Latest / Country Weekly / 2.20.26
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Now it's time to catch up with Country Weekly, where
- 0:07we check out news and gossip from the world of
- 0:10country music. As always, I'm your host, Ken Dawkins, and
- 0:15I will be reading from various sources found online now.
- 0:18As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for
- 0:21people who are blind or have other disabilities that make
- 0:24it difficult to read printed material. We'll begin with the
- 0:28first article from the February edition of Kentucky's own The
- 0:31Lane Report. This is the authentic Notes column by Matt Wickstrom,
- 0:36starting the new year on the right note. From live
- 0:39recordings captured beneath towering roadside dinosaurs, to reflective singer songwriter
- 0:45turns and heartfelt tributes to Kentucky legends, the new year's
- 0:49already striking a rich musical chord. This round up highlights
- 0:52notable recent releases from artists across the Commonwealth alongside kenu
- 0:57shaping Kentucky's ever evolving music landscape. From venue openings and
- 1:01festival announcements to chart topping achievements with national impact. First off,
- 1:06you know by now probably Tyler Childer's biting list. The
- 1:09hit Summer Anthem from snipe Hunter is back better than ever.
- 1:13In live form and taken from the Eastern Kentucky singer's
- 1:15pop up show back in July at Dinosaur World, singing
- 1:19about who You're going to take a vengeful bite out of?
- 1:22It just hits different with a giant t Rex statue
- 1:25towering over you. How about Tiffany Williams Blue Kentucky Girl.
- 1:30Tiffany pays homage to Kentucky's great Loretta Lynn with a
- 1:34soothing cover of her nineteen sixty five hit Blue Kentucky Girl.
- 1:39Lance Rogers The Shots I Didn't Take. With a handful
- 1:42of singles already released in twenty twenty six, Central Kentucky
- 1:46singer songwriter Lance Rodgers is on a torrid writing pace. However,
- 1:50on his recent single The Shots I Didn't Take, the
- 1:53singer instead finds himself ruminating on the opportunities he let
- 1:56pass him by Logap Someone to Call Home, initially released
- 2:01as a single in September, now included on their album
- 2:04The Geneva. Logaps Someone to Call Home sees the band,
- 2:07led by Gus and Finn Johnson, seeking direction from Jesus
- 2:10to keep them grounded while they chase their musical dreams
- 2:13in the White Lines on the Road. Brit Taylor Warning
- 2:17You Whiskey, Eastern Kentucky born Nashville based singer brit Taylor
- 2:22explores the myriad of emotions experienced when someone you love
- 2:25is battling substance abuse on Warning You Whiskey. The song
- 2:29is the second single from her record Land of the Forgotten,
- 2:32which drops on March ninth. And Jay Skaggs Crazy Things,
- 2:37the distant relative of bluegrass great Ricky Skags, is back
- 2:41with his sixth song, The World's Smallest Songs EP a
- 2:45stand out from the Samplers. Crazy Things fourth of July,
- 2:48a melancholy ballad about growing apart from someone you at
- 2:51one time couldn't see yourself without elsewhere. The Rail, a
- 2:56new two thousand person capacity music venue in Lexington's urging
- 3:00district known as The Commons, has been announced with an
- 3:03anticipated opening of October twenty twenty six. The multi level
- 3:07space will book a variety of national music acts produced
- 3:10by John Peters and Mass Concerts, which also recently acquired
- 3:14Louisville based Headliners Music Hall and the Pineville based Laurel
- 3:19Cove Music Festival. On December twelfth, announced that a documentary
- 3:23about the music gathering at the self proclaimed Red Rocks
- 3:26of Kentucky is in the works, titled Where the Mountains Sing.
- 3:29The project is being produced by Mesmeric Media and will
- 3:33include everything from fan and artistic interviews, to archived video highlights,
- 3:37behind the scenes footage, and much much more. Now we
- 3:42move over to Countrynow dot com. Lukecolmbs to open third
- 3:46Category ten location in Orlando, Florida. The new announcement from
- 3:52Lukecomb's reveals at his bar, restaurant entertainment venue is expanding
- 3:55beyond downtown Nashville and another recently announced Las Vegas location.
