Articles and Interviews – 1997

Instead of the usual "This album is the greatest gift to humankind since the invention of the wheel," there's the more understated "Condo is a live act first and a recording band second."

The modesty doesn't get overwhelming, though. It continues "so an album captures them differently than their stage shows, but "Door To Door Maniac" comes damned close."

Still, as long as they brought it up themselves, the question has to be asked.

Can Ray Condo be fully appreciated by those who haven't seen him live? "People do like these records," says the man himself, "but then they go 'whoa, much better live!'"

"Real music is live," Condo continues. "Recordings are only documents. I think of our recordings as demo tapes. We haven't had the time or money to cultivate our sound like the big boys do."... »»»

Hard to believe that the Reaganomic workaholic 1980s gave us this little gem that shows the Japanese were right - the American worker really is a fat, lazy, drunken slob.

"Take This Job and Shove it" is based on a song written by David Allen Coe, but just like "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" was not "The Perfect Country and Western Song," this is not the perfect country and western movie.

Not by a long shot.

Here Eddie Albert plays the head of a soulless conglomerate that has just taken over a small hometown brewery in Dubuque, Iowa. He sends Frank Macklin (Robert Hays) down to increase profits so they can sell it at an obscene profit to some other soulless conglomerate.

This is before the "Airplane" movies, so Hays has to drive anautomobile. Once he gets to Iowa, he gets stuck behind two rednecksdrinking beer and belching smoke from their tailpipe.

They want to race Frank's Mercedes, and then when... »»»

Three of its five members won top honors on their respective instruments, and the band as a whole took Instrumental Group Of The Year.

"It's always an honor to win awards like that," McCoury says. "I'm so busy, I hardly think about it beforehand, so it's surprising and exciting when it happens. We just do the best we can; we've had the band together for a while - Jason (Carter, fiddle player of the year) and Mike (Bub, bass player of the year) joined me and my boys, Ronnie and Rob, back in 1992, so we've been at it a while, you know. And, of course, all the personal appearances, and all the recording, too, that helps put us in folks's minds."

Ronnie McCoury was picked as mandolin player of the year.

Modest and soft-spoken though Del McCoury is, the... »»»

But the fact is that he never really went anywhere.

Thompson - at 72 - still plays about 120 live dates a year, and his lack of activity in the studio hasn't been because of an unwillingness to record, but simply because Thompson is in the same boat that many of his contemporaries are in: a lack of interest on the part of radio and record companies to deal with older artists.

And yet here he is, with a fine new album, "Hank Thompson and Friends" (Curb), recalling the best of his classic Capitol recordings of the '40's, '50's, and '60's.

... »»»

We've got no record label, but have sold several thousand CDs in the US since 1993, playing mostly in New England, though we tour as far south as Alabama.

Until recently, I'd never been much of anywhere outside of the U.S. Montreal, Toronto, and a small Mexican bordertown (when I was 12) made up my list of foriegn places.

In February, the band had something really strange happen to us. We achieved success.

In Italy.

It really happened as a matter of coincidence - our 1995 CD "Highway Signs & Driving Songs" ended up in the hands of an Italian rock magazine editor (Paolo Caru of Buscadero magazine, out of Milan), who became a huge fan, and the rest is history. He gave us huge press for both "Highway Signs & Driving Songs and our new CD "Take These Turns."... »»»

And that means, it's time for music courtesy of The Bagboys doing their regular two-hour, late afternoon gig.

Families with young kids show up. So do neighborhood folks and people interested in hearing a potpourri of bluegrass, Old Timey, folk and a few other genres thrown into the mix by the quintet, who just put out their CD "Sensible Music For Troubled Times."

Bob Chabot, one of the founders of the band and guitarist/vocalist (also known as Bobby Bag. Every band member has the surname "Bag." None, of course, are related), decided the Plough & Stars "was one of the coolest bars in town. I wanted to take my band there."

Eight years ago, Chabot proposed bringing in the band gratis to play at the bar at off-hours.

"We did it, and it went over pretty well," Chabot says.

After trying different nights, the band returned to the Saturday afternoon gigs.... »»»

Their conquest of the nation's fourth largest city concluded this past summer with the Best C&W award from the Houston Press, and now with their first album, "The Land of Rhythm and Pleasure," just released on Austin's Freedom Records, they're ready to expand their horizons.

"We're ready to move on now," says lead singer Mike Barfield. "We got the CD out, and it's time to work on getting out of town."

Imagine Johnny Cash singing with Bakersfield-sound instrumentals, and you have a decent feel for The Hollisters's music. "Obviously, Johnny Cash is a big hero," Barfield says. "Because I'm a baritone, I get told I sound more like him than anybody."

He also points to Johnny Horton and George Jones as influences and "a lot of the early Sun Records stuff, too, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley's early stuff before he got into the movies. And I've listened to a lot of blues and swing, too, so I like a lot of those singers."... »»»

The 33-year-old singer-songwriter has enjoyed five number one songs, including megahit "Strawberry Wine."

And while her own recording career has never achieved the same degree of success, Berg is at it once again, hoping the recently released "Sunday Morning to Saturday Night" will turn the trick.

