Folks I learned on social media this week from Mr. Tracy Pitcox who owns and runs Heart Of Texas Records that beginning may 8th there will NEW episodes of Tru Country on the ever popular RFD Network.
There are twelve new shows that were shot in Brady Texas and will feature your favorite Tru Country artists like one of my favorites Jake Penrod! Apparently all our calls and letters have convinced the network to bring the show back.

If you are not familiar with the artists involved YOU NEED TO BE and I’ll try to help you out by adding links.

Amber Digby
Anthony Wilson
Becky Hobbs
Bobby Flores
Charley Pride
Curtis Potter
Dicky Overbey
Darrell McCall
Diane McCall
Dottsy
Frankie Miller
Georgette Jones
Heather Myles
Jake Hooker
Jake Penrod
Jett Williams
Jody Nix
Johnny Bush
Johnny Rodriguez
Justin Trevino
Kimberly Murray
Landon Dodd
Leona Williams
Leslie Sloan
Lisa Morales
Mickey Gilley
Mona McCall
Norma Jean
Penny Gilley
Rance Norton
Ron Williams
The Survivors
Tommy Hooker
Tony Booth

Folks this is truly a wonderful way to listen to some GREAT traditional country artists that are making NEW music. Have YOU not heard people say “Radio “Country” is not country”? WELL THIS is how you fight that crap. Folks we MUST finance and support this kind of music. Attend the shows and festivals and order these albums, because the power of the wallet is indeed HUGE. I’m going to give you EXACTLY what their own website says:

RFD-TV proudly welcomes back for it’s 5th season, the popular entertainment series, TruCountry Music, filmed live in Hamilton and Brady, Texas. The show has been a huge success in a market that has been devoid of traditional country music for years. “Folks love the real deal” and that’s what they’ll get when they tune in every week and see a dance floor full of cowboys and cowgirls swinging their partner to the sounds of TruCountry Music!
TruCountry is a half-hour show featuring singers and songwriters from the traditional genre of country music.

A singer/songwriter in her own right and producer of the TruCounty show Heather Myles says, ”America has spoken! People are tired of what they are seeing on TV and hearing on the radio that doesn’t even resemble real country music! I was raised on a ranch in Southern California and miss the kind of shows my brother and I grew up on… I like to think of TruCountry as a Lawrence Welk Show with a country flair! It’s great family entertainment for all ages. Our music speaks to the working class… It’s pure and it comes from the heart… it’s the real deal. And best of all It’s America’s Music”.

TruCountry would like to invite everyone who loves America’s music to tune in each week for live performances by Johnny Bush, Becky Hobbs, Johnny Rodriquez, Heather Myles, Leona Williams,Miss Leslie, Justin Trevino, Amber Digby, Darrel McCall , Tony Booth , Miss Leslie, Danni Leigh, Jody Nix, plus many more along with the HOT TruCountry Band! Don’t miss out on the seasons 1 ,2,and 3,now available on DVD , filled to the brim with hot‘n heavy shuffles, heartfelt ballads, and shimmering steel guitar. Dance across Texas to the streets of Bakersfield and beyond with TruCountry!

I’m eagerly awaiting just who will indeed be involved with this all new season produced by Heather Myles and I guess we will just have to find out…..won’t we?

Last night I got the word from Mr. Jared McGovern to do an album feature for The Urban Pioneers second album called “Vehicle In Transit”. This album is released on Roots Union Records and was produced by them all. I got to hear one of the new songs last year at a festival and I got to talk with them about it, I’ll tell you just a little more about it in a bit.

Liz Sloan and Jared McGovern are two of the most honest and wonderful people I have EVER met in the business.I’m not just saying that to make a nice article I’m saying because it’s true, they are the most welcoming couple you will ever run into. And talented to boot I think without a doubt that Miss Liz is one of the most talented performers Roots music has to offer. They absolutely take over the stage as they perform and Miss Liz often performs in vintage clothing which brings an old timey vibe to their show that accompanies Mr Jared’s clawhammer banjo style.

