TO C E LE B R AT E HIS 80 T H B IRT HD AY.

TH E L EG E N DA RY G U I TAR IST TO URS T HE UK FO R T HE F IN AALL T IM E

PART OF COUNTRY MUSIC WEEK

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SUN 28 OCT
GLASGOW
KING’S THEATRE

TUES 30 OCT
MANCHESTER

V i n c e n t BRIDGEWATER HALL

T Robe rt SPONSOR
S UPPOR
A EG P R ES E N TS . C O. U K / A X S . C O M
 WELCOME

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Contributors Johnny Black, Lyndon Bolton, Garth
Cartwright, Dave Everley, Del Day, Megan Gnad,
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TO COUNTRY MUSIC
In his memoir It’s A Long Story, Willie Nelson writes, “My eyes are
closed, my prayers are aimed towards the heavens, but in my gut, I
don’t feel worthy of so much good fortune. I sing okay, I play okay,
and I know I can write a good song, but I still feel like I’ve been given
a whole lot more than I deserve.”
Typical Willie. He’s not the greatest when it comes to dissecting
his own talents (to be fair, who is?), so in this edition of Country
Music we try and get closer to the genius of Willie Nelson by asking
those who know him best: his superbly talented son Lukas, his able
producer, co-writer and confidante Buddy Cannon, his long-time
friend and brother-in-country Kris Kristofferson, song-supplier
(and golfing parter!) Tony Joe White, his loyal band member Mickey
Raphael, and even – from the archives – Waylon Jennings.
Willie Nelson may not “feel worthy” but just ask these guys.
They’ll tell you – and you’ll find no disagreement from us – that
Willie Nelson is about as deserving of legend status as anyone in the
business. Our big “hats off!” extravaganza to a man who epitomises
country music begins on page 20.
There’s loads more: we ask if country music has ventured too far
into pop territory for the genre to be meaningful anymore. Yep, why
not join that debate? We speak to a host of stars playing the UK in
upcoming festivals: Jesse Dayton, Kelly Willis, Brent Cobb, Dan
Tyminski and more, proving that – even in the ‘keeping it real’ world
of country – no two artists sound the same. And, we’re happy to offer
a deluxe albums reviews section, with 32 new and reissued albums
vying for your attention. Enjoy the issue.

Michael Leonard
Editor

The Professional
Publishers Association
Member

All content copyright Anthem Publishing Ltd 2018, all

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Get in touch
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Anthem Publishing Ltd. Country Music magazine
recognises all copyrights contained within the issue.
Where possible, we acknowledge the copyright holder. COUNTRY MUSIC 3
IN THIS ISSUE

AUGUST &
SEPTEMBER
2018

20
Willie
Nelson 82
Rhinestone Cowboys

38
Has
country
gone
too pop?

49
Summer
In The Country
INTERVIEWS Has Country Gone Too Pop? ......38 Cowboy Junkies ........................66
& FE ATURES Are some of the ‘country’ hits on the The Americana pioneers return with

Get in touch Willie Nelson ............................20

A salute to the genius of the country
radio even country anymore? Read both
sides of the debate – and join in!
superb new album All That Reckoning
Gretchen Peters ........................ 70
www.facebook.com/ legend from colleagues and family: Summer In The Country .............49 The award-winning Nashville songwriter
countrymusicmag Lukas Nelson, Buddy Cannon, Kris Your interview guide to the finest artists talks hits, heroes and inspiration
www.twitter.com/ Kristofferson, Tony Joe White and more... playing 2018’s festivals, featuring: Rhinestone Cowboys .................82
countrymusicmg PLUS! A Willie Nelson timeline – and the Jesse Dayton, Brent Cobb, Kelly Inside the star-studded new book
spotify:users: 10 essential Willie Nelson albums to add Willis, Dan Tyminski, Joshua showcasing the wildest Nudie suits, hats
countrymusicmagazine to your collection Hedley and Graham Nash and guitars in country history

4 COUNTRY MUSIC
 IN THIS ISSUE

70
Gretchen
Peters

76 66
Cowboy Junkies
Classic
Album
COUNTRY CHARLEY
PRIDE

114
Scotty
McCreery

108
Black Deer
Festival
Live

87
Reviews
REGULARS
The Roundup............................. 06
Dan + Shay tell Country Music about
their Kelly Clarkson duet, Buddy Emmons
is our Cult Hero, the Americana Awards
announce 2018 shortlist and much more
Hot Shots............................ 14, 16
Great new sounds from UK 50s
throwbacks The Ruen Brothers and
gutsy US songwriter Kendell Marvel
Country Milestones ................... 18
Birth of the Bristol Sessions, Randy
Travis goes nude shopping and more!
Subscribe ................................. 46
Classic Album ........................... 76
How 1966’s Country Charley Pride broke
the mould in Nashville
Back Issues .............................. 86
Country Life .............................114
What’s it like being Scotty McCreery? ....
REVIEWS
Albums ..................................... 87
Slices of country and Americana from
Ray Davies, Catherine McGrath, Dan +
Shay, Lori McKenna, Jim Lauderdale,
Lucero, Sugarland, Graham Nash, George
Jones and many more
Next Issue
Live Reviews........................... 108 on sale 14
Black Deer Festival with Jason Isbell,
Ashley Campbell, Iron & Wine and more
September
COUNTRY MUSIC 5
NEWS ★ EVENTS ★ ANNOUNCEMENTS
All the
country
that
matters

Dan + Shay
“Pumped”
by Kelly
Clarkson Duet
The duo’s third album features a
duet with the star, Keeping Score

D
an + Shay’s eponymous new album is riding
high, not only with the current hit single
Tequila, but also thanks to ballad Keeping
Score, featuring Kelly Clarkson. With its catchy
chorus and soaring vocals, the track seems destined
for ubiquity. Clarkson joins the duo, adding her
usual gusto on the poignant chorus: ‘I know I’m
only human / Don’t know how many sunsets I got
left / And I don’t want to ruin this moment by
wondering what comes next / I just want to love
you like it’s all I’m living for / Hold you close,
enjoy you more / And spend a little less time
keeping score.’
Dan + Shay reached out to Clarkson via
friends, but have been long-time followers of the
powerhouse singer since they can remember.
Shay Mooney tells Country Music: “We have
mutual friends, but we’ve always been fans of hers. When
we wrote the song we wanted a strong female voice on it,
and there’s no-one more iconic than Kelly – she has one of
the best voices in the world. I had done my vocals already
and Dan was able to fly out to LA to record her vocals.
Everyone was super-pumped to have her on it. We’ve hung
out with her quite a bit since then in Nashville, after the
CMT awards.
Dan Smyers adds: “Kelly has an amazing personal vibe and
such a bubbly personality that she’s
just a force of a woman, from her voice
to her overall presence. It will be a very
cool moment to sing that song live with
her some day.”
Dan + Shay is out now on Warner
Bros Nashville (read our review on page
Vincent Peters

Dan + Shay are back in the UK in 92). Country Music’s full interview with
January 2019 – you never know,
Dan + Shay follows in the next edition,
Clarkson may be joining them…
on sale 14 September.

6 COUNTRY MUSIC

Kris Kristofferson donated all
of the proceeds from his Dublin
show to the ISPCC and Childline
Kristofferson’s
Charity Run
The big-hearted veteran goes the extra mile…
H
ats off to Kris Kristofferson. Not
only did he play his Kenwood
House show in London on his
82nd birthday, but he then immediately
flew to Ireland to play six shows, the final of
which in Dublin was for the ISPCC and
Childline charities. All the shows were solo
performances. “There’s an honesty in the
Robert Walkley
sparseness,” he says. “It feels like direct
communication to the listener. I still have
more fun when I’m with the band, but being
alone is freer, somehow. It’s like being an
old blues guy, just completely stripped
away.” Kristofferson has a long affinity with
Ireland and his 2016 charity show in Dublin
raised an impressive €50,000.
ROUND UP
CULT
HEROES
BUDDY EMMONS
The Guru Of Pedal Steel
Pedal steel guitar is
one of the defining
signatures of country
and there’s no-one
talked of in more
hallowed tones than the
late Buddy Emmons.
Emmons (1937-2015) was a go-to figure in
country circles in both Nashville and LA for
years, and released his own breakthrough
album, Steel Guitar Jazz, in 1963. He also
toured with three seminal country singers –
Little Jimmy Dickens, Ernest Tubb, and Ray
Price – as well as the Everly Brothers.
Emmons was devoted to the art of steel
guitar from his youth: he learned on a
triple-neck Fender lap steel and ordered a
Bigsby steel when he was 15, undeterred
by a two-year waiting list. He quit school
at 16, earning his name with Little Jimmy
Dickens (as one of his Country Boys backing
band) and helped record noted instrumentals
Raisin’ The Dickens and Country Boy Bounce.
He then co-designed the first Sho-Bud pedal
steel with steel guitarist and Dobro player
Shot Jackson. He moved on to form his
own Emmons pedal steel company, joined
Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours, and then
Ray Price’s Cherokee Cowboys – a band
that nurtured future country stars. Trivia?
Emmons inherited the stage uniform of the
band’s former bass player, one Willie Nelson.
As that Steel Guitar Jazz title implies
Emmons was happy to push the instrument
per se as much as any one style of music. He
later declared: “I know people who would
never have known anything about steel
guitar if they hadn’t heard that album.”
The 2013 tribute album, The Big E: A
Salute To Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons,
featured Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell
and Willie Nelson.
COUNTRY MUSIC 7
ROUND UP

HALLOWED
GROUND 2018 AMERICANA AWARDS
Iconic locations
in country NOMINEES UNVEILED
THE TREND-MAKING AWARDS CEREMONY TAKES PLACE IN
SEPTEMBER, WITH JASON ISBELL, MARGO PRICE, BRANDI CARLILE
AND LEE ANN WOMACK ALL TIPPED FOR TRIUMPH

Nominees for the 2018 Americana Music Association’s Honors & Awards have been revealed,
with genre favourites Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, and Margo Price featuring prominently among
the candidates. Now in its 17th year, the awards gala takes place at the Ryman Auditorium in
Nashville on 12 September. The shortlists in each category are:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR All American Made by Margo Price;

Margo Price is up for
By The Way, I Forgive You by Brandi Carlile;
three awards at this
The Nashville Sound by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit;
BILLY BOB’S TEXAS Rifles & Rosary Beads by Mary Gauthier
year’s AMAs
When you next go to Forth Worth, Texas, a visit
to Billy Bob’s Texas – self-styled as ‘The World’s
Largest Honky Tonk’ – is a must. It opened
ARTIST OF THE YEAR Brandi Carlile; Jason Isbell; Margo
in 1981, founded by the unlikely pairing of a Price; John Prine
professional football player (Billy Bob Barnett)
and a former car salesman (Spencer Taylor). DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR I’m With Her; Jason Isbell & The
The business partners converted an abandoned 400 Unit; Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real;
100,000-sq-foot department store – fittingly, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
once the site of an open-air cattle barn – to a
place dedicated to country music, the best Texas
chowdowns and a host of Stetson-swinging fun. EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR Courtney Marie Andrews;
While performing there in 1983, Merle Haggard Tyler Childers; Anderson East; Lilly Hiatt
offered each member of his crowd of 5095 a
Canadian Club Whiskey with water chaser – the INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR Daniel Donato; Brittany
bill for the 40 gallons ($12,737.50) earned Haas; Jerry Pentecost; Molly Tuttle
Haggard a place in the Guinness Book Of World
Records as the purchaser of the biggest round
ever. Another record holder is (or was) the SONG OF THE YEAR
world’s largest belt buckle, there are free line A Little Pain by Margo Price; All The Trouble by Lee
dancing lessons (Thursdays) and you get your Ann Womack; If We Were Vampires by Jason Isbell &
photo taken at Billy’s Bob’s Wall of Fame, where The 400 Unit; The Joke by Brandi Carlile
everyone from Loretta Lynn to Blake Shelton has
been signing their handprints for decades.
It’s not all frivolous fun, though. A continuing
series of over 40 live albums called Live At Billy
Bob’s Texas (naturally) have been recorded
there, by the likes of Asleep At The Wheel, Wade

David McClister
Bowen, the Charlie Daniels Band, the late Merle
Alabama’s Jason Isbell and his
Haggard, Shooter Jennings, Willie Nelson, Billy
band The 400 Unit have three
Joe Shaver, Tanya Tucker and more. Surely that’s
nominations
enough reason to go, though it’s also sometimes
the venue of pro wrestling and can be seen in
numerous TV programmes and movies (Over the
Top starring Sylvester Stallone, anyone?). Better
stick with the music: Willie Nelson has held his
4th Of July Picnic there on a few occasions, and
The Country Music Association also awarded
Billy Bob’s its ‘Club Of The Year’ title three times.
Plan your visit with billybobstexas.com
Laura Partain

Brandi Carlile won Seattle’s City Mary Gaultier’s moving album

of Music Breakthrough Award in was co-written with US forces
2010 – but can she win an AMA? veterans and their families

8 COUNTRY MUSIC
 Academy Events present

Heartland Soul and Edge St Live by arrangement with Asgard present

STEVEkeEARLE
- the new album by Red Velvet
folk infused with blues
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(BBC Regional Radio)
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plus special guests

SAT 28 JULY 2018 BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE

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(Nova FM)

STEVEEARLE.COM

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ROUND UP
Top of
The Shops
Mason Ramsey, aka
‘Walmart Yodelling
Boy’, cuts debut single
I
n January 2018, Walmart
revealed its best-selling items
across all US states. No surprise
that anti-freeze was hot stuff in Alaska,
protein powder raised a sweat in
California, and Texans bought a lot of
big TV wall mounts for their Texas-
sized TVs. But Atlantic Records are
betting their shirts nationwide on the
superstore’s latest hot item, so-called
‘Walmart Yodel Boy’. Ok, he’s not
actually a Walmart product, but
Mason Ramsey went viral on YouTube
for his yodelling of Hank Williams’
Lovesick Blues in his local Walmart in
Golconda, Illinois. Ramsey has since
been on Ellen, appeared at the Grand
Old Opry and done more crazy stuff.
Now, Atlantic Records has only gone
and given him a record deal and
released his single Famous, produced
and written by Florida Georgia Line.
‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty cool to
be on TV / so all the folks back home
can see me,’ the lyrics go. But then the
tune turns into a little love song, about
how he really wants to be famous for
‘lovin’ you’. And for ‘another five
years’. Given that he’s only 12, we sure
hope Mason is singin’ about his mom…
Genuine country star in the making?
Or another poor kid whose 15 minutes
are nearly up? We wish Mason well.
Hank Williams will certainly be
smiling down on him – streams of the
original Lovesick Blues immediately
went up 2,500% on Spotify.
10 COUNTRY MUSIC
Major Alan Light’s new Cash biography
New
features unseen photos, as well
as handwritten notes and lyrics
Johnny
Cash
Biog
Coming
A stunning new
illustrated homage
to the Man In Black
A
major new work on
country’s most complex
figure will be published in
November. Johnny Cash: The Life
And Legacy Of The Man In Black by Alan Light traces
Cash’s life story in expansive detail, and presents a wealth of never-before-seen personal
photographs and memorabilia from the Cash family. The book also includes vignettes on
four sustaining themes of Cash’s life: his musical influences, his social justice advocacy, his
relationship with June Carter, and his religious beliefs. Light is a previous writer for
Rolling Stone, ex-editor-in-chief of Spin, and co-author of the memoir by Gregg Allman,
My Cross To Bear. This sumptuous 216-page portrait-size Cash biography will be published
by Smithsonian Books.
www.kellychristinephoto.com
John Peets
(L-R) Roger Miller, Eric Church,
Kacey Musgraves and Dolly Parton
All-Star Album Pays Tribute To
The King Of The Road
Roger Miller tribute set stars Kacey, Dolly and more
A
mid the politically-minded poets of album, due 31 August. The 31-track King Of
the 1960s, Roger Miller was always a The Road compilation was co-produced by
bit odd. His quirky hobo anthem the legendary artist’s son, singer-songwriter
King Of The Road may have been his big Dean Miller, and features a dazzling lineup.
crossover hit, but his other hits were stranger Tracks include Chug-a-Lug by Asleep At
still: My Uncle Used To Love Me But She The Wheel (featuring Huey Lewis), Kansas
Died, Chug-a-Lug, England Swings, Dang City Star by Kacey Musgraves, Oo De Lolly
Me and You Can’t Rollerskate In A Buffalo by Eric Church, Husbands And Wives by
Herd tell their own story… Jamey Johnson (featuring Emmylou
Even so, the cream of country music has Harris) and The Last Word In Lonesome Is
come together for a massive Miller tribute Me by Dolly Parton featuring Alison Krauss.
round up

Carrie
Underwood
Takes The
Long Road
The superstar joins a
formidable cast on the
festival bill of the summer

C
arrie Underwood will play The Long
Road festival in Leicestershire in
September. The seven-time Grammy
winner says, “I’m thrilled to be a part of this
exciting new festival that celebrates the heart
and soul of country music on a global stage!”
The festival takes place over the weekend of
7-9 September, just before Underwood
releases her long-awaited new album Cry

Randee St. Nicholas

Pretty on 14 September. Turn to page 49 for
more details of a very busy summer in Carrie Underwood headlines
a line-up that also includes The
country music in the UK.
Shires and Lee Ann Womack
www.thelongroad.com

Rodney Crowell’s Crowell has overcome

Bobby Bank/WireImage
health issues to record an

Quiet Comeback album of acoustic versions

of his best-loved songs

his finest moments,stripped

down to the bare bones…
Rodney Crowell has issued his 19th album,
Acoustic Classics, which vividly re-casts some of
his best-known songs and personal favourites with
stripped-down arrangements. Over the years,
Crowell himself may have remained an artist for
country aficionados, but he’s written 15 No. 1’s,
including Making Memories Of Us (a hit for Keith
Urban), Please Remember Me (for Tim McGraw),
Ain’t Living Long Like This (Waylon Jennings), and
Bob Seger’s pop hit Shame On The Moon. All are
re-recorded here, as well as songs from Crowell’s
solo albums, including Diamonds & Dirt – which
itself scored five No. 1 singles on the country chart.
The album comes after a health scare, initially
described as “cardiac symptoms”. Crowell told
Rolling Stone Country: it “was dysautonomia. With
me, it’s a thing where the parasympathetic and
sympathetic nervous system are at cross purposes
with each other and all kinds of stuff goes wrong.
But I’ve learned to live with it.
“I’m able to work. The easy way to get back into
this was to record an acoustic version of some of
my better-known songs. The interesting thing to me
about it is if I were to do that again, a week from
now, it would be an entirely different record.”

12 Country music
 E D G E ST L IVE PRE SE N TS

Kennedy Street present

IRELAND’S No.1 ENTERTAINER Graham Nash

NATHAN CARTER
AND HIS BAND · THE AUTUMN TOUR · 2018
An intimate evening of
songs and stories

JULY
20 GATESHEAD The Sage, Gateshead
21 LIVERPOOL Philharmonic
OUT
22 LONDON The Bridge Theatre SOLD
24 BEXHILL-ON-SEA De La Warr Pavilion
25 BRISTOL St George's
26 BIRMINGHAM Town Hall
28 PERTH Concert Hall
29 SALFORD The Lowry

+ SUPPORT FROM w w w. g r a ha m na s h. c o m
THE HALEY PRODUCED BY ESL & SERIOUS BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ASGARD

SISTERS
Follow us on Twitter @EdgeStr eetL i v e
For
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14 PRESTON Guild Hall
+ VERY SPECIAL GUESTS

THE HOUGHTON
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15 STEVENAGE Gordon Craig Theatre
16 KING’S LYNN Corn Exchange
19 NEW BRIGHTON Floral Pavilion
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WEAVERS Est. 1976
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Visit one of our

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 HOT SHOT ruen brothers

“We finally got to

Nashville and
immediately wrote
a song called
Motor City!”

o t
H hot
s
Jacob Blickenstaff

14 Country music
 RUEN BROTHERS HOT SHOT

RUEN BROTHERS Hail from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire

For fans of Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers
Words by Johnny Sharp

I
t had taken Henry and Rupert Stansall a lifetime to finally
book their plane tickets to Nashville, so an extra day or
two wasn’t going to make that much difference. But the
roundabout route the Lincolnshire siblings took to get there
ended up inspiring a song about a different city altogether.
“Our record company arranged for us to do some writing
in Nashville and we were super-excited – it was like a dream
for us,” says Rupert (27, near left), who along with Henry
(28), had been playing and writing vintage country, blues and
rock’n’roll songs in pubs and clubs since early childhood.
“But it was tornado season and the plane got diverted to
Detroit. We lost our luggage, the airport shut down for the
night, and we ended up in a Motel 6, which looked like the
place they chase the bad guys to in the movies and then have
a shootout. So we finally got to Nashville and immediately
wrote a song called Motor City!”
No pain, no gain, though, and the galloping piano-laced
boogie has turned out to be one of the highlights of The Ruen
Brothers’ newly-released debut album, All My Shades Of Blue.
A record immersed up to its bolo tie in classic Americana,
the album was first conceived in rainy UK bedsits and grimy
pub and club gigs, but it came to full, technicolour fruition
once the boys upped sticks to the US four years ago and
hooked up with legendary producer Rick Rubin. The erstwhile
Johnny Cash collaborator heard the band’s early demos
and envisaged the pair as “like a modern Everly Brothers
produced by Phil Spector”, but the album ended up being
considerably more diverse. Most striking initially is Henry
Stansall’s highly emotive, Orbison-esque vocal on songs
such as the title track, and the wistful Western yearning of
Summer Sun. But when he harmonises with his brother on
their Everly-esque cover of Hank Cochran’s Make The World
Go Away (previously popularised by Eddy Arnold and Elvis),
it’s just as captivating. Then on feistier numbers such as
Aces and Walk Like A Man, the pair demonstrate a rockabilly
swagger shaped by a childhood raised on Sun records
compilations and guitar players such as Chet Atkins and
Billy Byrd (“The first album I became obsessed with was a
compilation from 1962 called Tennessee Guitar,” says lead
six-stringer Rupert).
All of which were further inspired by finally touching down
in the capital of country music.
“When we finally got to Nashville, we did the whole tourist
thing – the Johnny Cash Museum, the Hall of Fame, a tour of
RCA Studio B – and then we got to record in the Roy Orbison
Building,” Henry recalls. “It was an
amazing experience.”
The Big O would surely approve of the
results.
The Ruen Brothers’ All My Shades Of
Blue is out now via Ramseur Records

COUNTRY MUSIC 15
HOT SHOT KENDELL MARVEL
Hotot
sh
KENDELL MARVEL
Hails from Illinois (now based in Nashville)
For fans of Chris Stapleton, Merle Haggard
Words by Mike Stephens
C
all it the ‘Chris Stapleton effect’ if you
like, but Kendell Marvel is delighted
“old guys like me” are getting a hearing.
47-year-old Marvel deserves every minute:
his Lowdown & Lonesome is one of the finest
debut albums you’ll likely hear in 2018, and
a rapturous reception supporting Brothers
Osborne on their recent UK tour suggests
he’s here to stay.
In the past, Marvel’s written hits for
George Strait, Blake Shelton, Jake Owen and
Stapleton himself, but he says, “It was time
to do things for myself. There’s a lot going on
since Chris Stapleton blew up. Guys like Cody
Jinks, Whitey Morgan… independent artists
there aren’t young, good-looking guys, but
they do have something to say.” The Marvel/
Stapleton comparison is fair – Kendell has
three co-writes on Stapleton’s own From A
Room... volumes and, together, he says they
have written “around 60 songs.”
16 COUNTRY MUSIC
But Lowdown & Lonesome is its own beast
– an enticing blend of old-school country
balladeering and sizzling rock: “If I had
to describe my record, I’d say it’s ZZ Top
meets Merle Haggard. I’ve got Audley Freed
on guitar, he used to play with The Black
Crowes. And Cowboy Eddie Long, my steel
guitar player, plays with Jamey Johnson and
played with Hank [Williams] Jr for years, so
he’s as country as it gets. Mesh the styles
together and you have something cool.
“It’s been a learning experience. I’m used
to cutting demos – five songs in three hours
– and sending ’em to everyone. Making your
own record is different. It’s more fun… and
it’s a hell of a lot more expensive!”
The only downside to Marvel’s blossoming
career is less time to host his cool-as-hell
Honky Tonk Experience nights at Nashville’s
famed Exit/In bar. “We just invite friends
to come and play. I never completely know
if they’re going to show up. First show,
we had Jamey Johnson, Alison Krauss and
Randy Houser. Brothers Osborne and Foo
Fighters have sat in with us. No one sings
their own songs though, they have to sing a
classic, be it Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Hank
Williams... whoever. A few months back, I
was in the middle of singing [Willie Nelson’s]
Whiskey River and my daughter comes up
and whispers: ‘Lukas Nelson’s here…’ Well
tell him to get his ass up here and let’s sing
together! And we did. Do I know every classic
country song? Well, I guess I know half of
everything (laughs). It can be sloppy, but it’s
good sloppy.”
Other folk’s songs, his own songs...
marvellous indeed.
Kendell Marvel’s debut
album Lowdown &
Lonesome is out now
via Snakefarm Records
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ROUND UP

12 JULY
2005 A new

MILESTONES
A look back at summers
past in the world of country,
where landmark recording
sessions vie for headlines
with Tim ’n’ Faith dolls...
THE ‘BRISTOL
SESSIONS’ BEGIN
IN TENNESSEE
J U LY 2 4 , 1 9 2 7
Ninety one years ago, an
advertisement in The Herald
Courier newspaper of Bristol,
Tennessee, invited local
musicians to attend recording
sessions supervised by Victor
Talking Machine record
Willie Nelson
album,
Countryman,
is released.
The album is a
collection of
reggae covers,
available with two 16 JULY
alternative front 2012 Kitty Wells dies aged 92 of
covers. One features a
marijuana leaf, while
a stroke, in Madison,
Tennessee. She was the first
the other – because of female country singer to top the
pressure from Walmart country charts with her 1952
– features a palm tree. hit It Wasn’t God Who Made
Honky Tonk Angels.
30 JULY
1986 It is reported that RCA has dropped
John Denver because of his new single,
entitled Let Us Begin (What Are We Making
Weapons For?) – the label had recently been
bought by General Electric, one of the world’s
largest defence contractors…

Andrew Southam
producer Ralph Peer
Now known as ‘The Bristol Sessions’,
Peer’s 12 days of auditions were a
defining moment in the history of
country music. This was a time when 28 JULY
virtually any room could serve as a 2014 Toby Keith tops the newly-published
studio if portable recording gear was Forbes magazine list of country music’s top-paid
installed, so Peer and two engineers artists for 2014 with estimated earnings of $65m.
set up in the Taylor-Christian Hat
Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and
Company warehouse on Bristol’s
State Street, and set about recording Luke Bryan make up the rest of the Top 5.
the dozens of musicians who came
along by locating them in front of his
state-of-the-art Western Electric
double-button carbon microphone,
and encouraging them to sing. The 2 AUGUST
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

sessions resulted in 76 songs by 19 1964 After a thorough search by

individual performers or groups. several parties, including Ernest Tubb
These were the days when ‘hillbilly’
and Marty Robbins, the body of the
artists reveled in such names as Red
Snodgrass And The West Virginia singer Jim Reeves is found in the
Coon Hunters or Ernest Phillips And wreckage of his crashed plane near
His Holiness Quartet, but Peer’s most Brentwood, Tennessee.
extraordinary finds were Jimmie
Rodgers – later revered as ‘The
Father Of Country Music’ – and The
Carter Family – now considered to
have been the most influential group 11 AUGUST
in country music history. 2011 Toy makers Mattel
As well as those two cornerstones launch new Barbie dolls,
of the genre, Peer also uncovered based on Faith Hill and
Ernest V Stoneman, Blind Alfred Reed, Tim McGraw.
Henry Whittier and several more
artists who went on to achieve huge
reputations.
Today, those 12 days in Bristol are
widely and justifiably dubbed ‘The Big
Bang of Country Music Evolution.

18 COUNTRY MUSIC
 ROUND UP

16 JULY RANDY TRAVIS IS

1930 Jimmie Rodgers records Blue Yodel
Number 9 (aka Standin’ On The Corner) at
ARRESTED, NAKED
Hollywood Recording Studios, Los Angeles. AND DRUNK
The uncredited trumpet player on the session is AUG 7 2012
Louis Armstrong. The song will later be selected
When deeply troubled
as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 country star Randy Travis –
Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. known to have alcohol and
drug problems – tried to buy
a pack of cigarettes from
a convenience store near
Tioga, Texas, clerk Scott
Robinson was stunned to
see that the Better Class
18 JULY Of Losers hitmaker was
2015 After 13 weeks at No.1, Little Big Town’s completely stark naked.
Girl Crush makes country music history by Understandably, the clerk asked
breaking the record of weeks spent at the top of how Mr Travis intended to pay for
the Billboard Country Singles Chart by a group of the cigarettes, at which point the
star staggered out of the store. The
three or more members, surpassing record
clerk placed a 911 call, but while
holders The Browns’ 1959 song The Three Bells. police were on their way, another
call reported that a man had been
seen lying naked in nearby Clover
Road. By the time police arrived,
they found Travis spreadeagled
beside his crashed Pontiac Trans
26 JULY 22 JULY Am, reeking of alcohol, and when
2007 When she 1961 Having been seriously they attempted to arrest him he
lands at Nashville injured the previous month in a threatened to shoot and kill them.
International Airport, car crash outside Madison High Dashcam footage of a still naked
Mindy McCready is Travis being driven to the police
School in Nashville, Patsy Cline
station subsequently revealed him
arrested and charged is pushed onstage in a threatening the officer, claiming to
with violating her wheelchair at the Grand Ole know heads of Mafia families and
probation. McCready Opry to assure fans that she will boasting about the size of his penis.
was serving a soon be able to return to His representatives later
three-year probation performing live. described Travis’ behaviour on
after pleading guilty that night as “extremely altered”
because of the state of his mental
in 2004 to
health and the substances in his
fraudulently obtaining 19 JULY body. Unimpressed, a local court
OxyContin, the opioid 2010 Jimmy Buffett donates a boat sentenced Travis to two years’
painkiller, and for specially-designed to help the Alabama probation, fined him $2,000, and
resisting arrest. Unified Command in its efforts to rescue ordered him to spend 30 days at
oil-soaked wildlife along the Gulf Coast. an in-patient alcohol treatment
facility and complete 100 hours of
community service.

27 AUGUST 28 AUGUST 19 Aug 1978

1962 A firestorm
2001 Dixie
roars through TOP 5 COUNTRY
Chicks file a law
suit against Placerita Canyon in SINGLES IN THE USA
Sony Music Newhall, California, FROM BILLBOARD
Entertainment decimating virtually 1. Talking In Your Sleep Crystal Gayle
in New York’s all of Melody
Ranch, owned by 2. We Belong Together Susie Allanson
District Court,
singing cowboy 3. When I Stop Leaving (I’ll Be Gone) Charley Pride
alleging that
the company Gene Autry. 4. You Don’t Love Me Anymore Eddie Rabbitt
has defrauded Priceless Indian
5. Rake And Ramblin’ Man Don Williams
the trio of $4m relics and a
(£2.7m) in collection of rare
unpaid royalties guns – including a
SGranitz/WireImage

from their 20m set used Billy the

album sales. Kid – are destroyed.

