Why Is America’s First Country Music Superstar Buried In Bridgeport?

Bluegrass musician Nick Novia plays at the grave of Marion T. Slaughter – known professionally as Vernon Dalhart – in Bridgeport's Mountain Grove Cemetery.

Davis Dunavin / WSHU

There are questions that might stump even the most dedicated country music fan: Who kickstarted the country music industry in the 1920s, even before big names like Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family? And why is this Texas musician buried in Bridgeport, Connecticut?
His name was Vernon Dalhart, and he released some of the best-selling records of the era, including “The Prisoner’s Song.”

Flipping The Bird And Walking Out Of Jail A Hero, Only Johnny Cash Can Do This

What makes a photo iconic? I have had this talk with a few friends over the years and every time I come back to a similar resolution. It all boils down to being at the right place at the right time. If you hang out with any photographers, each will have a style in which they shoot their subjects or have a methodology to their work. 

Digital cameras have for the most part destroyed the high art of the photograph. Hand a person over a camera and chances are they can learn to take a decent photo in a short amount of time. What will never change though is having the right subject matter to shoot and pulling off an iconic photo at the same time. Thank you Jim Marshall for chronicling some amazing times in music history.

Link to original post on Collector's Weekly

Johnny Cash about to enter Folsom Prison in 1969

"Photographer Jim Marshall, who grew up in San Francisco’s Fillmore district in the 1940s and ’50s, and passed away in March of 2010, was one of the pre-eminent chroniclers of the rock, blues, and jazz musicians of 20th century America. Marshall had amazing access, capturing the Beatles during their last performance at Candlestick Park, as well as Janis Joplin backstage at Winterland, a bottle of Southern Comfort in her hand. He attended the best of the 1960s music festivals, from Newport Folk (Joan Baez) to Monterey Pop (Jimi Hendrix) to Woodstock (The Who). And his images were turned into album covers for Jefferson Airplane, the Allman Brothers, and hundreds of others.
One of Marshall’s favorite subjects was Johnny Cash—Marshall’s last book, “Pocket Cash,” devoted entirely to images of the great country singer-songwriter, was published by Chronicle Books shortly after Marshall’s death. To mark the one-year anniversary of that sad event, three galleries are hosting “Pocket Cash” exhibitions during March and April of 2011. They are SNAP Galleries in London, Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York, and San Francisco Art Exchange (SFAE).

“It’s probably the most ripped off photograph in the history of the world.”

Some of Marshall’s most arresting photographs of Cash were taken at two California prisons, Folsom (1968) and San Quentin (1969). These were not Cash’s first performances for prison inmates—indeed, his song “Folsom Prison Blues” had been released more than a decade earlier, in 1955, as a 45 and 78 by Sun Records. But the trip to Folsom would be recorded for a live album, and Jim Marshall was invited along by Cash’s label, Columbia, to document the event.

On the SFAE website, Jim Marshall recalls the day, January 13, 1968, when Cash and his band, the Tennessee Three, with the great Carl Perkins on guitar, entered the prison (see the pensive portrait of Cash, above). “The granite walls in Folsom are about eight feet thick, and we had just gotten off the bus and gone through one giant gate into a holding area. Then we went through a second gate, and, when it clanked shut, John said, ‘Jim, there’s a feeling of permanence in that sound.’ After that, I started wondering when we were going to get out of there.”

Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison, January 13, 1968

The success of “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison,” with a Marshall close-up of Cash on its cover, sweat dripping down his face from the bottom of his sideburns, sent Cash to San Quentin a year later for another live album. That recording, which made it to No. 1 on both the country and pop charts in the U.S., is famous for its black-and-blue cover, with Cash’s head silhouetted from behind by a harsh spotlight.

Johnny Cash, San Quentin Prison, February 24, 1969

The most famous image from the day, though, is unquestionably the candid shot of Cash taken during a rehearsal before the show. Again from the SFAE website, Marshall recalls the origins of what he believed was “probably the most ripped off photograph in the history of the world. There was a TV crew behind me and John was on the side of the stage. I said ‘John, let’s do a shot for the warden.’” Apparently, that’s all the prompting Cash needed to look straight into Marshall’s lens and flip him the bird." (All photos by Jim Marshall from San Francisco Art Exchange)

Emily White, David Lowery And The Future Of Music Consumption, From Forbes.com

If you are a music fan and have ever burned music on tape, cd or given a usb drive of songs to a friend, really think on this discussion. Its not out to brand the casual listener that gives away music as a criminal, but more or less to think on where the true value resides.

Does a band deserve to be heard and paid just because they are making music? Hell no, there is too much generic crap proliferating the airways and facebook accounts far and wide already. Does it mean you have to do everything that much better and write original music to be heard by the masses? Hell yes, ya do. Once you have original music is the world going to be at your beck at call? Nope, not just yet. Now you have to prove your worth and build your fan base as those are the good folks that want to keep your art form alive and well. Sam Phillips said it best in Walk The Line, when he asked Johnny Cash to play the one song that would sum him up his life, if he was laying in a ditch about to die.

Take notice on why you are hearing so much about acts such as Skrillex, David Guetta and DeadMau5 in national press. It is not that their music is better than other genres, but give credit, where credit is due. Electronic dance music figured this shit out years ago, its all about the vibe and getting fans in the door, not about album sales. While rock n' roll, hip hop and country genres fight over ownership, originality and who should be paid, fans of dance music are filling stadiums to hear the music and the acts are commanding upwards of a million bucks a show. In many ways this is due to electronic music's world wide acceptance of file sharing and the ability to quickly grow a fan base over the internet through remixes, mashups and giving away music for free.

