Moises "Blondie" Calderon: 1940 to 2000
No one who has seen Ray Price & the Cherokee Cowboys in the past three decades will forget the band's pianist, Blondie Calderon. Besides serving as leader and arranger for one of the most respected bands in American popular music, Calderon also traded gibes with Price throughout the
Billy Joe Shaver - Salt Of The Earth
Wait long enough and Billy Joe Shaver's entire catalogue will be in print, at least for an instant. Which in itself is a striking endorsement of the work of a gifted songwriter who has never more than waved at commercial success as a singer.
Salt Of The Earth,
Kris Kristofferson - Self-Titled
"If it sounds country, man, that's what it is. It's a country song." That's Kris Kristofferson talking, just before launching into "Me And Bobby McGee", one of the greatest country songs -- hell, one of the greatest songs -- ever. Looking back,
Rodney Crowell - Diamonds and Dirt
These three reissues -- the first from Legacy's top-shelf "American Milestones" series, the latter two from Lucky Dog's "Pick of the Litter" series -- comprise the "commercial" portion of Rodney Crowell's solo recording career. These albums were preceded by
Dolly Parton - Little Sparrow
Dolly Parton could have taken her plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame and gone home to count her money, accepting the judgment of the marketplace that her career was no longer of interest. She could have (perhaps then her private life would cease to be of interest to
Various Artists - Come On Beautiful: The Songs Of American Music Club
On the songwriting landscape, Mark Eitzel has been consigned to a dark, shady corner, the result of about a dozen American Music Club records filled with tunes that painstakingly detailed the emotional life of the urban romantic. The artists contributing to Come On Beautiful pledge allegiance to AMC, offering passionate