It wasn’t until the rise of Brooks & Dunn” in the 1990s that the Judds gave way being the most commercially successful duo in country music history. Formed by mother Naomi Judd and daughter Wynonna Judd enjoyed an astounding run of 14 number one singles from 1984 to 1989, ranking them as one of the most popular country acts of the '80s. Their music combined features of traditional country harmony singing, bluegrass, with a bit of rock in contemporary production. Moreover, Wynonna's powerful, and sexy lead vocals established her as one of the finest female country singers of her era.
The Judds' story is hard, from the moment that Naomi married in 1968 till she divorced in 1976 and decided to take her daughters to her state of origin, Kentucky, where for years she would live with no phone or TV trying to raise her two kids. Music helped pass the time, and Wynonna began playing the guitar and harmonizing with her mother, who was in the meantime studying to become a nurse. She renamed herself Naomi and brought the family back to the West Coast to finish her nursing degree. Wynonna's singing talent was by then readily apparent, and in 1979, the Judds moved to Nashville in hopes of making it in the music business.
Naomi and Wynonna made tapes of themselves on a cheap cassette recorder and sometimes sang on a local morning show. They caught their first big break through Naomi's nursing job: one of her patients happened to be the daughter of record producer Brent Maher, and that contact eventually led to an audition for RCA executives in early 1983. The Judds were signed on the spot. They would become full-fledged starts soon after, cranking out hit after hit. Opening today’s show we’ve listened to their standard “Rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain”, included in their second album from 1985, giving name to the album, which would give them 4 number one singles, included the one we’ve just listened to.
Naomi and Wynonna stopped recording when Naomi was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, from which she recovered after a long fight. She’s written some books about it and about her turbulent family life. Her other daughter, Ashley Judd, is best known for an ongoing acting career spanning more than two decades but she has increasingly become involved in global humanitarian efforts and political activism.
The Judds have recently inaugurated an interesting section in the Country Music hall of fame and museum in Nashville, Tenessee dedicated to their career in country music.
To say goodbye to this wonderful duo, we’ll listen to their first ever #1 from their album from 1984, “Why not me”, song of the same name. The Judds.
It comes to me that having the surname Williams must be difficult for any artist in country music, especially when it is linked to Hank Williams Sr and you happen to be the granddaughter of the great icon of country music.
We’ve listened to Holly Williams, daughter of Hank Williams Jr., singing next to the Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, in this wonderful hemorrage of talent called “Waiting on June”, included in Holly’s third album “The Highway”, from 2014. In this tune Holly's protagonist has loved one girl since he was ten. He tells their story as it moves from childhood to eternity. Williams offers their story as if it were hers. Her vocal is backed by acoustic guitar and talented Chris Coleman's lap steel; and Gwyneth Paltrow joins their voices on the chorus. Chris is Holly’s husband.
Williams has released four studio albums: The Ones We Never Knew in 2004, Here with Me in 2009, The Highway in 2013, and Mindful Passage in 2016. The Highway, this one in between country and americana music, was released on Williams' own label, Georgiana Records and reached number 146 on the Billboard 200.
when growing up Holly wasn't interested in music, and dreamed of a career in modeling. Hank Jr. and Holly's mother had separated when Holly was young, but in her teen years her father was taking his daughter to more of his shows. Perhaps that's why, at the age of 17, Holly finally tried playing one of the guitars in the house. Within a week she was writing songs.
Like every country musician, her story includes some interesting features which have in one way or another chiseled her lyrics. Like when she had a near-fatal car crash with her sister Hilary Williams, in 2006, and was badly injured so as to have to cancel a tour right when her career was taking off after the release of her debut album. Her sister was seriously injured, enduring 23 surgeries. Holly Williams' right arm and wrist were broken; she was unsure of when she would play again. She wrote "Without Jesus Here With Me" about her experience during the time of the car accident, song which would be included on her second record. Hilary Williams wrote a book called Sign of Life about that experience.
Working with Grammy-winning producer Charlie Peacock, Williams wrote or co-wrote everything in this album. We’ll say goodbye to Holly with the song that opens the album, “drinkin’”.
