April 18, 2024 – April Update

The first round of Americanafest performers were announced today. There appears to be more of “my kind of stuff” this year than in recent years, including some top notch bluegrass bands.

The Nissan Stadium headliners at CMA Fest are disappointing. It’s short on legends and also short on the top current stars. This is supposed to be the top country industry event of the year, so one should expect a ton of star power. The undercard at CMA Fest has some good names mixed in, but they’re scattered all about. When I went to CMA Fest several years ago, there was more specialization for the different stages. For example, you could count on traditional country having a presence at the Forever Country Stage. I’m still looking forward to seeing the Fan Fair X lineups, because I often find a lot of quality lesser-known artists there.

I attended the New Braunfels Folk Fest last weekend. I’ve seen Candler Wilkinson IV several times before, but one of the highlights this time was his cover of “Indian Love Call” in the style of Slim Whitman. There aren’t a lot of people doing that in 2024! I was unfamiliar with singer-songwriter Nathan Kearney, but he also did a very nice job. I also saw a couple of acts from well-known families. HalleyAnna is Kent Finlay’s daughter and I’ve seen her a few times around San Marcos. New to me was Michael Huskey, the great nephew of Ferlin Husky. Michael said he has some collaborations coming up with Buck Owens’ son and Merle Haggard’s sons, so keep an eye open for that.

I attended the San Antonio Highland Games at the Helotes Cornyval grounds. I heard a good lot of fiddle music, Irish as much as Scottish. Seán Orr’s Celtic Texas is an interesting group, because Orr also fronts a Texas country band and a Cajun band, and has played in rock and polka bands and even at the Renaissance festival. Hugh Morrison is a Texas singer songwriter who grew up in Scotland. Aaron Tilt played the bagpipes, but also some of his Celtic and country original songs with a guitar.

I have nothing against the three people who were inducted into the CMHOF this year, all of whom I have seen in person, but the lack of recognition for the people who made the first country records is unacceptable. Fiddlin’ John Carson or Robertson and Gilliland or other early pioneers of country music are much more essential to the overall story of country music than the modern artists who get in every year.

I will also continue to beat the drum for Al Dexter, who was a clear standout on the first few years of Billboard country charts in the 1940s.

How often have we heard that “Nashville has always been the undisputed home of country music” and similar rhetoric? Those early Billboard charts do not reflect that. Nashville begins to dominate the charts at the end of the 1940s, right after Al Dexter’s reign. I also suggest looking at the sporadic Billboard lists of “Hillbilly Hits” from 1939-42. Since these were not weekly charts, most are unfamiliar with this era, but you won’t find much Nashville on there. You will find a lot of western music and more waltzes and polka than most would expect. Waltzes and polkas continued to impact country charts through the 1940s.

In general, the contributions of German-speaking people to country music have been largely overlooked. Listen to all of the yodeling, harmonica, autoharp, and accordion in early country and western music. To this day, Texas music is strongly influenced by a dance hall culture rooted in old buildings built by people of German and Czech heritage in central Texas before WWI.

New Braunfels Folk Fest

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the day at Luckenbach. A classic country band called the Wagon Aces brought the fiddle and steel goodness to the evening show in dance hall. One interesting selection was the Blue Skirt Waltz, which I usually only hear from polka bands. The song was an adaptation of a Czech song that was popular during WWII. “Blue Skirt Waltz” was a #7 hit on the country chart in 1949 for Frankie Yankovic.

Stephanie Urbina Jones and the Honky Tonk Mariachi played a special afternoon show at Luckenbach. They’ve played the Grand Ole Opry before, but this was her home turf. She played several originals, as well as covers of country classics like “Ring of Fire,” “Jolene,” and “Rhinestone Cowgirl.” Since they had a big block of time, she let the mariachi musicians play a whole set of their own, which I enjoyed.

In between the afternoon and evening shows, Hayden Whittington hosted a picker’s circle, which he has done for many years at Luckenbach.

March 15, 2024 March Update: Luck, Steel Guitar, etc.

The Texas Steel Guitar Association held its 40th annual jamboree last week. This was my first year to attend. Festival information was hard to find. I couldn’t even find what time events began and ended each day. The night before the four-day event, I decided to take a chance and bought my ticket. When I arrived, I needed to buy a $5 program just to find out what time the music began and ended each day. It turned out to be an outstanding event with dozens of steel guitar players doing 30-minute sets on the main stage. On Saturday, they began at 8AM and didn’t finish until after midnight!

