He Just Talked.

Category: News/Obituary

For the third time this week, following the passing of songwriter Jerry Crutchfield and legendary tunesmith Dallas Frazier, we pause to say goodbye to one of country's greats.

Country Music Hall of Fame member Ralph Emery passed away this morning (January 15) at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville with his family at his side. 

What did Walter Ralph Emery do that was so great in country music?  He just talked.  And talked.  And talked.  His resonating voice boomed out of the 50,000 watt clear channel signal of WSM to much of the country in the 1960s and 70s, giving country music what was more or less its first "national network."  Yes, WSM was just a "local" station, but people all over the country could hear it.

And, in the process, they could hear Emery interviewing the newcomers in country music who became legends.  He played their records, often before anyone else in the country could (or would).  A play on Emery's overnight radio show was massive exposure in those days.  (In his first memoir, Memories, Emery claimed that he used that clout to make then-wife Skeeter Davis' song "The End of the World" into the massive country and pop crossover hit that it was in 1962.)

Emery's popularity with and brilliance at interviewing country stars was so good that, later in the 60s, he had an hour-long Monday-through-Thursday night (taped) program where he would interview the superstars and the up-and-comers. 

Emery took his talents to television, hosting the widely-syndicated program Pop! Goes the Country (with its theme song by the Statler Brothers).  And, when the Nashville Network decided to start a nightly country music talk show, it was Ralph Emery who sat behind the desk at Nashville Now.

Emery's popularity made him one of the preeminent authorities on the "Nashville Sound" era of country music.  His books (including Memories, More Memories, 50 Years Down a Country Road, and The View From Nashville) sold well and contained a treasure trove of stories about the stars, the city, and the industry as it evolved through the decades.

He was also in songs, whether it was humorous (check out his "interview" with Lester "Roadhog" Moran sometime), a tribute (the Statlers' "How to Be a Country Star" included the advice to "talk plain like Ralph Emery"), or even an unflattering attack (the Byrds's song "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" was Gram Parson's scathing rebuttal after Emery didn't appreciate the Byrds' appearance on the Opry in their Sweetheart of the Rodeo days).

He was rightfully inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as the National Radio Hall of Fame and the Country DJ Hall of Fame.

That voice entertained and educated country music fans for two generations.  And now it's sadly silent.

Ralph Emery was 88.

Are You Ready for Some Hall of Fame!

 Category: News

After a long delay brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Country Music Association unceremoniously announced the 2020 class of Hall of Fame inductees.

I am happy to give you the new Hall of Fame inductees:

ROTATING CATEGORY/SONGWRITER: DEAN DILLON.  If you don't think he belongs he's got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.  The writer of many George Strait hits (including "Ocean Front Property" and "The Chair") as well as numerous others (such as Vern Gosdin's classic "Set 'Em Up Joe" and George Jones' "Tennessee Whiskey"), Dillon enters the Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Songwriter induction for 2020.

MODERN ERA:  MARTY STUART.  If traditional country music has a cheerleading squad, the co-captains are Vince Gill and Marty Stuart.  Stuart's devotion to classic country music comes thoroughly ingrained, given that he was playing mandolin for Lester Flatt at the age of 12.  Stuart joins his wife Connie Smith in the Hall of Fame, the only married couple to be separately inducted.  (Songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and A.P. and Sara Carter are the other married couples, inducted together; and, we have the ex-husband and ex-wife paring of George Jones and Tammy Wynette also inducted.)

VETERANS ERA:  HANK WILLIAMS JR.  I'm sure Bocephus will find this induction hollow, at best, given that his daughter was killed in a car wreck in late June.  I also think that many people will consider it a "sympathy" induction for that reason, since Williams' résumé is sufficient enough for him to have been inducted at least ten years ago, if not longer.  But, it is what it is, and Williams can now take his rightful place next to his father in the Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to the Class of 2020!!

'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered

Category: News/Obituary

In less than two months the Country Music Hall of Fame has lost its fourth member.  Mac Wiseman, the legendary singer, dubbed "Voice With a Heart," died Sunday (2/24).  He had been suffering from kidney failure in the last weeks of his life.

Malcom Bell Wiseman was born in 1925 in Virginia.  Stricken with polio as a child, he learned to play guitar, and music became his primary interest.  His first appearance on record came as the bass player on Molly O'Day's classic "The Tramp on the Street" in 1946.

Wiseman also worked in radio, where he would sing and play records.  Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs heard him on the radio and asked him to join their band.  From there he later became a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys before striking out on his own in 1951.