Music is about the soul. Seek out the music you personally enjoy. Live and breathe it and when you want to take personal stock in seeing it last, contribute and support the artists that make it happen. Life is too short to be bothered with the mundane or those that want to be naysayers and constantly complain. As an artist make great music, build the vibe and fans will find you. There is no magic elixir except hard work and dedication to your craft.

Updated rebuttal article from Forbes.com

Link to original article we posted a week ago

David Lowery of Cracker at the 2011 Pop Conference at UCLA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"The ongoing discussion about the music industry’s struggle to survive in the digital realm is marked with periods of intense debate. The latest exchange started almost one week ago with a post on NPR’s “All Songs Considered” blog titled ”I Never Owned Any Music To Begin With.” Emily White—a 20-year-old NPR intern who also serves as the general manager for American University’s student-run radio station, WVAU—wrote the piece, in which she described how she’s bought just 15 CDs in her lifetime while acquiring a digital music library of more than 11,000 songs. David Lowery—who co-founded alternative rock acts Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker and is a lecturer at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business—responded with a “Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered,” a lengthy, detailed overview of the nosedive the music industry has taken due in part to the disruptive innovation fueled by the new technology economy, a point-by-point breakdown of what he considers to be the fallacies of the free culture movement, and the financial toll that musicians have suffered in the days since Napster introduced most of the world to file sharing.

Lowery’s piece sparked an even bigger discussion, with plenty of new think-pieces re-treading old dialogue. Of the many third-wave response articles, Huffington Post director of commercial production and Dismemberment Plan frontman Travis Morrison managed to pinpoint a vital change in the conversation with a post titled “Hey Dude From Cracker, I’m Sorry, I Stole Music Like These Damned Kids When I Was A Kid.” Morrison noticed that when Lowery’s article began to go viral the conversation began to focus on a generational divide, which implied that the younger generation of music listeners are morally bankrupt for accumulating great volumes of music without paying for it and that young people acquiring music without paying for it is a new phenomenon that started at file sharing. Setting out to prove that the new is old, Morrison listed the various ways he copped new tunes as a kid without paying for it.


“Copped” is more or less an accurate way to describe the way Morrison went about getting new music. He was, and still is, driven by obsession, and Morrison even described the way he dubbed music from his college radio station onto cassettes in terms of addiction: “I was like a crackhead—if they sold crack at CVS, and it was free.” Unlike so many pieces focused on the ethics of illegal downloading and the moral ambiguity of the free music culture, which tend to focus on the broad economic affect, Morrison eloquently explains his reason for obtaining music through unsavory means:

"Music is so important to people. It is majorly important to young people. And to me? Literally somewhere below water and air but above food. And I just went for it. I bought a lot of music; I got a lot of free music from whatever sources were at hand; I just had to have it by any means necessary."

That personal explanation is no doubt something many music fans share—a love of music that’s so strong the desire to hear more tunes can displace a basic life necessity. It’s a level of passion that led Morrison to snap up albums through legal and illegal channels, it’s most likely the same fervor that fueled Emily White to rip the CDs at WVAU onto her laptop, and it’s an attitude that strongly that resonates strongly with me. (I also rank music higher than food, and have made my fair share of unhealthy decisions based upon that ranking system: I once spent less than $10 on groceries in a three-week period so I could spend what little money I had on some concert tickets, but that’s a story for another time.) Though some could view this philosophy as the very thing that’s led to the unravelling of the music industry and the nonchalant attitude some people have towards illegal downloading, it could very well be the key to helping musicians survive and thrive.


There are a couple important terms pivotal to the recent chain of comments on Emily White’s initial “All Songs Considered” post: “fan” and “the man.” The word “fan” has been used pretty loosely to describe anyone who listens to music, but Morrison’s illustration of his experience as a music obsessive harkens back to the original phrase that begat the nomenclature “fan,” and one that hardly describes a large portion of the listening public—fanatic. The element of fanaticism is why White (among countless others) is experiencing a moral dilemma when it comes to the subject of file-sharing an a growing interest in supporting the musicians she loves. There’s a good chance that not everyone who listens to music is experiencing the same ethical quandary as White, a fickle demographic of mostly casual listeners who bought a few records every year in brighter times but ranked music on the low end of their priority list. Music may be important to many people who bought Michael Jackson’s Thriller or AC/DC’s Back in Black, two of the highest-selling pop albums of all time, yet among those who purchased those albums some may only have a passing interest in music and others may have only purchased a few albums in their lifetime prior to the advent of file-sharing.





These casual consumers may have been an important demographic before Kazaa and LimeWire became household names, but these days that’s not quite the case. For those who might have dropped $20 on an LP or CD every so often in the past it just might feel like a better decision to grab one or two songs from iTunes, or even snag it for free from a file-sharing site. Though it’s still important for record companies and musicians to try and reach these listeners, the focus needs to shift more towards the fanatics—those who see music as a vital necessity in life to the point where they may get it through illegal means but who are still interested in supporting musicians even if their actions appear to negate that notion. The leading method of gaining support from the fanatics these days is through engagement. The very act of reaching out and involving fans is not only important in gaining financial support but also in combating negative characteristics associated with the music industry hierarchy, in particular the concept of “the man” holding all the purse strings.


