If a childhood home can build you, I think that maybe a song can write you. At least that's how I feel when I listen to Miranda Lambert's latest single, "The House That Built Me." When she sings these words about going back home, it sounds like the lyrics wrote her. Or maybe they just [...]

Two words: Ryan Bingham. I know for some of you, he was all the Americana rage Before The Oscar (B.T.O.), so maybe I'm a little late. But after Bingham won the Academy Award with T Bone Burnett for best original song for "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart, I started looking into his other songs [...]

Maybe more so than in any musical genre, love reigns supreme in country music. And if you look at the wide range of songs that love has inspired, it's clear that country music has the unique ability to cover the complete progression of a relationship. To begin with, there's the excitement and promise of young [...]

Last year I attempted to make a playlist encompassing George Jones' career in country music, but despite numerous compilations and box sets at my disposal, I couldn't track down his signature hits from the late 1960s and early 1970s when he recorded for the Musicor label. Later I learned that perpetual lawsuits have kept those [...]

This must be such a sad day for so many country fans in Oklahoma. A music festival they've known and most likely loved for the past seven years is taking a year off. Country Fever has called off their outdoor event held in Pryor (just north of Tulsa) for 2010, citing a challenging economy, shrinking [...]

Rascal Flatts' Joe Don Rooney and his wife, Tiffany Fallon, are expecting a baby in September. And if my calculations are correct, their first son, Jagger, will be a little over two years old when his new brother or sister is born. That is perfect. For all those "terrible twos" rants out there, I happen [...]

I always knew I loved Dierks Bentley's music. From the very first time I heard "What Was I Thinkin'," I was pretty much hooked. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was about his music that I was digging, I just knew I liked it. A couple tracks and a few concerts later, [...]

For celebrities, iPhone apps can be a blessing and a curse. They promise all kinds of up-to-the minute info right at your fingertips, but they are not without their flaws. Sometimes they are just slow to load. Other times they cost a few bucks for the exact same technology that you can get on the [...]

Growing up in the "Bagel Capital of the World," also known as Mattoon, Ill., the annual Bagelfest is a pretty big deal in my hometown. Not only is there a plethora of bagels and cream cheese, but the nightly entertainment is always country music. When I saw that 28 years ago this week, "Elvira" went [...]

Even though the building itself is fairly modest, a visit to the landmark Sun Studio in Memphis can be an overwhelming experience. After all, this is the place where an 18-year-old Elvis Presley asked a secretary if he could record a song for his mother's birthday. When our tour paused in the actual studio, our [...]