Rugged Stuff

One of the latest losses suffered by classic country music is the death of Dan Seals. Yes, before you even start in on me, I do know that he started out on the soft rock/pop side of the fence as England Dan of England Dan and John Ford Coley. Whatever successes he had in ‘70s with that music, though, isn’t what I’m concerned with. It’s the ‘80s and early ‘90s that I’m talkin’ about, when he had more than 20 singles on the country charts, with 11 of them hitting No. 1. [more]

Rugged Stuff

John Rich's "Shuttin' Detroit Down" vs. Rodney Atkins' "It's America"

Yes, both are simplistic and cliched. But I like 'America' and hate 'Detroit' and here's why. [more]

Rugged Stuff

These songs get right up in your face and dare you to like them. The whole attitude of Bob Wire's music is that of "Here's what I have to say... you can approve of it, or not... 'cause I don't much give a rat, one way or the other."

In other words, his music is just like his blog.
[more]

Rugged Stuff

Let me set the scene for you- A cool Tucson evening, out in the foothills with the saguaro cactus silhouetted against the indigo sky and the lights of the city. A Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in hand as you’re settled down on a bale of straw near a kerosene space heater. And Nicholas Cage and his band decked out in authentic Western outfits as they play a few sets of good, good country music. [more]

The trivia question was, What Western family owned-and-operated business that started up in the late 1940s had the tag line, for a time, “Where one tree is cut, another is planted.” ?

All of the submissions guessed the same company- Weyerhaeuser, one of the largest timber companies in the world. [more]

Rugged Stuff

Toby Keith’s ’10 under 10’ list includes things like an official Toby Keith iPod Nano cover (“It's made of an ultra soft rubber material to protect your Nano, plus it wears the Official Toby Keith Fan Club logo and Toby Keith signature! Last few remaining at this closeout price!”), but Tracy Byrd’s list includes something I thought was worth calling a bit more attention to. [more]

Rugged Stuff

So I downloaded Bob Wire's "Go Butte!" last night, and it brought back memories that haven't surfaced in decades. And as I pulled out the mental drawer labeled 'Butte' and shuffled through it, I found that the city with the Richest Hill on Earth has played a larger part in my life than I had realized. [more]

Rugged Stuff

The Ruggs have been a Leanin’ Tree kind of family for a long, long time. And in addition to sending and receiving a truckload of Leanin’ Tree cards over the years, I have written in the past about the Leanin’ Tree Museum of Western Art. (In fact, watch this space for an updated article on ol’ Edward Trumble’s art collection.)

So when Twila Green, Leanin’ Tree's customer service manager, shot me an e-mail the other day about this season’s holiday cards, I thought I’d pass a little bit of the info on to y’all. [more]

Rugged Stuff

In my review of Lee Ann Womack's recently released album, Call Me Crazy, I refrained from including one of the tracks in my grading of the disc. “The Bees,” I said, brings to my mind imagery from Stephen King’s Misery. Keith Urban's contribution to the song notwithstanding, I have yet to hear from anyone disagreeing with my assessment (other than a friend at MCA/Mercury), so I'm going to take the silence as assent.

And lest you think that linking country music with America's premiere living storyteller- Stephen King- is too much of a stretch, I'm here to make the connection even stronger, via King's latest offering, Duma Key, now out in paperback. [more]

Rugged Stuff

Speaking of Lee Greenwood (and I did, last week) he’s had quite an honor tossed his way. He has been appointed to the National Council on the Arts. President Bush made the appointment, the Senate has confirmed the appointment, and Greenwood is scheduled to be sworn in on November 17. [more]