Crossroads

In March of 2005, Chris LeDoux passed away. In November that same year, his good friend Garth Brooks paid tribute to him. That year, the CMA Awards were being held in New York City and Garth performed the song Good Ride Cowboy in Times Square during the live telecast. I was fortunate enough to witness this amazing event. It was "more than a memory" shall we say, lol.. Garth was not doing many public performances at that time. He was retired from live performing in order to devote his time to being a full time dad to this three daughters in Oklahoma. So this live performance was creating a lot of anticipatory excitement. As usual, Garth didn't disappoint.A few days later, I could not get the experience out of my head, or my heart. So, I picked up my pen and began to write. This is what came out. The poem is called Crossroads and I hope it gives you some sense of what I felt that night, and also why Chris was such an important force to so many.


In the heart of my great city
At the crossroads of the world
Crowds have often gathered
As great moments have unfurled

They gathered by the thousands
To mark the end of war
Sixty years have past and yet
That crowd still seems to roar

And every New Year's Eve it seems
The crowd just grows and grows
To welcome in the brand new year
And the promise that it holds

So there's a rich tradition here
To gather in Times Square
When history is being made
And excitement's in the air

History, Tradition, Excitement
They're a cowboy's story too
So once again we gathered
To honor Chris LeDoux

He was a man of courage
Passion, honor and fun
He lived his life right on the edge
'Cause he knew he would get only one

He earned some golden buckles
For the way that he would ride
And then his writing showed us all
The poet there inside

His songs spoke of the cowboy life
And taught us all so well
That real heroes will never die
When their stories we do tell

And Oh! How he did tell them
In arenas and county fairs
He'd strap it on and we'd be gone
When he flew up in the air

His buddy Garth would watch and learn
And soon the whole world knew
That real cowboys still walked this Earth
And one was Chris LeDoux

Garth honored him in songs and shows
He never left a doubt
LeDoux was the true reason
That his concerts all sold out

He'd shout it from the rafters
And in countless interviews
"We stole our show, you need to know
From a guy named Chris LeDoux"

So when Chris' ride was over
There was just one thing to do
He brought us to the crossroads
To honor his buddy LeDoux

His image on that giant screen
Looked down upon us there
Who gathered in that magic spot
In the heart of old Times Square

And it felt so right that autumn night
For Garth to lead us all
"Just LeDoux it" we all sang
A fitting curtain call

It was as if they never left
The cowboy and his heir
Though death had claimed one
And the other's begun
To live life beyond all the glare

On one perfect night
With the moon shining bright
Two cowboys had one more good ride
In the heart of Times Square
With a crowd gathered there
Shouting "Good Ride, Cowboys, Good Ride!"

In the heart of New York City
At the crossroads of the world
Crowds have often gathered
As great moments have unfurled

Goin' Up The Country... more

More and more songs have been coming back to me, so I'm gonna share them with you...
as a reminder, these are songs from my tween/teen years that I heard on mainstream radio stations.. they are mostly from the late 60's through the 70's... the thing they all have in common is that they all contributed to my country conversion.. I never knew I loved country music until I learned that these songs ARE country songs! When my total conversion happened in the late 80's/ early 90's and I started hearing all THESE songs on country radio and I was like "THAT'S a country song??" I never knew....

• My Maria- B.J. Stevenson : before Brooks and Dunn's version, there was this fine one! When I first heard B and D's version, I thought, "I know that!" I had no idea it was country, or was it? Maybe it was a reverse cross over!
• Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On- Mel McDaniel : decades after I fell in love with this song I was sitting in the Grand Ole Opry and out he comes and sings this song and I about screamed my lungs out! I had NO idea! What a great surprise that was! Since then, I have seen him do this many times on the Opry stage and each time is a treat and brings a smile to my face and fond memories back to my brain, but nothing beats the first time I heard it live and realized it was a country song all along!
• Okie From Muskogee- Merle Haggard : I remember thinking what's an okie? where's Muskogee? is he a tree? Why don't they wear their hair long there? Youthful/Yankee ignorance! Coming from NYC the whole song was so far from what I believed in as a 13 year old, but I liked it anyway.. it wasn't until years later that I learned he wrote it as satire!
• I Can Help- Billy Swan : I wanted him to help with his 2 strong arms!
• Funny Face- Donna Fargo : what could give more encouragement to a teenager in her awkward phase than this song?
• Long Haired Country Boy- Charlie Daniels : in my alternate universe, I wanted to bring back someone like that and introduce him to my mom.. can you imagine? lol I think this song taught me the meaning of being a redneck (not that there's anything wrong with that!)
• Let Me Love You Tonight- Pure Prairie League : so smooth and easy! I loved that California country/rock sound
• Dixie Chicken- Little Feat : I wondered how one could use the terms dixie chicken and tennessee lamb as terms of endearment! I reasoned it must be that redneck thing again! I loved it when Garth re-cut it.
• Fishin' In The Dark- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band : I knew a euphimism when I heard it! very cool! Likewise, I was thrilled when Garth re-cut it.
• The End Of The World - Skeeter Davis : such angst!
• Hooked on A Feeling, I Just Can't Help Believing, Hey Won't You Play Another Done Somebody Wrong Song, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head- B.J. Thomas : I loved his voice.. I recently saw him on the RFD-TV show Country's Family Reunion..
• El Paso, My Woman My Woman My Wife- Marty Robbins : I see that El Paso came out in 1959, much before my radio days, so I guess I must have heard it as an "oldie" in my very first wave of consiousness from listening to AM radio in the mid 60's.
• Up On Cripple Creek, The Weight- The Band : classic
• The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down- Joan Baez : I was familiar with her version before The Band's. Either version is fantastic.
• Ok, I think that's it for now.. if I think of anything else, I'll post a part 3! Hope I've given you some new ideas for your i-Pods!