COUNTRY MUSIC 19
willie nelson
Last Man
Words by Douglas McPherson, Teri Saccone, Garth Cartwright, Rob Hughes and Michael Leonard
Standing
The Genius of Willie Nelson
As Told By Buddy Cannon, LUKAS NELSON, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, TONY JOE WHITE,
THE LATE WAYLON JENNINGS, BOOKER T JONES and MICKEY RAPHAEL
W
illie Nelson turned 85
this year. And if you
thought his unique
voice, rich songwriting
history and ever-
surprising career moves make him unique
in country music, the fact that he still tours,
organises festivals, writes and releases new
albums pretty much every year, vapes and
plays golf (even if not all at the same time)
makes him pretty much one of a kind in all
music.
You could give Willie Nelson that
overused epithet Hardest Working Man in
Showbusiness… were it not that
‘showbusiness’ is not an apt word for Willie
Nelson. For one, he doesn’t like ‘business’.
And what he does is not a ‘show’. What
Willie Nelson does is just who he is. Or as
he himself puts it: “I’m still doing what I
want to do, and I suggest everybody do the
same thing.”
Nelson himself doesn’t care to talk about
his achievements or place in history – not
now he’s lived enough to have written
numerous autobiographies – so to get a
glimpse into the world and character of
Willie Nelson, Country Music talked to
those who know him best. Turn over for
insights from his current producer and
co-writer Buddy Cannon, his son Lukas
Nelson, songwriter and close friend Kris
Kristofferson, long-standing band member
Mickey Raphael and more. Even, from
beyond the grave (!), Waylon Jennings.
Plus, we offer our own pick of the absolutely
essential Willie Nelson albums that you
20 Country music
must own. It can be a tough choice, after
all: factor in compilations, and there are
over 100 Willie Nelson albums that you
could choose.
Among that catalogue, there is a rainbow
of country music. Given that he picked up a
guitar aged just five, Nelson is a true living
link between the days of Hank Williams and
the country stars of today. He performed
with Bob Wills. He’s had his songs cut by
Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Patsy Cline, Neil
Young, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton…
and the Pet Shop Boys. He’s made records
with Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Waylon
Jennings, Johnny Cash, Margo Price… and
Snoop Dogg. That, in itself, marks him out
as an artist like no other.
Right now, Willie Nelson is working on
another covers album, of songs made
famous by Frank Sinatra. It might be seen
as another typically-Willie curveball, but it
actually makes total sense. Back in the days
when the Nashville music machine didn’t
quite ‘get’ Willie Nelson – and, in truth, it
never has – Willie was recording his famed
album Shotgun Willie.
“In Nashville, I’d caught hell for my
idiosyncratic singing,” Nelson wrote in his
aptly-named most-recent memoir It’s A
Long Story. “For years, I’d heard producers
tell me that my phrasing was off.” But it was
the 1973 LP’s producer Jerry Wexler who
encouraged Nelson: “Your phrasing reminds
me of Ray Charles and Sinatra,” he told
him. Before then and now, ‘my way’ remains
a rule by which Willie Nelson lives his life.
Here’s to the first 85 years.
 willie nelson

Willie Nelson, 85: “I’m still

doing what I want to do,
and I suggest everybody
do the same thing.”
David McClister

Country music 21
willie nelson

“Everyone
wants to sing
with Willie”
Buddy Cannon has been Willie Nelson’s producer and co-writer for the past decade.
He shares the secrets of a unique working relationship with Douglas McPherson

minutes. Then I have four or five artists that
want Willie to sing on their record, so we’ll
record those parts while he’s in town.”
Returning to the studio every three
months or so, Cannon and Nelson have
produced a wide-ranging collection of
original material and covers over the past
decade, including the standards album Let’s
Face The Music And Dance, Summertime:
Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin and To All The
Girls... on which he duetted with a galaxy of
female stars from Dolly Parton to Mavis
Staples. “Everyone wants to sing with Willie,”
Rick Diamond/Getty Images
string of chart-toppers for Sammy Kershaw
and all of Kenny Chesney’s hits from 1997 up
to the present.
“Everybody always wants Willie to sing on
their records, so three, four or five times over
the years I would ask him to sing on a record
and he always said yes,” recalls Cannon,
whose production credits also include George
Jones, Chely Wright, Reba McEntire and
John Michael Montgomery.
It was not until he invited Nelson to sing
on Chesney’s version of Lucky Old Sun in
2007 that the two men really connected.

Cannon grins. “I sent Willie a rough mix and he said:

Willie also reunited with his old sparing
partner Merle Haggard for Django And
Jimmie, a tribute to the songs of Django
Buddy Cannon: Willie
Reinhardt and Jimmie Rodgers.
Nelson’s current co-writer,
producer and txting buddy
“That was an awesome experience,”
Cannon remembers. “It was amazing to see
the energy created between them.”
‘Man, this is the best I’ve ever heard this
song recorded. Let’s me and you find some
songs and go in and make a record together.’
I was just over the moon,” Cannon recalls. “I
told Kenny Chesney about it and he said:
‘Heck, I want to help!’ So Kenny and I
co-produced what in my mind is one of the

I
t’s Wednesday morning in
Nashville and Buddy Cannon has
just received a text message from
Willie Nelson. The 85-year-old singer is
playing in Tulsa tonight and coming to
Music City for a show on Friday. That
means he has tomorrow free to come into
the studio and fix a vocal on his
forthcoming album, My Way: A Tribute to
Frank Sinatra.
“He’ll be sleeping overnight on the bus so
he’ll be rested when he comes in at about
1pm,” says Cannon, who has been Nelson’s
producer of choice for the past 10 years.
“He sang a line the wrong way around. It’s
not really wrong, because I’ve heard Sinatra
sing it both ways, but it’s been aggravating
Willie and he wants to do it the way he’s
always heard it. So we’ll fix that in about five
“On Last Man Standing there are 11 songs
and we wrote every one by text. We’ve never
sat down together with a guitar.”
Working with Willie is a dream come true
for Cannon who has been a fan since Nelson
released his first records.
“The first time I ever saw Willie, I was
living in Chicago, playing in the honky tonks
up there in the late 1960s. I found out that
Willie was playing in one of those little joints
on the North side – a bar that held maybe
200 people. It was him, with Johnny Bush
playing the drums and Jimmy Day on the
steel guitar.”
Originally from Lexington, Tennessee,
Cannon moved to Nashville in the 1970s,
where he got a job playing bass in Bob
Luman’s band and became a staff songwriter
for Mel Tillis’ publishing company. He
progressed from supervising song demos to
becoming one of Nashville’s most successful
record producers in his own right, helming a
best records that I’ve ever been part of.”
The title of Nelson’s LP was Moment Of
Forever, a lesser-known gem from the Kris
Kristofferson songbook that first appeared
on the writer’s album of that name in 1995.
“I was watching the Grand Ole Opry live
on TV the Saturday after Johnny Cash
passed away,” says Cannon. “Kris walked on
stage and said: ‘I’m gonna do this song for
Johnny.’ It was the first time I heard
Moment Of Forever and it blew me away.
Kris had pitched it to Willie before, and for
some reason Willie didn’t think it fit him, but
when I played it for him he said: ‘Alright,
we’ll do it.’”
Also on the album is Cannon’s
composition When I Was Young And
Grandma Wasn’t Old.
“When we were getting ready to make the
record, I was reading one of Willie’s
biographies about how he and his sister
Bobbie were raised by their grandmother.
My background was very similar. I was
raised in a one-parent home. My mom and
dad divorced when I was three and we lived
with my grandmother.

22 Country music
 WILLIE NELSON

Willie with his trusty

Martin guitar named
‘Trigger’, an instrument
he’s had since 1969

Nashville Hall Of Fame

SNAPSHOT
1933 1954 1955 1957
Willie Hugh Nelson is Nelson plays session While working at a Nelson self-finances

OF SHOTGUN
born in Abbott, guitar for Dave Isbell radio station, a his first release, No
Texas, on 30 April. and the Mission City 20-year-old (not Place For Me.

WILLIE
His childhood Playboys in Houston, yet ‘Willie’) He gets an
nickname was Texas, a group which Nelson cuts intial run of
THE FIRST 85 YEARS OF WILLIE ‘Booger Red’ features long-time When I’ve 500 pressed
NELSON’S INCREDIBLE CAREER... because he picked friend and collaborator Sang My Last by Starday
his nose Johnny Bush Hillbilly Song Records

COUNTRY MUSIC 23
WILLIE NELSON
Clockwise: Buddy Cannon and Willie in the
studio, 2018; three artworks through the years
from the CMHOF’s 2018 ‘Outlaws & Armadillos’
exhibition (by Guy Juke, Kerry Awn and Jim
Franklin); Nelson live in 2017
“I had written that song for my grandma
15 or 20 years prior to that and never really
pitched it to anybody because I didn’t know
enough about any of the artists to know if it
applied to them. But after reading the book I
knew that was something Willie and I had in
common – that grandmother who was the
strong family centre. I emailed the song to
Willie and within half an hour he said: ‘I love
it. Let’s cut it.’
“It was like a dream come true, especially
to know we understood each other.”
And speaking of family, Nelson later cut
Little House On The Hill on his 2017 album
God’s Problem Child. The song was written
by Cannon’s mother, Lyndel Rhodes. “She
was 91 when she got her first song
“Willie still runs circles around me! He’s
still playing 14 shows a month…”
24 COUNTRY MUSIC
recorded… and it was by Willie Nelson!”
Cannon chortles.
KEEPING THE PASSION
One of the most significant aspects of
Cannon’s collaboration with Nelson is that it
has reignited Willie’s passion for
songwriting. “Sometimes the well goes dry,”
reflects Cannon, who’s own writing credits
include George Strait’s 2007 CMA Song Of
The Year, Give It Away. “People stop writing
for different reasons. You run out of things
to say. You get tired or distracted. But I think
Willie always wrote some. Sprinkled in that
time when he wasn’t writing a lot, he wrote
some magic songs like Back To Earth, which
is one of my favourite songs of his.”
Looking back, Cannon adds, “One time
when Willie was kind of down-and-out
financially, Glen Campbell signed him to a
songwriting deal. He gave Willie an advance
and Willie wrote one song in that whole year,
but the song was Bloody Mary Morning. I
would rather have one like that than 20
mediocre ones.”
Cannon and Nelson began writing together
on Willie’s 2012 album, Heroes, and their
output blossomed on 2014’s Band Of
Brothers when they co-wrote nine of the
album’s 14 songs.
“The first thing we wrote together was Roll
Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die. I woke
up one morning and had a text message
from Willie, in Hawaii. I immediately
recognised what he’d written as the chorus of
a song. Within 10 minutes I had composed a
verse and texted it back to him. He texted
back: ‘I love that. How about this to go with
it?’ The whole song was done in an hour.
 WILLIE NELSON

“If Willie doesn’t have

something to do,
he wants to make
something to do”

SONG FROM THE HEART

One of the most affecting songs on
Willie Nelson’s latest album, Last Man
Standing, is Something You Get
Through. The song was Buddy
Cannon’s idea, although it was based
on something Willie said.
“Every year Willie plays a New
Ebet Roberts/Redferns

Year’s Eve show at the Austin City

“That started the method that is the only
way we’ve ever written. On Last Man
Standing there are 11 songs and we wrote
every one by text messaging. We’ve never sat
down together with a guitar.”
With the lyrics all worked out by text,
Willie will typically hum the melody over the
phone to Cannon who will then record a
basic track with a band.
“I have a pretty good sense by now of his
range, so I’ll sing a guide vocal for the
musicians, but the melody is never finalised
until Willie gets in the studio and sings his
vocal. It’s the last part of the song that’s
written, and it’s usually written when he’s
singing the master vocal.”
All of the tracks are recorded live with the
band. “I have a group of musicians who are
as much fans of Willie as I am and they
respect how important it is to be in the room
with him,” Cannon explains of the
atmosphere in the studio. “We try to keep
the sessions loose and as much like what he
was doing back in his heyday. It was not
over-refined. It was raw, and that was its
appeal. I try to continue that feeling.
Willie with the late Glen
Campbell, who once signed
him to a songwriting deal
“He’ll sing it three or four times and I
think he trusts me not to try to make him
do it beyond the point that we need to. I
usually get three passes on the vocal, then
he’ll pick up his guitar and play it two or
three times. Then he’ll get on his bus and go
back to work, and I’ll go through all of his
guitar and vocal tracks and combine them
into something magic.”
Nelson has always been one of music’s
most prolific artists, and at 85 his output
shows no sign of slowing.
Asked about Willie’s health, Cannon says,
“He still runs circles around me! He’s still
playing 12 or 14 shows a month and when
he hasn’t been in the studio for two or three
months he gets really anxious and bored,
wanting to get back in there.”
Among Willie’s plans is an album of
Merle Haggard songs and another disc of
original material that he and Cannon have
already composed.
“If Willie doesn’t have something to do,
he wants to make something to do,” Cannon
concludes. “It’s like always keep something
in the pipeline.”
Limits Theatre,” Cannon recalls. “And
my wife and I usually go along. It’s a
good way to spend New Year’s Eve.
“I was sitting on Willie’s bus and
one of the drivers brought on a lady
who I could immediately see was an
old friend of Willie’s. She was crying
and it was apparent that she had just
lost somebody. She said: ‘I don’t know
how I’m ever going to get over this.’
Willie squeezed her hand and said:
‘It’s not something you get over, but
it’s something you get through.’
“It just latched onto my brain. Every
day after I heard him say that, I was
kicking that phrase around in my
head. I got a little started on the song,
sent it to Willie and reminded him
where I’d heard it. We put it back and
forth a couple of times and wrote it.
“We did a performance video, put it
on YouTube and after about four
weeks it had been viewed 15 million
times. That phrase
is doing the same
thing to millions of
people that it did to
me the night I
heard him say it.”

1959 1960 1961 1961 1962 1964

Nelson releases D rejects the Night Faron Young has a Patsy Cline takes Nelson records Chet Atkins signs
Man With The Life single saying it hit with Nelson’s Nelson’s Crazy into several of his Willie to RCA, but
Blues, his wasn’t country Hello Walls. The the pop Top 10. best-known fails to mould
debut 45 – Willie releases No. 1 country Months before, songs –Touch him into the
for Harold the song on hit crosses Willie asked Me and Half mainstream
“Pappy” Rx as ‘Paul over to No. friend Hank A Man country star
Daily’s D Buskirk & His 12 on the Cochran to become he had
Records Little Men’ pop charts pitch it to her modest hits hoped for…

COUNTRY MUSIC 25
WILLIE NELSON
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Essential Broadcast Media
“WILLIE HAS THE SORT OF FACE
THAT SHOULD BE ON COINS”
K
ris Kristofferson is one of
Willie Nelson’s closest
friends – and a regular
source of songs. In 1979, Nelson recorded
nine of Kris’s songs on his album Willie
Nelson Sings Kristofferson. More recently,
he returned to Kristofferson’s songbook for
the title tracks of his albums Moment Of
Forever (2008) and For The Good Times: A
Tribute To Ray Price (2016). Nelson and
Kristofferson famously starred alongside
Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash in
country supergroup The Highwaymen.
You have a lot of history with Willie.
When did you first meet?
Willie was the idol of all the undiscovered
songwriters who were serious about
songwriting in Nashville, but by the time I
met him, he had become disenchanted with
Nashville, where they didn’t really
understand the kind of songs he had written.
It was very strange, but I got to working a lot
of the pop places in New York before he did
– he was playing the country venues. I put
him on stage for the first time at a rock
concert in New York and he stole the show.
They’d never heard of him before, but they
loved him.
26 COUNTRY MUSIC
When you made the film Songwriter
and the TV movie Another Pair Of
Aces with Willie, did he look to you for
advice as the more experienced actor?
I don’t think Willie looked to anybody for
advice on anything! Songwriter was a lot of
fun, because Willie does a lot of on-the-spot
improvisation and he did a lot of that in the
film – starting in one direction, then going
off in another comical direction that wasn’t
in the script – and the director left it in. I
think Willie’s ideal job would be a cowboy
movie star. He has the sort of face that
should be on coins. He actually built a whole
western town on his property to make films.
How did you come to join Willie,
Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash in
the Highwaymen?
The four of us were recording a Johnny Cash
TV special in Switzerland, and I remember
“I put him on stage
for the first time at a
rock concert and he
stole the show”
Friends, colleagues, and
Highwaymen: Nelson and Kris
Kristofferson in 2016
John said to Willie: ‘You’ve made records
with every singer on the planet except me, so
we should do one.’ Willie told me it would be
in my interests to be there, so I could pitch
songs to them. Because the session was in
Nashville, Waylon was there too, and the
producer Chips Momon had the idea of
having us sing this Jimmy Webb song, The
Highwayman. It went so well that we cut
some more. There were so many times when
it was hard for me to believe I was on stage
with those guys. I thought I was dreaming,
because every one of those guys were heroes
of mine before they were friends.
How did Willie come to record your
song Moment Of Forever?
I pitched him that song on a live TV show. It
was a bunch of writers sitting in chairs,
passing a guitar. I started singing ‘Was it
wonderful for you...?’ and Willie thought I
was singing a love song to him! He just
reached over, took the guitar and said: ‘I
don’t think so!’ Everybody was laughing so
hard. But the last laugh was for me when he
finally cut it. I was surprised he did it,
because you didn’t get to hear a lot of it that
night on TV.
Interview by Douglas McPherson
 WILLIE NELSON

“I wasn’t ever
officially hired by
Willie. I just wasn’t
asked to leave!” ”
The Red Headed Stranger album. When we
went into the studio, he had just written this
concept record. Blue Eyes Crying In The
Rain was a classic song, but the rest he had
written. He came in with a couple of torn
sheets of paper with the words on it. We all
set up in the studio and we were hearing the
songs for the first time. He would play ‘em
once, maybe twice – I don’t think we played
anything more than twice – and we would

Gary Miller/Getty Images

listen and play along with him. That’s why
that record is so sparse, because we were
hearing it for the first time.
Mickey Raphael plays harp for Willie,
backed by Paul English and Lukas Has his way of working changed much
Nelson, at the Luck Reunion, Texas, 2017 over the last 45 years?
He hasn’t changed a bit as far as I can tell.

“HE’LL TRIP YOU UP What you see is what you get. In the studio
he gives the musicians no direction

IF YOU DON’T PAY whatsoever. He might look at you when he

wants you to play, but he never tells you

ATTENTION” what to play. On stage, the show follows a

certain pattern, but nothing’s written down.
We start off with Whiskey River and then... I

T
exan Mickey Raphael learned
to play harmonica from local
legend Don Brooks. He began
his career in BW Stevenson’s band before
hooking up with Willie Nelson, with whom
he has now recorded and toured for 45
years. He’s also played with Elton John, The
Mavericks, Neil Young, U2, Vince Gill and
Emmylou Harris. His solo album Hand To
Mouth was released in 1988.
How did you come to join Willie
Nelson’s band?
I wasn’t ever officially hired... I just wasn’t
asked to leave! I was introduced to Willie in
1973 by Darrell Royal, the coach of the
University of Texas football team. He was a
friend of Willie’s and a big music aficianado.
He’d seen me play in Texas and got word to
me: ‘Come by and bring your harmonica. I
want you to meet some friends of mine.’ He
had a little picking party after one of the ball
games. Willie was there, and Charley Pride.
They’d pass the guitar around and sing. I
was sitting in and playing a little and Willie
said: ‘If you ever hear we’re playing in Texas,
come and sit in with us.’ I’d show up for a
few gigs and Willie asked Paul English, his
drummer: ‘What are we paying Mickey?’
Paul said: ‘We’re not paying him anything.’
Willie said: ‘Double his salary!’
What was the first of Willie’s records
that you played on?
don’t know what comes after that! Willie
plays the intro to every song and we know
where we are at that point.
Does Willie ever surprise you with a
song that you don’t know?
Oh yeah. And if I don’t know it, I don’t play
it. Or I just wait until I can figure it out. I
can’t sleep during the show. You have to be
really present, because he’ll throw you. He’ll
trip you up if you don’t pay attention.”
What does Willie do to celebrate on
his birthday?
Nothing. Because every single day is Willie
Nelson’s birthday!
Interview by Douglas McPherson

1971 1972 1973 1975 1975 1976

Yesterday’s Wine, The Dripping Shotgun Willie is Concept album Red Blue Eyes wins Seminal compilation
Nelson’s best album Springs Reunion released. Nelson Headed Stranger is Nelson a Grammy Wanted! The Outlaws
to this point, takes place organises released, for Best is a smash
inititates an in Texas. his first 4th single Blue Country hit, featuring
amazing Nelson, Of July Eyes Crying Vocal (he’d Nelson,
run of Jennings and Picnic, also In The Rain win it again Jennings,
unique Kristofferson in Dripping is Nelson’s in 1978 Jessi Colter
creativity all perform. Springs first pop hit and 1982) and others

COUNTRY MUSIC 27
WILLIE NELSON
Willie And The Boys:
Nelson with his sons Micah
(centre) and Lukas
FAMILY MAN
Having a famous father has its fair share of problems,
but, for Lukas Nelson, it’s just business as usual…
L
ukas Nelson is on a musical
ascendancy with his country
career and his band, Promise
Of The Real, has been backing up Neil
Young since 2015, both on tour and in
the studio. He also happens to be a son of
Willie Nelson and made his musical bones
playing in Willie’s band during his late
teens. Lukas and his brother Micah recently
appeared on record again with their father
on the covers album, Willie’s Stash Vol. 2:
Willie And The Boys, released in 2017.
In a revealingly honest interview, Lukas
tells Country Music about growing up in a
family filled with music and love – and with
a dad who just happens to be an icon...
Your father can be described as many
things, but ‘disciplinarian’ probably
isn’t one of them. What was it like
growing up with Willie as your dad?
He was – and is – a very relaxed parent.
I kind of learnt by example watching him
live life, which taught me a hell of a lot. He
wasn’t around as much as other parents
because of touring, but I saw all the love and
respect that so many people had for him out
in the world, too and that showed me a lot
about him.
28 COUNTRY MUSIC
Another thing is that my mum always had
his back – in terms of helping us understand
why dad lived his life that way. She taught us
how important it was to him to be making
music, and also that he had to go on the road
to make money for our family. We both
[Lukas and younger brother Micah] cried a
lot when he’d leave. She comforted us and so
did he, and they’d explain that he’d come
back home to us. We were also taught that
we needed to be strong and supportive for
him going on tour. It hurt so bad when he’d
leave that I remember it vividly.
Growing up, there was a background of
tragic family issues that happened when I
was a young kid [Willie’s son William Jr,
from his earlier marriage, passed away
suddenly in the early 1990s]. So it was very
hard for him to be away from us, too. So my
dad was dealing with that huge loss. But I
remember begging with him not to leave us.
Is he your biggest musical influence?
Yes.
Do you recall seeing your dad play live
when you were a youngster?
I remember watching him play when I was
really little and being proud of him. I don’t
Janis Tillerson/Janis From Texas
remember what age I was when I first
understood, because it was natural to me
that he was a performer. I didn’t have
anything to compare it to, so I took it as the
way things were. I don’t know anything else
but him as my dad!
Was there ever any pressure being the
offspring of someone so popular?
No pressure. But that’s because I had
different passions – and there were many
directions I could have taken in terms of my
artistic focus. I just kept going with music.
Did he give you any songwriting tips?
Mostly, I learnt from him by listening to his
songs so much – which I still do – and
through his lyrics too.
What about guitar-playing? Has he
helped you with your licks?
He taught us Django Reinhardt songs – we
listened practically non-stop to lots of
Django – and Hank Williams – growing up.
The first song he taught me was Blue Eyes
Crying In The Rain.
As a little kid I started out on drums, but
when I was 10 or 11 and it was his birthday, I
asked him what he wanted for his gift. He
told me he’d be really happy if I learned
guitar. I really took that to heart and I went
from there with that song.
You have clearly taken your own
musical path. But how do you feel
when people comment that your
 willie nelson

“I look up to him as much as I look up to “Willie was

other artists I’m obsessed with.”
singing voice sounds quite reminiscent
of your father’s voice?
Well, it’s a fact that our voices are similar, so
I can’t argue with that.
Willie once said: “Every negative
thought you have releases poison into
your system… So if you are thinking
negative about anything, erase that”…
Oh yeah, he lives that. He’s always said: ‘99
per cent of things you worry about will never
happen, so worrying about things helps no
one.’ He always takes each day as it comes.
He always taught us to choose the positive
perspective in every situation. He told me
that every morning when he awakes and
each night before sleeping, he recites a
mantra of: ‘Let only positive things flow to
me and from me’. So I’ve adopted those
practices as well.
Your dad’s well-known as something
of a visionary and an activist – he
co-founded Farm Aid to support small
American farmers, and he embraced
bio-diesel fuels early on. Did you grow
up with a tacit awareness of how
things in the world actually work?
Yes, I did. Awareness was big with us. As a
family we always supported alternative
energy sources, as it makes sense from an
ecological and societal standpoint to use
sustainable energy resources. Dad’s a very
smart guy, and having lived so long he’s seen
the whole nature of the monopolies of oil
companies and their corrupt nature – and
what that’s done to the world.
You’ve said that you were raised on
Texas, where my Dad is so revered, would
have been harder.
Are there times when people try to get
close to you just because your father is
a superstar?
I try to not think about that stuff too much. I
love my dad, but I don’t think about living in
his shadow or that type of stuff, as it puts
you in a weird state of mind. I just want to
play music. It’s not as though I avoid talking
about my dad, and I understand why people
want to know about him. I look up to him as
much as I look up to other artists that I’m
obsessed with. I still listen to his music a lot.
But I have worked really hard to become a
musician, too. These days, I talk about him
and Neil and – more recently – working with
both Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga [Lukas
has worked on the upcoming film A Star Is
Born, directed by Cooper and starring Lady
Gaga]. But when it comes to my dad, people
will always be curious about my relationship
with him. And that’s okay. I am so good with
it. I’m so proud of him.
Your father possesses a famously
wicked sense of humour. A prime
example is on his recent single, Not
Dead Yet, which pokes fun at the
persistent false rumours of his demise
on social media.
Yes he does, and we share a lot of humour
and tell a lot of jokes – most of which I can’t
repeat here!
Finally, do you have any funny stories
about your dad that you can share
with fans today?
regarded as an
oddball in
Nashville”
Booker T Jones is the
musician and producer
who worked for Stax
Records throughout
the 1960s and rose
to become the vice
president of the
company.
But in 1978, Jones
produced the album
of pop and jazz standards, Stardust,
that made Willie Nelson a superstar.
“I was living in Malibu, right on the
beach, and one day I’m sitting on my
deck and I see this guy with long, red
hair running up the beach towards me
and I think: ‘That’s Willie Nelson’. Well,
Willie comes right up to my building. I
then realise for the first time that Willie
Nelson is living in the same building as
me. I got an introduction to him and
we became good friends. At night we
would sit around and jam – the songs
that ended up on Stardust are those
we were playing at night.
“People were surprised that I
produced Willie, but I grew up buying
Kitty Wells and Hank Williams records
and listening to WSM/WLAC out of
Nashville. Anyway, when we played
Stardust to Columbia’s executives they
were not happy with it. You see, Willie
was somewhat regarded as an oddball
in Nashville and they couldn’t get their
heads around him singing standards. I
had to fly to Nashville and convince

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Maui, Hawaii – and not in Austin,
Texas (his parents own homes in both
places). Is that so you’d grow up
without as much emphasis on being
‘Willie’s son’?
Yes, my parents knew that growing up in
I was at one of the shows with dad last year
and left one of my guitars on the couch, and
then went off to do something. Dad must
have thought it was up for auction... so he
automatically signed it.
Interview by Teri Saccone
Columbia. They initially printed a small
number – 500 or so – and when they
gave them out they found that people
loved Stardust.”
Interview by Garth Cartwright

1978 1980 1985 1990 1993 2001

Nelson releases Nelson stars in the Nelson, John Nelson is hit with a Across The Nelson is inducted
Stardust, an album movie Honeysuckle Mellencamp and tax bill of $16.7m. In Borderline is another into the Songwriters
of old pop Rose. His Neil Young 1992, Who’ll maverick Hall of Fame
and jazz song from organise the Buy My project, with along with
standards. It the film, On very first Memories?: songs by Dolly Parton
becomes his The Road Farm Aid The IRS Tapes Peter Gabriel, Billy Joel,
best-selling Again, wins a benefit is released to Paul Simon, and Eric
album Grammy concert pay the bill and others Clapton

Country music 29
willie nelson
Waylon and Willie at
New York’s Nassau
Colleseum in 1978
“He’s probably the
best all-time
country
songwriter”
T
he late Waylon Jennings and
Willie Nelson were friends for
years and famously collaborated on
the 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws, four
duet LPs and as half of country supergroup
The Highwaymen starting in the 1980s.
Back in 1995, Jennings talked a little about
the friend he called ‘a true free spirit’
What do you enjoy most about
working with Willie?
I’m not real sure that I enjoy it! (laughs). I
cut Willie no slack and he doesn’t cut me no
slack. We’ve never tried to change each
other. Willie is a true free spirit, a wonderful
soul and a good person. He’s not into
business – he hates that. I don’t like it either,
but I can take it. I can do it. Let me tell you
something: He’s a kind, good person and one
30 Country music
“Willie’s a
funny guy...”
Tony Joe White is the Southern
singer-songwriter best
known for his 1969
hit Polk Salad Annie,
famously covered by
Elvis, and for Rainy
Night In Georgia.
White co-wrote the
Joshua Black Wilkins
title track of Willie
Nelson’s 2017
album, God’s
Problem Child.
“I wrote that song
with Jamey Johnson.
He lives close to me and we wanted to
see what we could come up with
together. We weren't thinking about
Willie. We played together and by four
o’clock in the afternoon we had this
song. Jamey headed back to Nashville
and we planned to put it down in the
studio the next week. Then Jamey calls
Michael Putland/Getty Images
me; he's been on the phone to Willie
and Willie’s already said: ‘I'm cuttin’
that song so don't you give it to nobody
else!’” Who is ‘God's Problem Child’?
Someone who raises a lot of hell. Or
someone who escapes trouble and
cruises through the world. I said to
Jamey: ‘They both describe someone I
know pretty well, I’ve played shows
with him’, and Jamey said: ‘Yeah, me
too.’ Yeah, it was Willie. So we didn’t
mind him takin’ the song.
“Willie’s a funny guy. I used to play
golf tournaments every spring with
Willie. He and the guys would invite
rich men, and a singer or two they
liked, or a guitar player – it was all for
charity. We'd always get together, drink
of the most talented people on God’s earth. beer and trade songs – and in 25
He should go down probably as the best years Willie never took one song of
all-time country songwriter. He didn’t write mine! They don't do those tournaments
one standard, he writes bunches of them. any more, but now he has taken one
of my songs!” Who’s the better golfer?
Is there any rivalry between you two? “Oh man, Willie’s got his own course.
You might think this is silly, but I wouldn’t Me, I still use those old English-type
knock Willie out of something to get it wooden shafts! Willie liked ’em though.
myself. He wouldn’t either, I don’t think. The One time he took my driver, smacked
only time we have problems between us is his ball straight up in the air about 100
when people who work for him, or people yards. He wasn’t bothered. He just
who work for me, get together and they’re at turned around and said: ‘Now boys,
each other’s throats. It’s the same with The that's what this game is all about.
Highwaymen. If all four of us are sitting Hang time!’ (laughs). He already had a
there, we work it out in about 10 minutes. little smoke lit when he hit it!”
Our friendship is forever. Willie is like my Interview by Michael Leonard
brother of the road. He’s a true gypsy and Tony Joe White releases a new album
there’s a little gypsy in me. Bad Mouthin’ in September
Interview by Douglas McPherson
 willie nelson

THE ESSENTIAL WILLIE NELSON

With scores of Willie Nelson albums
released, it can be tough to know just
where to start. Country Music’s Rob
Hughes offers up some of his own
must-buy recommendations…

PHASES AND STAGES (1974)

Described by Nelson as “a fictional account of the sorrow that comes
with the ruin of romance”, Phases And Stages was a conceptual song
cycle that detailed a marriage break-up from the viewpoint of both
parties. Side A was devoted to the woman’s perspective, ditching her
no-good drunk of a husband, getting back out there and tentatively
embarking on a new relationship with Sister’s Coming Home/Down At
The Corner Beer Joint. The reverse side finds her ex in mostly
self-pitying mode, boozing away the blues (the majestic Bloody Mary
Morning) and struggling for redemption. The album’s range and scope
was a daring creative statement in country circles, as was its deft
assimilation of R&B, jazz, honky-tonk, gospel and bluegrass. Recorded
in Alabama’s Muscle Shoals rather than Nashville – a decision that
irked the country execs in Music City – producer Jerry Wexler
countered: “They said Muscle Shoals was too R&B for Willie. I said
Willie was too R&B for Nashville.”

