Slippin' Away" (1973). Absent from the Top 5 since 1964, Shepard enjoyed a re-entry therein with the title track, written by fellow Opry star Bill Anderson. "Slippin' Away" also marked a change of labels for Jean Shepard (from Capitol to United Artists) - and although her stay near the top was shortlived, it allowed the feisty, opinionated and staunch torchbearer for traditional country music to be introduced to a whole new generation of fans. Stu Basore's steel guitar is a highlight on the whole release - especially on a sublime rendition of Tammy Wynette's "'Til I Get It Right"; "Come On Phone" provided a follow-up single to the title track and "Think I'll Go Somewhere (And Cry Myself To Sleep)" was the second Bill Anderson tune on the album, and you'll be hard pressed to find a more sorrowful version of that song. A fair and accurate representation of Jean Shepard at her best.

In this week's episode, we're taking the time to remember the almost unrivalled charisma, vocal versatility and showmanship of Faron Young. We've spanned his entire career in this week's show - taken some of his big hits, some of his album tracks and lesser known stuff, added some stories about the Singing Sheriff and packaged it up into a three-hour tribute to Faron. There's a lot that could be said of the talents and upsides (and downsides) that came in the career of Faron Young, but suffice to say that Faron's ability with the microphone and with an audience was an absolute pillar upon which the success of country music was built. And that's not an overstatement.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the second album in as many years for road warrior Dallas Moore: "Tryin' To Be A Blessing" (2019). Moore has been touring the country relentlessly for the last three decades, and even after all that time on the road, it was during a 2018 collaboration with Dean Miller (son of Roger Miller) in which Moore says he finally found the honky tonk sound he'd been looking for. His sound. Our feature album is the second project with Miller, recorded in only two days in a "lightning in a bottle" type situation, as Moore puts it. "Tryin' To Be A Blessing" is refreshingly autobiographical and six of the nine songs come from Moore's own pen. The album is dedicated to his late parents, who were married for over 60 years and passed away within weeks of each other just before the record's conception. "Mama & Daddy" pays homage to his upbringing; "All I Need" has a little Bakersfield-style to it; "Everything But You" chronicles the downsides of life on the road for the hard working Dallas Moore and the title track is a beautifully composed slice of optimism bundled in a rough-hewn country package. It seems to this reviewer that when Johnny Cash sang about "the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye" in "A Boy Named Sue" - that somehow Cash's gravel has ended up in the vocals of the gritty Dallas Moore. And that grit makes for some excellent raw and ready honky tonk listening.

In this week's episode, we're featuring Marty Robbins' third album (of four) for MCA Records: "Good 'N Country" (1974). After twenty years, Columbia Records and Robbins parted ways, and in the singer's own words: "I was just like a small fish in a big pond and it seemed like a good time to move on." He was soon on the roster at MCA, searching for a new direction. Marty Robbins truly was a musical chameleon - from Hawaiian love songs to western story songs, crooner through to hard country genius - Robbins could sing it all. And in the search for a new direction, he called banjo picker Haskel McCormick into a Wednesday night session and joined with Buddy Spicher on fiddle and Bill Johnson utilising a rare fuzzbox effect on his steel guitar - he cut "Twentieth Century Drifter". A relative hit for the smooth singing Arizonian, it became a somewhat of a theme song for Robbins, who made over thirty starts in NASCAR's top division. The bluegrass overtones of "Good 'N Country" resulted in relative sales success but by 1975, Robbins was back at Columbia and remained there for the rest of his career. Highlights are plentiful: Robbins dug into the archives for a version of Eddy Arnold's "I Couldn't Believe It Was True"; a pair of self-penned songs from a prison-themed album that never enventuated in "Georgia Blood" and "Mother Knows Best" and a glorious steel guitar part in "You're An Angel Disguised As A Girl". Dang good stuff.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the first album from Peggy Sue Wells, "Dynamite!" (1969). Famously the younger sister of Loretta Lynn and the older sibling of Crystal Gayle, Peggy Sue does indeed have hints of both those gals when she sings. However this "small bundle of dynamite" (as described by Loretta on the original LP liner notes) has certainly earnt her mention in conversations about the famous Webb family of Butcher Holler, Kentucky. Born ten years after Loretta, she grew up listening to and singing along with her older sister's records and by the early 60s, Peggy Sue had become a featured act on her show. With the success of "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin'" (which she co-wrote with Loretta) she eventually earnt a contract with the same label as her sister and was assigned the same producer for her debut project in Owen Bradley. Loretta & Peggy Sue combined to write six of the ten songs featured on "Dynamite!" - an incredibly strong showing for the 60s. Likely borrowing steel guitar from Hal Rugg and with unique guitar effects sprinkled through the eleven song collection, "Dynamite!" is packed with kickers: with tunes from Loretta's wheelhouse in "Love Whatcha Got At Home" and "I'm Gettin' Tired Of Babyin' You" to the poignant "Sweet Baby Girl" and plaintive cover of Charley Pride's "All I Have To Offer You Is Me", Peggy Sue Wells didn't have the career her sisters did. But this album proves she certainly could have.

In this week's episode, we're shining the spotlight on just one of the many singers who made up the local fabric of country music nationwide. These were the entertainers and musicians on the ground across the USA and beyond who kept country music vital and happening over countless years in countless venues, clubs, honky tonks and roadhouses during the genre's heyday. These figures are seldom mentioned or remembered outside a regional area and seldom have their story told - but we're going to attempt to do that with one such singer. This singer's name is Herschel Parker, born in Daisy, Arkansas and active around the Fort Smith, Arkansas and River Valley area since the 1950s. Parker had more than a few brushes with some very big names in country music and his lengthy career has taken him from Arklahoma to Nashville and back again. He's a man who held down a steady job with one company for 46 years, raised five boys and was married for forty years - enjoying bouts of local celebrity, including big radio airplay on his historical country tune in 1976 about Fort Smith's ubiquitous Judge Parker (no relation). This week's show features stories, anecdotes and more importantly music from Herschel Parker's long career in the entertainment biz - and you can guarantee you won't get this local anywhere else. Turn it up!

In this week's episode we're featuring the debut album of Houston area country singer Jason Allen: "Something I Dreamed" (2001). Though 25 years old at the time of recording, Allen's early influences included Lefty Frizzell, Bob Wills and Hank Williams - and it shows. After several years spent in Nashville honing his skills as a songwriter and making all-important business connections, Allen returned to Texas and it was at a local club where Wes Daily took an interest in this upcoming talent and signed to him a revived D Records in the early part of the new millennium. Wes Daily is the grandson of HW "Pappy" Daily - the man credited with bringing George Jones to fame and producing his early records in the 1950s - and other big names in the area were quick to jump on board too. Starring Bobby Flores on fiddle and harmonies, produced by Daily & Clay Blaker in Tommy Detamore's Cherry Ridge Studios (Detamore is also steelin' on this album), "Something I Dreamed" is surely one of the best debuts of the 21st Century. The Daily family still owns Glad Music Publishing as well as D Records, and taking particular aim at songs George Strait had put on hold but never recorded, Jason Allen whittled down almost fifty songs to a robust twelve track project that oozes country tradition. Highlights are plentiful, but standouts include songs written by ace team Curtis Wayne and Wayne Kemp - a splendid version of Conway Twitty's 1968 "Next In Line"; the aching "Love Don't Get Much Colder" and a piece of country wordplay mastery in "Cryin' For Their Mamas". You need this album in your collection - trust me.

In this week's episode, we're featuring what remains Ricky Skaggs' only US platinum album, "Highways & Heartaches" (1982). A magnificent sophomore effort on Epic Records, Skaggs was once again given free rein to produce it himself - certainly an uncommon stipulation for a 28-year-old would-be star with next to no country music clout at the time. After hitting town a few years earlier armed with but a few rough mixes, Ricky Skaggs scored a meeting with Epic's Rick Blackburn, and aside from walking away with a recording contract more or less that day - Blackburn also agreed to let Skaggs produce his own stuff, pending sales. Hindsight proved that to be a wise decision, because from the get-go Skaggs - from a traditional bluegrass background - combined the acoustic and no-fuss aspects of bluegrass and old-time country music with an uncanny knack of finding timeless material which appealed to mainstream country audiences. The Kentucky high tenor had himself three number ones from 1982's "Highways & Heartaches", and cemented himself at the forefront of a rising traditional country revolt - later to be known as the new-traditionalist movement. Highlights include Guy Clark's "Heartbroke" (with one minor change); a cover of Bill Monroe's "Can't You Hear Me Callin'"; some glorious steel guitar from Lloyd Green on "You've Got A Lover" and the whirlwind picking on fellow member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band Rodney Crowell's "One Way Rider" is simply mesmerising.

In this week's show, we're parting with tradition and featuring a compilation album from Columbia Records, "Ray Price's Greatest Hits" (1961). Encompassing the bigger hits of Price's 50s and very early 60s output, this truly is a no-duds release - documenting a style of country music that Ray Price pioneered and one which proved a massive shot in the arm for the industry at the time. Apparently formulated mid-song while The Cherokee Cowboys were playing a dance, when Ray Price added a walking bassline to a 4/4 beat, hard country music - suffering in the face of a rock 'n' roll onslaught - was handed a lifeline. That Ray Price shuffle, as it later became known, permeates every aspect of this period of his career. With Jimmy Day on steel and Tommy Jackson on fiddle making up the backbone of most of his music at this point, the honky tonk years of The Cherokee Cowboy represented by this album are the playbook by which all would-be country singers should start, in this reviewer's opinion. Price's voice is one of the finest that ever was, let alone in country, and we could easily have featured every track in this week's show. Having said that, particular standouts include "Who'll Be The First" (1960), with triple fiddles on the session (!); Roger Miller's "Invitation To The Blues" (1958) with Miller playing guitar on his own composition; and dancehall favourite "One More Time" (1960) from the pen of Mel Tillis. I tried not gush about this album. But I failed.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a 2019 release from Oregon's The Hanson Family: "Rhythm Rides Again". Packed full of "western swing, cowboy yodelling and blazing harmony" (as one reviewer wrote) the sibling trio add fresh life to some of western music's most revered staples. Adding an infectious western swing element to the music, Lisa, Theresa and Daniel Hanson have grown up singing together and their impeccable harmonies are testament to that fact. Their second full length album since slimming down the family band to just three - these tracks are delightfully arranged and pleasing to the ear. Hailey Sandoz joins Lisa Hanson on fiddle, Randy Travis' steeler (amongst many others) Gary Carter adds some licks to the mix and Dallas-based Rich O'Brien lends his Latin-flavoured guitar to the real gem of this album: the delightfully obscure "Beside The Rio Tonto Shore". Originally appearing as sung by "The Merry Macs" in a 1942 Abbott & Costello comedy western called "Ride 'Em Cowboy", The Hanson Family revingorate this lost but lonesome gem in what may well be the first time it's been recorded since it's '42 debut. Other highlights include a rollicking arrangement of Stuart Hamblen's "Texas Plains"; a great western medley they're calling "Trail Mix" and an original from the pen of Western Swing Authority's Shane Guse in "Swingtime Lullaby". Two words to describe this album? Bright and fresh!

In this week's episode, we're featuring the second album from Central Texan Kelly Spinks: "Thank God For Cowboys" (1987). Spinks has left a decade or more between each of his three full length recording projects, but when he does head into the studio, the wait is always worth it. After an education learned in the dancehalls and honky tonks of Texas from some legendary teachers including Johnny Bush, Fiddlin' Frenchie Burke and Hank Thompson - Kelly Spinks has headed up his own band Miles Of Texas for over three decades. In this week's feature album, it's all fiddle and steel, as you'd expect - with a well-chosen, refreshing mix of country gold. Aside from "Mr. Record Man" and the pen of Willie Nelson, most all the rest of the tracks on "Thank God For Cowboys" are obscurities or new cuts and are expertly executed by Spinks' chosen team of musicians. Opry staff steeler Tommy White is all over this album as is Bill C. Graham on the secondary fiddle. Graham, an industry veteran and songwriter to boot, contributed four songs to Spinks' second outing here - and the fact that you might not have heard most of these songs before is really only a strength. This is mandatory listening for any fan of traditional Texas dancehall music: Kelly Spinks & Miles Of Texas know how to get it done.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the hardscrabble, renegade raconteur Billy Joe Shaver's Columbia debut: "I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal" (1981). Shaver's story is one of persistence, resilience, raw talent and significant ups and downs - but his rise to a respected elder statesman of the Outlaw country scene has been almost entirely organic. With virtually no aid from the mainstream country establishment, longtime friend Willie Nelson directed Shaver to Nashville, where he found himself beating down doors until an eventual tentative hire for $50/week as a songwriter for Bobby Bare. However, after Waylon Jennings recorded almost an entire album of his songs in '73 on his seminal "Honky Tonk Heroes" album, Shaver's stock skyrocketed amongst his peers. With Jennings' success, Shaver's songwriting talent became became clear and his debut record followed in the same year. His grimy, gritty vocal that lilts and drawls from one lyric to another makes listening to "I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal" an "almost religious experience" (according to one reviewer) - and highlights include the driving "Fit To Kill And Going Out In Style"; some glorious three quarter time stepping to "Blue Texas Waltz" and longtime fans will recall with fondness the time that Shaver combined his unhappy marriage, very real thoughts of suicide, a whole sheet of LSD and a ragged old truck into a 20th Century country masterclass.

In this week's episode, we're featuring an all-Aussie release from Queensland's Jeff Brown: "Wanderin' Man" (2016). This is the first time we've featured an exclusively Aussie album in over seven years of the show's existence - so let us know if you do or don't like it! Email [email protected] - your feedback will dictate if we do it again!  

