There is more of a split between old and new country music than between generations in other genres. The core of rock, for instance, hasn’t changed all...
Category - Country
Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra’s operatic “Ghost Riders in the Sky” was number one the Billboard charts during this week in 1949. The song...
Jana Pendragon at AllMusic does a nice job of profiling Ralph Stanley. Here is how it starts: Born in Stratton, Virginia in 1927, Ralph Stanley and his older...
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs broke up on tn this day in 1969, according to Country Music Television. The two had been together for 25 years, the site says. ...
Forbes reports that Toby Keith earned $65 million in 2013, $10 more than Taylor Swift–who really isn’t a country singer–and $12 million more...
There are brilliant writers and performers who work within a genre and produce something that has one foot — or even a toe or two — outside it...
Ray Price, who died last week at 87 years of age, is an important figure in what may be described as the domestication of country music. Here is the beginning...
Buck Owens, who was inducted in The Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, was born in 1929 in Sherman, Texas. His bio traces his musical roots: The musical...
Elvis is the King, but Roy Acuff is the King of Country Music. The stories of how performers got started invariably are interesting. Here is the beginning of...
Here is the first paragraph of the Associated Press story on the passing of Cowboy Jack Clement: “Cowboy” Jack Clement, a producer, engineer, songwriter and...
Reading Music
The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.
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Here are some books to check out.
Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.
What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.
The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").
David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.