- 4:01The establishment, dubbed Category ten, is set to open a
- 4:03third location on City Walk at Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida.
- 4:08Of course, much like its flagship location in Music City
- 4:12and its upcoming place in Sin City, the Orlando venue
- 4:15will pay tribute to Comb's eight times platinum number one
- 4:18debut hit Hurricane, while highlighting standout moments from his career
- 4:22and hit filled catalog throughout the thirty three thousand square
- 4:25foot three story space. The country star expressed that he's
- 4:29eager and excited to bring the Cat ten experience to Orlando,
- 4:32which is targeted to open in late twenty twenty seven.
- 4:36The new space will offer guests live music, free line dancing,
- 4:39and a menu inspired by his North Carolina roots, all
- 4:42in a fresh, immersive setting. I have a line in
- 4:46my song one, two, Many, there's no stopping me once
- 4:49I get going. Well. I guess you can say the
- 4:51same about Cat ten now, says Luke Combs. I know
- 4:54Orlando's a worldwide destination spot, so I'm super pumped and
- 4:57humbled that we're getting to open a location there. My
- 5:00wife is from Florida, so we're both super excited about this.
- 5:04I'm glad to be bringing our brand to first class
- 5:06service and awesome tunes to the Sunshine State. Category ten
- 5:10first opened its stores in Nashville in twenty twenty four,
- 5:13will soon be found in Las Vegas, with place of
- 5:15debut to fall well somewhere in late this year. Combs
- 5:19won't be the only country act with his name on
- 5:21a business throughout Nashville, Las Vegas, and Orlando. He joins
- 5:25Blake Shelton's ol A Red, a restaurant, bar, and live
- 5:28music venue owned and operated by Opperate Entertainment Group that
- 5:31can also be found in locations across the same three cities.
- 5:35Country music is reaching more people nationally and internationally than
- 5:38ever before, driven in large part by superstars like Luke Combe,
- 5:42said Colin Reid, executive chairman of oe G parent company
- 5:46Ryman Hospitality Properties, with Orlando welcoming millions of visitors from
- 5:50around the globe each year. Expanding the Category ten footprint
- 5:54into this world class entertainment destination allows us to introduce
- 5:57visitors to an authentic country music experience, alliance inspired by
- 6:01Luke's Carolina roots. Construction of a new Cat ten Orlando
- 6:06venue is slated to begin in the summer. Opry Entertainment
- 6:09Group is expected to roll out additional details over time.
- 6:13This news comes amid an already busy year for the
- 6:15Sleepless and a Hotel Room singer. Personally, he is preparing
- 6:18to announce the rival of his third child with wife
- 6:21Nicole any day now. Career wise, he has a brand
- 6:24new album on the way. The twenty two song The
- 6:26Way I Am Collection is set to drop March twentieth,
- 6:28as we mentioned a few weeks ago, Plus Lucombs will
- 6:31launch the twenty twenty six My Kind Of Saturday Night
- 6:34Stadium Tour this spring, bringing him to sold out stadiums
- 6:37across the US, the UK, and Europe next. Riley Green
- 6:43celebrates back to back self written number one hits in Nashville.
- 6:48Riley Green celebrated a double milestone in Nashville this week,
- 6:51teaming up with BMI and his label Nashville Harbor Records
- 6:54and Entertainment to mark back to back number one hits
- 6:57for his self written singles Worst Way and Don't Mind
- 7:00If I Do. Ahead of the celebration, Green sat down
- 7:03with Country Now and other outlets to reflect on his
- 7:06solo written hits, admitting he never intentionally set out to
- 7:09write alone. It simply happened that way. I never went
- 7:12into writing by myself because I wanted to be a
- 7:14solo writer. I wrote all my songs on my own.
- 7:17Early in my career, I did construction. I didn't know
- 7:20anybody else that wrote songs. Then I got it started
- 7:23co writing, and I saw how many doors that opened
- 7:25for me, and how awesome it is to go get
- 7:27to write with some of these great writers, he explained.
