News/Thoughts

Cover Stories

Jerry Inspired, Texas Soul

Joe Ely is an American music legend when it comes to the honky-tonk / Tex-Mex flavor of Americana music. Born in Amarillo, TX in 1947, and raised in Lubbock, Joe was exposed to, and fell in love with, Texas Country music at a very early age. In 1971, along with fellow musicians Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, they formed ...

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Colin Hay; Still At Work

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, through my student life years, I’m quite partial to the music of that era. I spent my first two years of college in 1983 and 1984 in a small college in North Carolina. My freshman year especially, was quite profound and exciting. It was the early days of MTV, and we still listened ...

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On The Cover: Daryl Mosley

Unless Daryl Mosley is on the road touring, he spends the majority of time hanging out in Waverly, Tennessee. It’s a quaint, Mayberryesque community just west of Nashville where he grew up. As a songwriter, it’s the perfect nest for inspiring ideas – real, salt-of-the-earth people living day to day life with all the joys and sorrow that come with ...

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Tina Adair

Tina Adair grew up in North Alabama, about 30 miles south of Muscle Shoals. She came from a big musical family all the way back to her grandmother, on her mother’s side of the family. Her parents owned a music store and were both musicians. “I was around a lot of music,” Tina said. “I was very fortunate that way. ...

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John Driskell Hopkins

Who could have predicted that the music world would have to shift in a digital direction, in a hurry, like it did in 2020? For those musicians who were able to dig in and hold on, many found a way to use the opportunity to create new music and develop new avenues of sharing. John Driskell Hopkins, a founding member ...

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Alabama Duet’s Rockin’ Americana

In the last issue we profiled a pair of artists who made up the duet group billed as Sugarcane Jane. Digging around a bit and watching several You Tube® videos on the internet, revealed a musical pair that has an oldies sounding southern rock vibe that captured my ears. Their music is a combination of simple and direct lyrical expression ...

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Darrell Sings Hank

Darrell Scott is more than just a song writer. He is a master story teller. His studies of literature and poetry at Tuffs University as a college student served to solidify his career as a wordsmith of the highest order. He’s written songs for many other artists along the way including Faith Hill, Keb, Mo’, and Montgomery Gentry. One of ...

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Flatpicking Champ Rebecca Frazier

Virginia native Rebecca Frazier is perhaps best known for her work with her bluegrass band, Hit & Run, which made history as the only band to win competitions at Rockygrass (2002), Telluride Bluegrass Festival (2003), and the SPBGMA Band Championship in Nashville (2005). Yet her story is not your typical mountain or mountain valley upbringing with late night jams and weekend music parties that are common stories ...

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Blue In Carolina

This summer marks 13 years since the band Carolina Blue first got its start. That’s when friends Bobby Powell and Tim Jones, together with the help from their friend Woddy Platt (Steep Canyon Rangers) went in to the studio to record their first record, Nothing So Blue. “I went by Woody’s house to pitch him some songs,” Bobby remembers. “He ...

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Bluegrass Musician All Suited Up

Kody Norris grew up during the 90s in the mountains of East Tennessee. And while he did not grow up in a musical family directly, he recalls a couple of great-uncles who owned instruments, including his Uncle Jack, who would let the young Kody drag his banjo around the house and, “make a racket with it,” as Kody recalled. His ...

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