Monday, March 18, 2024

Not Inducted Into Country Music Hall of Fame (Updated 2024 Inductees)

The 2024 Country Hall inductees were announced today:  Toby Keith (Modern Era),  John Anderson (Veterans Era),  James Burton (Session/Touring Musician).

Voting process is described below: (credit: Saving Country Music)

The Country Music Hall of Fame inductees are selected through a committee process appointed by the Country Music Association (CMA). The selection process has been split up into three categories:

1) Modern Era – Eligible for induction 20 years after they first achieve “national prominence.” 2) Veterans Era – Eligible for induction 40 years after they first achieve “national prominence.” 3) Non-Performer, Songwriter, and Recording and/or Touring Musician active prior to 1980 – Rotates every 3 years. If there is a tie in voting in any category, two names can be selected, as we saw in 2021.

Below are a list of artists, session musicians, songwriters, producers, etc., that are eligible as of 2024.

Al Dexter

Asleep At The Wheel

Billy Joe Shaver
Blake Shelton
Bob Moore
Brad Paisley
Buddy Emmons
Buddy Killen
Carter Sisters
Charlie Rich
Chicks (Dixie Chicks)
Clint Black
Crystal Gayle
Curly Putnam
Dallas Frazier
Don Rich
Doug Sahm
Dwight Yoakam
Earl Thomas Conley
Eddie Rabbitt
Faith Hill
Freddy Fender
Garth Fundis
Gary Stewart
Gene Watson
Gram Parsons
Guy Clark
Hank Garland
Jeannie Seely
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jim Owens
Jimmy Capps
Jimmy Martin
John Hughey
Johnny Horton
Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Rodriguez
June Carter Cash
Keith Urban
Kenny Chesney
Larry Gatlin
Lesley Riddle
Linda Martell
Linda Ronstadt
Lloyd Green
Lorrie Morgan
Lynn Anderson
Maddox Brothers and Rose
Mark O'Connor
Martina McBride
Mickey Gilley
Miranda Lambert
Milton Brown
Paul Franklin
Ralph Mooney
Reggie Young
Rodney Crowell
Rosanne Cash
Shania Twain
Skeeter Davis
Stanley Brothers
Tim McGraw
Tony Brown
Townes Van Zandt
Travis Tritt
Trisha Yearwood
Vern Gosdin

For more on the Country Music Hall check out Future Country Legends

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Playlist for 3/16

Sarah Jarosz - Polaroid Lovers
Paranoid Style - Interrogator
Willi Carlisle - Critterland
James Talley - Bandits, Ballads and Blues
Laufey - Bewitched
Nicole Zuraitis - How Love Begins
Joan Baez: I Am A Noise (Documentary)

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Remembering My Mom 10 Years Later

  What I miss was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about writing a remembrance on the 10th anniversary of my Mom's passing.  But the list would be too long.  Still there's her home cooking (especially the German dishes),  those homemade German Christmas cookies, her laughter and just always being there when her family needed someone.  But thinking about it further I realized that these were all the things I missed about her.  What did my Mom want throughout the last years of her life?  And did I do enough for her?  Could I have been a better son? 

  Magdalena Lane was born on October 18th, 1929, in Munich, Germany.  She spent her teen years with the backdrop of World War II allied planes bombing Munich.  Her family took shelter when sirens warned of incoming planes. In 1958 she met my Dad, Thomas R. Lane.  He was in Munich on assignment as a member of the Army.  They were married on July 30, 1958.  It was a marriage that would last 49 years. Their retirement years were spent making numerous trips to Germany. My Mom was a proud Munchen lady. 

  But the good retirement life took a turn in 2007 when my Dad was diagnosed with esophagus cancer.  Which would eventually take his life in February 2008.  While my Mom had friends living close to her that she visited almost daily, those happened in daytime.  I believe the nights were the hardest thing for her to get through.  For decades she spent quiet evenings in the living room with my Dad.  Reading, watching TV.  Suddenly, that was gone.  Though we made it a weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) thing to have lunch together, she often appeared to be lonely. 

  A year before she died my Mom told me that she would sometimes drive to the beach by herself and just sit in the car parking lot, facing the beach, watching the world. I didn't think much of this at the time.  But I should have.  I realize now she was telling me how empty her life had become. We often take companionship for granted.  What happens when you have such a special bond with someone that nothing else is a substitute for that connection? My parents were inseparable.

  In the last years of her life the cruelty of cancer took its toll. She died on March 14th, 2014 at the age of 84. At her grave I always make sure to say I love her and I'm sorry if I ever let her down.  She is with my Dad at a Veterans cemetery. On the day she was laid to rest those solitary nights were gone forever.  