…AND THEN I WROTE (1962)
Long before he became an outlaw figurehead,
Nelson was writing hits for others and forging
a stop-start solo career. This authoritative
debut is defined by his great phrasing and
adept guitar-picking, yielding treasures such
as Crazy and Funny How Time Slips Away.
YESTERDAY’S WINE (1971)
A series of reflections that form a narrative
about the life of the ‘imperfect man’, Nelson’s
13th studio effort is a masterclass in
understatement, delivering sparse songs over
sensitive backing by Nashville greats like
Charlie McCoy and Hargus “Pig” Robbins.
TEXAS IN MY SOUL (1968)
Nelson’s first true concept album – guided by
producer Chet Atkins – pays tribute to his
beloved home state. Cue admirable covers of
Ernest Tubb, Merle Travis, Cindy Walker and
others, plus a highly playful Who Put All My
Ex’s In Texas.

2012 2015 2017 2018

Nelson releases Heroes which
sees him covering songs by
Tom Waits, Pearl Jam
and Coldplay. It also
includes Roll Me Up
And Smoke Me When I
Die, a collaboration with
Snoop Dogg
Nelson releases Django &
Jimmie, a duet album with
Merle Haggard. The
title track is a tribute to
musicians Django
Reinhardt and Jimmie
Rodgers. It is Haggard’s
final recording…
Willie releases the universally-
acclaimed No.1 album God’s
Problem Child, his 50th
Top 10 country album.
He also releases covers
album Willie’s Stash,
Vol. 2: Willie And The
Boys, with his sons
This year Nelson released his
67th studio album, Last Man
Standing. He co-wrote
all the songs with Buddy
Cannon, and it also
features the likes of
Alison Krauss and
Mickey Raphael

Country music 31
willie nelson

SHOTGUN WILLIE (1973) RED HEADED STRANGER (1975) STARDUST (1978)

Co-produced for Atlantic by Jerry Wexler, who
signed Willie Nelson to the label as their first
country artist, Shotgun Willie is a foundation
stone of the outlaw movement, blending
honky tonk with rolling blues, R&B, western
swing and a dash of jazz. Single Whiskey
River quickly became a signature tune.
This towering conceptual work about a
murderous fugitive is second only to Phases
And Stages when it comes to Nelson’s finest
achievements. His demands for artistic control
(duly ceded by Columbia) were justified in its
commercial success and the raw beauty of
songs like Time Of The Preacher.
The album that showcased Nelson’s ability to
discard the country persona and fully inhabit
a bunch of prime pop standards. Expertly
arranged throughout, Nelson truly excels on
Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies and a soulful
Georgia On My Mind, which picked up a
Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal.

ACROSS THE BORDERLINE (1993)
Nelson seemed to lose his way in the late 80s
and early 90s, though he returned to form in
emphatic style with this semi-covers set,
duetting with Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Kris
Kristofferson and – on the specially written
Heartland – Bob Dylan.
TEATRO (1998)
After the pared-down excellence of 1996’s
Spirit, Nelson upped the ante, recruiting
producer Daniel Lanois and singer Emmylou
Harris for a compelling rework of songs from
his back catalogue, decorated in percussive
tics and his invitingly-weathered voice.
GOD’S PROBLEM CHILD (2017)
Thankfully, Nelson’s prolific output in recent
years hasn’t come at the expense of quality
control. Released the day before he turned
84, this one is right up there with his best,
tackling themes of mortality with self-
deprecating wit and tender reflection.

Half Nelson!? The best of Willie’s collaborations and the rest...

WANTED! THE
OUTLAWS (1976)
The first
million-selling
country album and the
outlaw scene’s big
crossover moment,
Nelson is here joined by
Waylon Jennings, Tompall
Glaser and Jessi Colter.
WILLIE AND
FAMILY LIVE
(1978)
A double LP
from Lake Tahoe,
Nevada, with guests
Johnny Paycheck and
Emmylou Harris, and full
to bursting with stone-
cold country classics.
WAYLON &
WILLIE (1978)
Nelson’s
enduring
capacity for collaboration
is perhaps best heard in
this terrific collection of
duets with fellow
superstar and good
friend, Waylon Jennings.
HIGHWAYMAN CRAZY: THE
(1985) DEMO SESSIONS
In which (2003)
country’s Consisting of
premier supergroup The demos recorded between
Highwaymen – Nelson, 1960-66, when Nelson
Johnny Cash, Kris was a jobbing songwriter
Kristofferson and Waylon in Nashville, this
Jennings – fashion their eye-opening set is pure
own loose mythology. unpolished diamond.

32 Country music
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Carly Pearce’s favour
is this live record ing
album
from 2003 by Dixie Chi
Carly Pearce
“THE ALBUM THAT
CHANGED MY LIFE…”
DIXIE CHICKS
TOP OF THE WORLD TOUR: LIVE
OPEN WIDE/MONUMENT/COLUMBIA, 2003
Hot on the heels of their 2002 hit album,
Home, the Texan trio of Natalie Maines
(vocals) and sisters Martie (banjo) and
Emily Erwin (fiddle) packed out venues
– and stirred up controversy – around the
world, after Maines’ criticism of President
George W Bush in London led to boycotts
from some conservative country radio
stations. Despite the bans, this live double
album, featuring guest appearances from
Emmylou Harris and David Grissom (and
seven different Hammond organ players!),
reached No. 3 on the Billboard Country
Album charts and sold half a million
copies in the States.
36 COUNTRY MUSIC
ite
cks
Words by Helen M Jerome
F
or me it’s got to be the Dixie Chicks’
Top Of The World Tour: Live album.
I bought it when I was a teenager
because I was such a huge Dixie Chicks fan.
Hearing what they can do live has really
inspired me. You can hear the energy from
them, how amazing all their voices are, the
instrumentation, the songs, the show… just
the whole thing. I hope to one day put out a
live album that is that airtight and amazing.
In fact, I actually got to meet the Dixie
Chicks on that tour when I was about
14 years old. I was just a fan, backstage,
and it was only very briefly. I would
really love to meet them again.
One of the songs on this record that I
wish I’d written is Cowboy Take Me Away
[by Martie Erwin and Marcus Hummon].
I just love that song so much, and it would
definitely come out as my most-played track.
Of course, I think A Home is an amazing
song. Then there’s Goodbye Earl [written by
Dennis Linde], which really said something in
the country community that shocked people.
For me, Tortured, Tangled Hearts is a
fun, bluegrassy song [co-written by Martie
Erwin and Natalie Haines with Marty Stuart].
Coming from Kentucky myself, one day I
would love to do a bluegrass duet with Alison
Krauss and Dan Tyminski of her band Union
Station. That’s definitely one of my dreams.
And while I’m at it, I’d also love to do a
duet with Trisha Yearwood or Faith Hill!
The main thing about the Dixie Chicks
and what made me really want this
record, is that they’re just so good live.
What they do recorded is almost better
live and when people come to my show I
hope that they say the same about me.
When I saw them play live in Nashville,
it was long before I ended up living and
working there. My mom and I took a trip
 THE ALBUM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

In June this year, Pearce

celebrated her 50th
Grand Ole Opry show

when I was a teenager just to see them.
Oh yes, my mom was a fan as well! Right
then the record that they were touring was
Home, which was amazing. I’d never seen
them live and I got to see them sing every
song that I listened to in my room. It was
“It was amazing
what Dixie Chicks
such an amazing thing and Natalie was
such a huge influence on me. So it was a ABOUT…
very special concert that I’ll never forget.
Natalie’s spunky attitude – her amazing
vocals – have always inspired me and I
C A R LY P E A R C E
Carly Pearce’s first album, Every Little
just think she’s a true vocalist. She emotes Thing (Big Machine, 2018) shows off the
in a way that I think is very special. As for versatility and roots of the Kentucky-born
Martie and Emily, they’re also amazing singer, who grew up surrounded by
songwriters and musicians. That’s very bluegrass. Still only 28 years old, she’s
special as a female, it’s really cool.
They went through a lot of things and it
been at the coalface of country music for
years, touring since she was 11, and was
was amazing what they did for country music.
They kind of brought the banjo and fiddle
given a singing job (five days a week, six

did for country back to being cool. I have a lot of banjo on my

shows a day) at Dollywood five years later.
Now based in Nashville, Pearce cut her
music – they album – no fiddle – but a lot of dobro too.
So I’ve got a lot of country instrumentation.
debut with one of the hottest producers
around in Busbee (Drake White, Maren
brought the banjo I still play that album today and it’s
something that I think will never get old.
Morris, Lady Antebellum) and worked with
some elite songwriters (Shane McAnally,
and fiddle back to In fact, I’d say everybody should have
this album because it’s a crash course
Hillary Lindsey, Luke Laird, Natalie

being cool.” in what authentic, real music is!

Hemby), making Pearce one to watch…

COUNTRY MUSIC 37
XXXXXXXXXX

L
ast month, Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s
smash hit Meant To Be scored its one billionth global
stream, achieving yet another milestone for a
landmark hit. Does this matter? It does when we consider it
has also been No. 1 in the US’s Billboard Hot Country Songs
chart for over six months. And maybe it’s inevitable for a
magazine called Country Music, but songs such as Meant To
Be do beg the question: what is country music anymore?
Is it an ever-changing style that should simply be
embraced? Is it just a political decision that the tastemakers
of country radio industry and US chart organisations decree
to keep a ‘heritage’ genre vital? Or does there come a point
where some songs and artists clearly become not at all
country any longer? After all, that happened not so long ago
to someone by the name of Taylor Swift….
For the sake of debate, we asked two of our noble writers
– Douglas McPherson and David West – to argue opposing
corners 0f the argument about how much country should be
allowed to change. There’s likely no definitive answer here,
but it’s certainly fun thrashing it out nonetheless.
Turn the page, for a battle of minds, old hits that broke
the mould and even new hits that sound old…

38 COUNTRY MUSIC
XXXXXXXXXX

COUNTRY MUSIC 39
 WHY COUNTRY
MUST CHANGE Is today’s country music really country music
at all? Some traditionalists say it isn’t, but
Douglas McPherson argues that the genre is
in better shape than ever
Y
ou only have to look at the size of
the crowds flocking through the
doors of C2C each year to see how
popular country music is right now, not just
in the American heartland but all over the
world. Yet there are some fans and industry
commentators who insist that many of the
artists who appear at C2C – and even on
American country radio and the Billboard
country charts – aren’t country at all.
For them, the rock, pop and hip-hop
influences on artists such as Jason Aldean,
Lady Antebellum and Florida Georgia Line
Blake Shelton is at the
forefront of the movement to
take country into the future
ARTISTS
THAT
BROKE THE
MOULD
40 COUNTRY MUSIC
have moved the genre so far from the sounds
of George Jones, Johnny Cash and Hank
Williams, that marketing the music as
‘country’ is tantamount to a breach of
the trades descriptions act.
But are today’s stars really any
less country than their
predecessors? And, even more
pertinently, are changing
trends making the music
better or worse?
To me, the music coming
out of Nashville today sounds
There’s not a pedal steel in sight, but
as healthy as it ever Nashville’s Jordan Davis has the tone,
has and, more than phrasing and sincerity of the old-school
that, it sounds just
as instantly and unmistakably
identifiable as country.
As an example, I give you the
debut hit by Jordan Davis, Singles
You UpUp. Davis not only has a great
voice – strong, expressive and
supple – but his tone, phrasing
and sincerity are so country that I
couldn’t imagine him being part of
any other format. The same is true
of the clever title and descriptive
lyric – both hallmarks of country
music from the beginning.
R AY P R I C E
He started out a Hank
Williams-style honky
tonker, but transformed
into a pop crooner at
the vanguard of the
Nashville Sound. An
early champion of Kris
Kristofferson’s lyrics…
Yes, there’s a drum loop and I don’t hear
any fiddles or pedal steel (neither instrument
is listed on the album credits). But the
track still has a semi-acoustic feel and
– let’s be frank – if he arranged
and sang the song like a Hank
Williams record, how many
people in 2018 would want to
hear it? It would be just like
expecting Justin Bieber to
sing only Sinatra-style songs
to big band music, or to
exclusively wear Beatles suits
and record everything with
a Merseybeat.
The music of the past was
great – in the past – when it was new. The
best of it still sounds great. We can all enjoy
a golden oldie. And if you want to listen to
them all day you can, because they’re not
going anywhere. They don’t delete an Ernest
Tubb record for every Florida Georgia Line
download they sell.
But what artist worthy of the name wants
to make music like his granddaddy listened
to? What new generation of fans wants to
listen to the music their parents liked?
Every generation wants to make and listen
to its own kind of music, and even older
JOHNNY CASH
Contrary to his own
song, Cash never
Natasha Moustache/CMA / Don Hunstein
walked the line of
convention. He defied
norms by putting horns
on Ring Of Fire and
reinvented the Nine
Inch Nails song, Hurt.
 To borrow from Dale Watson’s song on
modern Nashville: “That’s country, my ass”.
David West argues that country doesn’t need
pop, or hip-hop, to thrive and survive

B
“ ad rock with a fiddle.” That’s how Country isn’t even the only
Tom Petty described the name this music goes by. It was
contemporary country scene during a once called hillbilly music; then
concert in 2013. He subsequently told Rolling there’s the subsets like bluegrass,
Stone: “I don’t really see a George Jones or a honky tonk, western swing, and
Buck Owens or anything that fresh coming Americana. What they share –
up. I’m sure there must be somebody doing and what may be the essence of
it, but most of that music reminds me of rock country music – is the desire to
in the middle 80s, where it became incredibly speak to the experience of rural
generic and relied on videos.” USA. Jazz and blues grew from
Heaven only knows what Petty would make the African-American
of the current trend for producers and artists experience, and the blues
Grammy-winner Sturgill
to bring R&B and hip-hop into the mix… mutated from acoustic to Simpson has been dubbed ‘the
But what makes something country to start electric as African Americans saviour of country music’
with? Geography? That rules out every artist moved from the countryside to
not born and raised in the southern states. the cities. lap steels – even if he had to play behind a
The sound of the music? Which sound Country has always been an curtain when he first joined the Opry. Now
would that be? Hank Williams and expression of rural living and like no-one blinks twice at a drummer onstage
George Jones sound nothing every other form of popular music with a country artist, so change is no bad
like Sturgill Simpson, who born in North America during the thing. It only becomes detrimental when
sounds nothing like 20th century, the actual sound something essential is lost.
Applewood Road – even as of the music has been shaped Hip-hop came out of the Bronx, New York,
they all stand comfortably by developments in recording in the 70s. It was – and remains – at its core,
under the country umbrella. technology and changing urban in character. Whether you like hip-hop
But Bebe Rexha and Florida tastes. Drummers were or not is immaterial – the problem with
Georgia Line are animals of noticeable by their absence bringing hip-hop and R&B into country, is
a different stripe entirely, Bebe Rexha’s written for in early country, until Buddy that fundamental clash between the rural and
Rhianna, and sung with Nicki
and any common ancestry Harman proved they could fit the urban. Because of country’s hillbilly roots,
Minaj, but Kitty Wells she ain’t
is awfully hard to discern… in among the fiddles, banjos and it needs some form of acoustic

ARTISTS MARTY STUART NIKKI LANE

Dennis Leupold / Reto Sturchi / Alysse Gafkjen

AND HIS With a gift for songs

KEEPING
FA B U L O U S about discarded lovers,
S U P E R L AT I V E S delivered with a blend of

COUNTRY
He went on the road defiance and world
with Lester Flatts aged weariness, Nikki Lane is
12, then joined Johnny walking in the footsteps

TRAD Cash’s group – his new

band are white hot too.
of Loretta Lynn and
Jessi Colter.

COUNTRY MUSIC 41
WHY COUNTRY MUST CHANGE
political opposite of Jason Aldean’s Dirt Road
country pioneers like the Anthem was a country-rap
“Not a single great Carter Family. mix.. and a big hit

artist from country’s Country is at least

some 100 years old and,
past was a true in that time, it has

traditionalist – every changed to reflect the

way its audience has
one of them ripped changed. In the 40s and

up the rule book” 50s, country fans worked

on the land in rags and
listened to the Opry on
fans don’t want to listen to the same sounds radios powered by car
forever. We turn on the radio to be enlivened batteries, because they
by something fresh. In that respect, country had no electricity or even
is no different to rock or pop. Not a single plumbing in their
great artist from country’s past was a homes. The music
true traditionalist, because every reflected
single one of them ripped up the their hardscrabble rural lives, Country has always touched people
rule book and gave us both musically and lyrically. because it chimes with their own experience,
something different. By the 60s and 70s, the US and you only have to scroll through the
When Ray Price crooned had become more urbanised, comments beneath the videos on YouTube to
Kris Kristofferson’s poetic so country music reflected the see that the fans are relating to the songs of
new style of love song, For new concerns of the working artists like Jordan Davis as strongly as
The Good Times, and wrapped class: drinking in bars, previous generations were touched by the
it in Dean Martin-like strings, With its sun-drenched southern charm, cheating, divorce, the Pill hits of their day.
the results sounded nothing tracks such as Jon Pardi’s Up All Night and Vietnam. Country has always drawn from other
like a Hank Williams honky are forging a bright future for country In the 80s and 90s, genres. The artists from the first half of the
tonker. When Waylon grew society as a whole was more 20th century pulled in bits of blues,
his hair long, added rock guitars and sang affluent and aspirational – yuppified, if you Dixieland jazz, boogie woogie and rock’n’roll,
about drugs, he was the musical, cultural and will – and so the music became smoother because those were the sounds they heard on
and more upbeat. Identifying other radio stations. Today’s artists hear pop
as country was more of a and hip-hop, so why wouldn’t they bring
Florida Georgia Line with lifestyle choice than a matter of those sounds to their own music?
Backstreet Boys: unashamedly where you were born, and the What keeps it country? Well, it’s that
pushing boundaries grown-up pop fans who word: country. Country is music from and
embraced it wanted it with less about the countryside, and specifically the
of the melancholy that had southern states. It sounds different now,
coloured it in previous eras. because life in those parts is different to the
If today’s country sounds way it used to be – but it still feels like the
very different to the way it did soundtrack of the South.
20, 30 or 40 years ago, that’s Take one of the biggest hits of recent
because the people making it years, Sam Hunt’s multiple-week chart-
and listening to it live very topper Body Like A Back Road. One
different lives to those of their prominent country critic said this “lame-
forebears. We have different assed R&B/rap rubbish” wasn’t a country
values and concerns, and record “in a million years.” But, to me, the
we’ve grown up with different title alone couldn’t be anything other than
musical influences. country. This is the format of back roads!

ARTISTS D O L LY P A R T O N
As much Hollywood glitz
GARTH BROOKS
Equally comfortable with
Ethan Miller/ACM / © Todd and Chris Owyoung

THAT
as Smoky Mountain a home rodeo song as
sincerity, Dolly shifts he is tackling Billy Joel’s

BROKE THE
from dew-pure Shameless, Brooks
bluegrass, to a disco brought country into the
number such as Baby arenas with theatrics

MOULD I’m Burning, to the

catchy pop of 9 To 5.
normally associated with
rock and pop.

42 COUNTRY MUSIC
 WHY COUNTRY MUST STAY ‘TRUE’
The country industry does
not exist to fret about such
“The problem with trivialities. Nashville’s record
bringing hip-hop and business exists to sell
streams, concert tickets, and
R&B into country is to land lucrative licensing
that clash between deals in a time when
physical sales have
rural and urban” collapsed. What they want,
is the largest audience
instrumentation, somewhere, to keep its core possible – to be all things to
identity. That can be a fiddle, guitar, pedal all people. That’s why KISS
steel, upright bass, banjo, or whatever else… showed up at the 2012
but when you get to a song like The Fighter ACMs, their presence meant
by Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood – another target demographic
where even the electric guitar has been so box ticked off.
processed it sounds artificial – there’s simply One of the most cynical
no connection left back to the source. examples of this practice
Of course, a country singer doesn’t have to would be Shania Twain’s
yodel or have a drawl to do the music justice, 2002 album Up!, released
but when you’re rap-singing over a sampled in three different mixes
drum loop (hello Trace Adkins, Bebe Rexha – rock, R&B, and country. Shooter Jennings turned his
and Sam Hunt) some vital quality has There was no desire to let back on Nashville for a new
disappeared. This isn’t a plea for musical the music stand or fall on beginning in Los Angeles
purity, hanging a ‘Do Not Cross’ tape around its merits, and in the rush
country music – after all, Johnny Cash to cast the widest possible
performed duets with Bob Dylan and Louis net, the end result turned out to be a in order to survive. Nobody wants to listen to
Armstrong on his TV show – but the watered-down example of each style. Can’t a their grandpa’s music, and I don’t care how
difference between that and country-pop is good country song just stand on its own? many of these old farts around Nashville
that Cash never sacrificed his own sound in Authenticity – tainted as that term might going: ‘My God, that ain’t country’. Well,
the process. be – is just something to be packaged. that’s because you don’t buy records
Outlaw country is another market to anymore, jackass. The kids do, and they
tap into, reduced to a fashion pose don’t want to buy the music that you
while Shooter Jennings quits were buying.”
Universal and moves to LA to It seems unlikely that the
regain control of his career. generation that has grown up
Country-pop songs are full of with free streaming on demand
name drops for the giants of is going to “buy records”, as
country history – Hank, Shelton puts it, but he seems
Willie and Merle being three to be part of a growing crop of
perennial favourites – in contemporary stars who regard
tracks replete with autotune the past as the land of tired
“Nobody wants to listen to
sold with glossy music videos grandpa’s music” – Blake has-beens.
and attractive stars who can Shelton’s words riled many Then why play country music
pout on command. at all? A well-crafted pop song
Back in 2013, Blake Shelton got himself can be a thing of beauty, hell Maren Morris is
With three versions, Shania in hot water (as well as rubbing a certain a great pop singer with a knack for
Twain’s Up! album covered all Ray Price up the wrong way) when he ridiculously catchy tunes, but singing ‘Cash
the bases – it made US No. 1 commented: “Country music has to evolve leads the choir’ does not a country song
John Shearer / Ray Redding/TexasRedd / Sarah Wilson

ARTISTS J E S S E D AY T O N
Jesse Dayton’s
D A L E WAT S O N
Where the country-

KEEPING
credentials are popsters love to
impeccable – anyone namedrop Haggard,

COUNTRY
who’s played guitar with Cash et al in the hope
Ray Price, Waylon some authenticity might
Jennings, Johnny Cash, rub off, Watson is their

TRAD and Glen Campbell has

got nothing to prove.
living heir with the hair,
the suits and the songs.

COUNTRY MUSIC 43
XXXXXXXXXX
WHY COUNTRY MUST CHANGE
Carrie Underwood and Keith
Urban’s monster hit The Fighter
took country to the disco
“What creative artist should be expected to
limit themselves to one genre? I thought
we’d got past that prejudice back in the 70s”
The song itself has a loose, airy feel hugely
evocative of a sunny, outdoorsy life down
south, and fits perfectly into a recent
continuum of summer songs started by
Florida Georgia Line’s Cruise and Jon Pardi’s
Up All Night that, to me, is just as good as
previous country sub-genres such as Outlaw
and the Bakersfield Sound.
Country has become the soundtrack of
summer, and why not when it comes from a
part of the US where it’s summer for nine
months of the year?
Take a listen to another recent hit, Dylan
Scott’s My Girl or, better still, take a look at
the video, set out there on a river surrounded
by woods. It’s a perfect combination of music
and place. It takes you to the country.
But what of The Fighter by Keith Urban
and Carrie Underwood – another track
ARTISTS
THAT
BROKE THE
MOULD
44 COUNTRY MUSIC
Pop meets country: Justin
Timberlake duets with Chris
Stapleton in London, 2018
country artist is supposed to make unless
they’ve sold their soul.
The Fighter was part of a wider disco
revival (see Justin Timberlake’s retro hit
Can’t Stop The Feeling) but it’s no sell out.
It’s a fabulously-crafted record with instantly
grabby lyrics and a ton of chemistry between
singled out by the purists as even less Urban and Underwood. It could only have
country than Body Like A Back Road. Well, come from the heart. So, if it moved them,
musically, I agree that The Fighter does why shouldn’t they have made it?
not pull from the country tradition And why shouldn’t country radio play it?
– it’s a homage to disco. Urban and Underwood are two of the
What I can’t agree with, format’s biggest stars, so that’s
however, is that Urban or the where their fans would go on the
country industry have sold dial to hear them. The industry
their souls by including it on would have no integrity if it
country radio and on the didn’t support those artists by
country chart. playing it.
Firstly, what creative artist Also, let’s not forget that it was
Dylan Scott’s Eminem-
should be expected to limit referencing hit My Girl looks the fans that prompted the song’s
themselves to one genre? I way beyond trad country release. It charted through
thought we’d got past that downloads before the record
prejudice back in the 70s when Dolly Parton company officially released it as a single to
was pilloried for making disco records (Baby meet demand. Nearly 900,000 people have
I’m Burning), or Hollywood movies, or bought The Fighter and no-one put a gun to Kevin Winter/ACMA2017 / Dave J Hogan / Getty Images for iHeartMedia
money, or whatever else no self-respecting their head to make them.
Personally, I think we should be proud of
our format for producing a song as fresh and
SAM HUNT
Country singers have been
uplifting as the The Fighter and including it
on a chart varied enough to embrace the
speaking their lyrics since 70s-flavoured Eagles-meets-Dr Hook sound
the days of Red Sovine, of Midland, the slick balladry of Lady A’s
but Sam Hunt rebooted Heart Break, and the clean modern take on
the tradition with songs like down-home rural traditionalism that is Blake
Break Up In A Small Town, Shelton’s I Lived It.
reinventing urban hip-hop
for rural America.
Country has to constantly change – and
because it continually does – it’s a genre that
is healthier than ever. Go, Nashville!

WHY COUNTRY MUST STAY ‘TRUE’
Maren Morris: singing ‘Cash
leads the choir’ does not a
country song make…
make. 80s Mercedes might be an earworm,
but there’s not a hint of the rural experience
in that track. If it’s not of the country, how
can it be country music?
If there’s one crime that country-pop must
answer for, it’s the way it crowds everything
else out. The playlists on the biggest country
radio stations are dominated by the
purveyors of bro-country and country-pop,
leaving no room for anything outside the
increasingly narrow mainstream.
It doesn’t help that so much of it sounds
the same – and for good reason. Producers
like Nathan Chapman, Byron Gallimore and
Scott Hendricks, or songwriters like Shane
McAnally, have hundreds of credits to their
trucks, parties and
names and their presence on a song means
its sure to appeal to the programmers,
because it will fit right in with everything
else – seamless.
Independent artists who have a
more distinct sound, such as Lindi
Ortega and Sturgill
Simpson – to name but
two – won’t slot in next
to Lady Antebellum and
Jason Aldean, because they
don’t sound the same.
Mainstream country
radio wants songs about Lindi Ortega quit country
unable to make a living. She’s
trucks, parties and girls, and
back, but will she get airplay?
ballads laden with schmaltz.
Sing about anything more substantial and
that might upset the sponsors.
ARTISTS
John Russell/CMA / Steven Ferdman/Getty / Kate Nutt
KEEPING
COUNTRY
TRAD
Margo Price’s All American
Made still struggles to get
onto modern country radio
“Anything more
substantial than
girls, might upset
the sponsors”
When Margo Price can’t
break onto the playlist at
Go Country 105,
something has gone
horribly wrong…
Some artists like Dale
Watson and Celine Lee have
abandoned the country label
altogether in protest – or
perhaps disgust – at the tide of
autotuned fodder flowing out of
Nashville. Instead they’ve
adopted ‘Ameripolitan’ as the banner under
which they fight to be heard.
H O L LY W I L L I A M S
Hailing from country
music royalty (her
granddad was Hank
Williams, her father Hank
Jnr) and an extraordinary
songwriter, Holly will break
hearts with songs like
Waiting On June.
XXXXXXXXXX
“George Jones was asked that, and his
reply was perfect,” says Watson about what
defines country. “It’s hard to explain what
constitutes a country song but I know it when
I hear it. I can also apply that to what’s
wrong with country-pop. I know it isn’t
country, right when you hear it. There are
many, many great artists, bands, promoters,
festivals, venues and DJs that are
championing what I call Ameripolitan music
– original music with a prominent roots
influence – but the mainstream never
recognises them.
“The Ameripolitan Awards were invented
for them. We encourage artists to be
themselves and revel in their influences, not
change to the flavour of the month cookie-
cutter that Nashville churns out. Blake
Shelton – the Anti-Hank – said: ‘Nobody
wants to listen to their granddad’s music and
people that do are a bunch of old farts and
jackasses’. I started the Ameripolitan Awards
to prove him wrong – and it did.”
Now in its sixth year, the Ameripolitan
Awards is a fan-driven antidote to the CMAs.
“It reminds me of what the country music
community used to do,” says Watson. “Take
care of each other and help spread the word
about the music.”
Country music doesn’t need to be treated
like a museum piece, hermetically sealed in a
glass case to protect it from the ravages of
time. It has changed and grown and must
continue to do so to remain vital, but if you
cut it off from its roots, it will surely wither
and die.
COUNTRY MUSIC 45
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COUNTRY MUSIC 47
 CROSSROAD COUNTY - INTERSTATE STAGE & HONKY TONK
WARD THOMAS PRINTMAKING
THE LONE BELLOW RUBY BOOTS TREETOP FLYERS
CORN DOGS AMERICAN YOUNG FIRE DANCERS
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR BIG OL' COUNTRY QUIZ
FRONTIER RUCKUS ELIZABETH COOK
PARKER MILLSAP BRENT COBB
COUNTRY-OKE BILLY BRAGG
THE WOOD BROTHERS HONKY TONK BAR
YOLA CARTER MOONSHINE TASTING JOANA SERRAT
DANNY & THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD ANDY BROWN
LEE ANN WOMACK
DANNI NICHOLLS HOLLOWAY ROAD WORRY DOLLS
BUCK' N BULL AFTER PARTY
MAC N CHEESE & VEGAN JUNK FOOD THE ARLENES
THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION TAKEOVER
ANGALEENA PRESLEY KEVIN MCGUIRE
FILM SCREENING CAROLINE SPENCE FRIED CHICKEN
THE WANDERING HEARTS CARDBOARD FOX
LOOSE RECORDS TAKEOVER
LIL POSSUM COUNTY - KIDS CAMP INCLUDING
CRAFT DEN LOST BOYS HIDEOUT
GAMES CORNER BABY & TODDLER TENT
WATER BALLOON VOLLEYBALL MUD KITCHEN
PLUS LOTS MORE
PEAK POINT, EVERGREEN FIELDS & HOSS TOWN
CAMPING PREMIUM CAMPING
CAMPERVANS AND CARAVANS GLAMPING
DAY, WEEKEND & CAMPING TICKETS ON SALE NOW
RHINESTONE COUNTY & RHINESTONE STAGE
CARRIE
UNDERWOOD
ASHLEY CAMPBELL LAURA OAKES
DANIELLE BRADBERY CHARLIE WORSHAM
LAKE SWIMMING THE SHIRES
AARON WATSON DOWN HOME COOKIN'
MEET & GREETS UNA HEALY STRIKING MATCHES
THE BRUMMIES FIRE PITS CATHERINE MCGRATH
AMERICAN SUBS LOGAN BRILL CRAFT BEER & CIDER
FAIR COUNTY & FRONT PORCH
HEALTH & HAPPINESS AREA VINTAGE FAIRGROUND
FERRIS & SYLVESTER GARY QUINN
FOLK SOUL REVIVAL SQUARE DANCING DORI FREEMAN
ROAMING ENTERTAINERS MEGAN O'NEILL
SOUTHERN COMFORT TAKEOVER
DIMPKER BROTHERS UNDERCOVER SEATING ANDREW ALLI
WOODWORKING TWO WAYS HOME
TWINNIE MUSIC MAKING HERITAGE CRAFTS
COWBOY BOOT-IQUE ZACK LOGAN BBQ & BEER
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JESS & THE BANDITS FORAGING
BOURBON TASTING LATE NIGHT ACOUSTIC SESSIONS
AMERICANA MUSIC ASSOCIATION UK TAKEOVER
LEATHER CRAFTING KASHENA SAMPSON CAR DISPLAY
ARTIST BILLING SUBJECT TO CHANGE *BOOKING FEES APPLY
FIRESIDE STORIES JOSHUA HEDLEY
BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC SESSIONS
BOB HARRIS PRESENTS BBC MUSIC INTRODUCING
JARROD DICKENSON LUKE WINSLOW-KING
THELONGROAD.COM
S
ummer 2018 sees more country-
tinged festivals than ever before in
the UK. Black Deer, Ramblin’ Man
and Buckle & Boots took place in
June, but there’s much more to
come through until September. Country and
Americana these days casts a wide net,
covering all sorts of music, tastes, eras and
atmospheres – see our rundown on page 65.
And we kick off our festival preview by
speaking to some of the stars, new and older,
of the coming weeks: Jesse Dayton, Brent
Cobb, Dan Tyminski and Crosby, Stills, Nash
& Young legend Graham Nash. All completely
different, but all revealing how strong music
under an Americana umbrella has now
become. Take Country Music’s advice and
get out into the country this summer...
COUNTRY MUSIC 49
JESSE DAYTON