In addition to "Strawberry Wine," which broke Deana Carter big time, Berg also wrote "You Can Feel Bad If It Makes You Feel Better" (Patty Loveless), "Wild Angels" (Martina McBride), "Everybody Knows" (Trisha Yearwood) and "We Danced Anyway" (Carter).

"It just hasn't hit me yet," says Berg from Charlotte, N.C. where she is in the midst of a Borders Books tour supporting her CD. "It's just almost like it's happening to somebody else. It's strange. I still feel like a kid from the outside looking in.... »»»

Gregory Peck plays the dissatisfied middle-aged sheriff of a small Southern town full of rusty old cars and "Deliverance"-looking hillpeople. It's sort of like Mayberry, only more menacing.

One day he spots Tuesday Weld joy-riding in a prehistoric truck with her 10-year-old brother Buddy. He chases them, the truck runs into a ditch, Buddy takes off.

Sheriff Peck says to Tuesday, "There was a boy driving this truck, and you're sure not a boy, are you?" (Nothing gets by this great investigator.) He's too busy checking out Tuesday's ta-tas to notice the truck is full of white lightning.

Back at the homestead that night, Peck is... »»»

Having said that, whereas country is usually measured to some degree by how much "twang" it has, "Lipstick Lies & Gasoline" has an awful lot of "clank" going for it, too. Many of the songs have as many thuds, clanks and whirrs as the more recent work of American singer-songwriter Tom Waits.

"I'm a Tom Waits fan, I guess," says Eaglesmith when asked about the Waits influence. "As soon as people hear clanking these days, though, they think of Tom Waits. But he doesn't own it. I really think it's more of a country record."

Eaglesmith's own country is Canada; in fact, he's currently on the phone from the small Vancouver Island... »»»

"I look into those blue eyes/ Something happens to me..." The sound reminds one of Patsy Cline, but souped-up for the modern age.

Trouble is, the song with those lyrics, "True Lies," barely registered on the pop-culture meter or in the minds of country radio programmers when released this past spring.

In fact, RCA delayed the release of Evans's debut album, "Three Chords And The Truth," because it wanted a viable single out to support album sales. Instead of coming out in late May, the disc was delayed until September.

The next single, the title track, had the same name as a gossipy book about country music's household names. RCA let Evans's recording linger a while longer until the book's buzz died down.... »»»

Who seemed so good to me

Never took his guitar

And made it down to Tennessee"

Tom T. Hall

America is filled with "Clayton Delaneys," hometown musical heroes who never hit the big time. Be they pickers like Clayton or singers like John Lincoln Wright, all have fans who are convinced that their hero is at least as good as all the major stars.

And they're probably correct - beyond a certain level talent stops being the major determining factor in who becomes a star.

For 25 years, John Lincoln Wright and The Sour Mash Boys have been the leading country act in Boston and New England. Wright has won every award from the Massachusetts Country Music Association so many times he's been retired from eligibility.

His story is a bit different than most because Wright actually did "make it"once. In the late Sixties, singing rock music, young Wright had his first album reach Billboard's Top 100. But rock stardom was ultimately a very disillusioning experience.... »»»

Indeed, thanks to pop-country artists like Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes and Tim McGraw, country has moved back to the pop side, and as a result, it's easy to forget the importance of the new traditionalist movement and, ultimately, Ricky Skaggs.

For before hat acts like Clint Black and Garth Brooks started the country explosion of the early Nineties, before Randy Travis increased country's visibility in the late Eighties, before the Judds and John Anderson and George Strait started their recording careers in the early Eighties, one man brought traditional acoustic sounds back to the forefront in country music: Ricky Skaggs.... »»»

But his band, Wylie & The Wild West Show are undaunted. The group's new disc, "Way Out West," is rapidly scaling Gavin's Americana chart and for good reason. On the disc is a nearly irresistible mix of Western swing, honky tonk and the Bakersfield sound that Buck Owens made his trademark and has carried Dwight Yoakam to superstardom.

"We recorded the music two years ago," says Gustafson. "I didn't listen to it for about a year. But now I've gone back and heard it again and I think it stands up well. It is a good cross section of what we do."

A highlight of the package is a cover of the cowboy classic "Jingle Jangle Jingle," which appears as a duet with Asleep At The Wheel leader Ray Benson, who also produced the disc. "The highlight of the disc was getting to sing with Ray," said Wylie. "He's always been one of my heroes."... »»»

It's not for lip-synching either, and his speaking voice as Jerry Lee is high-camp cartoonish, sort of a twangier Tennessee Tuxedo.

The movie opens with two little boy cousins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart (yes, that Jimmy Swaggart), sneaking off to Chocolate Town to hear some of that Devil's music - well, Jerry's there to hear the music, Swaggart is picturing the plump diva as a Penthouse centerfold.

Two seconds later, Jerry Lee is all grown and playing Satan's songs himself. Winona Ryder plays his 13-year-old cousin Myra. (And already this movie is playing fast and loose with the truth; Winona might understandably tempt a cousin to sin, but I've seen video of the real Myra, and she was a vacant-eyed, gum-chewing moron, barely in her teens and already slatternly.) (Sorry, Killer, don't hurt me.)... »»»

But Earle ain't complaining either.