As Lowery wrote, his students justify illegally downloading music in two ways, the first of which is by saying:

"It’s OK not to pay for music because record companies rip off artists and do not pay artists anything."

There are countless anecdotes of labels ripping off artists dating back to the days when the blues became the “electric blues,” each one feeding into this concept of “the man” that’s appropriate to rage against when something goes awry. Lowery details the ways in which labels (and, by proxy, the executives) invest in musicians, even without the guarantee that there will be a return on said investment, but when it comes to obtaining music the cultural climate is still stacked against labels—even if it means, as Lowery says, it’s the middle-class “weirdo freak musicians” who end up getting hurt.


There’s a certain degree of mystery to the concept of “the man,” a cultural figure that exists in the shadows. Engaging with fans helps combat that notion through a greater sense of transparency. Crowd-source funding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo give musicians (as well as other artists) the opportunity to pitch various projects and show potential donors how the money they hope to raise will be used, and artists are encouraged to offer rewards—such as digital or physical copies of an album, t-shirts, concert tickets—for different levels donations. It’s an idea that brings audiences into the creation process in ways that establish strong connections between listeners and musicians, and Kickstarter in particular has become an important tool for many independent and established musicians. Boston singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer recently made headlines when a Kickstarter campaign she put together to help mix, manufacture, and distribute her forthcoming solo album received more than a million dollars in donations.


Amanda Palmer is a bit of an outlier, but her example shows that musicians can find some level of success through engaging the very fans who want to do nothing more than support artists. There are any number of cost-effective ways of doing so—be it promoting one’s work through social media, or streaming and selling albums on BandCamp, or writing and recording songs for fans. As much as technology has made it easier for people to steal art—music, film, photography—it also provides an opportunity to explore new methods of economic sustainability for the arts, giving creators the chance to find the model (or models) that fit best, or develop an entirely brand new model. The current financial outlook may seem grim, it doesn’t have to be that way."

Billy Don Burns Knocks Johnny Cash Out Of No. 1

July 10th is going to be a great day as we are releasing one hell of a great album by the one and only Billy Don Burns. Since first meeting up with him earlier this year, hearing the stories directly from Billy Don about true to life characters and events straight out of a Louis L'Amour novel never fail to inspire.

Here is another gem of a story written up by Jon Grimson over on Grimson Video's site, reflecting on when he was helping to market an album with Billy Don and Hank Cochran. Truth is stranger than fiction and for a while now, we have singing the praises, but here is more proof in the pudding.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the music of Billy Don Burns. Not only is he one of the greatest song writers pounding the pavement in country music today but he also lives the stories he sings about. 

Buy the album now, shipping July 10th

Link to original post from Grimson Video

"When I was working Hank and Billy Don Burns, “Desperate Men” album to the Americana chart it came time to make the push for #1. Hank took great interest in the strategy of radio promotion and had all kinds of “creative” ideas on what to do about it. He had no problem calling radio stations to talk and do phoners at my suggestion, but he also thought the old days of payola, etc. were still fair play. I tried to explain the integrity of the Americana format, chart and stations and had finally convinced them that the best music won, and the cream would rise to the top. So Hank and Billy let me do my work and lo and behold “Desperate Men” achieved the #2 position and came up right behind Johnny Cash.

Hank Cochran and Billy Don Burns - Desperate Men

At some point in the process I told the guys that I also was working Johnny’s album. Hank and Billy were getting frustrated that Johnny was staying at #1 for weeks. This friendly competition goes on each week, to this day on Music Row as writers, artists, and publishers at the top of the charts are neck and neck. Somebody is always at #1 and somebody is always at #2 ready to get there. Many times everybody knows each other and the rivalry is good natured. That was how I remember it being with Hank and Billy at the time and Hank and Johnny were certainly close friends of many, many years.

Billy Don Burns promo picture

But Hank had a brilliant idea! “I’ll just call Johnny and tell him to get out of our way!” Sounds simple enough. Of course, I thought this would never work and dreaded the whole thing but Hank was friends with Johnny and there was no stopping him.

A few days later, sure enough, Johnny finally dropped out and “Desperate Men” hit #1 at the Americana chart. Huge excitement at Desperate Men HQ that night as the three of us celebrated! Of course, this all happened as it should, Johnny had been up there a long time and the airplay reflected that. It was going to happen no matter what. Shortly after getting the big news, the fax kicked in. Hank pulls it out and hands it to Billy.

Faxed letter to Billy Don Burns from Johnny Cash

It says:

To: Billy Don Burns

From: John Cash

Congratulations! you deserve it. I’ll be happy to move out of #1 spot and let you have it. I been there. Done that. John Cash"

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Singing What You Live: Hard Language in Country Music, Repost from Saving Country Music

Songs are stories meant to be retold and remembered. Aesop, the Greek author, famously said that "Better be wise by the misfortunes of others, than your own." In this reference we can all learn from the past and hopefully carve out a better future for ourselves by not repeating mistakes. Does this mean we will avoid all pitfalls, no way in hell, but at least we can better prepare ourselves.


This notion leads directly into the write up posted by Triggerman over on Saving Country Music about singing what you live. We want authenticity in the music we listen to and for the bands and artists to write from the heart. Start honing in on the lyrics and see where these stories emanate from, might give a whole other experience to the song and resonate that much more.