The house band was outstanding and put in a tremendous number of hours, as did the hosts, volunteers, sound man, etc. I’ll especially put in a good word for teenage fiddlers Ridge Roberts and Grace Partridge. Speaking of young artists, Jack Phillips played steel guitar for his own set, plus a set sponsored by the Heart of Texas, and even played fiddle a little.

Many high quality singers showed up, none of whom were advertised going in. Gene Watson was the highest profile of all, but there were many quality country singers. There was a western swing dance Saturday night and a church service Sunday morning.

The majority of the steel players focused on country and western swing, but a few ventured out a bit. Rose Sinclair plays jazz on a non-pedal console steel. Eddie Ortego played dobro. A trio of steel players from Nashville (Russ Pahl, Eddy Dunlap, and Bruce Bouton) brought some modern flair. Russ Pahl especially did some different things. He brought his own backing tracks, rather than using the house band, since he did a bunch of songs that most wouldn’t know. He even covered Daft Punk.

In short, this festival turned out to be a gold mine of quality music for four days straight. I strongly recommend this event and look forward to attending again next year.

Gene Watson and the Farewell Party Band

Yesterday was my first time to attend Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion. My feet are still hurting from standing all day, but the music was worth it. The Luck Reunion is a hard ticket, but I was able to buy a ticket last year. They rescheduled a day later due to weather and I couldn’t attend, but they gave the option of transferring the ticket to this year’s event, so that’s what I did.

There are many small stages at Luck, but good luck getting into them. 2,000 fans doesn’t sound that overwhelming, until you consider that the chapel stage has a capacity of 49. The saloon stage has a capacity of 150, but that includes the balcony, reserved for VIP.

Drinks were free and restrooms were plentiful. I had a very enjoyable green chile cheeseburger for lunch. Crowds were generally very well behaved. Many of the artists brought out special guests to collaborate. The Texas Gentlemen at the barn stage brought out special guests for nearly every song.

I spent most of my time at the main stage. It was super crowded, too, but at least I could find a place, however far back. Big names included Old Crow Medicine Show and Tyler Childers and of course, the main event, Willie Nelson, who opened his show with Kermit the Frog.

February 19, 2024 Country Cool

A lot of money is flowing in country music these days. Even artists who aren’t on the radio charts are selling out large venues and making obscene amounts of money. Reigning CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson has a new song entitled “Country Is Cool Again.” Indeed. Of course, we old folks remember Barbara Mandrell’s 1981 hit “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”

The good part is that there is more music available to the public now than at any time in history. You can pull up pretty much anything from any era in the history of recorded music, plus new music is flowing out from every streaming service at a rapid rate.

One negative is that ticket costs are skyrocketing. Fans who were there when times were thin have a harder time seeing many of their favorite artists now. The new crowds flooding the huge venues are often “there for the party” and some of them are more into shouting loud conversations over the music than the music itself.

Another is that opportunistic artists from other genres who don’t like or respect country music or country people are suddenly “going country” and leveraging their names in pop music to skip in line ahead of the country artists. Think of it another way. Farmers bought land, studied best practices, tilled the land, endured setbacks and hardships, and after decades of work, they are finally ready to harvest their hard-earned bumper crop. Then, snobby urbanites who hate farms and country people show up demanding to get first pick of the harvest “ahead of all of those backwards country people” in the name of “equity,” barking false claims that they “invented” farming, etc.

In other news, I’ve been very busy going to shows lately. I went to the vinyl release show for The Outlaw Firm at Gruene Hall and can recommend checking out that group. I went to the inaugural Bastrop, Texas Mardi Gras. They brought in three legitimate Cajun bands. I saw Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfe Tones from Ireland. Of course , Irish music has numerous ties to country music. Fiddlin’ John Carson was the first to sing country music on radio and arguably the first to sing on a country record, and his fiddle was originally from Ireland and passed down for generations. I saw Tessy Lou and the Shotgun Stars at Poodies Hilltop Roadhouse.

I attended several Ameripolitan showcases in Austin. This was my third year to attend Ameripolitan and this year’s event seemed a bit larger than the other years. My biggest takeaway from Ameripolitan was Steel Radio, an internet radio station dedicated to the steel guitar. They sponsored the Ameripolitan steel guitar showcase and have ambitious plans to sponsor more steel guitar events in Austin and beyond. The annual Texas Steel Guitar Association Jamboree is in early March, so there’s another opportunity to dive deep into this delightful and complex instrument.