His last two critically praised albums - "Train A Comin'" and "I Feel Alright" - were generally acoustically based.

So, Earle thought he would make a few sonic changes going into the new disc, English for "The Heart."

"I thought before I started it that I was going to make just like a more electric, guitar rock record, which was probably a direct result of several shows with Neil Young on the last tour," Earle says in an interview from his record company in Nashville. "It didn't turn out that way."

Earle had not expected to be making an album so soon. he was immersed in writing a book of short stories and also had a multitude of duties in running E Squared Records, the company he co-owns with long-time cohort Jack Emerson.

But Warner Brothers Records, which distributes his albums, wanted another album. "The truth was I wasn't making a record yet," Earle says. "People depend on me for a living. People want to know when I was going to go out and tour, and I got a partner in this record label."... »»»

Unfortunately for Allen Estes, there's no word for living and working on one coast and in the Midwest, so the Maine native can't use a single, snappy phrase to let folks know that he works and lives both in Gloucester, Mass. and Nashville.

In the same way, his music defies easy description; part country, part rock 'n' roll, part folk. His music is on display on his recent CD, "Breakin' Even," put out on an indie label.

Lately, Estes's been spending most of his time in New England, though he still keeps his hand in Nashville. Back at home in Gloucester, Estes was following up the release party for "Breakin' Even" with what he called "worthy gigs."

"Playing in bars is fine when you're young and honing your craft," he told me.

"But at this point it's not especially helpful," says Estes, 46 this month. "I've worked in the New England area for most of my career, so I'm not just starting out. I enjoy playing concerts and colleges, because that's where I'm finding people who want to listen to music with a little depth to it."... »»»

Well, they may have departed physically, but their spirit and music are alive and quite well thank you in the guise of Wayne Hancock.

The 30-year-old Texas vagabond just released one of this year's finest efforts, "Thunderstorms and Neon Signs," to critical acclaim.

And based on a spare sound - no drums are used at all - and the old time country feel of the songs both musically and lyrically, Hancock is quick to admit that the Singing Brakeman and Williams were indeed major influences. This is an album filled with tales of drinking, being down and out and love affairs gone south.

Hancock, who records for the small Dejadisc label, also has seemingly picked up the stormier elements of Hanks' life, although that may now be under control.

"Both of them are from hard times," Hancock said of Rodgers and Williams. "Hank himself obviously had a very hard time. He was not considered one of the brightest people. He had a drinking problem. "... »»»

During that time, he contributed songs to three of that label's renowned "insurgent country" compilations and released two full length discs: 1996's "Country Love Songs" and "South Mouth," out Oct. 7.

The 34-year-old Fulks was born in Pennsylvania, grew up in Virginia and North Carolina, spent several years as a college student at Columbia and has been a rooted Chicagoan for over 15 years.

During his tenure there, he filled a guitar chair with the Special Consensus Bluegrass Band; fronted the "Trailer Trash Revue," a rock and roots variety show complete with go-go dancers and frequent... »»»

Yes, it's the same Tom T. Hall who's recorded 21 Top Ten records. It's the same Tom T. Hall who has written countless other Top Ten hits for other artists, from "D.J. For A Day" by Jimmy Newman in 1963 to Alan Jackson's recent Number One "Little Bitty."

Alternative? When someone makes an album, and both he and his label know full well that it has no chance of getting mainstream radio play, that's "alternative." So what if it sounds the same as all those hits he had? Times have changed.

It's a rare event in modern Nashville when a label head tells an artist to cut an album without worrying about radio play. Hall had actually "retired" a few years ago, but his wife wouldn't let him use that word. Mercury kept the door open for him to record whenever and whatever he wanted.

The radio format playing alternative country calls itself "Americana." You'd hope they would play... »»»

Even when Miller had one of his songs covered by one of country music's biggest selling acts, it was still through no real effort on his part - a remarkable occurrence considering many people in Nashville work so hard to place their songs with hit artists.

Now, with the release of "Poison Love," Miller's second album recreating country music past, he has become a major figure in country's underground.

Growing up in the Sixties near Dayton, Ohio, Miller loved many kinds of music, including punk and psychedelia, but it was country and bluegrass that he pursued professionally.

While he cites Elvis as his earliest major influence, Miller says the real magic moment in his musical life came when he first heard a... »»»

"That was how I learned how to play the guitar. You know, I just was flat on my back, so I had to do something. And that was a great time. That was back when the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album (came out), the Beatles's 'White Album,' 'Abbey Road,' stuff like that. It was just a great musical time. If you were gonna be flat on your back and have to sit there in a room and listen to albums, it was a good time to do it."

So like many teenagers of his day, Burr played guitar along with Beatles music. But how did he discover his knack for songwriting?

"Really it comes down to the simple fact that in all the bands that I loved, the rhythm guitar players all wrote the songs. So I just took it as my job to write the songs for the band. I was the guy with six strings, so I win."... »»»

A few years ago, the traditional honky tonker said he would invest more of his time and energy into writing songs for his own albums.

