Gene Watson photo courtesy of Tamara Saviano.

In celebration of 50 years in country music, Gene Watson has re-recorded 25 of his classic hits to sound like the originals. Best of the Best: 25 Greatest Hits will be released February 14 on Gene’s own record label, Fourteen Carat Music, and features legendary steel guitarist Sonny Garish along with a band of players that re-created the original arrangements.

“I wanted these to sound as close to the originals as could be done,” Gene said. “I had to work so hard to capture them the same way I did them originally. All of these songs are in the same keys. I just thank the good Lord above that He’s let me keep my voice intact. In fact, I can probably hit the notes better now than I could back then. Whenever there was a question when I was re-recording these, we went back and listened to the original recording.”

The Watson family, made up of seven children, grew up moving from shack to shack as their father took logging and crop-picking jobs to make ends meet. Home became a converted school bus and Gene dropped out of school in ninth grade to help his family. He settled in Houston, where he developed a local following on the club circuit. Capitol Records picked up “Love in the Hot Afternoon” for distribution after hearing him perform and it became the first of Gene’s two-dozen Top 10 hits in early 1975.

“Seems like my career just kind of happened accidentally,” Gene says. “It was purely unintentional. Music was just a sideline. I was going to be playing and singing no matter what line of work I was going to do. I never did really have any high expectations out of the music business. Even today, I never know what to expect from one day to the next.”

Gene Watson is a survivor. He quit drinking in 1980 and quit smoking in 1990. He underwent surgery and survived colon cancer in 2000-01. Through it all, he continued to record one critically applauded collection after another. He was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame in 2002. Continue Reading

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Randy Travis photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.

According to NBCDFW.com, Randy Travis was arrested Monday morning in Sanger on a charge of suspicion of public intoxication.

Randy was spotted in front of the First Baptist Church in Sanger with an open bottle of wine, police said.

“A report of a suspicious vehicle was called in to Sanger police. Police go to investigate and find him smelling like alcohol and [he] had an open bottle of wine,” said Tom Reedy, with the Denton County Sheriff’s Department. Continue Reading

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Randy Travis photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.

Randy Travis is celebrating his 25th anniversary in country music with a new tour. The 25th Anniversary Celebration Tour kicks off February 10 in Grand Ronde, Oregon at Spirit Mountain Casino. He will stop in more than 20 cities, including Boise, Denver, and Fort Worth plus Calgary. More shows will be announced at a later date.

“I’m surprised at how fast the first 25 years have gone by,” Randy said. “It feels like only five. There’s no better feeling than being onstage and the connection with a live audience.”

To mark the beginning of his 25th anniversary, Randy released his Anniversary Celebration duets album, which houses a combination of his biggest hits such as “He Walked on Water” and “Forever and Ever, Amen” as well as new music. Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Kris Kristofferson, Carrie Underwood, George Jones, Zac Brown Band, Lorrie Morgan, Jamey Johnson and more are featured on the album. Continue Reading

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Gene Watson photo courtesy of Tamara Saviano.

To celebrate his 50th anniversary in country music, Gene Watson will release Best of the Best: 25 Greatest Hits on his own Fourteen Carat Music label on February 14. He has re-recorded 25 of his classic hits to sound like the originals. Sonny Garish, legendary steel-guitar player, returns for the recordings and is joined by a group of players that recreate the original arrangements.

“My first recording ever was on a little ‘ol independent label that was started up just for this recording session, Sun Valley Records,” Gene said. “Maybe I thought I could sell them at my shows or something. I wrote the record, ‘If It Was That Easy.’ It was not any good, but, boy, I thought that was something. I had my own record.”

In the music business, a major-label artist usually pays for their recording sessions though the label owns the recording. Gene’s classics are owned by four different corporations and so by re-recording them to sound like the originals on his own label, he now ‘owns’ them all himself.

“I wanted these to sound as close to the originals as could be done,” he said. “I had to work so hard to capture them the same way I did them originally. All of these songs are in the same keys. I just thank the good Lord above that He’s let me keep my voice intact. In fact, I can probably hit the notes better now than I could back then. Whenever there was a question when I was re-recording these, we went back and listened to the original recording.