If you’re looking for fiddle contests, I recommend Aarun Carter’s “Fiddle Contest Calendar.” There are many, many fiddle events across the country. Fiddle contests factor into country music history. The commonly accepted “first country music records” were fiddle instrumentals, so that’s as close to the roots of country music as it gets.

1/14/24 January Update

Welcome to 2024!

There is more recorded music freely available to you now than at any point in history, and there’s plenty of new music flowing in every week. Negativity and tribalism are very popular, but I’m too busy enjoying music to spend much effort on that. Believe it or not, it’s possible to enjoy more than one kind of music. It’s even possible to enjoy artists from both yesterday and today and the artists from both the mainstream and the independents.

It’s easy to get caught up in the biggest and newest artists and most talked about trends, but let’s also appreciate the older artists who are still out there performing for the love of the music. People like Tracy Pitcox and Dale Watson and so many more make great effort to celebrate the ones who paved the way.

Yesterday, I drove to Llano, Texas to see Louisiana legend Jo-El Sonnier, who was celebrating 50 years as a professional country musician and 65 years as a professional Cajun musician. The event was sponsored by the great Heart of Texas people from Brady. Sadly, Jo-El Sonnier passed away shortly after the concert. This is a reminder to see the legends when you have the chance, because you never know whether you will get another chance.

Speaking of Heart of Texas, another bit of news from that scene is the debut of the Malpass Brothers show on RFD-TV. They recently taped shows with many older artists, like Moe Bandy, Gene Watson, and Leroy Van Dyke.

I kicked off 2024 with a visit to my hometown in Alabama. I heard a couple of good bands in the Lafayette, Louisiana area. Terry Huval’s Jambalaya Cajun Band has been around since the 1970s. I saw them at Prejean’s restaurant. I also saw third-generation zydeco performer Gerard Delafose and the Zydeco Gators at the Vermillionville Historic Village.

I don’t have a lot of set plans in 2024. Most of the “current stars” are too expensive, but there are countless talented musicians playing for little or nothing.

I do hope to get to at least some of the Ameripolitan events in Austin in February. In March, I expect to catch some of the unofficial SXSW shows in Austin and some of the Heart of Texas events in Brady.

Last year, I attended (mostly free) events in Texas sponsored by the ACM, CMT, and Opry NextStage. I’ll be on the lookout for those again.

I will probably try CMA Fest in Nashville in June for at least the free afternoon shows. Most of my relatives live in Alabama and Tennessee, so I might as well time the visit to catch some music. The smaller stages are usually my favorites.

I will keep an eye on the calendar for bluegrass, western, old-time fiddle, and polka events in Texas.

I’ll close today’s post by mentioning a brand new bluegrass band from north Alabama called The Ancient Tones, which includes Sharon Bounds, Allen Tolbert, Adam Duke, Rick Rorex, Weston Stewart, and Todd Freeman. All of these folks have been picking a long time and have won various awards.

December 19, 2023 Christmas Songs On Early Country Charts

Merry Christmas!

Country singers have included Christmas songs in their repertoire throughout the history of country music. Vernon Dalhart and Fiddlin’ John Carson and others recorded Christmas songs in the 1920s, and in the case of Dalhart, even earlier. Be sure to check out Vernon Dalhart’s 1917 record, “Star of Bethlehem.” The country charts began in the mid 1940s, so let’s take a quick look at a few Christmas songs that impacted the first few years of country charts.

In 1945, Tex Ritter had a #2 country hit with “Christmas Carols by the Old Corral.”

In 1947-8, Gene Autry had a #4 country hit with a song he wrote, “Here Comes Santa Claus.” In 1949, Autry had a #1 country hit with “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and in 1950, a #4 country hit with “Frosty the Snow Man.”

In 1949, Ernest Tubb had a #1 country hit with “Blue Christmas” and a #7 country hit with “White Christmas.”

In 1949, Eddy Arnold had a #7 country hit with a song he co-wrote, “C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S.” He also had a #12 country hit in 1954 with “Christmas Can’t Be Far Away.”

In 1949, Homer and Jethro with June Carter had a #9 country hit with a funny version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

The late 1950s produced such Christmas hits by country stars as “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” though both of those were even bigger hits on the pop charts than the country charts.