Tuesday, March 12, 2024

RIP Eric Carmen

  The Raspberries were my favorite power pop group.  But first, what is power pop?  Bill Holdship wrote this in a review of a 2005 reunion show "merging the Who's power chords with the Beach Boys' sweet melodies and vocal harmonies and delivering it all with a decidedly Beatlesque rhythm and feel".
I'd say that pretty much sums it up. So, no knock on other greats of the 70's like Badfinger, Cheap Trick or Big Star, but the Raspberries stuck out for me. But up until the very early 80's I'd only heard two of their songs: 1972's "Go All The Way", their biggest hit and '74's "Overnight Sensation", their second biggest hit. Those got played more on Casey Kasem's AT40 the most and that was my format of choice throughout the 70's.
It took Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide of 70's Albums book to hook me for life on the Raspberries. His review of their 1976 Greatest Hits album plus their 1974 album, Starting Over, both received a grade of A-. I had to seek them out. And what a revelation. Hooks, melodies, harmonies all squashed together in a sound that was missing from Top 40 radio.
Eric Carmen wrote all of the Raspberries biggest hits. He had a knack as Bill Holdship's quote says of finding the right mix of The Who/Beach Boys/Beatles hookiest parts and adding some early 70's sheen. From 72-74 the Raspberries knocked out four concise slices of perfect power pop. Records that were mostly overlooked at the time but hugely influential. Just ask Bruce Springsteen or Steven Van Zandt. Carmen wasn't the only part of the group. The rest of the band contributed solid songs too. My favorite being bassist Scott McCarl's "Rose Coloured Glasses".
But bigger success eluded the band. And Carmen went solo in 1975 releasing his self-titled debut album in later that year. It was a bigger success commercially than any album the Raspberries released. The first single, "All By Myself" sounding unlike anything the band released. A ballad using a classical piece. It went to #2 in the U.S., becoming a much covered standard.

Carmen's solo career didn't abandon his power pop roots. But the hits he had until the late 80's were mostly courting the MOR format. And oddly two of his best uptempo efforts, "That's Rock'N' Roll" (#3 1977) and "Hey Deanie" (#7 '77) weren't hits for Carmen but teen idol Shaun Cassidy. "Hungry Eyes", the nostalgic "Make Me Lose Control", which turned out to be his last hit in 1988. Carmen rarely recorded after the 80's ended. But he did stage some reunion concerts with the Raspberries in the early 00's.
The Raspberries were based on the nostalgic sounds of the 60's. And the sounds they invoked still sound fresh in 2024.

Recommended Recordings
The four studio albums the Raspberries released in the 70's
Raspberries Greatest
Eric Carmen - s/t (1975)
Essential Eric Carmen

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Playlist for 3/9

Green Day - Saviors
Brittney Spencer - My Stupid Life
Lizzie No - Halfsies
Sleater-Kinney - Little Rope
Now 89 - Various (U.S. Edition)
Cocteau Twins - Head Over Heels
Thomas Jefferson Kaye - First Grade
Mary Halvorson - Cloudward

Friday, March 01, 2024

Poll: February 1988 Songs

February 1988.  Two months away from getting married. Talk about your life changer. 

For this latest poll 37 songs were picked to vote on. Here are my rankings.  Listen to this countdown at popgoldradio.com


"Push It", Salt-N-Pepa : 1
"What Have I Done To Deserve This?", Pet Shop Boys (& Dusty Springfield) : 2
"Need You Tonight", INXS : 3
"Never Gonna Give You Up", Rick Astley : 4
"Father Figure", George Michael : 5
"Tunnel Of Love", Bruce Springsteen : 6
"I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man", Prince : 7
"I Want Her", Keith Sweat : 8
"Pump Up The Volume", M/A/R/R/S : 9
"Faith", George Michael : 10
"Hazy Shade Of Winter", Bangles : 11
"Everywhere", Fleetwood Mac : 12
"I Want To Be Your Man", Roger : 13
"Man In The Mirror", Michael Jackson : 14
"Shake Your Love", Debbie Gibson : 15
"I Found Someone", Cher : 16
"Don't Shed A Tear", Paul Carrack : 17
"The Way You Make Me Feel", Michael Jackson : 18
"Got My Mind Set On You", George Harrison : 19
"Love Overboard", Gladys Knight & the Pips : 20
"Tell It To My Heart", Taylor Dayne : 21
"Seasons Change", Expose : 22
"Hungry Eyes", Eric Carmen : 23
"She's Like The Wind", Patrick Swayze (featuring Wendy Fraser) : 24
"I Get Weak", Belinda Carlisle : 25
"Endless Summer Nights", Richard Marx : 26
"Is This Love", Whitesnake : 27
"Candle In The Wind (live in Australia)", Elton John : 28
"Can't Stay Away From You", Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine : 29
"Say You Will", Foreigner : 30
"I Live For Your Love", Natalie Cole : 31
"Could've Been", Tiffany : 32
"Just Like Paradise", David Lee Roth : 33
"So Emotional", Whitney Houston : 34
"Because Of You", Cover Girls : 35
"Out Of The Blue", Debbie Gibson : 36
"Pop Goes The World", Men Without Hats : 37

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Playlist for 2/27

T. L. Barrett - Like A Ship 
Jimmy Buffett - Living & Dying In 3/4 Time
Red Clay Strays - Moment of Truth
Larkin Poe - Blood Harmony
Oxford American Ballads Winter Music Issue #123 - Various 
Written In Their Soul: Stax Songwriter Demos - Various (Box Set)
Pushin' Too Hard American Garage Punk 64-67 - Various (Cherry Red Box Set)
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