Although usually considered "bluegrass" Wiseman had a number of songs on the singles chart.  His highest charting song was the classic "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy," although he also had a top 40 country hit with the novelty Cy Coben-penned song "Johnny's Cash and Charley's Pride" (with lyrics that were puns of country singers' names: "If I had Johnny's paycheck Charlie'd walk'er home from work no more").

In addition to his decades of work as a recording artist, Wiseman was also very active behind the scenes.  In 1958 he became the first treasurer of the Country Music Association, the organization that would later create the Country Music Hall of Fame.  He was inducted in  2014.  Additionally, he helped charter the International Bluegrass Music Association.  His close association with bluegrass throughout his career led him to be part of the third class of inductees into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

People have often asked me what my favorite concert was.  It came in 1995, at MerleFest.  It was hardly a "concert" in the traditional sense (as anyone who's ever been to MerleFest, or any bluegrass festival, will attest), but it was the memorable thing I've ever witnessed in music.  Mac Wiseman was on a stage in a tent near the main grounds, entertaining the Saturday pre-lunch crowd.  One of the individuals enjoying Wiseman's wonderful voice was Doc Watson, the founder of the festival.  After Wiseman left the stage he sat down on a stool next to Watson, and the two spent the next 45 minutes swapping stories and songs, passing Wiseman's guitar between them.  Totally impromptu, totally unscripted, and totally mesmerizing.

The song that's probably most closely tied to Mac Wiseman is "'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered."  That sweet voice will always be remembered.

Mac Wiseman was 93.

Bobbie McKee Will Forever Be Grateful

Category: News/Obituary

For the third time this year, we need to pause and remember a Country Music Hall of Fame great.  

Fred Foster, the guiding force behind Monument Records, died Wednesday (2/20) in Nashville.  He had been in weak health for a number of years.

The greatest legacy of Fred Foster is his ear for talent.  While he worked for Mercury Records in the mid-50s he heard a young man who was on the rockabilly Sun label and begged his superiors to sign the singer.  Mercury passed on Elvis Presley, and the rest is history.

Maybe that failure led Foster to believe he could run a label better, so in 1958 he took every penny he had and formed Monument Records, with the logo showing a replica of the Washington Monument.  Determined not to let the same mistake happen again, Foster signed another fledgling artist on Sun:  Roy Orbison.  From there, Foster's skills helped launch or improve the career of a number of country (Billy Walker, Billy Grammer) and rock (Tony Joe White) acts.  

His two biggest successes, however, came with the discovery of an east Tennessee songbird named Dolly Parton and a Texas Army veteran named Kris Kristofferson. 

Parton's early hit "Dumb Blonde" was released on Monument and produced by Foster.  After her first two albums on Monument she moved on to RCA Victor and international superstardom.

Kristofferson's legacy may be linked to the infamous story about him landing a helicopter on Johnny Cash's lawn to pitch "Sunday Morning Coming Down" to Cash, but it was Fred Foster who first signed Kristofferson to a publishing, and later recording, deal.  Foster was also the one who suggested that Kristofferson incorporate the name of one of the secretaries in the building, Bobbie McKee, into a song.  Kristofferson's "Me and Bobbie McGee" is one of the most important songs in country and rock (thanks to Janis Joplin's cover).

Foster never slowed down, producing the Grammy-winning Last of the Breed album with Willie Nelson, Ray Price, and Merle Haggard in 2007.  In 2016 Foster produced a tribute album to Ray Price.  That year Foster was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in the rotating "non-performer" category for his decades of service to country music as a producer, publisher, and promoter.  

"I am heartbroken that my friend, Fred Foster, has passed on," Dolly Parton said in a statement.  "Fred was one of the very first people to believe in me, and gave me chances no one else would or could."

Fred Foster was 87.

Just Running Scared

Category: News/Obituary

The Country Music Hall of Fame has suffered its second loss in January with the death of Harold Bradley.

The legendary A Team session guitarist, who played on thousands of sessions, died Thursday morning (1/31) in his sleep, according to his daughter's post on Facebook.

Harold Ray Bradley was, is, and ever shall be a "musician's musician."  Born in Nashville, he served in the Navy in World War II before majoring in music at Peabody College.  His first instrument was banjo, but brother and fellow Hall of Fame inductee Owen (they are the only brothers in the Hall of Fame not inducted as a performing act) convinced him to switch to guitar.

