Gary Williams – The Traveling’ Blues Boy
Andrew Smith I was introduced to Gary Williams during late 1970s when I imported his A Tribute To Jimmie Rodgers vinyl album on the German Folk Variety label (FV 12013). (Folk Variety was the forerunner of Bear Family.) At the time, there were two other Folk Variety albums of his (My Reflection, FV 12004, and […]
Willie Nelson – Bluegrass
Andrew Smith Continuing in the tradition of mainstream country singers who have recorded “Bluegrass” albums – from Rose Maddox (Sings Bluegrass, 1962), Porter Wagoner (The Bluegrass Story, 1964), George Jones and Melba Montgomery (Bluegrass Hootenanny, 1964) through Carl Smith (Sings Bluegrass, 1971), Buck Owens’ album of Bluegrass standards (Ruby, 1971), the award winning Dolly […]
XMAS, MOJO, Bob Dylan, Bobcats, and a Good Bit More
James Akenson Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat. Well, not really since we won’t even order one from a mail order catalog like Mackenzie. It may be September, but out here on the Ponderosa time flies. It will soon be time to think about the outside Christmas lighting and then a tree in […]
On The Honky Tonk Highway with The Brother Boys
Andrew Smith The Brother Boys, founded in the late 1980s by Ed Snodderly and Eugene Wolf, are from East Tennessee. They’re still active today, performing music that has been described as “new hillbilly”. Alana Nash characterised it as “a smart amalgam of the tongue-and-groove vocal harmony of the Wilburn Brothers, the lonesome quality of […]
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 […]
John Edwards: Collector, Researcher and Discographer Extraordinaire
Don Cusic, Andrew Smith, Mickie Akenson, James Akenson Managing Editor’s Note: Once again Andrew Smith in Tasmania, Australia provides a fascinating discussion of an important Country Music topic. A description of the John Edward collection at the University of North Carolina may be found at https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/20001/ . It is particularly interesting how some international […]
Doc Watson Life’s Work: A Retrospective
Andrew Smith Managing Editor’s Note: Once again Andrew Smith of Tasmania lends his substantive expertise in Country Music to an important four CD release with 101 tracks and an 86 page book from Craft Recordings. Doc Watson (1923-2012) holds a special place in the history of Country Music…broadly defined….and merits all the attention from scholars, journalists, […]
Satan is Busy in Knoxville: A Review
Andrew Smith Managing Editor’s Note: We’re pleased once again to have a contribution from Andrew Smith in Tasmania. Smith is exceptionally knowledgeable about Country Music not just in Australia, but the entire scope of Country Music history. His forth coming biography of Australian Country Music pioneer Tex Morton will be published in Spring, 2023 by […]
Hillbilly Bop: The Other Memphis Sound. Part 2
Carl Perkins – everybody’s rockin’ tonight Editor’s Note: This is the second of two articles about the Memphis region and the Country Music scene of the 1950s. Dr. Shawn Pitts lives in Selmer, Tennessee. Cinema fans may recognize Selmer as the County Seat of McNairy County, Tennessee. The film “Walking Tall” made McNairy County […]