Lone star: before his solo career, Jesse

Dayton played guitar for Waylon Jennings,
Johnny Cash, Ray Price and more
Ray Redding/TexasRedd

50 COUNTRY MUSIC
 OUTSIDE THE LINES
From backing Waylon Jennings in his 20s to fronting his own kick-ass country
band today, Jesse Dayton is living his own roadhog dream. “Gettin’ our
underwear dirty on a Monday night in Des Moines... That’s what it’s all about!”
I
f Jesse Dayton runs out of songs to play
at September’s Millport Country Festival,
he could always turn his hand to just
telling stories. Like all the best country
troubadours, he’s got bucketloads of ’em.
Dayton phones Country Music from his tour
bus as it rattles through the desert of his native
Texas on the way to another show (“I think
I’ve had 10 days off in the last three years”)
and he’s already revealing stuff you don’t hear
every day. Like how Johnny Cash was a huge
fan of the Alien movies. How does Dayton
know this? From when he played guitar (with
Cash) on a Waylon Jennings album.
“I’d managed to get on this Nashville TV
show called Crook & Chase,” Dayton recalls
of his early career. “Very nice people, but a
real cheesy show. I showed up with grease
in my hair, sideburns and tattoos, and sure
enough I didn’t fit in, but I did find out that
Kris Kristofferson was also on the show
that night. Great! After the show, Kris and
me ended up out behind the TV station,
smoking a joint and talking about music,
Cormac McCarthy books… all this stuff. Next
morning, the phone rings at my shitty motel
and it’s Waylon Jennings. He was watching,
’cause Kris was on. Waylon says: ‘Hey hoss,
I saw you on TV and I cut my hand cooking
last night with Jessi Colter! Why don’t you
come down and play guitar on my record
for me?” I freaked out. But I jumped on a
plane, knocked on the door at Woodlands
studio... and Johnny Cash opens the door!
John just says: ‘Are you gonna stand there
with your mouth open, or are you going to
come in and play that guitar for Waylon?’
So it was that Dayton played on Waylon’s
1996 Right For The Time album, and sat
in awe as his paymaster told stories about
“getting busted in Tennessee for writing
cheques for cocaine”, while Cash sat doing
Bill Paxton (from Alien) impersonations. It
was a breakthrough for Dayton who then
went on to back Willie Nelson and Ray Price
on record, plus play with Glen Campbell,
while simultaneously building his own
musical career (with a sideline as a movie
director), which has earned him his own
following today. The appetite for Dayton’s
brand of tough country and rock’n’roll
Words by Michael Leonard
has built up nicely in recent years with
The Revealer (2016) and new album The
Outsider, and although he’s grateful that
“everything’s punched up a notch right now”,
he knows the fragility of the business.
“Careers go through cycles,” he notes. “You
know, there was a time when even Johnny
Cash was doing Taco Bell commercials. Then
he reintroduced himself via Rick Rubin to a
whole new audience and his career exploded
all over again. So you have to look at it like a
big journey. But in the end, there’s nothing I
want to do more then be out on the road with
my boys in the band, losing our asses and
gettin’ our underwear dirty on a Monday night
in Des Moines. That’s what it’s all about!”
HAVE GUITAR, WILL TRAVEL
Dayton earned his rep as a spectacularly good
guitarist starting aged 15, “spending 10,000
hours watching Hee Haw, learning Jerry
Reed licks” and that’s what opened doors for
him when “all the other kids in Texas were
trying to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan.” But,
married to his love of The Clash, he soon
honed his own ‘outsider’ rationale in his
country and rockabilly sound – and it’s one
he’s fervently proud of. “I don’t pay attention
to country radio,” he says. “So I’m not going
to spend any time bashing it. But I will say:
it’s always been this way. Patsy Cline didn’t
want string arrangements on her ballads,
she wanted to sing hillbilly music! There’s a
punk ethos in my music: I live my life real
simple and that’s the spirit of the journey I
am on. As hokey as that sounds, it’s true.
“I’m an observer, that’s a big thing in my
songwriting. I figure that the things that are
happening with the working class in San
Antonio, Texas, are often the same sort of
“There’s a punk
ethos in my music:
I live my life real
simple and that’s
the journey I’m on”
things that are happening to the working class
in Birmingham, England. Music is an outlet
for these people. It really is a soundtrack to
their lives – and I’m one of those people.”
And one ‘soundtrack to life’ of Dayton’s
that’s been getting a lot of attention, is
Charlottesville, his attack on America’s
so-called alt-right, featured on new album
The Outsider. When one “self-confessed
Nazi” was filmed in a Johnny Cash t-shirt,
at the Charlottsville riots, the late singer’s
family were so “sickened by the association”
they issued a statement. Dayton echoes their
disgust, but says he’s still outraged songwriters
aren’t saying more. “When I heard what the
President said – a half-hearted backing of the
attacks – I could almost hear my grandfather
whispering in my ear: ‘Ok boys, let’s load
up the trucks, go to Charlottesville and take
care of these bastards.’ No-one’s writing
anything about it – it’s unbelievable! But
people are not paying to hear my political
views. I don’t do that Steve Earle stuff. But
I’m not going to be dishonest either.”
Despite the seriousness, Jesse can turn
on that big Texas charm. “We talk a lot of
bullshit about how awesome our state is, but
it’s true!” he laughs. He’ll bust out stories
of “sipping Jack & Coke with Bill Clinton”
at another President’s inauguration in 1997,
and how he loves his regular slot on the
seafaring Outlaw Country Cruises. “One
time, I got to play a whole set of rhythm
and blues with The Mavericks. They’re
unbelievable shows and that’s what music is
meant to be… thirty-five hundred rednecks
in the middle of the ocean with no cops!”
A festival should be perfect for him. “I’ve
played my share of blood-bucket bars where
I’ve been lucky to get out alive. I’ve played
some awful corporate gigs where I’ve got a
ton of money but only one person is listening,
and I felt like a hooker at Pentecostal church.
But I’m a terrible baseball player and music’s
just about the only other thing I can do.
A lot of people who like country but don’t
like country on the radio seem to like me,
and I’m grateful. At the end of the day, to
do what I do, I’m a lucky bastard.”
Jesse Dayton headlines the Millport
Country Festival, 7-9 September
COUNTRY MUSIC 51
BRENT COBB
HOME BOY
Brent Cobb’s Providence Canyon has quietly emerged as a standout album of 2018.
He tells Country Music how his family – and divine intervention – made it happen
W
ith his impeccable manners and
sweet nature, chatting with Brent
Cobb bears out his reputation as a
genteel Southerner – immediately prior to our
interview, he just mowed his lawn and put his
toddler to sleep. But although he resides in the
tiny, close-knit community of Ellaville in rural
Georgia, any stereotypical southern cliches end
there. The 31 year old possesses some serious
songwriting chops, clearly evidenced on his
expansive new album, Providence Canyon.
Made with his cousin, the Grammy-winning
(much in demand) producer Dave Cobb, this
is a collection of diverse, highly-nuanced
songs that embrace shimmering guitars,
next to foot-stompers laden with thick,
swampy grooves. In fact, this appropriately
scenic-sounding release (Providence Canyon
State Park in Lumpkin is 45 minutes drive
from Cobb’s home), has been labelled
as everything from ‘southern rock’ and
‘Americana’, to ‘roots-based country’.
And so, to paraphrase Cobb’s friend Luke
Bryan: What makes this country? And do
these labels even matter? “You can label me
anything,” he says. “I’m all of them. I make
my music genuine and sincere – and it’s
always gonna be. That’s what’s important. I
don’t like disingenuous in any kind of music.
So, if you’re true to yourself, it doesn’t matter
what labels people apply. I don’t write songs
to try to make money. You can always spot
the music that comes from the heart.”
FAMILY AFFAIR
Cobb’s authenticity is as much a part of his
DNA as his music, and both are remnants
of a tight-knit upbringing in the ‘southland’,
where he now resides with his family – all of
whom have all played a part in his 12-year
career to one degree or another. In particular,
his late grandmother, who appeared to him
in a dream several years ago clutching a
big white songbook: “She apparently has
a songbook up there and throws me down
a song every now and then,” he laughs.
But aside from divine intervention and his
innate knack for storytelling, Cobb admits
there’s much more to the process in order to
make his tunes sound effortless. “It’s a little
crafty,” he admits. “I spend more time on
songs now than I did when I started. But the
52 COUNTRY MUSIC
Words by Teri Saccone
goal is to make them sound like they came
to me more quickly than they did 12 years
ago! I spend a lot of time saying things as
perfectly plain as I would in conversation.
It takes me a minute to evaluate what I
say, but I try to deliver it really honestly,
and that’s the hardest part. I try to make
it sound like I didn’t think about it at all.
“Ain’t A Road Too Long took a while to
make sure the phrasing was correct and
the lyrics and cadences landed correctly. I
wanted that to be confident but not arrogant.
But some songs I don’t think about too
much. Lorene was immediate, I wrote that
whole song in probably 30 minutes.”
With previous songs being recorded by
Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, The
Oak Ridge Boys, Kellie Pickler and others,
Cobb can justifiably feel confident in his own
ability, but no matter the circumstances,
he assures us his writing is never forced.
“It’s just letting a natural idea happen. The
hardest part is making sure a song comes out
of nowhere. But it’s a strange sensation when
you’re writing a song; it does feel like you’re
intercepting something from somewhere else.”
One song that Cobb definitely did ‘intercept’
is Country Bound – from his 2016 album
Shine On Rainy Day – written by his dad
and uncle. “That song caught a little wind
with [TV show] Nashville, so they made
some royalties off it,” he says. “To take a
song from 1992 to pay some of their bills
was a nice surprise. Had they not written
that song, I’m not sure I’d be making music
myself.” Indeed, ask Brent who his musical
heroes are and he immediately acknowledges
his father and his family: “I don’t say that
lightly as they are the groundwork of what
I do. More popular names I’d mention are
Roger Miller and Willie Nelson. Adam Hood,
too [Cobb co-wrote Go Outside and Dance
with Hood for the Eli Young Band].”
Shine On Rainy Day was certainly the
start of something big for the Georgian
singer-songwriter when it was nominated
for a Grammy for Best Americana Album
in 2017. And while he lost out to the
late Gregg Allman’s swansong Southern
Blood, Cobb happily concedes that it
was “just crazy to have been in the same
category as him – it was so amazing.”
Cobb’s second major-label album,
Providence Canyon, will only increase
his audience as a performer, but does he
have a strong preference when it comes to
recording, touring or songwriting? “I like
’em all. Songwriting comes most natural
to me. I do like performing and being on
the road, although the hardest part of the
road is leaving my family back here – but
I try not to get too down about that. If I’m
not touring, or performing I lose interest in
songwriting. So I’m looking forward to touring
this album and starting to write again.”
Brent Cobb plays The Long
Road festival 7-9 September
FRIENDS
IN HIGH
PW H ATL AD O ECS BER ESN T C O B B
S AY A B O U T H I S C O - W R I T I N G
F R I E N D S A N D FA M I LY ?
MIRANDA
LAMBERT
“Wild child. I call
her that all the
time! She likes to
live life as she
wants to.”
L U K E B R YA N
“The real deal. He catches so much
hell from his critics, but Luke is more
country than anyone. He can write the
hell out of a song and he’s got a deep
catalogue of the most wonderful songs
no-one’s ever heard. The country genre
is bigger than it’s ever been right now
and he was the one who started that. If
all the mainstream reverts back to
grassroots style, he’s ready.”
D AV E C O B B
“He likes to control things in the most
Nick Zimmer/CMA
beautiful way that anyone could ever
control things!”
Providence Canyon’s first single, King Of
Alabama, is a tribute to Alabama-born
country singer Wayne Mills, who was
murdered outside a Nashville bar in 2013

COUNTRY MUSIC 53
kelly willis

Kelly Willis: “I was thinking of

where Skeeter Davis meets
Rockpile, or Marshall Crenshaw
meets the Louvin Brothers”
George Brainard

54 Country music
 PAST & PRESENT Words by Helen M Jerome

For her first solo album in 11 years, Kelly Willis returns to the
sophisticated sounds of 50s and 60s country that inspired her in
childhood. “I had a vision for this record,” she tells Country Music

K
elly Willis started recording her
rootsy music three decades ago –
long before the term ‘Americana’ was
coined – and she’s ploughed her own alt-
furrow ever since. Her defining 1999 album,
What I Deserve, marked a real step up and
fans embraced 2007’s Translated From Love.
But then came 11 years of solo silence, when
Willis and her musician-producer husband
Bruce Robison collaborated musically as a duo
and had four children. Now, as she turns 50,
comes this year’s fabulous comeback release,
Back Being Blue, for which she wrote six of
the 10 tracks, recorded in Robison’s Bunker
Studio near their Austin, Texas home.
Can you sum up your new record?
“It’s funny, my husband remarked that this
album is my stroll down inspiration lane, with
music styles that have inspired me over the
years. I didn’t intend for it to be that way!”
Was it important to go solo again?
“We always knew we were solo artists first.
There was some freedom doing the duo and
knowing it wasn’t a huge commitment. We
made two records together and have kids
together. I call it ‘content problem solving’ when
you’re trying to figure out hotel rooms on the
road and soundcheck – and your kids. I thought
it would be nice to have a little area of our lives
that we weren’t working on together for a bit.”
But Bruce is producing you…
“Yes he is! I thought I’d go with somebody else,
for all those reasons, but as I was writing and
talking about the songs, he’d chime in from
across the room with all this enthusiasm. He’d
get all my references and know exactly what
kind of reverb I was hearing – it made sense to
do it together, that he’d be the guy. At the end of
the day nobody cares about it more and there’s
no-one I communicate better with than him. So
we went ahead and dove in.”
Has reaching this year’s
milestone birthday made you
re-evaluate your career? “People are always trying to make
“It’s on my mind a lot and it makes
me enjoy – and try to be present in –
a record with some gimmick
the moment. I feel lucky to have had about it. I didn’t want to do that.”
this career. People are always trying to find a
way to make a record with some gimmick about
it to get people’s attention. I didn’t want to do
that. I wanted to make a fresh, creative record
and I feel like I did.”
Looking back, what were the big breaks
and setbacks in your career so far?
“When I was 20, I worked with some of the
best musicians and producers. I might have
been too young for that opportunity, but it was
a phenomenal experience. There was also a
lot of conflict, because I was at odds with what
was expected. I was rebellious and trying to do
something unique, but I wasn’t quite skilled
enough to pull it off then. What I Deserve was
the turning point. I put into practice all the
things I’d learned and finally made the record
I’d been longing to make.”
You’ve said that you wanted to make a
fun and interesting record, as opposed to
an extremely personal one. What was
your focus as the songs evolved?
“I had a ton of material for a long time, trying
to get geared up to make a record, but the doors
weren’t opening. When I wrote Back Being
Blue specifically, light bulbs went on and I had
a vision for this record. I started writing songs
that were the heart and soul of the album, like
Freewheeling and What The Heart Doesn’t
Know. That led me down the path – one song
after the other – to a throwback to what made
me excited to get into music in the first place.
50s and 60s country was what I was into first in
rockabilly music, so I started delving into what I
loved about that: the simple song structure and
universal stories. That got me excited and drove
this record.”
Do you have a specific writing process?
“I take a long time with each song. I do a lot of
writing when I’m driving and, as I sing the songs
over and over, the melodies and stories change.”
How was the album recorded?
“I like to record with the whole band in the
same room – for all the musicians to play
together. I’ve learned that when we sing on
the microphone together, what we sing is so
different from when we’re in two separate
rooms. I love the magic of that ensemble, that
swirl that happens in the room. We did it in a
brief period of time – over about 10 days – so we
got it out of our system. We just save it all up, do
the work, and it’s behind us.”
What was it like spending 10 days in
Bruce’s Bunker studio?
“It is in the middle of nowhere. There’s a little
pond out on his property, so you could fish, but
I’m really not the kind of girl that fishes!”
Are you looking forward to your
upcoming tour?
“I’m so happy to have new songs, it makes it
exciting going onstage. There’s this arc to being
a musician where you make a new record, you
have a great time and at some point you realise
you haven’t changed your setlist in four years!
This is a great place to be, where your material
is new and unknowable – unexpected stuff
happens onstage because the songs are fresh.”
How do you keep your voice fresh?
“It’s tricky. If you’ve had time off and start back
up you notice that your voice isn’t as strong. You
lose it easier, you stress it out, so it takes a little
warm-up before it gets seasoned. It’s a matter of
being diligent, not drinking after shows – a lot of
people drink here in Austin! But there’s nothing
worse than going onstage and not having your
voice work the way it’s supposed to.”
What would be the one piece of advice
you’d give to your younger self?
“I’d tell myself to relax – I was nervous and
scared and I had tremendous social anxiety.
I’d tell myself not to worry about not knowing
everything. Interviews used to make
me cry in the early days. They felt
like a test. They don’t any more, but
I thought I was meant to know the
answers to all these questions!”
Kelly Willis tours the UK and
plays SummerTyne in July

COUNTRY MUSIC 55
In 2013, Tyminski expanded his horizons as
the voice of DJ Avicii’s worldwide EDM hit Hey
Brother. With new album Southern Gothic, he
steps outside of his comfort zone once more

David McClister

56 Country music
 I SEE A
DARKNESS
Dan Tyminski has stepped away from Union Station – and collaborations – to record
the solo album of his career with Southern Gothic. And although the bluegrass star
finds himself in the spotlight for once, his new creation is shrouded in darkness…
W
e definitely had Dan Tyminski
down as the Grammy-winning
multi-instrumentalist in Alison
Krauss’ team of all the talents, Union Station.
Perhaps we knew he was the singing voice of
George Clooney in the O Brother, Where Are
Thou? highlight Man Of Constant Sorrow, or
of the late Avicii’s dance crossover Hey
Brother. But as of his current solo album,
Southern Gothic, once again it’s Dan, Dan, the
Reinvention Man.
A paid-up Union Station member for
a mere 25 years, Tyminski has stepped
outside of the group and into the solo
spotlight before, but not like this. As far
back as 1985, he released his first album in
his own name, Green Mountain Bluegrass.
Carry Me Across The Mountain followed
in 2000 and by the time of 2008’s Wheels,
his profile had brought him a No. 1, but on
the bluegrass chart. Southern Gothic – his
first release billed simply as ‘Tyminski’ – is
an entirely different beast altogether.
Made with producer Jesse Frasure, it
forsakes the instrumental dexterity of Dan’s
bluegrass persona for something much more
shadowy. Frasure’s role in the Roc Nation/
Rhythm House team is a clue, as are his
‘crossover’ credits with Megan Trainor and
Florida Georgia Line. NPR took one listen
and seized upon Southern Gothic’s “broody,
imagery-driven portraiture of hidden desire,
religious guilt and unsteady conscience.”
Quite a distance from his early days with
Alison, and playing on When You Say
Nothing At All. He’s saying it now alright.
“There is no-one that expected this record,”
says Tymisnki. “It took a while to make the
decision to go ahead with it. Ultimately, I
felt so strongly about the body of work and
the opportunity to step outside of the box…
when I look back, anything I’ve ever done
that’s been different, I’ve always been proud
of it. The opportunity to make this record was
Words by Paul Sexton
there and I felt it was important to make it.”
Dan co-wrote all 13 tracks on Southern
Gothic, writing with such talents as Ashley
Monroe, Sarah Buxton, Amy Wadge and
the late Andrew Dorff. “Our only objective
in the songwriter rooms was to try to come
up wth songs that were their own, that
sounded like nothing else,” he continues.
“I have to say, I do believe that this record
was a new creation. When we blended this
bluegrass stuff that I do with the Motowny-
poppy stuff that Jesse does, we came up with
something I feel is unique and belongs only
to itself. It’s different, but it’s part of me.”
It was the bluegrass-meets-clubland
collaboration with the ill-starred Avicii (“a
horrific loss, he will be missed”) on the
massive hit Hey Brother that gave Tyminski
the courage to follow his heart. “If that
accomplished one thing, it showed that
we are all closer than we might think,” he
muses. “I had people who knew me calling
me up – friends of mine – asking: ‘Ok, is
this you or not?’ It wasn’t publicised or
widely-known that it was me on the track.
It came up almost under the radar. But it’s
one of those things, I have just enough of
that voice where you recognise it, but you
don’t quite know where you know it from.
“We went in a total different direction
for that, and I felt like it worked. It was a
pretty interesting process to see how that
was built. So it gave me some courage
to write music that was different.”
A Country Journey
My own first encounter with Tyminski
was in the early 2000s, backstage before
a Union Station gig in Portland, Maine,
when O Brother… was turning into a six-
million-selling sensation. “Neither one of
us are that old, we met when we were both
12,” he jokes. A line used by Krauss at that
concert about Dan’s duties in the movie
soundtrack — on which he took on Clooney’s
part as leader of prison-breakout group the
Soggy Bottom Boys — has lingered. “When
Dan’s wife saw the film,” Krauss told the
New England audience, “she said this was
her fantasy come true: her husband’s voice
coming out of George Clooney’s body.”
“I’ve done really well being the voice
behind whatever guy’s out there,” he tells
me now with a chuckle. But there’s a
modesty about this lifetime band member
that presents a challenge when it comes
– as it does now – to being stage front.
“One of the things I had to embrace to go
ahead with this record, is that I’ve never really
tried to be centre-stage,” he says. “I do sing
some lead with Union Station and I’ve done
some solo things, but I knew with this record
that I was really going to have to step out into
the centre and embrace a side that I haven’t
spent most of my time worrying about. I
felt like the music was important enough
that that was a very small price to pay.”
As for the single-name appellation? “That
was a suggestion that really came up by the
record label. We have such a history with
the music that I’ve made for so long, that we
were ultimately trying to draw a line – so
people would understand there was some
separation between what Dan Tyminski
has made and what this new record is.
“It was to let people know this is
“When we blended
bluegrass with
Motown pop, we
came up with
something I feel is
unique”
Country music 57
 Dan Tyminski
The newly-monikered Tyminski smokes
a cigar in a still from the shadowy video
for the title track of his new album
different stuff: Don’t expect what you’re
used to hearing from Dan Tyminski. So
hopefully that willl come across. That’s been
a hard one to embrace right off, because I
have decades of music under my name.”
Once the new coordinates had been set,
he discovered things about himself that
he didn’t know were there. “There was
a lot of self-discovery in the process of
writing this record – I didn’t really realise
what a dark person I was,” he admits. “I
“I didn’t realise
what a dark person
I was… I had a lot of
pent-up emotion
and opinions”
58 Country music
say this slightly jokingly, but in truth, I
had a lot of pent-up emotion and a lot of
opinions, and a lot of stuff I found coming
out through the process of songwriting.
“So there is a lot of dark, spiritual
reference-y, churchy, gospelly stuff, but I
tried to do it in such a way that there’s no
preaching. I’m not trying to give direction.
I’m trying to hold a mirror up and just
show a reflection of what I see going on.”
The title track, written with Frasure and
Josh Kear, is especially brooding, with its
description of ‘a town full of God-fearin’
people… baptised in southern gothic, in
the garden of good and evil,” which has the
good lord “shakin’ his head, lookin’ down
thinking we ain’t heard a word he said.’
“Boy, that town is everywhere in the
world,” says Tyminski. “I’ve seen that town
in a few dozen places and I’m sure I’ll see it
again. It’s very easy and it’s almost necessary
to look at the positives of the world. To try
to stay on the right track and acknowledge
what’s good, and not look at everything
that’s not. But there’s a lot out there that in
my opinion gets overlooked or doesn’t get
talked about because it’s uncomfortable,
and I just found a way to sing about it.”
Just turned 51, Tyminski knew what he
wanted to do with his life when he was
literally still in short trousers. “I recently had
this conversation with a fella, and he said:
‘How old where you when you knew what
and who you were?’ My answer was six or
seven years old. I was tiny when I knew I was
a musician. I knew I would play music for
my life. I never felt I had to look too hard.
“I didn’t necessarily come from a very
musical family – my mom sang a little bit
and I had an older brother I played music
with. I’ve always been jealous of people who
are attracted to so many different types of
music; I feel they’re getting fed a little bit
more than me. But when I’m hungry, it’s

David McClister
always hungry to play, so I feed myself with
an instrument in my hand. It’s 10 in the
morning here, and I’ve been playing fiddle
for about an hour and a half this morning.”
Tyminski made his name as a teenage
banjo discovery in the Green Mountain
Bluegrass Band in the mid-1980s, moving
on to the Lonesome River Band before first
crossing paths with Krauss in the early
1990s. They’ve been musically interlocked
ever since – even in the extending hiatus
between Union Station records – and
after 2011’s Paper Airplane, Tyminski
sung backing vocals on Alison’s 2017
collection of classic covers, Windy City.
When Tyminski arrives in the UK soon
for the Nashville Meets London event, it
will be with a whole new group. “I had to
build a completely new band,” he says. “I
hired musicans I’d never met before, outside
of the genre I was comfortable with, and
we’re playing this record as it’s recorded. In
David McClister
my music, I know 10 people deep on every
instrument who I would like to play with, but
with this, I have a band full of new friends.”
But if the musicians aren’t familiar, some
of the material will be. “I don’t think there’s
any way I could ever get on a stage and not
honour the songs that have been so good to
me,” he says. “I have a couple of big songs,
and then I have some stuff with Alison
that I think will always be part of me.”
The London date falls during a busy tour
“Union Station still
have more music
to make, although
I can’t prove it
right now! ”
Dan Tyminski
Southern Gothic’s swamp-country riffs and
programmed beats soundtrack a world of
crooked tongues and God-fearin’ people
for Tyminski’s new band. “We have new
music to be made,” he says. “I don’t want
to make any announcements — we’re not
going to necessarily follow this direction,
but we’re also not going to necessarily
make a bluegrass record. Our camp is in
the planning stages, because I think this
opens some doors for us. So we’re going to
experiment and see what we come up with.”
The big question, of course, is about the future
of Union Station. “Oh, we still have more
music to make and to play,” says Tyminski
reassuringly. “We are still a band, although I
can’t prove it right now! There’s more to come.
“Alison’s out touring with some stuff
that’s completely different for her. We’ve
had the band for a long time and it’s still
who we are and what we do. But we’re
having opportunities now that we can
take – and it’s time to do that.”
Tyminski plays Nashville Meets
London on 29 July. Southern
Country music 59
joshua hedley

Jamie Goodsell

Joshua Hedley is backed by some

of Nashville’s finest on Mr Jukebox
including steel guitar whizz Eddie Lange

60 Country music
 JOSHUA HEDLEY

BACK TO
THE FUTURE Words by Naomi Larsson

Known as ‘Mr Jukebox’ in Nashville honky tonks, Joshua Hedley has now wowed the
Opry and beyond with his own songs. Amazingly, he tells Country Music, he never
planned to make a record: “All I wanted to do was play fiddle, get paid and get drunk.”