Link to original article on Saving Country Music


"There’s never been a question in anyone’s mind if Johnny Cash actually shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. But that lyric, and Johnny’s song “Folsom Prison Blues” have gone on to become an iconic piece of country music history. This language was nothing new in 1955. Murder ballads and gunslinger tales trace back to the very roots of country music and America’s Gothic, violent identity.




Stretching the boundaries of lyrical content was something at the very foundation of the early Outlaw movement in country music. As has been pointed out many times before about American culture, violence is perfectly acceptable, but sex can be taboo. Nobody batted an eyelash at “Folsom Prison Blues”, but when the original Outlaw Bobby Bare recorded Tompall Glaser’s "Streets of Baltimore” with it’s fairly docile and veiled reference to a man leaving his wife, it caused a controversy.




Kris Kristofferson pushed the limit for drug references with his song “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” Johnny Cash later cut the song himself, and despite the “stoned” lyric, the song went on to be the CMA’s Song of the Year in 1970. The boundaries are continuously being pushed in country, until now in many respects country has lost most of its family friendly identity.

Hank 3, Straight To hell, album

In underground country, racy lyrics have been at the very foundation of the movement, though in no way are they required. Hank Williams III’s Straight to Hell album was the first to ever be released under the CMA with a Parental Advisory, but the salty content is many times misunderstood as being autobiographical, or condoning the behavior being sung about. Sometimes it is, but sometimes, just like with “Folsom Prison Blues” it is telling a story with the real language and themes people face in modern day life.


“There’s just a little misconception…” Hank3 told IBWIP on their 5th Anniversary episode. “All the Williams’ have had a rowdy crowd, whether its Hank Sr., Jr., or myself. Most of my songs have been, you know I’ve lived a lot of them. And once in a while I’ll kind of put myself in other people’s shoes. Like the song “#5″ was some friends of mine that have been hung up on some really hard stuff, you know with the heroin and stuff like that. I just put some hopeful songs out there. Once in a while I’ll put out a little bit of a fantasy out there like the dedicated song to GG (Allin). Those kind of songs I haven’t done anything like some of the topics that hit on that song. I can just project, or put myself in that mode for a little bit.”


“One of the reasons I sing about smoking and drinking and all that stuff so much is because I try to create a partyin’, good time atmosphere when people come to see me. I’m not trying to bring them down, I’m trying to lift them up so they can forget about all their problems and all the stuff that’s happening in the world. And for two or three hours, they can come out to a show and just have some fun. And I always try to tell folks to pace it out as much as possible.”




When reviewing Bob Wayne’s recent album, the topic came up in a heated debate Bob Wayne participated in personally. “…So you’re telling me DAC (David Allan Coe) killed a women in TN then broke out of jail… I think a lot of his songs a true man… But I think he is also a storyteller,” Bob replied to critics. Bob Wayne regularly sings about drinking and drugs while in real life remaining completely sober, just like many underground country artists with racy lyrics like Joe Buck Yourself and Lonesome Wyatt.


It is hard to fault country music fans who do not want to see foul language or hard themes in a genre so tied to traditional values. Just like any genre of music, this is the reason well-defined lines are important so people can steer clear of content they may find offensive. But it is also unfair to fault artists carrying on the same storytelling traditions Johnny Cash and Hank Williams did while modernizing the language no different than how it’s being modernized in the mainstream of country. It’s also unfair to say singing songs you haven’t lived somehow makes them invalid. Street cred, dues, skin’s on the wall, or however you want to phrase it will always be important in country music, but the should never be essential to telling a story.


Hard language presents a challenge to underground country and its aging demographic. Most underground country fans are now in their 30′s. When Hank3′s Straight to Hell came out they were in their 20′s, and could relate better to many of the racy themes. Now, like many of the artists themselves, the fans have grown up, taken real jobs, have kids and spouses, sobered up possibly, and sometimes the hard language songs can come across as immature or hard to relate to.


Barring something similar to the Middle East’s Islamic Revolution, the trend will always arch towards the breaking down of moral barriers to artistic content in culture. With this freedom comes a responsibility to make sure people are only presented with questionable content when they want to be. Instead of looking at other people’s tastes and judging them, maybe we should feel fortunate we live in a time when censorship is lax and people can enjoy the music they find appropriate and appealing without it being run through a filter of other people’s opinions, tastes, or views.


And let’s all hope that the country music themes of morality vs. sin, good vs. evil, sober vs. imbibing, and law vs. the outlaw remain eternal in country music until kingdom come, because this eternal struggle is what we all face every day, and the reason country music speaks to us like nothing else."

Ashton Kutcher Goes Country and Wants To Join Hellbound Glory

With all of the fake country pop stars up in arms over Ashton Kutcher wearing "country" attire we are predicting that he will do his best to join up with Hellbound Glory on the road to prove how "country" he really is. Not only is Hellbound Glory the best damn country band on the road today but Fox News is now getting quotes from the one and only Leroy Virgil.  Read On...

Ashton Kutcher and Hellbound Glory featured on Fox News about "Real Country Music"

Link to original article on Fox News

"Ashton Kutcher’s apparent lampooning of country dress and singing at the American Country Music awards certainly ticked off some country fans.


But it also provoked a response from old-school devotees who say the genre left behind its real roots years ago and has become a mockery of itself as it moved closer to pop music, rather than the kind of songs written by pioneers like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.