December 1, 2023 December Update

There are way too many country awards shows. In the last month alone were the CMA awards, TCMA awards, BBMA awards, and IWMA awards and probably a few others. Grammy nominees were announced, too. Nothing against any of these, but I listen to music. I do not listen to little statues. I’ll go ahead and throw in some opinions, anyway, because I need something to discuss.

The biggest story of the CMA awards was the crowning of Lainey Wilson as entertainer of the year. In terms of qualifications, she’s tremendously behind, but the voters loved the view. What’s the real story here? I suspect that a contributing factor is that Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert both turned 40 this year. The industry has been trying to figure out how to establish a new female superstar ever since those two broke in. Another big story from the CMA awards is Jelly Roll’s win for new artist, along with having both the opening and closing performance slots. The Nashville industry has been trying to shoehorn rappers into country music for years and finally found one who seems to be well received, perhaps because he’s a Nashville local who shows familiarity with the country scene. Whatever you think of Lainey Wilson or Jelly Roll, it’s very obvious that both have enjoyed tremendous support from Nashville in 2023. If the goal of the industry was to elevate both of these artists into major stars this year, then it appears the efforts have been successful. Do country music fans actually consider a cover of “Fast Car” the best “country song” this year? Seriously?

Morgan Wallen has been the dominant artist on the country charts this year and took home multiple Billboard music awards after being curiously shut out at the CMAs. Zach Bryan won Billboard’s new artist award, after he also came home empty from the CMAs.

Leftist bias is obvious in the list of Grammy nominees. Although country music enjoyed a record breaking year on the charts, country was completely shut out of most all-genre awards categories. If you prefer good music to leftist interest groups, there’s not much to pull for. I can hear better local musicians playing for tips than most of this and without dishonest DEI pandering.

Although I created this blog largely because of my interest in music outside of the mainstream radio scene, I’ve pulled way back from attending indie country shows, because I got sick and tired of the negativity and egos in the “indie country scene.” I tired of the annoying indie fans and even indie artists themselves trashing Chris Stapleton and other artists on every social media platform. Even though I’m not closely related to Chris, I am a Stapleton and I don’t care to spend my time and money supporting an “indie scene” that attacks a Stapleton who never talks trash about anyone. I have seen approximately a thousand musical artists across all genres perform over the years. I will probably always be out here somewhere watching someone play music, no matter the genre, but I have very little interest in “artists” and “scenes” who attack anyone, much less a Stapleton.

I greatly enjoyed attending all ten days of Wurstfest in New Braunfels, said to be the largest polka event in the country. It was so refreshing to hear so many quality musicians, some of whom also play country, and not hear any trash talk whatsoever about any artist at any point during the ten days. The “country scene” could learn from that.

November 2, 2023 November Update

On the Facebook version of Robert’s Country Blog, I’m kicking off November with a flurry of November-themed songs. Since the beginning, my goal with this blog is to provide something a little different from other sites and this little series fits that goal. There are plenty of sites covering the mainstream and the major indies already.

I have been busy enjoying Oktoberfest season. In Texas and Oklahoma, country and western music sometimes shows up in the polka and Oktoberfest scenes in interesting ways. The Tulsa Oktoberfest has a couple of small stages that feature local acts, many of which are in the country/Red Dirt lane. The term “classic country” often brings to mind the 1950s-1970s, but what about the era before that? There were accordions and waltzes and even polkas in the country scene in the 1930s-1940s. One of the “polka” acts I heard in Tulsa covered Johnny Bond’s “Oklahoma Waltz.” When’s the last time you heard that one in country music? I enjoyed hearing a side of country and western music that has been largely forgotten within the typical country music scene.

I heard lots of yodeling. I heard autoharp. Country music has largely abandoned these things, but they can still be heard in western music and polka music.

I also tried to attend Red Steagall’s “Weatherford Goes Red” cowboy music event in Weatherford, Texas. It got rained out. A few of the performers like Devon Dawson and Kristyn Harris played a few songs informally in the picnic area, anyway, which I greatly appreciated.

The ten-day Wurstfest in New Braunfels begins tomorrow and is the unofficial conclusion of the Texas Oktoberfest season, which begins in September. So, what do these Oktoberfest bands do the rest of the year? Some of these musicians have regular full-time jobs outside of music. Some play polka year round. Some play in country bands and other types of music. At Wurstfest, I’ll almost certainly hear covers of Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash, as well as modern country artists.

