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June 2018
Features
The
Outlaw
in
DALLAS
MOORE
10 Dallas Moore
by Duncan Warwick
The Outlaw spirit is alive and well in the Harley-ridin’, hard workin’ Mr Honky Tonk.
Chris Smith talks 90s hits and Merle Haggard with the songstress.
20 Cocaine & Rhinestones
T
he title of Dallas Moore’s latest album, Mr Honky
Tonk, sums him up nicely. A seasoned performer,
who last year played 327 shows, he has been
building a fanbase for more than two decades.
Hailing from Cincinatti, Ohio, Moore has been
embraced for his uncomprimisingly old-school Outlaw sound
which embraces some Southern rock and roadhouse blues by
those in need of something more real, and well, more organic,
just like his refreshingly old-school approach to gigging.
“It’s totally grassroots. We’re getting out there and taking
our music to the people and getting out and playing live every
night we can in front of different audiences. It’s really building
everything and growing organically. I guess there’s a lot of
different ways for folks to do it but it’s what seems to work for
us and it’s the thing I love the most about it. I enjoy it not only
for playing the different shows everywhere but I love travelling
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16 Suzy Bogguss
and meeting new people everyday.”
This devotion to a life on the road paid off last year when
The Dallas Moore Band picked up an Ameripolitan Award for
Outlaw Band Of The Year, and Moore has perhaps found the
spiritual home for his music, in Texas, although the fans for
whom he’s played for around 20 years locally might not give
him up that easily despite the momentum of recent recordings.
“For the longest time we mostly played regionally around
Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and we would take an
occasional trip once a year where we’d play a motorcycle rally
or go to Florida for a week and play, but we weren’t actively
touring like we are now. The last three or four years has really
turned around and really started picking up steam and, like you
just said, took it up to the next level. We want to just keep going
with that because everything’s working out really well for us
right now.”
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Duncan Warwick meets Tyler Mahan Coe, the man behind the essential podcast about The
History of 20th Century Country Music and the lives of those who gave it to us.
Suzy
Bogguss
26 Leslie Tom
Kelly Gregory meets the Texas honky tonker with a passion for Hank.
formative years,
folk songs and the future
One of the stars of the 90s, Suzy Bogguss, talks to Chris Smith about her
forthcoming 3-CD collection from that period. And a little bit about
Merle Haggard.
52 Eddy, Don & Lefty
T
An anniversary tribute to Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson and Lefty Frizzell by Jack Watkins.
hat anyone would decide
to release a fifty song, 3 CD
compilation of her work
seems to be something of a
surprise to Suzy Bogguss; a
pleasant one of course, she
describes it as “kinda cool” and told me
she feels honoured that somebody would
think her work was sufficiently important
to want to do that.
The album is Aces, released on Hump
Head Records and sub-titled “The
definitive Capitol collection”; it takes the
listener from Suzy’s early developmental
deal with that major American label and
provides a veritable cornucopia of great
songs.
Talking about her involvement in the
project Suzy seemed a little amused she
had not been required to do very much at
all, “I supplied the photo” she told me, “I
keep a closet full of old memorabilia and
there were some photos from the (1992)
Voices in The Wind album taken in New
Mexico that didn’t get used, and I love the
light on them.”
We moved on to talking about Merle
Haggard and Suzy’s 2014 album Lucky.
58 Country’s Best Whiskey Songs
Our guide to some of the best tunes dedicated to Kentucky’s finest.
62 Randy Scruggs Obit.
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Suzy’s introduction to The Hag’s music
happened at a very early age and at that
time his songs bordered on taboo to a
young girl growing up in a small town
where everybody knew everybody’s
business. “You would get wind of
somebody having an affair, or someone’s
financial troubles and here was Merle
writing songs about those things”.
Suzy’s father worked at International
Harvester and car pooled with co-
workers for the drive into work every
day; years later he gave the car to Suzy
and it came with all the eight track
cassettes of Buck Owens, Ray Price, Eddie
Arnold and of course Merle.