- 7:30But I think when I have an idea that means
- 7:32something to me, it's kind of easy for me to
- 7:34write by myself. And a lot of times I get
- 7:36inspiration when I'm on my farm in Alabama and there's
- 7:39nobody else around. So again, it's not anything I do mindfully.
- 7:42I just sort of happens when the idea is right.
- 7:46While a celebration honored both Worst Way and Don't Mind
- 7:48If I Do, featuring Ella Langley, Green was asked to
- 7:51specifically reflect on Worst Way, the song that made him
- 7:54the first country artist since Taylor Swift to earn back
- 7:57to back solo written number one singles on the Billboard
- 8:01Country Airplay chart. That was probably the most unsure of
- 8:05a song that I've ever been, he admitted, I don't
- 8:07really live in the sappy song the love song world
- 8:09very often, especially not that forward of a love song,
- 8:12And so when I wrote it, that's the tough about
- 8:15writing by yourself. It's not really that you can't do it,
- 8:18it's just how do you know if it's right or not.
- 8:21He went on to recall playing the song for his
- 8:23friends and collaborators Eric Dillon and Nick Walsh, who urged
- 8:26him to record it. Now it's become one of the
- 8:29biggest songs of his career. In a standout moment in
- 8:31his live show with those two chart toppers now in
- 8:35the rear view and change my Mind climbing the country
- 8:37radio charts. Green has his sight set on new music. However,
- 8:41he admitted the release timeline is and entirely in his hands.
- 8:44If we're up to him, fans would be hearing more
- 8:46new songs sooner rather than later. You know what, if
- 8:50I could do whatever I want to do, I'd probably
- 8:52be in the studio and have several songs recorded and
- 8:54be looking at putting some of those songs out really
- 8:57really soon, and then an album sometime later. That's what
- 9:01I would do if I could make the schedule, he teased.
- 9:04While fans will have to wait a bit longer to
- 9:06get their hands on a new album from Briley Green,
- 9:08they have many opportunities to see him live on his
- 9:10Cowboy as it gets to her throughout the year. Green's
- 9:14double number one celebration was hosted by BMI's Clay Bradley,
- 9:18where he was presented with commemorative plaques from Nashville Harbor
- 9:21Records and Entertainment as well and bmlg's Scott Borchetta, alongside
- 9:26nhr's Jimmy Herronn and Ryan Dock honored Green with number
- 9:31one plaques for it Don't Mind If I Do end
- 9:33worst Way, as well as a gold plaque for his
- 9:36current single Change My Mind, which stands as his fastest
- 9:39rising track at country radio to date. The team also
- 9:43revealed that Worst Way has officially earned three times platinum
- 9:47certification from the RIAA, sponsored by Studio Bank. The evening
- 9:52also featured a charitable moment, as Carrie Barnhardt presented a
- 9:55donation on Green's behalf to his Buford Bond's charitable fund.
- 10:00Now we mosey on over to Saving Country Music, with
- 10:03the first article dated February seventeenth, regarding the Eagles Greatest
- 10:08Hits fiftieth anniversary and pondering its countrness. It's pretty wild
- 10:14to think that the best selling album of all time
- 10:16in the United States is a Greatest Hits compilation, hastily
- 10:20thrown together after only four years of albums and singles,
- 10:24and with little or any input from the band itself.
- 10:26It's also fair to ask if it should be considered
- 10:29a country album, or at least mostly or partly country
- 10:32or country inspired. Saving Country Music, of course, is talking
- 10:36about the Eagles their Greatest Hits nineteen seventy one to
- 10:39nineteen seventy five, which was released fifty years ago. This week.
