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
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. And
Nick Lowe - His aim is true
My vision is to tease people. I never make a stand, you know, never put my feet down. If I write a love song, I'll always make fun of it to my friends. As a matter of fact, I'm sickeningly smug.
-- Nick Lowe in Newsweek, 1978
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 from
Chet Atkins: 1924 to 2001
It's hard to believe that Chet Atkins, a name synonymous with Nashville, ever had a problem with the place, but in 1950 he did. He was in Springfield, Missouri, at the time, working on KWTO with Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, when WSM offered them a job in
Mark Eitzel - The Invisible Man
A Mark Eitzel gig can be the equivalent of a slow-motion car crash, painful to watch but impossible to look away. One performance I saw deteriorated into a heated war of words between the mightily pissed-off troubadour and some drunken hecklers. I wanted to walk out but couldn&