The 'King of Country' is dead, long live ...

George Jones was all over the place when I was growing up.  My mother -- a huge fan -- had a decent selection of country music albums in our house ... Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings before they grew their hair out and became outlaws, Tammy Wynette singing about "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," Hank Snow, Porter Wagoner with a young lady named Dolly Parton, on and on.

George Jones

Among all those albums, there was George Jones staring out with his crew cut hair style.  If it wasn't my mother listening to him on a regular basis, it would be some other relation, you could hear him on the radio on a daily basis.


While Elvis was the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," George Jones was the king of country.  You'd be hard-pressed to find many people who would dispute that.

I paid tribute to George last June in another blog of mine when the news broke that he was in poor health and had to cancel some shows.  I wished him well, hoping he could recover and go on.  Less than a year later, we're mourning the news today of his death at 81.  An official cause has yet to be determined, but he had been hospitalized since April 18 at a Nashville hospital with fever and irregular blood pressure.

The country music world and its fans are deeply saddened.  A long-reigning king -- honored by other country superstars as such -- is gone.  Who's gonna fill that possum's shoes?

George didn't just sing country songs, he lived them.  He was notorious when it came to his drinking.  A legendary story out of that habit had to do with an ex-wife who grew tired of his boozing, to the point that she hid the keys to every vehicle they had so he couldn't go to the liquor store several miles away.  But she forgot about the keys to one thing -- a riding lawn mower.  It took him a few hours to do it, but George took those keys and drove that mower at a top speed of four miles an hour to get what he was after.

In later years, he didn't speak of that time with pride.  He knew it was wrong, but he also knew you can't change history.

He never did stop pouring his heart out in a country song.

The "King" is dead.  And still, again, we're left to ask ourselves who's gonna fill those shoes the way George Jones did?  They're mighty big shoes to fill.

Southern-fried Tuneage: The South does it again

I was raised on country music.  I was raised on it enough that I could work in my late teens as a country DJ at a popular AM radio station, in a prime weekday afternoon drive time slot, and I knew what I was talking about.  I think I appreciate the songs I grew up with and used to play back then a lot more these days.

I appreciate the sounds of a steel guitar and some good fiddle playing and some fine guitar pickin'.  I don't go so much for the "cheatin' songs," although they tell true-life stories that many people can relate to, which is part of their appeal.

That hat you see me wearing off to the right side of this blog page in my profile ... well, that's not just for show.  That's a part of my attitude as well.  When my mood's right, I'll pull out one of my hats -- felt or straw -- that I asked to be styled as much as possible like ones that Charlie Daniels would wear himself, and I'll place it on my head with pride.

Deep down, I'm a long-haired country boy, one who loves country music for its genuine, down-to-earth qualities.  I also love hearing it when I'm in a more rowdy mood and I feel like having a good time.

I love those country songs that are about the South, or make you think about the South one way or another.  They're songs with that Southern attitude, that Southern flair.

They're states of mind.

Coming Back With Grammys Week: The country side

There are plenty of Grammy winners to highlight this week ... too many to list here, in fact.  But I'll do the best I can, all while providing a bit of variety.

It's all part of that "crossover" thing.

Today, it's a look at the winners from the country side.  There's Carrie Underwood's best country solo performance for "Blown Away" along with its writers Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins winning for best song, the Zac Brown Band with the best country album for "Uncaged," Little Big Town taking country duo/group performance honors with "Pontoon," and the Steep Canyon Rangers with the top bluegrass album for "Nobody Knows You."

It's a cause for celebration, country style.

 

 

What it's like to look at your own "twin"

I started a new job this week.  On the second day of on-the-job training, a comparison was made by a co-worker that involved me, a comparison that I've heard so many times that I could say, "If I had $10,000 for every time I heard that, I might not have to work a full-time job."

What is it that I keep hearing, over and over?

"You know who you look like?"  As soon as I hear that question, I know the answer without the other person needing to say anything, but I play along with a big smile before hearing those two familiar words:  "Kenny Rogers."

Kenny Rogers in his First Edition days.