Anyway - Jeff Brown is a tall, laconic Queenslander who was born, raised and still resides on the Darling Downs. Brownie's household growing up was one of traditional Aussie bush balladry - from the great Buddy Williams and Tex Morton to Slim Dusty, Stan Coster and Gordon Parsons - and his own music carries on that tradition into the 21st century. "Wanderin' Man", like his previous six albums since a 1997 debut, speaks of the land, the people and life outside Australia's major centres. And as a truckie half the year hauling for farmers across the region, Brownie knows what he's singing about. Highlights from this magnificent piece of Australiana include the hilariously accurate "Kamikaze Kangaroo"; the story of the Aussie Army's forgotten dead-eye sniper in "Ballad Of Billy Sing"; the beautifully sad "The Bed He'd Never Leave" and an Aussie version of "Murder On Music Row" in "Old Country's Clothes". A bloody good album.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the first hit album for Cal Smith: "I've Found Someone Of My Own" (1972). After several years as rhythm guitarist and frontman to Ernest Tubb's Texas Troubadours, he departed with ET's blessing and went solo. Kapp Records was his home during and after his time as a Troubadour, but success was elusive. With a glowing endorsement on the back cover of our feature album from Mrs. Ernest (Olene) Tubb, Smith joined Decca in 1972 and by that time, the songwriters were lining up for the affable entertainer. One of those writers was Bill Anderson, who enjoyed two cuts on "I've Found Someone Of My Own", including the snarky, pointed and sarcastic "The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" - which also became Cal Smith's first chart-topper. The rest of the album combines songs from rock, pop and R&B artists but Cal Smith countrified each enough to satisfy even the hardest of country hardliners. With possibly the exception of Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue", Cal Smith does country justice to Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay"; The Free Movement's "I've Found Someone Of My Own" as well as stone country versions of Tom T. Hall's "Ballad Of Forty Dollars" and another Anderson composition in "That's What It's Like To Be Lonesome". Very enjoyable listening.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a hardcore Texas country album from Jerry Webb: "Red Lips & Honky Tonks" (2007). Originally hailing from West Texas, Webb was a schoolmate to Texas fiddle legend Jody Nix - and it was with his father Hoyle Nix that he learned many tricks of the trade, subbing as a bassist in the popular West Texas Cowboys for almost a decade. After family and career duties demanded a hiatus of some years, he cut his first album in the late 90s in Austin and later, Webb wound up in Fort Worth. There he became a fixture on the dance circuit, performing regularly at Pearl's Dancehall, fondly nicknamed "The Gem Of The Stockyards". In fact, our feature album this week features Webb in front of that venue on the front cover - and no doubt many of the songs, all but one written by Jerry Webb himself, graced the stage of Pearl's. Produced by Carl Vaughan, Chip Bricker and Gary Carpenter (also featuring Carp on steel guitar), this album is an exceptionally strong set of traditional country songs and highlights include the magnificent "Red Lips", built around a cheesy pickup line; the telling "Wrong From The Ring" and if "I Love A Texas Honky Tonk" doesn't make you crave a Crown double, I suggest you listen again. Honky tonk gold as it should be done in the 21st Century.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the fourth and final album on Warner for 80s twangers Highway 101: "Bing Bang Boom" (1991). "Bing Bang Boom" was also the first album for the band after the departure of lead singer Paulette Carlson, who's husky vocal had defined Highway 101's music for the first four years of their existence. Instead, they employed Nikki Nelson to take the reins - and there are plenty of pundits who say that Nelson didn't stand up in the shoes left by Carlson. Perhaps not as an identifiable a vocal, admittedly - it's this reviewer's opinion that Nelson's voice fit Highway 101's sound wonderfully. The band loses nothing as they power through a set of neo-traditional tunes on "Bing Bang Boom" that ought to have performed better on the charts. Highway 101's best commercial days were behind them, but with highlights including the rollicking "Storm Of Love"; the twangalicious heartbreaker "River Of Tears"; a stellar version of "Restless Kind" before either Travis Tritt and Trisha Yearwood got to it and the aching "The Blame" - the foursome have smoothed over any cracks left by Paulette Carlson's departure.

In this episode, we're featuring the first Capitol LP for the booming baritone of Tony Booth: "The Key's In The Mailbox" (1972). Born in Florida, Booth relocated to New Mexico and even though his step-father was a steel guitarist, being a musician was not initially the intention for Tony Booth. Eyeing a career as a music teacher, once Booth got wind of the pay scale, he jokes, the life of an entertainer seemed a little more appealing. After graduating from venues in New Mexico to the Vegas circuit, Booth began playing California clubs with some regularity and in the late 60s/early 70s, The Tony Booth Band became the house band for the legendary Palomino Club in North Hollywood. Testament to his popularity were two wins as "Best Non-Touring Band" in 1970 and 1971 as well as "Most Promising Male Vocalist" in 1971 at the Academy Of Country Music Awards. A friendship with Buck Owens developed and with this first Capitol release, Booth stamps his own style on the Bakersfield Sound - which to this reviewer's ears, owes an awful lot to the dancehalls of Texas. After his Capitol days were through, Booth toured as bassist for a dozen years with Gene Watson's Farewell Party Band and was talked into performing again in 2006 by Heart Of Texas Records bossman Tracy Pitcox - and at the time of writing, Tony Booth was still going strong. This 1972 Capitol debut holds some true honky tonk gems from Booth at the top of his game: but rather than single out individual highlights, it might just be easier to say there aren't many duds on this stellar album, which has your toe tapping from woe to go.

In this week's episode we're featuring an excellent western swing/country music album from Houston's The Original River Road Boys: "Country Music High" (1985). Formed in 1971 by fiddlers Clyde Brewer & Bob White, The River Road Boys were extremely active in their first decade and a half - releasing nine albums prior to "Country Music High". We'll focus on the contribution of Clyde Brewer to the world of western swing in this episode: a man who grew up idolising Texas fiddle pioneer Cliff Bruner and who went to work with honky tonk pianoman Moon Mullican at the age of 17. A respected Texas and western swing musical historian, Clyde Brewer retired at the age of 55 from the Houston Public Works department in the year of our feature album's release to focus on The Original River Road Boys, and his dedication is apparent on this sensational collection of songs. With Jim Johnson on vocals and Dusty Stewart on steel, Brewer & the boys burn through a fresh and ridiculously danceable set of western swing and country music - highlights include a tribute to an iconic Texas Playboys western swing vocalist in "Ode To Tommy Duncan"; a fast-paced rendition of Cindy Walker's "You're From Texas"; a well-chosen cover of Bob Wills' "Go Home With The Girls In The Morning" and the blood-pumping title track. This is a group you won't hear from every day but who've earned their place in the history of western swing.

In this week's episode, we're featuring one of the best albums in the long career of Buck Owens: "Buck Owens Sings Harlan Howard" (1961). Born in Detroit and barely receiving nine years of formal education, Harlan Howard relocated to Tucson then Los Angeles in the mid-fifties seeking a steady wage. It was there he was introduced to several early Bakersfield pioneers, including Wynn Stewart and Buck Owens. Extremely handy with a turn of phrase, Howard's stock skyrocketed when Charlie Walker cut "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" and the following year Ray Price and Guy Mitchell's versions of "Heartaches By The Number" prompted a move to Nashville, where the songwriter earned the nicknames "The Irving Berlin Of Country Music", "Dean Of Nashville Songwriters" and "Mr. Songwriter". Few in country history have had as many hits with as many artists, and Howard's partnership with Buck Owens is legendary. This album, put out shortly after the third Owens/Howard hit in "Foolin' Around", has Buck covering several current hits from the pen of Harlan Howard, as well as many more from the deep songbook of the talented writer. Set in an era before the tele twang element of the Bakersfield sound had come to fruition and before Don Rich was let loose on harmony vocals - if you had to buy only one Buck Owens album, "Buck Owens Sings Harlan Howard" may well be it.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a snapshot of Carl Vaughan's stint in Nashville: "The Monument Years" (1968-1972). Born in Cleburne, Texas, Vaughan took a job at the tender age of four on a local radio station and proved a very adept entertainer, playing over the next several decades to big crowds around the DFW area in some of the roughest bars and clubs on the circuit. During a very popular residency at "Rustler's Rest" in Fort Worth, where Vaughan and his band were playing and packing 'em in six nights a week, Nashville sent a producer down to see what all the fuss was about. A well received spec session followed in 1968, and suddenly Vaughan had offers on the table from five of country's biggest labels. He elected to sign with Fred Foster and Bob Moore's Monument Records and over the next four years were born some very successful singles that saw Carl Vaughan tour from coast to coast, playing most all major US cities and states and even Ronald Reagan's first inauguration celebration. Never having set out to be a musician, however, Vaughan moved back to Texas in '72 and dabbled in many business interests while keeping busy with music all the while. Our feature album this week is but a taste of Carl Vaughan's range and versatility in country music, which as we'll hear, continues to this day.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a solid traditional country release from the often overlooked career of Freddy Weller: "The Roadmaster" (1972). As a member of popular rock/pop act Paul Revere & The Raiders in the late 60s, it was his version of Joe South's "Games People Play" which shot him to country stardom. Weller never recaptured that level of fame but spent most of the 70s recording country to mixed commercial results. His hits dropped off completely after 1980, but as a writer he kept an iron in the fire and scored considerable success with a BMI one-million spinner in Reba McEntire's "They Asked About You" as well as "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" for Bob Luman. Freddy Weller also co-wrote every SINGLE one of the tracks on "The Roadmaster" (frequently collaborating with Muscle Shoals session staple Spooner Oldham) and solid gold country cuts like "Bars Have Made A Prisoner Of Me", the dark but humorous "Ballad Of A Hillbilly Singer", some wonderful trembling steel in "An Oldie But A Goodie" and the kicking title track warrant a revisiting of Freddy Weller's underrated but extremely worthy place in country music history.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the first album in fourteen years from bayou-dweller John Mark Davis: "Bayou Self Sessions" (2018). John Mark Davis was gigging in and around the Beaumont/Port Arthur region in Texas at the same time that Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd and Clay Walker were getting signed to major labels out of Nashville. They shared many of the same clubs, booking agents and contacts: the opportunity and talent to make it big was there. However the responsibility of a young family kept John Mark Davis living on the bayou, providing for a wife and two small children. Three decades later Davis' "Bayou Self Sessions" was born, an extraordinarily good collection of twelve traditional country tracks, including ten originals. Completed between Port-Neches, TX and Covington, GA and in direct consultation with his enthusiastic fanbase, this release runs the gamut from overwhelming tearjerkers to songs of hope and resilience; drinking anthems and tributes to the way it used to be. With prolific tele twang and steel guitar whine, highlights include the devastating "Love Me Back", another tearjerker written by John Mark Davis' younger brother Greg Chief Davis in "Together Alone" and the excellent harmonica cameo in "As Long As You Believe In Me". The timing wasn't right the first time around for John Mark Davis.. but it is now.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the one and only album in the decades-long career of Rose Lee Maphis: "Rose Lee Maphis" (1960). Well may you wonder how one is active in country music for over five decades and have only one album to your name, but the answer is a simple one: Rose Lee Maphis was one half of "Mr. & Mrs. Country Music" with husband and country guitar wizard Joe Maphis: the "King Of The Strings" as he was dubbed. Together they tore up the 50s and 60s as one of the most in-demand country music couple acts going and most all of Rose Lee's recorded output was with her husband, first on the West Coast as popular members of the "Town Hall Party" TV show in LA and later in Nashville after the Maphis clan relocated there in the late 60s. Joe Maphis passed away in 1986 but Rose Lee stayed in Tennessee and into her nineties could be found in downtown Nashville if you knew where to look. Thankfully her one foray into the studio as a solo act in 1960 was a memorable one and the wonderful amalgamation of mountain music, hillbilly and country/western was put into wax (and the history books) by Columbia. Take a listen to the hillbilly pedigree of this pioneering gal of country music with "musical accompaniment" from her late husband - highlights include the plaintive "Release Me"; the jumping guitar from her spouse in "My Curly-Headed Baby" and "Bury Me Beneath The Willow" and her take on the wonderful "Pins And Needles (In My Heart)".

In this week's episode we're featuring an all-star duet album from Hank Thompson: "Hank Thompson & Friends" (2018). Originally released on Curb Records but becoming out of print shortly afterwards, our feature album was expanded and re-released on Heart Of Texas Records in 2018. In 1996/97, at the time that the original sessions were laid down, Hank Thompson hadn't been in studio for almost a decade. He must've thought that was too long, because Thompson became the driving force for our all-star duet feature album and he rounded up some of the 90s biggest stars to contribute to this project. The voices of Vince Gill, Brooks & Dunn, Lyle Lovett, Tanya Tucker, Marty Stuart and others were in their prime at the time this album was recorded and Hank Thompson, a Country Music Hall Of Famer at 72, was sounding pretty dang good too. After his passing in 2007, Hank's widow Ann Thompson Womack and her husband Ray uncovered a DAT tape of the entire session - and with the help of Heart Of Texas' label boss Tracy Pitcox, it was discovered that two extra tracks had been omitted: a Joe Diffie collaboration on "Been Down That Road" and a solo track in "The Bluest Rose In Texas Tonight". Expanded, re-packaged and re-released in 2018, you can add "Hank Thompson & Friends" to your collection today at www.hillbillyhits.com. Highlights are plentiful, and a few of the best include the written-for-the-purpose duet with George Jones on "Hey George, Hey Hank"; Thompson's last single and music video in "Gotta Sell Them Chickens" with Junior Brown and the jewel in the crown is the trio of Hank T., Kitty Wells and Tanya Tucker reliving "The Wild Side Of Life/It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels". Country music history never sounded better.