The music world was better for it.  Bradley's guitar work ranged from simple, subtle rhythm on songs like Roy Orbison's classic hit "Running Scared" to the driving rhythm of Don Gibson's "Sea of Heartbreak."  Whether it was country, pop (he did sessions with the likes of Paul Anka, Perry Como, and Ann-Margaret), rock (Elvis, Orbison, Leon Russell), or R&B (Brook Benton, Ivory Joe Hunter), Harold Bradley's work was exactly what a song needed, and nothing more.

In addition to his work as a session man, Harold and Owen were producers (although Owen was the far more successful of the two in that regard) and businessmen.  In 1954 the two opened the Bradley Film and Recording Studio.  That became internationally known as "The Quonset Hut," and it changed both country music (with the "Nashville Sound") and the area where it was located (16th Avenue), transforming it into "Music Row."

Owen Bradley, who died in January 1998, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974.  Harold's induction came in 2006 in recognition for his long, illustrious career as one of country music's most consistent session men.

Harold Bradley was a longtime friend of the International Country Music Conference.  I was honored to meet him on a number of occasions when he served as a panelist for Studio B keynote sessions that focused on the great history of country music that happened in that studio, and in Nashville in general.  One of my most treasured memories was when he sat on the piano bench, cradling his guitar, and moderator and Country Music Foundation librarian John Rumble played "Running Scared," the great Roy Orbison song that Bradley had provided the guitar work for in 1960.  In the studio, as the recorded version began to play, Bradley strummed along with the work he had created 50 years earlier.  

Farewell to the great Harold Bradley, who was 93.

The Three Bells Ring No More

Category: News/Obituary

Back in the late 2000s I saw Jim Ed Brown at the Midnite Jamboree.  At the autograph/meet & greet after the show I told Jim Ed how much I wished the Browns would get inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

Brown smiled shyly, then said, "Well, if they're gonna do it, I wish they'd do it soon, because Maxine's health isn't good."

Who would know that Maxine Brown, the eldest of the singing trio that finally got that Hall of Fame induction in 2015, would outlive her two performing siblings.  Today comes the sad word that Maxine Brown has joined her famous brother and sister in death.  Maxine passed away today (1/21) in a Little Rock hospice with her family at her side.  She had been suffering from heart and kidney issues.

Maxine, along with younger brother Jim Edward, burst onto the country music scene in 1954 with a song that they wrote inspired by their youngest sister, Norma, excitedly trying to explain something to them and getting her words jumbled up.  That song was "Looking Back to See."  In addition to becoming the first brick in the road that would lead the Browns to the Country Music Hall of Fame "Looking Back to See" became one of the more popular songs for duos to record, with acts such as Justin Tubb and Goldie Hill and Buck Owens and Susan Raye also scoring charted hits with the song.  (The rhythm guitarist on the Browns' recording was Jim Ed's friend and Abbott Records label mate, Jim Reeves.  Reeves would later successfully lobby RCA Victor to sign the Browns.)

After Bonnie graduated from high school she joined her older siblings and "The Browns" became the legendary trio that we remember.  While there were many pit stops along the way in the 1950s (most notably, Jim Ed's Army service), the trio built a career with songs such as "I Heard the Bluebirds Sing" and the Ira and Charlie Louvin composition "I Take the Chance."

L-R: Jim Ed, Maxine, and Bonnie Brown celebrate the
50th anniversary of "The Three Bells" in 2009.
c. 2019 K.F. Raizor

With the advent of rock and roll in the mid 50s the Browns' career waned significantly, along with many other country stars.  They were about to call it a career when they recorded "The Three Bells."  From there, the floundering career soared to new heights, with the song topping country, easy listening, and "hot 100" charts.

In the mid-60s the family career ended, with Maxine singing lead on their final single release, "Big Daddy."  Bonnie and Maxine left to be with their young families, while Jim Ed continued with a successful solo and duet (Helen Cornelius) career.

The Browns would reunite on occasion at the Grand Ole Opry, including one memorable weekend in 2009, when the 50th anniversary of the release of "The Three Bells" was celebrated.  

In 2005 Maxine penned a bestselling autobiography, Looking Back to See, about her career in country music, focusing on the trials of performing in the 50s.  The book won the Ella Dickey Literary Award.

Shortly after the 2015 announcement that the Browns were being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame Jim Ed died of lung cancer.  At the medallion ceremony later that year Bonnie announced that she, too, had lung cancer (although she never smoked).  She passed away two weeks before her birthday in 2016.

