Gary Hayes Country

It’s official! Muddy Roots Records has been granted a rare chance to take over the historic RCA Studio B for 2 nights to record original 1950’s Rockabilly Legend Billy Harlan. Full details coming soon ,A big THANK YOU goes out to the Country Music Hall of Fame….Folks just a few days ago THIS IS what I read on one of Jason Galaz’s Muddy Roots websites. Mr. Jason is the CEO of what is slowly becoming one of the most prominent and powerful forces for REAL Country music in Nashville and that is Muddy Roots Music.

Rockabilly Legend Billy Harlan will be once again playing at the 2016 Nashville Boogie which will be taking place at the Opryland Convention Center again but this time it will involve more of the Nashville Palace. That will be a positive thing because I had service problems with the side bar shows this spring. AND PLUS this year there is a NEW twist surprise Mr. Jason has not announced yet…We will be taking over the GRAND OLE OPRY STAGE for the finale on Sunday night. This will be a BIG HUGE ACT announced SOON and trust me he’s NOT playing games with Music Row.

He has released a few of the Boogie act lineups and although I have the add on the sidebar, I do not plan on covering festivals until the week of Christmas because I literally have hundreds to release. It’s going to be a HUGE MAJOR project of epic proportions this spring. I’m also working on my “Top 50 Albums Of 2015” Which Muddy Roots Recordings currently has one of the TOP 10 Spots on, unless a REALLY GOOD album gets released and knocks it off..which I doubt. I shall ALSO release some information about the spring Weekender which is another of the festivals he puts on in Nashville Indiana along with the main fest in Cookeville Tennessee.

So enough chatter let’s talk history and what Muddy Roots is doing and how it is relevant to the history books shall we? I’m still in the contact stages with Mr. Jason and he told me tonight that it will be a lot of old songs that have been shelved for AGES and will be recorded in one take old school style. And this a rare opportunity that the Hall Of Fame and Mike Curb is allowing because Curb owns the building.

RCA Studio B was and is famous for ONE THING (among many) The Nashville Sound of era the 1960’s that coexisted with the Outlaw Movement. It was (in it’s time) a sort of pop country if you will, while CERTAINLY NOT hokey and fake like today’s pop country…it was mass produced and manufactured to sell to the same target demographic of today’s pop country. I have heard many stories and read many books by steel guitarists like Hal Rugg and Fiddle Players like Hoot Hester whom were not needed by people like Marty Robbins because they were busy recording “Nashville Sound” songs which didn’t require them. Many people are misguided into thinking songs like “White Sport Coat And Pink Carnation” were classic country when in fact it was (for it’s time) pop. NOT that I’m bashing it I LOVED Ray Price string band recordings and even Kenny Rogers but it wasn’t Traditional Country.

However the Nashville Sound revived Nashville as an epicenter of recording and music, and it generated MILLIONS of dollars despite the Outlaw Country’s killer blow to the industry in 1976 the year Shooter was born when Wanted The Outlaw became the VERY FIRST Country Music album to sell over 1 million and become what Billboard crowned “Platinum”.
Shortly before Patsy Cline’s early 1963 death she sold out the famed Carnegie Hall when on the other side of the coin the Outlaws were selling out smaller venues with larger talent packages often times involving up to ten artists. This was done because of the irresponsibility of the acts not always showing up or showing up unable to play.

Still Studio B holds historical honor within the halls of time and the hearts of people like me. It was built in 1956 by Dan Maddox under direct supervision of Chet Atkins and cost around 47,000 to build. It is said that the plans were drawn up on a diner napkin at Linebaugh’s diner on Broadway by Bill Miltenberg and to this day it is said Marty Stuart owns the napkin but nobody has actually SEEN this piece. Now Studio A was on 17th avenue and this was always considered Studio B.

Don Gibson recorded “Girls Guitars And Gibson” at the famed studio and Dolly Parton wrote about the studio in her book and said she accidentally drove her car into the side of the wall. She also wrote that Bobby Bare burned a hole in their couch after falling asleep with a lit cigarette (which he was known for doing). In 1977 the studio was made commercial to the public for tours and opened for tourists.

Billy Harlan was more of a Country AND Rockabilly Legend having contributed to both, and he has done SO MUCH for both genres I could write about him for hours. He was from Muhlenberg County Kentucky in my area and was born in 1937, and along with people like the Everly Brothers, Merle Travis, and Kennedy Jones (who wrote the Cannonball Rag) helped make music history. I studied him in the past because in 1943 he had a radio show in Rusellville Kentucky on WRUS and I spent a few weeks at the Hall Of Records researching it. He was the first in this area to spin Ernest Tubb in his prime.

