Mickey Gilley leads two country music cultural shifts
By the late 1970s, Mickey Gilley was a bona fide country music headliner. But he couldn’t have imagined what lay in store for him as
By the late 1970s, Mickey Gilley was a bona fide country music headliner. But he couldn’t have imagined what lay in store for him as
Few American performers are as closely associated with nightclubs — or in the case of country music, “honky-tonks” — than Mickey Gilley. The long-time musician,
It’s been six decades since Gene Watson emerged from his childhood home in Sumner, Texas, with a hobby that would eventually land him a spot
Downt-downt-da-downt-downt-downt. Downt downt-downt-downt-da-down. Scrutinizing readers will immediately recognize the above lyrics as those the late country star Roger Miller sang to accompany the guitar licks
If you’re going to be an ambassador, it’s best to know two things: What you represent and who you’re representing it toward. That’s the way
The country music industry is filled with musicians and performers who are critically acclaimed yet have limited commercial success. No. 1 hits are rare for
Country music has always been, like the country in which it was born, a “melting pot” of musical genres. Take a fresh dose of gospel,
I recently discovered a satellite radio station, and it brought back a lot of memories. It’s not just the songs the station plays (it specializes
This Christmas Eve, whether you’re bedding down in your sleeper, dropping in on relatives, headed home or traveling on another long haul … well, there’s
If a country music artist has any staying power, chances are that before they record their first “greatest hits” album, they’ve turned out a collection
Thanks to television, a couple of movies and a whole lot of trucking songs in the 1970s, truck drivers became cultural icons. Listeners still look
In 1980, when the Motor Carrier Act deregulated the trucking industry, competition among carriers became fierce. But in spite of this “deregulation,” the federal government
Years ago, I recall a local country radio poll asking listeners to pick from one of two newly released songs. Which would be the bigger
Dave Dudley released seven singles for country radio between 1955 and 1962, but as he told Vic Willis of The Willis Brothers on television one
Back in a day many of you probably don’t remember, the U.S. had a national speed limit. No vehicle of any type on any road
If you haven’t read some entries from the “Staying Fit on the Road” section of The Trucker’s site by Bob “The Trucker Trainer” Perry, after
I’ve never been a big fan of music videos, at least not the type that dramatizes the lyrics. And I don’t take a liking to
Randy Travis’ dream of becoming a country music star didn’t come easy. The young man who, in 1980, sent demo tapes to every record label
If you’ve ever sat behind a steering wheel, you have one — that one particular vehicle from your past that you wish you could drive
Pardon me for this column, in which I connect recent events and personal experience that have combined to turn a six-decade-old rockabilly/blues hit into —