by Julian Spivey
Two albums that are going to be immensely popular among non-mainstream country music fans were released on Friday, August 28: Colter Wall’s third studio album Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punch Songs and Zephaniah OHora’s sophomore release Listening to the Music.  
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They are two albums that I have some issues with.

If you’re looking for a complete review of these albums you can find those elsewhere and some of the ones I’ve seen so far are truly glowing in their praise for both Wall and OHora. I’m not here to break these albums down track-by-track because my issues with each are more so with the actual artists than necessarily the songs they have recorded.

I like Colter Wall. I thought his self-titled debut in 2017 was pretty good and the track “Kate McCannon” from that album made this very website’s list of the 100 Best Americana and Country Songs of 2017 in the thirteenth position. I saw Wall in concert in Little Rock, Ark. that year and he put on a terrific show. I felt his debut showed signs of a great storyteller who would mix traditional country and folk music with more modern tales.

But since then his music, while still traditional and, honestly, sounding great sonically has seemed to be content with just remaining old-timey folk and Western music. His 2018 release Songs of the Plains was basically exactly what the title suggested and his newest release Western Swing & Waltzes is much of the same.

If that is who the 25-year old native of Saskatchewan, Canada is than that’s terrific, but how many 25 year olds only care about trail songs and old-timey Western tales?

I love traditional old country music and much of the reason why I listen to non-mainstream country acts is because of this. When you listen to mainstream country radio it’s like many of those artists have never heard a classic country song. Wall certainly has, but sometimes I feel like he’s trying completely to capture an older sound he’s so obviously entranced by that he doesn’t attempt to give us anything modern.

He clearly has a fan-base that loves his old-timey style and I would never tell an artist what they should and shouldn’t record, but I don’t find much of anything on his last two releases that simply doesn’t bore me. I felt similar two years ago when Joshua Hedley released his critically-acclaimed debut Mr. Jukebox, which had a couple of songs I really liked in the title track and “Weird Thought Thinker,” but I felt tried too hard to be the countrypolitan of 1960s Nashville without making much of an effort to live in the modern world.

Not too long ago I remarked on social media that I felt Wall could take a few pointers from his fellow Canadian country singer-songwriter Corb Lund, who has managed to remain traditional while also writing songs that sound like they were written this century. Again, that’s my wish for Wall, not a command to be someone he isn’t if he’s truly this dust-covered plainsman he sings like. 

My biggest issue of the two albums released on Friday is Zephaniah OHora’s Listening to the Music. It certainly seems OHora has been listening to one certain artist’s music in general and that artist is the legendary Merle Haggard.
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Now Haggard has certainly inspired just about every modern artist I like to listen to in some way or another, but OHora seems to be a bit more than inspired by “The Hag.” He seems to want to be him or potentially even think he has become him.

The very instant I heard the first release from OHora’s album “All American Singer” in early June I felt I was listening to a Merle Haggard song, specifically from his uber-patriotic era of the late ’60s when he was recording “Okie From Muskogee” and “The Fightin’ Side of Me.” Maybe it’s because Haggard is one of my top three all-time favorite artists, but it quickly began to rub me the wrong way.

Now if you don’t care about certain things and just want to hear something that sounds like it could’ve been recorded by Haggard in his heyday you damn well might find you love OHora’s album. It might even be your favorite release of the year.

But when I hear stuff like “Living Too Long,” which sounds like a blatant attempt at being “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” I just can’t believe what I’m listening to. It doesn’t seem authentic and I freakin’ hate hearing about authenticity in music because it usually comes from some stodgy jerks like the one’s who bitch about Midland for the way they dress. I realize to many reading this I’m going to be thought of as the stodgy jerk, but I can’t get over the fact that OHora seems like he’d be a good Haggard impersonator at one of those Legends shows in Branson or Vegas.

It just seems manufactured intentionally and the thing that makes it seem more so this way is that OHora didn’t really sound like this to me on his 2017 debut This Highway, which still sounded like throwback country music, but not like a carbon copy of Haggard’s discography and OHora’s voice didn’t quite have that Haggardness to it that it does here.

Most artists have their own little unique qualities in the way their voices and even music sounds that makes them stand apart from everybody else. Believe it or not I can’t think of two artists who I’ve ever thought, “man, this sounds like this other guy” or that I’ve ever confused for being another artist. I just don’t hear that uniqueness on OHora’s Listening to the Music. I hear Haggard, but with the fact that the songwriting isn’t quite as good as Haggard’s. I can see why that would actually make many listeners dying to hear something like Haggard today happy, but for me I’d just rather throw on an actual Haggard record.

by Julian Spivey
Last week songwriter Dean Dillon was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in the Songwriter category, which rotates yearly with the Non-Performer and Recording/Touring Musician categories. Dillon has been one of country music best and most acclaimed songwriters since the early ‘80s and his music has become synonymous with Country Music Hall of Fame performer George Strait, who has cut many of Dillon’s songs. Strait has cut 55 songs written or co-written by Dillon and 11 of those reached No. 1 on the country charts. Dillon has also written classics for the likes of George Jones, Vern Gosdin and Keith Whitley.

