If That Ain't Country

In this week's episode it's all Little Darlin' Records. Every single song you'll hear was recorded for Aubrey Mayhew's independent Little Darlin' label, mostly between 1966-1970. At a time when smaller labels were prolific in Nashville, Little Darlin' stood out - and it still does. The lynchpin of the Little Darlin' sound was Lloyd Green's innovative and inventive steel guitar, and Green's picking from that era still has fellow steelers scratching their heads in awe. Little Darlin's brand of country music was hard-edged, twangy and perfectly engineered to jump out of the radio and grab your attention. Oftentimes Little Darlin' specialised in the darker side of country and their roster boasted many big names over it's stuttering existence, including LD's centerpiece in Johnny Paycheck. This week it's all magnificent, hardcore country music from the deep Little Darlin' vaults and our feature is a 1967 album from a talented LD trio in The Homesteaders: "A New Frontier".

In this week's episode we're featuring another ultra-consistent album from George Strait: "Beyond The Blue Neon" (1989). Over Strait's career (especially in his 80s and 90s heyday) his output was dizzyingly reliable. Just enough modernity in it's production to appeal to country radio but music stubbornly rooted in Strait's Texas country heritage. That's what you got. And fans loved it, helping Strait move over fifty million records in his first twenty years alone. Johnny Gimble was dragging the bow on fiddle on most all of George Strait's hits between 1983 through the early 90s, and he's in his element on "Beyond The Blue Neon". "Neon" has a distinct western swing flavour which suits Gimble (a former Texas Playboy) down to a T. Something about the clean-cut Strait leaning up against a pool table and the title track's lyric "a hole in the wall from some free for all" (as if King George would ever get into a fight) seems incongruous but highlights are plentiful: the cleverly worded "Hollywood Squares" swings right into "Ace In The Hole" and several years before Diamond Rio hit with it, "Oh Me, Oh My Sweet Baby" is given the sterling Strait treatment.

In this week's episode we're featuring an excellent compilation on Johnny Bond: "The Very Best Of Johnny Bond" (1998). Strangely, of the seventeen tracks only one was a chart hit for Bond - as such, this week's show turned into an excellent opportunity for a deep dive into Bond's catalogue. A truly versatile artist, after Johnny Bond relocated from his native Oklahoma to Hollywood on an invite from Gene Autry, he found work in the movies and was cast as Autry's sidekick in the Melody Ranch radio show on the CBS network. A recording contract with Columbia soon followed and as country music's sound changed in the 40s and 50s, so did Bond's. From a bluesy, harp-driven sound to proto-rockabilly, hillbilly boogie, western swing and straight-ahead country music, Johnny Bond wasn't afraid to try different styles and he enjoyed a good amount of hits in the late 40s/early 50s. As a songwriter Bond's material provided hits for artists from Ernest Tubb to Tennessee Ernie Ford and several Bond compositions have since become standards. However, Bond's roles as Autry's sidekick and the "hick" character on several TV shows out on the West Coast seemed to dog him, and his biggest sales always came from his comedy and novelty material. A Nashville Songwriter Hall Of Famer and a Country Music Hall Of Famer, this week's show was an excellent chance to mine Bond's wide range of material and prove that beyond the jokester, Johnny Bond was a layered artist with a real knack for a country song.

In this week's episode we're featuring a typical David Houston album from his Epic heyday: "Where Love Used To Live/My Woman's Good To Me" (1969). Aside from his monster million-selling, Grammy-winning 1966 hit "Almost Persuaded", Houston hardly rates a mention in most conversations about 60s and 70s country music. A man gifted with an extraordinary vocal range, David Houston could effortlessly glide from warm baritone to lofty tenor and is a prime example of just how good the Nashville Sound could be. After Billy Sherrill signed Houston to Epic in the early 60s, Houston delivered the label it's first real hit with "Mountain Of Love" in 1963 and remained with the outfit for the next thirteen years or so. Sherrill's genius production touches are all over "Where Love Used To Live" - very similar touches on some tracks to Tammy Wynette hits of the same era - and with tasteful use of a chorus, sparing strings and the steel guitar of Pete Drake never far away, Houston's Epic output remains unmined gold. Highlights include a plodding lament to jealousy in "Where Love Used To Live" (catch those "I Don't Wanna To Play House" licks!); a tearjerker in "Lullaby To A Little Girl" and a reminder of how many hits David Houston had while at Epic on "David's Song".

In this week's episode we're featuring a hardcore country album from Vernon Oxford: "If I Had My Wife To Love Over" (1979). If you didn't know you were in for a traditional country release from the title alone, it won't take long to figure it out: epitomising hard country music, Vernon Oxford's story is one of genuine hillbilly talent. Despite that talent, Oxford faced stiff resistance, demoralising rejection and continued setbacks on US country radio and it's a crying shame he's not better known today. Somewhat unfortunately (as it turned out) likened to Hank Williams in appearance, stature, style and sound - Vernon Oxford maintained an extremely loyal fanbase around the world, hit high notes in Europe but couldn't get traction Stateside. We'll cover a lot of ground in this week's show, taking you from Oxford's first trip to Nashville in 1964 right through to our feature album's release on Rounder Records and there are some traditional country delights along the way: "State Of Depression" is up there with the bleakest country songs ever recordded; "Joanna" and "Maggie, The Baby Is Crying" are two heartbreaking slices-of-life and "Kaw-Liga" seems a gratuitous but enjoyable tip of the hat to Hank. If it seems incongruous to call a sad country song a "delight", you haven't heard the sincerity and treatment given one by Vernon Oxford.

