Buck Owens’ track to stardom had an unorthodox start and believe it or not, his singing didn’t launch that journey as much as his guitar skills; it started when another singer needed a lead guitarist on short notice. With his second Capitol recording session looming in September, 1953, Tommy Collins, a cast member of Southern [...]
A regional star, local TV luminary and jazz virtuoso even before beginning his 32-year tenure as Mister Rogers’ favorite handyman, Joe Negri (see feature in the September ’10 issue) was woefully under-recorded until making three albums a few years ago. Despite leading trios for nearly 65 years, he never recorded in that setting until now. [...]
For Hank Williams Sr. collectors who have all his studio material, the Holy Grail has been recordings of his live early morning radio shows, 15 minutes long, broadcast daily over Nashville’s WSM in 1951 and sponsored by Mother’s Best Flour. The station recorded some of these shows to run if Hank and his band, the [...]
Lloyd Green with the the signature model pedal-steel guitar he designed for the Sho-Bud company in 1973. Prior to this, a single on a double-neck cabinet with pad didn’t exist. This steel has been used on more than 5,000 recording sessions and it continues to be his primary steel. The seat is a Sho-Bud Pac-a-seat [...]
Brad Paisley’s albums have been admirably consistent, emphasizing vocals, of course, but usually spiced by a couple great Telecaster workouts. In the case of Play, five of the 16 tracks are vocals, the remainder instrumental. Such albums aren’t easy to get past most Music Row producers, who favor radio airplay over quality, unless a major-label [...]
The peacetime U.S. Army in 1957 had a steady stream of new recruits due to the draft and ongoing promotional efforts to encourage enlistments. Among those projects – 52 filmed segments of “Country Style U.S.A.,” were made available to local TV stations from ’57 to ’61. A bit over 14 minutes, each program featured two [...]
Slim Bryant Thomas Hoyt Bryant, known to family and friends as “Slim,” met Perry Bechtel in Atlanta 1929. “I heard your record, ‘Wabash Blues,’ and I want to play it just like that,” he declared. “I can teach you that in 30 minutes,” the older man responded. “But if you want to play ‘em all [...]
Aside from Jerry Wexler’s standing as a titan of R&B, soul and rock, his musical range extended far beyond. A lifelong country fan, Wexler enjoyed Hank Williams and Bob Wills when they were alive and touring. He was aware of Willie Nelson – who grew up playing Western swing around Abbott, Texas – in the [...]
