Linnell Gentry: A Country Music Encyclopedic Mind
James E. Akenson What if you compiled one of the first Country Music encyclopedias that today isn’t known to lots of scholars, journalists, and serious fans? Even in the afterlife you would probably want your hard work to be remembered and frequently referenced. Just how many scholars and fans of Country Music recognize the […]
Gordon Lightfoot
Andrew Smith Canadian Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023) not only was a performer in his own right, but he also influenced other recognised country music artists like Mac Wiseman and George Hamilton IV, both of whom recorded whole albums dedicated to his music. Bear Family have done Lightfoot justice by releasing this album, which should appeal […]
Dolly Parton: Independent Study!?
James Akenson Being a professor ain’t always easy. People think we’re lazy and couldn’t hold a ‘real’ job if our life depended on it. It ‘don’t matter ‘one eye-oh-tuh’ what you think. I try to work hard. I want folks to think “I done good.” For all my years at Tennessee Tech University www.tntech.edu […]
Carl and Pearl Butler
Andrew Smith Crying My Heart Out Over You This CD was released by Bear Family in 1993, and I’ve had it since then, but after listening to it again, I decided it warrants a review, especially since Bear is now selling it at a bargain price. For hardcore, intense honky-tonk country music, Carl (1927-1992) and […]
Phoebe White: Country Music Through and Through
James Akenson Folks are always looking for The Next Big Thing in Country Music. Some folks are looking to SAVE Country Music. Despair and anxiety about the state of Country Music is not at all new. The despair over Bro Country with the likes of Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line, the lack of […]
The Hank Williams Connection
Andrew Smith This single, 33-track CD comprises versions of Hank Williams songs by other artists, ranging from hard-core country to rockabilly and popular (including big-band) music. Its release in late 2023 marked the centenary of Hank’s birth (on September 17, 1923) and, arguably, close to the anniversary of his death, purportedly on January 1, 1953. […]
Sanford Clark – Rocks
Andrew Smith This Bear Family 31-track CD highlights some of Sanford Clark’s output between 1956 and 1967 for their “Rocks” series. Best known for his hit, The Fool and a minor hit follow-up, A Cheat (both with guitar by Al Casey), Clark was a pleasant-voiced rockabilly and country performer who was associated for much of […]
Bill Carter – Ramblin’ Fever
Andrew Smith Bear Family have issued yet another interesting, budget priced, and fully documented double-CD set with this release. Bill Carter, its featured artist, recorded country and rockabilly music from 1953 until 1961. He was born in 1929 in Arkansas; his family moved to Oklahoma in 1937 and then California in 1943. He performed locally […]
Augie Meyers – High Texas Rider
Andrew Smith Augie Meyers features on another album in Bear Family’s On The Honky Tonk Highway series. Perhaps best described as “Texas Country,” tracks on this entertaining 26-track album run the gamut from anthems to Texas (Deed To Texas, Deep In The Heart Of Texas, Sun Shines Down On Me In Texas, High Texas Rider), […]
On the Honky Tonk Highway with Jeannie C. Riley
Andrew Smith “She was an excellent singer, a true singer, in the same league as Patsy Cline or Connie Smith in terms of range, clarity, and expressed feelings,” wrote Martin Hawkins about Jeannie C. Riley in the booklet accompanying this outstanding Bear Family reissue. “She was the real deal, a genuine country sounding singer but […]