The International Western Music Association has its annual festival in Albuquerque next week, too. It’s too bad that I can’t be two places at once. Even though I can’t make that event, I do suggest checking out all of the artists who are on the schedule there.

October 1, 2023 October Update

I didn’t watch any of the recent flurry of awards shows (ACM Honors, Americanafest, IBMA, People’s Choice, etc), but I’ll throw in a couple of thoughts.

The IBMA is looking for a new host city after next year’s event in Raleigh. Bluegrass Today published an article discussing this. I have no idea which cities will be in contention. I selfishly hope that it’s somewhere much closer to me than Raleigh.

The Grand Ole Opry-affiliated People’s Choice Awards reportedly didn’t air Morgan Wallen’s three wins. I’m not into Wallen’s music, but at least on the surface, it appears the People’s Choice Awards management are petty cowards. Why bother creating a new “People’s Choice Awards” show when you won’t show the guy who won the top prize? It’s asinine.

Oktoberfest season is in full gear. In Texas, it started rolling in September and will run through Wurstfest in November. Many of the bands that play Oktoberfest and polka events during this time play country music and other styles of music throughout the year. Keep in mind that the majority of the oldest dance halls in Texas were built by Germans and Czechs. Country bands and polka bands often play the same venues and festivals here. You can ask most any polka band here to cover a classic country or western swing song.

Mollie B and Squeezebox are among the best known current polka bands nationally. A couple of weeks ago, they announced plans to scale back touring significantly. They even pulled out of Wurstfest, where they play every year and had been tentatively scheduled for 7 nights. Here’s an interesting quote from Mollie: “We have felt a responsibility to keep the music going, in an age when this genre unfortunately continues to diminish.”

There are some very talented musicians in polka and related fields, and a large number of them also know their way around classic country. Some of these people sing in a half dozen or more languages and play over ten instruments. Mollie released an album of classic country covers in 2023. A couple of days ago, I saw Terry Cavanagh and Tal Spackman. One of Terry’s former students and band members, Catie Offerman, is a country artist who is gaining some traction in Nashville. I saw the fiddler Tal earlier this year in Marcy Grace’s country band. I’ve heard three Texas polka bands cover Merle Haggard in the last month, including The Tubameisters, a group with two tubas and two euphoniums.

Off The Grid is a good example of a Texas polka band that plays classic country, Latin, Cajun, and everything else. This will be their last full season touring, as the accordion player is moving and retiring. They’re the only band I’ve seen that plays a Zendrum. If you want to hear a band cover classic country music with this oddball instrument, then see Off The Grid while you have the chance.

This afternoon, I saw Italian harmonica player Fabrizio Poggi at Gruene Hall. He is in Texas for a brief visit. He last played Gruene Hall eight years ago. Although he is a blues musician, he has collaborated with musicians from various genres over the decades, including Jerry Jeff Walker.

September 7, 2023 September Update

A lot has happened since my last post in August, beginning with the “insta-stardom” of Oliver Anthony and following through with a record-breaking cluster of country songs atop the all-genre charts.

The good news is that the stranglehold of the mainstream terrestrial radio has been broken. The bad news is that the new “avenues of success” aren’t perfect, either. Political posturing by people on both sides fueled some of the “record breaking success stories” more than the quality of the actual music. Roughly half of the US population, including the majority of rural America, which country music is supposed to represent, oppose the urban leftists who control the media, government, and entertainment industry. This backlash fueled the record-breaking rise of Morgan Wallen, the record-breaking rise of Oliver Anthony, and chart toppers like Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town.” That is great for all of them, but I’m a bit uneasy about the precedent of political commentators creating “insta-stars” or otherwise impacting music charts.

Social media, streaming, and corporate booking of tours and festivals are also major factors now. The first two of these are very heavily skewed towards the young. There are some young guys selling out huge venues that don’t sound like much to me, while better and more deserving older artists are left behind.

The CMA awards nominees were announced this morning. Lainey Wilson and Jelly Roll appear to be the ones getting the big push this year – the “pimp spot,” if you will. This was also evident at CMA Fest this June. I wish both the best, but the industry mega-push for Lainey Wilson is a particularly interesting case study.