“I would drive that car around town
with a canoe on the roof, listening to that
music and it kind of became my identity.
I was one of the few people in town that
loved country music and I was playing
guitar so I was learning these songs
because they had simple melodies and
great stories to tell.”
Fans will know Somewhere Between,
the title of Suzy’s debut album, to be a
Merle Haggard song and shortly after that
release and the radio airplay it generated
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By Walt Trott
63 Rayburn Anthony Obit.
By Walt Trott
Duncan Warwick speaks to Tyler Mahan Coe.
The man behind the po dcast about the history
of 20th Century Country Music and the lives of
those who gave it to us.
Reviews
30 Album Reviews
50 Book Review
Regulars
4 News
8 Tour Guide
15 The David Allan Page
29 I Want My Country Back
51 Americana Roundup
T
yler Mahan Coe has
some stories to tell
you, and he makes
all of them totally
compelling. He’ll
tell you how Merle
Haggard’s Okie From
Muskogee had so much to say and how
it has been misunderstood for many
years, the real reason Loretta Lynn’s
The Pill was banned, and he’ll help you
understand why the all-round nice guy
of country music, Ernest Tubb strapped
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on a gun late one night with killing in
mind. Then there’s the disturbing story
of how Spade Cooley went from one of
the biggest acts in America to substance
abuse, torture, and murder. And those
are just some of the highlights of the first
season of a podcast called Cocaine &
Rhinestones.
Billed as “a podcast about the history
of country music made in the 20th
century,” the show’s host states that, “it
had to happen, nobody else was going
to do it and I knew I had to at least try,”
referring to the task ahead of him. In
the podcast Tyler Mahan Coe introduces
each episode with “… I’ve heard these
stories my whole life. As far as I can tell,
here’s the truth about this one,” and
when he refers to “his whole life” he
means it, for, as his surname implies,
Tyler’s dad is none other than David
Allan Coe.
“I do say that and it does have a lot to
do with the fact that I was born David
Allan Coe’s son which is the reason why
I’ve lived a life in and around the genre
of country music. But really anything
that brought me to country music at
such a young age would have put me in
the same position to be able to say those
words, because being a fan of country
music is to be a fan of the stories around
country music. The stories around
country music are so often what gets put
into the country music itself.”
One thing’s for certain, as podcasts
have grown in popularity in recent
years country music has been severely
under-represented. Country music also
everything you think you remember. This
isn’t a Lifetime movie. It’s rated R,” and
Season 2 will be with us soon.
The podcasts might feature some
household names, but rather more
important than that to Coe is the
storytelling. “To me it’s about keeping
people interested. It comes down to the
basics of storytelling and I did hit a few
big names in the first season but I didn’t
do a whole episode on Merle Haggard or
Loretta Lynn. I did a whole episode on a
Merle Haggard song and a Loretta Lynn
has some dark stories to tell, and the
suggestion that it’s about time there
was a decent podcast elicits a laugh
from Tyler, “Oh yeah, that’s the reason I
started one.”
The first season of Cocaine &
Rhinestones runs to 14 episodes plus
a bonus Q&A episode, and includes
topics such as The Louvin Brothers,
two episodes on Don Rich and Buck
Owens, and three on Harper Valley PTA.
There’s even one about Wynonna, the
description of which states, “Forget
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LESLIE
TOM
It’s all about Hank on her
latest, the Texas singer
tells Kelly Gregory.
“I
was born too late, or you were born too soon” ponders Leslie Tom on the
opening song of her recent album Ain’t It Something, Hank Williams, and
with a sound she describes as “Traditional country, circa 1950s, with a
modern twist,” the Texas songstress is just the person to pay tribute to the
legend known as The Hillbilly Shakespeare.
But rather than just cover Hank songs like so many before, Tom’s tribute, while laced
with classic Williams songs like Hey Good Lookin’, Honky Tonkin’, and I’m So Lonesome
I Could Cry is mostly made up of original songs that have been inspired by the work of
Hiram King Williams, and even the covers take on a new life in Tom’s hands. It doesn’t
hurt none that steel great Lloyd Green is providing some tasty licks either.
