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Those who are fans of his old stuff remember Okie from Muskogee and The Fightin' Side of Me. There was no ambiguity about him. He was the voice of the right-winger. A few years back, he began to show another side. He began to join the chorus of critics against the...
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Mel Tillis wrote it. Kenny Rogers made a big hit out of it. Now, as a tribute to Mel Tillis, and as a way of honoring all of the injured veterans and the ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice (especially the ones from Bakersfield), I've released it again as a cover. I hope...
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I had a dream last night
we were dancin'
at a Valentines ball
you stood barefoot
on the ballroom floor
tryin' hard to break my fall
but I told you I had already fallen
no need to brace my fall
and I told you that
my heart's already broken
no need brace the walls
don't go...
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It was inevitable. The bubble of extremist liberal groupthink in the world of rock was about to burst. Ted Nugent, Pat Boone, and what remains of the Ramones, were growing weary of being the only pro-Americans to walk the face of the rock n roll planet. Now a brand new...
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I'm doing something a little different this time around for my advice column for musicians at Phantom Tollbooth (Ask the Rock Doc: Sound advice for a song). I'm asking visitors of my blog (like yourself) to offer a little advice of your own. I'll provide the original inquiry (details...
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It sucks to be a prairie boy stuck in the big city, trying to make sense of it all. And if that ain't enough, maintaining homeostasis, as a human being, and maintaining integration of the self can be a daunting challenge, especially in a post-industrialized world, where pernicious...
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Drugs are like a playground that can become a graveyard overnight. They have taken their toll on many a man and many a woman. Johnny Cash was no exception, and his rapid rise to fame, along with all of the demands that go with it, left him with a gaunt, etiolated visage and a haunted...
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Few celebrity couples survive the vicissitudes and pressures of rapidly acquired fame and fortune. Johnny's first marraige failed. But few women stand by their man through thick and thin the way June Carter Cash did with Johnny. It could be argued that their...
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This is an audio track featuring an intoductory skit and The Entire Collection of Johnny Cash Hits (from A-Z). It's from my forthcoming CD: Blackout: A Tribute to Johnny Cash and from my forthcoming podcast that will feature songs from that collection. Enjoy, and thanks for visiting my blog in...
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This is the first in a sub-series from the grand series: CRYSTAL PALACE STATUES. It will feature artists present in the collection of bronze statues housed at the Crystal Palace. There's no better way to bring Buck back, and keeping the spirit of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos alive than to pitch...
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Welcome to my first blog in the Crystal Palace Statues Series. The first collection of blog threads in the series will feature Johnny Cash. I'm kicking it off today for reasons that will be obvious to true Cash fans.
I was moving in to my brand new home in Bakersfield, California. It was...
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On 9/10 as I was sitting out in my backyard with my guitar, I reflected on the events of 9/11 as I experienced them in the city of Sacramento, where I lived on that date. Then I wondered how somebody else with a completely different life, living in a completely different part of the world...
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A few weeks after 9/11, I received a letter from John, a student of a Psychology of Music class I was teaching at the time, who had been absent for a couple of classes. He warned me ahead of time, that he could be deployed at anytime. He wrote me from Afghanistan, where US and allied forces...
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Well, the Crystal Palace is alive and well, but how often do we stop to reflect upon and appreciate the man that breathed life back into the place after Buck passed away? That man was Clint Black. I hope the following article and the original photo I was lucky enough to shoot that rainy April...
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Truthfully, Buck was one of a kind, and, sadly, there will never be another Buck. But there is somebody who seems to be standing in front of the line to follow in his footsteps. That "somebody" seems to be John McCrae, of the band, Cake. Where's the evidence? Well, it can be found here:...
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Hello, Bakersfield. I call it New Nashville West or the New Bakersfield Sound. They call it Progressive Country. In any case, if any of you would like to catch my debut on this Brave New Frontiers radio show, you find by clicking the link below. Just before you get to the half-way point in...
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