If That Ain't Country

In this week's episode, we're featuring the fourth album from the charming Teea Goans: "Swing, Shuffle & Sway" (2017). Although Goans grew up in a yellow singlewide on her grandmother's property in the itty bitty town of Lowry City, Missouri, she moved to Nashville with her high school sweetheart (now husband) and has been on the rise ever since. Her personal Facebook page is crammed with "Sup...

In this week's episode, we're featuring "Mississippi You're On My Mind" (1975), a Capitol Records compilation of Stoney Edwards' early work on that label. The music is country gold, but Stoney's story almost beggars belief. Born in Oklahoma, he moved his family out to San Francisco where he had a horrific workplace accident - trapped in a sealed tank, he ran out of oxygen and inhaled severe amount...

Do you remember the days when you could call into your local radio station and make a request, or even a dedication? Well, in this week's episode, we're remembering the roots of radio with a good old fashioned all-request show. You told us what you wanted to hear, and we've got it for you this week: including listener requests from Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Alberta, New Zealand, Australia, Norther...

When George Jones asked the musical question, "who's gonna fill their shoes?", very often the answer involved folks like Daryle Singletary. But when Daryle passed away, it left some hard questions - who's gonna fill his shoes? As such, this week's episode is entitled: the "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes: Daryle Singletary" edition - we're here to prove traditional country is in good and capable hand...

This week we lost one of this generation's purest traditional country's voices. At the age of only 46, Daryle Singletary passed away, leaving behind his wife and four kids. Musically, he was a hardline traditionalist who's message and baritone has resonated amongst fans since his 1995 major label debut. Gone too soon, and a personal hero of mine - this was a difficult episode to make. It felt to m...

In this episode, we're featuring the sophomore album from Clint Black: "Put Yourself In My Shoes" (1990). Black's first album, "Killin' Time" (1989) - with 28 weeks at #1 and with five #1 singles - was always going to be a hard act to follow. But having written or co-written all the songs on this release with main collaborator and guitarist Hayden Nicholas, Clint Black borrows from several styles...

In this episode, we're featuring what many consider one of the best releases from hard country singer Darrell McCall: "Lily Dale" (1977). The most successful McCall album since his 1963 solo debut, his traditional country sound seemed to appeal to country fans around the time the Outlaw movement was catching on - and sure enough, on the title track McCall is joined by Texas' favourite son Willie N...

In this episode, we're featuring the debut album from Saint Louis' Clint Hasse: "Inside Nashville" (2017). With a voice that brings to mind Texas greats like Tommy Hooker for tone and Ernest Tubb for warmth, this album is 100% original. 13 new country music compositions, with styles ranging from western swing, slick 60s country-pop and Bakersfield twang to straight out honky tonk - this is an imme...

In this episode, we're featuring a classic example of the "Bakersfield Sound": Buck Owens & His Buckeroos' landmark "Together Again/My Heart Skips A Beat" (1964). Jam-packed with twangy telecasters, crying steel guitar and uncanny harmonies between Buck & right-hand-man Don Rich, we meet the Buckeroos right at the peak of their powers. Ignored largely by the Nashville establishment, Buck &...

In this episode, we're featuring a fabulous Conway Twitty compilation/sampler: "I'm So Used To Loving You" (1973). This is no ordinary sampler, however - it features 10 tracks from Conway's best and most country period (in my opinion) 1968-1973, all but one of which were written by Conway himself - and NONE of which were released as singles. Astoundingly, you feel like you've discovered buried tre...

In this episode, we're featuring the debut album for an often overlooked Mississippi country star, OB McClinton: "OB McClinton Country" (1971). As a black man who sang with shades of Hank Williams, he was dubious of his chances of success in the world of country music, so he turned his prodigious singing and writing talents to R&B music instead. He scored cuts from James Carr, Clarence Carter...

In this episode, we're featuring a good old-fashioned duet album from Rhonda Vincent & Daryle Singletary: "American Grandstand" (2017). These two have been friends since the mid-90s when they were both labelmates at Giant Records - and this album has been years in the making. Now that the timing is right, the result is sublime. Singletary's baritone takes on a surprisingly good harmony vocal r...