- 10:44The popularity of this album is really something that is
- 10:47difficult to impossible to comprehend. It's officially been certified forty
- 10:52times platinum by the RIAA, and Diamond is the distinction
- 10:56they give albums when they go to ten times platinum,
- 11:00an elite level of sales and cultural impact. Their Greatest
- 11:03Hits has done that four times over now. The second
- 11:07closest album is Michael Jackson's Thriller from nineteen eighty two,
- 11:11which sits at six million in sales behind their Greatest
- 11:14Hits for a period. After Jackson's death. In two thousand
- 11:17and nine, Thriller overtook the Eagles for the number one
- 11:19all time spot. They regained it again in twenty eighteen,
- 11:23speaking to the continued appeal and the relevancy of their
- 11:26greatest hits. Today, we barely think of Greatest Hits releases.
- 11:30Streaming and playlists have made them pretty obsolete, but not
- 11:34this one from the Eagles. It was Eagles manager Irving
- 11:38Ashoff who decided to throw the compilation together. The band
- 11:42was pissed about it. They saw it as a cheap
- 11:43cash grab and weren't happy that their songs were being
- 11:46selected out of album sequence. Especially Tequila Sunrise and Desperado,
- 11:52that felt like non sequitors outside of their album cycle
- 11:55and weren't really hits anyway. Desperado hadn't even been released
- 11:58as a single, rest assured none of the surviving members
- 12:02of the Eagles or the deceased members the States are
- 12:05crying Now. The release also played an important role in
- 12:08the history of the band. By releasing their greatest hits,
- 12:11it gave the band extra time to refine what they
- 12:13were doing for their next album, nineteen seventy six's Hotel California,
- 12:18also known as the third highest selling album in United
- 12:21States history twenty eight times platinum behind Thriller. Hotel California's
- 12:27commonly portrayed as the Eagle's departure from their California country
- 12:30roots to a more rock oriented sound, facilitated in large
- 12:34part by the permanent edition of rock guitarist Joe Walsh
- 12:37to the band and the departure of Bernie Leedon, who
- 12:40was really the band's biggest tie back to its country roots.
- 12:44Bernie was one of the original members of the Eagles
- 12:46when they started, in large part by backing Linda Ronstadt
- 12:49as the Corvettes during her country phase. Leedon was also
- 12:53in the Flying Burrito Brothers with Graham Parsons and Dillard
- 12:57and Clark with former Birds member Jean Clark and banjo
- 13:00player Doug Dillard. Bernie Leadon came from a bluegrass background
- 13:04himself and was a multi instrumentalist who played banjo, mandolin,
- 13:09dobro guitar, and some steel guitar in the Eagles. All
- 13:13this tracing back of roots and considering their greatest hits
- 13:15seventy one through seventy five here on its fiftieth anniversary,
- 13:18begs the question should it be considered a country record?
- 13:22What we can say almost conclusively at Saving Country Music,
- 13:25that is, is that if the compilation was released here
- 13:28in twenty twenty six, it most certainly would be considered country,
- 13:31if not traditional country. Firmly Ensconsdin Classic California Country for
- 13:36Shore or number five hundred and ten point seven of
- 13:40the Country Dewey decimal system. Really it comes down to
- 13:43how you how those first four albums that fed into
- 13:46the compilation were marketed, not how they sound or the
- 13:49singles from them. Lion Eyes from nineteen seventy five's were
- 13:53actually released as a country single and became a top
- 13:56ten on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Chart number eight. The
- 13:59only the reason Peaceful Easy Feeling from nineteen seventy two
- 14:02didn't appear on country charts is because it was never
- 14:05released to country. Tequila Sunrise is another song. It's so
- 14:09obviously country and is only considered rock because the Eagles
- 14:12are considered a rock band. Same goes for Desperado, with
- 14:16the strings giving its strong country politan vibes. If any
- 14:20of these songs had been released as country at the time,
- 14:22nobody would have battered an eyelash, and all the songs
- 14:25of their greatest hits have country leanings at the very least.
- 14:29When their greatest hits really took on a second life
- 14:32was in the early nineties, in the wake of country
- 14:34music's explosion. Behind the Class of eighty nine aka Alan Jackson,
- 14:38Travis Tritt, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson again and Brooks and Dunn.