J
oshua Hedley remembers the day he
recorded his EP as the day Merle
Haggard died. “We cut the first take of
one song, and I got a text from my friend that
said he’d died. And my instant thought was:
‘Man, I knew I shouldn’t have done this shit. I
just killed Merle Haggard.’”
Hedley’s debut EP was a milestone in
itself, but when it fell into the hands of Ben
Swank and Jack White at Third Man Records,
it propelled Hedley from Nashville’s honky
tonks to the Grand Ole Opry – an impressive
feat considering he wasn’t even interested
in making a record in the first place. “I just
wanted to play music,” he explains. “I moved
to Nashville to play on Broadway. People
really twisted my arm into making
a record. All I really wanted to
do was play fiddle, get paid, see
the world and get drunk.” “I’m the only person right now
At 33, Hedley is already a
veteran of Nashville’s country
walking out in a rhinestone suit
scene. He got his first fiddle at
eight, started playing in bands at
12 and moved from his home in Naples,
Florida, to Music City aged 19. When
he hasn’t been on tour as a sideman for
Johnny Fritz and Justin Townes Earle, he’s
been playing pretty much all the bars on
Nashville’s honky tonk highway, sometimes
doing 12-hour days, 14 shifts a week.
“Some people can’t figure out why anyone
would play 12 hours of cover music, but
I love doing it. For me listening to a song
and enjoying it is not enough. I hear a song
that I like and I want to sing that song.”
Things are changing for Hedley. Last
year, he became the second country artist to
be signed to Third Man after Margo Price.
Following his UK headline tour in April, he
released his debut album Mr Jukebox (a
nod to his ability to play any classic country
song you can think of) on the same day he
made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.
We first met during his whirlwind tour
of London and he was understandably
tired, but he stayed true to his honky tonk
background, staying on after a secret show to
take obscure requests from the audience in
the basement of a pub. He’s on the road to
Philadelphia when we speak over the phone
weeks later, still reeling from playing the
Opry for the second time in just three weeks.
“I don’t want to be cliché and say it was
something I dreamed about when I was a
kid, but as cliché as that is, it’s true. It’s
just about the highest honour, because
it’s an elite family that you become a
part of. I’ve played the Grand Ole Opry,
and so has Hank Williams, you know
with twin fiddles”
what I mean? I feel the camaraderie, but
I’m still the new kid on the block.”
But Hedley seems to be fitting in well
among his heroes on the Opry stage. He
recounts how, the night before, Jimmy
Capps, long-time guitarist in the Opry band,
told him, ‘We need you here!’, pointing to
his traditional style. “I don’t want to be
presumptuous, but it’s got to be refreshing
for them to get to play the old style country
music on the Opry stage,” he says. “I’m the
only person out there right now walking out
in a Rhinestone suit with twin fiddles.”
Hedley’s been praised as a champion of
classic country, carrying on the 1960s tradition
in a time when Music City may have lost its
way in some eyes. And he doesn’t disagree.
“My whole aesthetic is a tribute to my
heroes,” he states. “From the way I write, to
the music that I make, to the arrangements.
I’m never going to stand on the Opry
stage in a pair of f**king blue jeans!”
Though Hedley admits he doesn’t like
what’s being churned out of Music City at the
moment, he has no intention of becoming
the country music police. “Country music is
a spectrum,” he continues. “There’s room for
everybody. Jimmie Rodgers, that’s country
music, he doesn’t sound anything like Ronnie
Milsap, but that’s still country music.” But for
Hedley modern country is lacking in sincerity.
“The Music City machine is about one thing.
It’s about selling records. It’s always been
that way, but now it’s gratuitously that way.
They’re moulding somebody into an artist and
the end result is a guy or gal singing a song
that they don’t give a shit about
– they didn’t experience it. I’m
not saying you have to write your
own music – George Strait never
wrote a damn word in his life – but
everything he sang he meant.
“And it’s not just tailgates and
dirt roads, and mud holes and pick
up trucks, and Coors Light and girls’ butts,
and all this shit they’re singing about now,” he
says, almost sounding like he’s reciting lyrics.
“I think that’s why the traditional
sound people like myself and Jason
Isobel, Margo Price and Chris Stapleton
are doing so well – it’s just become too
obvious that [some modern country] is
not about anything but marketing.”
Hedley is a sincere country artist,
and you get the feeling he isn’t trying to
impress anyone. He’s just playing the
music he loves. “If this is the only record
I get to make and next year I’m back at
[Nashville honky tonk venue] Robert’s
Western World 14 times a week, I’m fine
with that,” he says. “As long as I don’t have
to have a regular job, I’m happy.”
Joshua Hedley plays The Long
Road festival 7-9 September

COUNTRY MUSIC 61
graham nash

After shows in Europe with Steve Earle

and Van Morrison, Graham Nash returns
for a nine-date tour in the UK and Ireland

62 Country music
 Across
The Divide
Born in Blackpool, elder statesman of Americana Graham Nash is still ploughing
a unique furrow, as highlighted on his revealing new anthology of hits and demos,
Through The Years. Ahead of his summer shows, he retraces those early steps…
C
ountry has always had an uneasy
relationship with country rock. While
many long-haired rock musicians in
the 1960s and 70s were eager to incorporate
country motifs and the sound of pedal steel
into their own style, the conservative Nashville
establishment was reluctant to embrace the
results as country music per se.
Quintessential country rockers the Eagles,
for example, made their bow with such hugely
country-sounding singles as Take It Easy
and Peaceful Easy Feeling, but although
the songs were hits on the pop charts, the
group were afforded only one Top 10 on
the ‘official’ country list with Lyin’ Eyes.
The extent of the Eagles’ influence on
subsequent generations of country artists,
however, was revealed when stars such as
Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood
and Travis Tritt turned out for the triple-
platinum tribute disc Common Thread: The
Songs Of The Eagles, which rightly topped the
country album chart in 1993. Gram Parsons,
who is credited with introducing country
to a generation of rock fans, saw his solo
recordings and those of his bands The Byrds
and The Flying Burrito Brothers ignored by
country DJs and the country chart compilers.
Crosby, Stills & Nash were bypassed
too – they were similarly granted just
one appearance on the Billboard country
chart, with Wasted On The Way, which
reached a lowly No. 87 in 1982. The acoustic
flavour of their big pop hits Teach Your
Children and Marrakesh Express would,
of course, sound completely at home
under the Americana umbrella today.
“I learned a lot from Hank Williams,” says
Graham Nash, the English third of Crosby,
Stills and Nash who grew up in Salford and
first came to fame in Merseybeat group The
Hollies. “I had a friend called Colin Fleet
who worked at the post office with me. He
had a collection of Hank Williams records
Words by Kieran Kennedy
that he would play for me – I couldn’t
afford the records then! But I loved Hank’s
simple style of songwriting. It’s not as easy
to write simple music as you may think.”
As a teenager growing up in the north of
England in the 1950s, Nash got his musical
education from Radio Luxemburg, which
could be picked up when the weather
conditions were right: “You couldn’t hear
anything on the BBC at that time and all of
a sudden American rock’n’roll was available
to us 15-year-old kids.” And his favourite
was a country boy who had turned to rock:
Buddy Holly. “I was just going through
some old photographs and found one of me
standing next to Buddy’s grave in Lubbock,
Texas,” Nash reveals. “The day we heard
Buddy had died, it was my birthday. Me and
Allan Clarke, my friend since I was six – and
who I later formed the Hollies with – were
crying our eyes out on the street corner.
“Then 15 years later, to the day, I played
the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa,
which was the very last place that Buddy
played. Then I went to the crash site and
saw that. It was very emotional for me.”
Marvelling at the thought of what Holly
might have achieved had he not taken his
fateful last flight in 1959, Nash says: “It
would have been insane. First of all, the
guy was 22 when he died. Secondly, he only
recorded for 15 months. What an incredible
body of work to record in that time.”
Embracing America
By the late 50s, a 17-year-old Nash had his
hair styled like Buddy or Elvis Presley (“I
was a pretend teddy boy,” he chuckles) and
skiffle gave him the impetus to pursue his
own musical career. “It was simple enough
and cheap enough that you could do it,”
Nash recalls. “Everybody’s grandmother had
a washboard in the cellar. You put sewing
thimbles on your fingers and all of a sudden
that was the drum track. Everybody could
find a wooden box, a broom handle and a
piece of string and that was your bass.
“All you needed was a cheap acoustic
guitar and you were off and running,
because if you knew three or four chords you
could play every single Buddy Holly song
and every single Everly Brothers song.”
When The Beatles took off in the early 60s,
Britain’s talent scouts headed for Liverpool
in search of similar groups and it wasn’t
long before Nash’s band, The Hollies, were
spotted by EMI while performing at Beatles’
stomping ground, the Cavern Club. Named
after Buddy Holly, the band was soon riding
high in the UK charts with a mixture of cover
songs, such as Just One Look, and self-penned
material such as Carrie Anne. By 1966, they’d
cracked the American market with Bus Stop.
Nash has always been inspired by American
music, and fell in love with the country
the minute he arrived. “The first time that
I came, in 1965, to play at the Paramount
Theatre in Times Square in New York, I
swore that I would live here in America,” he
says. “I’ve lived here almost 50 years now.”
In 1968, Nash left The Hollies to form
Crosby, Stills & Nash with David Crosby from
The Byrds and Stephen Stills from Buffalo
Springfield. The trio first sang together at
a party in Joni Mitchell’s living room. “The
Hollies, The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield
“I loved Hank
Williams’ song
writing. It’s not as
easy to write simple
music as you may
think.”
Country music 63
graham nash
“None of us are talking to [David]
Crosby and we don’t want to,” Nash
told the Star Tribune earlier this year.
“That’s the way it is, I’m afraid.”
were decent harmony bands, but when
David, Stephen and I sang together it was a
completely different sound. What we tried
to do was make three voices into one, and
I think we were quite successful at that.”
The trio found immediate success with their
first, self-titled album and the enduring
single Marrakesh Express, which Nash had
written and first recorded with The Hollies –
although their version was never released.
Soon afterwards, the trio recruited Neil
Young to become Crosby, Stills, Nash &
Young, and the quartet went on to even
greater success with the album Deja Vu and
hits including Teach Your Children and Our
House. “When we finished the first record,
I think we instinctively knew it was going to
be popular,” Nash explains. “But the band
on the record was basically Stephen. He
played piano, lead guitar, rhythm guitar,
“It’s a compliment
that my music has
lasted so long. All
of those songs are
still relevant today”
64 Country music
bass and B3 organ. So how were we going
to go out and play live? That’s why we
decided to get a fourth person to join.
“I was very much against it. I knew that
Neil was a great writer and singer, but we
had just created this three-part blend and I
didn’t want to mess with that – I wanted to
explore it. And I’d never met Neil before, I
didn’t know whether I could be his friend.”
A breakfast meeting was arranged to
introduce the musicians. “And after that
breakfast, there was no doubt that Neil
was going to be in the band. He was funny
and self assured. I said to him at the end
of the breakfast: ‘Tell me one reason you
should be in this band.’ He said: ‘Have
you ever heard me and Stephen play
guitar together?’ I said okay because I had,
of course, with Buffalo Springfield.”
There was always an element of political
or social comment in Nash’s songs and
it’s something of a mixed blessing for
him that some of them still resonate
as strongly as they did in the 70s.
“As a writer, it’s a compliment that my
music has lasted this long,” he reflects. “But
holy f***, it’s a drag still having to sing
Military Madness, Chicago or Immigration
Man. All of those songs are incredibly
relevant today. It’s one of the things that
Trump’s doing to America that I don’t like.”
Sadly, a major falling out between the
members in 2014 means the always volatile
CSNY are unlikely to perform together
again. Their music continues to live on, with
plenty of country fans – in 1994, CSN even
re-recorded Teach Your Children with guest
vocals from Suzy Bogguss, Alison Krauss
and Kathy Mattea for AIDS Awareness
album Red Hot + Country. And now, Nash’s
own new retrospective, Over The Years,
presents some of his best songs, including
Marrakesh Express and Immigration Man,
both in their finished form and as a series
of previously unreleased demos. Nash will
be performing material from all corners
of his musical past when he tours the UK
in July, including songs from his most
recent solo album, The Path Tonight.
“I’ve got a lot of music to play,” says the
singer, who looks a good 20 years younger
than his 76 years. “I’ve been starting some of
the shows with Bus Stop and it puts people
in a really good mood. My job as a musician
is this: I need to give them good value for the
hard-earned money that they’ve paid. I need to
talk about the world in which we live – which
I do – and most importantly I want to see
them smiling on the way out of the concert.
That’s when I know I’ve done my job.”
Graham Nash headlines SummerTyne
Americana Festival 20-22 July
 LONG ROAD FESTIVAL
S tanford H all , L ei c estershire ,
7 - 9 S e p te m b er
Lee Ann Womack – her new album
The Lonely, The Lonesome &
The Gone is a country-soul
sizzler and this is a rare
chance to see the star live
in the UK.
Angaleena Presley – the
fiesty Pistol Annie is
always a hit here:
expect plenty of sass SUMMERTYNE AMERICANA FESTIVAL
and belting tracks S age G ateshead , G ateshead Q uay s ,
from the outstanding 2 0 - 2 2 J uly
Wrangled album. Graham Nash – see our interview feature on page 62.
The Shires – the best-selling Sam Palladio – Nashville’s Gunnar Scott proves his talent outside
UK girl-boy country duo the box.
bring their party-time country Shawn Colvin – Grammy winning Americana trailblazer showcases
tunes to a field! her stellar songcraft.
Brent Cobb – see our interview PLUS Natalie Merchant, Steve Earle, Kelly Willis, Robert Vincent,
feature on page 52. Yola Carter and more.
PLUS Billy Bragg, Aaron Watson, sagegateshead.com
Danielle Bradbery, William The
Conquerer, Catherine
McGrath, Kashena
CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL
Cherr y H inton H all ,
Sampson, Danni Ca m b ridge , 2 - 5 A ugust
Nicholls, Worry John Prine – The master songwriter makes a rare
Dolls and more UK appearance.
thelongroad. First Aid Kit – Folk country pop from the
com lauded Scandinavian sisters.
Beth Nielsen Chapman – Leading lady of
country-folk confessionals.
PLUS Rosanne Cash, John Moreland,
MILLPORT COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL Rhiannon Giddens, Darlingside
I sle O f Cu m b rae , S c otland , and many more
7 - 9 S e p te m b er cambridgelivetrust.co.uk
Jesse Dayton – see our interview feature on page 50
Ashley Campbell – daughter of the legendary Glen
brings her dazzling musicianship, honeyed vocals and
country-pop sensibilities back to the UK.
The Wandering Hearts – recently returned from
touring the US with Nashville king Marty Stuart, the
UK Americana quartet are hot stuff.
PLUS Robert Vincent, Jess And The Bandits, Jerry
Harmon, Liv Austen, Red Sky July, Jawbone,
Raintown and more.
millportcountrymusic.com

UNDERNEATH THE STARS

Cinderhill Far m , Barnsle y,
y or k shire 2 0 - 2 2 J uly
Steve Earle & The Dukes – reunited with his band, the
incomparable Earle will be dipping into his 30 years
of alt-country rebel rousers and ballads.
PLUS Kate Rusby, LAU, George Hinchcliff’s
Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain, Grace
Petrie, Melrose Quartet and more. NASHVILLE MEETS LONDON
Underthestarsfest.co.uk Canada S quare Par k , E 1 4 , 2 8 - 2 9 J uly
Tyminski – See our interview feature on page 56
Dylan Schneider – Rising 18-year-old singer-songwriter mentored by Brett Eldredge
PLUS The Worry Dolls, The Adelaides, Sam Palladio, Two Ways Home, Holloway
Road and more. (Note: this two-day festival is free!)  nashvillemeetslondon.com

Country music 65
COWBOY JUNKIES

Cowboy Junkies return with their first

new material in six years – and this time
they’re cranking up the volume…

The T i e s
Th a t B i n d 30 years on
fro m th e ir b reakthroug
of London a
h, C
nd
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t
w
h
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kies discuss
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g
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atte rs , th e ir lo ve
u m All T hat Reckonin
family m alb
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pla Helen M Jero
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Words by

66 COUNTRY MUSIC
 cowboy junkies

Heather Pollock
I
t’s hard to believe that the Cowboy
Junkies have been around for over three
decades. Led by guitarist Michael
Timmins, his sister Margo on vocals, their
brother Peter on drums, with lifelong friend
Alan Anton on bass, they’ve made waves in
their native Canada and the States, and have a
particularly strong affinity with the UK and
especially London.
Michael and Alan were in London in their
late teens, during the 1970s punk scene, which
inspired them to start making their own music.
“We were the perfect age,” remembers Michael,
“and that grabbed hold of us. The whole
do-it-yourself attitude of the punk scene really
took us, way before Cowboy Junkies, with
other bands.” He had his horizons broadened
further when he got a job at the Record & Tape
Exchange in Notting Hill, working there for
three years. “That opened up the world of
music, all the different genres and people I’d
never heard of, because so many well-educated
music people worked at those stores. I still feed
on the education I got there.” He’s excited
about coming back to the UK in November to
tour, now their kids are getting older, and
plans to visit more regularly, maybe annually,
“because we’ve always done really well there,
especially in London.”
Margo also spent a lot of time here, visiting
her brother and seeing all sorts of bands. “We
had a lot of good times in London, before
family and children, when you were free to do
whatever you wanted!” Her fondest memory

Country music 67
COWBOY JUNKIES
Margo takes the mic at London’s
Dominion Theatre in 1990 shortly after
the recording of The Caution Horses
is seeing “probably the best gig in my entire
life” on one visit. “I got off the plane, I’m
jet-lagged and Mike said: ‘We’re going to a
show.” He said he’d never heard of them, but
they’re called The Birthday Party and we gotta
see them. So we went, and Nick Cave and his
boys just blew my mind. Sensational, I was
lucky enough to be at the right age, and saw a
lot of great bands that were changing music.
To stand in a room and hear music that
no-one’s ever heard sung or played that way
before – and the grit and the grime and the
darkness – you could taste it, it was so intense.
It totally blew my mind.”
FAMILY REUNION
Cowboy Junkies records – like the country-
tinged Trinity Session (including Hank
Williams and Patsy Cline covers) and The
Caution Horses (with its Neil Young
Powderfinger cover) – have influenced the
likes of Ryan Adams and the Be Good Tanyas,
and are drenched in atmosphere. So it’s no
surprise that Michael’s written film scores like
Maudie (“I love doing them”) and produced
“We’ve never allowed things to to get to
the point where somebody walks away.
We just won’t let it happen”
MARGO TIMMINS
68 COUNTRY MUSIC
Ian Dickson/Redferns
other bands, while Margo’s made a solo album,
Margo’s Corner, of her favourite covers. But
they always come back to the Junkies, once
they synchronise schedules. “Logistics is half
the battle,” says Michael, “to get all four of us
in one spot and focused in the same direction,
that’s the big key these days.”
There must surely be tensions when three
quarters of the band are related? Margo laughs
and says they keep going because they love
what they’re doing. “It’s still as much fun and
it’s more creative now, because we can play
better and do things quicker. When we’ve got
to the point where we’re mad at each other or
we’re fighting, the bottom line is that it’s better
to fix the fight, get over it and move on, than
allow it to destroy us. We’ve never allowed
things to get to the point where somebody
walks away. We just won’t let it happen.”
Michael agrees: “On the family side, the
three of us have our disputes and issues, but
we’re always able to talk to each other. Even if
other things go sideways, once we start playing
we know this is what it’s all about. If there are
issues to resolve, we know it’s worth getting
through them and making things better,
because otherwise we’ll lose the ability to do
this. We don’t dwell on stuff; none of us are
brooders. We get through it.”
Each of their albums has had a theme, and
Michael says All That Reckoning is summed
up by its title. “There’s been a lot of personal,
social and political reckoning. People are
coming face to face with ideas and institutions
and social situations that have been taken for
granted for a long time and are beginning to
dissolve or be torn apart – for good or bad.
And on a personal level I’m getting older, my
kids are leaving home, my parents are dying.
So the social and the personal began to collide,
and I noticed these themes of dissolution and
disintegration of a lot of things… and with that
comes regrowth and rebirth, so that’s the other
side of it.”
When it came to making the album,
everything was as organic as their early days
– apart from factoring in spouses, kids and
mortgages. “These days it’s more planned,”
says Michael. “There’ll be a few days of
recording and I’ll get out of town and do some
writing, but as far as the record evolves it’s the
same. With this record, one slight difference is
that I wrote about half the songs from bass
melodies – chord ideas that Alan put together
for me – so I used some as templates, rather
than starting from scratch.
“One thing that hasn’t changed, is that we
like to capture as much of the song live off the
floor in the studio as we can: the drums,
primary guitar, bass and vocals all at once.
Margo usually wants to re-do her vocals, but
we want to get the essence and energy and
basic feel of the song. We capture that, then
add or subtract.”
According to Margo, she has total freedom
with her vocals, which is key to their singer
and songwriter team. “Mike’s not a big
egomaniac, he’s always been really generous,”
she says. “His belief is that when he writes a
song, that’s his expression – it’s done. He
hands it to me to sing and express it from my
life. Everybody might interpret it a little
differently, and it goes to another level where
you bring your experience to the song. He’s
always let me do it my way, to the point that
sometimes I wish he’d tell me! What does this
song mean?”
Famously, Margo has often suffered from
nerves playing live. “I wouldn’t call it stage
fright, because that’s a serious problem that
can affect people to the point that they can’t
play. But I’m always nervous before going on.
I’m always doubtful, with that long walk from
 cowboy junkies

All This

Heather Pollock
Reckoning
T h e k e y tr a c k s o n
Cowboy Junkies’ new
album explained by
Michael (and Margo)

W h e n W e Arr i v e
“This encapsulates all the themes on
the record with lots of ideas: some
things crumbling, some building up. It’s
about coming to terms with what’s
happening in the world.”

W o o d e n St a i r s
“That’s about regret, and I wanted to
keep it very sparse and haunting. Like
a dream.”

M o u n t a i n Str e a m
“That song’s based on a William Blake
poem and doesn’t have a redemptive
side. It’s about somebody facing their
life and realising that everything that
they thought was important wasn’t. And
that everything that was important is
now gone.”
The Possessed
“It’s about obsession and possession.
It’s almost a reverse love song with a
weird twist.”
Shining Teeth
“I’m not religious, but we were raised
Catholic and the imagery is very strong.
There’s a lot of sadness, but also a
redemptive side to it. That’s the idea of
reckoning, where you have to deal with
an issue and come through the other
side or it destroys you.”
Nose Before Ear
“To me it’s about not following your
dreams, just doing what you’re
supposed to – which has irritated me
my whole life: that you have to go to
school, graduate, go to university, get a
job! I hate that concept and it’s kept
people down for a long time.” (Margo)
Cowboy Junkies await their return to
the UK in November – with dates in
Manchester (10th) and London (11th)
the side of the stage to my microphone. But
once I start singing I’m totally in my zone. I
know what I’m doing; I’m happy and
comfortable and there’s this sense of real
contentment. Where in the old days it was a
bit crazy.”
Both Margo and Michael seem to be having
far more fun now. “We’ve been doing it so
long,” says Michael, “and when you get older
you begin to appreciate things. We go out on
the road and play music for people. That’s
pretty great. When we were younger we were
very driven and ambitious – you put your head
down and do it, you don’t stop and savour it
much. As you get older you realise that it’s
amazing what we’re able to do here.”
“You get to the point where you think, I
don’t care; I’m having fun!” adds Margo. “I
know I’m doing my best, and if you don’t like
that, too bad. Whereas when I was younger
you’d get a bad review and it would be
upsetting and terrible, now it’s like, whatever.”
Neither sibling spends time dwelling on
their legacy, but one wonders whether, like the
Velvet Underground, Cowboy Junkies’
influence is bigger than their actual sales?
Michael repeats the received wisdom that the
Velvets only sold 100,000 records when they
were around, but everyone who bought a
record formed a band. “People point that out
to us, but I never hear it myself. It’s not
unusual for me to hear a song and go: ‘I really
like this’. And people say, that’s because they
sound like you! I never pick up on it. If that’s
happening, that’s the biggest compliment.”
Margo mainly wants Cowboy Junkies to be
remembered for doing things their way. “We
never played the industry game, maybe to a
point where we’re not as wealthy as we could
have been... Success to us has always been
longevity. To play music the way we want to,
for as long as we want to, not to allow the
industry to crush us – which it does to a lot of
bands – or call the shots. And they never have.
We’re putting out another album that we’re
just as excited about as our first one. To me
that’s incredible. It’s hard work and we still get
crabby, but it’s still fresh and fun!”

“It’s not unusual for me to hear a song

and go: ‘I really like this’. And people say,
that’s because it sounds just like you!”
Michael Timmins
Country music 69
songwriter special

Gretchen Peters has earned her place

amongst Nashville’s songwriting elite with
a series of stunning releases and songs

70 Country music

lady of
the dance
With a flourishing solo career alongside a catalogue of hits for George Strait,
Martina McBride, Faith Hill and others, Gretchen Peters is a master of the craft.
But, as she tells Country Music, she’d rather be cleaning the oven…
B
orn in Bronxville, New York and
raised in Boulder, Colorado, Gretchen
Peters finally moved to Nashville to
ply her trade as a songwriter in the late
1980s. Her carefully crafted compositions,
which often contain darkly emotional
mini-dramas, have since been recorded by
everyone from Kenny Rogers and Randy
Travis, to Etta James and Shania Twain.
A delightful presence on Twitter
(@gretchenpeters), Peters tours constantly,
accompanied by her keyboard-playing
husband Barry Walsh (@barelywashed) and
also conducts regular ‘Songwriting From the
Inside Out’ workshops. Inducted into the
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame four years
ago, her other awards include CMA Song of
the Year and AMA UK Album of the Year. She
has just released her eighth studio album, the
highly-acclaimed Dancing With The Beast,
her first collection of original material since
2016’s Blackbirds.
Do you feel that there was one song
that changed your fortunes forever?
Independence Day [a hit first for Martina
McBride, in 1994] was a breakthrough song
and it changed my life in many ways, but
honestly, for me, the first song I could hold up
to anyone was On A Bus To St Cloud. I felt at
least I’ve written one that will stand up to
anything. The Matador was another. I played
that to Rodney Crowell and he sat there on
the floor of the studio and wept. I thought:
“I played The Matador to Rodney
Crowell and he sat on the studio floor
and wept. I thought: ‘I can stop now!’”
nashville’s
premier
wordsmith
Words by Helen M Jerome
‘I’ve made Rodney Crowell cry, I can stop
now!’ Those are high watermarks and they
don’t come very often – you’re lucky if you
can write a handful of those songs in your life.
Dancing With The Beast has a
powerful narrative thread. How has
your approach evolved from
when you first started out?
Back then I was concerned
with finding the answers
and now I’ve realised that
the questions are more
.6
interesting. Posing the
questions or just
S : No
describing the scene
without having the answers
SERIE
is more open-ended, and
you invite somebody inside
the song. I’m a big fan of songs
that don’t tell you everything. I
learned that the harder I listened to real
masters like Leonard Cohen. Around the time
of the Hello Cruel World album [2012], I
became consciously aware that I needed to dig
deeper and make myself more uncomfortable
– that a facility for songwriting isn’t enough
to make people feel at the deepest level. You
think you’re revealing yourself, and it’s scary,
but what you’re actually doing is revealing the
listener to themselves. There was power in
those songs because I’d said things that we all
worry about at four in the morning, out loud.
The songs deepened a lot.
Gretchen Peters
Do you see a big difference between
writing alone and co-writing?
Co-writing is qualitatively different and I am
not naturally inclined towards it, so I have
very few people that I am comfortable writing
with. Ben Glover [Irish singer-songwriter, and
co-author of Peters’ Blackbirds] is one of
them, because he has a way of being
there when he needs to be. One of
the primary irritations about
co-writing is that if
somebody’s sitting there
looking at you, there’s this
expectation that golden
words are going to fall from
you, but that pressure shuts
me down rather than opens
me up. I have to go away and
stew about things – let them
gestate. Mary Gauthier co-writes
a lot more than I do, but she respects
my process. We wrote How You Learn To
Live Alone [which Jonathan Jackson recorded
for the Nashville TV series] about Mary’s
break-up and sent it to Buddy Miller, and
they recorded it. We didn’t sit down and write
it for the TV show, I was just helping Mary
through her broken heart!
When did you know you were a writer?
I learned to read when I was four and I was
writing poetry as soon as I could write. I was
precocious! Our whole house was filled with
words. My father was a writer and we had
massive debates at the dinner table every
night. We had one of those big, unabridged
dictionaries and inevitably at dinner someone
would end up going to the unabridged
dictionary to prove a point.
Our primary school had a literary magazine;
you submitted poems and stories and
Country music 71
songwriter special

about country when I was 17, which is stories:

Peters at an early show in
Columbia, South Carolina lyrics first, simple chords, simple melodies
that provide a framework for the story. They
are cousins to me and there wasn’t much
difference between them. Plus, I’ve always
loved singing harmony more than singing
lead. Harmonies are just pure joy, going back
to the Everly Brothers and groups like the
Louvin Brothers that inspired them, who were
country acts and had this two-part harmony.

Was there a particular country album

that changed your direction?
Yes! Gram [Parsons] and Emmylou [Harris]
came along with their two-part harmony, and
when I heard their Grievous Angel album I
stopped in my tracks and made a left turn
right there. I was this hippy kid in Boulder,
Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Colorado and certainly the only country music

fan that I knew. People thought I was weird,
but I loved it. I just fell head over heels in love
with it. And it was sad too!

How do you judge if a song is best for

they’d publish them. I wrote about Father
Bear finding spring, and flowers. But there
was always a trace of melancholy. I wrote one
called The Little House Is Dark Now when my
parents were going through their divorce. My
mother took that poem to her psychologist
and it made him cry. I guess I’ve been doing
that for a long time!
Why country music? You Ain’t Going Nowhere, and all the
I’m sure my family thought I was crazy,
because we had no background in country at
all. I had never heard it up until the time I
was 13. The only brush I’d ever had with
country music was seeing this larger-than-life
woman advertising laundry detergent – which
turned out to be Dolly Parton.
I was a dyed-in-the-wool folky. I picked up
the guitar at seven and I was playing Bob
Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon songs.
Fast forward 10 years and it’s the late 70s in
Colorado and the hippy country-rock
movement is in full sway. Bob Dylan wrote
hippy-country bands were playing that. So it
didn’t seem like a big leap at all. What
appealed to me about folk music at the age of
seven is the same thing that appealed to me
you or for someone else?
Usually I can only tell if it’s something that I
know I want to record. The rest of the time I
throw the cards up in the air and they land
where they do. There’s always a point with
every album where you write a song – and
you were always going that way – but the
song is like a signpost.
Do you ever get requests to write for a
very specific subject?
I worked for a whole year on a project with
Bryan Adams for an animated DreamWorks
film about a horse, called Spirit: Stallion Of
The Cimarron. It was the most specific,
demanding, interesting year of my life in
terms of writing. They’d say: ‘We have 36

“What appealed to me about folk music, seconds and the song needs to say this, this
and this.’ There was no dialogue in the movie,
is the same thing that appealed to me so the songs and action had to move the story
forward. We had no artistic license, so
about country – the stories” although it was good for my discipline, it

Independence Day
place, I knew that no-one would ever record it
if it ended that way. Luckily, instinct won out,
but it was literally a year and a half of picking it
Martina McBride (1994)
up and putting it down. There’s no happy
“I wrote the chorus first and it’s ending, so I finally finished it thinking it’s
an exclamation. It doesn’t tell definitely not material for a Nashville artist.

1
you the story, so I had to sit with
it and figure out what was going
on as the story started to come
into my mind. The hardest part to write was the
end. I knew in my bones how it ended, but it
was very dark. And from a purely practical
“Martina was the first or second artist to hear
it and she was relentless in her belief and
support. She knew what she wanted to say, but
was also new and didn’t know she couldn’t do
something like that. I’m grateful to her for
understanding that song and the power of it.”