Going Up The Country, Baby Don't You Want To Go?

In a previous post I spoke of how my love of country music was formed by listening to 60's and 70's top 40 and album oriented rock (AOR) stations of the day. I never listened to country radio back then. In this post, I'd like to tell you about the songs, artists, and even whole albums that have influenced my love of country music to the point where I hardly listen to anything else. It is my hope that those of you who have never heard these artists, songs or albums will be inspired to seek them out and those who have will be inspired to go back and revisit them.

Songs

• Make The World Go Away - Eddy Arnold: That smooth voice and the lush arrangement just melted me.
• Green, Green Grass of Home: I knew the Tom Jones version.
• It's Only Make Believe - Conway Twitty: I know it's before my time, but I have many memories of hearing it from my terrace in the mid 60's. Couples would dance to it each afternoon in Brighton Beach Baths even though the song was more than 10 years old then. Great songs never age.
• Kiss An Angel Good Morning - Charley Pride: what a catchy chorus!
• Hey Good Lookin' - Hank Williams: This is before my time too, but I have fond memories of my dear Aunt Paulie (may she RIP) singing it to me as a child. I wonder how she learned it?
• Delta Dawn - I knew Helen Reddy's version before Tanya Tucker's.
• Stand By Your Man - Tammy Wynette: Who didn't know this song at the time?
• Rose Garden - Lynn Anderson: Important life lessons with a catchy tune learned in 3 minutes! Priceless!
• The Happiest Girl In The Whole USA - Donna Fargo: I wanted a skippity do-da day too!
• Harper Valley PTA - Jeannie C. Riley: adult content!
• Ode to Billy Joe - Bobbie Gentry: A whole story told around the supper table! (pass the biscuits, please)
• Help Me Make It Through The Night - I knew Sammi Smith's version before I had ever heard of Kris Kristofferson.: I wanted someone to take the ribbon from my hair too!
• Me And Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin: again, before I knew who Kris was. But then I found out! Freedom's just another word for 'nothin' left to lose' - heavy, man!
• Act Naturally - The Beatles: I didn't know who Buck Owens was, but I loved the song! There was hope for me to make it in the movies too!
• King of The Road - Roger Miller: Another staple on pop radio back then, it was just ingrained in your brain.
• Honey - Bobby Goldsboro: so sad!
• For The Good Times - Ray Price: TMI for such an impressionable age! Again, not knowing Kris K. wrote it...
• Little Green Apples - O.C. Smith: (this took some research!) How did he know that it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time?, that's what I wanted to know! Oh, I get it! He was being sarcastic! A major lesson in writing for this 5th grader!
• Let Your Love Flow - The Bellamy Brothers: Free love, man! (don't you think Big Kenny should re-cut this?)