And so closes the book on another legendary country music act.  The three bells -- Jim Ed, Maxine, and Bonnie -- ring no more on earth.  Oh, what a legacy they left us.

Maxine Brown was 87.

"The Most Talented Person I've Ever Fired"

Category: News/Obituary 

Country Music Hall of Fame legend Roy Clark died today (11/15) of pneumonia at his home in Tulsa.

Born in Virginia and raised in various areas because of his father's work in Navy shipyards, Roy Clark developed a love of music at an early age.  He took up the guitar when he was just 14, and the next year he was winning national championships in banjo and guitar competitions.

In 1955, before major success for either man, Clark was a regular on a regional country music program hosted by Jimmy Dean.  Although popular, Dean canned Clark because Roy kept showing up late for rehearsals.  When Dean fired Clark he told him, "Roy, you're the most talented person I've ever fired."

In the early 60s Clark's star took off.  He had his first top ten hit with a cover of Bill Anderson's classic "The Tips of My Fingers" in 1963.  He also found an acting job as "Cousin Roy Hasley" on The Beverly Hillbillies (he would also play Myrtle Hasley, Cousin Roy's mom).  

Then along came 1969 and a CBS "summer replacement" country music/variety show called Hee Haw.  Clark, who had just released his third single on Dot Records, was tapped to co-host the program with honky tonk great Buck Owens.  Both the program and Clark's single -- "Yesterday, When I Was Young" -- became major hits.  (Ironically, the co-writer and original performer of "Yesterday, When I Was Young," Charles Aznavour, died October 1.)

Clark began building bigger mantles for his awards:  two-time CMA "Entertainer of the Year" (with a third "Entertainer of the Year" award from the ACM), gold records, number one hits (his biggest chart success was 1973's "Come Live With Me"), and a Grammy for his rendition of "Alabama Jubilee."

Clark was one of those rare performers who was well-known to people outside of the country music world thanks to his years on Hee Haw.  Additionally, music fans of all genres knew him for his marvelous guitar work (his first album was titled The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark) and prowess on other instruments, including banjo (which he frequently played on Hee Haw, including on the "Pickin' and Grinnin'" joke session with Buck Owens) and fiddle.

As with most performers in their 80s, Clark was out of the limelight, but the awards kept coming.  His adopted hometown of Tulsa named an elementary school after him, and in 2009 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Survivors include Clark's wife of 61 years, Barbara, three children, and a legion of fans.

In 1995, fulfilling a request of baseball legend and fellow Oklahoman Mickey Mantle, Clark sang his major crossover hit at Mantle's funeral.  How it's time for us to sing those words in memory of a true legendary performer in every sense of the word:

There are so many songs in me that won't be sung
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue

Roy Clark was 85.

Three Shining New Hall of Fame Stars

Category: News

Today (3/27) it is overcast and gloomy, but the new Hall of Fame inductees are shining so brightly it takes away the cloud cover.  The class of 2018 was announced this morning, and I am thrilled beyond measure to present the list of inductees.

MUSICIAN: JOHNNY GIMBLE.  Known initially as a member of Bob Wills' Texas Playboys, Gimble's career branched out to include his trademark fiddle work on countless albums.  He was featured on Merle Haggard's tribute album to Wills, as well as working as a road musician for Willie Nelson and a session man for George Strait.  Later he was a member of the Hee Haw "Million Dollar Band."  Gimble died in 2015, but what a legacy he left.

VETERANS ERA: DOTTIE WEST.  Country music's first female Grammy winner, the late Dottie West had been one of the most overlooked performers on the list of "veterans era" performers.  That came to an end today, over 26 years after her tragic death from injuries in a car wreck on her way to an Opry performance.  A songwriter, a singer, and a dynamic performer, West was one of the unsung female heroes in country music who helped pave the way for the women singers today.  Now, she has received the recognition she so richly deserved.

MODERN ERA: RICKY SKAGGS.  From eastern Kentucky (along the famed "Country Music Highway"), Skaggs learned a love of bluegrass at a very early age...and showed it off at an equally early age, playing on Flatt & Scruggs' TV show.  His career has covered bluegrass in the 70s with J.D. Crowe, a band musician in the late 70s and early 80s as part of Emmylou Harris' "Hot Band," his own string of country successes in the 80s as one of the champions of the "neo-traditional sound" revival, and his return to his bluegrass roots in the 90s through today.

Thank you, Hall of Fame.  What a remarkable class for 2018. 