In this week's episode we're featuring the only album from the short, mysterious and tragic career of Curtis Leach: "The Indescribable Curtis Leach" (1964). Born in Catoosa, Oklahoma just outside of Tulsa, Leach wrote his first song at age ten. After moving out to California, he began to be recognised for his prodigous songwriting talent and by the time the mid 1960s had rolled around, he'd had several songs recorded by Wynn Stewart, Bobby Bare, Buddy Cagle and others. On the strength of his 1964 single "Highway Man" (later recorded by Red Simpson and Ernest Tubb), which appeared on the Cash Box charts - he signed an exclusive songwriting contract with Dewey Groom, of Longhorn Records out of Dallas, Texas. And so was born our feature album - twelve tracks, all written or co-written by Curtis Leach speak to the level of country talent that he was. If not for a murky and untimely homocide on the front lawn of his residence in Mesquite, Dallas, Texas - there's little doubt that Curtis Leach could have gone places, because that man had country music talent in spades. Highlights include several wonderful recitations, such as "Golden Guitar" (a national hit for Bill Anderson merely months after Leach's passing); the Okie-pride in "Oklahoma, Home Of My Heart"; the magnificent and fuzzy "Wheelin' And Dealin'" and one which has appeared on many late 20th Century truck driving compilations, "Highway Man".

In this week's episode we're featuring the self-titled, debut album from Texas City native Jason James: "Jason James" (2015). After latching on to his father's love for traditional country music and leaving a fledgling punk band on the shelf, he began making recordings and demos for personal use. His mother got ahold of some of those recordings and began sending them out to labels - lo and behold, a major player in the world of independent music in New West Records got wind of it. And so was born our feature album. Jason James has a vocal style that wonderfully blends Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, Sr., Mel Street, a little Dwight and (the overarching influence for this reviewer) George Jones to create an unmistakably country lilt, which, when applied to these thirteen original tracks is one of the freshest takes on the traditional country genre in years. Recorded over three and a half years between ages 26 and almost 30, Jason James has a sense for classic country that defies his age. Highlights are plentiful, but you'd do well to check out the big single in "I've Been Drinkin' More" (and you'd better wait til the very end); The Derailers and Buck Owens-esque "Here Comes The Heartache"; the hard-edged and twangy-as-all-get-out "Hot Mouth Mama" and a Jim Lauderdale co-write in "Walk Through My Heart" where Lauderdale duly lends his harmony vocal to proceedings. This is one album I can promise you will not regret adding to your collection.

In this week's episode, we're featuring an album from the tail end of Conway Twitty's hard country period: "I've Already Loved You In My Mind" (1977). As was the way at that point, there was only one single (the title track), which duly went #1 and then MCA moved on to the next project. However, when you dive a little deeper, there's plenty of album gold here. There are few singers who would write 80% of their album cuts after 10 years in country music and 20 #1s to their name - but that's where we find Conway Twitty here. Eight of the ten tracks on "I've Already Loved You In My Mind" were from the pen of Twitty, which really speaks to the country music genius that man was. Side A has a few songs clearly influenced by Conway's rock 'n' roll roots, but the very next track - "I'm Used To Losing You" - we're right back with the oh-so-country steel guitar of John Hughey embracing Conway's growl. A heartbreaking cheating ballad with a lyrical twist in "The Reason Why I'm Here", the upbeat "My First Country Song" (which also became Dean Martin's first and only solo country single in 1983) and the semi-profound "Come See About Me" contribute to a very strong album. Even if it may look like Conway was just going through the motions in 1977, the Twitty bird was chirping as good as ever on our feature album this week.

Jim Beck was an innovator and a wizard in the recording studio. In the early-mid 1950s, Beck gave raw honky tonk talent some of their first sides - names that later went on to become some of country's legends. Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Marty Robbins amongst many others were in Beck's studios long before they went to Nashville - and if not for Jim Beck's untimely passing in 1956, could Dallas, Texas have become centre for all things country music? In this special edition of the show, we explore what may have been and take a deep dive into some of the finest country, western and hillbilly talent that ever was.

Photo credit: Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division of the Dallas Public Library.

In this week's episode we're featuring an album from Porter Wagoner put out at the peak of his powers: "The Carroll County Accident" (1969). His syndicated TV show was in it's eighth year of production, Dolly Parton was building up a real head of steam as a solo and a duet act and Wagoner was an established hitmaker. Our feature album has typically solid instrumental support from The Wagonmasters: Buck Trent on his iconic electric banjo, Don Warden on steel guitar and Mack Magaha on fiddle - but in this reviewer's opinion, this album is the sum of it's songwriters. Mel Tillis leant his lyrical talent in "Your Mother's Eyes"; Wagoner's penchant and admiration for bluegrass shone through on Don Reno's "Barefoot Nellie"; Arkansas' Jimmy Driftwood scored a cut with "Black Jack's Bar" and two tracks were credited to some fellow by the name of Louis M. Jones. Dolly Parton, Hank Cochran, Merle Haggard and Joyce McCord (the sister to Wagoner favourite Damon Black) are all in the mix - but one cannot forget the title track. Written by the RCA producer on this album Bob Ferguson ("Wings Of A Dove"), "The Carroll County Accident" supposedly came about between the Carroll counties in both Tennessee and Mississippi (of the thirteen nationwide) and remained one of Porter Wagoner's greatest hits, fitting snugly into his wheelhouse for slightly creepy story songs. An excellent album all around.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a fiddle and steel framed return to form for Mark Chesnutt: "Thank God For Believers" (1997). After debuting in the first half of the nineties, Chesnutt's first four albums were a resounding commercial success: with producer Mark Wright, he enjoyed three platinum and one gold album right out of the gate, steeped in this Beaumont, Texas native's keen sense of tradition. In 1995 he teamed with Tony Brown, but the resulting "Wings" was a flop in relative terms. The choice was made to reunite with Mark Wright and the rewards were almost immediate. The title track went rocketing into the Top 2 and other singles had success also - but perhaps most notable about "Thank God For Believers" was the involvement of Chesnutt himself. Having not written much for his previous work, the Texan traditionalist had a hand in five of the ten tracks here. Along with veteran Oklahoma songwriter Roger Springer, many nights were spent on the tour bus listening to classic Haggard and Jones for inspiration. One such night, the Jones weeper "When The Grass Grows Over Me" inspired a Chesnutt/Leslie/Springer co-write in "That Side Of You", which Chesnutt confesses is his personal pick of the bunch. Such a reverence for tradition, along with Buddy Emmons on steel guitar and Larry Franklin on fiddle for the majority of this project makes "Thank God For Believers" a good example of what 90s honky tonk ought to sound like.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a sensational Capitol compilation of all-truck driving country: "Put The Hammer Down!" (1976). Popularized by the booming baritones of singers like Dave Dudley and Del Reeves in the 60s, truck-driving country music hit a peak in the early-mid 70s in the USA, right around the time of a nationwide fuel shortage and significant spike in CB radio use. CB radio use amongst truckers, however, was oftentimes to get around speed traps and organise resistance against government regulation in capped speed limits and fuel price increases. The half-sung and half-spoken recitation style of truck-driving hitmakers Red Simpson and Red Sovine echoed the sound of a CB radio, and Merle Haggard and Dick Curless spoke to the trucker in plain, relatable lyrics often delivered with revved-up guitars and standout twang. Our feature album showcases those artists and more (most on the Capitol label itself, hence any glaring omissions) in ten songs that epitomise what the American trucker came to represent: a blue-collar hero who lived the American cultural ideals of autonomy, non-conformity and freedom but who had fierce pride in their country and the principles upon which she was founded. Highlights include Haggard's theme song to the TV show of the same name in "Movin' On", Dick Curless' twangy re-recording of "A Tombstone Every Mile", Red Sovine's tearjerker "Phantom 309" and Red Simpson's sense of zeitgeist in "I'm A Truck". A thoroughly enjoyable album.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the first solo album from Kentucky-born Ray Sanders: "Feelin' Good Is Easy" (1969). During his college years at Texas Western in El Paso, Sanders began working for radio station KHEY and picked up personal appearances around the Southwest. He must have done all right too, because in 1959 he was recruited by Ray Price to lead The Cherokee Cowboys and to sing harmonies with Price himself. Ray Sanders was with The Master until 1961 or '62, during which time he was on several hit Price records. After his stint with The Cherokee Cowboys, he went solo and released a myriad of singles without a huge amount of success until '69 and "Feelin' Good Is Easy". The album's quality saw him take home "New Male Artist Of The Year" at the ACM's at that time, and the stage seemed set for this hard country stylist to hit the big time. However the big time never really happened for Ray Sanders - after 1970 and years of minor hit making on labels including Imperial, Republic and Hillside, Sanders settled into the California club circuit, then moved to Honolulu and partial retirement. Our feature album, though, demonstrates the honky tonk quality of Ray Sanders output at his peak - highlights include two early Red Steagall cuts in "Lonely Eyes" and "Beer Drinkin' Music", a faithful rendition of Charlie Walker's "Who Will Buy The Wine" and the buckle-rubber "Gotta Find A Way". Solid material.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the debut record from Houston piano man Damian O'Grady: "From 9 'Til 1" (2018). Here's a man who spent years playing sideman to some of the Lone Star State's best dance bands and who picked up a thing or two along the way. A frequent cameo to the mic when playing with Texas favourites Amber Digby & Midnight Flyer and prior to that with Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers, Damian O'Grady started recording this album years ago. Life got in the way for a while, but five years after shelving it he finally rented the studio time to get it mastered, and the result is an excellent debut. For a man who's musical tastes range from Jethro Tull to George Harrison, this is a remarkably traditional country album: shufflers and two-steppers go back-to-back with barroom weepers and cheating ballads, tales of lost love and introspective deep thinkers. O'Grady wrote every song bar one on this album, and it's one cover is a masterful duet version of a 1983 Conway Twitty B-side, where Damian O'Grady teams with Austin songstress Brennen Leigh on "Cheatin' Fire". The fiddle from Jason Roberts and steel from Dave Biller and Johnny Cox add to the album's many highlights: including the can't-live-with-'em-can't-live-without-'em "Back Again", the rocking "Too Far Gone" and the honky tonkin' title track. A thoroughly entertaining debut that O'Grady's son will be proud to play for his kids further down the line.

In this week's episode, we're featuring Reba McEntire's second album for MCA: "My Kind Of Country" (1984). After being plucked from the rodeo arena in 1974, Mercury Records took McEntire and turned her into a recording professional. Her signing with MCA in the early 80s was meant to cement her as a country superstar. However her first MCA release stalled. Reba was no fool - sensing a shift away from the post-Urban Cowboy polish, she rejected the country-pop offerings being pushed by the executives and instead, went digging in her own record collection for inspiration. She pulled out some of the best that the 50s and 60s had to offer, enlisted producer Jimmy Bowen, added fiddlers Johnny Gimble and Mark O'Connor along with steelers Sonny Garrish and Doyle Grisham. With that team, "My Kind Of Country" was born and Reba was afforded two singles for two Number One hits. With that team, Jimmy Bowen (who also produced George Strait around the same time) collaborated with Reba and her gut instinct for traditional country and did indeed cement McEntire as a bona fide country star. Highlights include two Ray Price covers in "I Want To Hear It From You" and "Don't You Believe Him", a revamped version of Carl Smith's 1956 hit "Before I Met You" and the reserved lovelorn ballad "How Blue".

In this week's episode, we're featuring some lost 60s honky tonk from James O'Gwynn: "The Best Of James O'Gwynn" (1962). Nicknamed "The Smiling Irishman Of Country Music", he got his start around the same time as George Jones on the Houston Jamboree in the mid-50s, sharing a label and a legendary producer in Pappy Dailey. They stayed friends during their time at the Louisiana Hayride and Jones cut several O'Gwynn-penned songs. Encouraged to perform on the Opry stage by another good buddy in Jim Reeves, James O'Gwynn had hits, sure enough - three Top 30s, two Top 20s and one Top 10, before being dropped from Mercury Records. That success was never regained on the national stage, but O'Gwynn was kept employed in music for the next forty years, which says something for his quality as a country singer. He possessed a hard-edged honky tonk sound and may well have gone down in history in the same sentence as The Possum had the stars aligned. But James O'Gwynn, a likeable, dedicated family man, never complained about his stop-start career and he had all four biological children by his bedside when he passed in 2011. "The Best Of James O'Gwynn" is a small look back at a man who earnt his place in country music history and who is absolutely worthy of a trip down memory lane.  

NB. Many thanks to Carol Murdock O'Gwynn for the help in putting this episode together.

In this week's episode, we're featuring one of the most honest albums in the long career of Hank Williams, Jr.: "Habits Old & New" (1980). After a suicide attempt in 1974, a severe climbing accident in '75 and a divorce in '77 - there's little doubt that Hank Jr. did some re-evaluating. He emerged with a new musical direction. Steering away from the traditional country sounds of his famous father that had been his mainstay for the past 10+ years, Bocephus added elements of blues and southern rock and in a fourteen month period in the late 70s/early 80s, he hit his musical high point, in this reviewer's opinion. Three releases, which culminated in our feature album in 1980 brought a brutal honesty and rebellious attitude which he became known for. "Habits Old & New" pulled no punches and remains a fan favourite. Highlights include the intensely personal "All In Alabama" about his near-death trip up Ajax Peak; the cynical "The American Way" and the iconic "The Blues Man". A lot of country fans found something to relate to in this album, and you may just be able to see why.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the fourth album from Canada's Western Swing Authority: "Big Deal" (2018). Fronted by husband and wife team Shane Guse (fiddle, vocals) and Stacey Lee Guse (vocals), the Western Swing Authority is a seven-piece act based around Ontario. Their music is big, bright and appealing: much like Haggard helped bring Bob Wills to a 70s audience, the WSA take the traditions of the music pioneered by Wills and his contemporaries and present it in a way you won't hear anywhere else in 2018. Packed with fiddle breakdowns and steel solos, the WSA have plucked help from every corner of Canadian music, especially giving contemporary Canadian country stars in George Canyon, Jason McCoy and Jason Blaine a chance to sing on something a little more traditional than usual. These genre-busting collaborations will only help the propagation of this uniquely American artform. Highlights on "Big Deal" include a dynamite rendition of Hoyle Nix's "Big Ball's In Cowtown", the prohibition-esque "Swingin' From The Rafters" and my personal favourite, the straight-country heart and soul included in "This Old Bar". The music itself is delivered in an incredibly fun, infectious and accessible yet traditional manner - with a little more exposure, the WSA could be the act to bring western swing to a 21st century audience. Here's hoping!