They are without a doubt one of the most active bands in the independent Roots Music scene today playing over 250 shows a year and rarely having a “night off”. THEY ARE what their first album says they are..”Addicted To The Road”. I first remember them both being backup musicians with Bob Wayne and his Outlaw Carnies before they met one another and I didn’t get to know them personally until they began playing with Jayke Orvis. Jayke was a former member of the .357 String Band and had recently went solo and formed the “Broken Band”. They joined James Hunnicutt and became a solid classic lineup loved by thousands for what they were…a well oiled music machine. The Urban Pioneers were created as a side project to continue road shows when they were not playing with Jayke but sadly it was announced last year the Broken Band was leaving us and played their final show at Muddy Roots.

Since going out on their own they have received huge acclaim from critics and websites LIKE ME for their show quality and performance presence. I must disagree with one website that claimed Roots Music bands are not growing in musicianship and quality of production. If ANY band is the Urban Pioneers have surely gotten better with this album. Now honestly their first album was absolutely top notch in every way and much like Jospeh Huber I did not speculate they could beat it…and I was surely mistaken. Especially with Keith Roberts on bass (from Call Me Bronco) and an
added guitar player as well.

The first two songs I got to hear last year was “Praying For Rain” and ‘Tennessee Moon”. Now “Praying For Rain” is a good foot stomping slower song about cattle ranchers. It puts me to mind of old Hank Thompson songs in it’s style and the mention of the Brazos River. And as always it has some GREAT fiddle solos in it and it has steel guitar which was an AWESOME touch for it.

“Tennessee Moon” was another one I can remember hearing and honestly I enjoy their singing together and I think their songs are even more well written this time. They are focusing more on making the listener believe they are singing to one another or ABOUT one another much like couples like George Jones and Tammy Wynette did. This song was one of them but “What Takes A Woman” is a song about teasing her why it takes women so long to get ready,and I smiled as I listened further. Because it takes them so long to get ready cause she spends her day cleaning up after him! This song really fits these guys as they announced their engagement at the Muddy Roots Spring Weekender last year..and our whole community went completely nuts. They deserve to be happy and I love them both. You want an outright jam you can just drive to? Well “Chocolate Easter Bunny” is a completely crazy song and it is so unique I just enjoyed it. The guitar work on it was really great.

All together there are 14 songs total and one of the faster songs that resemble their classic sound was “Big Spike Hammer”. Miss Liz does many types of fiddle playing but she has a classic sound I can easily pick out of an album. This song has her sound most prevalent over all of them, you know how the older folks say that you cannot pick out an artists voice or style anymore? Well they never heard of the Urban Pioneers then cause Liz Sloan’s fiddle style sticks out like a rooster wearing socks and if you don’t like it you are crazy. Another song that showcased her fiddle style really well was “Something That’s Never Been Done”.

And what’s an album without a ballad song about someone dying? Well you got the “Ballad Of Charlotte And Charlie”? To be honest I don’t want to ruin the whole album for you GO ORDER IT NOW and help the band recover some of their production costs. This album will be available May 12th in physical form but RIGHT NOW you can send 15 dollars to the Paypal address info@urbanpioneersmusic.com. and you will receive a download of it until the album becomes available. Trust me this album truly is a great one and it will have a permanent spot in my players for the next few weeks. Here is their show schedule for 2015.