In 1954 he was in a band called the “Melody Ranch Hands” and in 1955 they played on a radio show in Central City Kentucky, and earlier that year Hawkshaw Hawkins and Jean Shepard were on tour in Kentucky when their bus broke down after a show in Owensboro. Billy was hired to drive Buddy Killen back to Nashville and upon talking to him he was hired to join Ray Price and Billy became a Cherokee Cowboy.

In 1956 he and Hawkshaw co-wrote a song called “My Fate Is In Your Hands” and after his cover of an Autry Inman song that song became Hawkshaw’s hit. He also became a member of Jim Reeve’s band the Wagonmasters and in 1958 he recorded two of his more rockabilly songs and wrote one for the Everly Brothers. In the 1950’s a few of his songs he cut for RCA that stayed in the basement even though they were issued on Bear Family Records.

In the 1970’s he wrote the B side “Natural Woman” which was the other side of Johnny Russell’s “Rednecks White Socks And Blue Ribbon Beer”. He is Chairman of The Board of the Merle Travis Music Center to this day.

One of my friends from the Nashville area that promotes shows Jason H Buchanan and the Basement Presents Possessed By Paul James in December. PBPJ who is a Hillgrass Bluebilly artist always puts on a GREAT live show and his latest offering “There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely” was a stellar album indeed. He will be appearing that evening with the Hooten Hallers.

That same week on December 14th he will be appearing at Puckett’s in Franklin Tennessee, which is a really good venue to see a show as well. Konrad is always a truly good act during the festivals of the year and he appears on many of them indeed, he is truly one of the finest one man bands around and does a super fine job of entertaining his audience.

Every time I find out about really good local music shows in the area I always try to write a small article featuring the shows. I also include them in my weekly listing of local shows in the area so please keep yourselves posted on them.

For some time now I have been watching a project being made public by Jahshie P head honcho over at the Chicago based Moonrunners organization. Earlier this year he introduced Indie Exchange which is a pay per view (or listen) to page with exclusive site only content from some of the bands involved.

You can learn ore about this by clicking on the link above as you can hear exclusive songs by the first artist to become involved Hellbound Glory. For a small fee you can unlock music you can ONLY hear on this site, and learn about releases before the general public does.

What is indieex.com?

A video streaming web solution for the independent artist, offering the power of the Exact Timer Technology
A hub where fans can easily find their favorite artist’s exclusive content and hear new releases
A place to discover new talent by sampling various artist’s submissions at reasonable rates
A community to foster the growth of the independent artist, their work and the culture
An opportunity for the independent artist to control and monetize their content
Where the independent artist is guaranteed quick payment

I’m always looking for opportunities to allow indie artists to make the most income off their music in ways more accessible to the public, because the main media does not include their music (in ANY genre) for them to appreciate it. THIS website makes that possible in many ways and sheds new light on many aspects of their music. As it grows this will become a mecca of exposure to many artists that many fans would not have heard of anyplace else and I think this can certainly help the music community in many ways.

At this point I shall save all of my major music festival announcements for the last week of 2015 because I have SO MANY and Moonrunners is one of them. They ARE announcing some of the acts for next year already and as they all announce the ticket prices go up, but i just have so much to report on right now I have saved my festival coverage for later and like MANY of my articles I shall be following this up with updates as it grows into shape to be bigger.

The Kentucky Opry knocks another GREAT Country Music show out of the park in December on the 15th, as Clay and Barbie Campbell and the Kentucky Opry welcomes “Nothing But The Hits”. This is one of those combination concert deals that brings a STABLE full of good talent your way at once.

Tickets are on sale now at 35$ for VIP Gold 30$ Silver 25$ and General are 20$. Pretty good value for that price to get this many acts. And I’ll tell you what, this show will certainly bring Traditonal Country Music back to the masses in many ways. The Opry’s website says that there will be a fifteen piece band playing along with all the artists involved.

Ronnie McDowell I have been to see many times and every time he puts on a stellar show. He has sold millions of records and paintings and has had over 20 charted hits. He has been entertaining people for many many years!
Tommy Cash is the brother of the late Johnny Cash and has put together a tribute show for Johnny on this tour.

Another good point I would like to make about this show is on steel guitar will be none other than Legend Doyle Grisham himself and will also feature Tim Atwood on steel.

