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Chris Knight - Kentucky straight

There's a guy in an office on Music Row, the kind of office you can find all over Nashville -- album covers and promotional posters on the walls, a conference table with enough room for artists and managers and label reps and everybody's lawyers, just down

My old Kentucky home, Renfro Valley is steeped in country music history

One of my earliest -- and most vivid -- memories is of the roadside in Renfro Valley, Kentucky. What was so impressive about the side of the road was that cars were parked along it, bumper to bumper. Nice cars, rusted-out cars, trucks with their beds packed full of people.

Roy Nichols: 1932 to 2001

West Coast guitarist Roy Nichols was one of the most influential axemen in country music. Though he was best known for his long run as a member of Merle Haggard's band the Strangers, Nichols was already a seasoned pro by the time he began playing with Merle, having

Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys - Cry From the Cross

Ralph Stanley's time, it appears, has finally come. At 74, he's in the center of the critical praise heaped on old-time and bluegrass music's first platinum-selling CD, the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, his beyond-bluegrass stardom certified by articles appearing everywhere from Country

The Band - Rock Of Ages

With four albums of their own under their belt, The Band knew a few things. They'd had all that training -- mostly years of "Midnight Rambles" with Ronnie Hawkins -- in enough beer halls and strip joints right up the center of the U.S. and

Richard Betts - Highway Call

As a descendent of Florida homesteaders, Richard "Dickey" Betts spent his youth playing old-time music, including Irish folk tunes and bluegrass. Betts brought that upbringing, combined with his love of Django Reinhardt and Jimmie Rodgers, to the Allman Brothers Band. Deferring to Duane Allman's leadership in

Robbie Fulks - 13 Hillbilly Giants

On his latest album, Robbie Fulks rollicks through a bakers dozen overlooked classics from the country firmament. But anyone expecting the singer to retread well-worn standards by Hank Williams, Merle Haggard or George Jones will be surprised, though not disappointed. Fulks instead mines country history for oughta-be-better-known numbers by Wynn