“Ashton Kutcher is an entertainer and a comedian and he was there for entertainment. But he was dressed more country than anyone you see on the show, which is the ironic thing about it,” said country music writer and the editor of SavingCountryMusic.com Kyle Coroneos.  “It is a show about country music, but there is no country music on there. Ashton, with the way he was dressed, was one of the most country music things that happened on the show."

Aston Kutcher at ACM Awards and is more country than all of Nashville Pop

Corneos says what he really offensive about the telecast was Carrie Underwood’s opening act and an appearance by the rock band KISS.


“As someone who appreciates the traditions of country music I found Carrie Underwood’s strip tease act and KISS coming onstage with their bit more offensive than what Kutcher did,” Coroneos said. Indeed the uproar that Kutcher created has raised questions about the state of country music itself.

George Jones released from hospital.


“You can’t sing about your broken down pickup truck when you are living in a $5 million house,” Beville Darden, co-founder of country website TheBoot.com and former on-air personality for Nashville’s WSM radio station, tells Fox411.com. “We have been getting a lot of backlash from fans that think country music is no longer authentic.”


Another longtime country music performer told us that the big names in country today make him nauseous.

"Got turned off of the country scene years ago due to people like Kukukukachoo Kutcher. I consider myself fortunate to have grown up on the farm/ranch to know what a week's worth of work feels like"

- Fox411.com commenter

“Country music is based on real folk with real problems, not these millionaires running around making commercials for cars they’re never going to drive because they have a Bentley and a Porsche in their driveway,” he vented.


Kutcher took fire when he presented the female vocalist of the year award dressed in over-the-top classic country attire.


"Was Ashton Kutcher making fun of country or is it just me?” tweeted singer Miranda Lambert, to whom Kutcher presented the female vocalist award.


Country singer Justin Moore backed Lambert up, calling the “Two and a Half Men” star a “douche."
EXCLUSIVE: Justin Moore issues country challenge to Ashton Kutcher.


Kutcher responded via Twitter saying: "I Am One Of The biggest country Music fans you’ve ever met. Wasn’t making fun at all.”


It is not the first time that popular culture and traditionalists clashed at a country awards ceremony. In the seventies, when John Denver won an accolade at the Country Music Awards, rockabilly singer Charlie Rich burned the envelope with John Denver’s name in it.


Country fans who commented on our story about the Kutcher controversy were annoyed too, but not just at Kutcher. In the more than 300 responses the story genreated, many said it's today's country music, not Kutcher, that's a joke.


“Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Brooks & Dunn are Country. This new stuff ain't Country," one wrote.


"Blake Shelton, his wife, and the 'other country stars' seem to have joined the ranks of the political correctness and forgotten the roots of their music. They have put themselves on a snobbish pedestal. Beer and cowboy hats have been a signature of country music since the beginning. When I here a song by Patsy Cline, George Jones, or Charley Pride, I want to grab a beer. I am not a fan of Aston Kutcher, but he was invited, he is an actor, and actors entertain," added another.





“Got turned off of the country scene years ago due to people like Kukukukachoo Kutcher. I consider myself fortunate to have grown up on the farm/ranch to know what a week's worth of work feels like," another wrote.


Wendy Hermanson, Yahoo! Music’s country music blogger, has seen similar comments on her music site, but she says today’s popular country acts don’t represent the entire body of country music currently out there.


“The ones who are in the spotlight are the ones who have crossed into pop like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. You can find a ton of very authentic artists if you get into the genre and get more than skin deep. I do think that Miranda Lambert is pretty genuine, and Justin Moore is pretty hardcore country,” Hermanson said.


Indeed it seems country music is in the midst of its own culture war. There are the more pop oriented acts like Swift, Underwood and Lady Antebellum who appeal to the masses with their crossover hits. Then there is what country purists refer to as “checklist country” acts.


“Artists like Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert don’t appeal to the traditionalists because they have a checklist that is inane, drawing out these artifacts of country life that don’t appeal to people," Coroneos said. "They have a list that includes corn bales, pickup trucks, and back roads."

“Less than 1 percent of America owns a working farm. Those artists are appealing to suburbia with these country checklists and attempting to live a country lifestyle vicariously," he said. "So traditional country fans are appalled by anything on the radio.”

Leroy of Hellbound Glory speaking the true gospel

Leroy Virgil, the lead singer of the country band Hellbound Glory, whose upcoming album Merica is about to be released, said the problem with these "checklists" is that they address lifestyles and problems that are no longer relevant to the blue collar workers and small town people who enjoy the music.

"It might be authentic sounding to people who live in the suburbs and own a couple jet skis and nice trucks. But to the people who live in the rural parts of the country, or live in small towns or medium sized cities,  I don’t think it reflects what is going on in their lives," Virgil told Fox411. "That country music has turned a  blind eye to some of the problems, with prescription pain killers devastating rural areas and small towns, and the harder side of what is going on."

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel for country music purists. There is a burgeoning independent music scene in the country world with festivals like Muddy Roots and the Juke Joint Festival showcasing "authentic country."


Jason Galaz, the CEO of the Muddy Roots festival, told Fox411 that he hadn’t even been aware of Kutcher’s antics at the awards show.