- 14:43Four of these five performers participated in a tribute album
- 14:46to the Eagles in nineteen ninety three called Common Threads
- 14:50The Songs of the Eagles. In fact, it was Travis
- 14:53Tritt working with Eagles manager erring Oshow and trying to
- 14:56make a video for his take on Take It Easy
- 14:59that was resulted in the Eagles getting back together. At
- 15:03the same time, Clear Channel's very popular classic rock radio
- 15:07format was playing songs from the greatest hits incessantly. This
- 15:11was helping to fuel the appeal for country music's non
- 15:14or neo traditional resurgence of the nineties era, thus also
- 15:17feeding appeal back to the early catalog of the Eagles,
- 15:21all interconnecting in across cultural, multi generational, and nationwide resurgence
- 15:26of interest in country music and the country influenced music
- 15:29of the Eagles. It's still more relevant to consider the
- 15:32Eagles a rock band, says Saving country music and their
- 15:36greatest hits a rock album, if only out of respect
- 15:39to the band's original artist intent and stated opinions of
- 15:42what to be called. It probably is a rock album,
- 15:45but it is the country appeal of the Eagles their
- 15:47greatest hits from nineteen seventy one to nineteen seventy five
- 15:51that has helped boaster the album's unprecedented popularity and longevity
- 15:55now across generations. This is the album that seated the
- 15:58appeal for country sounds and country sounds to millions of people.
- 16:02Country music deserves some credit for being Foundational to the
- 16:05most popular album in America of all time. Next George
- 16:10Strait and Miranda Lambert to receive songwriting honor in Texas.
- 16:16Since two thousand and six, the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association
- 16:20has taken the distinct honor of cementing the legacy of
- 16:23some of the Lone Star State's most revered songwriters in
- 16:25their Hall of Fame. In twenty twenty six, the case
- 16:29can be made the class has more stour power than
- 16:31ever before. King George Strait, Miranda Lambert, along with Keith
- 16:36Gaddis and Don Cook will be this year's Texas Heritage
- 16:39Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees, and a ceremony set to
- 16:43transpire on February twenty first at the Moody Theater in
- 16:47downtown Austin. For pure songwriters, there's few that are more
- 16:51accomplished from Texas than Don Cook. Originally from Corrizo Springs,
- 16:55He's written in incredible twenty number one hits, including thirteen
- 16:58hits with Brooks and Dunn alone, including some of the
- 17:00duo's biggest songs like Brand New Man and My Next
- 17:03Broken Heart. Cook songwriting and production helped define nineties country.
- 17:09He also wrote songs for fellow inductee George Strait, along
- 17:11with Alabama and Kenny Rodgers, among others. Originally from Georgetown, Texas,
- 17:17Keith Gaddis wrote and co wrote tracks for the likes
- 17:19of fellow inductee George Strait, Randy Travis, Kenny Chesney, Gary Allen,
- 17:24Randy Hawser, Charlie Robison, Randy Rogers Band, Jack Ingram, Wade Bowen,
- 17:29Cory Morrow, and Sarah Evans, to name a few. As
- 17:32a studio player, he worked with George Jones, John Party,
- 17:35Brandy Clark, Bruce Robison, and Sonny Sweeney, among others. Gaddis
- 17:39wrote El Therito Place, which, after becoming a signature song
- 17:42for Charlie Robinson, was released by Kenny Chesney as a
- 17:45successful radio single. He also wrote the Chesney single when
- 17:49I See This Bar in George Strait's twenty thirteen single
- 17:52I Got a Car. Albums that Keith Gaddis produced include
- 17:56Wade Bowen's Solid Ground Randy Hawser's Magnolia. Gaddis was one
- 18:00of the most prolific multidisciplinary contributors to country music in
- 18:04the last twenty five years. He passed away in twenty
- 18:07twenty three. Miranda Lambert from Lyndale, Texas, is mostly known
- 18:12as a performer. She's also known as a performer who
- 18:15writes or co writes many of her own songs, including
- 18:18some of her biggest hits such as Bluebird, Tin Man,
- 18:21and Automatic, all three of which were nominated for Grammy Awards.