Here are Dean Dillon’s 10 greatest songs … 

10. Nobody in His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her
“Nobody in His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her,” a solo write for Dean Dillon, was first released as a single by Dillon himself in 1980 and proved to be the most successful single he’d release as a recording musician when it went to No. 25 on the country chart. The heartbreaking ballad of a man who foolishly broke up with his girlfriend only to later regret it was the perfect song for George Strait’s suave crooner era in the mid-‘80s when he was recording stuff like this, “It Ain’t Cool to Be Crazy About You” and “The Chair” (all written or co-written by Dillon). Strait would take “Nobody in His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her” to No. 1 in 1986. The song contains one of Dillon’s best lines in “even my heart was smart enough to stay behind.” 

9. A Lot of Things Different
I remembered thinking almost 20 years ago now and still to this day whenever I hear it that “A Lot of Things Different,” written by Dean Dillon and fellow Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter Bill Anderson, should’ve been a bigger hit for Kenny Chesney. The nostalgic song about a man wishing he had made a lot of different decisions in his life did go all the way to no. 6 on the country singles chart for Chesney in 2002, but it doesn’t seem its had lasting power or will be remembered as one of his “greatest hits,” despite being one of the best he’s ever recorded. 

8. I’ve Come to Expect It from You
“I’ve Come to Expect It from You,” written by Dean Dillon and Buddy Cannon, is one of George Strait’s dozens upon dozens of no. 1s. The song spent five weeks on top of the country singles chart at the end of 1990 and beginning of 1991. It’s a unique take on a breakup song in which the narrator isn’t even surprised his woman has walked out on him, because he’s come to expect that kind of thing from her. 

7. Miami, My Amy
With a title like “Miami, My Amy” and the key lyric being, “Miami, My Amy loves me after all,” everything was ripe for this song written by Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran and Royce Porter, and recorded by Keith Whitley to be a stinker. Maybe it has much to do with Whitley’s perfect country music vocal, but the tale of a man who finds a love in Miami only to have to go back to L.A. (similar to “Marina del Rey” also co-written by Dillon) just works. I’ll still hear the track frequently on my local ‘80s, ‘90s and early ‘00s country radio station, but surprisingly it wasn’t even a top-10, topping out at No. 14 in 1986. 

6. Unwound 
As mentioned at the top Dean Dillon has written an incredibly 55 songs recorded by the legendary George Strait and it’s a musical relationship that started at the very beginning of Strait’s hall of fame career. Dillon and Frank Dycus wrote the very first single ever released in Strait’s career in 1981’s “Unwound,” which set the man often called “King George” on a multiple decade’s long spree as country music’s biggest and best hitmaker. “Unwound” is an all-time great country music drinking song with the narrator going out on the town for a drink or many after being kicked out of the house by his woman when she catches him messing around. 

5. Set ‘em Up Joe
“Set ‘em Up Joe,” written by Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran, Buddy Cannon and Vern Gosdin, and performed by the golden voiced Gosdin is both one of the greatest country music drinking songs of all-time, as well as one of the genre’s greatest tributes. The track is a tribute to the legendary Ernest Tubb, one of country music’s first superstars, with the song’s narrator sitting at a bar drinking beer and filling the jukebox with quarters to play “Walking the Floor Over You” all night long while forgetting an ex. Gosdin took the song to No. 1 in 1988. 

4. Marina del Rey
“Marina del Rey,” co-written by Dean Dillon and Frank Dycus, is one of the most beautifully heartbreaking country songs ever written and recorded. Dillon and Dycus had written “Unwound,” the first ever single George Strait cut on his 1981 debut Strait Country, which went to No. 6 on the country chart (and was No. 6 on this list) and also collaborated on this track, which would be the second single off Strait’s sophomore release Strait from the Heart, which would also top out at No. 6 on the charts. “Marina del Rey” tells the tale of a man who met a woman while on vacation in Marina del Rey and the couple had the time of their life before having to go their separate ways and return to their normal lives in the real world. Strait’s vocal on the song is one of his career best. 

3. Ocean Front Property
After the success of “The Chair,” Dean Dillon and Hank Cochran would reunite (along with Royce Porter) to write another No. 1 hit for George Strait, “Ocean Front Property,” the first single off Strait’s 1987 album of the same name. In a clever twist on a leaving lover’s impact on the narrator he wants to tell her he won’t be bothered by her leaving, before admitting that’s just not true and likening it to the impossibility of buying ocean front property in the state of Arizona. “Ocean Front Property” is witty and catchy, a specialty of Dillon’s that has shown up a few times in songs he’s written cut by Strait. 

2. Tennessee Whiskey
The Dean Dillon song that’s arguably seen the most success and the most lives is “Tennessee Whiskey,” which he co-wrote with Linda Hargrove. The two decided to write a song together after meeting at Nashville’s famous Bluebird Café. The song was initially offered to George Strait, who turned it down (and I would assume regrets doing so), before first being cut by David Allan Coe on his 1981 album that shared its name with the track. Coe’s version wasn’t very successful, only topping at No. 77 on the country chart, but it caught the attention of the legendary George Jones who cut it on 1983’s Shine On and took it to No. 2 on the chart. Jones’ version would become a staple on classic country radio stations, but “Tennessee Whiskey” would see its most success when appearing on Chris Stapleton’s 2015 debut Traveller, especially after being performed as a duet with pop star Justin Timberlake on that CMA Awards that fall. That performance would propel “Tennessee Whiskey” to being a No. 1 hit nearly 35 years after its initially charting. 