If Only They Could Read Between the Lines

Category: News/Obituary

We've lost Mel Tillis.

The legendary Hall of Fame singer and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame songwriter died early this morning (11/19) in an Ocala, Florida hospital from respiratory failure.

Lonnie Melvin Tillis was born in Florida (in Tampa).  Her served in the US Air Force before embarking on a career that would see him write some of the most iconic songs in country (and pop) music.  Among his classics:  "I Ain't Never," "Detroit City," "(Sweet) Mental Revenge," and "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town." As a singer, he also made the charts with his own songs, and with songs from the pens of others.

Known for his stuttering (his autobiography was titled Stutterin' Boy), Tillis wrote in the liner notes of the posthumous Jim Reeves album Missing You that Reeves had offered to pay for Mel's speech therapy when Tillis was a newcomer to Nashville.  The speech impediment was real, although diminished (thanks to therapy).

Tillis had been in declining health for years.  In 2016 he underwent intestinal surgery and developed complications.  The complications may have contributed to his death.

The lyrics Mel Tillis has given us over the years will continue to amaze and inspire.  Consider how he detailed the paralyzed and impotent Vietnam veteran begging his wife not to cheat on him in "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town," or the heartbreak from the homesick and lonely man in "Detroit City": 

From the letters that I write they think I'm fine
But by day I make the cars, by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines

No need to "read between the lines" here.  Mel Tillis was a remarkable songwriter and talent, and he will be sorely missed.

Mel Tillis was 85.

Some Broken Hearts Never Mend

Category: News/Obituary

The man they called "the Gentle Giant" is gone.  Country Music Hall of Fame great Don Williams died today (9/8) after a short illness.

Born in Texas in 1939, Don Williams' smooth, Jim Reeves-like baritone voice began entertaining fans when he was part of the folk group the Pozo-Seco Singers in the 60s.  The group had a minor successes with the songs "I Can Make It With You" and "Look What You've Done," both hitting the Billboard pop top 40 charts in 1966.  After the band went their separate ways in 1970, member Susan Taylor found success as a songwriter for acts such as the Forrester Sisters, Tanya Tucker, and Mickey Gilley, using the name Taylor Pie.

Don Williams, on the other hand, found the top of the mountain.  Beginning with "The Shelter of Your Eyes" in late 1972, Williams had 56 singles chart in the Billboard country singles chart, all of four of which were top 40 hits.

There was nothing pretentious about Williams' music.  It was pure, simple, and country.  He sang of love ("Love Me All Over Again," "The Shelter of Your Eyes" -- both of which Williams wrote [an oft-overlooked element of his career] -- and "I Believe in You") with a beautiful voice and basic guitar, bass, and drum accompaniment.  And it caught on.  Oh, how it caught on.  Over the course of his career Williams compiled seventeen #1 songs.

Interestingly, one of his comparative "flops" (only hitting #33 on the charts) was a Bob McDill love song called "Amanda."  Waylon Jennings would later find chart-topping success with the song that Williams first recorded.

In addition to all of the great music, Williams was a devoted family man.  He was one of the very few country singers you could say was never associated with any sort of scandal.  He loved his wife, Joy, whom he married in 1960.  

He also loved his music and his fans, staying on the road and performing until he decided to call it a career in 2016.

If an artist ever gave the world a song to describe how fans would feel about his/her death, it would be Don Williams and "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend."  

A sad and grateful farewell to Don Williams, who was 78.

Country Hall of Fame Loses Its Mother

Category: Obituary

The Country Music Hall of Fame has lost a second Hall of Fame members this month.  More significantly, with the passing of Jo Walker-Meador, the Hall of Fame lost the woman who could rightfully be called its mother.

Walker-Meador died Wednesday (8/16) of a stroke in Nashville.  Her death comes nine days after the passing of Glen Campbell from Alzheimer's disease.

Her birth name was Edith Josephine Denning, when she came into the world in 1924.  In 1958 Harry Stone hired Walker-Meador as an office manager for a new organization called the Country Music Association.  By 1962 she was the executive director of the CMA.

In her tenure she oversaw the development of things that we take for granted today: the CMA awards, CMA Fan Fest, and most significantly, the Country Music Hall of Fame.  The 1950s may have been the "golden era" of the music, but Jo Walker-Meador helped make the country music industry a formidable and respectable business in the 60s and beyond.

Walker-Meador stepped down in 1991.  In 1995, the Hall of Fame that she helped make a reality inducted her as a significant industry individual for her vital contributions to country music.

