Eddy Arnold R.I.P. – The late Eddy Arnold, who died May 8 at 89, was one of country music's greatest stars ever. He sold 85 million records over the course of 6 decades of recording. The Tennessee Plowboy enjoyed his first hits for RCA in 1945 with "Each Minute Seems a Million Years" and had his final chart appearance – his 146th on the Billboard charts - with a remake of one of his best known songs, "Cattle Call" with LeAnn Rimes, in 1999.

Quality country/bluegrass rule – Let's put aside the news of less than stellar CD sales continuing into 2008. Folks, there is a lot of good music released already in the first two months of the year and a lot more quality albums upcoming real soon. We are very keen obviously on Carlene Carter's new CD. It is quite refreshing to hear high quality, heartfelt and energetic music from Carter, who certainly has had major troubles over the years. To say that the singing and song craft would be such high quality was not unexpected.

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Tift Merritt appeared on a roll after releasing "Bramble Rose" in 2002 and "Tambourine" in the summer of 2004. The North Carolina singer was among the leading lights of the so-called alt.-country crowd and attracting glowing reviews, even a Grammy nomination for best country album. But she would not have landed a role with "Where's Waldo?" because unlike the cartoon character, Merritt seemed pretty much nowhere to be found for awhile.

"It's a great little group of people," says Buddy Woodward of the Dixie Bee Liners. "Probably the best band I've ever been in." When one considers how many bands Woodward has been part of that have enjoyed fervent cult followings, that's saying something. However, after toiling away in various roots music aggregations for the better part of two decades, the eclectic singer-songwriter/voice actor is finally part of a band that has a shot at connecting with a larger audience.

Hayes Carll is a Texas singer/songwriter, which is a categorical description that holds a lot of artistic weight. After all, this subset also includes Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. And heck, let's not forget Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. But what exactly makes Texas singer/songwriters so special?

At the time of their 1997 self-titled debut on Rounder, Longview quickly came to be regarded by many as the first bluegrass "supergroup," a coalition of six of the leading lights of the contemporary bluegrass scene. The project was successful enough to spawn two follow-ups, "High Lonesome" (1999, also on Rounder) and "Lessons In Stone" (2002, on Rebel).

Larry Stephenson has a lot to be grateful for. The 51-year old bluegrass veteran celebrates his 19th year as the leader of his own band this year and will also mark his 19th year with Pinecastle Records with the release of "Thankful." Stephenson started his career as a teenager playing around his native Virginia with his father before joining Bill Harrell and His Virginians in 1979.

When we last heard from Carlene Carter, President Bill Clinton was in his first term. King LeBron James was barely in double digits, age-wise that is. And Shania Twain dominated the country album chart that year with "The Woman In Me." Yup, it's been a long, long time since one of the heirs of the Carter Family heritage has been heard from musically - "Little Acts of Treason" was released in August 1995 to be exact.

Wedding bells blues – Sometimes it's a real challenge to come up with interesting topics for this column, and other times - like say when one of the greatest pitchers of all time is discovered to supposedly having had an affair with troubled country singer Mindy McCready - it's so I almost feel guilty for getting paid.