Fri, 24 Apr
Cookeville, TN
Char

Sat, 25 Apr
Johnson City, TN
The Hideaway

Wed, 29 Apr
Knoxville, TN
WDVX Blue Plate Special

Fri, 08 May
Columbus, IN
Yats

Sat, 09 May
Chicago, IL
Moonrunners Music Fest

Sun, 10 May
Springstead, WI
Chico’s North of the Border

Tue, 12 May
Green Bay, WI
Lyric Room

Wed, 13 May
La Crosse, WI
The Root Note

Thu, 14 May
Middleton, WI
Club Tavern

Sat, 16 May
Bayport, MN
bayport bbq

Sun, 17 May
St Paul, MN
Como Dockside

Mon, 18 May
Pekin, IL
THE HIGH NOTE

Tue, 19 May
Lafayette, IN
People’s Brewey

Wed, 20 May
McHenry, IL
Mackey’s Hideout

Thu, 21 May
Muncie, IN
Be Here Now

Thu, 28 May
Warsaw, PL
Dzik

Fri, 29 May
Praha 1, CZ
Rock Café Prague

Sat, 30 May
Vrchlabi, CZ
Psycho Therapy Fest

Mon, 01 Jun
Tuebingen, DE
Hausbar

Thu, 04 Jun
Lille, FR
EL DIABLO CLUB

Fri, 05 Jun
Geel, BE
Bacchus Cafe

Sat, 06 Jun
Landhorst, NL
Cafe Buitenlust

Sun, 07 Jun
Groningen, NL
EMG Factors

Tue, 09 Jun
Aalborg, DK
1000Fryd

Wed, 10 Jun
Orebro, SE
Casa De Anders

Thu, 11 Jun
Mariehamn, FI
Dino’s

Fri, 12 Jun
Tampere, FI
Kessan Baari

Sat, 13 Jun
Stockholm, SE, SE
Pick Up The Steam Festival

Sun, 14 Jun
Malmo, SE
Far I Hatten

Tue, 16 Jun
Berlin, DE
Bassy Cowboy Club

Thu, 18 Jun
Darmstadt, DE
Bessunger Knabenschule

Sun, 21 Jun
Oostkamp, BE
Cowboy Up Waardamme

Sun, 05 Jul
Winston-Salem, NC
HEAVY REBEL WEEKENDER

Fri, 14 Aug
Sherman, NY
Heron Bluegrass Festival

Sat, 15 Aug
Sherman, NY
Heron Bluegrass Festival

Thu, 03 Sep
Cookeville, TN
Char

The last time these trail guys stopped at the Music City Winery I had to miss the show because I had so much going on. But I have seen them at the Opry many times and I’ll say this, they sure do not need to be vulgar or anything else to be funny..oh no. These four guys just get audiences rowdy with laughter every place they play and honestly they are one of the FEW reasons I have left to attend the Opry.

This NEW ALBUM from the Riders In The Sky will be a tribute album to the great Roy Rogers “King Of The Cowboys” and this will be there first new album in two years. According to their website some of the songs are well known and some are very obscure. To my understanding they will include “Don’t Fence Me In” “Pecos Bill” and “Happy Trails” and I’m sure they will include a few we haven’t heard in a long time.Riders Radio Records will be releasing this this album April 14th and you can pre-order this album HERE.

THIS FROM THEIR WEBSITE:
SADDLEPAL ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: The first 250 pre-orders of Riders In The Sky Salute Roy Rogers: King of the Cowboys will receive an AUTOGRAPHED edition of the album!

I don’t know much about OTHER websites but on THIS ONE we LOVE you guys, keep the trails hot for me.
Wahoo wahoo Wah hoooooo!

A few weeks ago at the Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree to celebrate Ernest Tubb’s birthday I was browsing around the store and ran into a man whose music I been admiring for a while now but never met in person, Rob McNurlin. I got to finally talk to the man who has in his band one of my favorite steel guitarist legends left with us, Kayton Roberts.

Now Kayton Roberts was an original member of Hank Snow’s Rainbow Ranch Boys and he played for Hank Snow for 30 years. He has given Country Music so much, he played the title track of Marty Stuart’s “Ghost Train” and also mentored Andy Gibson who played steel guitar for Hank 3 and played on 4 of his albums. Andy toured with the Damn Band for many years before leaving to produce. Kayton also played for Hank 3 on his first 2 curb records albums “Risin Outlaw” and “Lovesick Broke And Drifti’n”. The later of the two being my personal favorite album of Hank’s. Rob also produced Kayton’s album “Valley Of The Roses” which featured Marty Stuart And His Superlatives,Chris Scruggs and Ranger Doug Green for Riders In The Sky.