Teea Goans is a young lady I have featured many times on this website from many shows she done. She has contributed to the Midnite Jamboree and WSM 650 many times. I been enjoying her music for many years, and along with her will be Mandy Barnett. THAT woman has a voice of pure Country gold and played Patsy Cline on the popular show Always…Patsy Cline. She is one of the hardest working acts in Nashville today, always on the road.

Show information from their website:

The tour begins in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Saturday, November 28 at the Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State tailgate party! Next dates will include Concordia, Kansas at the Brown Grand Theatre on November 30; Kansas City, Missouri at Knuckleheads on December 1; Springfield, Missouri at the Gillioz Theatre on December 2; a private event in Tulsa on December 3; Okemah, Oklahoma at the Crystal Theatre on December 4; Ponca City, OK at the Poncan Theatre on December 5; Van Buren, Arkansas at the King’s Opera House on December 7; Hattiesburg, Mississippi at the Saenger Theatre on December 9; private show in Biloxi, Mississippi on the 10th, Natchez, Mississippi at the Natchez Center of Performing Arts on December 11, and in Crowley, Louisiana at the Grand Opera House of the South on December 12.

The tour resumes in Benton, Kentucky on December 15 at the Kentucky Opry. Then, it moves to the Cox Capital Theatre in Macon, Georgia on December 16; Calhoun, Ga at The Gem Theatre on December 17; The Morton Theatre in Athens, Georgia on December 18 and finishes up at the beautiful Newberry Opry House in Newberry, South Carolina on December 19.

Terry Jennings is the oldest son of Waylon Jennings and was born when Waylon was only 19 years old in 1956, so with that being said he grew up more as a brother to his own father. In April of 2016 Mr. Terry along with contributor David Thomas will bring his epic stories of life on the road with his iconic father to our coffee tables in this book “Waylon Tales Of My Outlaw Dad”.

It’s available for Pre-order HERE on Amazon and I’m sure it’s available on other websites, and I’m told it will not arrive in time for Christmas. But for the 20 dollar hardcover price you sure the heck CANNOT beat that for the wealth of information this book contains, and hell…coming form a memory that was THERE you know they are all true stories.

Country Music absolutely fascinates me especially the “Outlaw Era” of the 1960’s and 70’s. I have been studying Mr. Terry’s whole family for many years and some of the stories I have been told by many people over the years I hope some of them are contained in this book, as well as some stories from the house off Old Hickory in Nashville. Some of the stories showcase the dirty (but honest) sense of humor that Waylon had as a person and as a performer, and I’m sure there will be plenty of mention of the like of Ralph Mooney one the greatest steel guitarists of our time.

Waylon’s spirit remains alive today with Waymore’s Outlaws and often times Shooter Jennings (Waylon Jr.) plays with his father’s band so we can still enjoy all the old classic timeless songs Waylon performed in that same fashion he did. So with this book his spirit can continue to live in our hearts and if your brain is a sponge like mine is you will equally enjoy this book.

Mr. Terry often posts some of the stories on social media and I have read so many previous books on Waylon Jennings that I can already tell you, this will be more funny than watching TV and full of more debauchery and mischief than anything I could describe. Like the time he and Johnny Cash lived together in Nashville and would place rattlesnakes in suitcases along I-40 and hide behind bushes and watch people pull over and grab them. I’m sure there will be portions of the book that will entail his sentiments for the Hall Of Fame, which shortly before his passing in 2002 Bill Anderson finally convinced Waylon to view his plaque while the Hall was closed.

I absolutely cannot wait for this book to appear in my mailbox!

Well Friday night’s partying at the Spillway didn’t end until late and the next day we headed out around 3 to visit with Kenneth Marr and then we went out to the White Squirrel Brewery for a local music series which each artist got to play three songs. This show was loaded with many people I am familiar with and before the other show we stayed and enjoyed some music here.

My friend Clovis Draper from Virginia that I have been wanting to feature for some time now played first. He is playing his set right now here and opened his set with a song called “Rain” and followed that with an American Aquarium cover called “Bettin Man”.

I have spent the weekend enjoying the sound of his guitar and his company along with Mr. Kevin and Miss Linda Vaughn. We spent more time in bars and venues all over Kentucky than ever. We ate some great meals and listened to vinyls all day Friday while visiting. He closed his set with a song called This Heartaches Free.

Kendra Hope began her set with Tumbleweed that she played last night, and she played a Hank Cochran song Don’t Touch Me. She is playing the best version of Hank 3 Country Hero’s I have ever heard. I think Shelton himself would have approved of her doing that song. We had the honor to see her play two nights in a row, her album is really good and she is developing her own sound while clinging onto traditional roots under one hell of a good mentor and manager. I personally think Miss Kathy will do wonderful things with her for the proliferation of this precious genre.