Farewell to Jo Walker-Meador, who was 93.

Ever Gentle on My Mind

Category: Obituary 

Glen Campbell's public, painful struggle with Alzheimer's disease has ended.

The Country Music Hall of Fame member died today (8/8), six years after announcing he had been diagnosed with the dreaded disease.

Born in Delight, Arkansas, Glen Travis Campbell began his legendary career as a session musician, playing the daylights out of the guitar in the L.A.-based "Wrecking Crew" group of studio aces.  In the mid-60s he became a Beach Boy, touring when Brian Wilson's stage fright caused him to pull out of a tour the day before it started.  

From there he took a gorgeous John Hartford song about friendship and love without the pressures of commitment, "Gentle on My Mind," and turned it into a Grammy-winning country and pop hit.  Both Campbell and Hartford received Grammy awards for the song.  The popularity of the song led CBS to give Campbell a "summer replacement" show for the popular, yet controversial, Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (which, if you didn't know, had banjo master Steve Martin as a writer).  His opening song was "Gentle on My Mind," occasionally with Hartford (or just Hartford singing by himself).

From there, Campbell couldn't be stopped for a time.  He had hit after hit in country and pop with a string of Jimmy Webb songs that had city titles: "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," and "Galveston."  

As country and pop music changed dramatically in the early 70s Campbell's career faded, but he came roaring back in 1975 with "Rhinestone Cowboy," a song about a down-and-out (and out-of-place) musician in New York City dreaming of hitting the big time.  The song became the first song since "Big Bad John" in 1961 to simultaneously top the country and pop charts the same week.  

Other hits followed on the comeback, including Campbell's cover of the Allen Toussaint song "Southern Nights" (which was also a #1 pop hit as well as a country and "easy listening" chart-topper), "Sunflower," and "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)" before the hits became fewer again.  Still, Campbell managed to score top ten hits in the late 80s with "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "She's Gone, Gone, Gone."

As with many other country stars, Campbell tried his hand at acting.  His major screen credit is an excellent performance in the classic John Wayne Oscar-winner True Grit.  He also appeared in Any Which Way You Can, where he provided the title song.

Many celebrities, when they receive such a heartbreaking and terminal diagnosis such as Alzheimer's disease, retreat to privacy.  Campbell decided to give Alzheimer's a very famous face.  He did a "farewell" tour in 2014 and gave the world a touching look into the life of a person slowly succumbing to the clutches of the disease in the documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me. The documentary earned Campbell another Grammy award.

We've known for many years that this day was coming, but that certainly doesn't ease the heartache of knowing this giant is no longer with us.  As a friend of mine, who writes for Rolling Stone Country, said, however, we can find some solace in knowing he is no longer suffering.

Farewell to the Rhinestone Cowboy, who will be ever gentle on our minds.

Glen Campbell was 81.

A Tear Dropped By This Morning

Category: News/Obituary

Country music legend Jean Shepard has died.

The matriarch of the "Grand Ladies of the Grand Ole Opry" passed away this morning (9/25), two days after entering hospice care for Parkinson's disease complications.

Born Ollie Imogene Shepard in 1933, Jean Shepard made her mark with the song "A Dear John Letter," the 1953 #1 smash that was the first hit for both her and her duet partner, Ferlin Husky.  After the follow-up, "Forgive Me, John," they went on separate music paths that took both to the Hall of Fame.  

Shepard was a trailblazing woman singer in country music.  Following in the (high) heels of Kitty Wells, she had several hits in the 1950s such as "A Satisfied Mind" (the same song that Porter Wagoner recorded) and "Beautiful Lies."

Her career waned after her marriage to Harold "Hawkshaw" Hawkins in 1960, as she concentrated on raising a family.  On March 5, 1963, Shepard, eight months pregnant with her son Harold Franklin Hawkins Jr., had (as she later wrote and recounted) "the most horrible feeling" hit her about the same time that the plane with her husband aboard crashed in Camden, killing him, Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline, and Randy Hughes.  

After the tragedy Shepard nearly abandoned the music business completely, but she came back in 1964 with the Betty Amos composition "Second Fiddle (To an Old Guitar)."

More hits followed, including a number of Bill Anderson songs (from her album Poor Sweet Baby [And Ten More Bill Anderson Songs]), including the hits "Slippin' Away" and "At the Time."  

In 2011 she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Last year she celebrated her 60th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.  Parkinson's forced her into retirement last November, just after her birthday.

