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September

September 27, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 15

SeptemberThere’s a certain sadness to the month of September. The first hints of fall feel like the beginning of the end, as summer warmth tuns to autumn chill. Perhaps that’s why there are so many great songs about this time of year, nearly all of them tinged with sadness.

For me, “September When it Comes” is the most beautiful example of this theme. The track was recorded by Rosanne Cash and Johnny Cash just months before he passed away. The song eerily foreshadowed his death, which would come to pass that very September:

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Country Music Firsts

August 24, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 40

pamtillisOur readers have clearly responded well to our Back to the Nineties features this month. (Fret not, there are more on the way.) Part of the reason is that so many of you, like myself and Leeann, first discovered country music in that decade.

This isn’t too surprising, as the nineties helped establish country music as a genre with widespread appeal. The suburbanization of once-rural America reached its apex, and at the same time, CMT deeply penetrated the cable market. For you newbies, the channel was 24-hour videos back then, with remarkably democratic video rotation.

A clip in heavy rotation would only be seen two more times a day than one in light rotation. This is the reason both Mutt Lange and Sean Penn discovered Shania Twain through her “What Made You Say That” clip, which was played extensively on the channel despite the song stalling at #55 at radio.

The New York country radio station back then would do a “Country Convert” feature every morning. A radio listener would call in and say what song converted them to country music. Newbies to country music back then had a religious zeal to them, and would work very hard trying to convince others to fall in love with the music.

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Lorrie Morgan Starter Kit

August 8, 2009 Kevin John Coyne 13

Lorrie MorganAmidst her generation of successful female country artists, Lorrie Morgan was the only one who was clearly from the tradition of heartbreak queen Tammy Wynette, with a healthy dose of Jeannie Seely in the mix. With her contemporaries far more shaped by the work of Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, Morgan was instrumental in keeping the sound of female country from the sixties still relevant in the nineties.

While Morgan never earned the critical acclaim or industry accolades of peers like Patty Loveless and Pam Tillis, she was immensely popular with country fans, able to sell gold with albums that radio largely ignored. She was the first female country artist to have her first three studio albums go platinum, with three additional albums going gold and a hits collection selling double platinum.

Many of Morgan’s best recordings were never sent to radio, and those interested in discovering her in depth should seek out her finest studio albums, Greater Need and Show Me How.

But her singles were pretty good too, with these being the most essential.

Ten Essential Tracks:

“Dear Me”
from the 1989 album Leave the Light On

This song broke through just as news of the death of Keith Whitley, Morgan’s husband, became known. She was unfairly accused of capitalizing on his death with this release, as people both misinterpreted the song’s meaning and apparently ignored the fact that it had gone to radio weeks before his death.

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Buyer’s Guide: Dolly Parton

December 30, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 17

Building a music collection used to be a far more difficult thing, a dogged hunt through record stores and mail order catalogs, hoping to find what you were looking for.   The advent of the internet

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Discussion: Legacy Recordings

December 27, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 2

Tonight, I turn over our discussion to one of our readers.    He suggested I write about this topic myself, but his suggestions were already far better than anything that I would have come up with.  

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Discussion: 21st Century Trio

November 30, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 24

One of the landmarks of Dolly Parton’s career was the Trio album, her platinum-selling collaboration with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.   It was one of the few country albums in history to receive a Grammy

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Kellie Pickler, Kellie Pickler

September 29, 2008 Guest Contributor 34

Kellie Pickler Kellie Pickler Kellie Pickler is at an important crossroads. On her self-titled second album, she attempts to build on what must be an unexpectedly successful stay in Nashville. As a finalist on American

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Discussion: All-Female Country Tour

September 16, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 44

This topic was suggested by reader “vp”, who figured that Country Universe would be a good place to discuss this quote from Carrie Underwood: Meanwhile, Underwood has plans. Maybe these plans will even include Faith

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