Chesnutt's new disc, "Thank God For Believers," out Sept. 23, finds the Texan living up to what he said. In fact, he wrote half of the 10 songs with so.

"I'm a man of the word," Chesnutt says in a telephone interview from Nashville.

And in keeping with his past, Chesnutt also recorded a song about a jukebox.

Chesnutt says he wanted the new disc to "sound rich. I don't care for a whole lot of production. We just want performances. We didn't want to make a perfect album. Hell, anybody can do that...This was something that Mark and I always said we were going to do together."

"Mark" is Mark Wright, his long-time producer with whom he had a break after not seeing eye-to-eye during the recording of his last full length studio album, "Wings," in 1995.... »»»

You know how it goes "Frankie and Johnny were lovers. Oh, lordy how they could love; He was her man, but he was doing her wrong."

It may very well be one of the King's best movies - and yes, I realize that's sort of like saying "This batch of botulism is not as unpleasant-tasting as some others."

Presley portrays Johnny, a riverboat gambler (appropriate since he was gambling with his career appearing in movies like this), not a particularly good one; he's already gambled away his next seven weeks's salary. When he's not blowing his money on the roulette wheel, he and Frankie (Douglas) have a stage act where they perform forgettable numbers like "I Want to Make Petunia's Two Lips Mine."

Elvis is convinced that he has a bad luck curse on him (the audience is starting to... »»»

But Roger Dean Miller Jr. is determined to make a name for himself. Going by his middle name and sounding like anyone but his father, the younger Miller also has the advantage that many nouveau country fans have barely heard of Roger Miller.

But as Dean Miller promotes his eponymous debut album, the people who have heard of Miller the elder - and this includes most of the journalists and broadcasters Dean must deal with regularly - can't help but bring him up. Much as the son wishes people would just talk about his own music, he also feels a need to be respectful of his father.

Roger Miller had seven children by three different wives, but Dean was the only one to spend most of his childhood with his dad. It's probably no coincidence that he's also the only one to follow in dad's footsteps. "He was a great father to have. Very wise, very deep. I traveled with him a lot."... »»»

On the other hand, it might be more surprising if he sounded anything other than quietly confident, with a decade and a half of being in the forefront of progressive bluegrass, country and now "Americana" under his belt and a long-awaited album of his own songs hitting the streets.

A founder of Hot Rize, the Colorado-based bluegrass band that wowed national audiences in the 1980's, O'Brien long ago demonstrated not only impressive mandolin and fiddle chops, but also a clear, expressive voice with a wry turn of phrase, and a broad sense of humor as the leader of Hot Rize's western-swinging alter ego, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers.

His ability to leaven the Trailblazer comedy act with convincing swing vocals gave an early signal that he was a singer in command of more than the bluegrass idiom.... »»»

How else to react to a listening of Whiskeytown's latest, "Strangers Almanac"? The first tune, "Inn Town" conjures up faded memories of The Jayhawks harmonizing on their breakthrough album, "Hollywood Town Hall"; of "After The Gold Rush"-era Neil Young; of anything by Uncle Tupelo. The album is positively haunted by Uncle Tupelo.

You don't want to get Whiskeytown lead singer/songwriter Ryan Adams worked up about that. First of all, the guy doesn't seem able to get worked up, and second, he's adamant that what Whiskeytown does is pure Whiskeytown - nothing else.

And this sentiment comes despite his record label's promotion of the band as a rare of combo of old, new and novel - a thick stew of Lefty Frizzell, Meat Puppets and Big Star.

Ryan is talking on the phone outside the Brewery club in Raleigh, N.C., the band's hometown. Their tour in support of "Strangers Almanac" starts in minutes, and... »»»

Ergo, although it's not mentioned anywhere in the credits, this film is a remake of the 1972 classic "Junior Bonner."

All that's missing is Steve McQueen and Sam Peckinpah - and all the heart and humor of the original.

Struggling (and failing) to fill McQueen's boots is Scott Glenn, as H.D. Dalton, who after getting gored by a bull heads home to Oklahoma to heal, only to find the house in disrepair, his dad and his dog both missing.

H.D. finds Dad (Ben Johnson) at a nearby nursing home, where his oddball roommate Mickey Rooney has decorated their room with posters of Dolly Parton ("A fine Christian woman - that's why... »»»

And he's one of the best country artists today, yet most country fans are more likely to think of Disney's red-nosed chipmunk when they hear his name than this man with the big, slicked back black hair and sweet voice of Merle Haggard.

Since he's spent much of the first half of this year touring places like the U.K., Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Holland, the natural first topic of conversation is Europeans's surprising love for traditional country music.

"The best I can figure is they like more traditional-sounding country music," he says from his Austin, Texas home on... »»»

After one well-received album on Rounder, the Everly Brothers cum roots rockers style of Bob and Mike Delevante are releasing "Postcards From Along the Way" on Capitol in July.

When asked if he was nervous about how the disc would do, Bob, at 39, three years older than his brother, says, "For me, it's more an excitement. We did the best job we could on this record. We'll see what happens. We want to get out there and work out. You can't help wondering sometimes what's going to happen."