She wrote “Tumbleweed” when she was twelve folks…twelve! This young lady “has it” and she “gets it”. She reminds me of myself when I was her age, she holds close to the Legends of Country Music and I just cannot say enough good about her.

I was busy chatting with old and new friends and getting prepared for our next show but I did get to see Shane Tutmarc perform “Idle Hands” which he did a pretty good performance of. You might remember me cover his set from Spillway some time ago.

We had to leave to head over to the Warehouse At Mt. Victor to see the Texas based road warrior Cody Jinks And The Tone Deaf Hippies. His latest album “Adobe Sessions” last year was met by me with high acclaims and even though he is ignored by major media he is truly a successful independent act.

He filled the place up pretty good and his band was TOP NOTCH in every way, they tore the roof off the venue. He is what I consider “The Big Three” of the underground bands I love the most, those being him and J.P.Harris and the Tough Choices and Whitey Morgan And The 78’s. All those three bands have some pretty good well oiled machine capabilities to entertain you.

He opened up with a song from Adobe Sessions called “What Else Is New” and went into “David” and “Mamma Song” . He had the place dancing and drinking on into the night with songs we can relate to like “Mamma Song”.

He played a really good cover of “Lonesome Onry And Mean” before going into an older song “We All Get By” and one of my personal favorite songs “Curse The Sky”.

He played “Ready For The Times To Get Better” which is a Crystal Gayle song and followed that by “Wanna Be Alone” off his album “30” from 2012, and followed by “We’re Gonna Dance” off the newer album.
I missed one or two songs because I was buying merch and talking with people I met there, we were all having a good time at this show!

He played a really good version of Merle Haggard’s “Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink”. He played a song called “Folks” and played “Letters And Cigarettes” which they did a really good job on. Like I said before the band was absolutely KILLING the stage tonight with leads and timing of impeccable perfection.

Now folks when the new album came out my new favorite song became “Cast No Stones”. He blew the rooftops off and broke the walls down when he played this song tonight! And then he played a good version of ‘Loud And Heavy” which is another good song.

He closed his set with “Hippies And Cowboys” (of course) and another good song called “Rock And Roll”. I tell you what he also did a really nice meet and greet and greeted EVERY FAN that wanted him. EVERY member of his crew knew their job and contributed to the workload, while Mr. Cody shook hands. He didn’t run into any green room or turn ANY person away.

If you go to one of his shows I PROMISE YOU he is worth the door fee and spending some money at the merch table.

Folks I am once again at the Spillway Bar And Grill in Bowling Green for some local bands before the dancing outlaw himself Jesco White takes the stage. I finally got the chance to catch Eric Strickland alone for an acoustic set. I really enjoyed the way the stripped down set showcased his vocals on the songs,and he sounded really good here tonight. He is currently doing shows without his band the B sides and this was the first time I saw him solo.

He and Kendra Hope are doing some shows together in the meantime and he is still promoting his new album Revelate. In fact his first song was “Aces And Eights” which is the first song on the album and he followed that up with another called “Skeletons”.

His third song was the title track from his album “I’m Bad For You”, which sounded really good
acoustic and he did the song called “Already Gone”. He closed his first part of the set with “Lucielle” before he brought up Kendra Hope and I have never covered her set before so this was an added plus here tonight folks.

I’ll be honest I was not expecting this kind of sound or style out of her but being brought forth with Eric Strickland I knew I was in store for a real treat. she began her set with an original song called “Tumbleweed” and another called “Small Town Boy”

She played the cover Good Girls Gonna Go Bad by Tammy Wynette and followed that with an original called “Fortune And Fame”. They performed a set together and played Jackson by Cash and June Carter, and the original song “Strangers” off his new album as well. They played Outlaw Women together along with “Don’t Think Hank Done It This Way”. I tell you what I will be featuring Kendra’s set again really soon. All the local music beforehand was some of the best music I have been to in quite some time.

John King And The Mud River Revival just keep getting better and better every time I see them do a show. They really packed the venue for their album release show and they have been quite the buzz of the local circuit around here. They opened their set with “I’m Gone” and “Nowhere Kentucky” both of those being on their debut album “Write The Wrongs”.

One of the covers they did was “Driving My Life Away” by Eddie Rabbit, and followed that with the song they recently shot a video for “Man On The Mountain”. They are developing their own style and sound that is distinguishing them from other bands and in their song Drag The Green River I can certainly say they are becoming a force to be reckoned with.