I heard it at my 25-year high school reunion.  I was voted then as the "person who's changed the most."  I grew my hair out very long for the occasion, and wore a western-style outfit with a black vest, white collarless shirt, black pants and boots.  As I walked up to get the award, someone shouted out, "I was wondering who invited Kenny Rogers!"

I've heard it at other jobs, where "Kenny Rogers" became a nickname of mine.  I've heard it at my favorite neighborhood grocery store, where the employees get to see the regular customers enough to be able to give them a nickname like one of them did with me ... "Kenny Rogers."  During a "look-alike" week on Facebook, I changed my profile picture to one of Kenny Rogers.  It even fooled a niece of mine, who asked if I'd changed my beard.

But as I told the most recent co-worker to notice the resemblance on Tuesday, there is one video out there on YouTube of Kenny Rogers and the First Edition that made me drop my jaw in amazement the first time I watched it.  It looked exactly like me from around the time I was in my mid-20s.  Everything was the same:  the hair and the way it was parted, the beard and mustache, the glasses, the smile, the way he moved his mouth when he sang, the way he moved his head.

It was ... uncanny ... eerie ... like looking at a long-lost identical twin.

Want to know exactly what I looked like in my mid-20s?  It's all there.

Rascal Flatts comes out "changed"

I don't listen to country music radio as much as I used to.  If I listen to one format the most when it comes to music radio, it's contemporary Christian, especially on the K-Love network.

In the last couple of days, I heard a song on K-Love that I hadn't heard before.  It sounded an awful lot like a country song, performed by a country band that's gotten a fair amount of exposure.  The band is Rascal Flatts.  When you hear the version of Tom Cochrane's "Life Is A Highway" on the Pixar film "Cars," that's Rascal Flatts playing it.

Rascal Flatts has a great country sound, and it's the unique voice of Gary LeVox that helps to give the band a signature sound.  That was the first thing that hit me the other day when I heard the particular song that caught my ear on K-Love, and K-Love doesn't often announce the artists' names and song titles.  The second thing that hit me when I first heard it was the sound of a steel guitar.

You don't hear steel guitars too often on contemporary Christian radio.

Early this morning, I heard the song again for only the second time.  That time, they announced the song title and artist.  In fact, the announcers raved about the song.

What I was hearing was confirmed.  The group was Rascal Flatts.  The song is called "Changed."

It's a standout, in a variety of ways.  It's quite a "crossover."

When the music comes alive: At Folsom Prison

There are a lot of good, live country music albums.  But are there any out there that could possibly top Johnny Cash's "At Folsom Prison" from his January 13, 1968, show at California's Folsom State Prison?

If there are, I'd like to know about them.

Columbia Records didn't see fit to invest much money into the project, which was a groundbreaking effort at the time.  But it turned into a hit, reaching the top of the country chart and the top 15 on the national album chart.  All these years later, it's gone triple platinum.

It was an album that turned Cash's career around.  With June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers along to back him up -- and with that Johnny Cash bite -- it was hard to go wrong with this one.

Kickin' Tail and Takin' Names Week: Steve Earle

This is a week for music so powerful, it has a kind of force that can knock you out just thinking about it.  It's relentless.  It can stick with you for a lifetime.

There've been many country music songs and artists who've fit that description, and the lives some of those musicians have led have fit that mold.  Steve Earle fits the mold pretty easily.  He's been married several times, served some time behind bars, and when it comes to being outspoken ... well, Steve Earle isn't one to mince words.  He'll tell you what's on his mind, in great detail.  He believes what he says, says what he believes.

That makes for quite the activist.

Steve Earle's songs reflect that attitude of his.  Whether it's doing someone else's songs, like The Chambers Brothers' powerful "Time Has Come Today," or one of his own (my favorite of his being "Copperhead Road"), it's music that has quite a bite to it.

Kind of like the bite of a copperhead.

Let's have a birthday jam: A week-ending potpourri

There's Deep Purple's Roger Glover.  There's Billy Idol.  There's country singer Mindy McCready.  There's Broadway/television/Princess Bride star Mandy Patinkin.  There's soul singer June Pointer of The Pointer Sisters.