Traditional country at its best. Born and raised in the East Texas town of Golden, Kacey Musgraves began writing songs when she was just eight years old, not long after she picked up a mandolin. By 12, she knew how to play guitar and began to write her own songs, teaming with Alina Tatum as Texas Two Bits for a self-released album called Little Bit of Texas in 2000. Throughout her adolescence, she'd write, sing, and play, performing at local festivals on occasion and releasing a series of independent albums -- Movin' On (2002), Wanted: One Good Cowboy (2003), and Kacey Musgraves (2007) -- along the way.
Musgraves first got her start in the country music industry at the age of 18, when she recorded demos to make money.[17] Her mother would take her to local music festivals to sing western swing music and yodeling. Here is a taste of her talent yodeling with two wonderful tracks from her second album “Wanted: One Good Cowboy” from 2003. “When the Bloom is on the Sage”, and “Montana Medley”.
Extraordinarily talented musician we had the opportunity to interview back in 2007, right before appearing on the fifth season of the USA Network's singing competition Nashville Star that very same year, where she placed seventh.
She was discovered professionally in 2008 while living in Austin by producer Monte Robison for his independent record label, Triple Pop, where he recorded a couple of singles, recently re-launched for its 10th anniversary.
She later signed to Mercury Nashville in 2012 and released two critically acclaimed albums on the label, Same Trailer Different Park (2013) and Pageant Material (2015). Her first Christmas-themed album, A Very Kacey Christmas, was released in 2016, and Her third studio album, Golden Hour, was released early last year.
The sad story is that none of her later material can be aired here because her country talent is almost gone to Nashville’s new liking, even though one of the most important influences in Kacey’s career is the icon Loretta Lynn, whose music carrer spans more than 50 years.
To say goodbye to Kacey’s work we’ll go back to her first album with Mercury Nashville back in 2013, “Same Trailer Different Park”, to listen to “Merry Go Round”, song with reached #14 of the Hot Country songs and whose album make her win the album of the year for the ACM and CMT Awards, and we’ll go back in time to listen to Loretta Lynn’s “You ain’t woman enough to take my man” as Kacey’s favorite song when she was a little girl.
If there is one singer who’s influenced many women in country music, that was Loretta Lynn. She’s been the main source of inspiration to many ladies of western style from the 60s to well into the 2010s. One of these ladies who appeared early in the 90s is Chely Wright, who’s career in country music spans 12 years and who’s still touring today. She had her hey-days with the release of her first two albums, “Woman in the Moon” in 1994, when the Soccer World Cup was being held in the United States, and “Right in the Middle of It”, from 1996, where her honky tonk new traditionalist sound expanded to include a bit of cajun with accordion sound in her music.
Here’s Chely’s most famous song “He’s a good ole boy”, written by herself, with Weldon Myrick on the steel guitar.
A fresh young talent whose music is steeped in country music tradition, William Michael Morgan is a singer and songwriter who was too young to order a beer when he made his first steps toward Nashville stardom.
We’ve just listened to his first single to his new album “Vynil”, the third in his career, which will soon be released.
Morgan was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on May 13, 1993. His parents enjoyed classic country music, and by the time he was six, Morgan was a Marty Robbins fan, fascinated with a song he'd heard around the house. By the time he was nine, Morgan had his first guitar, and spent much of his free time teaching himself to play songs by Keith Whitley and Mark Chesnutt, sometimes checking out instructional videos online to learn fast. When Morgan was 12, inspired by seeing a Dierks Bentley concert, the youngster began playing out in public, and soon formed a band with local pickers -- most old enough to be his father -- that performed in his hometown on weekends. In 2006, 13-year-old Morgan and his band independently released an album, Always Country, and he worked part-time during the week to help finance his musical projects. Morgan was 16 when he started visiting Nashville, Tennessee on a regular basis for songwriting sessions, and at 18, Morgan moved to the Music City to follow his dream. At 19, Morgan had landed a publishing contract with Warner/Chappell Music as well as a recording deal with Warner Music Nashville. In September 2015, Morgan followed the path of his heroes when he was booked to make his first appearance on the Grand Ol' Opry. It took another year before Morgan's full-length debut, Vinyl, appeared in September of 2016. Just to finish this week’s podcast, we’ll listen to another song from his last album, this time the song is called “Brokenhearted”, and then we’ll listen to a couple of tracks from his debut album “Vynil”, called “Beer Drinker” and “Lonesomeville”, perfect to finish the program.
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