In this week's episode, we're featuring a 1977 album from a man who doesn't get a lot of love on classic country radio in 2018: Tommy Overstreet. With his band The Nashville Express, the album is called "There'll Never Be Another First Time" and it's a marked departure from the majority of Overstreet's body of work. Firstly, the title is referring to the first time that Tommy Overstreet was able to record an album with his road band, rather than with traditional studio musicians. Secondly, with his road band behind him, Overstreet pumps out a solid traditional country sound that isn't exactly in line with a lot of his career. Known as somewhat of a country-pop stylist, Overstreet was a cousin to Gene Austin, one of the original crooners, and T.O. himself recorded pop and rock music before switching to country in his native Texas. While Overstreet's regular output is enjoyable enough for this reviewer, with ten of the eleven tracks written by Tommy Overstreet himself and subject matter ranging from time on the road through to the toll that touring has on marriage, "There'll Never Be Another First Time" is a very enjoyable piece of 70s traditional country.

In this week's episode, we're featuring Ray Price's brief return to his alma mater at Columbia Records: "Sometimes A Rose" (1992). Price had been with Columbia from his very first LP through 1974, and this reunion only lasted the one album. His charting days were behind him, but quality was still the name of the game for The Cherokee Cowboy and his voice truly seems to have gotten better with age. From a hardcore honky tonk stylist, the conscious shift was made to country crooner and Price wears that badge with pride on much of "Sometimes A Rose" - the title track, "You Need A Lady In Your Life" and "Look What Followed Me Home" the pick of the bunch on that side of the coin. However, with Hal Rugg on steel and triple fiddles from Rob Hajacos, Hoot Hester and Hank Singer - Price must have intended to slip in at least a few shuffles for his honky tonk fanbase - and "I Apologize", "Please Don't Leave Me" and a re-recording of his own 1963 cut "A Way To Free Myself" satisfies the most avid two-stepper. Whatever your preferred Ray Price style, there's enough in "Sometimes A Rose" to appease both camps, with Price's buttery vocals the glue that binds a very worthy early 90s offering.

In this week's episode, we're featuring high-top mid-60s George Jones at his best. Just for kicks, we're playing his fourth album for Musicor "Love Bug" (1966) in it's entirety. After signing with Musicor Records in the spring of 1965, Jones went right to work and his first three singles went Top 10 for his new backers: "Things Have Gone To Pieces", "Love Bug" and "Take Me". Less than a year into his contract, Jones released our feature album (already his fourth at that label), and the "Love Bug" LP contained all three of those first singles - the second album to contain all three after 1965's "New Country Hits". That workrate, and the fact that Jones would record an album in sometimes less than a week during that period (occasionally in as little as three hours by Jones' own admission) lead some fans to label his Musicor output as rushed and underproduced. And while it's true that nine of the twelve "Love Bug" tracks, recorded in under seven days in June of 1966, were contemporary covers - Jones' trademark country yowl is in career-best form. Featuring Johnny Paycheck on vocals for some of the tracks, there's nothing cheap about a frenetic version of "Six Days On The Road"; a cover of Warner Mack's "The Bridge Washed Out" that makes you think The Possum could've done that song himself; and the pure sorrow of "Blue Side Of Lonesome" and Cliff Bruner's "Unfaithful One" is vintage Jones. Maybe it felt rushed at the time, but George Jones' Musicor era makes for solid country gold listening fifty plus years later.

In this week's episode, we're featuring Mel Tillis' first album on the Kapp label: "Stateside" (1966). After a short time with RIC, and following a longer stint with Columbia - Kapp signed Tillis in the mid 60s, and he was there for five years, releasing ten high quality albums in that time. Tillis fans will eagerly tell you about the bright artwork, the big Nudie suits and hard country style that typified his work for Kapp and "Stateside" is no different. A blockbuster release for 1966, it contains 12 songs - about half covers and half Tillis' own material. The album contained two Top 20 hits for Tillis - the first of his career - in "Wine" and "Stateside", which later became very popular with US servicemen stationed overseas, especially in The Far East. Perhaps a lonely Air Force recruit himself while stationed in Okinawa in the early 50s, Mel Tillis later took the inspiration of "Stateside" and named his band after the hit song. Other highlights, from a very worthy label debut include Billy Swan's mournful "Buried Alive", "Tormented Heart" and two duets with Sue York: "Home Is Where The Hurt Is" and "Above Suspicion". York, described as a "a tall stately Kentucky darling with long, flowing red hair and a magic, lyrical way with a country music song" has a voice which perfectly suits Tillis' and wears it like a vocal glove. She seems to disappear after 1966, but definitely contributes to a very enjoyable Mel Tillis album here.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a stone-cold country tribute to The Possum from Tennessee-native James Carothers: "Still Country, Still King: A Tribute To George Jones" (2018). After leaving a good job as a technican at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and with some encouragement from his wife and two kids - the Carothers moved the homeplace to Nashville, Tennessee to allow James to pursue country music. Gigs were hard to come by in the first few months - until a chance encounter with Nancy Jones (George's fourth and final wife) at the newly opened George Jones Museum in 2015 led to a residency there. Carothers played almost two years straight there - honing his craft and making friends with like-minded Possum tragics. Amongst strong original projects - he was approached with the opportunity to record a tribute album to George Jones and jumped at the opportunity. The results are simply superb: half hits, half deeper cuts, Carothers and his team have expertly mined Jones' later material for some un-thrashed gems as well as worthy favourites. James Carothers' Jones-like howl shines on the harrowing "What Am I Doing There" and "Still Doin' Time"; the longing in "Wood & Wire" is palpable and the best cover this reviewer has ever heard of "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is not just the cherry on top: it's the jewel in the crown of a sparkling tribute album. Bloody sensational.

In this week's episode we're featuring a very personal and sometimes touching tribute to Ernest Tubb from his eldest son, Justin Tubb: "Justin Tubb" (1985). Released a year after ET's death, Justin Tubb had wanted to do a tribute album while the old man was still living but it just didn't pan out that way. Instead, JT rounded up several of ET's Texas Troubadours, formed the creatively named "Troubadours Two" and launched into this wonderful tribute. Song selection was based on those Ernest Tubb tunes which held a special place and meaning for Justin himself - and included are several of ET's best known songs as well as some lesser hits. Justin Tubb made a conscious decision early on to not piggyback on his Daddy's larger-than-life reputation, and as such his work was sometimes overshadowed when the Tubb family name came up. However, in terms of quality, Justin Tubb's solo material is easily as good, in this reviewer's opinion, as his old man's - and his vocal certainly held it's own. His songwriting too was first call to the stars from the 50s until the 80s, and he's included three new songs for this tender tribute to the so-called "Daddy Of 'Em All", which rings true in this case. Listen for "Thanks, Troubadour, Thanks" and "Just You And Me Daddy" for a surefire lump in your throat.

In this week's episode, we're featuring an energetic western swing outing from young Texan Kristyn Harris, "Down The Trail" (2015). Based in the Lone Star State, but taking bookings from coast to coast and even further afield - Kristyn Harris' brand of western and western swing music is infectious. Throw in some artful yodelling, a big smile you can hear when she sings and a healthy respect for tradition and you can understand her popularity. A student of those western and western swing singers and musicians that came before, as well as lending her own pen to multiple numbers, "Down The Trail" is a winner from front to back. Highlights include her own "Acres Of Nowhere", a breathless cover of "I've Been Everywhere (In Texas)" and the rollicking "Thank Heavens For Dale Evans". This week's episode also features two live tracks and interview audio from Kristyn, who was kind enough to donate a few minutes of her time to have a chat with us before the Pro Cowboy Country Music Awards in 2018. Keep an eye on this one, she's going places.

In this week's episode, we're celebrating the songwriting prowess of Wayne Kemp with his debut full-length album "Wayne Kemp" (1971). Few of country's best composer's could boast the way with words that this purveyor of hard country possessed, and he had handfuls of songs recorded by some of country's legends, as we explore in this week's episode. George Jones, Conway Twitty & George Strait were particular fans of Kemp-penned material, which is more of an endorsement than anyone in country music could hope to get. During his own recording career, Kemp never reached the heights he should have. He had long play albums out on Decca (our feature album), MCA and Door Knob but enjoyed only a few minor chart hits. His vocal style suited the material he excelled at writing: cheating and hurting songs, barroom and carousing anthems - all dripping with fiddle & steel, sorrow & triumph. From his days playing guitar for Patsy Cline, Red Sovine, Jones & Twitty - he must have picked up something along the way because our feature album features some of the best pure country music you could ever hope to hear in any era. Highlights include some of his own compositions in "Bar Room Habits", "Won't You Come Home (And Talk To A Stranger)" and the heartbroken "Who'll Turn Out The Lights" as well as a handy cover of Faron Young's hit (via Ray Griff) "Step Aside".

In this week's episode, we're featuring a labour of love from Laura Cash: "Awake But Dreaming" (2010). A fine collection of western swing and traditional country covers from this talented fiddler and Oregon native and one time daughter-in-law to the great Johnny Cash, this release is complemented wonderfully with well-chosen cameos. Fellow fiddlers The Quebe Sisters join in the fun on two cuts and Bobby Flores' excellent harmonies are all over this album; Jason Carter duets with Cash on a Benny Martin tune added to Joey McKenzie's rhythm guitar on a couple of tracks. Backed by the best studio musicians you could hope for - all of these folks are connections that Laura Cash has made since a well-timed move to Nashville in 1989. She made friends with some of country music's greats at a time when many were still around and getting recognition, and she's got the stories and pictures to prove it. "Awake But Dreaming" is Cash's way of keeping the tradition of country music's forefathers alive, and she does an excellent job with fiddle licks and a rootsy vocal you can sink your teeth into. Highlights include the original and touching tribute to her friend Roy Acuff in "Song For Roy (Country Music's King)"; a toe-tapping arrangement of Ray Price's "Who'll Be The First" and a couple of Bob Wills tunes in "Awake But Dreaming" and "The Image Of Me".

In this week's episode, we're featuring the twangy breakout album from David Ball, "Thinkin' Problem" (1994). After earning respect from countless musical quarters and partly kick-starting the alt-country movement from his time with Uncle Walt's Band in the 70s and 80s, David Ball was encouraged to move to Nashville and pursue country music after hearing Randy Travis on the radio in about 1986. Eight years later, including a false start with RCA Records - producer Blake Chancey liked what he heard, and Ball cut "Thinkin' Problem" with Warner Brothers to great success. Our feature album sold a million copies at a time when the neo-traditional movement was on the wane, and spawned a Top 5, Top 10, Top 20 and two further singles. Ball's hardcore honky tonk sound appealed to country fans, and it was original music too - he wrote or co-wrote nine of "Thinkin' Problems" ten tracks, opting to include a Webb Pierce cover to round out the album cuts to let listeners know where he was coming from musically. The album stands the test of time, too: highlights include the pun-a-licious "Blowin' Smoke", the alluring neon nurses in "Honky Tonk Healin'" and a strangely uptempo crawler "Don't Think Twice". Years later, when Ball was asked if he ever got sick of playing "Thinkin' Problem" live, he answered emphatically: 'Hell, no. I think it's one of the best country songs I've ever heard." Well said!

In this week's episode, we're featuring a landmark album in what would later become known as the western swing revivalist movement: Merle Haggard's sensational "My Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player In The World (or, My Salute To Bob Wills)" (1970). Along with Jimmie Rodgers and Lefty Frizzell, Bob Wills was one of The Hag's primarily influences. A young Haggard even snuck out of his home at age 12 to go see Wills play at the famous Beardsley Ballroom, such was the influence from a very formative age. Armed with a fiddle he only took a few months to learn - a fiddle which once belonged to Bob Wills himself - Haggard, in discussion with Roy Nichols and Norm Hamlet of his band The Strangers, decided a tribute to "The Old Man" could only be done properly with the help of those who were there to make the sound in the first place. Johnny Gimble, Joe Holley, Eldon Shamblin, Tiny Moore and others graciously and eagerly agreed to be a part of this project and "The Best Damn Fiddle Player" is generally accepted as the first mainstream album to kickstart the western swing revival, still very much alive today. The enjoyment had on this collection of Wills standards (with a few choice obscurities) is evident, and legend has it that at the end of the three-day recording session, such was the emotion in the room that when the final note was played, you could see a tear in the eye of most all the pickers there. That's the soul of country music and western swing right there.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a great neo-traditional album from Tracy Byrd: "Love Lessons" (1995). Three albums in, a number one under his belt and some of the catchiest novelty songs of 90s country radio, Byrd had arrived. But Tracy Byrd was far more than detractors of the "Watermelon Crawl" might give him credit for - he had some geniune talent, a nice guy persona that always goes a long way in show biz and a very talented road band. Mark Nesler, the guitar picker in Byrd's "Only Way To Fly" band co-wrote three of the tracks on the album (two with Byrd himself); and you know when writers like Bill Anderson, Melba Montgomery and Max D. Barnes are submitting songs onto your third studio album that you must be doing something right. A radio-friendly baritone to match a PR-friendly smile helped Tracy Byrd to three Top twenty singles from "Love Lessons", but in this reviewer's opinion, the real gold lies in it's album tracks. "You Lied To Me" is a two-stepper that would fit in well at Tracy Byrd's former home of Cutter's nightclub in Beaumont, TX; "Don't Need That Heartache" keeps the blood flowing, as does the peppy "Walkin' In" and the belly-rubber "Heaven In My Woman's Eyes" displays some sensational acoustic guitar flourishes on top of some buttery brushes. A really good album.

