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Terry Roland

The Grand Ole Opry: The Ryman Years

The Grand Ole Opry: The Ryman Years

This is a tale of two historic and enduring country music institutions based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Grand Ole Opry-the longest running live radio broadcast in America and Ryman Auditorium-where the Opry called home for thirty years. Today they are still today so closely related in the public mind, they

Boz Scaggs: His Road to the Blues

Boz Scaggs: His Road to the Blues

Boz Scaggs, best known in mainstream pop music for his classic ’70s disco-era album, Silk Degrees, has always drawn his roots, influence, and musical expression from Texas blues. He began with a blues guitar in his hands as a teenager in Texas. The distinctly American music has been his anchor

Buddy Emmons: An Appreciation

Buddy Emmons: An Appreciation

When pedal steel guitar great Buddy Emmons died this week, we lost more than an exceptional musician from the country music landscape. Like the legendary artist who discovered him, Little Jimmy Dickens (when he died last year) the passing of Emmons is the passing of an era. Buddy Emmons was

A Larger Living Room, a Taller Stage: Watkins Family Takes It on the Road

A Larger Living Room, a Taller Stage: Watkins Family Takes It on the Road

Folk music, in all of its forms, is about family – the universal family of artists and audience. It’s a worldwide family of restless human souls who find melodic expressions of love and redemption calling them toward their best selves. Since 2002, Sara and Sean Watkins – best known as sibling

Duane Eddy: The Return of the King of Twang

Duane Eddy: The Return of the King of Twang

In 2013, I attended the Americana Music Association Awards and Honors show at Ryman Auditorium. It was a memorable evening, to say the least, with some of the best Americana artists and legends on stage and in the audience. But the moment that had the most impact on me above

From Brennen Leigh To Lefty Frizzell

From Brennen Leigh To Lefty Frizzell

Austin-based singer-songwriter Brennen Leigh was born for country music. It is in her blood as sure as the Texas air she breathes. Therefore, her current IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign — for a new album honoring the music of honky-tonk legend Lefty Frizzell — is a logical step in a career that has been

When God Loves a Man: An Appreciation for Percy Sledge

When God Loves a Man: An Appreciation for Percy Sledge

As the song begins, it’s amazingly simple. There’s no dramatic build up, no minimalist entry way; it’s just the sound of the drums, an electric bass, and a church organ together. They wait as though they call for some sense of devotion in anticipation of a voice.