- 18:25She's also the most awarded artist and ACM Awards history
- 18:29written songs with and four other artists, such as Chris
- 18:32Stapleton's what Am I Going to Do? And Ella Langley's
- 18:34Landmark Choos in Texas that's currently number one. Just as important,
- 18:39Miranda Lambert is a massive champion of songwriters, from forming
- 18:43the supergroup the Pistolanies with songwriters Ashley Monroe and Angelina Presley,
- 18:48to working with Jack Ingram and Randall with the Mafia
- 18:51tapes I'm Sorry the Marfa tapes, to shouting out people
- 18:54like John Morland and Tyler Childers early in her career,
- 18:58to recording the songs of John Prime, Patty Griffin, Whalen Payne,
- 19:01Brandy Clark, and Moore. Perhaps the most controversial pick will
- 19:06also be arguably the biggest name. Now. It's certainly true
- 19:09that Strait has not been very prolific as a songwriter
- 19:12in his career, but he has written more than what
- 19:14he tends to get credit for. I Can't see Texas
- 19:17from Here is one of the best songs from his
- 19:19second album, Straight from the Heart, and was written by
- 19:22Straight himself. On his twenty nineteen record, The number one
- 19:26Honky Tok Time Machine, George co wrote eight of the
- 19:29album's tracks alone. But let's be honest as saving country music,
- 19:33it's the song of others he built his career on.
- 19:36But that doesn't mean that George Strait hasn't contributed incredibly
- 19:38to songwriting. Without George Strait, critically important songwriters to country
- 19:43music such as Dean Dylan and Jim Lauderdale may have
- 19:45never had careers or been able to focus on the
- 19:48craft of songwriting like they did penning some of the
- 19:51genre's most legendary tunes. Straight's talent was knowing a good
- 19:55song when he heard one, and then singing the hell
- 19:57out of it like only he could. Every year for
- 20:00the past twenty has Texas Heritage Songwriters Association announced new inductees.
- 20:05They wait until it get a good crop of them
- 20:07to honor, and then they move forward. Twenty twenty six
- 20:10is one of those years, with the February twenty first
- 20:12induction ceremony now sold out. Over the years, Texas has
- 20:16become synonymous with some of the top songwriters in all
- 20:19of music. It's due to songwriters and performers like Don Cook,
- 20:22Keith Gatis, Miranda Lambert, and George Strait. Next, Mark chesnutt
- 20:28end show abruptly due to health in Alabama. Mark Chestnut
- 20:33is fine and according to his publicist, Chestnut has been
- 20:36fighting off a sinus infection lately. But folks at the
- 20:40Oxford Performance Center in Oxford, Alabama became worried Thursday evening,
- 20:43February twelfth, after Chestnut had to end his performance early
- 20:47after only three songs and he was unable to return
- 20:50to the stage. Chestnut also canceled the show at the
- 20:54Miller Theater in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday the thirteenth, and
- 20:57postponed the show Saturday the fourteenth at the Paul A.
- 21:00Johnston Auditorium in Smithfield, North Carolina due to the illness.
- 21:05We all thought he was kidding at first. Even his
- 21:06band was shocked, one comment or said. After a message
- 21:09from the Oxford Performing Arts Center announcing that the performance
- 21:12would not go forward. Many of his fans and attendance
- 21:15were less worried about refunds or his scheduled date and
- 21:18more worried about Chestnut, who's been suffering from health issues
- 21:21over the last few years. Mark broke his back in
- 21:24twenty twenty one and required surgery. Then in twenty twenty four,
- 21:28he had heart problems, resulting in emergency heart surgery. Then
- 21:32in May of last year, Chestnut came clean about his
- 21:35battles with alcohol in part to deal with the pain
- 21:37from his continuing back issues. My surgery was a major one.
- 21:41I couldn't work, I was laid up, didn't drive, couldn't walk,
- 21:44couldn't do anything. I had to quit drinking or die.
