Free Republic

DURANGO, Colo. — Every summer night throughout the American West, hundreds of tourists and western music fans sit down to a meal and a show at a modern-day chuck wagon. At these venues, a throwback to the covered wagon kitchens that were part of cattle drives, audiences polish off plates loaded with meat, baked beans, a potato, applesauce, a biscuit and cake, and then watch a house band tell corny jokes and play cowboy songs popularized by people like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry in the 1930s and ’40s. The bands are not just the entertainment; they are the main...

Country music has been having an identity crisis since it crawled out of the cradle. Call it diffuse or call it elastic, but it has always run on two tracks: one was rough and one was slick, one rooted in tradition, the other more modern. Think about that serendipitous August in 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee, when, two days apart, both Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family auditioned for the Victor Talking Machine Company (which would ultimately become RCA Records). Ralph Peer, the record company’s producer and talent scout, immediately signed both acts. That was a big week for country...

A couple of country music’s prominent female singer/songwriters came out for gun control legislation in the wake of both the El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio shootings, which claimed the lives of 29 people total.

Country music star Lee Greenwood was especially proud to be an American over the holiday weekend, after working with a nonprofit to provide a specialized home for an Afghanistan war veteran who lost his legs overseas. Greenwood teamed up with Helping a Hero to provide wounded warrior Matt Deatherage with a home equipped for him to live independently, and the two men appeared on "Fox & Friends" on Monday to talk about the new house and the organization that made it happen. ..." The Army veteran was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2010, and stepped on a land mine in...

Well, my internet is finally back up, so here is our gospel tune for today: R.W. Hampton - Letting Go 2014. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Today we jump up to 1964 for Blue Train (Of The Heartbreak Line) by John D Loudermilk. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Its 1949 and Eddy Arnold says Don't Rob Another Man's Castle. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

I'm Sending You Red Roses by Jimmy Wakely (1943) is our tune today. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Jim & Jesse McReynolds, with the unmistakable voice of Mac Wiseman, performing Little White Church. The tune is on their 1981 album Music Among Friends. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

TGIFF! Its Fiddle Friday and we have Chinquapin Hunting by the Rocky Face Ramblers (2019). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Our tune today is the 1940 recording of Lulu from Honolulu by the Sweet Violet Boys, better known as the Prairie Ramblers. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com

Jim Boyd & His Men of the West perform Will You Be Mine (1951). That is Terry Lee joining in on the vocal. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Today's selection is Cotton Mill Man, a 1964 recording by Jim & Jesse McReynolds. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

ts Swingin' Monday and we have Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies with their 1934 recording of Oh, You Pretty Woman. These are the guys who pretty much got it all started (Milton Brown-v, Derwood Brown v-g-x, Ocie Stockard v-g-bj, Wanna Coffman-b, Cecil Brower-f, Fred Calhoun-p). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Our gospel tune this Sunday is Too Much Trouble by Barry Ward. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

TGIFF! Its Fiddle Friday and we have Chubby Wise and his 1973 recording of Blues On My Mind. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Today we feature the 1959 recording of No Love Have I by Webb Pierce. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

We'll keep things moving and dust off an old 78: Sunshine Sue & Her Rangers (featuring Joe Maphis) - Barn Dance Boogie 1947. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/ https://youtu.be/a5FRRVO5Ds4

Its Swingin' Monday and we have some swingin' mandolin with Dave Martini performing Panhandle Swing (1973). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

By request, our gospel tune this morning is Will There Be Sagebrush in Heaven, recorded in 1947 by tha Sons of the Pioneers. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/