The album isn't all that much of a departure from the New Jersey duo's 1995 Rounder debut "Long About That Time."

Harmonies and vocal trade-offs dominate the songs. A roots rock edge is also quite apparent amidst spry melodies.

Bob Delevante says he "wanted to stay consistent with what we had done sound-wise because it has always worked for me. I felt very comfortable with that."... »»»

He didn't decide to reach only into country's great past to record chestnuts in putting out the 12-song "Under the Covers," out in mid-July. Not unless you count The Clash, Sonny & Bono and The Kinks as country artists.

Although, Yoakam didn't eschew country as he recorded Johnny Horton's "North to Alaska" and Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman."

This project was a long time in coming with most of it recorded about a year ago, before he embarked on the "Gone" tour in the summer of 1996. In fact, a few tracks were recorded for "La Croix D'Amour," released abroad six years ago, but never in the States.

Once again, Yoakam's long-time ace guitarist Pete Anderson produced the album. And with Yoakam doing very few interviews as usual, Anderson was happy to talk about the album.

"It's been very casual," says Anderson. "We've been working on and off for 1 1/2 years."... »»»

But you've probably never heard of the Knoxville sound. If R.B. Morris has his way, you will. Morris, signed to John Prine's Oh Boy label, now lives in Nashville, but he is a very proud son of the eastern Tennessee city of Knoxville. In fact, Morris's hero is Knoxvile native James Agee, who Morris describes as "the father of modern journalism." In fact, Morris wrote a play about him.

The musical group that represents Morris's idea of Knoxville music is the Amazing Rhythm Aces, of "Third Rate Romance" fame. Every reference book you can find will list the ARA as a Memphis group, but according to Morris, the band actually formed in Knoxville and hung around there for several years in the early seventies. "I was a kid hanging out," recounts Morris, "They liked the songs I wrote. They kind of took me under their wing. They'd buy me a drink."... »»»

"Hartford was scheduled to do a workshop at a local music store back in 1991," says Salamander Crossing's guitarist Jeff Kelliher. "He never made it, but that's where (bassist] Andrew Kinsey and our original banjo player, Tim Farnham, met and started picking."

Not long afterward, they were joined by Kelliher and fiddler Rani Arbo. Kelliher says, "People got wind that we were doing some picking, and we actually got asked to do some things."

Six years later, Salamander Crossing has evolved from that modest beginning to a nationally touring act with two albums on the Signature Sounds label, a new and well-respected banjo player and a fistful of rave reviews from publications ranging from Bluegrass Unlimited to the Boston Globe to the radio-oriented Gavin Report.... »»»

The Old 97's, the singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter's band for the past four years, have just released its third album and first for a major label. They are the critical darlings of the alt. country movement and are looking forward to a busy summer, including a string of dates on one of summer's biggest annual tours.

Miller is a lot of things, though unenthusiastic is not one of them. He has been called "engimatic," but nothing could be further from the truth.

During an hour-long conversation, Miller is more than happy to discuss subjects such as his band's recent association with Waylon Jennings, his folk music origins and the Mike Myers's recent movie, "Austin Powers," a big favorite of Miller's.

"Too Far to Care," released on Elektra Records in June, marks a significant change in certain aspects of the Dallas group's musical approach; mostly gone is the strong country flavor of the band's first two albums and the results are sometimes more reminiscent of The Clash than Cash.... »»»

The Hearnes have enchanted audiences for about 25 years, first living in Austin and then, since 1979, New Mexico.

And when it finally came time for the Hearnes to make a national album, old friends like Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith were glad to lend a hand.

The Hearnes released other albums, but those have only been available directly from them. (And their first album, recorded for a long-defunct label, is not available at all). But their low-key musical stylings are not what the commerical world is demanding these days.

Nor do they fit the current vogue for songwriters. "We do about five percent original tunes," says Bill. "Bonnie has the writing skills in the family. I have interpretive skills. I like to find really good songs by obscure songwriters and make them my own."... »»»

After a recording career of 22 years, ace Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark recently released his first live album, "Keepers." The concert was the culmination of three days of recording at the Douglas Corner Cafe in Nashville, where Clark lives, last fall.

"I kind of like the idea of live recording," Clark says from his home. "I'd had all these songs that I'd recorded early on that I was never quite happy with the way they were done, and these are songs that I do every night, so I know them. I just wanted to have a fresher take on them."

Clark, 55, felt he could improve on the past. "It was a long time ago, and I didn't really know what I was doing. It was a learning process, which it always is. I just thought I could do it better."

Clark says he wanted to do a live disc for years. "It just seemed everything (fell) into place.... »»»

Oh yeah. "Convoy."

It all started with C.W. McCall's hit song that single-handedly started that damned CB craze. When they decided to make it into a movie in 1978, for some reason they decided not to use actors; think about it, Kris Kristofferson was a singer, Franklin Ajaye was a stand-up comedian and Ali McGraw was a wax mannequin.

Kristofferson stars as "Rubber Duck", the only truck driver in the world with all his teeth, a flat stomach and a girlfriend that looks anything like Ali McGraw.