“Award shows like that don't celebrate the country music that I celebrate," Galaz said. "They celebrate pop music sales."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/04/05/some-country-music-fans-say-ashton-kutcher-not-offensive-popular-country-music/#ixzz1rB8q6YK0

Hellbound Glory - Support Real Country Music

Billy Don Burns Inteview With Outlaw Magazine

Billy Don Burns is a true Country Music Warrior. He wears his battle scars with honor, depicting the stories of his life in his songs with brutal and beautiful honesty. He’s respected far and wide for his long career in songwriting and performing, and he’s still out there. He’s lived it and breathed it through lifetimes of country music passion and pain. Carrying the guitar like a sword on his back, he battles for the Poet. He battles for the Artist. He battles for the souls who defy modern convention. And every time he strikes a chord in some smoke-filled Honky Tonk, he wins. Billy Don Burns started out in this business working with legends, and somewhere along the way he became one himself.

Below is his interview with Andrea Fennel.

AF: It is obvious you live your music with fierce determination and passion, Billy Don. When did you first realize music was the life for you?

BDB: I entered this talent contest when I was in the Army, mostly to get out of all the hell in basic training. There were several acts and the whole post was there on the big night. Don Grady, TV star of My Three Sons, presented the winner with a big trophy. When I won that, I thought maybe I do have something going on for me. It was a pretty big deal. When I got out of the Army, I knew for sure this is what I was going to do.

AF: Who were your influences growing up?

BDB: I grew up in Stone County Arkansas, in Mountain View. I was into Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. Jimmy Driftwood, who won a Grammy and wrote some great songs, was my mother’s school teacher. Jimmy always encouraged me. Those guys would be my first influences. There were many more before I figured out who I was.

AF:  Tell me about when you received your first Publishing deals…

BDB:  When I got out of the Army, Merle Haggard was becoming the hottest country act on the planet. It was 1971 and I had a band living in the Palm Springs area of California. I told the guys that I was going to go to Bakersfield and meet Merle. They said “you ain’t gonna meet him.” I had read that Merle had a Publishing company called Shade Tree. He couldn’t write for it at the time because he was under contract to write for Buck Owens. So, I go to Bakersfield and look in the phone book and there was Shade Tree listed on Niles Avenue. I went there and said I was a songwriter and would like to play them some songs. The lady running the office said I needed to see Roy Nichols as he was in charge of that. Roy was a star to me. He was a big part of Merle’s sound, playing lead guitar in his band. I met Roy and played him a couple of songs. He said “yeah, man, we will publish those.”  Then he asked me if I wanted to meet Merle who was in an office with Bill Woods. I said Yes. He called Merle and and we went in his office. Roy introduced me to Merle. It was so great. He autographed two of his albums for me. Then, he said to Bill Woods “why don’t you get him on Jimmy’s TV show this afternoon, Bill?” Bill Woods was a piano player on the show that was on Channel 32 there in Bakersfield. That was my first time to do a TV show. It was all so great. Then some 18 years later, I got to produce Merle on one of the Johnny Paycheck albums.  The great Harlan Howard signed me first as a staff writer in 1972 in Nashville.

Billy Don Burns with Frank Ehlinger and Ronnie Hymes © Rusty Knuckles Music 2012

AF: Who was the first artist besides yourself that cut one of your songs?

BDB: Connie Smith was on Columbia Records and she recorded my first song the year 1973. Of course, she is now Mrs. Marty Stewart.

AF: What was it like working with Johnny Paycheck and tell me how all of that came about…

BDB: I liked Johnny Paycheck. He was not easy to work with in 1988 – the cocaine and the booze pretty much had him a lot then. However, I am not saying anything bad about Johnny. Hell, it has whooped the hell out of my ass a bunch of times, too. When it was good- it was good. But, it was not an easy gig. When Johnny’s manager went to federal prison in 1988, I became his producer and manager and, hell yeah, it was a pretty rough ride, but I loved him.

AF:  Any good road stories you want to share?

BDB: I think I will pass on the road stories. Most of mine are either X-rated or incriminating, so I better pass on that for now.

AF: What has been one of your favorite moments in your career?

BDB: My biggest moment in the business would be when Johnny Cash sent me a one page letter. That was the biggest thing that has ever happened to me. I gave it to the Stone County Museum in Mountain View, my hometown in Arkansas.

AF: On your CD Heroes, Friends and Other Troubled Souls, you have several guest stars. Who would be your dream person to cover one of your songs?

BDB: I guess I wanted a Willie Nelson record more than anyone else. He has always been such a great writer. So when that happened, it was so good. My first one he did was on his Sony Records Born for Trouble CD. My song was “I Don’t Have A Reason To Go To California Anymore.”  I would have loved to have had a Johnny Cash cut and I think if he would have lived longer that may have happened. He had just found out who I was not too long before he died.

AF: What has been happening with you lately?

BDB: This kid from South Carolina, Aaron Rodgers, ran me down and told me he was a big fan and wanted to produce a new CD on me. We did that and I am proud of it and I think it is one of my best ones. The CD is called (Nights When I’m Sober) Portrait of a Honky Tonk Singer and will be out soon.

AF: What about Music means the most to you?

BDB: What I love about this business the most is expressing myself and then have people write all these great things about what my songs mean to them. That makes me feel like a success. That is the best and it humbles me when I hear the nice things that people say about my music.

It is not easy being Billy Don Burns, but that is who I am and the only part that I know how to play.

Hit up Billy Don Burns on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/BillyDonBurns

Note: Billy Don Burns has just signed with a new label, Rusty Knuckes Records.   

