Country Music Medicine

I took the week off to prepare for Christmas, (which in reality I JUST finished) but I'm taking the time to share my early Christmas gift that my 3 year old son gave me. Last night after we finished the Christmas story, the next story in his child's Bible was Joseph and his coat of many colors. Tucker tells me that "Isn't that a song?" Why yes Tucker, Dolly Parton does have a song "Coat of Many Colors". So we listened to it on YouTube and just kept listening to the songs as they came. A live version of "Jackson" where he said "June is so pretty." And we listened to a John Denver song as he’s my dad's favorite singer. And The Highway Men and by the end he could pick out Waylon, Willie, Johnny and Kris. As I explained that each of them for the most part had passed away and went to heaven, he replies with "They are all dead. All in heaven, must be good music." So for me it was a good night. My child enjoyed his bibl...

If you're sunning yourself in Florida maybe you should check out this new duo I found via Twitter not so long ago (I will literally use any means to find good music). As Brantley said it "Country must be country wide) and that's the truth. Even coming out of Orlando, FL where sisters Gabriela and Bianca LeDuc duo of Diamond Dixie having been making music for the last decade. Diamond Dixie appears to have that classic, retro rustic look that's come back around and been popularized lately and it's eye catching. Of course its not the look I worry about its the sound. Currently, "Don't Come Back Around" from the 2017 album Reckless is playing through my speakers, and while to be honest is a little basic compared to what you will hear on the radio its a simple sound where the music itself isn't butchered by producers fine tuning in a computer lab. I even hit re-play on it. Back-to-back music playing isn't common in my house unless I have a song ...

Okay, so I am getting a little bit more into all the holiday cheer. Plus, my three year old is currently with my mom and grandmother baking Christmas cookies so I should be finding a little bit of that jolly, or wrapping presents while I have the time. Instead I am doing what I do best. Listening to music and nagging the rest of you into having my taste in it. So the other day I reached out to some of my loyal Facebook fans. Or you know, people who are on my friends list but were responding to my "professional" account for some of their personal favorite songs. As I listen to, or plan on adding them to my play list. I thought I would share them to you with some of my personal favorites and a few direct links. 1.) Christmas in Dixie -  My favorite version is by Alabama. 2.) Silent Night - Reba McEntire 3.) Hard Candy Christmas - Dolly Parton 4.) Angels Among Us - Alabama 5.) Christmas Cookies - George Straight or the Oak Ridge Boys 6.) Christmas Shoes -  New...

Somehow a week has nearly flown by, and I look up and realize that it's now just ten days till Christmas. They say that time flies the older you get and I'll buy into what we believed to be just a childhood lie the adults told us. Someone the week, the month, the year is gone in just a blink of an eye. A little known fact about me is that I am a tough one to catch the holiday cheer. Just never really was one for it. I don't get excited over much and what I do is totally irrational. (Bawling uncontrollably a Hank Jr concert is not irrational in my book). However, this week my sister (a.k.a editor-in-chief, even I have a boss) took my son and our nephew to see Santa Clause and look at Christmas lights. And tied up in their excitement, all three of them, it was hard to not catch a bit of that festive flu. There is so few people in the country music world who can't think Christmas music who can't think of Jennifer Nettles. To me she is a queen of country Christmas a...

I love Thursdays for "Throwback"s. Actually, I like any day for a throwback as long as it's not embarrassing on my part. Every morning I check my Facebook accounts (I have two personal pages, long story), and see what kind of trouble I was getting into online. So last week when I was typing up and doing some fact checking on my Tractors article I realized that there were some years where major winners of the CMA's I had no idea who they were. So I thought about doing a 1993 throwback (the year I was born) but for that being twenty-four years ago most of those entertainers are still holding strong in the musical world. FYI Brooks and Dunn was Duo of the Year and Vince Gill was Entertainer of the Year. So I decided to step back three more years and visit 1990. While Clint Black was the Male Vocalist, Garth Brooks was New Artist and Video of the Year, George Straight was Entertainer of the year. Still house hold names. But there was a few like Kathy Mattea was holdin...

This week Bebe Rexha claimed the technical right of being the first woman ever to break in on the Country Music Top 40 at number 1. Her new single, "Meant to Be" is a collaboration with Florida Georgia Line. First of all I have so many feelings of FGL being "country". That's why I have broke everything into so many sub genre's of country music in order to justify their place in country and away from what I considered "true" or at least more true country music. OF course Bebe's claim creates a lot of controversy. Since for starters, she didn't do this on her own solo grounds. It comes from riding on the shirt tails of FGL and their fame and success in the genre.  As women in country music fight and push for their own footing they are forced to hand a coveted right and honor over to a pop stars collaboration with a group that country music needs to move on from their crush. (I mean basically they are just pandering). There are so many o...

Well the cowboy hat gives hope at least. I miss the days of the cowboy singers - that's not new news. So I might be a bit easier of a sell for someone who looks the part. Jon Pardi and Justin Moore are two of my favorite country singers on the radio that aren't the current "country kings". For example: Dierks, Eric, Brad, Tim, Blake, Luke, Kenny and Keith. (See why Friday's are for the females?) No, I take that back, lets call the the country court. Even though Bob Willis may have been the king of country and western swing its George Straight who still holds on to it now especially for the cowboy singers and Garth will be his successor. But that's a whole other forty-page post. In short if you're a Jon Pardi or Justin Moore fan you will need an introduction to Jon Wolfe. The singer/songwriter was born and raised in Oklahoma before calling Texas his home. He's well known down south especially in the Texas music tour and has opened shows for the la...

December 2nd. To me this is the weekend that it becomes acceptable to catch the Christmas season fever. So this month the blog will celebrate on and off with some of the best in Christmas music. While my musical tastes typically scream as traditional as I can find, that's not always the case with my holiday spirit. This first song, while it is no where near new, there are so many out there that won't have heard of it. However, last year it was my now three-year-old's favorite song and, based off him singing it this morning, it is just an assumption that I will hear it yet another thousand times before the fat man comes calling. "Santa Clause is Comin' In a Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train", by The Tractors. The Tractors were a country rock band of the mid 1990s if you have forgotten them or were just to young to remember. They had a decent Christmas album in 1994 Have Yourself a Tractors Christmas  that included the pre-mentioned song whih was a basic Santa r...

Like most of my new favorites found on the FM dial, it didn't take but half a song to fall in love with "Scrapyard" by sister trio Gal Friday, when I came across it on 99.9 KFAV. How ironically perfect a name, according to sarahscoop.com the sisters heard the term "girl Friday" on television and inspired the band name. After all, here at Country Music Medicine, Fridays are for the females. Southern rock & gospel, bluegrass and country. Having been chosen to open for The Steel Drivers gives them more than enough face value music cred in my book. Their debut album, Smoke and Mirrors  dropped at the end of October this year. The truth is, as much as I despise certain individual members of The Dixie Chicks, no all-girl band has come close to reaching their level of fame and fortune. (Okay, so I am a fan of The Dixie Chicks music, but that's another story). Gal Friday is the first band I've found to stand a chance with the sound they have. Women rar...