Happy Birthday, Johnny Cash

by Jim Poulton

I can still remember when I first heard Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. My sister and I were riding in the back seat of our family’s Ford Fairlane. Ring of Fire came on the radio – we were listening to KNAK – and by the end of the song, all four of us were trying to sing along with the chorus. My dad had a barrel-chest kind of voice – a little like Cash’s – and he was the only one who could get the deep notes of ‘and it burns, burns, burns.’ It is one of those memories that just stay lodged in your brain.

Yesterday was Johnny Cash’s birthday. He would have been 79. Although he passed away in 2003, Cash has continued to be one of the most influential country singers in history. Ring of Fire, I Walk the Line, Folsom Prison Blues … it’s easy to see why.

Happy Birthday, Johnny Cash, wherever you are.

Texas Country

by Jim Meyer

My best source for "Texas Country" is a radio station in Fort Worth, KFWR. I stream them on the net.

This station plays music by Texas bands ONLY -- no Nashville "Top 40," as they derisively refer to it. They're such purists that they won't even play George Strait (too mainstream, I guess).  

Texas music has a harder edge than does the mass-market stuff. The bass, drums and guitars stand out more in the mix so many of the songs have a rock sound.

But the important thing is that this music sounds AUTHENTIC, like good country music always should. 

Over the next few months, I'll showcase some of my favorite Texas bands -- including Cross Canadian Ragweed, 1100 Springs, the Eli Young Band, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, the Mother Truckers, the Randy Rogers Band -- and solo artists like Robert Earl Keen, Wade Bowen, Hayes Carl, James McMurtry, Pat Green and Miranda Lambert.

Photos courtesy of James McMurtry, Miranda Lambert, and Cross Canadian Ragweed

If you're not familiar with this music, I invite you to visit KFWR (95.9 FM: The Ranch) and check out their live stream.

Disclaimer: no, the folks at this station -- or the bands -- aren't paying me so much as a dime to plug them on the web.  Staying true to the My-West credo,  “Thanks until better paid.”

The Top 20 Country Love Songs of All Time - Number 1!

by Jim Poulton

Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You

Dolly Parton has always been a consumate performer, but it may come as a surprise to some that she is also an accomplished songwriter. She wrote a remarkable number of hits, including Jolene, Nine to Five, All I Can Do, and of course, I Will Always Love You, our choice for the Number 1 Country Love Song of All Time.

Released in 1974 as a followup single to Jolene, I Will Always Love You reached #1 in both the U.S. and Canadian Country charts. Parton re-recorded the song in 1982 for the film version of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. That version also reached number one, marking the first time in history that the same song reached number one two times when recorded by the same artist. The song, however, wasn’t done yet.

Whitney Houston's 1992 version of the song was an instant phenomenon (it sold more than 600,000 copies in one week, breaking all records to date), and is one of fewer than thirty all-time singles to have sold 12 million (or more) copies worldwide. And in 1995, Parton recorded it again, in a duet with Vince Gill. This time the song peaked at number 15. In 2004, Country Music Television rated I Will Always Love You #1 of their 100 Greatest Country Love Songs.

We agree with CMT: I Will Always Love You is as close to a perfect Country Love Song as you can get.

Visit Parton's website here. Purchase I Will Always Love You on iTunes or Amazon MP3.

The Top 20 Country Love Songs of All Time - Number 2

by Jim Poulton

Patsy Cline - Crazy

Photo courtesy of AVClub

Possibly the best known of all of Cline’s hits, Crazy was written by Willie Nelson in 1961, while he was still a young musician. Prior to that time, Nelson had written some songs for other performers, but he still hadn’t recorded a breakout hit of his own. When Cline released her version, it followed on a string of her prior hits (especially I Fall To Pieces), and its success helped to launch Nelson as both a performer and songwriter. While Crazy only made it to #2 on the Country Singles chart in 1962, it also crossed over to the US Hot 100 list (#9) and the Adult Contemporary list (#2), making it her biggest pop hit. Crazy has since been recognized as one of the great Country love songs. It was named #85 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Cline originally disliked Crazy, claiming it was too difficult to sing. Her first demo of the song was a disaster, and she deliberated for several days about whether she would even complete it. When she came back into the studio, she recorded the vocal tracks we now know with no splices or dubs. Listening to this version, it’s difficult to imagine that Cline found the song difficult. Her smooth and easy approach to the melody is best heard in the length and strength of her sustains (listen, for example, to how long she holds the last ‘you'). As we’ve said before, Cline was a genius, and this song, maybe more than any other, proves it.

Here’s Willie Nelson’s original version. Notice the photograph on the album cover in the video – we’ve come to know a different Willie Nelson, haven’t we?

The Top 20 Country Love Songs of All Time - Number 3

Wilie Nelson - Always On My Mind

Photo courtesy of Bob Jagendorf

Maybe it’s the wild life he’s lived, but there is a tone in Willie Nelson’s voice that makes him sound like a thousand year old soul who’s seen everything in the world and has the wisdom to show for it. His isn’t the strongest voice we’ve ever heard, and when he hits the higher notes his timbre gets too thin, but Nelson is one-of-a-kind in the way he interprets a song.

Always On My Mind was originally recorded by Brenda Lee, and subsequently recorded by an unlikely diversity of performers, including Elvis Presley, B.B. King and the Pet Shop Boys. The most successful version, by far, was Nelson's. When he recorded the song in 1982, it hit number one in Country Singles and number 2 on Adult Contemporary Tracks, making it one of the rare crossovers. Nelson's version was voted Single of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1982.

Here's Brenda Lee's version:

Visit Nelson's website here. Purchase Always On My Mind at iTunes and Amazon MP3.