1. The Chair
George Strait has been the king of country cool when it comes to smooth-sounding love songs and none are likely as suave as the pickup line: “well, excuse me, but I think you’ve got my chair.” It’s a line from 1985’s “The Chair” off Strait’s Something Special album that Dean Dillon co-wrote with another legendary Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter Hank Cochran. This Strait No. 1 classic came at the end of a long night songwriting binge between the writers when Dillon strummed his guitar and sang the previously mentioned line. Within 20 minutes “The Chair” was complete. 

by Julian Spivey
Country Music Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Dolly Parton made headlines on Thursday (August 13) when an interview she did with Billboard revealed her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Parton said: “Of course Black lives matter.  Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!”
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Many of Parton’s fan base celebrated the interview and praised Parton’s good Christian values, which she also spoke of in the interview.

“All these good Christian people that are supposed to be good Christian people, the last thing we’re supposed to do is judge one another.”

But some of Parton’s biggest fans weren’t too thrilled with the blonde superstar’s open-mindedness. 

Laverne Ramsey, of Harrison, Ark., had been a super fan of Parton’s since “she was just Porter Wagoner’s bitch singer in the ‘60s.” Ramsey, who has also been the moderator of a Dolly Parton fan club on Facebook for almost a decade, said: “I’m so disappointed to find out Dolly likes the Blacks. I’ve been to The Dixie Stampede in Branson a dozen times and on at least six of those occasions the South won. It’s just a shame she’d turn her back on her own kind.” 

When Ramsey was notified that Parton’s Branson tourist attraction had dropped ‘Dixie’ from its name a few years back and the Grammy-winner also supports same-sex marriage she fainted and had to be helped to her feet. 

“I didn’t even know she was part of that pedophile ring,” Ramsey added. 

Ramsey has since changed her Facebook fan club page to one for Ted Nugent, whom she said espouses true Christian values like supporting the President of the United States at all costs. 

by Tyler Glover
On July 23rd, Taylor Swift announced on social media that she would drop her eighth studio album in just 17 hours. This definitely sent Swifties and the world into a frenzy. Normally, Swift has promoted her upcoming albums for at least two to three months before finally dropping it. Swift opted this time for the "surprise" album. It was definitely a great surprise, producing one of her best (if not, the best) album of her career.
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Swift started out as a country artist and transitioned fully to pop with 1989. However, she has always experimented with her music. In her sixth studio album, reputation, there were even elements of hip-hop. With folklore, Swift is taking on the alternative/indie genre. folklore is more proof that Swift is not tied down to a certain genre of music and can excel at whatever she chooses to create. This is because she is proving herself to be one of the best songwriters of all time. Swift's ability to write captivating lyrics that tell relatable stories is why she has fans of all ages.

folklore is vastly different in terms of the stories Swift is telling. Her previous albums have always sparked interest about who the song was about from her personal life. However, since she started dating actor Joe Alwyn in 2016, she has wanted to keep that relationship private. This album is definitely setting a tone for how the rest of her career could go: by telling stories from different points of views and characters going through something she is not experiencing.

The most interesting point of views she investigates in this album is the rumored "Teenage Love Triangle." In the best song on the album, "Betty," Swift details the story of James, a 17-year boy, who is in love with Betty, but cheated on her with Inez. He wants to win Betty back after this mistake. There are three songs on the album from their three perspectives. "Betty" is from the perspective of James. "Cardigan" is rumored to be from Betty's point of view and "August" is rumored to be from Inez's point of view. Every song is gold. "Cardigan" just reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it is no surprise why. "August" is the song that most feels like it could have been on her last effort, Lover. The best of this trio is "Betty." "Betty" feels like a throwback to Swift’s country days but with a more grownup perspective.
Other standouts on the album are "Epiphany," which explores the similarities between soldiers and healthcare workers and how they get little sleep and experience things that many never will while also adding that they may only get 20 minutes to process it. There is also "Mirrorball," where Swift portrays herself as a mirrorball longing to entertain us even though the world could be ending. Finally, there is the most energetic song on the album, "Last Great American Dynasty," which gives a historical account of the previous owner of her Rhode Island mansion, Rebekah Harkness. Swift tells her story and then draws comparisons of the lives they are leading while living in that house. My favorite lyric is when she sings, "I had a marvelous time ruining everything."

The entire mood of folklore is very comforting. If you have heard Swift sing acoustic versions of her songs and adored them, this is the album for you. This is the perfect album to listen to while drinking a glass of wine, sitting on the porch and watching the sunset. Swift has given us country, pop and now an alternative album. In quite possibly the best album of her career, Swift shows she is not slowing down anytime soon and is up for reinvention even 16 years into her insanely successful career.