Call It Lust, Sin, Booze, and Jesus: Call It Sacred and Profane
James Akenson Once upon a time in a galaxy long ago I wrote a piece about Tennessee Tech University PhD student Randy Williams. The title “Randy Williams: Just for the Hell…Or The Heaven…Of It” fit nicely with what Randy Williams thought would be the focus of his PhD research. Turns out he was spot on. […]
You Shoulda Could a ( and Woulda) Been There: ICMC 2023
James Akenson Yes. Indeed! You shoulda,coulda…let’s add woulda to be complete…been there for the 2023 International Country Music Conference (ICMC ). The 2023 edition of ICMC took place Thursday 1 June through Saturday 3 June in The Board Room of The Massey Business Center at Belmont University overlooking Music Row and downtown Nashville. Even […]
Andrew Smith: Developing An Icon
James Akenson A few years back I wrote a piece for Country Underground Australia about a mate, a friend Andrew Smith of Tasmania who I had never met. We had corresponded over almost thirty years by old antiquated ‘snail mail’ and then through email and social media. Finally, in 2018 at the International Country […]
What Comes Round
I vividly remember Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Jr’s version of That Old Wheel with lyrics including That old wheel will roll around again. The theme….evening up scores from past wrongs…works well for my use in using Country Music to deal with topics in how to teach history, geography, and even literature. And…it also relates […]
Country Music Cowboy: Trashtastic, Fun, and Deconstructable
James E. Akenson Managing Editor If you’re tired of long dense sentences from the likes of William Faulkner, Aleksandr Sozhenitsyn, or Leo Tolstoy then Sasha Summers Country Music Cowboy is just what the doctor ordered. And…less you think that romance novels such as Country Music Cowboy fall beneath your dignity level…think again. It reminds me […]
Ronald D. Cohen: An Introduction
James E. Akenson Managing Editor Ronald D. Cohen is a distinguished scholar of the Folk Revival. Managing Editor James Akenson and Cohen have connections to the University of Minnesota. They became friends at the International Country Music Conference at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2014 Cohen and his colleague social activist Si Kahn […]
Is It Time For a Revival? A Second Coming: Is The Time At Hand?
James E Akenson All the signs point to a coming revival if not the end-of-the-world. Or…at least the Second Coming of Christ. In the last days there shall be much coming and going. The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible 2nd Timothy Chapter 3, Verses 2 and 3 makes clear the social media […]
Abi Miller: Woman On a Country Music Mission
James E Akenson Mission Impossible. Good Luck, Jim. A ‘fur piece’ back in another television universe the opening sequence of Mission Impossible gave agent Jim Phelps a task on audio tape that before it self-destroyed said “Good Luck, Jim.” Not only did I enjoy the series, but I enjoyed the fact that actor Peter […]
Plato, Aristotle, William James, Wittgenstein: No…Willie Nelson!
James E Akenson Sam Cooke mentioned that he didn’t know much about the history, French, geography he took…or other subjects. I’m not quite as deficient as what Sam Cooke made himself out to be. BUT…I do know that I don’t know a whole lot when it comes to philosophy. Just enough philosophy knowledge to […]
Black Pearl: You’ve Been in the Background Much Too Long
James E. Akenson Years ago during the Civil Rights movement Sonny Charles performed a song that stays with me to this day. Its intriguing how issues, lyrics, and melodies stay in your mind. Later, they become special in different ways that I couldn’t have expected when I first heard them. Black Pearl makes a […]