- 21:46I'm back and doing better than ever. Despite being admitted
- 21:50to the hospital for low sodium count and high blood
- 21:52pressure in October of last year, Chestnut has been making
- 21:56more dates than missing recently after focusing more on his health.
- 22:00The show at the Paul A. Johnson Auditorium has been
- 22:02rescheduled to March twenty ninth. No word at this time
- 22:05when the Oxford Performing Arts Center date will be rescheduled. Now,
- 22:10we grabbed afore can spoon and had to Taste of Country,
- 22:13with the first article dated February eighteenth, how Robert Devall
- 22:17once helped Billy Joe Shaver beat a twenty year prison sentence.
- 22:22Robert Duvall, Yes, the late Academy Award winning actor and
- 22:25filmmaker who passed away a couple of days ago, was
- 22:27once instrumental in helping Billy Joe Shaver beat an aggravated
- 22:31assault charge. As the story goes, Shaver got into its
- 22:35serious legal battle in two thousand and seven when he
- 22:37allegedly shot another man in the face outside of a bar.
- 22:41He was facing a possible twenty year prison sentence. The
- 22:44man that Shaver shot in the face was a patron
- 22:46of Papa Joe's Texas Saloon and Lorena, Texas named Billy
- 22:50Bryant Coker. Coker was wounded and hospitalized, but was described
- 22:54as talking and alert afterwards. During Shaver's trial in twenty ten,
- 22:59one of his friends, Deval, showed up at court and
- 23:01advocated on his behalf. Deval explained to the jury that
- 23:05Shaver was a good man and had good character. He
- 23:08said under oath that Shaver would not have acted like
- 23:10this had he not felt his life was in jeopardy.
- 23:13It's important to note that Duval did not cover any
- 23:15of Shaver's legal fees, nor did he pull any strings
- 23:18that he might have had from his decades of fame.
- 23:21He just said what he felt in front of a jury.
- 23:24His statements might have made all the difference. Shaver was
- 23:26laid acquitted of aggravated assault charges in April twenty ten,
- 23:31avoiding what could have easily been twenty years or the
- 23:33rest of his life behind bars. Another big name friend,
- 23:37Willie Nelson, was photographed with Shaver outside the courthouse after
- 23:41Shaver received his not guiltily verdict. Deval's careers legendary, of course,
- 23:45and in country music, so is Shaver's. A Taste of
- 23:49Country spoke with country singer Paul Coffin on Taste of
- 23:52Country Nights, and he said, I thought Shaver was the
- 23:55pinnacle of outlaw country. I mean the guy got shot
- 23:58a guy in the face and he got away with it.
- 24:00The legendary actor Devall died at the age of ninety
- 24:03five on February fifteenth. His death was a peaceful one
- 24:06at his home in Middleburg, Virginia, according to his statement
- 24:09from his wife, Luciana. Next Hank Williams Junior announces new
- 24:15summer twenty twenty six tour. Hank Williams Junior is nearly
- 24:19tripled the number of tour dates on his small twenty
- 24:22twenty six calendar. This June and July, he'll play a
- 24:25run of outdoor shows alongside opening acts his fans should appreciate.
- 24:30Prior Tuesday's announcement, Williams had only four dates on his calendar,
- 24:33one in April, one in May, and two in September.
- 24:36Seven new tour stops were revealed for amphitheaters across Florida, Michigan, Maine,
- 24:41and beyond. Joe Nichols, Sammy Kershaw and Marshall Tucker Band
- 24:45will open select shows for Williams Junior this spring and summer.
- 24:49More shows are expected to be announced in the coming days, weeks,
- 24:51or months. Nichols is a longtime fan of Hank Juniors,
- 24:55and Kershaw and the MTB are contemporaries. Each of these
- 24:58seven new dates promises thei of traditional country, blues and
- 25:02rock and roll. The next show on Hank Junior's calendar
- 25:05is in April date in Kanjuendo and in Lafayette, Louisiana.