In this week's episode we're featuring the first in a trilogy of bluegrass albums that Dolly Parton released around the turn of the century: "The Grass Is Blue" (1999). After Decca Nashville closed their doors in 1998, Dolly found herself without a record deal for the first time in thirty years. She had talked about doing a legacy bluegrass project in the past, but now was the time. Teaming with Sugar Hill Records, she assembled some of the best pickers you can name, some well chosen covers and four of her own compositions and punched out what some might call her best solo album since the early 70s. Jerry Douglas on dobro wrote: "Dolly's performance brought this cream of the crop band leaping to it's feet. I consider it an honour to have been part of this project and see its culmination to be a momentous shot in the arm for bluegrass music." And he wasn't lying: with Dolly's starpower, her wonderful trembly warble and Appalachian heritage, she's made for bluegrass: this album has been partly credited with a surge in popularity in bluegrass music around the year 2000. Listen in and you'll see why.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the first album in nine years from Nashville transplant Bobby Marquez, "The Cowboy Way" (2018). Hailing from the deep south of Texas, he moved to Nashville in the late 90s to pursue the country music dream. Nicknamed "Smilin'" Bobby Marquez by WSM legend Keith Bilbrey, his positive attitude has come in handy since his move to Music City: signed to two major labels and dropped from both for reasons beyond his control, with some help from his wife and Texas Country Music DJ Hall Of Famer Jennifer Herron, Marquez founded his own label and did things his own way. Playing by his own rules has worked well for him: winning awards and entertaining crowds worldwide with his easy traditional style that brings to mind the heyday of George Strait and Alan Jackson (he's had songs recorded by both) - "The Cowboy Way" is a solid dose of originality, with highlights including the bouncy "What's The Deal"; a great duet with fellow Texan Johnny Rodriguez on one of that man's first hits, "Ridin' My Thumb To Mexico"; a fun opener in "Honky Tonk" and a dedication to his late father-in-law on "The Cowboy Way". Solid.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the fourth album from a staple at the legendary Broken Spoke Dancehall in Austin, TX - Weldon Henson, and his sensational "Honky Tonk Frontier" (2015). Henson and his band have held down the popular "Two-Steppin' Tuesday" slot at the Spoke for some time now, regularly packing in several hundred of Austin's best dancers. It's no surprise then, that his music is primed to dance to - telecaster and steel-driven original "Texas made honky tonk" as Weldon Henson himself calls it. And speaking of steel - "Honky Tonk Frontier" was recorded at Cherry Ridge Studios in Floresville, TX: owned by Tommy Detamore, an accomplished steel guitarist himself, and featuring co-production by the steeler on the record itself in Ricky Davis. With that much C6 & E9 influence in the control room and in the studio, you know you're in for some hardcore traditional country music. Featuring Weldon's regular road band on the album was a smart move too.. these guys gel wonderfully. Highlights include the pumping "Heartache Game", a pair of good old drinking songs in "Hey Bottle Of Whiskey" and "I Need Wine" and the almost wistful "Just Believe". Can't wait for Weldon Henson's next effort.

In this week's episode, we're celebrating an iconic label: Don Pierce's Starday Records. Formed in the early 50s by Lefty Frizzell's manager Jack Starns and Houston record distributor Pappy Daily (Starns + Dailey = Starday), they signed some of the best purveyors of hardcore honky tonk and traditional country, western, bluegrass and gospel music around at the time. Aften Don Pierce became label president, Starday's product was perfected. Known for their vivid and colourful album covers, featuring easy-to-understand situations and many-a-rhinestone cowboy suit - acts "discovered" on the Starday roster included George Jones, Dottie West, Roger Miller and Justin Tubb. They also gave new leases of life to many veteran artists deemed "past it" by much of the Nashville establishment: Cowboy Copas, Johnny Bond, The Willis Brothers, Red Sovine and many others enjoyed some of the biggest hits of their careers under the Starday umbrella. Our feature album this week - 1963's double LP set "Starday: Country & Western Golden Hit Parade" - reminds us why we should be grateful that the team at Starday gave chances and second chances to some of country music's most revered names.

In this week's episode, we're remembering a name that is too often left out of conversations about western swing: Jack Guthrie. Our feature album this week is Capitol's 1966 retrospective: "Jack Guthrie - His Greatest Songs", featuring twelve dynamite western swingers from his extremely short recording career (1944-1947). Born in Oklahoma in 1915 and a cousin to the famous Woody Guthrie, Jack's family moved around - the age of nineteen found him married on the West Coast, singing and entertaining in cafes and bars while pursuing a rodeo dream. After hearing Guthrie's easy-going hillbilly tenor, Capitol's Lee Gillette signed him to a recording deal in 1944, and the likeable Okie recorded his first and biggest hit "Oklahoma Hills" shortly after. Uncle Sam saw him whisked overseas before he could enjoy his new found national fame, but between then and his untimely passing from tuberculosis in 1947, he cut some sensational sides. With overdubbed honky tonk brushes a la Hank Thompson of the same era, Capitol have an excellent look at a career cut short - and as if Jack Guthrie needed anymore credibility, the original LP has some extremely candid liner notes written by his personal friend: the iconic Merle Travis. Turn it up.

This week we're featuring the follow-up to one of the biggest selling albums of the 80s: Randy Travis' "Old 8x10" (1988). It was of course the answer to "Always & Forever", which sold five million copies and hatched four number ones - it was always going to be a hard act to follow. However, "Old 8x10" certainly did well.. three number ones and two million in sales - Randy got a pay day, don't worry about that. There was a continuation of style too - lots of pedal steel, dobro and fiddle all sit wonderfully around Randy Travis' most unique of vocals. Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz (the duo that brought us "Forever And Ever, Amen") are back with country's answer to "River Deep, Mountain High" in "Deeper Than The Holler"; "Written In Stone" must've been considered at thousands of weddings; the playful "Is It Still Over?" and "We Ain't Out Of Love Yet" add some pace, but the real gem for this reviewer is the stripped-back final track of the album. "Promises" is reduced to almost just a guitar and that smooth baritone and remains one of the most emotional entries in Travis’ back-catalogue. Sensational album.

In this episode, we're featuring some of the best early 60s honky tonk you've never heard: from the chronically underrated Skeets McDonald, our feature album is: "Call Me Skeets!" (1964). Skeets got his first major record deal in LA - he was picked up by Capitol and spent a good stint with them which included his only #1 hit in 1952 with "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes". He flirted with rockabilly and rock 'n' roll, but it was after his move to Capitol's arch-rivals Columbia in 1959 that we pick up the story - all of our feature album was recorded between '59-'63, and it demonstrates Skeets McDonald's refusal to budge from his hard country sound. We feature some sensational country shuffles, a few featuring a young Johnny Paycheck on harmonies, Jimmy Day on steel and Tommy Jackson on fiddle - and Skeets' nasal hillbilly twang slots in perfectly. As one reviewer in the 60s wrote: "Listening to him [Skeets] sing is like playing a record you liked twenty years ago. It's the plaintive sound from a thousand beer joints along highways from Altoona to Albuquerque.".. Can you believe that was meant to be a negative review??

This week, we get Hankified. All the songs included in this week's show are by or about the lanky, hollow-eyed hillbilly Shakespeare from Montgomery, Alabama. Our feature album is from Hank disciple Jim Owen: "A Song For Us All: A Salute To Hank Williams" (1977), and he's enlisted help from Hank's original Drifting Cowboys and the Charlie Daniels Band for this sensational project. Like countless others, Jim Owen was captivated by the mystery and aura of Hank Williams from a young age and set out to learn all he could about the man in terms of singing, style and mannerism. The result was a 90-minute, one-man show called "Hank" with which Jim Owen toured the country to rave reviews. With some wonderful commentary to link the songs together, Jim Owen (as Hank) released this album around the same time, as a humble tribute to the man who gave so many so much - and influenced generations of country fans and singers more than any one person can say. We picked the best tracks from this double album and continued the Hank theme with a plethora of songs from other Hankaholics - this week's show is mandatory listening for any and all fans of country music.

In this episode we're featuring a sensational album from Nashville-based songsmith Scott Southworth: "Hey Hillbilly Singer!" (2018). After playing in bands of every other genre, he made the full time move to country music and moved from his native Oregon to Music City to pitch songs to guys in suits in 2004. Achieving more than a few cuts over the years, for this album he's rounded up some of his musician friends (incidentally some of the best in the world, period) and recorded eleven tracks, all from his own pen. Highlights include the wonderful tribute to his wife of twenty five years in "Put Another Quarter In The Ride", the defiant "I Ain't Leaving Town", the barroom weeper "Cigar Store Indian" and the oh-too-true "Nobody Leaves This World Alive". This whole album sounds to me like Scott Southworth is just having a great time: unshackled from major label pressure or expectation, making the music he wants to make. And luckily for us, that music just so happens to be solid gold traditional country music. Bravo.

In this episode, we're featuring a hot album from Country Charley Pride: "To All My Wonderful Fans: From Me To You" (1970). That's the long title, but the album is straight to the point. Track #1 gives you a great idea of what to expect on this release, a country-as-cornbread ode to the travelling man in "That's The Only Way Life's Been Good To Me". Pride's voice is like butter at this period in his career, and he could sing the proverbial phone book and sound sublime in doing so. In 1970, Charley Pride was pumping out 2-3 albums a year and still selling 500,000 copies each time - a long way from the Montana smelter-worker of only a few short years prior. Production is on point with longtime producer Cowboy Jack Clement at the helm and of-note picking comes from Gene O'Neal on steel guitar on a sensational version of "Fifteen Years Ago" that Conway Twitty would surely approve of. Other highlights include the Frizzell-tinged "Today Is Not Tomorrow" and one of two chart-toppers from the album in "Wonder Could I Live There Anymore". Great stuff.

In this episode we're featuring the debut record of a fresh-faced 27-year-old Oklahoma boy singing good country music: "Garth Brooks" (Self Titled) (1989). From the look on his face on the front cover of this album, I'd say he didn't have any clue of the fame about to come his way on the strength of this release - and fame did come, sure enough. This record achieved diamond certification (sales of 10 million plus in the USA alone) and catapulted Garth's career into the stratosphere, turning him into the household name that millions grew up with. But right here at the beginning of it all, this is as country as Garth Brooks ever was, in this reviewer's opinion - honky tonk tracks like "Nobody Gets Off In Town" and "Not Counting You" combine with twin story songs in "Cowboy Bill" and "Alabama Clay" to speak of a country musician possessing of layers, to say nothing of the big hits from this album. You'll never hear a more stripped-down, straight-ahead traditional country release from Garth Brooks, and as one review put it: "If his pop-crossover experiment "Chris Gaines" made you sick and longing for the country Garth, just listen to this album and remember why country fans fell in love with him and his music."

In this episode, we're featuring a rodeo-themed album from ex-bull rider Red Steagall and his road band The Coleman County Cowboys: "For All Our Cowboy Friends" (1977). The inclusion of The Coleman County Cowboys over the A-class Nashville pickers that Red was using at this period in his career adds authenticity: world-champion fiddler Snuffy Elmore dragging the bow, James Wood on steel and Red's younger brother Danny Steagall on guitar add road miles to the album's sound. The artwork alone is a great introduction to the legends of this All-American sport, with black and white photos of many of the greats to go along with Red's name-checking throughout the album. Red Steagall's music was and is anthemic for many in the rodeo fold and is packed full of story songs worth their weight in gold buckles: "Freckles Brown" is the true story of the first rodeo cowboy to ride the infamous bull Tornado; "Dawson Legate" details a man's tragic rodeo fever; "Two Pairs Of Levis And A Pair Of Justin Boots" takes a humorous look at a relationship bust-up and there's a lot of truth to the album-opener, titled simply "Rodeo".

In this week's episode, we're featuring the latest album from genuine roping and riding cowboy Paul Bogart: "Leather" (2017). After moving from his home of Oolagah, Oklahoma (pop. 1146) to Nashville about a decade ago to pursue a career in music, he released a handful of albums, enjoying a steady rise in success. By the time 2018 had rolled around, Bogart had graduated from honky tonks to arenas and "Leather" is a thoroughly professional project to match. With Trent Willmon at the helm, the production is radio-friendly and slick at times, but firmly rooted in the traditions of country music. Songs like "George Jonesin'" aren't just name-checking the legends: Jones himself would have his toes tapping to the western swinger "All That Cowboy Jazz"; cowboy subject matter is tackled with authenticity given Bogart's calf-roping history on "When The Cowboys Are Gone" and the tender "Buckaroo Lullaby"; and the listener is hooked right out of the gate with "Better With My Baby". When your friends next talk about "modern country music", do them a favour and turn them onto to Paul Bogart.