In this week's episode we're featuring a 1978 album for Texas icon Red Steagall: "Hang On Feelin'". Recorded and released during a period of continued commercial decline, "Hang On Feelin'" was Steagall's last outing for ABC/Dot Records. That commercial decline does not translate to a decline in quality however, and fans of traditional country and western swing will find plenty to like. Based in Nashville for much of the 70s, this record has backing from many of Music City's top flight sidemen but as usual for Texas Red, there's a definite Lone Star flavour. We could've featured the whole album this week (it's that good), but just a few of the highlights include a Jim Glaser cut (the album was recorded at Glaser Sound Studio) on "Sittin' In An All Nite Cafe"; the dark single "The Devil Ain't A Lonely Woman's Friend"; a wistful cowboy's recollection in "About Horses And Wars" and the self-explanatory "All I Knew To Talk About Was Texas". If Red Steagall ever put out a bad record, this wasn't it.

Welcome to the expanded edition of the show! Featuring an extra hour's worth of music not included in the radio version! This week we're featuring a slice of Texas dancehall music at it's best from Johnny Bush & The Bandoleros: "Live! At Dance Town USA" (1979). Recorded on New Years Eve 1979 (a Monday night) home town boy Johnny Bush brought his tight Texas country dance band back to Houston's Dance Town USA, a cavernous venue on the north side of town which he'd been a popular draw at for most of the 70s. Twin fiddles from Jimmy Harriss and John Schattenberg and steel from longtime Bandolero Rick Price lead the way through a dynamite hour-long set, whittled down by producers from the standard four hour show. "Whiskey River" was already a signature song for Bush by '79, and included are two-step-ready crowd favourites to this day: "Undo The Right" and "What A Way To Live", along with an ever relevant dig at mainstream country radio with "The Last Country Song". We dig into some fascinating, behind-the-scenes stories from the recording of this album and we'll also seek to recreate the sounds of a greater South Texas honky tonk circa 1979 in the process.

In this week's episode we're featuring an excellent slice of 60s Texas country from Al Dean & The Allstars: "From Texas To Nashville" (1967). Hailing from "The Golden Triangle" in South Texas, Al Dean already had a loyal following when his recording of "Cotton Eyed Joe" became a massive smash in Texas in 1967 - eventually becoming the most programmed song on jukeboxes in that state, ever. "From Texas To Nashville" was probably recorded to capitalise on that success as Dean tripped to Music City to make an album under the production of Pete Drake, who also played steel. Al Dean & The Allstars was a true family affair - both Al's wife Maxine Dean and his son Galen Dean sing lead on and wrote several cuts on our feature album. Dean's brand of fiddle-and-steel country music is infectious and intentionally suited to all variations and beats of the Texas two-step - our feature album helps partially explain why Al Dean & The Allstars were working well into the 21st Century. Highlights include an ode to the oilfield worker in "Ruff Neck Pay Check"; some excellent lead from an 18-year-old Galen Dean on the jumping "Change Your Ways Of Living" and a man who just can't get out of the service in "Just One Of The Boys".

In this week's episode we're featuring a 1977 album from the clear and resonant vocal of Rose Maddox: "Reckless Love & Bold Adventure". A suitably colourful title for Rose, whose roots in performing came as part of The Most Colourful Hillbilly Band In America: The Maddox Brothers & Rose. After plenty of West Coast success with her brothers, in 1958 Rose Maddox went solo and over the next few years on Capitol enjoyed a good number of hit singles including several with Buck Owens. Maddox also recorded one of the first female-led bluegrass albums in 1962 - and it was indeed the bluegrass and folk communities where she found a musical home as her country music star waned into the 1970s. Bluegrass influence permeates much of our feature album: with fiddle from the legendary Byron Berline and his longtime associate John Hickman on banjo, Maddox teamed up with good friend Wayne Gailey on pedal steel and the combination is electric. Highlights include an excellent fiddle-and-steel cover of Johnny Rodriguez's "Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through)"; an excellent re-recording of a 4-Star hit for The Maddox Brothers & Rose in "Gathering Flowers For The Master's Bouquet" and the autobiographical "Heart Of A Country Song (Rose's Song)" where Rose gives a shoutout to Gailey on steel guitar. Overlooked but solid material.

In this week's episode, we're featuring a 2018 album for RFD-TV personality Merlin Gene, "People, Places & Things". With the first season of the popular Hee Haw-style variety program "The Merlin Gene Show" well underway at the time of recording, Merlin Gene's star was on the rise. Combining an effortless vocal and an excellent sense of humour with a deep reverence for country music's heritage, "People, Places & Things" strikes an excellent balance between originality and tradition. With the twangy bark of a Bakersfield telecaster from the legendary Eugene Moles and steel from Hall Of Famer Doug Jernigan, Merlin Gene sparkles on stage in Manuel-tailored rhinestone suits a la Ray Price, Porter Wagoner and Little Jimmy Dickens. And the music reflects those classic country influences - with a definite Del Reeves connection, Merlin Gene covers Jerry Chesnut's "Good Time Charlie's" and "Looking At The World Through A Windshield". The Kentuckian powers his way through some excellent country drinking tunes on "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Glass" and "I Think I'll Give Drinkin' Another Try" - the latter of which deservingly racked up a stack of streams in it's first months after release. Get you some Merlin Gene.