72 Country music
 Gretchen Peters

On A Bus To St Cloud was a

pivotal song in Peters’ career. Her
version can be found on her 1996
debut album The Secret Of Life

On A Bus To
St C l o u d
T r i s ha Y e a r w oo d
(1995)

“It was snowing in

Nashville and I

2
was sitting in my
office looking out
the window, and I
was inspired by that. I’d been
working on an idea about the
postcards you keep in your mind
– not those you actually send from
all these different places – and
what they evoke. I had the places
mapped out: New Orleans, Los
Angeles… I was looking at a map,
when my eyes drifted west to St
Cloud, in Minnesota and I
thought: ‘What a name, I have to
use so that!’ Place names are so
great for inspiration.
On any song, I remember the
nuts-and-bolts hard work that I
did and I can tell you where I was
and what I was doing. But the
lines that I’m most proud of, and
the ones I wouldn’t change, I
never have any memory of writing.
And this is an early song where
that’s true. I don’t know where I
got the line: “I wept in the arms of
Jesus for the choice you made.”
My theory is that comes from
such a deep, subconscious place
that you couldn’t have any
memory because it just comes out
– and if you’re lucky you catch it
and write it down. The rest of that
song flowed pretty quickly.”
Gina R. Binkley

Country music 73
songwriter special
the Secret
Of Life
Fa i t h H i ll (1999)
“The Secret Of Life
was the title song
3
of my first record
and Faith got a
copy of it and
recorded it a couple of years after.
That was one that I’d very
consciously saved for myself. I
thought that if there was a song
from my first record to introduce
people to who I am, then that
would be the one. My record
company signed me on the basis
of that song and, in their infinite
wisdom, never released it as a
single, which is possibly why my
record didn’t do very well! It’s what
I call a ‘list song’: the choruses are
just a series of lists, rooted in my
mom’s philosophy. I always credit
her for that song because her
philosophy of life was to find joy in
the little things.”
The Chill Of An
Early Fall
George Strait
trouble forming it into a full song. So I played
74 Country music
Onstage with Martina McBride, Sara
Evans and Aimee Mayo at Nashville’s
Marathon Music Works for US TV
concert series Front and Center
was hard and frustrating. I’m glad I did it, but
I’d probably never do it again.
The songs on Dancing With The Beast
feature strong female characters in
some intense situations. Are you able to
separate your life and art?
Oh yes, I’m not a sad, depressed person.
Sometimes people are surprised that I have a
sense of humour. They think I must be a
really dark person. But I’m not, and I have a
pretty healthy separation – I’m very driven,
but you have to be to do this thing!
Do you set yourself a target number of
songs that you have to meet?
I don’t. My target is just: ‘Please God, let me
write something!’ I find it really hard and I
don’t enjoy it. I’ve never been able to
understand people who say they love writing
songs and it’s their favourite thing. I find it
excruciating – I procrastinate all over the
(1991)
“I was the ‘midwife’ of that song.
I wrote it with my ex-husband
4
[Green Daniel], and he had
some really interesting, beautiful
components, but was having
Donn Jones/CMA
place. I’d rather clean the oven, because then
you look and see the oven is clean. But with a
song you look at it and say: ‘I don’t know what
it is, it probably sucks, or maybe not…’
How and when do ideas come to you?
Well, there’s two parts of writing. There’s the
explosive bit of getting wonderful ideas and
getting them down. That happens anywhere,
and often when I’m driving. Then there’s the
hammer and nails, when you have to get to
work. Often it’s part of the process: you get
this great idea and write half the chorus… you
just need a few more lines and you’ll be done!
Then you’re still trying to finish it six months
later. I do use a rhyming dictionary, and
though I seldom find anything in there, I keep
going back to it. Maybe there’s something
meditative about looking at all the words.
A lot of times I think in metaphors, and
with Independence Day I thought: ‘What a
great metaphor to set it in.’ There’s something
‘song doctor’, because sometimes if you are a
little bit outside of it you can see it better. He
was way too close. He had developed some
parts of that song and I took things and moved
them around. If you analyse the song, it’s very
weirdly put together – it’s not your standard
verse, chorus, verse, chorus song. It breaks a
couple of songwriting rules, but it still works
somehow. The Chill Of An Early Fall was my
first hit; it went straight to No. 3 [in the
Billboard Hot Country chart] and I thought:
‘Well, that was easy!’ Little did I know…”

Peters at the Country Music
Hall Of Fame’s ‘Poets And
Prophets: Legendary Country
Songwriters’ event in 2015
about it that puts me in mind of small towns
– it’s very ‘middle America’. And that’s where
that story took place in my mind: in the
middle of the country, in some small town.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
I always have eight or ten songs going at once
and if I feel like I’m beating a dead horse, I
move onto something else. I really believe you
can overhandle a song. It’s a fragile little thing
at the beginning of its life, and you can kill it
by overworking it. So I have three piles of
songs: one where I’m sure there’s something
there, in various degrees of finished-ness; a
second pile, that I’ll come back and look at
later; and the last pile is stuff I’m afraid to
throw away, but probably ought to! What
you’re always trying to do is open up your
intuitive channels and let the good lines come
out: the ones you’re never going to remember
where you were when you wrote them.
You’ve been helping songwriters for
some time now in your workshops.
Have you ever had a mentor yourself?
When I first moved to Nashville, I was lucky
enough to sign with a publisher who heard
something in me. I was told to co-write with
everybody in Nashville, as that was the only
way. But he saw me struggle – he could see
that the songs I was writing by myself were
better. So he took me aside and said: ‘You
don’t have to do this.’ I owe him such a huge
“I’ve tried to learn as much as possible
from Leonard Cohen. He’s at the top of
my Mount Olympus of songwriters”
Gretchen Peters
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall Of Fame And Museum
You Don’t
Even Know
Who I Am
P at t y L o v ele s s (1994)
“It’s a song that I
debt. He wasn’t a songwriter, but he gave me wrote in one winter
5
an open door and I went through. afternoon when I
was sitting on the
Do you have a songwriting idol? living room floor, in
I’ve tried to learn as much as possible from a little patch of sunlight that was
Leonard Cohen. He’s at the absolute top of my creeping around. I followed it,
Mount Olympus of songwriters – Joan Of Arc moving every half an hour to
is one song that I wish I’d written. I also really where it moved. I think I have that
rate Jeffrey Foucault – he sends me stuff that ¾ time thing going on; it was so
he’s written and I never fail to be blown away. hypnotic, the words fell out of me.
I wasn’t entirely conscious that
Where do you find your inspiration? one verse is completely from her
I focus on books and films. For instance, all of point of view, and the other one’s
Zora Neale Hurston’s books put characters in from his point of view, but I’m
my head: like in the song Disappearing Act. proud of that, because there are
Just the quality of her women in Their Eyes always two stories to a break-up.”
Were Watching God – their toughness and
fierceness. Films are really important to me
too and I approach songwriting as if I was
making a little movie. I think: ‘Where are we? that the only possible perspective that could
What does it look like? What’s the scenery be objective and really understand a person
like?’ A good example is Woman On The would be a cat, so I kinda rewrote the movie
Wheel, which I wrote after seeing the French in my head from the cat’s point of view.
film called Girl On A Bridge, about a girl
who’s about to kill herself, then runs into a What’s you favourite line from one of
carnival and a knife-thrower, and they go off your own songs?
together. I had to write about it. “He is bull and matador/And I’m the mother
I wrote a song, Picasso And Me, after seeing and the whore” – from The Matador.
a film about Picasso. I didn’t think much of
the movie, but it got me thinking about the Which award are you most proud of?
primary fire that burns in someone to make Definitely the AMA UK Album Of The Year for
art. If you’re involved with that person, can Blackbirds. I’ve won CMAs, I’ve been
you really understand who they are? I thought nominated for songwriting Grammys – and
I’m proud of them – but to win an award for
the whole work, including the album itself, the
production, and the songs, meant the world.
Any parting advice to budding writers?
My advice would be to do it for the love. Don’t
do it for any other reason.
Country music 75
classic album  Country Charley Pride

Words by Paul Sexton

Charley Pride
Country Charley Pride
1966 RCA Victor Records
In a time of radical change in the United States, Charley Pride’s 1966 debut album
caused much consternation in the more conservative corridors of Nashville.
Country Music explores the record that announced country’s first black superstar...

C
harley Pride’s dream was to be the
world’s best baseball player. It never
came true, but he ended up knocking it
out of the park anyway.
A sharecropper’s son, one of a pride of 11 who
grew up on a farm in Sledge, Mississippi, Pride
made it to the Negro American League in
Memphis and Detroit, did his US Army service
from 1956-58 and then resumed his sports
career. The plan – to hit the big time, break Babe
Ruth’s record and then go into music – was lofty
enough, but what happened instead was a story
of racial integration that was even more
incredible. It would move Willie Nelson to kiss
Pride on stage in a show of solidarity – and it
began with the groundbreaking 1966 album,
Country Charley Pride.
As Pride later recalled to the counterculture
newspaper The Great Speckled Bird, his route to
Music City was a slow one and there’s no
denying that his skin tone was a factor. “The late
Red Foley and Red Sovine was up on a show in
1963, put me on the second half of it and
encouraged me to go to Nashville. They were
76 Country music
very shocked to hear me. I had local friends
who’d say, ‘You’re pretty good, why don’t you go
to Nashville?’ But I never gave it really any big
thoughts ’til they [Foley and Sovine] said it.
“I said, ‘Why not? They’re in the business,
maybe I ought to look into it.’ So I auditioned,
RCA, Chet Atkins, and they decided, and the rest
is history. They went out and bought me a
steel-covered suit.”
That 1965 pact – championed by the man who
had heard Pride’s demos, Jack Johnson – was a
big enough deal to merit a Billboard news story
a few months later. “A major league baseball
player has given up that career, has been signed
to a recording contract by RCA Victor and is
trying to make it as a country music artist,”
“His innate feel pioneered in removing
the colour line from country music.”
billboard MAGAZINE in 1970
wrote the magazine. “The unique part of it is he
is the first Negro ever signed to a long-term
contract by a major label.”
A Change Is Gonna Come
With the civil rights movement coming to the
boil, Pride’s signing to RCA Victor was indeed a
cultural watershed. In 1966 alone, Stokely
Carmichael first used the term “black power” in
a speech, Dr Martin Luther King rallied the
Chicago Open Housing Movement and, later in
the year, the Black Panther Party was formed.
There was change everywhere. Deford Bailey
had become the first African-American to
perform at the Grand Ole Opry, which Pride
would do for the first time in 1967. He was
 Country Charley Pride  classic album

Classic
Anlob.1u1 m

Jeremy Westby PR

In 1952, Pride was pitching

for the Memphis Red Sox and
by 1966 he was signed to RCA
classic album  Country Charley Pride
Pride toasted his 25th year
as an Opry member with two
extended sets in May this year
introduced by Roy Acuff as “a good friend from
Mississippi, a boy who lives country music.”
Acuff himself had had a black band member and
then Ray Charles built the bridge between
rhythm & blues and country with 1962’s Modern
Sounds In Country And Western Music. But in
the volatile political environment of the
mid-60s, RCA’s commitment to Pride was still
significant indeed.
So it was that, early in 1966, the singer went
into the studio with his producer – the
omnipresent and influential ’Cowboy’ Jack
Clement – to start work on the LP that became
Country Charley Pride.
By April, they were back for a second studio
booking, just before Pride joined other artists
– including Johnny Paycheck – for a radio tour
visiting stations across Montana, where Charley
had worked in construction while expanding his
reputation in semi-pro baseball.
78 Country music
Rachael Black
The first song to emerge from the sessions,
as Pride’s debut single, was The Snakes Crawl
At Night, written by Fred Burch and Mel
Tillis, the latter by then a country hitmaker in
his own right. With pedal steel detail, it was
unalloyed country and Pride’s voice fitted it
like a glove. Even if RCA Victor made little of
Charley Pride Country Charley Pride
Released 1966 Recorded at RCA Victor’s Nashville Sound Studio Produced by Chet Atkins, Jack Clement and Bob Ferguson
Recording Engineer Jim Malloy Bass Junior Huskey Drums Jerry Carrigan Fiddle Calvin Stoneman Guitars Harold
Bradley, Herman Wade, Jerry Hubbard, Wayne Moss, Charley Pride Piano Hargus Robbins Steel guitar Lloyd Green
Side 1 Side 2
1 Busted written by Harlan Howard
2 Distant Drums Cindy Walker
3 Detroit City Danny Dill / Mel Tillis
4 Yonder Comes A Sucker Jim Reeves
5 Green, Green Grass Of Home Curly Putman
6 That’s The Chance I’ll Have To Take Jackson King
At RCA Victor, Charley was
second only to Elvis Presley in
terms of record sales
the singer’s heritage in their publicity,
Clement was complimentary about their
support when he spoke to Billboard for their
World Of Country special at the end of
October 1966, having heard the demos via
Pride’s manager Jack Johnson.
“He played them one night for me. I decided
to cut Pride. We did Snakes Crawl At Night and
I took the song to Chet Atkins. It was daring on
the part of RCA Victor and I didn’t really think
they’d release it. But they did and they say
they’re going to stick with him and promote him
until he’s a big artist.
“But the guy is one of the best country artists
I’ve heard in my life... he’s sincere about it.
Country music is all he knows. He grew up
listening to the Grand Ole Opry.”
Snakes Crawl At Night failed to make the
charts, despite Billboard giving it a ‘Chart
Spotlight’ review for singles it earmarked for
success. But RCA kept their nerve, including the
singer in a trade advertisement before the
album’s release that proclaimed “America’s
favourite Country & Western stars are on RCA
Victor.” It listed him alongside the likes of Eddy
Arnold, Chet Atkins, Don Gibson, Hank Snow,
Porter Wagoner and both Waylon and Willie.
As if to echo Ray Charles’ role as progenitor of
this cultural intermingling, the emergence of
Country Charley Pride began with a take on
Brother Ray’s 1963 top three soul hit and Top 5
pop crossover, Busted. This returned
redoubtable Nashville composer Harlan
Howard’s song to its country origins.
1 Before I Met You Charles L Seitz / Joe Lewis / Elmer Rader
2 Folsom Prison Blues Johnny Cash
3 The Snakes Crawl At Night Fred Burch / Mel Tillis
4 Miller’s Cave Jack Clement
5 The Atlantic Coastal Line Fred Burch / Mel Tillis
6 Got Leavin’ On Her Mind Jack Clement
 Country Charley Pride  classic album
bD a rei u stRw een you and me
ucker on the enduring influence of Charley Pride
“One of the things Charley did that was cool was taking songs that you wouldn’t expect, but
that was something that was happening then. Music was so separated, but a good song was a
good song. Same with Al Green. A lot of people don’t realise, but if you listen to his records,
every one had a classic country song on it – For The Good Times or I’m So Lonesome I Could
Cry – and they’d do it in a way that’s nothing like the original. That’s what Charley did and I
love it. He makes it look effortless and for
him, it is. I’ve seen Charley sing at the Opry.
He gets up there and that’s who he is. That’s
the thing I’ve always loved about Charley, he
knew who he was back then and he was
never trying to be anybody else. We’ve talked
about what it was like for him and what it
was like for me. We realised we were two
people that stepped out of the box we were
supposed to be put in and did something
that wasn’t being done on a regular basis.
Every time I see him I go, ‘You look 40 years
old! You look exactly the way you did on all
those album covers. No grey hairs, nothing.’”
This late-60s portrait
appeared on the sleeve of
1968’s Make Mine Country LP
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
It’s not always remembered that five months
before Ray Charles made the charts with his
soulfully orchestrated version of Busted, Johnny
Cash and the Carter Family had hit the country
listings with theirs, featuring Maybelle Carter’s
autoharp. Pride’s reading was all fiddle and
twang, underpinned by his assured baritone.
The album’s song choices placed Pride
slap-bang in the middle ground of country, with
material on which his vocals could shine and
with traditional C&W production to match.
Distant Drums was a confident reading of the
Cindy Walker song that had only just spent a
month atop the country chart as a posthumous
anthem – and international hit – for Jim
Reeves. Charley also remade a Reeves hit of a
much earlier period: Jim’s own jaunty
composition Yonder Comes A Sucker.
Other existing hits visited by Pride and
encouraged by Clement, included Detroit City
– made famous by Bobby Bare and later to be
turned from country to pop by Tom Jones – and
another song that would soon be added to Jones’
lifetime repertoire: Curly Putman’s Green,
Green Grass Of Home. Porter Wagoner had
introduced that perennial tearjerker to the
country crowd in 1965. Charley also delved back
into the 1950s to address Johnny Cash’s Sun-era
signature Folsom Prison Blues, and that was an
appropriate choice. In a 1971 article in The
Sunday Times, Cash recalled telling Pride that
his colour wouldn’t stand in the way of his
success. “I ran into him one night, when I was
roamin’ around Chicago,” said the Man In Black.
“I told him, if that was what he really wanted, if
he really felt it... that’s all there is to country
music. If people know it comes from the heart,
no matter how prejudiced they are, they’ll invite
you home to a chicken dinner.”
Honesty & Pride
Pride himself knew that this was the artform of
the American heartland. “Country music is the
music of the real down to earth people,” he once
said. “It is the music of their heartaches, of their
disappointments, of their courage and of their
joys. Country music is above all honest.”
The album also featured That’s The Chance
I’ll Have To Take, the Jackson King song that
had given Waylon Jennings a first, but very
modest, country chart appearance in 1965.
There was the story of Miller’s Cave, which had
been a country Top 10-er twice – for Hank Snow
in 1960 and Bobby Bare in ’64 – and another
Burch/Tillis tune recently cut by Snow, The
Atlantic Coastal Line. Before I Met You,
previously recorded by Porter Wagoner, became
Pride’s second non-chart single, while Jack
Clement’s song Got Leavin’ On Her Mind
brought the album to a stylish conclusion.
Focusing on the music and eschewing the race
issue altogether, Billboard’s review positively
Country music 79
 classic album  Country Charley Pride
Pride’s latest album Music In
My Mind arrived in 2017, with
another planned for 2018
glowed. “The label is backing this artist to the
hilt to establish him as a major performer in the
field,” wrote the magazine. “And major
performer he’ll be; Pride has the feeling and the
talent and does a standout job here on Snakes
Come Out At Night, his first single; Folsom
Prison Blues and Got Leavin’ On Her Mind.’’
Despite the lack of singles action, the album
soon began to repay RCA Victor’s faith. It
entered the country chart, in the anchor No. 40
position, in the first week of November 1966,
alongside fellow new entries for The Best Of Tex
Ritter and labelmate Waylon Jennings’ second
LP for the company, Leavin’ Town.
Country Charley Pride went on to a No. 16
peak, spending a robust 23 weeks on the
bestsellers. In the fast-moving release schedule
of the day, a new, non-album single, Just
Between You And Me, was soon doing the
rounds, and this time country radio
programmers bit. The song climbed to No. 9,
and the floodgates opened.
From that point on, in a sequence that seems
barely believable, every regular Charley Pride
single except one made the country Top 10 for
the next 17 years. That searing sequence
included 29 No.1s, starting with 1969’s All I
Have To Offer You (Is Me) and concluding in
1983 with Night Games. That’s not including
2016’s Forever Country, the all-star No.1
80 Country music
“Charley was that
guy who was
doing what we
weren’t supposed
to be doing.”
darius rucker
released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
Country Music Association, on which he was one
of 30 Nashville heavyweights.
With his debut album, Pride opened a door
which, in the past decade, Darius Rucker has
gratefully walked through as the next African
American to be fully embraced by the country
music community and the wider world. Growing
up in Charleston, South Carolina, Darius knew
that Charley was doing something important.
“That first album was one of the records my
mom had,” Rucker tells Country Music. “We
had one of those big hi-fis with the sliding door
and that was one of the records. To my
community, Charley was that guy who was doing
what we weren’t supposed to be doing. So I
listened and I thought that was great. That was
the Charley Pride record, I think. He had great
ones after that, but this album is – from start to
finish – classic.”
As early as 1970, Pride’s impression on
country music was so deep and wide that he was
the recipient of Billboard’s Trendsetter Award,
which recognised his “unique talents as a singer,
together with his innate feel of country music
[which] pioneered in removing the colour line
from country music.” That line remains happily
blurred, and thankfully, still active and touring
at 84, he’s still around to see it. In 2009, Pride
completed his odyssey from that sharecropper’s
farm to the White House, performing with
Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley and others. It was a
far cry from the first time a country act had set
foot there, when all-female string band the Coon
Creek Girls performed for President Roosevelt
and company in June of 1939.
On top of a Special Merit Award at the 2017
Grammys and shows in May this year to mark
25 years as a member of the Opry, one lesser-
known accolade strikes a further chord. It came
in a 2015 New York Times story about the
spread of country music’s popularity in Kenya,
in which a local hopeful named Pride as the one
artist, among all his heroes, that he dreamed of
sharing a stage with. Decades of success had
truly gone back to the source – and it all began
with Country Charley Pride.
 UK TOUR DATES
July 21      The Sage
                   Gateshead
July 23      Redgrave Theatre
                   Bristol
July 24      The Lexington
                   London
July 25      The Maze
                   Nottingham
July 27      The Met
                   Bury
July 28      Seven Arts
                   Leeds
July 29      Voodoo Room
                   Edinburgh 

“A startling album, perhaps her best yet. This should

interest anyone who loves roots music. 4/5” COUNTRY MUSIC
“What strikes you immediately is the power in Fuchs’ voice and the
steel and strength she brings to her tracks, elevating them to a whole
new level. Fuchs has delivered something magnificent. 4/5” MAVERICK
“Bourbon-voiced New Yorker Dana Fuchs sounds supremely confident
on a fourth album that explores Memphis soul. 8/10” CLASSIC ROCK

DANA
FUCHS
LOVE LIVES ON
AVAILABLE
EVERYWHERE
NOW
UK LIVE DATES
DISTRIBUTED BY
21.09.18 LONDON BORDERLINE MEMBRAN / THE ORCHARD / PROPER
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 L D O UT
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ORDER ONLINE AT SHOP.ANTHEM-PUBLISHING.COM

OR CALL UK 0844 856 0642 OVERSEAS +44 (0) 1371 853 609
new albums ★ reissues

Alex Lake
How our review
scores work…
Country Music magazine rates all the albums reviewed
out of five stars. When applicable, albums are rated within
the scope of an artist’s own work; we’re not endeavouring
to compare. We try and select only the best releases to
highlight each issue and we’ll only feature one-star albums
to act as a warning, but – as ever – all ratings and opinions
are those of the individual reviewers.

1 ★★★★★ Very poor and best avoided

2 ★★★★★ Sub-par, caution recommended

3 ★★★★★ Decent within its scope

4 ★★★★★ Very good

5 ★★★★★ An outstanding album

Reviewer key
JH Jamie Hailstone 
HMJ Helen M Jerome 
GC Garth Cartwright 
RH Rob Hughes
MG Megan Gnad 
PW Paddy Wells 
DD Del Day 
JS Johnny Sharp 
DW David West
PS Paul Sexton 
HY Henry Yates 
JM Joel McIver 
DE Dave Everley 
LB Lyndon Bolton 
NL Naomi Larsson
MS Mike Stephens

Country music 87
reviews albums

Ray Davies: “People that like the

first album understand where
it’s going. Album two is what
happens when they get there”

88 Country music

RAY DAVIES
OUR COUNTRY: AMERICANA ACT II
3 ★★★★★
The former Kinks frontman offers up further ruminations
on the culture that shaped a Muswell Hillbilly
S
ir Raymond Douglas Davies
has always known the
power of the theatre, and
just 14 months after the
end of act one — the acclaimed
Americana album that followed
his 2013 book of the same name
— the curtain rises on act two.
Once again, these are deeply
personal musings on the
transatlantic peregrinations that
have been part of Ray’s life for
decades, and occupied his
thoughts for most of this one. As
with the first installment, his
supporting players are those fine
practitioners of modern-day
Americana, the Jayhawks.
Davies has long been adept at
breathing new imagination into
the themes of his early
songwriting years. This album
continues the reflective motifs of
its predecessor, in which he is
his own Greek chorus, looking
down and re-evaluating his
younger self.
In some ways the work is made
more for the stage than the living
room – with its storyteller
narration and episodic structure
– so it’s no surprise to learn that
Davies is developing a
performance piece based on
both albums. But if you have any
“Once more, Davies is his own
Greek chorus, looking down and
Alex Lake
re-evaluating his younger self”
appreciation for his observational
skills (and who hasn’t?) then you
can’t fail to be stirred by these
characterisations.
The central irony – and one not
lost on its author – is that a young
man who came to represent the
pinnacle of British pop culture
with the Kinks, was
fundamentally informed by
imagery created thousands of
miles away. And that was before
he’d even heard rock’n’roll.
“Americana,” he writes. “It
started as a flickering image
through an old movie projector.”
The album sets out with Our
Country, which picks up the
melodic threads of Americana’s
title song and turns them into
something like a hymn. Then it’s
straight into the full nostalgia of
Back In The Day, as he recalls
frontiersmen such as Hank
Williams and Chet Atkins. On the
almost spoken word of The
Invaders, we hear about the
mouthwatering musical menu
that inspired him, including rock,
jazz, skiffle and blues. Before the
track is done, it’s the Kinks that
are doing the invading, only to be
banned, as they were, from US
performances while at their peak.
That setback still seems to eat
away at him and as the album
develops, it feels as though it’s
taken Davies all his life to find
this perspective on what America
meant to him. Sometimes he
does so by listening for echoes of
his past, such as when he revisits
Oklahoma USA, 47 years after
the song appeared on the
Muswell Hillbillies album.
Some of Our Country’s most
successful moments occur when
the music is allowed to carry the
ALBUMS REVIEWS
LEGACY RECORDINGS
message more subtly, as on the
update of The Getaway (from his
2006 solo album Other People’s
Lives), with its wry reference to a
‘sunny afternoon’. The Take, with
its bank of harmonies and
rocking guitar, explores his
seduction by a quintessential
rock chick after a show in
Minneapolis. It might be as close
as we get to imagining what The
Kinks would sound like in the
21st century.
Elsewhere, there’s a breeziness
about A Street Called Hope,
which maintains the optimism of
preceding track The Real World,
and on Calling Home, he’s pining
for London while wrestling with
being drawn to the road.
By now, he’s in New Orleans,
where a dramatic chapter played
out for real when he was shot
while chasing a thief in 2004. In
Louisiana Sky, he observes a
friendly place with a lot of lost
souls and wonders if he’s one of
them. The voodoo starts to get to
him on March Of The Zombies,
then the Big Easy turns into The
Big Weird, as the city’s reference
points become something
altogether more uncomfortable
and menacing. The Big Guy
remembers the Kinks’ minders
who protected the band – often
from each other – and it’s a
device he uses to reflect on that
fateful day: had one of them
been with him, he might never
have gone down the street on
which he could have died.
Life and art intermingle more
literally than ever in The Epilogue
as he declares that his American
adventures have made him a
better person, even as he
describes revisiting the street
where he was shot.
He’s a Muswell Hillbilly boy
but, he declares finally, his heart
lies in old West Virginia. PS
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Back In The Day,
The Getaway, The Take
COUNTRY MUSIC 89
REVIEWS ALBUMS

Irish charm meets Nashville cool: Catherine

xxxxxxxx
McGrath credits Taylor Swift’s hit Love Story
as her gateway into country music

CATHERINE MCGRATH
TALK OF THIS TOWN WARNER BROTHERS
4 ★★★★★
The Northern Irish prodigy’s reassuringly youthful debut
noticed, anyone showing a
modicum of promise as a
performer or songwriter now
finds themselves fast-tracked to
the big time.
Catherine McGrath had a bit
more traditional experience to
draw on, having grown up playing
with folk musician parents in her
native County Down. But any
young girl would have found it a
daunting experience being
snapped up by major league
So it’s a real credit to McGrath,
now just turned 21, that after an
adolescence mostly spent in
fame’s fast lane, she’s still
managed to weave some of that
essential country music
ingredient into Talk Of This Town:
resonant, real-life experience.
Even if Wild’s tale of an ill-starred
date at “a Coldplay concert on a
Thursday night” might make the
kind of namecheck you don’t
hear very often in the pages of
There’s a sense of glimpsing a
lovelorn teenager’s diary in songs
such as I Thought It Was Gonna
Be Me (“I don’t know what hurts
the worst, me alone or you with
her”) and Dodged A Bullet (“I
know you’re a lost cause, so why
am I still searching?”), and that’s
where the influence of Taylor
Swift’s country-schooled way
with a pop vignette looms large.
And while McGrath’s
mannerisms (the slightly
over-emoting groan at the start of
most lines, for instance) can
sound clichéd, and her choruses
can seem Taylor-made for radio,
yet lack the same Swiftian wit, we
still hear a big, bruised heart

I
t’s not easy being a talented
teenager in modern music.
While previous generations
might have been permitted a few
years of living, loving, gigging,
trying and erring before they got
management while still at school,
moving to London at 16 and
being flown to Nashville to write
songs with some of country-pop’s
most skilled hitmakers – and all
before finishing sixth form.
Country Music, there’s a gauche
charm to it that rings true and
contributes to the naïvely
romantic quality that’s shot
through many of the best songs
on this debut album.
beating within, and as it matures,
the personality it’s wrapped in
will surely grow with it. JS
★ STANDOUT TRACKS I Thought It Was
Gonna Be Me, Dodged A Bullet, Wild

90 COUNTRY MUSIC

Guest appearances on The Tree
include 2018 AMA Emerging
Artist nominee Anderson East
LORI MCKENNA
THE TREE
5 ★★★★★
Songs of the family from Boston’s Grammy-winning songstress
THIRTY TIGERS
E
leven albums, back-to-back
CMA Song Of The Year
victories, her work recorded
by Faith Hill, Little Big Town and
Tim McGraw… so why isn’t Lori
McKenna a household name?
The Tree reunites the singer-
songwriter with producer Dave
Cobb, who worked with her on
2016’s The Bird And The Rifle,
and it’s clear they’ve really hit
their stride now. It’s an album of
songs about family that never
feels saccharine; instead it’s full
of honesty and insight into our
frailties, shortcomings and quiet
moments of intimacy.
There’s nothing fussy or fancy
about Cobb’s production and the
arrangements settle gently
around McKenna’s voice, giving
her all the space she needs to
weave her stories. McKenna has
a real gift for crafting a clever
ALBUMS REVIEWS
lyric: “Sitting on the roof to get
closer to tomorrow,” she sings in
Young And Angry Again, a lament
for youthful idealism long
supplanted by the compromises
of adulthood. “Whiskey breath
don’t phase her anymore,” opens
You Can’t Break A Woman, the
startlingly candid account of a
character dealing with an
alcoholic partner – and how love
can be squandered.
On The Tree, Lori McKenna’s
deceptively delicate voice
delivers these messages like a
sucker punch that catches you
off-guard. It’s an absolute
treasure of an album. DD
★ STANDOUT TRACKS You Can’t Break
A Woman, Young And Angry Again
COUNTRY MUSIC 91
REVIEWS ALBUMS

DAN + SHAY
DAN + SHAY WARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE

3 ★★★★★
in popularity. Written with Nicolle
Galyon and propelled along by
keyboards, it’s clever, emotional
and thoughtful – not traits you’d
normally associate with a drinking
song – but this time they turn the
sentiment on its head and drink
to remember, rather than forget,
bringing Proustian sense
memories flooding back.
Their big ballad, Keeping
Score, is surely destined to be a
hit, featuring the distinctive of just being able to hold their girl blue jeans a lover is wearing and

T
hey may hail from
Pennsylvania and Arkansas,
but for many, Dan Smyers
and Shay Mooney are putting
next-gen Nashville country pop
on the map. Previously best-
known for irrepressibly catchy
singles like 19 You + Me, From
The Ground Up and Nothin’ Like
You, it feels like the lead single,
Tequila, from this self-titled third
album, might even surpass these
vocals of Kelly Clarkson swooping
around theirs, as they reflect on
not knowing “how many sunsets
I’ve got left.” Alone Together
kicks off the record with the pair
in Ed Sheeran-flavoured, power
pop mode, but they are equally at
home when they ease down a
couple of gears on My Side Of
The Fence – a ‘list song’ that
compares all the things that
people usually crave, with the joy
to make sense of the world.
There are epic guitar solos on
What Keeps You Up At Night
(which also features the duo’s
trademark layered harmonies)
and Make Or Break, while gentle
acoustic guitar, piano and
finger-clicks all appear on
Speechless. All To Myself verges
on the worryingly obsessive and
possessive, with its Girl Crush-
tone of being jealous of the very
“I want you in the worst way”
sentiment. Island Time is a
summery song with steel guitar
and warm keyboard, Stupid Love
has a sharp, pop intro leading
into one of the catchiest refrains
on the record, and No Such
Thing sums up the record’s
lovestruck vibe. HMJ
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Score, Tequila,
My Side Of The Fence

COWBOY JUNKIES
ALL THAT RECKONING PROPER

5 ★★★★★
already in the know should
immediately add this gorgeous
new album to their collection.
Cowboy Junkies’ ever-allusive
sound – nudging and shifting
around Margo’s unique vocals
– makes for the perfect vehicle
for their brand of Canadian
Americana. Here, Michael’s lyrics
explore themes around personal,
social and political reckoning (as
the title implies), but also
acknowledge that with dissolution