~ Andrea Fennel  

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Andrea Fennel is native Texan who was raised outside of San Antone, and now resides in the outskirts of  Phoenix. She’s a freelance writer for several music publications. She plays the piano, saxophone, guitar and cello and enjoys hiking, hang gliding, and certain hippie activities.

Outlaw Magazine. Country, Rock and Roll, Blues, Folk, Americana, Punk. As long as it is real, it is OUTLAW. Overproduced mediocrity need not apply.

www.outlawmagazine.com

Outlaw Magazine featuring an interview with Billy Don Burns

Original Country Outlaw - Billy Don Burns Joins Rusty Knuckles Music

What happens when you get a phone call by an underground legend whose songs have been recorded by individuals such as Willie Nelson and produced albums by Merle Haggard, Tanya Tucker and Johnny Paycheck? Here is what we did, we asked Billy Don Burns to join the team and allow us to release his next album. Folks, we are damn stoked to be working with Billy Don Burns and we aren't going to let everything out of the bag just yet. Dig in and learn a bit more about Billy Don and his storied history.

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Billy Don Burns

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Billy Don Burns joins Rusty Knuckles Music

More history on Billy Don Burns

There's a lot of talk these days about outlaws in country music. Whether part of the new breed or the old guard, the problem has always been if you have to proclaim yourself an outlaw, you're probably not one Arkansas native Billy Don Burns doesn't have to proclaim himself anything. His worn-out Harley-Davidson t-shirt and dirty red bandana aren't part of some trendy corporate-sponsored fashion-statement/marketing campaign. And when putting his songs down on record, no slick, young, next-big-thing Music Row producer need apply, thank you. Billy Don needs only one thing to get his message across: an open-minded listener unafraid of the dark side--a place Billy Don admittedly knows all too well. These are not your run-of-the-mill, radio-friendly ditties written by some publisher-appointed committee in a cushy Nashville office suite. Scan the titles: Runnin Drugs out of Mexico, Dark Side of the Spoon, Full Blown Addict--these are the often harrowing true-life experiences that have poured out on paper, and on record, in a flood of nerve-rattling, mind-bending emotion. If you're looking for the primrose path, look elsewhere, friend. But if you're brave enough to handle it, just push play on any of the 13 tracks on Heroes, Friends and Other Troubled Souls, give Billy Don three or four minutes of your undivided attention (no problem there, you'll be fully involved thirty seconds in), and you'll know just what a real honest-to-God outlaw country singer sounds like.

Its real life, says Billy Don. It may be a little darker than people like to recognize, but its there. I wish my life was more of an Ozzie and Harriet kind of life, but it ain't.

Billy Don Burns was born in the community of 56 in Stone County, Arkansas. A family friend, songwriter Jimmie Driftwood (Battle of New Orleans", Tennessee Stud) was Billy Dons mothers schoolteacher, and inspired the naturally-talented youngster to pursue a singing career. While serving in the US Army, he won a talent competition (his trophy was presented to him by fellow serviceman--and My Three Sons TV star--Don Grady). Billy Don left the Army in 1970 and moved to California, where he bought a new guitar and began performing in clubs. In 1972, Wanda Jackson's steel guitar player, Lynn Owsley, endorsed Billy Don so that he could move into a musician's boarding house in Nashville. By 1973, he was portraying Hank Williams at the Opryland USA theme park, and soon had his songs cut by the likes of country legends Connie Smith and Mel Tillis.

In 1975, he formed the Travis Brothers with Jimmy Getzen, and recorded a gospel album. He was also performing around various Nashville clubs, opening for acts such as Boots Randolph and Ronnie Prophet. Billy Don toured North America throughout the early part of the decade and then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton proclaimed March 27th, 1983, Billy Don Burns Day. In the early 1980s, he was engaged for a time to singer Lorrie Morgan. In 1984, the pair recorded a duet, New Commitments, which they performed on The Nashville Network.

By 1990 things were becoming decidedly darker for Billy Don, both professionally and personally, as involvement in drugs began to overtake his life and interfere with his musical career. Still, Billy Don continued recording, touring and working with other artists on various projects. In 1987, he produced a gospel album for Johnny Paycheck and later recorded a live album for the Take This Job and Shove It singer, who was an inmate at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution in Ohio. Due to legal entanglements, both albums remain unreleased to this day.

By the mid-90s, conditions were improving for Billy Don as artists including Willie Nelson and Sammy Kershaw began recording his songs. In 1995, his debut album Long Lost Highway was a critical, if not commercial, success. And in 1996, Billy Don and his frequent co-writer Hank Cochran topped the Americana music chart with the brilliant Desperate Men, which unseated Johnny Cash's Unchained from the No. 1 spot in 1997. Although at the time (to the chagrin of promoters and fellow musicians alike), Billy Don tried--unsuccessfully--to prevent his own album from overtaking that of his heros, the Man in Black graciously faxed him a handwritten note to congratulate him on the achievement. On 2004s Heroes, Friends and Other Troubled Souls, Billy Don pays tribute to Johnny Cash with a rendition of his 1957 hit, Give My Love to Rose.

It was one of the first Cash songs I learned as a kid. My mother bought that album, and something about it touched me then. I felt like it was one everybody hadn't done a lot.