In 1992 I got to interview her for an article I wrote on Bill Anderson.  She nearly dragged me into her dressing room and plopped me down on the sofa, then enthusiastically said, "Now, honey, what do you want to know about Bill Anderson?  I could talk about him all day!"

Her wonderful song, "A Tear Dropped By," certainly is fitting on this sad day:

A tear dropped by this morning

I found it in my eye

Funny it should be there

I hadn't planned to cry.

Jean Shepard was 82.

They Made the Night a Little Brighter Wherever They Would Go

Category: Obituary

Recently CNN asked if 2016 was "the year of the celebrity death."  It's certainly seeming that way.  Today (7/16) we bid farewell to our third Country Music Hall of Fame member this year.

Bonnie Brown, one of the great sibling trio the Browns, died today after a bout with lung cancer, 16 days shy of her 78th birthday.

Bonnie was the "baby" of the Browns, not joining older siblings Maxine and Jim Ed in the act until after she graduated from high school.  Once she did, and Jim Ed was discharged from the Army, the magic of their harmonies took country and pop by storm with songs like "The Three Bells" and "The Old Lamplighter."

The sisters retired from the act in the mid-60s to raise families, and Jim Ed set out on a successful solo career.  Still, the siblings would reunite occasionally on the Grand Ole Opry and Country's Family Reunion shows, and the magical harmonies flowed effortlessly from them as if it had been hours, not decades, since they had performed together.

The Browns were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015.  Shortly after their induction was announced, Jim Ed, who had been battling lung cancer, took a turn for the worse and was presented his Hall of Fame medallion in his hospital bed.  Shortly after their formal induction Bonnie announced that, even though she never smoked, she, too, had lung cancer.

Tonight when the stars come out, think of Jim Ed and Bonnie, singing the tale of "The Old Lamplighter" who'd "make the night a little brighter wherever he would go" together again.  And remember their families in your thoughts and prayers.

All The Chapel Bells Are Ringing!

Category:  News

It is with unspeakable joy that I announce the 2015 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees.


OAK RIDGE BOYS (Modern era):  The quartet's induction is another case of the road to the Hall of Fame running through Knoxville.  Wally Fowler formed a group, Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers, that appeared on the WNOX Midday Merry-Go-Round in the early 1940's (their backing musicians included a young Chester Atkins).  A splinter group, the Harmony Quartet, frequently performed in the highly-secretive area around the Oak Ridge nuclear facility, prompting Folwer to rename his group the Oak Ridge Quartet.  The Quartet focused solely on gospel music until the early 1970's, when the current line-up -- William Lee Golden (joined in 1965), Duane Allen (joined 1966), Richard Sterban (joined 1972), and Joe Bonsall (joined 1973) -- began performing country music primarily.  The hits began soon afterward:  "Y'all Come Back Saloon," "Sail Away," "Dream On," "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight," "Ozark Mountain Jubilee," and the massive crossover hit, "Elvira."

THE BROWNS (Veterans era):  Jim Edward Brown began singing with his sister Maxine.  Once Bonnie graduated from high school she joined her siblings.  Despite Jim Ed's stint in the Army the trio quickly generated a list of hits, including their own composition, "Lookin' Back to See," and the Ira & Charlie Louvin-penned "I Take the Chance."  In 1959 the Browns hit the top spot on the country and pop charts with "The Three Bells," a song that became their signature tune and earned them a Grammy nomination.  The trio continued to perform until Bonnie and Maxine retired in the mid-60's to spend more time with their children.  Jim Ed went on to a solo career with songs such as "Pop A Top," "Morning," and "Angel's Sunday," as well as duet hits with Helen Cornelius on such tunes as "I Don't Want to Have to Marry You" and "Fools."

L-R: Jim Ed, Bonnie, and Maxine Brown signing
autographs after the Midnite Jamboree, 2009.
c. 2015 K.F. Raizor

GRADY MARTIN (Musician [rotating category]):  Part of the famed "A Team" of Nashville studio musicians, Grady Martin (1929-2001) left his mark on country music with his guitar work on countless songs.  He could tell a story with his playing (such as his work on Marty Robbins' "El Paso") or perform subtly (on Ray Price's "For the Good Times").  He unintentionally created a new sound when a short in his guitar amplifier caused his guitar solo on Robbins' "Don't Worry" to come out distorted.  Martin played with everyone from Bing Crosby to Burl Ives to Roy Orbison to Joan Baez, leaving his indelible mark on guitar work along the way.