T
hree decades down the road,
Canada’s favourite slowcore
blues band, featuring siblings
Margo, Michael and Peter
Timmins – plus founder member
Alan Anton – have not only
managed to stay together, but
also keep their quality
permanently high. For those who
don’t already possess an earlier
Cowboy Junkies record, such as
The Trinity Session or Caution
Horses, then it’s time to rectify
that oversight, while those
and disintegration comes
regrowth and rebirth. The
two-part title track starts out in a
measured tone – quiet and
aching – with a louder second
part underpinned by buzzing,
chiming guitar. When We Arrive
unfolds like a flower, as
shipwrecked strangers are cast
seaward in search of land, while
The Things We Do To Each Other
feels fearful and more personal.
There’s a haunting edginess to
Wooden Stairs, with its
shimmering, bare-bones
arrangement accentuating the
feeling of being trapped by the
past. In contrast, Sing Me A Song
has lovely, fuzzy distortion, and
echoing vocals.
Two songs channel poet
William Blake: Mountain Stream,
which is steeped in sadness,
taking on a mythic quality, and
Missing Children, which focuses
on good and evil and exhibits
unsettling images of dusty, bloody
bodies. There’s a quasi-religious
– even redemptive – feel to
Shining Teeth, aided by some
beautiful organ and lyrics that
reveal a bruised and battered
heart, a motif that recurs in Nose
Before Ear. Finally, The Possessed
has the feel of an old folk tune
about obsession, with only
Michael’s ukulele the focus
alongside Margo’s voice – a
deceptively sweet epilogue. HMJ
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Wooden Stairs,
Shining Teeth, The Possessed

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SUGARLAND
BIGGER BIG MACHINE

4 ★★★★★
party. Who’d have thought we’d
see Taylor Swift work her way
through toxic break-ups via songs
given to other artists? After the
remarkably honest Better Man,
written for Little Big Town, Swift
now gifts key track Babe (about
an unfaithful lover) to Sugarland,
with Nettles taking lead vocal
and Swift herself adding
harmonies in the chorus.
It’s the only song that the band
didn’t write themselves, not just

S
ugarland knocked our socks
off at C2C 2018 with their
comeback set, so it’s a treat
to get their new record so quickly.
They’ve been away for seven
years recording solo projects
(including Jennifer Nettles’
superb Playing With Fire album),
and producing other artists (as
Kristian Bush did for Lindsay Ell).
The first big talking point here,
however, comes from a third
on this, but on any Sugarland
album (bar Christmas album
Gold And Green). The second
key track is Tuesday’s Broken,
which seems ripped from the
headlines as it tackles recent
shootings in the US and bullying,
via the grim observation that “we
keep missing chances to turn it
around”. Elsewhere, the title track
is meaty, beaty, bigger and
bouncier, On a Roll is strident
and empowered, with Petty-ish
guitars, and Let Me Remind You
is all flashbacks to the greatest
hits of a relationship. Bird In A
Cage offers a choice of fight or
flight, while Mother is a sweet
country serenade to their moms.
Lean It On Back finds them
drinking to the bottom of the
bottle, and they’ve named their
current tour after Still The Same,
which surveys how far they’ve
come – a reminder to be unafraid
of change. Love Me Like I’m
Leaving has lovely slabs of steel,
piano and organ, while Not The
Only speaks of the days of the
underdog and the left-behind. A
welcome return. HMJ
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Babe, Tuesday’s
Broken, On A Roll

KENDELL MARVEL
LOWDOWN & LONESOME SNAKEFARM
5 ★★★★★
rendition of Untangle My Mind (a
co-write from Stapleton’s From A
Room: Volume 2) as the
centrepiece of this record, closely
followed by another couple of
Stapleton co-writes, Tryin’ Not To
Love You, and the effortlessly
jaunty Closer To Hell.
Producer Keith Gattis – once
Dwight Yoakam’s lead guitarist –
not only showcases Marvel’s
effortlessly rich vocals, but also
gets co-writing credits on several

I
f you’re looking for authenticity,
it’s right here in Kendell
Marvel’s debut album. Hot on
the heels of his successful solo
support slot on the Brothers
Osborne UK tour, Marvel shows
his real potential with a full band
behind him. He co-wrote a
couple of songs on the brother’s
new record, Port Saint Joe, but is
probably best-known for his work
with current king of country cool,
Chris Stapleton. Indeed, Marvel
gives us his own, superb
numbers, notably the title track
Gypsy Woman (a live favourite)
and Heartache Off My Back,
which feels like uptempo
Osborne territory. We glimpse the
gruff, romantic side of Marvel on
Watch Your Heart, with steel
guitar and gentle wailing
harmonica helping him put his
heart on his sleeve, while Hurtin’
Gets Hard – ‘the most country
song on the record’ – finds the
singer lost in the emptiness after
a painful break-up.
More pals show up in his
excellent band throughout
Lowdown & Lonesome, including
the likes of backing vocalists Jon
Randall, Randy Houser and
Jamey Johnson, a fact partly
explained by Marvel’s two
decades in Nashville, where his
monthly residency, ‘Kendell
Marvel’s Honky Tonk Experience’,
has welcomed guests from Alison
Krauss to Foo Fighters.
The only cover here is Charlie
Daniels’ Drinking My Baby
Goodbye, a hard-rocking closer
with Johnson duetting, but if you
want one song that epitomises
Marvel’s classic vocal, it’s That
Seat’s Saved, reminiscent of
prime Randy Travis – and that’s
high praise indeed. HMJ
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Untangle My
Mind, That Seat’s Saved

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AMERICAN AQUARIUM
THINGS CHANGE NEW WEST
4 ★★★★★
producer – and Grammy-
nominated musician – John
Fullbright also pitches in on
various instruments.
They kick off the album with
Kurtz’s country steel under
Barham’s rock vocals on The
World Is On Fire, setting out their
stall with the declaration: “we
must go boldly into the darkness
and be the light”. Ace guitar licks
and drumming dominate

fter ten years making
alt-rock Americana, BJ
Barham and his band
American Aquarium could have
called it quits, and Barham could
have continued his solo career
when his fellow bandmembers
left for good. Instead, he’s literally
re-grouped, gathering a
completely new posse of lead
guitarist Shane Boeker, drummer
Joey Bybee, bassist Ben Hussey,
and the excellent Adam Kurtz on
pedal steel and guitar. Album
Crooked+Straight, and Tough
Folks is a defiant song of making
it through hard times. There’s a
stripped-down quality to
Fullbright’s production on When
We Were Younger Men, and as
Kurtz’s impeccable steel swirls
around, Barham recalls a
summer soundtracked by Tom
Petty songs on the radio. One
Day At A Time matches
weathered vocals with careworn
lyrics, the title track admits past
failures, and Work Conquers All
sees the singer relocating to the
dust of Oklahoma to “fit right in”.
And, of course, there’s a classic,
uptempo drinking song in I Gave
Up The Drinking (Before She
Gave Up On Me), in which he
burns both ends of the candle
with “Old John Jameson”.
Barham is at his most haunting
on Shadows Of You, with simple
Cameron Gott
accompaniment from acoustic
guitar, Fullbright’s mellotron, and
divine harmonies from Jamie Lee
Wilson. Aptly, ‘Til The Final
Curtain Falls brings the album to
a close with a gentle affirmation
of undying devotion. HMJ
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Shadows Of You,
When We Were Younger Men

LERA LYNN
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS SINGLE LOCK

4 ★★★★★
One of the coolest records
you’re likely to encounter this
year, this collection of duets is
carefully cast, with each track
largely co-written with its co-star,
ranging from the state of lovelorn
disorientation evoked with Dylan
LeBlanc on What Is Love, to the
almost Nirvana-ish, post-
relationship revenge vibe of
Breakdown. Perhaps most
exquisitely of all, Rodney joins

O
ne of the classiest purveyors
of modern rock-inflected
Americana has delivered a
new career highlight. The title’s
clever wordplay describes an
album’s worth of memorable
collaborations, recorded at John
Paul White’s Sun Drop Sound
Studio in Alabama. White himself
sings on two of its nine songs, all
of which exude the almost
unearthly, sensual elegance that’s
defined Lynn’s work since her
debut set of seven years ago.
Lynn to co-star on the dark and
delicate Crimson Underground.
Other guests include Shovels &
Rope, Peter Bradley Adams, JD
McPherson and Nicole Atkins. To
close, White returns for a fetching
remake of David Houston’s 1966
Grammy-winner Almost
Persuaded. Revealing this new
dimension, it turns out Lynn plays
brilliantly with others. PS.
★ STANDOUT TRACKS What Is Love,
Breakdown, Crimson Underground

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Three decades at the wheel

and the 61-year-old is still
releasing an album a year

JIM LAUDERDALE
TIME FLIES YEPROC
3 ★★★★★
The ‘songwriter’s songwriter’ returns with a characteristically diverse set
Strait, Dixie Chicks and George
Jones, he’s also worked with
artists as contrasting as Elvis
Costello and Zydeco mavericks
Donna the Buffalo.
Lauderdale is one of those
artists who’s unlikely ever to
grace the cover of a magazine
such as this, but who has
long-since earned the enduring
respect of music’s cognoscenti.
His re-signing to US indie label
album – demonstrates above all
else, is both the versatility of his
repertoire and its accessibility,
invariably retaining an infectious
quality and pop sensibility
without ever sounding as if it’s
chasing trends.
The beautiful, sunset-
shimmering paean of Violet may
contrast with the rockabilly
rumble and twang of Wearing Out
My Cool, and the lazy clip-clop
Is A Road, but they’re all
memorable cuts in their own
sweet way – the latter even
boasts some superb blues guitar
to throw another ingredient into
his ever-unpredictable pot.
It may in fact be this quirky
side to Lauderdale’s work that
has prevented him from carving
out a clearly-defined niche and
ended up confusing his fans, but
here is an artist whose
idiosyncrasies you either
embrace unquestioningly or shy
away from completely.
And so it is that It Blows My
Mind can open with a fuzzy,

I
f you want to survive in a fickle,
unpredictable industry, it’s wise
to have fingers in a few pies.
Jim Lauderdale grasped this early
on in a prolific singer-songwriting
career that has spanned over 30
years. So, while he’s best known
for his Grammy-winning,
bluegrass-oriented solo output
and his songwriting contributions
to various artists such as George
YepRoc reflects the fact that even
non-country folk hold him in high
regard within the music industry.
But what this – his 30th studio
“Here is an artist you either
embrace unquestionably or shy
away from completely”
tempo and tongue-in-cheek
delivery of Slow As Molasses may
sound like the work of a different
artist to the FM rock of The River
psychedelic guitar riff curiously
reminiscent of the early-80s
Paisley Underground scene,
before a more conventional
folk-pop song emerges. Time flies
indeed, but still Jim Lauderdale
refuses to conform to anyone’s
expectations. JS
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Violet, Wearing
Out My Cool, The River Is A Road

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On Other Arrangements, Millsap
moves away from Americana to
make a play for the pop audience
PARKER MILLSAP
OTHER ARRANGEMENTS THIRTY TIGERS
4 ★★★★★
Millsapp plugs in and plays loud on uncompromising album number four
has a serious work ethic and,
judging by the slick dynamics of
his first album to feature electric
instruments, he’s not sticking to
any prescribed template.
The songs are packed with
energy. Fine Line, for example, is
beefed-up rock, not so much
trad country as a riff-fest in the
style of The Hives or The White
Stripes. The title track, too,
lodged in-between much lighter
songs, drives home the clear
H
aving released four studio message that Millsap is here to
albums in as many years, make some big noises.
Oklahoman singer- Your Water, meanwhile, is a
songwriter Parker Millsap clearly soul-heavy love song, while
96 COUNTRY MUSIC
Singing To Me is a beautiful
acoustic ballad where Millsap
gets to exercise the more
emotional end of his vocal range.
See also Tell Me, a showcase for
the young fellow’s remarkable,
James Brown-alike blues shout.
Lyrically, Millsap is also
convincing. In Gotta Get To You,
with its instantly recognisable
Born To Run-style emoting, the
picture he paints of the young
Lothario in heartbroken mode is
spot-on. It’s a largely acoustic
workout, as is Good Night, where
Millsap dials down the big
brushstrokes in favour of a sweet,
David McClister
fingerpicked ballad from the
James Taylor school.
Mind you, he’s a canny lad.
Country rock, done well, pulls in
devotees by the millions and
while it would be churlish to
imply that Bruno Mars fans will
particularly enjoy tracks like She,
that’s exactly the kind of
high-charting vocal performance
that appears here.
We could say the same of
Come Back When You Can’t Stay,
the winsome but affecting album
closer – and a commercial song
with bags of charm – but any
concern that Parker Millsap is
going for the mainstream buck a
little too keenly is misguided, and
songs such as Some People
certainly prove the fact. It’s a
slightly unhinged honky-tonk
tune, a bit like Elton John on a
ton of speed. JM
★ STANDOUT TRACKS She, Come Back
When You Can’t Stay, Gotta Get To You
 ALBUMS REVIEWS

THE WOOD BROTHERS

ONE DROP OF TRUTH THIRTY TIGERS

4 ★★★★★
Here we get an eclectic mix,
moving between blues, funk,
country-folk and cosmic
Americana. Each track from Oliver
(guitar) and Chris (bass),
alongside multi-instrumentalist
Jano Rix, takes you to a new
place, perhaps explained by the
fact they used different studios
and worked with four different
engineers to make this record.
Opener River Takes The Town is
steeped in country with a funky

T
he Wood Brothers have
always fused influences and
styles. The two siblings grew
up in Colorado engulfed in
American roots music, before
becoming musicians in their own
right – Oliver with King Johnson
and Chris in the avant-jazz funk
band Medeski Martin and Wood.
One Drop of Truth is a bold
lick leading Oliver’s beautiful
vocals, while Strange As It Seems
is contemplative, stripped-back
folk and anchors the record. A
completely different direction
follows with the twangy slide of
Sky High, but despite these
stylistic curveballs, they pull the
strands together in true Wood
Brothers style. NL

Alysse Gafkjen
exploration of their musical
background and offers their most ★ STANDOUT TRACKS River Takes the
experimental material to date. Town, Laughin’ Or Crying, Sky High

KEITH URBAN JEFFREY FOUCAULT

GRAFFITI U CAPITOL RECORDS NASHVILLE BLOOD BROTHERS BLUEBLADE RECORDS

3 ★★★★★
80s beats, Julia Michaels on
vocals and elements of Merle
Haggard’s Mama Tried. The
funky My Wave (with Shy Carter)
touches on country-reggae and
the subtle romance of Parallel
Line captures all the hallmarks of
its co-writer, Ed Sheeran. Horses
(featuring Lindsay Ell) delivers a
roaring chorus, while the
controversial power ballad,
Female, places the spotlight on
4 ★★★★★
mood than the brooding blues of
its predecessor.
Opening track Dishes exudes
the warmth of a slowly crackling
fire as it languidly unfolds, while
War On The Radio is a hymn to
the intrinsic goodness of the
human heart amid the
cacophony of the media. The
album is still tempered with
Foucault’s natural world-
weariness, of course – Blown is

K F
eith Urban has thrown
almost everything into
Graffiti U. It’s the ultimate
example of collaboration with
over 30 songwriter, producer
and special guest credits. When
all these influences combine into
one package, it’s a set of
radio-friendly jams and, given
Urban’s knack for pushing
boundaries, the odd surprise.
He opens with the long-
distance anthem, Coming Home,
a track built for the airwaves with
respect for women in the wake of
#MeToo. The mellow country
groove of Steal My Thunder ,
meanwhile, provides a welcome
contrast to the bolder numbers.
At first, the mesh of influences
here can appear confusing and
distracting, but second time
around a cohesive sound
emerges – and we’re soon
humming along. MG
★ STANDOUT TRACK Parallel Line,
Horses, Steal My Thunder
ollowing the success of his
acclaimed 2015 album, Salt
As Wolves, Jeffrey Foucault
returns with another collection
centred around his favoured
themes of life, love and loss. For
almost two decades now, the
Wisconsin native has been
quietly carving out his own niche
of melancholic and dusty
Americana, and this new record
– cut live to tape in just three
days – continues in that
tradition, albeit with a lighter
a darkly intense duet with Tift
Merritt featuring ghostly slide
guitar from Bo Ramsey, Blood
Brothers is a wistful elegy to lost
love, and Little Warble reflects
on the end of a relationship 20
years in the past. With Cheap
Suit nodding to the understated
pathos of John Prine, it’s an
album resolutely looking up at
the proverbial stars. PW
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Blown, Little
Warble, Cheap Suit

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JILL JACKSON LUCERO

ARE WE THERE YET? SELF-RELEASED AMONG THE GHOSTS THIRTY TIGERS

3 ★★★★★
It’s a confident and breezy affair
that showcases Jackson’s talents
both as an astute songwriter and
performer. One moment she’s
jazzy and fun in My Baby, and the
next she’s breaking your heart into
a million shards with Hope And
Gasoline, the kind of country
ballad that’ll turn the professional
hacks in Nashville green with
envy. She even takes the humble
family holiday and turns it into
4 ★★★★★
routes that have become
synonymous with Lucero over the
years, once again this is a record
that broods with intent and
intensity right from the stirring
title track. While they may be a
little simpler in sonic scope, the
likes of Everything Has Changed
and Cover Me are straight-down-
the-line blue-collar tales of hope
and change that, in Lucero terms
at least, are as poignant and

A B
s the summer evenings
stretch out and the
temperatures climb,
something light, bubbly and
refreshing is in order. For our
delectation and delight, then, we
country fans could do far worse
than a good slug of Jill Jackson.
This Glaswegian singer-songwriter
has been steadily making a name
for herself, both in Scotland and
further afield, and has teamed up
with ace producer Boo Hewerdine
for this, her fifth studio album.
something special with the title
track, which evokes memories of
innocent days long lost.
In the past, Jill Jackson has
been one of those artists unlucky
enough to be labelled with the
‘next big thing’ tag, but don’t let
that put you off. Are We There Yet?
has something for everyone and is
the sign of an artist who needs no
hype whatsoever. JH
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Needle And
Thread, Hope And Gasoline, My Baby
en Nichols has long been
alt-country royalty and his
familiar piercing Memphis
drawl has headed up Lucero for
over 20 years, a long-time plaid
comfort blanket for those looking
for a little grit in a modern scene
permeated by ever-more
gingham and lace. Among The
Ghosts, the band’s ninth album,
may be more stripped-back in
sound but lacks nothing in bite.
Effectively channelling those
Southern gothic storytelling
hard-hitting as ever .
It’s on the beautiful ballad
Loving and the potent closer, For
The Lonely Ones, where the
balance of reflection and rage is
at its most interesting and
intriguing, something Lucero
have certainly been for the last
two decades. Among The Ghosts
is a welcome addition to an
already fine canon. DD
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Everything Has
Changed, Loving, For The Lonely Ones

MISNER AND SMITH KAREN JONAS

HEADWATERS SELF-RELEASED BUTTER SELF-RELEASED

3 ★★★★★
America, but here Misner and
Smith turn in a perfectly
respectable version that aches
with widescreen wistfulness. Their
watertight vocal harmonies are
even better-suited on other tracks
– all recorded live in the studio
– including the Lovin’ Spoonful’s
Coconut Grove and Talking Heads’
City of Dreams. The pair’s take on
The Band’s It Makes No
Difference is particularly fine and
3 ★★★★★
nightclub anthem, complete with
vaudeville horns. Move on to Oh
Icarus, with its pointed humour,
urgent beat and muted trumpet,
and we see where Jonas is going,
along with Mama’s First Rodeo, in
which she cannily warns, “Don’t
try to bullshit me, darling”.
Another highlight is Mr Wonka,
which has a seductive, spooky
edge thanks to the atonal horns
in its intro – it would have been

T B
hey might sound like
detectives from an 80s ITV
drama, but Misner and Smith
are better-known for their
arresting performances on the US
folk circuit. Headwaters sees Sam
Misner and Megan Smith strip
things back with just the two of
them performing a run of covers
by some of their favourite
Americana artists.
Granted, the world does not
really need yet another rendition
of Simon and Garfunkel’s
has clearly been honed over many
years on the road.
At just nine tracks, Headwaters
is short and sweet. Misner and
Smith’s potential is writ large
throughout and raises the
tantalising possibility of what they
might be capable of if they
headed back to the studio to
record some more original
material. Watch this space. JH
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Coconut Grove,
It Makes No Difference
ased in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, singer-songwriter
Karen Jonas has a fully-
evolved vision that shines
through on her second album.
That vision sometimes includes
rather too many soporific ballads
(see Gospel Of The Road, The
Circus and Kamikaze Love,
despite its dangerous title), but
when she stretches out a bit, the
results are excellent.
The title track is the place to
start; it’s a soulful, almost ragtime
great to hear more of that creepy,
‘New Orleans funeral’ vibe.
Karen Jonas clearly has the
songwriting chops, judging by the
slick tempo changes here – not
to mention her phenomenal vocal
ability – and when she is in the
mood, her music is clever and
provocative – and there’s a lot of
that here. An album that’s
definitely worth your time. JM
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Butter, Oh Icarus,
Mama’s First Rodeo

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RUEN BROTHERS SPEEDBUGGY USA

ALL MY SHADES OF BLUE RAMSEUR/THIRTY TIGERS RECORDS KICK OUT THE TWANG WAGON WHEEL RECORDS

4 ★★★★★
The skiffle-shuffling Walk Like A
Man and hushed ballad Make The
World Go Away plug into a strain
of American music that predates
rock’n’roll. But All My Shades Of
Blue has too much life to stand as
a mere museum piece, partly
down to the heavyweight team
they’ve got in their corner here,
including Red Hot Chili Peppers
drummer Chad Smith, The Killers
guitarist Dave Keuning – and late
4 ★★★★★
Kick Out The Twang grabs you
by the scruff of the neck from
the start with a raucous cover of
The Monkees’ Last Train To
Clarksville, then refuses to let go
until the very last second of the
final song, Darlin I’m Comin
Home. The band play it fast and
furious with a blend of sweaty
punk, country and rock,
particularly on the impressive
Rodeo Star and Wood, Screws

R A
uen Brothers – aka Henry
and Rupert Stansall – aren’t
just out of time, they’re out of
place too: the birth certificates
read Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire,
but the sound says RCA Studio B,
Nashville, any time between 1956
and 1964.
On their second album, the pair
wear their influences on the
sleeves of their immaculately-
pressed vintage shirts: Roy
Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Chet
Atkins, and pre-conscription Elvis.
Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan.
Most crucial of all is A-list
producer Rick Rubin, who’s
scaled up Rupert’s rich twang and
Henry’s grainy baritone, pushing
Vendetta – and the Big O-sings-
Springsteen stylings of Strangers
– to arena-size levels. That it never
rings hollow suggests the duo
might just have found a way to
drag the past into the present. DE
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Vendetta,
Strangers, Walk Like A Man
t a time when half of the
music coming out of
Nashville no longer sounds
like country, the unabashed
honky tonk rock’n’roll of
Speedbuggy USA is a breath of
bourbon-infused fresh air. There
are no faux raps or electronic
bass beats, just foot-stomping
tunes about drinking, heartache
and failure – just like Johnny
Cash, Hank Williams and Joe Ely
used to sing back in the good
old days.
And Nails. And like any good
country act, they know how to
dial it back with proper cry-into-
your-whiskey ballads like Sorry
and Honky Tonk Singer.
They may not be the most
polished performers, but
Speedbuggy USA know how to
rock, play real music and look
good in black shirts. Anything
else is just not country. JH
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Hold My Head Up
High, Rodeo Star, Honky Tonk Singer

TONY WRIGHT & RYAN HAMILTON I SEE HAWKS IN LA

GRAND OLE OTLEY SELF-RELEASED LIVE AND NEVER LEARN BLUE ROSE RECORDS

4 ★★★★★
and Wright’s shared love of “good
music”. Immediately, they show
their duetting prowess on Jolene
– a brave choice. Don Gibson’s
Oh Lonesome Me has been
well-covered and again these two
do it justice, their extensive
backing musicians adding to the
lilting melancholy. Hank Jr. is
represented here too, with a
twangy Family Tradition.
The pair’s best moment is
4 ★★★★★
Ballad For The Trees but the
’Hawks find their footing here,
with drummer Victoria Jacobs
contributing the masterful ballad
Spinning and the dramatic tale
of My Parka Saved Me – in
which the band’s natural wit
enlivens a tale of a near-fatal car
crash. Stoned With Melissa
might sound like a typical
’Hawks title but the song goes
from wry to tragic without losing

W I
hat do you get when you
cross a Texan country
rocker with his opposite
number from Bradford? ‘Country
and West Yorkshire’ is how Ryan
Hamilton and Tony Wright bill
themselves, with the title of their
debut giving a playful nod to those
mixed roots. The result is not so
much a new genre as a collection
of well-performed covers.
Their selection is based around
country classics, but extends far
beyond – all united by Hamilton
Johnny Horton’s Everytime I’m
Kissing You and their versions of
trad classics In The Pines and
Wayfaring Stranger are strong.
Wild Horses and The First Time
Ever I Saw Your Face seem odd
choices, but they finish strongly
with Lost Highway. We suspect
this material would make for a
fun live show – but the duo’s real
test must be to write their own. LB
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Jolene, Everytime
I’m Kissing You, Oh Lonesome Me
t’s been five long years since I
See Hawks In LA last released
a studio album. That effort –
2013’s Mystery Drug – was solid
but not remarkable, so perhaps
the band felt it was time to let
their songwriting talents
recuperate. And so they have:
Live And Never Learn is a
stunning example of what has
been dubbed “psychedelic
Californian country”.
The album starts somewhat
prosaically with the overly wordy
its panache.
Throughout, the band’s
playing and singing is exemplary,
with strong melodies and
harmonies underpinning the
material. A crisp sound suggests
I See Hawks In LA are refreshed
after their absence, and the zest
and wit of Live And Never Learn
is likely to stand as one of the
Americana albums of 2018. GC
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Spinning, My
Parka Saved Me, Stoned With Melissa

COUNTRY MUSIC 99
REVIEWS ALBUMS

VARIOUS ARTISTS
RESTORATION: REIMAGINING THE SONGS OF ELTON
JOHN AND BERNIE TAUPIN UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP NASHVILLE
3 ★★★★★
celebrate Elton and Bernie’s hits.
But tribute albums can be
uneven and while Willie Nelson is
effortlessly graceful on Border
Song and Miley Cyrus has fun
with The Bitch Is Back, Little Big
Town struggle to give Rocket Man
the necessary poignance. Lee
Ann Womack makes a good fist
of Honky Cat and Chris Stapleton
tackles I Want Love with the
required intensity, but it’s the

E
arly on, Bernie Taupin’s lyrics
were littered with American
references – and Aretha
Franklin covered Border back in
the 70s – but Nashville didn’t pay
much attention. That was then.
Country music today is far closer
in sound to the 70s hits of Elton
and the Eagles than that of Hank
and Merle, thus it’s unsurprising
lesser-known tunes that shine –
Rosanne Cash and Emmylou
Harris make This Train Don’t Stop
There Anymore their own, while
Miranda Lambert does interesting
things with Take Me To The Pilot.
Would you choose these versions
over the originals? With Willie,
Rosanne and Emmylou certainly.
Not so sure about the rest. GC

Mark Seliger
that Nashville wants to pay tribute.
Across Restoration, noted ★ STANDOUT TRACKS Border Song, This
country singers, new and old, Train Don’t Stop, Take Me To The Pilot

RED VELVET DANA FUCHS

HEARTLAND SOUL CLUNK AND RATTLE RECORDS LOVE LIVES ON GET ALONG RECORDS/MEMBRAN

3 ★★★★★
Pontchartrain on Ray’s timely song
of inclusion, Stranger Welcome,
plus covers of Night Train To
Memphis (made famous by Roy
Acuff in 1942) and Eleanor
McEvoy’s modern song of
yearning, Harbour. And you can
understand how Ray and Murphy
write together by listening to the
gentle Boxers Always Fight Hurt,
which might take its title from Irish
writer Samuel Beckett, but was
3 ★★★★★
and such celebrated local
musicians as Charles Hodges
(organ) and Steve Potts (drums)
joining the sessions, Fuchs has
gone on to create a startling
album – perhaps her best yet.
The originals are strong – and
they need to be when they’re
alongside Otis Redding’s
Nobody’s Fault But Mine and
Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire. Both
covers are well-handled, with the

B
ased in Cambridge, but with
music rooted firmly in Irish
and American traditions, Red
Velvet comprise Les Ray and
Deirdre Murphy, as main
songwriter and singer respectively,
performing alongside a raggle
taggle band of brother musicians,
on this, their second album.
Their love for music from their
roots is clear on a version of
Carrickfergus (complete with
haunting wind and strings), a nod
to US folk song Lakes Of
apparently inspired by what
Manny Pacquiao said after a fight
with Floyd Mayweather. There’s
great brass in That’s What Duos
Do, which proclaims that “there’s
something unique in two voices”,
and they get political with Ray’s
old song Private Prisons, new
track El Patrón Y El Diablo, and Si
Kahn’s classic, Aragon Mill. HMJ
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Carrickfergus,
El Patron Y El Diablo, Boxers Always
Fight Hurt
Dana Fuchs has carved out a
career as one of America’s finest
blues-rock singers, even getting
to play her original mentor, Janis
Joplin, in 2001’s off-Broadway
production, Love, Janis.
Now, aged 42, the New Jersey
native has headed to Memphis,
to soak up the city’s rich
soul’n’blues and gospel’n’country
heritage. And all these musical
genres inform Love Lives On.
With noted Memphis producer
Kevin Houston behind the decks,
latter’s electric arrangement
maintaining the tension of the
original, but with a very fresh
feel. Beyond Ring Of Fire, Love
Lives On makes only passing
nods to country, but in its rich
Memphis texture and strong,
personal songs, the album
succeeds as Americana and
should interest anyone who loves
roots music from Tennessee. GC
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Ring Of Fire, Fight
My Way, Same Sunlight

100 COUNTRY MUSIC

 ALBUMS REVIEWS

THE JAYHAWKS
BACK ROADS AND
ABANDONED MOTELS
SONY LEGACY

4 ★★★★★

H
aving reprised their role as
Ray Davies’ backing band on
his second Americana album,
this is essentially The Jayhawks’
second release in a few months.
But it’s not all new: it’s largely new
versions of previous co-writes by
Jayhawks frontman Gary Louris.
Revisits to Dixie Chicks’
Everybody Knows and Bitter End,
and Natalie Maines’ Come Cryin’
To Me, are brimming with
alt-country muscle – but more
anxious than the perma-bright
Chicks. Gonna Be A Darkness,
co-written with Jakob Dylan (for
TV’s True Blood), has gospel-
tinged organ that underpins
drummer Tim O’Reagan’s vocals
– less drama than Dylan and
Louris, but just an unnerving.
Elsewhere, Backwards Women
(written with Wild Feathers) and
Long Time Ago (written with
Emerson Hart) were never even
recorded – it’s testament to
Louris that songs of this calibre
can initially be discarded. Two
new solo-compositions: Carry
You To Safety and Leaving Detroit
both have Wichita Lineman-like
twang and fit well on an album
that should stand proud in their
diverse 30-year catalogue. Back
Roads may be a detour but, once
again, the scenery’s beautiful. MS
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Everybody
Knows, Gonna Be A Darkness

JESSE DAYTON
THE OUTSIDER BLUE ELAN

4 ★★★★★
Quit (But I Just Quit Trying), his
women/drugs/drink-obsessed
protagonist is ‘starin’ down the
barrel of the same old gun
/’cause your wife and your
girlfriend can’t get along.’
But Dayton does serious too:
Change My Ways is a bruised
ballad in the vein of George Jones,
and the much-talked-about
protest song Charlottesville is not
so much raising a voice, as

T
wangin’ guitar for Waylon
Jennings, freelance punking
for LA cult band X, directing
and scoring horror movies for Rob
Zombie… no one can accuse
Jesse Dayton of not ‘having a go’.
But with The Outsider, the Texan
veteran has his best chance yet of
breaking the mainstream.
The album plays to his
strengths of raw rockabilly and
red-dirt twang and often revels in
its own dumbass woe: in the
shit-kicking hoe-down Tried To
punching back.
Recorded in Atlanta, Denver,
Nashville and Austin during his
endless tours, it sounds great too
– courtesy of Dayton’s dazzling
guitar, boomy baritone, and a fat
mix by Vance Powell (Sturgill
Simpson, Jason Isbell). Very good
indeed, this Outsider should find a
welcome in all outlaw homes. MS
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Charlottesville,
Change My Ways, Tried To Quit (But I
Just Quit Trying)