He gave me his brand new album he self produced on Buffalo Skinner records called “Blue Nashville Guitar”. All 10 songs on this album were wrote by Rob himself and this album features a lot of Kenny Vaughn’s guitar work which I’m a BIG fan of. The second song “Blue Guitar” is a damn fine song I think it’s one of the best on the whole album, but honestly my personal favorite one was “Satan’s Bouquet”. It’s a great well written song about repent and regret I would swear Hank Williams Sr wrote it if I didn’t know it. This album is his 7th studio album and it will stay in my constant rotation of CD’s in my truck.

“Take It On The Road” is always a good choice for a good Country song as well. I’d highly suggest this album on my top list of 2015 so far. He just got done with a show in Prestonburg WV and on the 14th he will be in Moorehead Kentucky. So go check out his website and see if he will be in your area next and also if he is around the Nashville area I’ll have him up on my weekly updated local venue article for sure.

Well Folks I’m up here at The Spillway in Bowling Green Kentucky for someone I have been wanting to feature for a long time now Tanya Montana Coe. Right now the man that has produced her debut album “Silver Bullet” Shane Tutmarc is on stage.

Her brother Tyler Coe stated on her website that her album Silver Bullet is easily the best collection of songs by anyone with the last name Coe since the 1980’s..and he is correct! I love this album and her music is a gritty and rough but in a really good way. I am highly convinced she’s going to become big in her own right and I intend to support her any way I can.

As always I had to come support the food here they got the best pizza and wings around. This is one of my favorite venues in this area. Shane is playing an original country song called “Tennessee Girl” and I really like the twang his music has! His lead guitarist has some really good solos and they are doing a fine job up there right now. He is playing an up and coming song to be released as a single soon and it’s a rockabilly song called “Jazz Odyssey” and it’s really good. He’s doing many types of music in his set.

There is a pretty good sized crowd here for this show, I’m glad to see this happen. I recently saw her perform at the birthday party for Riley Reed and I decided that she needs her OWN article so thusly I made it. She is working very hard to maintain her own style and sound and that’s important to me, she’s not just sounding like someone else. I look forward to supporting her further musical endeavors.

She’s about to take the stage in just a few moments and I’m excited for this one folks. Her album is not officially released yet so when I’m given permission I’ll do a full length feature for you on that one. She opened her set with a song called “Warrior” which is on her album first and is a really personal song for her and that’s evident.

She followed that with a slower more mellow song called “Rebel Heart” which is also on the album as well. Her next song was called “Gamblers,Players,Thieves and Whores. It’s a very gritty song she does with good guitar playing in it. It is a high energy song on the album that I really like, it’s not my favorite one but it’s good. “Good Lovin”
is one that she is doing right now and people seem to be liking it, she doing a good job up there tonight.

Her next song was called “Hard Times” which is pretty much self explanatory and It’s a slow ballad song. I like this song and I like the way she delivers the lyrics on this song. It’s a very well written song on many levels. The song called “Shame On You” is a twangy type of song I like the best in Country Music and it needs more of
this twangy stuff. One of the best ones of her set tonight!

“Roadrunner” is a cover song that she did really well, she has a pretty good band up there. She closed her set with the title song from her album called “Silver Bullet”. It’s another one of my favorite songs she does and I think the longer she keeps going she will grow as an artist and a writer. I look forward to supporting her more. It’s been a fun night here at the Spillway I love the food here. Very spacious venue and the sound is really good and this might sound weird but I like table height for the computer, It’s not too high or too low. I can easily work on articles while enjoying music here.

