50 Years Ago Today - 'Flowers on the Wall' Was Recorded By The Statler Brothers
March 13 1965 Johnny Cash was booked to record "Flowers on the Wall" but couldn't make it. Columbia Records allowed The Statler Brothers to record it and it became a huge hit. The song peaked in popularity in January 1966, spending four weeks at No. 2
The Dawn of EmiSunshine
Marty Stuart knows who EmiSunshine is. So do those who have clicked the YouTube video of her singing “Folsom Prison Blues,” last March in Knoxville’s Market Square 1,681,526 times and counting. But, in the greater world of country music, EmiSunshine, a spritely 10-year-old girl from
Beer/Album Pairing: 'Night of a Thousand Candles' by The Men They Couldn't Hang
In my opinion, Night of a Thousand Candles, the 1985 debut of the British folk-punk band The Men They Couldn’t Hang, is one of the greatest albums of all time[1]. Further, if I ever write an article listing the most underrated and the most criminally underappreciated albums[
With Nashville in the Rearview, Artists Thrive Elsewhere
Don Forgey was in his mid-20s when he met 18-year-old Kathy Ackerman at Washington state’s Whistlin’ Jack Lodge, a Depression-era hostelry in the woods east of Mount Rainier that’s named for a giant, noisy squirrel (the hoary marmot). Forgey, now 62, had just finished
Novelty Songs: Benny Bell, Dr. Demento and The Art of Laughter
Last week I was sitting in a chilly room with about a dozen guitar pickers and as is the protocol for this particular song circle, each person took their turn at presenting a tune and leading the group through it. There were traditional songs, some blues and the now-standard
Akron Sound Remains Strong With Sarah & Jayson Benn
Patrons of the Music Box venue packed the main floor’s Supper Club to hear Shivering Timbers, another little band from Akron, Ohio, with two polished entertaining sets Saturday night as part of the club’s Lucky Seven Concert Series. Although the husband and wife team of lead singer/upright