- 25:09Asleep at the Wheel will join him for a one
- 25:11off date before arrest and the bulk of his touring schedule. Williams,
- 25:15of course, is seventy six now, but remains active on
- 25:17the road and in the studio. Wife Brandy keeps a
- 25:20pretty low profile. The forty something has been married to
- 25:23the Country Hall of Famer since twenty twenty three. Next
- 25:27is a list from Tastes of Country the twenty six
- 25:30best country love songs of the last twenty six years.
- 25:33Here in twenty twenty six, country fans in need of
- 25:36something modern and romantic this Valentine's Day month will find
- 25:40their song on this list of country music's best love
- 25:43songs from the last twenty six years. According to Taste
- 25:46of Country, they focused on hitch release between two thousand
- 25:49and twenty twenty six and try to keep it one
- 25:52song per artist. It's just really hard not to feature
- 25:54two songs from a man who is arguably the best
- 25:56artist songwriter of the two thousands Chart places and awards
- 26:00were considered for this list, but more important was the
- 26:02song's longevity and resilience over time. Songs that peaked on
- 26:06Billboard airplay charts after January first, two thousand were considered.
- 26:10The newest song is a Cody Johnson ballad that hit
- 26:13number one in twenty twenty four. The contemporary country songs
- 26:17selected will appeal to young lovers and couples married for
- 26:19twenty years or longer. Tender confessions, raw arrangements, and timeless
- 26:23duets are featured. While most of the songs featured here
- 26:27hit number one, a few didn't get that far. Most
- 26:30notable is Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton, which was never
- 26:33released as a radio single, yet still smashed thresholds needed
- 26:36to go multi platinum. Over All, the two thousands have
- 26:39been great for country music lovers. Anyone looking for something
- 26:42romantic on a date night or something more enduring will
- 26:45discover or rediscover a beautiful sentiment number twenty six. As
- 26:50Tastes of Country, Dirk s Bentley's Come a Little Closer
- 26:53Number twenty five, Brett Young In case you didn't know,
- 26:58Brad Paisley's Little Moments is number twenty four, says Taste
- 27:01of Country. Thompson Square Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?
- 27:06Comes in at number twenty three. Faith Hill with Breathe
- 27:09for number twenty two, Blake Shelton's God Gave Me You
- 27:14comes in at number twenty one, says Taste of Country.
- 27:17Luke Combs Better Together is number twenty, Number nineteen, Taylor
- 27:22Swift's Love Story Number eighteen, Clint Black When I Said
- 27:26I Do Number seventeen. Cody Johnson, The Painter Your Man
- 27:31from Josh Turner lands at number sixteen. Number fifteen belongs
- 27:36to Keith urban Mark Making Memories of Us. The Chicks.
- 27:41Cowboy Take Me Away is number fourteen. James Otto Just
- 27:45Got Started Loving You comes in at number thirteen. Number twelve.
- 27:49Tim McGraw featuring Faith Hill, I Need You, Number eleven.
- 27:54Billy Currington Must be doing something right now. The top ten.
- 27:59Rascal Flats Bless the Broken Road, We're Doing Romantic. The
- 28:03top twenty six romantic songs of twenty six according to
- 28:06Taste of Country. Number nine Kip Moore, Hey Pretty Girl,
- 28:10Jason Aldean featuring Kelly Clarkson Don't You Want to Stay?
- 28:13At number eight, Number seven, Jordan Davis Next Thing You Know?
- 28:18Number six, Brad Paisley, She's Everything, Lone Star, Amazed, number five,
- 28:23Dan and Shay Speechless Number four, Chris Stapleton's Tennessee Whiskey
- 28:27Number three, Number two belongs to Thomas rhtt Die A
- 28:31Happy Man and the top love song Alan Jackson Remember
- 28:34When at number one. This concludes the reading of Country
- 28:38Weekly for this week. If you have any comments or
- 28:40suggestions about our program, please call us at eight five
- 28:43nine four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for
- 28:47joining me and on behalf of everyone here at RADIOI.
- 28:50This is Ken Dawkins, wishing you a great day.