If That Ain't Country

In this week's episode we're remembering an extremely popular regional act who almost broke the big time save for a few noble family decisions: Rem Wall & The Green Valley Boys. The host of a long-running TV show out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Rem Wall made some great honky tonk during his years with Glenn Records (Hammond, IN) and later Columbia. Poised to enjoy national success, Wall opted to s...

In this week's episode we're featuring Kentucky's Hugh X. Lewis' fourth album for Kapp Records: "Country Fever" (1968). A high school buddy and his songwriting chops lead him to Nashville in 1963 and after Paul Cohen signed him to Kapp, Lewis cut some super material through our feature album's release (which was his last for the label). Lewis' wrote or co-wrote nine of his fifteen charting singles...

In this week's episode we're featuring an album from the wonderful Ray Pillow: "Even When It's Bad It's Good!" (1967). From Lynchburg, Virginia and a Grand Ole Opry favourite for more than fifty years, Pillow's rich and smooth baritone drew comparisons to Dean Martin over his long career. And though he hailed from Virignia, folks often thought he was Texan for his love of country shuffles. Our fea...

In this week's episode we return to Canada for a fresh new release from Winnipeg's Sean Burns: "Lost Country" (2023). After some spitballing with guitar slinger and buddy Grant Siemens, Burns' came up with the idea of recording an album of all-Canadian, mostly unknown country covers and it came together quickly. Recorded and released in between gigging as part of Corb Lund's band, "Lost Country" i...

This week it's all gals! More than just Dolly, it's three hours of the very best female voices of traditional country, honky tonk, bluegrass and western swing and nothing but.

In this week's episode we're featuring an ultra-rare slice of 1969 honky tonk from a West Virginian stationed in West Germany after his service: "Most Requested Country Songs" by Pat Patterson. An enigmatic character to say the least, we let the music do the talking as Patterson's lilting yet attention-grabbing honky tonk vocal demands your time. Recorded Stateside with the best players money coul...

In this week's episode we're featuring an unreleased album for Capitol Records recorded from 1973 by Oklahoma's Stoney Edwards: "The Land Of The Giants". A collection of songs paying tribute to the giants of country music as the title suggests, the project was shelved in the face of the '73/'74 oil embargo and never revisited (at least by Capitol). That situation somewhat sums up Edwards' career -...

In this week's episode we're turning the spotlight on Texan Sonny Burns' second attempt at recording success during the years 1959-1968. What little information there is on Burns' career usually centres on his association with George Jones while at Starday Records: it's country music folklore that Burns famously missed (what turned out to be) a hit duet session with The Possum and stymied his own...

In this week's episode we're featuring an album from Austin-based outfit The Derailers from the peak of their power: "Full Western Dress" (1999). Riding thousands of road miles as well as the rise in the Americana and alt-country radio scene, The Derailers Bakersfield-infused honky tonk saw them gain strong regional and national success, though it never translated into widespread mainstream radio...

In this week's episode we're featuring a 1985 album for family band The Whites: "Whole New World". When family patriarch and lynchpin of the group Buck White decided to rejig his band, he needed only look across the dinner table for what became The Whites: daughters Sharon White on guitar and Cheryl on bass along with Buck himself on mandolin (and whatever else needed playing) made the nucleus for...

In this week's episode we're featuring a relatively rare lead vocal performance from Kentucky fiddleman Hoot Hester: "On The Swingin' Side". Stints with local Louisville-area bluegrass bands lead to work with legendary road bands including Jerry Reed and Mel Tillis' Statesiders, the latter an outfit which Hester relished his time in for it's professionalism. Fellow Statesider alum Paul Franklin ap...

In this week's episode we're featuring some unearthed West Coast country on the hitherto-unknown Howdy Glenn from our friends at Omnivore Recordings: "I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn" (2023). Glenn's place in country history is significant enough given that he was a black country singer based in California, but add to that fact that Howdy Glenn was a working firefighter for the...

WARNING: Country music nerdity alert! Well, no more than usual I suppose.. Anyway, this time it's something a little different! An unedited chat with music historian and author Scott B. Bomar ("The Bakersfield Sound", "The Byrds: 1964-1967") ahead of his latest project: "I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn" set for release on Omnivore Records on Jan. 20, 2023. Audio episode to follo...