COUNTRY MUSIC 101

REVIEWS REISSUES

Veteran songwriter Graham Nash

returns with an eye-opening
summation of his 55-year career

102 COUNTRY MUSIC


GRAHAM NASH
OVER THE YEARS...
4 ★★★★★
Career-spanning introduction to the Englishman at home in Americana…
G
raham Nash has a sky-
scraping 55-year résumé to
which he is clearly still
determined to add. That’s
underlined by his return home for
a July UK tour, as it was by his
substantial solo album of 2016,
This Path Tonight. But even in a
busy schedule, there’s time for a
glance over the shoulder.
The double-CD Over The
Years... offers 15 of the landmark
tracks that have lit his path thus
far, both as soloist and
collaborator, and 15 demos of
key songs to demonstrate their
route to realisation – a dozen of
them previously unavailable.
Along the way, we see how a
singer-songwriter of thoroughly
British origins in Blackpool
helped shape the sound of
Americana, before it was ever
called such a thing.
The compilation commences
as Nash crosses the Atlantic,
leaving his beloved Hollies for
fresh pastures, with newfound
friends by the names of Crosby
and Stills. Both discs begin on
the Marrakesh Express, with the
perfect pop of the trio’s
interpretation set in context by
the guitar-and-vocal 1968 demo
of the 26-year-old Nash,
recorded in London.
“Here we see how a songwriter of
thoroughly British origins helped
shape the sound of Americana”
RHINO
Later, we return to that first
CSN album for his other writing
contribution and ode to then-
girlfriend Joni Mitchell, the
intimate Lady Of The Island (“we
both knew this would happen
when you first appeared,” as he
sings in wonder).
Not all of the songs from the
‘hits’ portion of the package are
represented as demos, nor is
either disc chronological, so we’re
soon delving into the 1972
double-header with David Crosby
named after both of them. The
still-powerful Immigration Man
has, all too sadly, failed to go out
of date as a message song, far
from it; the title song from their
next double bill, 1975’s Wind On
The Water, is also here in
before-and-after readings.
Chicago from Nash’s 1971
debut solo album Songs For
Beginners, is represented in both
early and final versions, the latter
including its coda, We Can
Change The World. That first
record in his own name also
offers the similarly engaged, not
to mention enraged, Military
Madness, and the piano-backed
run-through of Simple Man.
His emotions are similarly
stripped-back on the demo of I
Miss You, before its inclusion on
his next individual project, 1974’s
Wild Tales. By now, you’re fully
reminded of exactly how prolific
Nash has been, and for how
long. To hear his compositions in
their rudimentary form and then
in their full glory is to be
reminded of the artist’s
unswerving melodic aim.
The other frequent feature is
an optimistic worldview that
kissed his lyrics with the
California sun that became his
RESISSUES REVIEWS
companion. So it is on the
seminal Teach Your Children
(which begins life with
considerably different melody
and feel) and the first, uncertain
steps around Our House. Both
wound up on 1970’s Déjà Vu,
which added the ‘Y’ to CSN with
the addition of Neil Young.
Also taped in London in 1968
– before his Laurel Canyon
relocation – is the demo of
Horses Through A Rainstorm,
written in a dynamite pairing that
one wishes had happened more
often – with Terry Reid (the song
was first recorded by the Hollies
before CSNY cut and then
shelved it for Déjà Vu).
Nash’s reflective hopefulness is
there again in the later part of the
trio’s glory years, on the
beautiful, diaphanous hits Just A
Song Before I Go and Wasted On
The Way. Both are included in
their single editions and as
demos that close out the second
disc. 1977’s CSN also provides
the completed, intricate
Cathedral, a fine example of the
unbreakable interdependence of
the trio at their best.
Coming up to date, the
completed recordings conclude
with his last album’s Myself At
Last, a simple, wistful acoustic
encapsulation of where he stands
as a septuagenarian of such
singular experience (“the
question haunting me... is my
future just my past?”). The West
Coast Englishman needn’t worry:
very little has been wasted on the
way. This collection serves as a
reminder that only a select few
artists get inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame twice over
(as he was with both CSN in
1997 and then later with the
Hollies in 2010). It’s also a
memento of the very fine house
that Nash built. PS
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Immigration
Man, Horses Through A Rainstorm, Just
A Song Before I Go
COUNTRY MUSIC 103
REVIEWS REISSUES
Within the familiar surrounds of a
humble Texan honky tonk, Jones
and his band come into their own
GEORGE JONES AND THE JONES BOYS
LIVE IN TEXAS 1965
5 ★★★★★
A smoking show from The Possum at the peak of his powers
I
would rarely define live albums
as ‘essential’ – Johnny Cash
and James Brown break this
rule – but this George Jones
effort joins that elite club. Some
Jones fans may be familiar with
104 COUNTRY MUSIC
ACE RECORDS
an earlier edition of this album
– Ace having issued it previously
in 1992 – but on this release the
label remasters the tapes and
finds some unreleased gems.
What you have, then, is George
Jones playing a Texan honky tonk
in 1965. He’s in front of a
hometown crowd and has been
enjoying hits – and touring – for a
decade, so this is going to be hot.
And it is: Jones and band are on
“Hearing Bony Maronie in the
same set as Jole Blon reveals a
side of Jones we rarely get to see”
fire, Jones singing with supple
ease as he handles both hits and
more left-field material. Hearing
him sing Larry Williams’ R&B hit
Bony Maronie in the same set as
traditional Cajun waltz Jole Blon
– with his fiddler Rufus
Thibodeaux centrestage – shines
a light on a Jones we never got in
his many studio efforts.
Jones sounds cocky, joking
with the audience and having a
good time. He sings like a dream
and the Jones Boys excel
(including bassist Donald Lyte
– later to gain fame as Johnny
Paycheck). The sound is
excellent – Jones’ manager/
producer Pappy Daily obviously
knew how to record live sound.
Yet for some reason he never
issued these tapes. Jones would
not issue a live LP until 1985, so
perhaps the producer found his
band were not as slick as he
would have hoped.
Fortunately, Ace Records
found out about the tapes and
purchased them, so giving the
world a document of a complete
live performance – 26 songs – by
one of country’s greatest ever
artists. As we said at the start:
this is an essential live album. GC
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Bony Maronie,
Jole Blon, She Thinks I Still Care

ELVIS PRESLEY
THE SEARCHER SONY/RCA RECORDS
4 ★★★★★
D
oes the world really need
another Elvis collection? The
Searcher is the soundtrack
that accompanies director Thom
Zimny’s two-part HBO
documentary about Presley – and
Zimny has to be commended for
avoiding the obvious choices.
There’s no Blue Suede Shoes, no
Jailhouse Rock, and even
Suspicious Minds appears in the
less familiar form of an unused
take, cut in January 1969 without
all the brass and backing singers.
LUKE COMBS
THIS ONE’S FOR YOU (DELUXE EDITION)
4 ★★★★★
T
hose who caught Luke
Combs at C2C, either at the
CMA Songwriters Series
event, or on the main arena stage,
will be rubbing their hands in
anticipation at the release of this
deluxe version of his debut album
– featuring five brand-new songs.
By now, everyone is no doubt
familiar with the original dozen
singalong numbers – notably
Hurricane, crowd favourite When
It Rains It Pours, plus Honky Tonk
Highway and his drinking songs.
Everything here has been
available previously, but the
casual fan is unlikely to have
encountered Presley’s at-home
performance of Mona Lisa, or the
rehearsal cut of Separate Ways.
The opening Trouble/Guitar Man
– taken from the ’68 Comeback
Special – is a reminder of just how
much fire he could bring to a
rocker, Lawdy, Miss Clawdy struts
and stomps, while Milky White
Way shows his passion for gospel.
Less interesting, perhaps, are the
familiar versions of two of his big
signature ballads, Are You
Lonesome Tonight and It’s Now Or
Never, but his version of Dylan’s
Tomorrow Is A Long Time has the
most wonderful twangy guitar
from Scotty Moore. So, does the
world need another Elvis
collection? Why the hell not. DW
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Trouble/Guitar
Man, Suspicious Minds (Take Six)
COLUMBIA NASHVILLE
But it’s a real bonus to hear that
he’s already got more quality fare
to back this up, much of it about
one special love that the North
Carolina vocalist has left behind in
Texas. She Got The Best Of Me
roused the huge C2C audience
when he opened for Kip Moore,
Sugarland and Kacey Musgraves.
Those of us lucky enough to see
him perform on the Indigo Stage
also enjoyed his acoustic versions
of the witty Houston, We Got A
Problem (co-written with Randy
Montana and Jonathan Singleton),
along with windswept epic
Must’ve Never Met You and
stirring lovestruck ballad Beautiful
Crazy. Yet another new song, A
Long Way – adds weight to this
irresistible package. HMJ
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Hurricane, She
Got The Best Of Me, When It Rains It
Pours, Beautiful Crazy
THE HEAD CAT
ROCKIN’ THE CAT CLUB: LIVE FROM THE SUNSET STRIP
ROCK-A-BILLY RECORDS
3 ★★★★★
L
emmy
always
insisted that
Motörhead was
a rock’n’roll
group, not
a heavy metal
band, but it was
The Head Cat – a loose’n’louche
supergroup he put together with
Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim
Phantom and Rockats guitarist
Danny B. Harvey – that let him
indulge his passion for the music
of his distant youth.
This live DVD – filmed at LA’s
intimate Cat Club back in 2004
– captures the band’s
ramshackle rockabilly charm.
“This is probably gonna’ be a real
fucking disaster, but I’m good at
them,” growls the great man
before launching into the opening
cover of Roy Brown’s Good
Rockin’ Tonight. It nicely tees up
DOTTSY
THE SWEETEST THING/TRYIN’ TO SATISFY YOU
MORELLO RECORDS/CHERRY RED RECORDS
3 ★★★★★
D
ottsy Brodt – known simply
as Dottsy – launched her
relatively short career in the
mid-70s, before putting family
first early the following decade.
She still performs on the local
Texas circuit and here we have
re-releases of her first two
albums on one disc, both of
which exude the quality needed
to stand a chance of competing
in that crowded country scene
dominated by Dolly and Loretta.
RESISSUES REVIEWS
a set that’s light on volume but
heavy on exuberance. They line
the classic covers up and knock
’em down: Lawdy Miss Clawdy,
Something Else, Reelin’ And A
Rockin’, Bad Boy, Matchbox and
Blue Suede Shoes are all
included. Watching Lemmy
brandish an acoustic guitar
rather than a Rickenbacker bass
is disconcerting; seeing him
looking healthy and mischevious
is a reminder of just how much
he’s missed.
Fittingly, given this is a love
letter to a bygone era, it’s low on
concessions to the digital age –
filmed on a handful of shaky
cameras. Although you wouldn’t
really want anything else from
what is basically a straight-up
feel-good rockabilly trio. DE
★ STANDOUT TRACKS Good Rockin’
Tonight, Lawdy Miss Clawdy
The Sweetest Thing, first
released in 1975, contains
Dottsy’s first two singles, Storms
Never Last and I’ll Be Your San
Antone Rose. Both fared well
and highlight Dottsy’s deep
Texan tones, but better still is
We Still Sing Love Songs Here In
Texas – with its mournful pedal
steel opening and gentle pace.
Meanwhile, 1979’s Tryin’ To
Satisfy You is a polished
collection albeit with few
standouts. Highlights include the
title track with Waylon Jennings,
and Play Born To Lose Again and
It Should Have Been Easy –
classic laments that Dottsy does
so well. Bonus tracks include
perfect country weepy, Send Me
The Pillow You Dream On. LB
★ STANDOUT TRACKS I’ll Be Your San
Antone Rose, We Still Sing Love Songs
Here In Texas, Tryin’ To Satisfy You
COUNTRY MUSIC 105
LIVE! DATES

There are some big country names

coming soon. Kacey Musgraves and
Darius Rucker play their biggest-ever UK
shows, and Brothers Osborne return for
their second tour of 2018

DARIUS RUCKER
The affable Wagon Wheel star told Country Music last year that playing the
Royal Albert Hall was on his 2018 bucket list. If seeing Darius is on your list –
and it should be – then everyone’s happy! Posh venues are...

21 OCT Symphony Hall, Birmingham

22 OCT Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
23 OCT Gateshead Sage
25 OCT O2 Academy, Bristol
26 OCT Albert Hall, Manchester
28 OCT Royal Albert Hall, London

KACEY
MUSGRAVES
The Golden Hour superstar brings her Oh, What A World tour to the UK
and Ireland after her triumphant appearance at C2C in the spring. She’s
recently been supporting Harry Styles in the US (which demonstrates her
audience reach) but expect these shows to be country all the way.

23 OCT Bristol Hippodrome 24 OCT York Barbican 26 OCT Royal Concert Hall,
Nottingham 27 OCT SSE Arena, Wembley, London 28 OCT O2 Academy,
Birmingham 30 OCT O2 Apollo, Manchester 1 NOV Sage Gateshead
2 NOV SEC Armadillo, Glasgow 3 NOV Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
5 NOV Waterfront Hall, Belfast 6 NOV Olympia Theatre, Dublin
Dove Shore

OLD DOMINION
The band’s second album Happy Endings was Billboard Country No. 1,
with hit singles No Such Thing As A Broken Heart and Written In Sand.
These are Old Dominion’s biggest UK shows to date.

31 OCT Whelans, Dublin 5 NOV Trinity Centre, Bristol

1 NOV Empire Music Hall, Belfast 6 NOV Academy 2, Manchester
3 NOV O2 Academy 2, Liverpool 8 NOV O2 Institute, Birmingham
4 NOV O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, 9/10 NOV Queen Margaret Union,
London Glasgow

106 COUNTRY MUSIC

 DATES LIVE!

CLARE BROTHERS OSBORNE

BOWEN
Nashville may be done on TV, but
John and TJ’s spring shows were such a hit, they’re back for a brief second
tour of 2018. One of the best live bands around, with plenty of big, rocking
tunes from their outstanding Pawn Shop and Port Saint Joe albums.
its stars are hugely popular. Buy early
to see Clare Bowen, who’ll be playing all 25 NOV O2 Academy, Glasgow
the Scarlett O’Connor hits and songs 27 NOV O2 Academy, Newcastle
form her own solo album. 28 NOV Manchester Academy
30 NOV Rock City, Nottingham
2 SEPT Symphony Hall, Birmingham 2 DEC O2 Forum, Kentish Town, London
4 SEPT Sage, Gateshead
5 SEPT York Barbican
6 SEPT Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
8 SEPT Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
9 SEPT Corn Exchange,
Cambridge
10 SEPT G Live, Guildford
12 SEPT Royal Festival Hall,
London,
13 SEPT Brighton Dome
© David McClister

Alysse Gafkjen
BMLG

Giampaolo Sgura

SHANIA
MIDLAND TWAIN +
Straight off the back of a big US tour supporting Thomas Rhett, the
70s-inspired trio bring their big buckles, boots and Nudie suits back to Britain.
THE SHIRES
The best-selling female country singer ever (fact!) has now recruited The
Expect to raise a glass. Or three. Shires as support for what could be her final UK and Ireland tour. Get your
pop-country party hats on at...
26 NOV Concorde 2, Brighton 27 NOV Trinity, Bristol 28 NOV Cambridge
Junction, Cambridge 30 NOV Gorilla, Manchester 1 DEC St Luke’s, Glasgow 19-21 SEPT SSE Hydro, Glasgow 22 SEPT Manchester Arena 24 SEPT Arena,
2 DEC Boiler Shop, Newcastle 4 DEC O2 Academy, Birmingham Birmingham 27 SEPT 3Arena, Dublin 29 SEPT SSE Arena, Belfast
6 DEC O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London 7 DEC Vicar Street, Dublin 2-3 OCT The O2 Arena, London

COUNTRY MUSIC 107

LIVE! REVIEWS
BLACK DEER
FESTIVAL
23-24 JUNE, ERIDGE PARK, KENT
Words by Helen M Jerome Photography by Robert Walkley and Helen M Jerome
Bluegrass, country and cover
versions: Ashley Campbell sings,
writes – and plays a mean banjo
SATURDAY 23 JUNE
P
ilgrims were filing down the hill into
the inaugural Black Deer Festival
when Country Music arrived – in
baking heat – to glimpse the beautiful Eridge
Park site opening up ahead. There’s a different
feel to this event, not just because it’s the first
one, but also because it’s curated with a mix
of biker chic, Americana, lasso and guitar
lessons, cook-offs, vintage car decorating,
authentic food and drink – plus some
extraordinary music acts.
As an aperitif, we ducked into Haley’s Bar
to catch some bluegrass from The Orange
108 COUNTRY MUSIC
Circus Band, before getting down the front for
Jarrod Dickenson on the Ridge Stage.
With trademark red whiskers, hat and
waistcoat, Dickenson was a picture of cool
fronting his six-piece band in the hazy heat.
Faint Of Heart was his belting opener,
going into the laidback, intimate Take It From
Me, before easing down the gears further with
In The Meantime. On the old-fashioned Your
Heart Belongs To Me he swapped lead vocals
with his green-clad backing singer and wife,
Claire, then addressed Wall Street corruption
on Gold Rush, with some soulful guitar and
sax. New song Later Than You Think had a
Actor, rancher and competitive
cowboy(!), Kiefer Sutherland
has many strings to his bow
honky tonk vibe and put brass to the fore.
Each number further displayed Dickenson’s
greatest weapon: his young, yet weathered
voice. More brass arrived on Prefer To Lose,
before he closed with the jaunty skiffle of Way
Past Midnight. There were plenty of instant
converts, who were able to catch two more
sets from the New Yorker: one in the Supajam
tent, as part of the rewarding ‘Songwriters
Sessions’, then later in Haley’s Bar, where he
sneaked in a lovely cover of Guy Clark’s
Spanish Steps. A real highlight.
Right down the bottom of the gentle slope,
Ashley Campbell bossed the Main Stage

Texan John Moreland delivered
his Springsteen-like songs to an
appreciative Black Deer crowd
Old country swagger: Jarrod
Dickerson impressed with his
gritty, yet youthful vocals
with her smart mix of bluegrass, country and
some of her favourite covers, switching back
and forth from guitar to banjo, and flanked by
ace Dobro, fiddle and guitar players – and
crucially no drums.
With her mirror shades reflecting the
crowd, she told stories of driving around UK
roads in a big van and “scaring the heck out of
my band”, and of going into Tesco Express in
her striking red gown with her white-suited
Dobro player, right after supporting Kris
Kristofferson in London the previous night.
The Black Deer audience warmed to wistful
songs such as Salt Creek and Nothing Day,
Sibling harmony: Ward Thomas
were the first UK country act
with a No. 1 album
with its tale of smoking “a joint with Willie
Nelson’s son” and, of course, her cover of
Gentle On My Mind – a classic made famous
by her much-missed father Glen Campbell.
Black Deer’s bill was certainly not limited.
Who’d have thought that a dirty, funky,
proggy, bluesy, country Canadian five-piece
band called The Sheepdogs would make an
impression? All long-hair and endearingly
dressed like a 1970s hippy tribute act (apart
from guitarist Jimmy Bowskill, who opted for
powder blue Nudie suit) they ripped into their
riffs with swagger, like Jimmy Page high-
fiving Hank Williams. And boy, can The
REVIEWS LIVE!
The Sheepdogs: hippie style,
Nudie suits and a supercharged
country sound
Sheepdogs play. Their glorious song,
Saskatchewan, tells us they’re from up north,
but Southern-fried tunes, such as Laidback,
root them in heartland Americana.
Back on the main stage, John Moreland
cut an imposing figure, seated throughout his
acoustic set, and evoking Bruce Springsteen in
his vocals and material. But who’d have
thought Kiefer Sutherland would pitch up?
Entering the fray amidst a flurry of audience
excitement, sporting cream jacket and hat
(soon ditched in the intense heat), Sutherland
brought a top-notch band to match his
ambitions, including an ace lead guitarist.
COUNTRY MUSIC 109
LIVE! REVIEWS

Sutherland’s stage presence made up for a

rasping voice – and he threw in loads of his
own material – but it was his cover of Lone
Justice’s Ways To Be Wicked, written by Tom
Petty, that really got the crowd going.
As the evening started to cool, homegrown
country stars Ward Thomas warmed up
fans at the Main Stage (including Sam
Palladio with his girlfriend Cassadee Pope,
who were interrupted for selfies every few The evening glow: Eridge Park,
near Tunbridge Wells, provided
minutes). The sisters now have a good
the perfect setting
selection of old faves to draw from, including
Town Called Ugley and Guilty Flowers, but
were eager to show off their new cuts too,
including It’s Not Just Me and One More
Goodbye. Behind them, their band were all
dressed in black, while Catherine and Lizzy
worked the crowd by splitting them in two –
they seem to have really honed their stagecraft
– and their harmonies shone through once
more.
With the sun starting to go down and its
accompanying glow radiating around the
beautiful Eridge Park, Sam Beam – aka Iron
& Wine – took to the Main Stage, with
trademark expansive beard, and a glass of red
wine to hand. Gentle opener The Trapeze
Swinger – and a superb band with cellist and
double bass, alongside keys and percussion
– further added to the feeling that we’d
stumbled into a Victorian Daguerreotype
photoshoot, with Beam only breaking the spell
when stopping to laugh at the crowd’s antics.
Incredibly intricate arrangements on
Wolves (Sign On The Shepherd’s Dog) and the
magical Grace For Saints And Ramblers were Iron & Wine: Sam Beam brought
cello and double bass along –
reminiscent of early Rickie Lee Jones and
and a sizeable glass of red wine
Tom Waits, which is high praise. Perfect.

Direct from the Main Stage, Ashley

Campbell reprised the humorous Better
Boyfriend and Lonely Guy – a guide to getting
someone’s attention. The heart-wrenching
Remembering – written after her father Glen
Campbell’s final show, when his Alzheimer’s
was really affecting him – left both Ashley,
and Ward Thomas, overcome with emotion
– “waterworks on a dime” as she put it.
With his gorgeous, bluesy tone, Eric Bibb

UNDER THE Black Deer’s ‘Under The Apple Tree’

Songwriters Sessions gave fans the rare
offered up the mellow Shaving Talk, followed
by Saucer & Cup – a rare song of matrimonial

APPLE TREE opportunity to hear artists talk about their

songs, before performing acoustically “in
bliss – and the sweet Connected.
Finally, Jarrod Dickenson gave lean

SC U REAT SE D SB Y IB OOB HNA RSR I S , the round” – we caught Saturday’s session

T H E I N T I M AT E ‘ U N D E R T H E A P P L E
TREE’ SESSIONS PROVIDED A
UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO THE
C R E AT I V E P R O C E S S
in the tiny, but heaving Supajam tent.
First off, Ward Thomas – who admitted
they were rusty – showed off their sibling
harmonies on Good On You, Cartwheels
(written in Nashville), and Carry You Home
(about the pros and cons of being sisters).
versions of Nothing More (about a chance
encounter) and Prefer To Lose, before inviting
his wife Claire onstage to duet on Your Heart
Belongs To Me. Their easy banter was
infectious, but what these sessions ultimately
proved was just how personal, affecting –
even cathartic – these songs can be.

110 COUNTRY MUSIC


Six-piece folk-punk band Black
Water Country deliver their
revamped take on trad folk
From Nashville to Kent: Sam
Palladio was clearly thrilled to
finally be back home
SUNDAY 24 JUNE
A
fter a detour to a nearby pub to watch
England’s biggest ever World Cup
victory – and on a tide of euphoria
– fellow football/Black Deer fans Sarah and
Gary told Country Music that it was the best
organised festival they’d ever been to – and
that they’d loved the Pogues-like band, Black
Water Country. It was great to witness
another Songwriters Session – ‘Whispering’
Bob Harris introduced “one of my best
friends” Sam Palladio, who ushered the
Webb Sisters, Treetop Flyers, and
Ruarri from William The Conqueror
onto the stage, in a show that was packed to
the rafters. Watching on, Jarrod Dickenson
admitted that he couldn’t believe that this was
the first Black Deer festival; everything had
run so smoothly, with fantastic backstage
crews and no horrific overlaps of acts.
Hot on the heels of the bouncing rhythms
and fierce – almost dangerous –rockabilly and
Americana of The Americans on the Main
Stage (which felt slightly out of kilter in the
afternoon sun), came fan favourite Sam
Palladio. With exhilarating guitar from
Striking Matches axe-woman Sarah
Zimmerman, and later joined by girlfriend
Cassadee Pope, Palladio spoke of missing
his UK homeland when filming Nashville: “it’s
nice to be finally free!” he said. And in the
midst of introducing new material, he further
endeared himself to fans by declaring, “it feels
only right to crack open a cider in this field.”
Watch this space. Palladio is on the rise.
Hard to categorise, but easy to love, the
staggeringly good Webb Sisters embraced
folk, country and the edges of Americana on
the Ridge Stage. Previously known for playing
REVIEWS LIVE!
Motor enthusiasts of a rockabilly
persuasion could make use of
the on-site pinstriping service
Crowd favourite Sam Palladio
with Striking Matches guitarist
Sarah Zimmerman
with Leonard Cohen and for being Tom
Petty’s backing singers, sisters Hattie (harp
and occasional mandolin) and Charley (guitar)
have the songs, musicianship and harmonies
to break through on their own. Starkly dressed
in black with long blonde hair and some
teasing sibling banter, their clever blend of
covers (sometimes merged within their own
songs), plus the audacity of using the harp as
a lead instrument, made the audience sit up
and take notice.
Petty’s Learning To Fly and Tracy
Chapman’s Baby Can I Hold You fitted
seamlessly with songs from their album,
Savages, and a couple of Cohen tunes – If It
Be Your Will and Show Me The Place. The
crowd also loved their slowed-down Always
On My Mind and, after Charley noted her
three-year-old daughter dozing in the
COUNTRY MUSIC 111
LIVE! REVIEWS
The Webb Sisters mixed folk,
country and Americana for a
delighted crowd
Jason Isbell and his band The 400
Unit stole the show on Sunday
crowd (while her next child kicked inside
her!), they finished with a fab version of
Cheap Trick’s I Want You To Want Me.
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit were the
penultimate act on the bill (with one-man-
band Passenger following), and for many in
The Americans: high-octane
rockabilly in the midday sun
112 COUNTRY MUSIC
Award-winning singer-songwriter
Passenger (Michael David
Rosenberg) closed the weekend
BLACK DEER
IT HNE F E SBT I VARL’ SIBEI G FM O M E N T S …
the Black Deer crowd, this was the reason
they’d come. Isbell did not disappoint. With
snarling, Petty-esque playing from sublime
lead guitarist Sadler Vaden, rolling rhythms
Ashley Campbell was Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam:
from bassist Jimbo Hart and drummer Chad
a hit twice over “Victorian style”
Gamble – and intricate keys and accordion
from Derry deBorja – The 400 Unit are
justifiably compared with Springsteen’s
E-Street Band.
They tore into opener Anxiety, the highly
topical 24 Frames and Something More Than
Free and although Isbell was focused and
serious throughout– he couldn’t help but A behatted Jarrod
occasionally break into a grin. White Man’s The Webb Sisters’ Dickenson on the Ridge
mediaeval chic stage on Saturday
World mixed downtrodden rage and guilt,
Codeine saw Isbell switch to acoustic guitar,
and Last Of My Kind’s lament had Vaden
switch to slide. Cumberland Gap was suitably
angry and Tupelo, lonesome. The crowd’s
cheers were heartfelt when Isbell sang of
getting sober (which he’s been since 2012) on
Cover Me Up. He closed the set with Flying
Over Water, the excellent If We Were Jason Isbell & The 400
Unit: the act many were The sunset over Black
Vampires, and his epic statement song, Never
waiting for… Deer – until next year…
Gonna Change. Awesome.
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 Scotty McCreery
Scotty McCreery’s recent hit Five More Minutes has him firmly back in the saddle,
but it’s been a bumpy ride. Country Music finds out about life after American Idol
Words by Michael Leonard

S cotty McCreery won American Idol aged just 17,

became a massive country star, then – as so often
seems to be the case – he got dropped when one single
faltered. But 2018 has seen him return with a fine new
album, Seasons Change, and a poignant single written in
tribute to his late grandfather, Five More Minutes, which
he initially released without a label. It has since sold over
330,000 copies....
What was the very first record any music. It must have been
you bought? a tough year…
An Elvis ‘Greatest Hits’ record. It was a pretty bad year! We’d just
With family, I grew up with had two of my biggest singles, See
Conway Twitty, Mel Haggard and You Tonight and Feelin’ It, and
George Jones being the shows were selling out – it was
played at home, and all great! Then we
my mum loves The tried one single [the
Carpenters – so that more poppy Southern
was all familiar, too. Belle] which was not
But I was fascinated by particularly what I

Elvis. I still am.
You were just 17
when you won
American Idol in 2011. Did
it all seem like a blur at the
time?
It was exciting, but a lot all at once.
Within days, we were doing Ellen,
we would do The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno, Good Morning
America… It’s cool to do when
you’re 17, but I wish now that
I was a little older, as I think I
would have appreciated it a bit
more. I don’t think I took a breath
throughout that whole period!
In 2016, you got dropped
from your label and were
even stopped from releasing
Does 2018 feel like a new
beginning for you?
It feels fresh. Over the last few
years, I’ve tried to learn to become
more of my own artist – this album
showcases that. In some ways it
feels like a first step again.
wanted to sing, but
it was what the label
wanted at the time. It
didn’t work out and it
was: ‘See ya!’ It was a bit of a shock.
So I parted ways with one label,
but I was signed to two more so I
couldn’t put out any stuff anyway,
and it was a whole year of lawyers,
bankruptcies of companies... it was
just a big mess.
Ever had any advice from
Carrie Underwood, a fellow
American Idol winner?
Right after I won, she called and
said I could always ring if I needed
anything. In terms of coming off
the TV and having a legitimate
country career, she’s as good as
anybody – fantastic.
I’ve never been one
to bother people who
are busy, but she said
she’d always be there
for me if I needed.
Amidst all the
chaos, also in
2016, you wrote
“If anybody says my stuff sounds like
the 90s, well that’s what I wanted it
to sound like” – Scotty McCreery
your book, Go Big Or Go
Home. Did you want to get
everything off your chest?
Well, I didn’t look at it as an
autobiography. I was asked to
write an autobiography straight
after when I won Idol, and I said:
‘What am I gonna write about? I’m
not old enough!’ But the publishers
came back later and said that – for
such a young guy – I’d have an
interesting perspective on life, and
I thought: ‘That’s certainly true!’
So I did it.
Would you agree that
Seasons Change is
a very 90s-sounding
album?
Well, to me 90s country
is one of the greatest eras.
There was so many acts
coming out that were really
shaping a new sound –
Garth Brooks, Brooks &
Dunn, Shania Twain… it
Marshall Copous
was a great decade! If anybody says
my stuff sounds like the 90s, well,
that’s what I wanted it to sound
like. If I was doing country with an
R&B flavour people would just go:
‘Huh?’ It’s not me. Not believable.
On Seasons Change,
Barefootin’ could make
a really great single: only
problem is that the chorus
repeatedly refers to “shaggin’
in the sand”. It may come as
news to you, but UK radio
may well be reluctant to
playlist that...
Shaggin’ is this dance but, I now
get it! It has different connotations
over in the UK (laughs). Don’t
worry, I’ll work on changing the
lyrics on that one just for you. I’d
love to come over and play!
Scott McCreery’s fourth studio
album Season’s Change is out now
on Triple Tigers

114 Country music

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