It appears that the country music industry has struggled to create true “A-list” female stars since Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert (and since Taylor Swift moved to pop). When I say true A-list, I mean able to consistently sell out large venues. For all of the years since, we’ve heard the persistent narrative that mainstream radio was to blame for this lack of success by female artists. However, we now see countless success stories by male artists who didn’t enjoy much radio support. If numerous guys can rise to arena draw level with little radio support, then what is stopping women from achieving the same?

Let’s look at some of the industry attempts to establish female superstars in recent years:

The industry handed Kacey Musgraves a whole bunch of undeserved awards. She promptly proceeded to alienate country fans with arrogance and shallow leftist rhetoric.

The industry tried pushing Maren Morris. She also takes every opportunity to attack country fans with leftist talking points du jour.

The industry tried pushing Mickey Guyton, who spent more effort calling country music racist and sexist than she did creating music or touring.

The industry tried pushing Kelsea Ballerini, who made a mockery of country music at the CMT award show.

Notice a pattern? Most country fans don’t want to pay to see spoiled brats who look down and punch down on country fans and talk trash about country people. This is common sense. If the people running a business openly hate the majority of their customers, then they deserve to go out of business.

Lainey Wilson is the latest woman being pushed as a rising superstar and to her credit, she has avoided any political posturing. Unsurprisingly, her push appears to be getting a much better reception from country fans Only time (and hopefully improved musical output) will tell how well her current push translates into selling out arenas.

The Ameripolitan Awards are returning to Austin from Memphis. Texas has made major waves lately in attracting awards shows. The ACM and CMT both moved their awards to Texas this year. The Grand Ole Opry sponsored a NextStage event during ACM week in Texas. Say what you will about awards and such, but that’s a whole lot of stuff shifting to Texas.

Sticker shock!!! It appears that more and more artists are playing larger and larger venues with higher and higher tickets. I’m too old for that crap. I might grudgingly pay more than I’d like for a very few exceptional artists or legends, but for the most part, I’m more than happy to spend much more of my time enjoying the robust tip jar circuit here in central Texas. Oktoberfest season is revving up here, too, and most Texas polka bands also know plenty of classic country and in some cases, the musicians are also in country bands. You’re more likely to hear autoharp and yodelling from them than from most “classic country” acts.

August 11, 2023 August Update

I haven’t been to many “name” concerts lately, but I’m fortunate to live in an area where there is a constant supply of good local acts.

Most often, I visit Gruene Hall and other venues in the New Braunfels area, but there are also several quality country venues in Austin. You can throw a dart at a calendar for Gruene Hall or the Broken Spoke and find good music.

I’ll especially put in a good word for Geezerfest, an annual charity event at Gruene Grove. This event has been around since 2009. This year, three dozen or so acts donated their time and talent over three days. The only downside is that it was 105 degrees. Next year’s Geezerfest will be in October. A lot of these acts have regular, full time jobs. They make music because they enjoy making music, not because it’s especially profitable.

The term “independent artist” means different things to different people. A lot of artists who are sold to the public as “independent” because they’re not on terrestrial radio have a management team and a promo team and a social media team and a merchandise team and a publishing deal and a distribution deal and in some cases are even signed to big labels. Terrestrial radio no longer has a stranglehold on the industry, because of the rise of streaming, social media, satellite radio, corporate booking of festivals, popular TV shows like Yellowstone, and other avenues to success. As I have said for years, we need to take a closer look at how artists are able to get placed on the curated streaming lists, etc. Some of the so-called “major independent” artists sound no better than the “mainstream” people and I’m not convinced that their “organic rise” is really all that organic.

I like good music, no matter whether it comes from the biggest names or the smallest. I enjoy Chris Stapleton’s music a lot, but I could take or leave most of the other big names, including the “major indie scene.”

In other news, Herb Alpert recently released a cover of “East Bound And Down” and will make his debut appearance on the Grand Ole Opry on August 18th. I’m reminded of Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass . Country music with brass instruments is its own vibe, but brass instruments have been used in country music for about as long as there has been a country music industry.

I’ve mentioned the Ozark Jubilee Digitization Project before, but I will brag on that project some more. They’re making it possible for everyone to see classic country music videos that haven’t been seen by the public for over sixty years. One thing that stood out to me from the recently uploaded episodes from 1960 is seeing Bill Anderson and Leroy Van Dyke, who are still performing in 2023.