Ajaye is "Spider Mike." Burt Young is "Love Machine" and he's hauling hogs. (He used to haul cows but his brother-in-law kept punching them - that's an in-joke for "Rocky" fans.)

When racist sheriff Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) tries to arrest Spider Mike on a bogus charge, a brawl breaks out in the truck stop.... »»»

But Scotland's Radio Sweethearts offer "New Memories," a symphony of straight ahead, washed-in-the-blood hard country on the New Orleans-based St. Roch label.

Somewhere between the popsters and would-be wranglers was Scotland's biggest Hank Williams fan, John Miller. Armed with his record collection, an old guitar and a plaintive, burnished voice that would make Merle Haggard proud, Miller quietly started to set the moors on fire. One of Miller's early converts was drummer Francis MacDonald, a veteran of such venerable indie-pop bands as the Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits and the Pastels.

Introduced by mutual friends in the early 90's, the two built their friendship during MacDonald's daily commute into Glasgow City Centre. Riding the same train line Miller worked on, they talked incessantly about Hank Williams, and Miller eventually hauled MacDonald over to his house to listen to some music.... »»»

Jack Ingram has become such a darling of the alternative country world that there are probably a lot of people who lump him in with the Austin crowd.

But Ingram is from Dallas, a city he considers to be different in every way.

"Dallas has a real heavy alternative rock scene," says Ingram, "Austin seems to be more about country-influenced rock. Dallas is much more of a city city. It has a New York kind of feel. There's a lot of big business going on. Austin is much more laid back."

One reason Ingram may be lumped in with the Austin crowd is that he is greatly influenced in every way by Jerry Jeff Walker. Walker wasn't from Austin (or even from Texas), but he moved there in the early '70's and was a major force in the rise of that city's "progressive country" scene.... »»»

Musically he has rarely tested the boundaries of singer songwriter country, but his new record, "Picnic," does just that, mixing catchy, almost pop like tunes, with a bright folk rock sound, resulting in his least immediately country recording, but one that's not without challenging moments.

"If nothing else, I wanted to imply something, rather than a complete wrap it up, 'the end' sort of resolve," Keen says about the approach.

The album was the first for Keen on a major label - Arista Austin - after releasing six albums on Sugar Hill since 1988.

In the following interview he shares his thoughts on the sound and stories of that record.... »»»

Two weeks before getting his sheepskin, Parnell decided to call it quits.

"You have to understand. I grew up in rural Texas. It was tough," he says with a laugh during an interview from Nashville. "If you let your hair grow down below your collar, they sent you home. A lot of people didn't think I'd amount to anything. Being Scot-Irish, the worst thing you can ever do to me is tell me no. That's just an invitation enough for me to make sure it gets done. It was a rebellious thing."

He may not be quite as much of a rebel these days, but Parnell, 40, does country music his way.

And that means a combo of blues and country with healthy doses of honky tonk thrown in. Of course, Parnell lets his slide guitar - one of the most distinctive instruments in country today - do the talking too.

Parnell's country isn't the manufactured sound seemingly omnipresent in pop-oriented country these days where the emphasis is on scoring hits.... »»»

Though folk artists and punk rock bands seem to be particularly prolific in the area, the seacoast has also produced a growing number of bluegrass and country-influenced acts.

One of the longest-running acts has been Durham's Say Zuzu, in existence since 1988. The band released its fifth album, "Take These Turns," this winter.

The new album finds the group adding new instruments - including banjo, steel guitar, fiddle, and mandolin - to its established Uncle Tupelo-influenced sound.

Though the group's three original members have known each other since grade school, the group's members first played music together several years later while in high school.... »»»

The country superstar will release his new album "Sevens" on Aug. 7, the same date as a free concert in Central Park in New York. HBO will broadcast the concert live.

Current plans are to release a new single on July 7. The single has yet to be picked, according to Brooks.

He said in a recent, half-hour press conference in Boston the disc - his seventh, hence the title - will feature the different sides of his music.

During the conference, Brooks, who was in town to play six concerts in Massachusetts, knocked record companies for not having long-term plans for developing artists. He also questioned the ability of Capitol Nashville head Scott Hendricks to promote the album. He said another television special is in the works for 1998.

A few changes are in store with "Sevens." For starters, the album will have at least... »»»

I was in fifth grade at the time, and the consensus among my classmates was that it was a baby. (It should probably be noted, however, that we were all pretty obsessed with the baby-making process at the time.) Whatever it was, Billie Joe, the male half of this star-crossed pair, shortly thereafter threw himself in after it and drowned.

In 1976, some Hollywood hotshot saw the cinematic possibilities in this unsolved mystery. To write the screenplay, they hired Herman Raucher, who was fresh off a resounding success with "Summer of '42," and he appeared to be well on his way to becoming one of the biggest writers in Tinseltown. But he made one mistake (this movie) and was never heard from again.... »»»

After 13 years together, they went their separate ways, but by 1986, they were ready to reunite. Kenney didn't want to continue, so they got Doug Phelps, who had been playing with Martin in Ronnie McDowell's band, to replace him on bass.