To the class of 2015, especially Jim Ed, Maxine, and Bonnie, I send my heartfelt congratulations on this crowning achievement of your career in country music!

Country Music Hall of Fame 2014 Inductees Announced

Category:  News

The 2014 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees were announced this morning (4/22) in ceremonies held in the rotunda at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

As I predicted, the late Hank Cochran was enshrined in the Songwriter category in his first year of eligibility following his death from pancreatic cancer in 2010.  His widow, Suzi, accepted, saying, "I never dreamt it would be me and not Hank standing here.  I'm so proud of Hank, and so thrilled for our family."

The Modern Era inductee is Ronnie Milsap, one of country's stalwarts of the mid-70's to mid-80's.  He had 35 #1 hits over the course of his career, and his video of "Lost in the 50's Tonight" became the first video by a country artist to be played on the rock video channel MTV.

The biggest surprise of the day came in the Veterans Era induction.  Mac Wiseman, a legend in bluegrass music (and one of the first seven inductees into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, enshrined in 1993) but with practically no straight country career (he had only nine singles on the country charts), was inducted.  In addition to a long career in music that goes back to a stint in Molly O'Day's Cumberland Mountain Folks, Wiseman was the first secretary of the Country Music Association, the governing body that elects the individuals to the Hall of Fame, as well as an executive for the Dot Records label in the 50's and early 60's.  

2014 inductee Mac Wiseman
performing at MerleFest in 1995.
c.2014 K.F. Raizor

I'm especially thrilled for Wiseman, who will be 89 next month.  He is a true gentleman, an incredible entertainer (all he has to do is sit on a stool and sing and you are in the palm of his hand), and his voice (his nickname is "The Voice With a Heart," and for a reason) is unique, distinct, and warm (you never forget a song once you hear Mac sing it!).  

Congratulations to the new inductees.

As I Sit Here Tonight the Jukebox's Playing

Category:  News/Obituary

Country music has lost its Queen.

Kitty Wells died today (7/16) at her Madison, Tennessee home from complications of a stroke.

Her death comes less than one year after the death of Johnnie Wright, her husband of nearly 74 years.  Wright died last September.

Born Ellen Muriel Deason in Nashville on August 30, 1919, Wells hooked up with another local musician, Johnnie Wright, who was performing with his brother-in-law, Jack Anglin.  The musical partnership soon became a lifetime partnership, as Johnnie and Kitty became husband and wife on October 30, 1937.  Johnnie gave his bride her world-famous stage name, Kitty Wells, taken from a song titled "Sweet Kitty Wells."

Kitty toured with Johnnie & Jack and had a few songs with some degree of popularity in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Thanks to Johnnie & Jack's popularity on RCA Wells got a contract on the label.  Her best-known song from her short stay on RCA was the tear-jerking "How Far is Heaven."

Kitty moved to Decca (where Johnnie [later spelled "Johnny"] & Jack would land in the early 1960s) and in the process turned country music on its ear.  In 1952, on her first Decca session, Kitty recorded a J.D. Miller composition written in answer to the massively popular Hank Thompson hit "The Wild Side of Life."  Miller's song, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," addressed the problem of cheating from a woman's point of view.  The song became extremely popular when released despite the fact that the men behind the scenes didn't care for the "in-your-face" answer song (despite the fact that it was written by a man!).  Several country stations refused to play the song, and Wells was told point-blank by Opry manager Jim Denny that she was NOT to sing the song on the Opry if she wanted to remain an Opry member.  She did anyway.

The gutsy move paid off.  "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" went to #1 on the Billboard country charts, marking the first time a woman held the top spot on the chart.  Furthermore, it stayed there, for a total of six weeks.  While that was hardly a record in terms of overall chart success (Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold, and Webb Pierce had songs that stayed #1 for 3-4 months), it was a first time a woman had joined the club.  

She was quickly reconciled to those who objected to the song and given the title "Queen of Country Music."  The hits continued to flow and her career quickly eclipsed her husband's.  She toured continually as part of the Kitty Wells-Johnny Wright Family Show until 2000.  In 1976 she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, becoming only the fourth woman (after Sara and Maybelle Carter and Patsy Cline) to be so honored.

It would be an understatement to say that Kitty Wells' success opened the door for the likes of Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and countless female singers who would follow.  Kitty didn't open the door, she kicked it down.

A sad but grateful farewell to the Queen of Country Music, who was 92.