Artists and their songs

• Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings - individually and together as The Highwaymen: too many songs to name, but do yourself a favor and give yourself a (re)education on the basics of Outlaw Country. If I could have ridden off into the sunset with them, I surely would have!
• Glen Campbell - Ahh, the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, now that was good TV right there! (and the Johnny Cash Show and Hee Haw as well. I learned a lot about music on those shows): By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Galveston, Wichita Lineman, Rhinestone Cowboy
• John Denver - I just loved him! Gone too soon... : Annie's Song, Take Me Home Country Roads, Rocky Mountain High, Thank God I'm A Country Boy, Leaving On A Jet Plane (I can't recall who's version I knew first.. his or Peter Paul and Mary's), Sunshine On My Shoulders
• Mac Davis - he was so cute!: Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me, I Believe In Music
• Melanie (Safka) - hippie dippy, but not psychodelic... I'm not sure if any of today's artists would cite her as an influence, but I think she qualifies as worthy of inclusion: Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma, Brand New Key, Lay Down/Candles In The Rain, Beautiful People, Peace Will Come
• Ray Charles - needs no explanation! : I Can't Stop Loving You, Georgia On My Mind
• Ray Stevens - I thought his songs were so funny and smart.. only later did I realize his connection to Shel Silverstein, the author of my favorite book, The Giving Tree. (it's all one big circle, isn't it?) Came to find out Shel also was a songwriter, go figure, lol! RIP, Shel. : Everything Is Beautiful, Guitarzan, The Streak
• Jerry Reed - I loved the humor and the general vibe of his stuff : When You're Hot You're Hot, Amos Moses, East Bound And Down
• Crystal Gayle - loved her and her hair!: Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue?, Talkin' In Your Sleep
• Kenny Rogers (with and without The First Edition) - I just loved him.. still do! : Something's Burning, I Just Dropped In To See What Condition Your Condition Was In, Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town, Lucille, The Gambler, Coward of the County, You Decorated My Life, Lady, Through The Years, She Believes In Me, We've Got Tonight (with Sheena Easton), Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer (with Kim Carnes) I could probably list his whole catalogue but I'm sticking with songs that I heard on the radio until the early 80's
• Allman Brothers - now we get into Southern Rock which AOR radio played a LOT of, thank God... almost made me ashamed to be a Yankee! I said ALMOST! LOL : Midnight Rider, Ramblin' Man, Sweet Melissa, Blue Sky
• Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See, Heard It In A Love Song
• Charlie Daniels Band - such fiddle playing! They didn't teach me to play the violin like that in school, darn it! :The Devil Went Down To Georgia, Long Haired Country Boy
• Lynard Skynard- the ultimate! When that plane went down, a little piece of us all died too : Sweet Home Alabama, Gimme 3 Steps, Free Bird, What's Your Name?
• Bob Dylan - his country sound.. in my opinion, his best stuff.. : everything from Nashville Skyline
• Country-Rock Artists and their songs/albums- these artists and songs/albums are what I remember and cherish most from my teenage years. They are still a big part of my life.:
• Linda Ronstadt- Albums: Don't Cry Now, Heart Like A Wheel, Prisoner In Disguise, Hasten Down The Wind
• Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Mr. Bojangles, Will The Circle Be Unbroken
• The Eagles: their 5 albums released from 1972-1976: The Eagles, Desperado, On The Border, One Of These Nights, and Hotel California
• It should be noted that many country/folk/rock groups influenced bands like The Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival, who I also listened to. Also, the lineup of many of those bands were quite incestuous.. members flitted from one band to another quite readily and frequently. These are some other bands and artists of the day who I would consider to have shaped my love of country music and who would, in my opinion, get airplay on country radio today if their songs were to be released now. I urge you to check them out, or revisit them:
• Buffalo Springfield
• Poco
• The Byrds
• Crosby, Stills and Nash (with and without Neil Young)
• New Riders of the Purple Sage
• The Flying Burrito Brothers
• Gram Parsons
• Emmylou Harris
• Jackson Browne
• and most especially, James Taylor.. although I know he is not from the California genre.. He holds such a special place in my heart that I will leave his contribution to my country enlightenment for another post. But I will say this.. nearly 30 years after first hearing him he was responsible for a very huge "ahh ha" moment in my musical evolution, and in fact, in my life...

I hope I have inspired you to look back into your own musical past. If you haven't visited that place in a while, I urge you to. It's highly worth the trip.

Back Where I Come From

You may be wondering how a Brooklyn girl came to love country music. I'm gonna try to explain. They say to know where you are and where you're going, you have to look back. That's where I'm going in this post.

It was the mid to late 60's when I first became aware, musically speaking. Back in those days, here in NYC there were 2 stations that teens and tweens listened to and they were both on the AM dial: WABC and WMCA. I was 10 when I got my first transistor radio which was the iPod of it's day. I took it everywhere except to school. In those days, things were simpler. Top 40 radio meant just that. All hits all the time. Those hits ran the gamut from rock to pop to jazz, instrumentals, standards and country. Thing is, at 10 I didn't make those distinctions and neither did any of the DJ's. All I knew was that I liked it or I didn't. And if I didn't, I switched to the other station or waited 3 minutes till it was over and something more pleasing hit my ears. It wasn't until many years later that I learned that most of my favorite songs from those formative years were country songs. Even as I grew into my teens in the early 70's, country continued to be a major influence, even though it was never defined as such on my new favorite stations, WOR-FM, WNEW-FM and WPLJ.

