Dylan Does Cookeville
James E. Akenson From the iron mines of Hibbing, Minnesota to the University of Minnesota, to the hip folk scene in New York, to the 1965 Newport Festival to Nashville, to just about everywhere else in the world Bob Dylan seems to have been everywhere. He also appeared in Cookeville, Tennessee recently. Well, that’s not […]
The Little Sandy Review Yogi Berra: Deja Vu All Over Again
James E. Akenson New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra keeps coming up again and again as I go through life. Yogi Berra made famous the use of Deja Vu All Over Again. A touch repetitive. A touch redundant. But, it stuck in our cultural mind and heritage. Strangely, it speaks the truth. Things have […]
Breathing in “Black Lung” & Hazel Dickens
Anna Valcour I first heard “Black Lung” by Hazel Dickens in a graduate seminar taught by Dr. Taylor Ackley and was overwhelmed by her haunting, raw, lonesome sound – or as Hazel put it, “hard-core…it’s all feeling and emotion.” And she’s right. But then, I learned her story, and it gripped me even further. […]
Cold War Europe: Country Music
James E. Akenson NATO seems to be a bit shaky these days in the age of the second Trump administration. There are plenty of wars going on in places like Ukraine. I don’t want to be Biblical here…got to be inclusive… and I don’t know the equivalent statements in other world religions or philosophies…..but there […]
Bob Wills: Still A King!
James E. Akenson In various pieces I’ve mentioned that a song gets in my head and stays for longer than I would expect. Well, it’s happened again. For some reason Bob Will Is Still The King has been rattlin’ around my cage for quite a while. I guess you could say “Well why not?” […]
Dottie West Just Keeps Making Life Interesting
James E. Akenson Some things and some people manage to keep finding ways to make your life interesting and worthwhile. You never know for sure exactly when and where they will appear. Dottie West is one of those persons. She’s the first woman to write and record a Grammy winning Country Music song. Not […]
They Weren’t Ready (Though Most Were) for Tina Turner
Editor’s Introduction To Pat Quillen James E. Akenson Baseball great Yogi Bera once said “I can sum it up in just two words, YOU NEVER KNOW.” A bit of contradiction for sure, but I never have forgotten the humor and the tension in the comment. And… what does it have to do with Country Music, […]
Steve Young – Stars In The Southern Sky
Steve Young Stars In The Southern Sky Omnivore Recordings OVCV-554 3-CD set with 40-page booklet Produced by Stephen Powers and Ted Olson A review by Andrew Smith Steve Young (1942 – 2016), a pioneer of “Southern Music”—which encompasses country rock, Americana and the “Outlaw” movement—is best known for his songs Lonesome, On’ry and Mean […]
It Won’t Go Away Kathy Mattea: A Triad Triology Trifecta
James E. Akenson There’s bound to be some good scientific research. It could be psychological research. It could be biological research. It’s also biochemical research. I just don’t have time to read it all. It could explain why a song gets in my head, won’t leave, and leads me to other songs. Who or what […]
Philip Gibbons: It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
James E. Akenson Willie Nelson sings that it’s “funny how time slips away.” It does happen! It seems like yesterday that I wrote a piece for Country Underground Australia about Phillip Gibbons 40th anniversary in radio. The Country Giant 94.7 in Cookeville is a major Country Music presence in Middle Tennessee and into southern Kentucky. […]