The Music That Built Me, Volume 21: Pickin' On Nashville

All throughout this “Music That Built Me” series, I have talked about how different albums have influenced me at different points of my life and my career. This week, I take you back to an album that will always occupy a special place in my heart – Pickin’ On Nashville by The Kentucky Headhunters.

Though it was released in the fall of 1989, the full impact of this album wouldn’t be totally felt for me until 1990. That was the year that my brother from another mother – Randall, and I both got our Tennessee drivers permits and licenses.

I am not going to tell you that I can tell you what kind of engine my first car had. I’m not built that way. I can actually deflate a tire when I am trying to inflate one, but I can tell you that the Headhunters’ first tape(!) was among the first that ever was in my car deck – and for that matter, Randall’s. He might tell you Clarence Carter…..but he can stretch the truth from time to time.

My first car was an 88’ Sentra, and Randall’s was….well, I don’t know – other than the fact that it was from the 70s, it was red, and it was big…..LOL….I think it even occupied its’ own zip code, to be honest with you. But, riding in that car to Nashville and around town, as we would do – I can’t help but think of their high octane version of “Walk Softly.” These guys were old school musicians, but they weren’t doing it Bill Monroe’s way. They rocked it – and did so with hillbilly swagger. While I won’t say that Pickin’ On Nashville would be the best album of all time (but I wouldn’t argue too much about it), I would say that it was the most fun album I have ever heard – before or since.

And….why wouldn’t it have been? Besides “Walk Softly,” the guys also tipped the covers hat to “Skip A Rope,” as well as Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me.” The originals were just as solid, with the 50s sound of “Rock and Roll Angel” and “My Daddy Was A Milkman” being what I would call “Roll down the windows songs.”

It’s been twenty-six years since the album was released. Those cars are long gone. There are children….grandchildren (in Randall’s case)….divorces…..health scares, etc. But, whenever I hear that album, I turn fifteen and sixteen all over again.

In the fall of 2014, I was blessed to take a drive with my friend Ben Ewing to interview the Headhunters about that album and its’ unique place in Music City history. I will forever treasure that afternoon, as well as the friendships I have developed with the band themselves over the years. They look and sound like no one else, but their hearts are unparalleled when it comes to being legit.

I can’t guarantee that you will feel like a kid again, but join me on the October 21 edition of “Crazy Chucky’s Country Classic Corner,” which will shine the spotlight on Pickin’ On Nashville, brought to you by Tennessee Properties. While I can’t promise you a time machine trip, I can tell you that you’ll have a lot of fun!

The Music That Built Me, Volume 20 - A 'Heart In Armor'

Trisha Yearwood broke onto the Country Music scene in 1991 with the subtlety of an atomic bomb. That was the year that her debut single, “She’s In Love With The Boy,” became the first debut single by a female vocalist since 1964 (Connie Smith – “Once A Day”) to make it to number one on the Billboard Country Singles chart.

That sent Yearwood off to the races with a bang. The singer was one of the most admired and heralded singers of the early 1990s, and subsequent singles proved this – “The Woman Before Me,” and “Like We Never Had A Broken Heart” were huge ballad hits at radio, along with the feisty top-tapper “That’s What I Like About You.” Her self-titled debut album sold over a million copies and propelled her to the head of her class, when it came to being a new artist.

Then, there was album number two, which amazingly, took it up a notch!

Released in the summer of 1992, Hearts In Armor took the groundwork that Yearwood had applied to her career, and expanded it greatly. The ballads were even stronger, and the uptempo songs had a heavier tone to them that her voice seemed to handle very well. “Wrong Side Of Memphis,” at least to my ears, conjured up a little bit of Bobbie Gentry – while remaining very much true to 90s contemporary sounds. “You Don’t Have To Move That Mountain,” an overlooked gem from this album from the pen of the late Keith Whitley, also carried some of the Southern Gothic vibe, with its’ message of spiritualty.

There wasn’t a clunker on the album, but the two cuts that made Hearts In Armor all the more unforgettable to me were the breathtakingly beautiful ballad “Nearest Distant Shore,” on which Yearwood seduced each and every line with passion – as well as the heartbreaking story of teenage love gone wrong, “Walkaway Joe.” To this date, I don’t know if she has ever released a better produced single. Her vocals – along with those of Don Henley, who added harmonies, were spot on. But, Garth Fundis’ production helped to put this song in a league with Patsy and Tammy. It was…..and is still that good – as is Hearts In Armor some twenty-three years later!