In 2002, Billy Don Burns released the critically-acclaimed Train Called Lonesome, featuring musical support from the Reno Brothers (Don and Dale) and longtime musical associate Jeff Williams, plus backing vocals by John Carter Cash. The lead-off track on Heroes, Friends and Other Troubled Souls is the revved-up rocker Mississippi, co-written by Billy Don with Hank Cochran and featuring guest vocalist Tanya Tucker.

Though his heroes and friends are ever-present with him on record, it is perhaps the other troubled souls to whom his songs will always mean the most; those whose lives are lived out of the spotlight and in the shadow of some dark, desperate secret. It is those shadows Billy Don Burns knows all too well--and his music is the light that shines on them, making them real, but ultimately offering hope, a voice, and a way out of the darkness.

"Its been a rollercoaster all the way. Every time I play these songs, I hear, Man, you wrote that song for me. You told my story. There's a lot of lost souls out there." - Billy Don Burns

RIP Jesse Morris, You Made A Lasting Memory On Us

Folks, there is some really sad news to report and its of the variety in which, if you have a friend that is on the ropes and needs an ear, give them a fuckin' ear. Life is so damn short and we all want to put our best foot forward, but from time to time we all need some advice.

A couple years ago while living back in the Bay Area, if I couldn't ride into the city while livin' in Oakland or when I was living downtown, I was constantly by a particular BART Station, generally the Montgomery Station and would hear this amazing voice that resonated throughout the tunnels. Here was a guy at 8 am buskin' in the station and singing Johnny Cash. To tell ya the truth, it made my day and many other folks for that matter as he became part of the local folk lore. I found myself going directly into the station just to catch a few minutes of this fantastic voice several times a week for at least 10 to 15 minutes at a time. I never said hello, but I just sat back, sipped my coffee and enjoyed the sounds which would carry me through the day of hectic work and a corporate nine to five grind, which is soul thievery in every form.


Years later that same voice would end up in my inbox about a potential band to check out, to be involved with Rusty Knuckles Music. As soon as I heard Jesse Morris's voice, I knew exactly who it was and our distribution guy and I constantly talked on it. What an amazing talent this guy was and how he affected so many folks in San Francisco and the local buzz building on their new band.

How could hearing Johnny Cash first thing in the morning not make for a better day?

So, low and behold, we ended up chatting with the band and more precisely Joe Dean about potentially working together on some projects. After many chats, ideas were hatched and plans came together but nothing could come to fruition. Fast forward to now, well, Jesse is no longer with us as he was fighting quite a few demons and took his own life.

Jesse, oh how I wish that any of us could have helped out to make things different. All that matters for us is you will be remembered. To the fellas in the band and especially Joe Dean, my thoughts our with ya brother.

Our somber tone on this also goes out a great childhood friend by the name of Chris Creasy, who also took his life with a shotgun blast that was buried in his mouth. We know of the demons ya had Chris, but we still miss ya hoss and in so many ways why couldn't ya have just asked for help...

If yer listenin' Jess, "Die With My Boots On" will forever be in our playlist. Fuck Heaven and Fuck Hell, we believe in the soul and hopefully my friend, one day we can hear ya playin' again regardless of which faction is at the party.



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Update: A benefit concert and radio tribute are planned for this Friday, Nov. 11, and Sunday, Nov. 13. Details.

 

We’re saddened to get word that Jesse Morris, whom you may know as “Punk Rock Johnny Cash” and one of the most beloved BART buskers, died on Sunday. This morning, our own Ed Casey alerted us that friends and fans on Reddit and Facebook have been posting tributes to Jesse. We also heard from several of Jesse’s friends about the sad news.
Many of you have seen Jesse performing at BART — we first wrote about Jesse in 2009 on BART Diaries. Jesse was interviewed by BART.gov and talked about why he likes playing in BART stations:

“The acoustics are good down here, the people are friendly,” he says. “They stop and listen, they tip, they smile … I have a good time down here.”
Although Morris has a night job at a bar, and writes and plays original material with his band, Jesse and the Man Cougars, he keeps coming back to play at BART.

“I consider it a job,” he says. “Just like some people might work in an office, I work at the station entertaining people. I get to do what I love, and I can make a living at it.”

SFGate had just written about Jesse and his band, Jesse Morris and the Man Cougars, this January:

How did you name your band?
Jesse came to rehearsal and teased the “old guys” for having young, beautiful girlfriends, saying, “You guys are like a bunch of man cougars.” And the name stuck.

Photographer Bill Cendak shared this photograph of Jesse with us, taken at a band practice at Lennon Studios on Nov. 2, 2011. Jesse Morris and the Man Cougars were due to play at the Uptown this Friday. Cendak has been photographing Jesse Morris and the Man Cougars ever since the band started.


Photo by Bill Cendak

Jesse’s presence made a big impression on photographer Troy Holden, who pointed us to this portrait of Jesse at the 24th Street BART station.



“I see this fellow once each week playing Johnny Cash cover tunes. When I asked him if I could take his portrait, he flipped me off. Not until later did his gesture register with me.”
Jesse was referencing this iconic photo of Johnny Cash, taken in 1969 during his San Quentin performance.



Reader Jenner sent us a photo of Jesse and the Man Cougars at Bender’s earlier this year.



Here’s an older photo of Jesse at the Montgomery BART station.

Photo by fiveinchpixie

If you are a friend, family, or fan of Jesse Morris, we would like to hear from you. Please comment or email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com and help us honor a great musician who brought light to our daily transit experience.