Something was still missing, though, until Phelps's brother Ricky Lee joined the band on lead vocals.

After borrowing $4,500, they recorded an eight-song demo, which after some changes became their first Mercury Records album, "Pickin' on Nashville."

Not just any debut album, however - the 1990 Country Music Association Album of the Year! And that was just the tip of the awards iceberg. The HeadHunters were the Academy of Country Music's best new group in 1989, the CMA's best vocal group in 1990 and 1991 before Diamond Rio went on its winning streak, and they even won a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal in 1990.... »»»

Her second album was about to drop, but, instead, of the usual slew of interviews and concerts to kick off the album, Richey kept her mouth shut.

Literally.

But not by design.

"I was sick and getting run down," says Richey from a stop in Utah in between gigs in Portland, Ore. and Boulder, Col. "I just sang too much. I just did everything wrong that I could for my voice at one time. It was all unfortunate events killing my (voice)."Richey played in the D.C. area in February prior to the March release of "Bitter Sweet." Richey and her band had use of the club all day long. "We never rehearsed, so we rehearsed for two or three hours. Then, I did an interview. I had no voice left. I did the show, which I probably shouldn't have done. It's a little bit before showtime. I could barely sing. (Guitarist) Kenny (Vaughan) came off the stage and said, 'wow, that was great. That was all smoking mirrors.' I did a meet and greet afterwards for at least an hour. I did everything I shouldn't have done."... »»»

Thirty year old Lee Ann Womack is no exception. Hardly anyone had heard of her before the release of her first Decca single, the remarkably retro sounding - and surprisingly successful - "Never Again Again."

But she's been working on a country music career even longer than she can remember.

With a father who was a country radio DJ in Texas, little miss Womack had a lot of early exposure to the genre at such an early age she can't even recollect it all. "There are supposedly pictures of me with some stars" who had come to her father's station, "but I really can't remember meeting any of them."

One thing she can recall is her father talking about some of the people he interviewed, "I specifically remember one (interview) he did with Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner. He came home talking about what a great person Dolly was."... »»»

But there's another side to the same question. There are currently a bunch of bands - such as The Bottle Rockets, Wilco, and Son Volt who are getting a lot of play on rock radio with music that is often at least as country as what's on country radio. Some might even argue that it's more country.

It seems we've reached a point where what's on the radio is all about which city you're marketed out of - Nashville or New York - rather than on what anything sounds like.Son Volt has been having great success on rock and modern rock stations. Some of the tracks on their debut Warner Brothers album "Trace," using fiddles and other traditional country instruments, are pretty hard to classify as rock.

Son Volt's bassist, Jim Boquist, like his bandmates, is not particularly... »»»

Fortunately, those looking for evidence of such a link between clam shack proprietorship and working musicians need look no further than the 38-year-old Michael Landgarten: clam shack owner, dedicated father...

...oh, yes - and singer, guitarist and chief songwriter of The Zeftrons.

Landgarten has been a fixture in the Portsmouth, N.H. music scene since the late '80's, first as a member of the Doc Johnson Blues Band from 1990 until 1992. Though the group was successful, opening for the likes of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Band, Landgarten left because, as he put it, "I love the influence of blues, but it's not real honest for me. I'm a kid from suburban Worcester and I was singing Willie Dixon lyrics. They're great lyrics, but I could never have dreamt of writing them."... »»»

Trace Adkins' life was just a little bit harder.

For much of his adult life, Adkins has worked in the Louisiana oil business, and he explains those years by saying, "For those people who have never roughnecked or worked on a drilling rig, you don't really know what I'm talking about, but it's like in the top five most dangerous jobs in the country. It's a rough job, and it's a different breed of people that do it. You stay out there two weeks at a time, cut off from civilization, and you work your ass off. You give them blood, and you break bones, and you get beat up, and you stay cut up and bruised up, and I loved it. I loved every minute of it."

Even as he was doing manual labor in Louisiana, however, there was a part of him that was always drawn to country music. He had listened to a lot of country growing up, and guys like Merle Haggard and, later, Hank Williams Jr. were big influences.... »»»

Not only has he found a home on his second record label after an ill-fated stint elsewhere in the late '80's, but the man behind "Thinkin' Problem" just released his second album, "Starlite Lounge," and appears right on track to avoid the sophomore slump.

The music is rooted in the '50's and '60's honky tonk and spare sounding country, but sounds alive for the '90's.

"I've got these new songs, and I'm really interested in getting in the studio and putting the great track to them, " Ball says from a tour stop someplace in Michigan, explaining his urge to record the new album. "Sometimes I know what I am wanting, and sometimes I let it evolve."

Ball, a South Carolina native, said he thinks there are differences between the two discs. "The songs were just a little bit more mature sounding, which I liked. Therefore, I wanted to build a record around that."