In this week's episode we're featuring the music of one of The West Coast's most popular club draws in Missouri's Gene Davis. Davis tripped over to The Golden State in '53 and his go-getter attitude, tasty guitar licks and solid country vocal saw him hired almost immediately. Establishing himself and The Gene Davis Band (later The Star Routers) as one of the most in-demand acts on the booming LA &...

In this week's episode we're featuring a delightful compilation on Johnny Dollar (yes that was his real name), put out in 1982: "Down Life's Highway". Despite the vague album artwork and even more general liner notes, don't be fooled: this is a quality ten song collection of solid (mostly long forgotten) honky tonk gold. Every single song on this album was originally recorded for Chart Records bet...

In this week's episode we're featuring the one album release for dobro-maestro Randy Kohrs and his short-lived band The Reel Deal: "Now It's Empty" (2003). Produced by the Iowa native in his own Slack Key Studio, "Now It's Empty" was mostly recorded without overdubs using Royer, Vintage RCA and Fostex ribbon microphones to emulate a 1950s feel. With several originals fitting the mould beautifully,...

In this week's episode we're featuring the debut album for Beaumont's George Dearborne: "Old Brown Bottle" (2020). Make no mistake though, this is not Dearborne's first rodeo. Embedded in the area music scene during the 70s and 80s, Dearborne met a teenage Mark Chesnutt when he himself was only a few years older. Years later, Dearborne and his renowned band "Branded" would become the house act at...

In this week's episode we once again opened up the request lines to the members of our Traditional Country Tragics Facebook group for an all-request show! Requests came in from all over the USA and further afield, including cuts from Porter Wagoner, Faron Young, Slim Dusty, Daryle Singletary and plenty of curve balls. You made the playlist this week and I've got to say that you all have great tast...

In this week's episode we're showcasing the country roots of revered Memphis-born rocker Eddie Bond: digging into Bond's back catalogue for some forgotten hard country magic and featuring a self-released LP from the 70s in tandem - "Caution: Eddie Bond Music Is Contagious". Bond's early influences were undoubtedly country and his time with The Snearly Ranch Boys before forming his own band The Sto...

In this week's episode we're featuring a Conway Twitty album taken from smack dab in the middle of his hard country years (approx. 1965-1975): "Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie" (1969). Turning again to his go-to hardcore country lyricist Wayne Kemp (an old running mate from his days in Oklahoma City), Twitty scored his third consecutive Top 5 hit with the cheating-themed title track. A further ex...

In this week's episode we're featuring Melba Montgomery's complete Nugget Records sessions from the year 1962. Shortly after having spent almost four years touring with Roy Acuff's roadshow and marginally before being snapped up by United Artists, Melba was offered a chance to record for Lonzo & Oscar's newly-relocated Nugget Records in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. The result was ten sides which...

In this week's episode we're featuring a dynamite outlier from the late 60s career of Jim Ed Brown: "Bottle, Bottle" (1968). A lot of Brown's full-length albums of this era were on the slicker side and hard country gems were a little elusive. However, "Bottle, Bottle" is a full-on dive into the hard country side of the spectrum, dripping with the steel guitar of Pete Drake. Looking and sounding ty...

In this week's episode we're focusing on Allstar Records, a part song-poem part legitimate commercial label operating between 1953-1966 in Houston, Texas. Aside from his song-sharking tendencies, Allstar's founder Daniel James Mechura no doubt had his eyes set on recording hit country music, frequently hiring above-par backing musicians to back up Allstar's roster of artists. And that roster is al...

In this week's episode we're featuring an off-the-beaten-path slice of the neo-traditional era from Larry Boone: "One Way To Go" (1991). Boone's songwriting prowess was his main claim to fame, but with a solid country vocal, movie star good looks and three albums for Mercury and two for Columbia (including this one), Boone had his chances at solo stardom. It's mostly the era that's on the table th...

In this week's show we're featuring a later career album for longtime Opry staple and country music fixture Little Jimmy Dickens: "Country Music Hall Of Fame" (1984). The front cover indeed depicts the moment Dickens was inducted to the Hall Of Fame after four years of nominations; a plaque tucked under his arm while being greeted on stage by Barbara Mandrell and trying not to shed a tear. For a m...