In this episode, we're featuring a Columbia concept album from "The Master" - Ray Price: "Love Life" (1964). Released after another highly successful thematic album in 1963's "Night Life", our feature album continues the tradition - this time, it's all songs about love. Loving, losing, heartbreak, euphoria, disappointment - the highs and lows of one of humankind's most relatable subjects - Price has a song for everyone's "Love Life" on this release, and he's fine voice to boot. Backed by some of the best Cherokee Cowboys that ever were - Johnny Bush on drums, Jimmy Day & Buddy Emmons alternating on steel and Tommy Jackson on fiddle - Price croons his way through this album without breaking a figurative sweat. Restrained yet soaring, his was one of the finest voices in country history and just why that was the case is demonstrated in abundance. Highlights include the Willie Nelson-penned "How Long Is Forever", the made-to-two-step-to "You're Stronger Than Me" and a tale of divorce in "All Right (I'll Sign The Papers)".. but as usual, there are no duds when it comes to mid-60s Ray Price.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a gritty example of 21st century honky tonk from The Reeves Brothers: "King Of Country Music" (2017). Sons of an Arkansas traditionalist who found success in Southern California, Matt & Cole Reeves have forged a sound reminiscent of something that may have been heard on an AM radio in about 1975: grimy, no frills barroom country music. Their rough-hewn product belies the fact that both brothers were in their twenties when they recorded this album, but Cole Reeves says wryly that years of touring and cigarettes may have helped that sound along. The Reeves Brothers growl and twang their way through a collection of straight country gold (most of which you've never heard before, despite the amount of well-chosen covers) - highlights include the matter-of-fact "Waltzes And Western Swing", the travel-weary "King Of Country Music", the raucous "Mama You Raised A Ramblin' Man" and an unexpected gospel gem in "Unclouded Day". Although home is the little town of Delight, Arkansas - the bright lights of Vegas and surrounds have claimed The Reeves Brothers in 2018, and this album is proof they're going places.

In this episode, we're featuring an album that captures Faron Young at his very best: "Step Aside" (1970). Released at a particularly busy time for Young on Mercury Records, "Step Aside" was crammed in amongst seven full length studio albums in four years, but that fact hasn't affected the output one bit. The Singing Sheriff is in the best voice of his career: mellow yet animated, soaring yet wonderfully controlled, and all with a healthy dose of twang. As you'd expect, it's fiddles and steel, the best musicians and Jerry Kennedy at the helm yet again - it's almost as if Mercury knew to make hay while the sun was shining on ol' Faron, because this was one of his last commercially successful albums before the ensuing decline in sales eventually plunged Faron into what may be described as a prolonged bout of depression. Highlights are plentiful, including the wonderfully uptempo cheating song "Just Like Me", "Come On Home And Sing The Blues To Daddy", a sensational cover of "Hello Darlin'" (Conway would approve) and a better-than-the-original re-recording of "Goin' Steady": the song which started it all for Faron back in 1952.

In this episode, we're featuring an oft-overlooked album from Cal Smith: "Country Bumpkin" (1974). The title track itself, of course, was Smith's biggest and most enduring hit, immortalising his impact to generations of fans. However, many listeners never got past big hit single to the rest of the album, which is a surprisingly modern yet traditional release, overseen by master Walter Haynes in the producer's booth. Cal Smith brings his relaxed-yet-sincere delivery to an extremely well chosen collection of covers - as well as a few originals - employing the talents of master songwriters including Don Wayne (of course), Tommy Cash, Hank Cochran, Red Lane and Bill Anderson. From his days as a San Jose DJ to rhythm guitarist with ET's Texas Troubadours, "Country Bumpkin", in it's entirety, is Cal Smith's finest release, and really does deserve to be heard past the infectious "frost on the pumpkin" lyric. Highlights include "Between Lust And Watching TV", "Jesus Is A Good Ole Boy" and a pair of back-to-back Loretta Lynn hits in "They Don't Make 'Em Like My Daddy" and "Love Is The Foundation". Dig a little deeper to be rewarded.

In this week's episode, we're featuring the fourth album from the charming Teea Goans: "Swing, Shuffle & Sway" (2017). Although Goans grew up in a yellow singlewide on her grandmother's property in the itty bitty town of Lowry City, Missouri, she moved to Nashville with her high school sweetheart (now husband) and has been on the rise ever since. Her personal Facebook page is crammed with "SupportTraditionalCountry" hashtags and that's exactly what she does on this album. As the title suggests - this music is meant to dance to, and includes a healthy dose of standards, featuring the lyrical version of "Steel Guitar Rag" (with a virtuoso performance by Mike Johnson on steel), "I'd Be A Legend In My Time" and a more recent cover of Wild Rose's "Go Down Swingin'". Other highlights include the cautionary "Just Because She Always Has" and a great version of Keith Whitley's "It Ain't Nothin'", for which Teea borrowed 90s country baritone Mark Wills. Great example of how country music can be traditional and modern at the same time. Bravo.

In this week's episode, we're featuring "Mississippi You're On My Mind" (1975), a Capitol Records compilation of Stoney Edwards' early work on that label. The music is country gold, but Stoney's story almost beggars belief. Born in Oklahoma, he moved his family out to San Francisco where he had a horrific workplace accident - trapped in a sealed tank, he ran out of oxygen and inhaled severe amounts of carbon dioxide before he was freed.. the doctors said he was terminal, but within two years he was writing and recording country music again. Indeed, it was at a benefit that he organised for Bob Wills (at the time in ailing health also) that led to his signing with Capitol Records. That this music even happened is somewhat of a miracle, and Stoney's hard country style on this album is best exemplified in his biggest hits: "She's My Rock" and "A Two Dollar Toy", but other highlights include the wholesome "We Sure Danced Us Some Good'uns" and the banging "The Cute Little Waitress". The story of Stoney Edwards is one you'll want to hear.

Do you remember the days when you could call into your local radio station and make a request, or even a dedication? Well, in this week's episode, we're remembering the roots of radio with a good old fashioned all-request show. You told us what you wanted to hear, and we've got it for you this week: including listener requests from Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Alberta, New Zealand, Australia, Northern Ireland and many more. Our listeners have good taste too - we've got music this week from Vern Gosdin, Moe Bandy, Keith Whitley, Kris Kristofferson and we'll also be remembering the forgotten career of Kentuckian Marty Brown. Lots of fun this week - get you some!

When George Jones asked the musical question, "who's gonna fill their shoes?", very often the answer involved folks like Daryle Singletary. But when Daryle passed away, it left some hard questions - who's gonna fill his shoes? As such, this week's episode is entitled: the "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes: Daryle Singletary" edition - we're here to prove traditional country is in good and capable hands in 2018. We've got six singers Daryle's age or younger who are carrying on the tradition, including the Singletary-esque tones of Kevin Moon, Brian Mallery and Korey Rose; the originality of Matt Prater; the suave but hard country sounds of Tim Culpepper and the singing Louisiana lawman Clifton Brown. Take a listen to this week's show: you're going to feel reassured and upbeat after having done so. Traditional country music is in good hands - Daryle Singletary would agree. PS. I'm no good at photoshopping.

This week we lost one of this generation's purest traditional country's voices. At the age of only 46, Daryle Singletary passed away, leaving behind his wife and four kids. Musically, he was a hardline traditionalist who's message and baritone has resonated amongst fans since his 1995 major label debut. Gone too soon, and a personal hero of mine - this was a difficult episode to make. It felt to me like Daryle's passing is the biggest gut punch to traditional country music since Keith Whitley died in 1989 - if only because both had so much more to give. My hope is that this episode will allow fans a chance to say goodbye to Daryle by featuring one of his best post-2000 albums: "That's Why I Sing This Way" (2002). Mr. Singletary was an icon, an ambassador, an all-round nice guy and it's not an exaggeration to say that every song on this album is a highlight. Rest in peace mate, I'll miss ya.

In this episode, we're featuring the sophomore album from Clint Black: "Put Yourself In My Shoes" (1990). Black's first album, "Killin' Time" (1989) - with 28 weeks at #1 and with five #1 singles - was always going to be a hard act to follow. But having written or co-written all the songs on this release with main collaborator and guitarist Hayden Nicholas, Clint Black borrows from several styles under the country music umbrella, and the result helped him graduate, well and truly, from the so-called "Class Of '89". There's roadhouse honky tonk on "This Nightlife", lovelorn musings in "Loving Blind", western swing on "One More Payment" and old-west balladry on "The Goodnight-Loving" - and with sensational picking from Black's road band, "Put Yourself In My Shoes" was a worthy follow up to "Killin' Time", if less successful commercially. Then again, commercial success doesn't really mean much these days, does it?

In this episode, we're featuring what many consider one of the best releases from hard country singer Darrell McCall: "Lily Dale" (1977). The most successful McCall album since his 1963 solo debut, his traditional country sound seemed to appeal to country fans around the time the Outlaw movement was catching on - and sure enough, on the title track McCall is joined by Texas' favourite son Willie Nelson. The result became a dancehall standard, and cemented Darrell McCall on the Texas circuit, where he later moved and signed to Heart Of Texas Records in 2005. This album though, finds the Ohio-native in fine voice, with distinct influence from his days as harmony vocalist/bass guitar for both Faron Young and Ray Price evident for the keen ear. Co-produced by steel guitar virtuoso Buddy Emmons, highlights include a tribute to McCall's adopted state of many years, "Tennessee"; a solid Roy Acuff cover in "Pins And Needles (In My Heart)"; "Dreams Of A Dreamer" and of course the famous title track, ensuring we're still talking about Darrell McCall's many talents to this day.

In this episode, we're featuring the debut album from Saint Louis' Clint Hasse: "Inside Nashville" (2017). With a voice that brings to mind Texas greats like Tommy Hooker for tone and Ernest Tubb for warmth, this album is 100% original. 13 new country music compositions, with styles ranging from western swing, slick 60s country-pop and Bakersfield twang to straight out honky tonk - this is an immensley pleasing first outing, overseen expertly by producer Justin Branum, who also happens to play near anything with strings. Clint's debut album draws from his own life experiences and influences on "Inside Nashville", and with tip-of-the-hat songs to Glen Campbell, George Jones & Buck Owens, any country fan won't go unsatisfied. Pickers are A-class, including Doug Jernigan on steel guitar and Eugene Moles on telecaster - and highlights are plentiful. Look out for the quasi-autobiographical "I Could've Been George Jones' Son" for a laugh, "The Disappearing Cowboy Way Of Life" for a western swing toe-tapper and "The Twang" for the spirit of country music captured in song. Highly recommended.

In this episode, we're featuring a classic example of the "Bakersfield Sound": Buck Owens & His Buckeroos' landmark "Together Again/My Heart Skips A Beat" (1964). Jam-packed with twangy telecasters, crying steel guitar and uncanny harmonies between Buck & right-hand-man Don Rich, we meet the Buckeroos right at the peak of their powers. Ignored largely by the Nashville establishment, Buck & the boys toured hard, bringing the music to the people - and as a result, they became one of the tightest country and western bands out there. They were making money hand-over-fist, but having fun too - and this album reflects that. Highlights include the infectious "Truck Drivin' Man", the clever "Ain't It Amazin', Gracie" and the twin hits in "Together Again" and "My Heart Skips A Beat". But really, there aren't any bad songs on this record. Get you some.

In this episode, we're featuring a fabulous Conway Twitty compilation/sampler: "I'm So Used To Loving You" (1973). This is no ordinary sampler, however - it features 10 tracks from Conway's best and most country period (in my opinion) 1968-1973, all but one of which were written by Conway himself - and NONE of which were released as singles. Astoundingly, you feel like you've discovered buried treasure as you peruse these album cuts that you may never have heard before, all of it honky tonk gold, complete with fiddles, steel guitar and the requisite songs about love, loss, cheating, drinking, lying and dying. The quality of this release just underscores how much of a country hitmaker Conway Twitty was: highlights include the country weepers "Heartache Just Walked In" and "Table In The Corner", the regret-tinged "I Told My World To Go Away (And She Did)", and a tip of the hat, perhaps, to his rock 'n' roll roots in "One For The Money". VERY highly recommended.

In this episode, we're featuring the debut album for an often overlooked Mississippi country star, OB McClinton: "OB McClinton Country" (1971). As a black man who sang with shades of Hank Williams, he was dubious of his chances of success in the world of country music, so he turned his prodigious singing and writing talents to R&B music instead. He scored cuts from James Carr, Clarence Carter and Otis Redding before a fortuitous trip to Muscle Shoals found him signed to Enterprise Records (a subsidiary of R&B giant Stax), who were looking to go into country after Charley Pride's proven success. This debut doesn't showcase Obie's writing ability, but rather his vocals - and that Williams twang is in fine form on tracks including the romping "San Bernardino", the cautionary tale of "Bad Guys Don't Always Wear Black Hats" and the statement of fact "Country Music That's My Thing". OB didn't have a long or prosperous career but he garnered respect and admiration from his peers in country music, and we'll explore why on this week's episode.

In this episode, we're featuring a good old-fashioned duet album from Rhonda Vincent & Daryle Singletary: "American Grandstand" (2017). These two have been friends since the mid-90s when they were both labelmates at Giant Records - and this album has been years in the making. Now that the timing is right, the result is sublime. Singletary's baritone takes on a surprisingly good harmony vocal role on many of these songs, while Vincent's lead is pure and simple. These duets were recorded the old-fashioned way: both singers were in studio at the same time when the tracks were laid down, which leads to a wonderful result. Strong steel guitar and fiddles lead the listener through a collection of classic duet tunes, including the Jones/Wynette staple "Golden Ring", the Twitty/Lynn collaboration "After The Fire Is Gone", a surprisingly good "Above & Beyond (The Call Of Love)" from the pen of Harlan Howard and an original, "American Grandstand", written specifically for the album by Vincent is also a highlight. A deep knowledge and respect for the traditions of country music duet stylings from both singers make this one of the best releases of 2017.

In this episode, we're featuring an album from the late, great Mel Tillis: "One More Time" (1970). Loaded with quality songwriting, including three from Mel's own pen - this was one of the last albums credited to "Mel Tillis & The Statesiders" (his famous backing band). Most releases thereafter had Mel's name solely written on the front cover, although he continued to use The Statesiders on the road. A good mix of shuffles, barroom weepers and love-gone-wrong songs, highlights include the title track, "Gonna Burn Some Bridges", "Brand New Wrapper" and "How You Drink The Wine" - the latter written by Mel's piano player Ronald McCown. We'll also hear from Mel himself about his illustrious career as a songwriter and performer, how he dealt with his famous stutter and about his firing from a well-known country music television show. Great album - get you some!