I have come to realize just how much those early "radio days" of mine have shaped my love of modern country music. Did I have any idea, listening to Aime on WNEW-FM that Vince Gill would be one of my favorite artists 2 decades later? I had no idea who was in Pure Prairie League back then. I just liked the song. When I discovered the connection, it was an "ahh haaa" moment; it made perfect sense. Discoveries like those go on and on. There were so many artists on rock and pop radio back then that I later discovered came from country roots. Likewise, there are a lot of artists who today are cited as influences by modern country artists who were never, or only marginally considered country artists back in the day. The point I'm trying to make is, in the end, good music is good music and that is always subjectively based on who's listening. What it's called shouldn't matter. Putting labels on it only serves to alienate potential listeners. To think of what I might have missed out on if my mom hadn't sung You Are My Sunshine to me as a child and taught me 16 Tons when I was a bit older is thought provoking. She learned those songs from the pop radio of her day.

From grade school through high school, I lived in a high rise apartment building on the 16th floor in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Our terrace looked out onto the beach, the Atlantic Ocean and Brighton Beach Baths... a beach club with 3 pools, tennis courts, playground, plenty of lounging areas, both concrete and sandy, and a small arena with a small stage.. Every summer afternoon at 5, there would be dancing there for the "old" people. They got all dressed up in their dancing clothes and shoes. And every day they would dance to the likes of Make The World Go Away, King Of The Road, and It's Only Make Believe. To this day, I can picture those couples dancing every time I hear one of those songs. They are part of my earliest musical memories. I can't imagine where I'd be today, musically speaking, without those early experiences.

They say it all begins with a song. For me, a kid from Brooklyn, I'm glad the songs that I began with were country songs.

A Tale Of Two Cities (part 2)

Things That NY Has That Nashville Needs (in no particular order)

A subway system

real diners that are open 24/7

real bagels (NY'ers know what I mean)

real pizza and real pizzarias (ditto)

kosher deli's

small, neighborhood bodegas

Bloomingdales

an outdoor amusement area a la Coney Island

a theater district

an aquarium

yellow cabs

culturally diverse neighborhoods

street vendors selling $25 "designer" handbags

fruit stores

sidewalks in the suburbs

fast service

women who know when not to wear tube tops and cut offs

men who know not to wear socks with sandals

less trucker hats

well groomed facial hair (on men!)

well-waxed women

take-out delivery service after 9pm

Tiffanys

falafel carts

dirty water dogs

Nathans

roach coaches

street names that stay the same from one end to the other

a professional baseball team

I reserve the right to add to this list at any time

A Tale of Two Cities

Things That Nashville Has That NY Needs (in no particular order)

A COUNTRY RADIO STATION
an outpost of The Bluebird Cafe
an outpost of The Listening Room
a Pancake Pantry
a Loveless Cafe
honkey tonks on lower Broadway (instead of brokerage houses)
a large lake like Percy Priest
people who smile at you on the street for no particular reason (Here, we call them crazy)
people who say "Bless your heart" instead of "F*** YOU, MF"
nice hotels for $60 a night on Priceline
crisp clean air
affordable housing
real front lawns
real back yards
more pick-up trucks
fan-friendly celebrities
antebellum mansions
the option of ordering sweet or unsweet tea (it's strictly add your own sweetener here)
free drink refills in every restaurant
Wal-Mart (though some would disagree)
more bar-b-que joints
meat and 3's
The Grand Ole Opry
Brown's Diner
Pei Wei
big green tractors
few people walking around with their pants on the ground
cowboy hat wearing people who don't get stared at
wide open spaces (excluding Central and Prospect Parks)
rolling green hills (ditto above)
something akin to Nashville Shores
a comfortable airport
more unpretentious people
more "real, live, women" if you know what I mean
more cheap parking
snow days for public schools with an inch on the ground (spoken like a true teacher)

I reserve the right to add to this list at any time!

The City Put the Country Back In Me

I love country music. I love the Grand Ole Opry. I love Nashville and all the songwriters who call it home. I love the state of Tennessee and it's beautiful greenery and majestic mountains. I love Dollywood. I love the country lifestyle. The thing is, I don't live in the country. I live in New York City. The city that has everything. The city that never sleeps. The city that hosted the biggest country music concert EVER by the biggest country music star, EVER! But there's one thing New York City doesn't have, and that's a country music radio station. Without that, country music fans who live in the New York City area lack a comprehensive source for country music, country news and country concert information. That is the mission of this blog. Sure, we can search the web for lots of country news, videos, songs, etc. What I want to bring to the table is a place where NEW YORKERS (and New Jerseyans)can go to find out what's going on right here in the NY/NJ area. It is my hope and belief that the Nashville community will partner up with us and feed us the information we need to bring it to the many fans I know are out there, hungry for ONE stop shopping for all things country in this great city. We each have our own Broadway, that's a good start!
In addition, I hope to share with you some of my thoughts on country related topics such as album and concert reviews, close encounters of the country kind, interesting places to visit in Nashville, etc. I hope you will stop by often. Let us know what you think. "Come on in child, it's sure good to know ya!"