How Country Popped Its Way Into the Mainstream

Our Musical History - Country & Beyond, with The Shires
Over-hyped Brit duo get to run through some predictable and otherwise choices (yes to Fleetwood Mac and Ronan Keating, no to Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash).

The Golden Hour - Travis Tritt
Dunno if this is a one-off or a series or just a mistake, but an affable use of time since "Focus On" appears to have withered on the vine. A mix of videos and live performances.

Church Street Station - Merle Haggard
Some series from 1990, filmed in Orlando. Merle covered Folsom Prison Blues as a nod to Johnny Cash having recently had heart surgery. He did include Okie towards the end. It was a fun little show, I hope there might be more of it to see.

Belladrum 2018 - Ward Thomas
The sisters did a short but lively set to much appreciation.

The Golden Hour - Josh Turner
A pleasant enough hour, surprised this isn't a more regular show really.

The UK will soon get its own 1st ever all-country music radio station, Country Hits Radio, from April 5th.

The Golden Hour - Miranda Lambert
Seemed to get through a little more material of hers than in some of these shows, not quite sure how. But decent enough stuff if all you want is videos and no chatter.

The Golden Hour - Luke Bryan
Decent enough stuff, I was taken with Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset.

The Golden Hour - Dixie Chicks & Friends
Unsure why they couldn't squeeze a whole hour out of DC, or what connection there was with the selected friends, beyond being maybe the same age bracket and country of origin. I was a bit narked about Goodbye Earl.

The Golden Hour - Reba McEntire
Or McCentire, as she was wrongly billed. She seems to be unafraid of some left-field covers like Cathy's Clown and If I Were A Boy, but her better material are tracks like Somebody's Chelsea, and Good Doggie, No Bone.

Baylen Meets... Brett Eldredge
Someone called Baylen Leonard meets someone called Brett Eldredge, talking between videos of Brett. He was from Paris, Illinois, and sang because his family background was farming. He owns a dog, he likes jazz and Chicago, and his grandmother had Alzheimers. Seemed to have some good songs too.

The Golden Hour - Carrie Underwood
A steady hour's effort, notable for maybe missing out the more recent So Pretty, and finishing with Jesus Take The Wheel.

The Golden Hour - Vince Gill & Friends
Mish-mash of his own videos, and live stuff with others, from Sting to Sheryl Crow. 

Brothers Osborne - Live in Vegas!
Never heard of them, but they've clearly got the chops and the songs. This Las Vegas show from April preceded a new album, apparently.

Total Access! Charlie Worsham
Never heard of him. He rates Vince Gill as a hero and would like to duet with him. The first rock concert he saw was the Rolling Stones. His influences were from the 1990s.

Total Access! Ward Thomas
They were excessively keen on the Dixie Chicks. They rated Alison Krauss and Taylor Swift and Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.

The Golden Hour - Jennifer Nettles & Sugarland
A pleasant hour with hits from both parts of the bill. Presumably she was at one time a member of them.

Thomas Rhett on Thomas Rhett
Pleasant half-hour of his hits. His wife features in many of his videos, and are written about her, though she dislikes the spotlight. He's used the same director for 9-10 of them. Hmm...

The Golden Hour - Collin Raye
Nope. Still, he's done plenty of songs, he even worked with the late Glen Campbell on one show, and duets with some other country acts like Bobbi Eakes and Jim Brickman too.

Kip Moore - Live at the Wiltern!
Somewhere in LA, on Nov 2nd sometime, this was a decent hour show, with a few extra comment bits. His sister Jennifer was paralysed from the waist down in an auto accident as a teenager. He was keen on being original rather than ever playing covers. He writes around riffs & grooves. He was 1 of 5 kids. His songs were pretty okay.

An Hour With... LANCo
Or Lancaster & Co to give them their full name (apparently). There's 4 blokes, anyway. They're very Nashville-centric, though they grew up in small towns. They have a new album out. They don't find green-screen in videos to be impressive. They each chose a favourite video of other acts, so there was Eric Church, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson and the Brothers Osbourne in there too.

The Golden Hour: Faith Hill & Tim McGraw
They're a couple, they've done some songs together, but this compilation covered both their solo work and their duets, thankfully. She's maybe seen as the bigger star here.

The Golden Hour: Diamond Rio
Another act new to me, but they had some pretty decent songs.

Glastonbury 2019: Carrie Underwood / Johnny Marr
The country queen was one of many acts here, she got a half-hour of coverage. The indie guitar hero legend was rather more interesting as he did some Smiths numbers in his set.

The Golden Hour: Keith Urban
It is what it is. I keep thinking I must have seen these before, but I suppose the similar-format Focus On shows might be confusing the matter.

The Golden Hour: Toby Keith
He's a bit of a lad, a man's man, I take from these videos. Good ol' boys, do it my way blah blah.

Charley Pride - I'm Just Me
Sledge, Mississippi's most famous son (I guess) told his story, from how his baseball career didn't take off, but his music career did, despite racial difficulties in the 1960s & onwards. A great many names from Marty Stuart to Dolly Parton to Darius Rucker all spoke up for him, and Willie Nelson remembered the time he kissed Charley to show how highly he thought of him. He had the #1's, he won the awards, he seemed to have a long happy marriage. Good on him.

The Golden Hour: Gretchen Wilson
Not one I'm too familiar with, but Redneck Woman is her big number. I was amused to notice a couple of included numbers owed a debt to other songs - Me & Jesus seemed to have the tune of Will The Circle Be Unbroken? whilst Tonight, The Bottle Let Me Down used the tune of Honky Tonk Women.  Maybe others used songs I don't know? I was intrigued anyway.

The Golden Hour: Dwight Yoakam
He was around in the 80s, but doesn't seem as respected as many others who came later. This showcase saw him covering Suspicious Minds, I Want You To Want Me and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. His own songs were alright, I guess.

Every Which Way But Loose
Late 70s Clint Eastwood film with our hero as a truck-driving bare-knuckle boxer with an orangutang for a best friend. He falls for an aspiring country singer, played by Sondra Locke, and pursues her across the USA when she runs out on him. Proper country stars like Mel Tillis and Charlie Rich also feature, as does Phil Everly, and the soundtrack fits in the tone.

The Golden Hour: Blake Shelton
Another of the many seemingly interchangeable country stars of the modern day, he covered Footloose, Home and The Gambler in this selection, but his own songs are fine enough too.

The Golden Hour: Brad Paisley
Pleasant enough in the main, some duets with Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton and Keith Urban.

Music Icons: Glen Campbell
The usual story, the young prodigy who went on to be an ace session musician, tour with the Beach Boys, and finally make his mark as a solo star. His politics were not quite as carefree as the image he sometimes offered. But he won his share of Grammys even before he started working with Jimmy Webb. And when he did, he really hit big. He had his own telly show, and even made movies like True Grit and Any Which Way You Can. His later years were clouded by Alzheimers, but he kept recording to the end.