In this episode, we're featuring the second album from one of country's most unique baritones: Ron Williams, "The Longer You're Gone" (2009). Ron Williams is the son of Leona Williams - a marvellous traditional country singer herself with a long and illustrious career, and it seems as though country music was inevitable for Ron, born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. After his mother married Merle Haggard for a period in the late 70s/early 80s, and after having lived under the same roof as Merle for about a decade - something must have rubbed off on young Ron Williams. His voice matured into one of country music's most distinctive and unique baritones: there are shades of the greats in every note he sings, but he has crafted his own style, sure enough. This album is a fun and uptempo affair for the most part, including the swinging "Her Heart Belongs To Texas" and "The F Words" (one of several Bill Anderson co-writes) - but it's on the ballads that Ron Williams really shines, including the heartfelt "Where The Tall Grass Grows".

In this episode, we're featuring a sensational live album from Ernest Tubb & His Texas Troubadours: "Hittin' The Road" (1965). On this release, we meet Ernest Tubb's entire band in what many would consider the classic Troubadour lineup, as the album was recorded over several dates in ET's '65 national tour. Natural banter, good crowd interaction and authentic introductions make for good listening - but it's also on this record that ET's character truly shines - he was a man who never stopped helping others get a leg up in the industry, and some of the high points of this album are those Texas Troubadours who got to sing with him. Included are "The Singing Bus Driver" Johnny Wiggins, who finds his way around "Honeymoon With The Blues" better than his position suggests - a budding Cal Smith on "I'm A Sad Lonely Man (That Love Left Behind)" and the drummer with the big ears, Jack Greene on "Afraid To Love". Combined with a smattering of ET's hits, this is a thoroughly enjoyable album.

By popular demand (and because your host lost his voice this week), we're reairing a very well received recent episode: In this episode, we're featuring a ballad-driven album from Ricky Van Shelton: "Loving Proof" (1988). Shelton's second album, this release sold over a million copies and cemented the Virginia baritone at the top of the new traditionalist wave. A reliance on covers on this album pays dividends for Ricky Van Shelton - he reinvigorates the Ned Miller classic "From A Jack To A King", the Wayne Kemp tearjerker "I'll Leave This World Loving You" and the Wilburn Brothers "Somebody's Back In Town" - all to great effect. Shelton's smooth croon suited an album full of songs about eternal and undying love, heavy on the ballad side - but any slow points were easily offset by the quality songwriting, delivery and production. A stellar album, and a must have for country music fans of the period.

In this episode, we're featuring a late Hank Thompson album, in that vintage honky tonk swing style: "Next Time I Fall In Love (I Won't)" (1971). By this time, Thompson had firmly established himself in the legend category and songwriters were lining up to contribute: Harlan Howard, Hank Cochran, Red Lane and Ned Miller all had songs featured on this album, and Thompson delivers with vigour. Steel guitar, those iconic stuttering fiddles and all to a distinct swing beat - this is a typically strong Hank Thompson release, expertly produced by Joe Allison (who was also a top notch songwriter himself - think "He'll Have To Go"). Highlights include the title track, "Everybody Loves A Pretty Baby", the melancholic "The Mark Of A Heel" and some good advice, with tongue firmly in-cheek on "Promise Her Anything".

In this episode, we're featuring the self-titled debut album from Texas dance band The Rocky King Band (2015). After having picked up the bug for traditional country and western swing music early on, bandleader Rocky King took fiddle lessons as a child with the iconic Jody Nix. Years of hard work have paid off, for this album is truly a treat from woe-to-go. A better collection of dance tracks I haven't heard in some time: from a refreshing version of "Mental Revenge" and the two-step-ready "Wearin' A Label" and "You're In Love With The Wrong Man" to the romping opener "Play The Saddest Song On The Jukebox", the covers are expertly chosen - both familiar and obscure. The Rocky King Band don't miss a step: kept in check by Michael Polasek on a rock-steady shuffle drumbeat, and complimented by Kenny Grohman on steel and the magnificent Duane Wavra on upright bass and harmony vocals. Wavra's gritty vocals are a treat on "Dark Lighted Bar Rooms", which I feel is the peak of a Texas dancehall masterpiece. 

In this episode, we're featuring a 1970 album from one of country music's smoothest honky tonk voices , Faron Young: "Occasional Wife". While still influenced by the 60s sounds in country music, this is a hard country album as you'd expect from The Singing Sheriff, with plenty of uptempo numbers to make listening a breeze. "Occasional Wife" was a precursor to Faron's peak in popularity (the following year "It's Four In The Morning" was his last number one), so he's in fine form vocally. Highlights include the title track, "If I Ever Fall In Love With A Honky Tonk Girl" and the Robbins-esque western story song in "The Guns Of Johnny Rondo".

In this week's episode, we're featuring a 2017 project by Nashville supergroup Sons Of The Palomino - their self titled debut, in fact. Spearheaded by - and the brainchild of - Nashville Songwriter Hall Of Famer Jeffrey Steele, their name refers to the famous Palomino Club in North Hollywood, CA - closed since 1995, but a bastion in it's heyday for much of that West Coast traditional country twang which launched many careers - including Dwight Yoakam, Dale Watson & Lucinda Williams. It was after Jeffrey Steele accumulated a bunch of songs dubbed "too country" for country radio that he decided to make this album: thus, it's fair to say it's a melange of styles - there's shuffles, barroom weepers, raucous honky tonkers but all with impeccable musicianship.. Paul Franklin on steel, Glen Worf on bass and Gordon Mote on keys: these are some of Nashville's old hands. Some famous names liked what they heard and got involved as well: there's duets here from Jamey Johnson ("Whiskey Years"), Gretchen Wilson ("Used To Be Country Town") and Emmylou Harris ("Outta This Town") - and they're some of the best from a great release.

In this week's episode, we're featuring one of the finest collections of straight-ahead honky tonk music that I've ever heard: "Honky Tonkin' With Charlie Walker" (1971). Charlie made his name cutting material akin to Ray Price's honky tonk output - country shuffles, and lots of them. His big hit came in the late 50s with "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down", and this album, from over 10 years later, follows in that vein. We open with "Honky Tonk Season", a galloping tongue-in-cheek ode to a frosty one in a dingy barroom, and continue with highlights including "Let's Go Fishin' Boys (The Girls Are Bitin')", "Before I Found The Wine" and the cautionary "A Honky Tonk In Dallas". All fiddle and steel guitar (except for a ridiculous cover of the Stones "Honky Tonk Women" - who the heck told Walker that was a good idea??) with a tenor Texan twang, if anybody ever asks you: 1. "Who was Charlie Walker?" or 2. "What's honky tonk music?" - Play them this.

In this episode, we're featuring a top notch album from Freddie Hart: "Trip To Heaven" (1973). It spawned only one single - the title track - which turned out to be a number one hit. Alongside that chart topping performance, this release has nine other hard country tunes with a 70s twist, all with Freddie Hart's most distinctive of southern drawls. Hart's career started as a member of Lefty Frizzell's band, but after writing hits for Carl Smith, Buck Owens and Porter Wagoner - he ground his way to the top, a journey which lasted some eighteen years or more. His first number one came with "Easy Loving" in 1971, and by that time, Hart had already lived four lifetimes: earnt his black belt in karate and jiujitsu, owned a trucking business, operated a school for handicapped children, ran a songwriting company AND met Hank Williams in the late 1940s. Chances are that meeting taught him something about songwriting too - because every single song on "Trip To Heaven" was written by Freddie Hart himself - and with his band The Heartbeats, some of the quality picks on this release include "Living On Leftovers Of You", the novelty "Ugly Duckling" and "Skid Row Street".

In this episode, we're featuring a ballad-driven album from Ricky Van Shelton: "Loving Proof" (1988). Shelton's second album, this release sold over a million copies and cemented the Virginia baritone at the top of the new traditionalist wave. A reliance on covers on this album pays dividends for Ricky Van Shelton - he reinvigorates the Ned Miller classic "From A Jack To A King", the Wayne Kemp tearjerker "I'll Leave This World Loving You" and the Wilburn Brothers "Somebody's Back In Town" - all to great effect. Shelton's smooth croon suited an album full of songs about eternal and undying love, heavy on the ballad side - but any slow points were easily offset by the quality songwriting, delivery and production. A stellar album, and a must have for country music fans of the period.

In this episode, we're featuring a classic Dave Dudley album: "Listen Betty, I'm Singing Your Song" (1971). Dudley himself contributed just under half of the writing for this record - impressive for a time when singers were releasing three or four albums a year - and his good friend Tom T. Hall added two as well, including the title track. Two of the songs were hits, but this release was put out as Dudley's star was on the wane. Dudley still very much hitched his wagon to the archetypal "truckin' song" which made his career in the early 60s, and cuts like "The Rollin's All Gone Out Of This Rollin' Stone", "Farewell To The Road" and "Listen Betty, I'm Singing Your Song" (a tribute to a truckstop waitress) demonstrate that he was just as good as he ever was. Even if the chart-toppers were drying up at the time, the material on this release and his back catalogue kept Dave Dudley working personal appearances for many years to come. A solid album.

In this episode, we're featuring a 2016 release from Texas sensation Curtis Grimes: "Undeniably Country" (2016). Known for his Texas Country/Red Dirt sound in previous years, Grimes set out with producer Trent Willmon to make an album that fans couldn't mistake for anything but straight country music. And the result is a resounding success - steel guitar from Nashville maestro Mike Johnson, songwriting from Grimes himself (who grew up on a steady diet on George Strait and Alan Jackson, as he says) in a radio-friendly package but still as country as cornbread. This album is refreshing, and others seem to think so as well. Highlights include the #1 Texas hit "Right About Now", the cheeky "Ten Year Town", "If You Ask Me" and a tip of the hat to Keith Whitley on "Everything Hank Did".

In this episode, we're featuring a mid-70s release from Loretta Lynn: "When The Tingle Becomes A Chill" (1976). With the MCA marketing machine behind this album, it spawned a Top 5 hit in the title track and a further Top 20 for the Coal Miner's Daughter - but this album arguably marked a decline in Loretta's commercial appeal. She backed it up with some success in '77, but after that it was all downhill, sales-wise. Having said that, the album features some solid country songwriters (Ben Peters, Jerry Chesnut) and some A-class Nashville pickers (Grady Martin, Hal Rugg) - and with that backing, hearing Loretta do standards of the era is pleasurable nonetheless. Versions of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy", Ronnie Milsap's "Daydreams About Night Things" are pleasant enough, but the real gold comes in the title track and the plaintive "Turn Me Anyway But Loose".

In this episode, we're featuring a hard country album from Johnny Bush: "Here Comes The World Again" (1973). After having served in Ray Price's and Willie Nelson's bands, he had paid his dues and this was Bush's first release on a major label (RCA). "Whiskey River" (written by Bush) was just about to become a big hit and it seemed Johnny Bush's star was on the rise. In the summer of 1972, however, a mysterious vocal condition put Bush's well-known high notes at risk. He adopted tricks to get around it, but the impact was profound: within a few years, he could barely speak, and it was only many years later with some enterprising medical treatment that Bush was able to regain his singing abilities. This album came at a very uncertain time for "The Country Caruso", but you wouldn't know it from the material included. This is a fantastic collection of jukebox-friendly shuffles, drinking songs, broken-heart ballads and beer joint singalongs - fiddles and steel guitar abound. Highlights include the "Cold Grey Light Of Dawn", dancehall favourite "Green Snakes On The Ceiling" and "Here Comes The World Again".

In this episode, we're featuring a very eclectic Merle Haggard album: "If We Make It Through December" (1974). Featuring only three songs written by The Hag himself - a statistic which set apart this release from most other Haggard albums - it did not lack for quality songwriting. Hank Cochran, Dave Kirby, Whitey Shafer and Lefty Frizzell all lent their talents to this album and perhaps that explains the range of styles present here: Dixieland jazz, pop string instrumentation, western swing and straight-ahead country make for a sonically diverse (though unmistakably country) listening experience. The title track was the big winner here, becoming Merle's biggest pop hit (#28), but the story song "Uncle Lem", the heartbreaking "Love And Honor (Never Crossed Your Mind)" and the gospel "There's Just One Way" contribute to one of the 70s strongest Haggard albums.

In this episode, we're featuring a twangy album from Porter Wagoner: "The Thin Man From West Plains" (1965). The title alludes to Porter's lanky frame and his home town of West Plains, Missouri - who by rights, would have been very proud of their famous export. Wagoner was in his element in 1965 - his Porter Wagoner TV show had been in syndication for four years at that point, it was a hit in over 50 cities around the country, and with his band The Wagonmasters - he was one of the most in-demand touring acts of the time. And the music he was making in that era only served to fuel his popularity: with the iconic Buck Trent on electric banjo, Mack Magaha on fiddle and Don Warden on steel guitar - this album shines in Porter's typical down-home uptempo fashion. Songs of tragedy, yes, but mixed with a wry sense of fun that makes this the most addictive of country music. Hits like "I'll Go Down Swinging", "Sorrow On The Rocks" and album cuts including "Lovin' Lies" and "My Baby Turns The Lights On Uptown" cement this as example of how good 60s country music could be.