"They were just a little bit wiser," Ball says, "I was a little bit older."... »»»

Well, all right, "Coal Miner's Daughter" was a fluke. More often than not, when Hollywood transforms a song into a movie the results are more like the following Oscar-ignored beauties."Take This Job and Shove it" is based on a song written by David Allen Coe, but it is not "The Perfect Country and Western Song."Not by a long shot. Here Eddie Albert plays the head of a soulless conglomerate that has just taken over a small hometown brewery in Dubuque, Iowa. He sends Frank Macklin (Robert Hays) down to increase profits so they can sell it at a profit to another soulless conglomerate.... »»»

But while it has served that purpose, it has evolved into something more. As much for financial reasons as any other, the "Dead Reckoners" began to spend part of their time touring together, serving as each other's back-up band. They've evolved into, if not actually a "group," than at least an identifiable brand of compatible artists.

This experience is celebrated on the label's latest album release, "A Night Of Reckoning," in which all five members (even Stinson, a self-described creative "back door man") take turns in the spotlight.... »»»

The second is that they're making some of the best country music you'd ever want to hear. Now, with the release of their third album on Rounder Records, the duo is hoping that a lot more people will have the chance to do just that.

Both Tashians grew up in the Northeast - Westport, Conn. Both started their musical careers at an early age; Holly because in her family "we had to play an instrument," Barry because of a fondness for the singing cowboys he saw on TV. Holly's mother was (and still is) a voice teacher and conductor of vocal ensembles, so her early experiences included stints with madrigal singers and an a cappella choir at school - but, she laughs, "the truth is I loved rock and roll."... »»»

They insist that their collective work as the Waco Brothers began as a cover-band lark, as a way to pay for weekend nights out at the bar, and that they will continue to work in the tradition only so long as it remains their pleasure.

But it becomes increasingly clear, when each man discusses his own musical past and present ambitions, that it is their sense of the ethical bedrocks of country music, duly separated from the machinery of the Nashville and Bakersfield studio systems, which makes the full seriousness of their recent efforts plain to anyone willing to listen.

What the provisional investments of their two Bloodshot... »»»

Woodruff hopes the commercial reception for his second album, "Desire Road," out March 25 on one of Nashville's newest labels, Imprint, will match the critical reception his debut, "Dreams & Saturday Nights," received three years ago. The only problem then was while the album garnered glowing reviews, sales about matched radio play - not much.

And in the fickle music world, that meant he left Asylum, hunting for a new label.

That's not the only new part about "Desire Road." While "Dreams & Saturday Night" has a more twangy sound, "Desire Road" incorporates elements of pop and soul into the country mix.

"I feel when I made this record, I wasn't trying to think too much (about what) I needed to do or what's expected of me in terms of country radio," Woodruff says from Nashville. "We just kind of let the songs sort... »»»

If that makes sense for a musician who's best known for his work in and around country music, the story doesn't end there.

"I remember going to the market, thinking I was going to get another Homer & Jethro record, but there were some records by Elvis Presley, Little Richard," Rowan says.

Rowan's voice trails off on the telephone, only to pick up the thread. "The first rock `n' roll show I ever went to had Jimmy Bowen with Buddy Knox in the Rhythm Orchids, singing `I'm Sticking With You,' `Hula Love,' and more. They took hillbilly music and made it rock `n' roll."

If one could sum up Rowan's career - and that's far from an easy thing to do - it might best be done by saying that he's gone the other way: taken the energy, freshness and synthesis of rock and roll and brought it to hillbilly music.

... »»»

Needless to say, Murphy is not your typical urban cowboy, nor is his music your typical country pop. He sings and speaks with a weathered, rough-around-the-edges southern drawl that attests to his work-hard, party-hard past, and his songwriting confirms this attitude.

On his latest album, "Gettin' Out the Good Stuff," Murphy wrote seven songs by himself and co-wrote the other three.

"The songs aren't typical country-pop love songs," he says. "They're about different stuff."

Indeed, he writes about life in small town America, including beer-drinking and partying, Southern values, and, of course, love, albeit "with a different kind of lyrical twist. The secret to writing is to say something that people relate to, but say it in a different way."... »»»

Not that Dodd doesn't look good in a video, but at least he wasn't just plucked off a stool in the drugstore like some of his contemporaries seem to have been.By the time Dodd released his first Columbia album, "One Ride In Vegas" this past fall, he'd been around long enough to know what kind of music he wanted to make.

Dodd's first single was "Friends Don't Drive Friends..." The next two words were "to drinking." It was the best single slice of honky tonkitis to come out on a major label in 1996, and that it nudged onto the charts at all was quite a feat considering that half the country stations in America have banned the word "drinking" from their airwaves.

"No one said to me 'you can't record that'," he says. "The people who did get it, they went 'man we really miss that.' A lot of people in radio don't remember nor come from that background."... »»»

Music history is lined with artists known for either one hit song or album, who end up in questions starting with "whatever happened to..."

George Ducas adopted an unusual tact in releasing his second album, "Where I Stand," which possesses a more optimistic outlook than his debut from 1994.

Although slated to come out last August, Ducas and his management told his record label, Capitol, to delay the release.

Usually the record company will do so when the first single from an album isn't shooting up the charts. And that is what happened with "Every Time She Passes By," the first single and song on the album.

"About three weeks into that single, we stopped it and pulled it and chose to re-release it in November," Ducas says. "We obviously had to re-release the album."

Ducas says the decision to pull the single resulted... »»»