Hearts In Armor will be the featured album of the week as part of “The Music That Built Me” series on Crazy Chucky’s Country Classic Corner on Wednesday, October 7 from 1-3pm on WNKX 96.7 FM in Centerville, TN. The show is brought to you by Tennessee Properties!

Happy Birthday, WSM!

Today was a special day for a lot of people that I respect and admire very much. If you were to tune into WSM 650 AM, you would have heard many voices that have graced that station over the years. The reason for the homecoming was the 90^th birthday of the station.

I can’t tell you the first time I listened to WSM. It has always been a part of my existence – even though my radio won’t pick it up now in my apartment! I remember listening to Charlie Douglas one night on the Music Country Radio Network – the nightly programming of the station in the 1980s – and he had Grandpa Jones and Barbara Mandrell on that night. I couldn’t tell you if they were live or if it was taped, but it left a mark. Then, one night when I was twelve, I won tickets from Mark Mabry to go see Hank Williams, Jr. play the Opry House for a TNN special. My brother Randall, my father, and I went to Nashville. We had to pick up the tickets from the station offices, located on McGavock Pike, and killed time before the show walking around the Opryland Hotel. I remember being captivated by the station’s studios in the Magnolia Lobby. That night I bought a Country Song Roundup with Johnny Cash on the cover – and the die was set from that moment on. While I didn’t know what I was going to do specifically, I wanted it to revolve around music and radio.

From that point on, WSM was an important part of my life. I shadowed Keith Bilbrey and Hairl Hensley for school projects in Junior High, and tried to win everything the station gave away. If you ask Keith, I probably did. But, there were others that left a mark…..Larry Black and Liz White in the mornings….Buddy Sadler and the “All That’s News” hour from 5-6pm each weekday. I didn’t know what the stock market meant – and still am rather clueless in that era…..but I knew what Cracker Barrel was trading at each afternoon! I was also blessed to be able to have memories of listening to Grant Turner on the Opry, as well.

As I started my career in radio in 1991, WSM was always the goal, kind of the gold standard. I wanted to work for those call letters more than anything….and still do, for that matter. I’ve since had success in a lot of different areas, but I wouldn’t mind for one week saying I was an employee at 2644 McGavock. (And, for a year, I was….sort of….more on that later!)

The station influenced me from a programming standpoint, as well. I became PD at WDKN in 1995, and one might rightfully say that I took a lot of inspiration (I could call it stealing, but I digress!) from the work of Kyle Cantrell, who was the Operations Manager there. I appreciated the way that he merged the present with the past – which isn’t an easy task at WSM……Over the years, I also became friends with several of the newer personalities there, such as Bill Cody and Eddie Stubbs. The station – and the music around it – mean so much to me, and has for thirty years.

In 1995, one of my sisters from another mister, Marcia Campbell, went to work for WDKN doing a weekly bluegrass show. A few years later, she was offered a job on the Interstate Radio Network – the 1990s equivalent of Music Country. When she was in the position of hiring talent for the network, I got the call one night coming home from a basketball game. She asked if I would be interested. I wouldn’t have been more so if she had offered me a date with Faith Hill. (Well….)

So, from January 1999 until January of 2000, I was on the air on the Interstate Radio Network at night on the weekends – although I did do quite a bit of fill in work. The overnight shift was different, but it remains one of the highlights of what I have done in my career. Of course, that meant I was on WSM. The late night callers ran the gamut – from some of the format’s biggest stars to lonely people looking for a voice to listen across America. I was grateful for the opportunity from her. In late 1999, WSM made the decision to originate its’ own programming at night again….so my last night on the “Air Castle of The South” was….January 1, 2000. Regardless of whatever I do in my career, nobody can take away the fact that I was the very first voice heard on the 650 channel during the new millennium. Marcia Campbell, you know I love you…..and appreciate you so much for that!

So, Happy Birthday to WSM Radio…..Here’s hoping for 90 more years, and if you still have my resume on file….lol….give me a call!