In this episode, we're featuring the second album from one of country's most unique baritones: Ron Williams, "The Longer You're Gone" (2009). Ron Williams is the son of Leona Williams - a marvellous traditional country singer herself with a long and illustrious career, and it seems as though country music was inevitable for Ron, born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. After his mother married Merle Haggard for a period in the late 70s/early 80s, and after having lived under the same roof as Merle for about a decade - something must have rubbed off on young Ron Williams. His voice matured into one of country music's most distinctive and unique baritones: there are shades of the greats in every note he sings, but he has crafted his own style, sure enough. This album is a fun and umptempo affair for the most part, including the swinging "Her Heart Belongs To Texas" and "The F Words" (one of several Bill Anderson co-writes) - but it's on the ballads that Ron Williams really shines, including the heartfelt "Where The Tall Grass Grows".

In this episode we're featuring an album from the marvellous Connie Smith - released towards the end of her time at RCA: "Just One Time" (1971). For a voice which George Jones has called his favourite female country vocal - Connie Smith remains criminally under-appreciated in the world country music. After bursting onto the scene with "Once A Day" in 1964, the pressure of the music business took it's toll and after a divorce in 1968, Smith scaled back public performances and recording. Taking solace in family and the church, this wholesome album - full of stories of love and loss, redemption and happiness - features the same effortless vocal mastery from the 4'11" Connie Smith as she's always had. Said vocals are on full display on tracks like "Don't Walk Away", "I Don't Want Be With Me" and the obligatory sacred number "Wait For The Light To Shine".

In this episode we're featuring the album that cemented Alan Jackson as a bona fide 90s country superstar: "Don't Rock The Jukebox" (1991). It sold four million copies and four of the five singles went to number one - catapulting this quiet Georgia-native to the forefront of traditional country music - a place he stayed until well into the 2000s. Excellent production, with just the right amount of slick to go with the twang, fiddle and steel - Jackson had a hand in writing nine of the album's ten tracks, so he can take much of the credit for it's success. Highlights include the haunting "Midnight In Montgomery", the magnificient play on words in "Walkin' The Floor Over Me" and "Just Playin' Possum" which mix nicely with the title track and a tender ballad or two. Really one of the best albums of the decade.

In this episode, we're featuring an early album from John Anderson: "I Just Came Home To Count The Memories" (1982). On the Warner Brothers label, this release came at a time when country music was in it's post-Urban Cowboy slump (traditionally speaking), and the slick not-very-country material out of Nashville was ruling the charts. This album's the opposite of that sound, featuring great production, with excellent session musicians to boot - fiddles and steel compliment Anderson's trademark "backwoods growl" to wonderful effect. Songs like "Would You Catch A Falling Star", "I Danced With The San Antone Rose" and the creepy "Jessie Clay & The 12:05" make for an enjoyable listen, peaking with an excellent cover of "Don't Think Twice (It's All Right)". Unfortunately the album didn't do so well commercially, which may have prompted a stylistic change upon Anderson's next release - which really was a shame. As Country Music Scene at the time said, this could have been "just the record to lead country music lovers out of the crossover wilderness and back to basics."

In this episode, we're featuring a Moe Bandy album from the height of his solo success: "Cowboys Ain't Supposed To Cry" (1978). Before his duets with Janie Fricke and later Joe Stampley, Moe Bandy was doing what he does best - making hardcore traditional country music. This collection of songs shows Moe's influences in very plain fashion: channeling Hank Williams, Sr. in Weldon Myrick's steel licks and even covering two of Hank's hits - this is a country album, sure enough. Songs like "Cowboys Ain't Supposed To Cry" (Moe would know, he's in the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall Of Fame), "Up To Now I've Wanted Everything But You" and "All I Can Handle At Home" keep the toes tapping and the twang a-flowing.

In this episode we're featuring one of Billie Jo Spears' finest records under the eye of producer Larry Butler on the United Artists label: "Lonely Hearts Club" (1978). Billie Jo had enjoyed popularity in the UK as the "Queen Mother Of Country Music" at times when her US sales were down - however this album did well in the USA as well, spawning three singles which charted at #18, #17 and #16 consecutively. We feature two of those three singles, including the title track, and a great love song penned by country great Ed Bruce. 

This week, it's part two of our look at Justin Trevino's latest album "A Salute To Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys" (2017). On the day in 1984 when Justin Trevino first heard Price's iconic honky tonk shuffle style on the airwaves - wafting in on the 50,000-watt KKYX out of San Antonio - a lightbulb went off: the song was "The Other Woman", the stylish combination of a 4/4 beat and vibrato vocals thrown in for good measure had Trevino hooked. Arguably with few stronger influences on his own singing style, this tribute album was a long time coming. As a personal fan and a friend to the great man, we look at six more of the best songs from Price's catalogue, expertly covered by Trevino and his A-team in studio. Highlights include the Conway Twitty-penned "Walk Me To The Door", and uptempo version of "Sittin' And Thinkin'" and the pinnacle of this release: a duet with Ray Price himself on "I Gotta Have My Baby Back", recorded in 2003. Sublime.

This week, it's part one of our look at Justin Trevino's latest album "A Salute To Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys" (2017). Packed with twenty tracks of solid Ray Price covers - from hits, to minor hits to more obscure material - we wouldn't be doing this stellar release justice to feature only six tracks, so we've split it into two! With excellent instrumentation as you'd expect from Justin Trevino - who himself is an A-class producer - he and Duane Wavra burn through a wonderful version of Price's "Different Kind Of Flower", and Justin himself does justice to "One More Time", "Pride" and "Soft Rain" - the latter helped out with some sublime steel guitar from Dickey Overbey. Ray Price and Justin Trevino were good friends towards the end of Price's life - and the reverence and influence shows clearly on this wonderful tribute album.

In this episode, we're featuring a high-energy trucking-themed album from Del Reeves: "Looking At The World Through A Windshield" (1968). Filled with well produced, fun and energetic traditional country truckin' tunes, this album is truly a romp from woe to go - typical of Del Reeves career. It's no surprise that Reeves would return to the trucking theme after the success of "Girl On The Billboard" in 1965, and he burns through "Highway 40", Jim & Jesse's "Diesel On My Tail", with a few Big Bopper-styled lines in "One Track Mind". A collection of 60s trucking tunes wouldn't be complete with a tip of the hat to the master of the genre in Dave Dudley, and Del Reeves does justice to an amped-up version of "Six Days On The Road". This album is a lot of fun to work through, and the title track remains one of the best examples of the truck-driving genre in country music history.

In this episode, we're featuring the best-selling album of George Strait's illustrious career: "Pure Country" (1992). As the soundtrack to the movie that was George's acting debut, it's not a huge departure from what he'd been doing up until that point - nay, more of the same. But the same formula proved to be a winning one yet again, and some 25 years later, "Pure Country" remains his best selling record - having sold over six million units since it's release. In the film, Strait plays Wyatt "Dusty" Chandler - a disillusioned country music superstar who wants to get back to his roots. The soundtrack album reflects that - songs like "Heartland" and "Where The Sidewalk Ends" straddle the line of country pop/rock from the early 90s - whereas songs like "Overnight Male", "King Of Broken Hearts" and "She Lays It All On The Line" are firmly in Strait's more accepted traditional camp. The acting left something to be desired, but this soundtrack is a sensational snapshot of an era where George Strait could do no wrong.

In this episode, we're featuring a 1976 album from master songwriter Mel Tillis: "Heart Healer". After having made himself a name as one of the finest wordsmiths in the country music field, and having written massive hits for Ray Price, Webb Pierce and Bobby Bare - it's nice to see this Tampa, Florida native get some recognition on his own. Having had to overcome a nasty stutter brought on by a childhood battle with malaria - Tillis fills this album with country music gold. From the heartbreaking "Someone Else Tends The Garden" and "The Morning After Baby Let Me Down", to the triumphant "Play It Again, Sam" and the hit title track in "Heart Healer" - this album travels the rollercoaster that is life, and that is what good country music is all about.

In this episode, we're featuring a 2004 album from Oregon cowgirl Joni Harms: "After All". Having written or co-written all 13 tracks on the album - and with some great Nashville studio talent to back her up - you can't help but feel that these songs are a snapshot of life in Joni's hometown of Canby, Oregon. With a sincerity and authenticity that's hard to come by unless you're the real deal - on this album Joni makes her way through familiar subject matter ranging from matrimonial celebrations in "A Cowboy Wedding", to dancing on a Saturday night in "West Texas Waltz", to life out on the ranch in "Cowboy Coffee". The songs are consistent with Joni Harms' entire career - wholesome and family oriented (so is Joni) - and with a warmth and genuineness of character that's as evident in person as it is in her music, this stellar release really was a pleasure to feature.

In this episode, we're featuring a 1991 tribute from Johnny Paycheck to George Jones: Johnny Paycheck Sings George Jones. It's true that Paycheck's vocals were on the decline in the early '90s, having recently served a 22-month prison sentence, but to hear this album is a country music timepiece: Jones was the man who gave Paycheck his first regular gig in Nashville - playing bass and steel guitar as part of The Jones Boys - and the two remained close friends until Paycheck's death in 2003. There were those who suggested George Jones' iconic warble was based on Johnny Paycheck's own sound, or vice versa - but as a boss, friend and mentor, Paycheck and Jones were inextricably linked until the very end - indeed, it was Jones who paid for Paycheck's burial plot in Nashville when he passed. That fact alone makes this tribute album required listening.

In this episode, we're featuring the latest EP from East Texas' own Jake Penrod: Out Of Control. Early on in his career, Jake made his mark as a Hank Williams-influenced country musician - physical similarities notwithstanding, he adopted his own take on Hank's nasal moan and forged a critically acclaimed path doing so. However, on this latest EP, which I won't hesitate to call his breakout release - Jake Penrod has come into his own sound - a sound reminiscent of his hillbilly influences in Hank and Lefty, but with a 21st century clarity, individuality and one helluva range. Jake wrote all the tracks on this EP, employed the best session musicians in Bobby Flores, Jake Hooker and Randy Reinhard on steel - and the result is sublime.

In this episode, and back by popular demand, we're again featuring the most successful commercial album for Texas icon Johnny Bush: You Gave Me A Mountain (1969). Bush's career, as detailed by Pete Drake on the rear of the vinyl album, had hit stumbling blocks at every turn, and had been turned by down by most of the major labels of the day. Drake, though, heard something in his voice which "just needed the right song". So the steel-guitar maestro signed the unknown Bush, and the one-time drummer for Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys launched himself to the brink of stardom with this album - the title track going to #7 on the charts. But overall, it must be said that this is one of the finest examples of why Johnny Bush is regarded as a Texas honky tonk icon - the notes that he hit are mountainous, sure enough.

In this episode, we're featuring the 1969 debut on the Smash label for Linda Gail Lewis: The Two Sides Of Linda Gail Lewis. Like her older brother Jerry Lee Lewis, Linda Gail later cut plenty of high-energy rock and roll material, but unlike him, this was her most successful release of her relatively short country career. Featuring a Top 10 duet with said older brother in Don't Let Me Cross Over and some choice Hank Williams and Hank Locklin cuts, this is yet another release from a family so flush with talent they could try their hand at rock and roll, country and even boogie woogie. Thankfully on this wonderful debut, Linda Gail Lewis chose country.

In this episode, we're featuring a 1965 release from Starday Records, highlighting a different side of Roger Miller: Wild Child (Madcap Sensation Of Country Music). This album illustrates the early honky tonk sides of Roger Miller - rather than the novelty songs which were making big money for Miller and Smash records at the time - including some he wrote himself, and a few covers, done very nicely in a style you don't hear too often from this top notch country singer/songwriter: Under Your Spell Again, Country Girl and Playboy - while hits for other artists - are expertly covered here by a Miller and a laidback Nashville team. This album, packaged to entice fans of Dang Me and Chug-A-Lug, uncovers a hard country side of Roger Miller that would likely be new to the casual fan. Top quality release.

In this episode, we're featuring a 2015 self-titled release from North Carolina-based The Malpass Brothers: The Malpass Brothers (2015). Sporting pompadours and rhinestone western suits, these two are a throwback to the days when close harmony and traditional country music ruled the airwaves. Many of the songs on this album are well-chosen covers, but there are a few great originals too, which blend in so well with the late 50s/early 60s material you wouldn't know. Highlights include I Met A Friend Of Yours Today (Mel Street), A Death In The Family (Bill Anderson) and Satan And The Saint (The Louvin Brothers) where their brotherly harmonies are on show in exquisite fashion. Endorsed and produced by bluegrass legend Doyle Lawson this is proof that traditional country music lives in the twenty-first century.

In this episode, we're featuring a 1969 compilation album on the Pickwick label: Guest Stars Of The Hee Haw Show. As the name suggests, the music featured here is all from artists who appeared on the massively successful Hee Haw TV show in it's first year on air, carried to a national audience on the CBS network. However, the music from these artists, including George Jones, Sonny James, Faron Young and Ferlin Husky - is all from the very early parts of their careers - mostly the 50s through the early 60s - and as such, it's a unique look into some of the traditional country music sounds of that era. Particularly strong cuts from Bakersfield icon Wynn Stewart, who was a good friend and mentor to Buck Owens.

In this episode, we're featuring the biggest selling record in the career of Johnny Sea: The World Of A Country Boy (1964). Gulfport, Mississippi can lay claim to this prodigious baritone, who owes an awful lot to Johnny Cash on this record - at least in terms of sound - but who's choice of material differentiates it from The Man In Black. Some great covers of some classics on this album, including Blue Moon Of Kentucky and Mystery Train, as well as the lead off (and most successful) single: My Baby Walks All Over Me.

In this episode, we're featuring the biggest album for Jeannie Seely from the 1970s: Can I Sleep In Your Arms/Lucky Ladies (1973). Known as "Miss Country Soul" in the country music fraternity, this Pennsylvania native certainly doesn't lack for feeling in this release on MCA Records - her first after a short career at Decca. Jeannie's style shines on this album, from classic ballads like the title track to a tongue-in-cheek nod to her home state in Farm In Pennsyltucky.