I met this man two years ago at the “Outlaws And Icons” festival in Altamont Tennessee. A lot of things happened on that mountain, lots of friendships born and formed, lots of music was shared. I quickly bonded with Joshua Morningstar while I was doing my research for the show, he reached out to me as we had a dark past in common.
He shared his first album with me before anyone got to hear it and through the years we have grown really close as friends. In fact like I said before if he called me with a “911” I’d drop what I was doing and help him.

We both never met nor did we ever meet Wayne Mills before the whole festival happened but yet we were treated like old friends of many years. Mr. Wayne was an exceptional human being with a heart bigger than Nebraska. I remember during Mr. Joshua’s set we watched him as he cried onstage during his songs. He FELT what he was singing and I thought MAN this guy is real as a heart attack and he UNDERSTANDS pain.

I been watching him grow as an artist and every time I go see him he just keeps getting better and tight nit. The man is on tour with Shooter Jennings right now and has done some shows in his area for my friend Mr. Kevin Vaughn who I met through Mr J.D.Myers. I went to two shows on this last leg of Shooter’s tour and he opened one of them and it was really cool to see him hollaring out to me with this website name on his kick drum. I’m not much of a ego person I’m just a fan of good music like you are. I had a swell time with the man who designed my logo Mr. Kenneth Marr..he is a damn fine individual.

This morning I sat down and talked with Mr. Joshua and sadly the poor guy had a toothache so I hope this article makes him feel better cause I know he’s hurting like hell. The guy is a road warrior and he’s been burning up the highways since Altamont. In fact he is so well sought after that in 2015 he is on FOUR major music festival bills I know of! We are going to share a hotel room during Muddy Roots Music Festival in Cookeville Tennessee on labor day weekend. I think once he heard free breakfast and pool he wanted in ha ha ha. I cover it every year and of course I MUST PLUG La Quinta Inn they are the official hotel of this website.

I don’t usually mention different festivals in the same article but I think all of them respect each other in this instance so I’ll do this once. Joshua Morningstar will be releasing his second album called “Songs For Fools With Broken Hearts” during his set at the Moonrunner’s Music Festival this may. Now folks I’ll be on personal business that week and I cannot make Chicago then, but if you can go see him do so. He is going to have a BIG PARTY for this album release for sure and I know there will be a big deal going on for it.

So this album is going to be released on Little Class Records out of Kansas City which runs the Westport Saloon and American Roots Magazine. Mr. Jody is doing a REALLY FINE JOB out there with this magazine I LOVE IT and as soon as he gets a physical copy subscription I do not care how much it costs I’m buying it. And this album was produced by him and Mr. Drew Burasco and it will have ten songs on it. NOW THEN it will be a concept album, which will fit the ten songs together in sequence. He only wrote half the songs on the album but saw the relevance of the cover songs to fit the album as the first song will be “Sad Songs And Waltzes” which Willie Nelson wrote and put on his album “Shotgun Willie”.

One of Mr. Joshua’s many heros is Lefty Frizzell and so the song “Gone gone gone” will be on the album as well.
One of the ones he wrote himself will be “My Crying Eyes Are blue” and as I said before he wrote only five of them on this album. In the beginning of our conversation I asked him if he was cutting Billie Gant’s underground Anthem “Stop Fucking Up Country Music” and he said no and let me tell you why..and began to tell me about the concept album.

So he is picking back up with Shooter in May thru June and as Shooter goes overseas he will do U.S. dates and he will continue with Shooter and Waymore’s Outlaws into 2015. He is causing major waves within the local music community and he is playing all over the country. If you get a chance to see his show you MUST go check him out, and tell him I sent you! They are also working RIGHT NOW with Pete Berwick and so far I have not heard back form him for any information about his forthcoming album on the same label.

You can order the album through this article by clicking HERE that will take you over to Little Class Records pre-order site and if you have any questions they will take care of your needs there. I for one look forward to having this album in my hands and I wished I could be in Chicago for the release.