“Workhorse” and “Elder” were songs from one of John King’s previous bands but were included in this evening’s set as well as another song they are currently working on the video for called “Drag The Green River”. They played several more songs before closing their set with a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover called “Gimmie Back My Bullets”.

This evenings crowd was indeed one of the largest I have ever encountered at Spillway and although it was difficult to move around up front I still managed to capture most of the goings on. Shot Time And Cigarettes were next before Jesco came out.

They started out with “Ain’t Living Long Like This” and my favorite song they do called “Burn It Down”. They sounded good up there last night playing songs like “Shotgun Fever” and “Fool”.

Moving along into their song “Heathern” it quickly became on of my favorites along with “Let Go Again”. Then they played “I Can’t Quit Drinking” and a really good song called “Mr. Jones” and they closed their set with “Need Your Body”.

They brought out The Dancing Outlaw Jesco White following all the great local bands and he danced for over an hour to songs like ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” and of course Hank 3’s “Straight To Hell”. Along with telling a few jokes and his harmonica playing it was a pretty good finishing touch to an already great show, we had a truly fun time and I thank everybody involved.

Just this morning I got a call from my Paducah Kentucky area contact that local underground icon Lickem Brown was released from custody at McCracken County Detention Facility this morning and is completely cleared and is now a free man. Lickem was sentenced to serve ten months in the facility in 2015 for narcotics charges and other personal issues.

The last encounters I had with him was a brief appearance at Outlaw Fest during Billie Gant’s set where Lickem showed up to pay respects to the Ohio local legend and support his song “Stop Fuckin Up Country Music”. Lickem did an east Nashville show at the old Dino’s dive bar where he performed a truly good set.

He was placed in distinct protective custody while serving his time and although he was not allowed to wear his trademark mask and sunglasses, his identity was kept concealed. He was allowed to have visitors and I’m told that during his stay he was keeping contact with another of his heros Billy Don Burns who Lickem described as “A Good O’l Hoss”. They met in 2013 at Muddy Roots Music Festival heck we ALL had a good time there here’s a picture of Lickem and Mr. Shooter and Mr. Buck Thrailkill.

During his ten month stay he has some time to reflect on things and organize things. I recently talked with him on the phone about everything from deer hunting to his newfound interest in other hobbies. Women of course are still his hobby and he proclaimed he is STILL the same “Lick Daddy” he was before being incarcerated BUT NOW he is clean and sober and that could be dangerous for the women….he said he has big plans for both music and the ladies.

As I spoke with him he reminded me a lot of Unknown Hinson with his distinct drawl, like he calls them Womern and he told me his new release song will be called “Hell Yeah She’s Ignurrunt”. This was postponed from early 2014 due to his legal issues.

I quickly reminded him about the Hellbound Glory song “Knocked Off The Horse” and scolded him to stay off the smack and keep himself clean. Country Music needs him really bad, it’s been going in the right direction lately but it NEEDS a savior and one has arisen. I’ll be keeping in contact with him on as regular of a basis as I can and trust me I’ll keep you informed of his new songs.

Well unless you’ve been under a rock or something you might have noticed the up rise of a young prodigy with a distinct southern drawl form east Tennessee named Emi Sunshine. I first heard of her at a R.O.P.E gathering last year and I was seated next to Keith Bilbrey who was hosting, and I looked at him and he looked at me and we both smiled and nodded our heads in complete delight. Not only at her talent but toward the fact youth has a REAL representative to look up to from a music standpoint at least. I’m not saying people like Taylor Swift are bad young adults because she’s VERY generous, but let’s face it folks she isn’t going around singing Jimmie Rogers like Emi does!

Backed with her family band in tow she displays a TRUE passionate LOVE for the Opry and what it represents to those that REALLY LOVE Country Music. She’s been appearing more times than some of the Opry’s prominent “Members” that use it for promoting a new album rather than WANTING to be on it. You can just FEEL her passion for that sound, and that sense of down home tradition.

November 7th Mr. Clay Campbell brings Emi Sunshine to the Kentucky Opry in Draffenville Kentucky for the first time (that I am aware of). And this WILL BE an all ages show, and folks take my word for it..THIS IS a darn fine venue.

I do not always promote shows at this amount of excitement but this one you do NOT WANT to miss, because to see and hear her perform in a venue of this magnitude is simply awesome. I am well pleased with their decision to present her to this area, and I look forward to her show every time I can catch her set.