THE HELICOPTER RIDE WAS SUPPOSED TO KILL TIME BEFORE THE SHOW. BY NIGHTFALL, THE STAGE WAS EMPTY AND EDDIE MONTGOMERY HAD LOST THE OTHER HALF OF HIS NAME. The show was already on the calendar. September 8, 2017. Flying W Airport & Resort in Medford, New Jersey. Montgomery Gentry were supposed to perform there that … Đọc tiếp
CANCER HIT FIRST. THEN DIVORCE PAPERS CAME. THEN HIS SON DIED. THEN TROY WAS GONE — AND EDDIE MONTGOMERY STILL HAD TO WALK BACK TO THE MICROPHONE. Before Eddie Montgomery ever made a solo album, life had already stripped the word “duo” down to something painful. In 2010, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Three … Đọc tiếp
TWO CALDWELL BROTHERS DIED IN SEPARATE CRASHES 31 DAYS APART. AFTER THAT, THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND WAS NEVER JUST A SOUTHERN ROCK BAND AGAIN. Before the wrecks, The Marshall Tucker Band sounded like Spartanburg, South Carolina, had found a way to put a whole road inside one song. Toy Caldwell wrote with that loose, dangerous … Đọc tiếp
THE FARMHOUSE BAND THAT NASHVILLE DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO CLEAN UP. THEY HAD BEEN PLAYING TOGETHER SINCE 1968. THEN “PICKIN’ ON NASHVILLE” MADE A BUNCH OF LONG-HAIRED KENTUCKY BOYS TOO BIG TO IGNORE. The Kentucky Headhunters did not feel like a band built in a label office. The roots went back to Edmonton and Glasgow, … Đọc tiếp
HE TURNED 35 AND ALREADY FELT LIKE THE WORLD HAD PASSED HIM BY. DAVID BELLAMY TURNED THAT MAN INTO “OLD HIPPIE,” AND COUNTRY RADIO KNEW EXACTLY WHO HE WAS. The Bellamy Brothers had already lived through one kind of fame. “Let Your Love Flow” had taken two Florida brothers around the world in 1976. Then … Đọc tiếp
THEY HELD HIS FUNERAL AT THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM. ON THE STAGE SAT HIS GUITAR, HIS WHITE FEDORA, AND AN EMPTY CHAIR NO ONE TRIED TO FILL. Fourteen Grammys. The man Nashville called Mister Guitar — the quiet architect who shaped how the genre sounded for half a century. He never asked the spotlight to stay … Đọc tiếp
6 YEARS AFTER HAROLD REID PASSED AWAY, THE STATLER BROTHERS’ GREATEST INHERITANCE WASN’T LOCKED IN STAUNTON — IT WAS STILL SINGING THROUGH JACK AND DAVIS REID. April 24, 2020. Staunton, Virginia. Harold Reid’s bass voice went silent, and with it, country music lost one of the sounds that made The Statler Brothers impossible to forget. … Đọc tiếp
10 YEARS AFTER MERLE HAGGARD PASSED AWAY, HIS GREATEST INHERITANCE WASN’T LOCKED INSIDE A GOLD RECORD — IT WAS STILL BREATHING THROUGH BEN’S GUITAR. April 6, 2016. Palo Cedro, California. Merle Haggard died on his 79th birthday, leaving behind one of the most honest catalogs country music ever had. “Mama Tried.” “Sing Me Back Home.” … Đọc tiếp
The Charley Pride Movie Hollywood Never Finished: The Country Legend Whose Life Was Bigger Than Any Screen Hollywood has always loved the lives of music icons. The rise, the struggle, the stage lights, the private battles, and the final applause all seem made for the screen. We have seen films about Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, James Brown, and other … Đọc tiếp
THE GENTLE GIANT WHO CHANGED COUNTRY MUSIC FOREVER: Why Charley Pride’s Voice Still Feels Like Home THE GENTLE GIANT WHO CHANGED COUNTRY MUSIC FOREVER: Why Charley Pride’s Voice Still Feels Like Home For those who grew up with real country music, Charley Pride was never just another singer on the radio. He was a voice of comfort, dignity, … Đọc tiếp