My name is Jon McKenney, WPGM intern. I hesitate to use the c word when referring to music because many people refuse to give country music a chance. I’ve heard it said a bunch of times, “oh, I like all music except country” or “country, god no!” or I can’t stand the twang, or it’s a bunch of hillbillies, or the cowboy clothes or the lost love, or truck driving, or drinking songs.” But that is a very snobbish attitude. Give country music an honest try. If you like rock and roll, blues, or folk, then you’ll like country. It’s American Roots Music. Today I am talking about The Redheaded Stranger better known as Shotgun Willie or Willie Nelson, along with his best-known song On The Road Again. How many people have repeated that phrase?

I had never heard of today’s featured artist until I started asking around to see what music some younger more traditional students listened to. I received a number of replies but today’s colucast (column/podcast) stars a female singer, that generated the most excitement.

This episode features some blue-eyed soul that literally and figuratively moves me and I don’t know why it was never a hit. It was recorded by a husband-and-wife duet during their on and off again tumultuous three-year marriage. When I mention the wife’s name please hold off on any booing or hissing for a minute because I have heard, over the years, negative comments about her but this pop diva has had a 50 plus year career in an industry where most don’t get 50-minutes. Her longevity creates a snobbish “familiarity breeds contempt “ attitude among some. She is good, she is soulful, and her 3-octave vocal range has been blowing audiences away for a long time. Yes, you may not like the way she looks, or the clothes she wears, or her non-conformist attitude but I’m talking music and you don’t have to love the artist to love the art. The woman’s name is Cher, her husband was Greg Alman, and the song is Love Me, from their only album called Alman and Woman.

Give me an a---a, give me a n---n, give me a gst---gst! What’s that spell?... angst!... What’s that spell?... ANGST!... Louder! What’s that spell?... A N G S T!... If you want to express the angst in your life you gotta let it rip and if you found yourself screaming in the last, largest, and longest spelling of angst then you are Nirvana fan club material. But what brought you to the band along with their greatest hit, Smells Like Teen Spirit, that you still like 30 years after it was released. The title?… no, Teen Spirit was the name of a deodorant Kurt Cobain’s girlfriend used and he liked the sound but that’s how poets choose words. The boy meets girl sappy quality of pop music?...No. if nothing else Smells Like Teen Spirit is not sweet. It had a soothing effect?... Not hardly, just the opposite, because the message was partly responsible for the song’s popularity. Get up out of your apathy! Get up! Get up! If you are full of angst and don’t like your life, get up and scream your head off!... Dance it off!