There are way too many people celebrating birthdays today to choose just one for a week-ending birthday jam.  So why not go with a bit from all of them?

It's quite a mixture.  But that's what this blog is supposed to be about -- a musical potpourri.

Celebrate!

Tune up that air guitar: Country style

Air guitar isn't meant for just rock 'n' roll.  Anyone who can play air guitar can play country air guitar too.  I mean, doesn't it just basically take an appreciation for the pickin' that you hear and the right mood?

Come on, air guitarists, put some drive in that country air guitar!  Do some pickin' AND some grinnin'!

Yeeeeehhhaaaaaw!!!

In a Marty Robbins state of mind

Thoughts of Arizona have been crossing my mind today.  The desert, the heat, the dry air, the cacti.  That western touch.

I've been doing a bit of research on the Glendale area in particular.  Which brings me around to the music of Glendale native Marty Robbins.

I grew up on Marty's music.  He was all class.  He put the "western" in country-western music, with so many cowboy songs and gunfighter ballads.

He may have sung a lot about Texas, particularly El Paso.  But he was an Arizona guy, through and through.  And that voice of his ... well, that was like pure gold.

Guessing what's special coming up next week (Part 1 of 5)

Let's play a little game here.  I've got something pretty special coming up next week here at The Crossroads Music Channel, and I'd like to see if anyone can pick up on any clues that I'll be providing here in leading up to a fun week next week.

I'll be featuring videos here this week -- just one per day, starting today -- that will all have something in common between them, but they feature different music legends performing the songs.  Can anyone guess what's in common that provides a clue as to a special feature I'll have here next week?

Let's find out.  Pay attention, now, and maybe do a bit of "digging."

The first clue comes from the incomparable Ray Charles.

Charlie Daniels and Travis Tritt together ... what a show!

Out of all the concerts I've had the chance to see in my lifetime, the greatest number of them by far have been shows put on by country music artists.  That's mostly because covering country music concerts at the annual state fair used to be a part of my job, and it got me right up to the stage to see many big names.  One of the greatest, most rocking concerts I've ever had the chance to witness came when Charlie Daniels played a show one night with Travis Tritt.

Between Charlie's Southern rocking style and Travis Tritt's ability to wail away himself, they had those fairgrounds rocking.  In fact, they played so long and so loud together that I had to finally leave just a touch before I wanted to in order to get back to the office with a morning newspaper deadline to try and meet.  As I walked quickly through the fairgrounds, you could hear the music still playing from far away.

Me along with my mother, Betty, and my sister, Lynda Kay.  And my first Charlie Daniels hat.

Charlie's always been a style setter for me.  I started wearing cowboy hats styled like his back in my late high school days.  In fact, I'll let you see it right here.  It's styled just like something Charlie Daniels would wear.  And if you take the time to look at the photo of me that goes along with my profile, you'll see me wearing a brown felt hat.  It was shaped by a true craftsman.  When he asked me how I wanted it styled, I said just two words:  "Charlie Daniels."  That's all it took.  The hat craftsman went right to work.

Individually, Charlie Daniels and Travis Tritt have a style all their own.  Together, in that one night when I got to hear them rock at a state fair, they can be pure dynamite.

Three generations of Hanks

Okay, folks, I'm crossing over to country for a day as I reminisce this week about musicians and groups who had some of the biggest early influences on my listening tastes.

For country, it has to be Hank Williams.  But why stop there?  Why not carry that "famly tradition" all the way through with Hank Williams Jr., and Hank Williams III.

Listening to Hank Sr., became a way of life for me going back about as far as it did for me listening to The Beatles.  It involved listening to his greatest hits, the kind of stuff that took country music into a different world.

And then Hank Jr., was pushed into trying to be a "clone" to his daddy after Hank Sr., passed on, only to find that it just wasn't his style.  I spent a few rowdy times of my own in later years listening to Bocephus too, telling how country boys survive.

Just to keep those rowdy Williams ways going, there's been the "country punk" of Hank III.  He's taken that rowdy pioneering spirit of his daddy and his daddy's daddy and blazed some trails himself.

I like musical trailblazing.