HE WROTE FOR ELVIS, WON THREE GRAMMYS, AND BUILT A GUITAR STYLE MOST PLAYERS STILL CAN’T TOUCH — BUT THE WORLD REMEMBERED THE TRUCK. Jerry Reed played guitar on Elvis Presley’s “Guitar Man.” He wrote songs Elvis recorded. Even Chet Atkins studied what Reed was doing. Brad Paisley later praised his total musicianship. But say … Đọc tiếp
A FEW DAYS BEFORE WAYLON JENNINGS WAS GONE, THE OUTLAW WHO SPENT HIS LIFE SOUNDING UNBREAKABLE HAD BECOME QUIET BESIDE THE WOMAN WHO KNEW EVERY SCAR. The room was still. No stage lights. No roaring crowd. No black hat pulled low under a spotlight. Just Waylon near the end of the road, with Jessi Colter … Đọc tiếp
HE HADN’T SET FOOT ON THE OPRY STAGE IN 20 YEARS. IT TOOK WAYLON JENNINGS DYING TO BRING HIM BACK. Waylon Jennings carried a ghost for 43 years. In 1959, he gave up his seat on a small plane to a sick friend. That plane crashed in an Iowa cornfield and killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie … Đọc tiếp
HE DIED ON A MONDAY MORNING. NASHVILLE TOOK NINE YEARS TO PUT HIS NAME WHERE IT BELONGED. Jerry Reed could do almost everything. Write hits. Pick guitar like his fingers were running from the law. Make Elvis want his songs. Make Burt Reynolds even funnier just by standing beside him. Three Grammys. Dozens of albums. … Đọc tiếp
HE MARRIED HER THREE TIMES. THE LAST TIME, HE ALREADY KNEW HE’D LOSE HER. Billy Joe Shaver was the roughest man in outlaw country. Dropped out of school at thirteen. Lost three fingers in a sawmill. Relearned guitar with what was left. But the one thing he couldn’t learn was how to leave Brenda Tindell. … 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
A 13-YEAR-OLD BECAME THE YOUNGEST SOLO ARTIST TO EVER WIN A GRAMMY. Bill Mack wrote “Blue” back in 1958. For nearly four decades, the song drifted through different hands — recorded a few times, but never really found its voice. Then an 11-year-old girl from Texas named LeAnn Rimes found the demo at home. Her … Đọc tiếp
FOR TWENTY YEARS, A MAN RAISED FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS TO BUILD A HOME FOR CHILDREN WITH CANCER. HE CALLED IT HIS GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT. THEN THE SAME DISEASE CAME FOR HIM. He was Toby Keith. The loudest mouth in country music. America knew the caricature. Boot in your ass. Red Solo Cup. The flag-waving redneck half … Đọc tiếp
HE DIED ON A MONDAY IN NORMAN, OKLAHOMA. THE CANCER TOOK TWO AND A HALF YEARS TO FINISH WHAT IT STARTED. THEY BURIED HIM AT SUNSET MEMORIAL PARK — AN OKLAHOMA BOY PUT BACK IN OKLAHOMA DIRT. The kid from Clinton. Rodeo hand. Oil field roughneck. Defensive end for a semi-pro football team nobody remembers. … Đọc tiếp
THE SEAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WAYLON’S. HE GAVE IT AWAY TO A SICK MAN. HOURS LATER, THAT PLANE CRASHED — AND COUNTRY MUSIC GOT ONE OF ITS HEAVIEST SURVIVORS. Before Waylon Jennings became Waylon Jennings, he was Buddy Holly’s bass player. Not the outlaw yet. Not the black-hatted voice that would later push Nashville … Đọc tiếp