“Hank Williams was one of the very first artists I remember hearing as a child,” reflects
Tom on the motivation behind the project.
“His music truly was the foundation for my sound. This project was supposed to be
a filler EP to get us through until my first full-length album was released in 2019. As
we began working on the record, it took on a life of its own and as they say, ‘the rest is
history.’
“When we were writing the original songs, our mission was to write songs that were
influenced by the life and music of Hank Williams, but not necessarily making sure that
what we were writing fit in or mimicked the Hank tunes we were covering. We wanted to
make sure every song included a story or a part of Hank’s life. As the project was finished,
we felt like our goal had been accomplished. I love our version of Hey Good Lookin’ and
my favourite song on the record is Angel Of Death.”
Leslie Tom started playing music at just seven years old and attended a music and
arts charter school in Corpus Christi, TX. She began playing violin before moving on
to piano and clarinet, and then the choir. However, whilst every performer will admit to
some nerves before taking to the stage, Leslie Tom wasn’t keen on being in front of an
audience.
“The irony of my early life is I had acute stage fright and was unable to sing solo in front
of anyone...and I mean ANYONE,” she shouts.
“In 2003, a morning show in the US called ‘The Today Show’ on NBC held a singing
competition similar to American Idol (though this was pre-Idol). I decided I was going to
audition for that show and began taking vocal lessons.
“Though I never tried out for that specific TV show, I loved the rush I had when singing
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EDDY, DON & LEFTY:
Charts
(AN ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE TO EDDY ARNOLD,
DON GIBSON & LEFTY FRIZZELL)
64 Americana & UK Country Charts
65 Billboard Country Charts
by Jack Watkins
Courtesy of Billboard Inc.
RNOLD
EDDY A
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T
ony Bennett, the first
mainstream popster to record
a country song, a shimmering,
semi-operatic rendition of Cold
Cold Heart in 1951, re ckons the rise
of the singer-songwriter in the 1960s
undermined “non-composing” artists
like himself. What he meant was that the
critics started writing off people like that
as one-dimensional. He’s probably right.
Although Bennett subsequently gained
hipster cred by working with Amy
Winehouse and Lady Gaga, how many of
that crowd would have time for crooning
greats like the recently departed Vic
Damone – who Sinatra reckoned had the
best pipes in the business – Perry Como,
Al Martino or Matt Monro? Unless you
write your own material, you’re not in
the race, dude.
The same thing applies to country,
the death knell of the singing stylist
coming with the arrival of the country
outlaws in the 1970s. Thank God for
the outlaws, you might say and, fair
enough, the Nashville Sound, which
helped perpetuate the country crooning
tradition, had got a bit stale. But at least
we still had the likes of Ray Price and
Faron Young to remind us that singing
a song, regardless of whether you had
written it, was an art form in itself.
Today it is hard to think of any country
performers who are really carrying on
the tradition, who you listen to simply
for the appeal of their vocal range.
In fact, the tradition is so far gone I
suspect the industry has barely noticed
the anniversaries of three great country
stylists this spring, Eddy Arnold (born
May 1918), Don Gibson (born April
1928), and Lefty Frizzell (born March
1928). Okay, Gibson was a prolific
songwriter, but he was a fine, stylish
vocalist too, about as far removed from
the “good songs, shame about the voice”
singer-songwriter prototype as you
could get. And before we go any further,
I should also apologise for the omission
here of another fine country singer, Dave
Dudley. Born in May 1928, he could
easily have made this a quartet, because
he could do a nice bit of crooning when
the fancy took him. But really he was a
truckin’ giant, so doesn’t quite fit in here.
E
ddy Arnold’s name is almost entirely
overlooked in contemporary country
circles now. That’s because he is deemed
guilty of selling his country soul for pop
dollars, which is ironic when you think
that almost the entire Billboard Hot
Country chart today is filled with artists
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