Gene’s performances of hits such as “Fourteen Carat Mind,” “Love in the Hot Afternoon,” “Farewell Party,” and “Memories to Burn” have earned him the reputation as a ‘Singer’s Singer.’ Joe Nichols, Brad Paisley, Trace Adkins, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack and Randy Travis all count him as one of their idols. Continue Reading

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Randy Travis photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Randy Travis, Rodney Atkins, Ronnie Milsap, Ashton Shepherd and The Roys are among the country artists joining award-winning musician and musical director Randy Scruggs and an all-star string band to  bring Charles ‘Pa’ Ingalls’ old time fiddle music to life as part of a PBS special filmed at Middle Tennessee State University, reports The Daily News Journal. Dale Cockrell, director of MTSU’s Center for Popular Music and a scholar of the early American music seen in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little house on the Prairie book series, is coordinating all aspects of the special.

Pa’s Fiddle: America’s Music, will be broadcast during the 2012 June pledge-drive season on PBS stations throughout the country. A new CD, Pa’s Fiddle: American Fiddlers, featuring a portion of the 127 songs mentioned in the Little House books, will be released June 5 but is available as a pre-release special right now at www.laura-ingalls-wilder.com.

Dale Cockrell is the founder, owner and president of Pa’s Fiddle Recordings LLC, a record label dedicated to recording the music referenced in the book series. He worked with actor Dean Butler, who played Laura’s husband, Almanzo, in the “Little House” TV series to create the Pa’s Fiddle project. “I’ve been working on the ‘Pa’s Fiddle’ project for about 12 years now and sometimes it’s felt like we’ve been pushing that boulder up that hill every day,” he said. “Now we’re finally at the top and get to share this music with everyone.” Continue Reading

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Billboard.com has released their list of the Top Country Artists of 2011. Artists are ranked based on album sales, song downloads and airplay, touring revenue, Social 50 chart action, ringtone sales and streaming data provided by Nielsen BDS. Congratulations to Taylor Swift for being named the Top Country Artist of 2011! What do you think of this ranking? Who’d top YOUR Top 50 list? Leave us a comment below!

1. Taylor Swift
2. Jason Aldean
3. Lady Antebellum
4. Zac Brown Band
5. Blake Shelton
6. The Band Perry
7. Rascal Flatts
8. Kenny Chesney
9. Brad Paisley
10. Luke Bryan
11. Keith Urban
12. Miranda Lambert
13. Sugarland
14. Eric Church
15. Scotty McCreery
16. Toby Keith
17. Thompson Square
18. Chris Young
19. Billy Currington
20. Tim McGraw Continue Reading

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The last day of October is more than just an excuse to put on a funny costume. As it turns out, the date has been quite an important one for country music. Here’s a list of some notable events that happened on Halloween, courtesy of RolandNote.com, the ultimate country music database! For more country music and Halloween, check out our Halloween section with pumpkin carving templates, fright night memories from the stars and more!

Oct 31, 1912 – Dale Evans born in Uvalde, Texas. In December 1947, she marries Roy Rogers, with whom she stars on radio and TV. She also writes their classic closing theme “Happy Trails”

Oct 31, 1921—Malissa Monroe dies at the family home near Rosine, Kentucky. No one bothers to tell her son, 10-year-old Bill Monroe, that she’s dead until after she’s already been buried

Oct 31, 1931 – Lester Flatt marries Gladys Stacy at the courthouse in Cookeville, Tennessee

Oct 31, 1934 – At a Halloween party in Halifax, Hank Snow meets his future wife, Minnie Aalders

Oct 31, 1947 — Promoter Connie B. Gay books Eddy Arnold for the first-ever country show at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall. Also on the bill are comedians Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield

Oct 31, 1952 – Hank Williams checks into a Shreveport hospital with acute intoxication

Oct 31, 1954 – When Eddy Arnold plays Memphis’ Ellis Auditorium, a young Elvis Presley finds his way backstage. Presley meets Arnold and The Jordanaires, and spots–though he does not talk to–Colonel Tom Parker

Oct 31, 1960 – Elvis Presley records “Crying In The Chapel” at Nashville’s RCA Studio B. The single goes unreleased, however, for more than four years

Oct 31, 1964 – Darryl Worley born in Savannah, Tennessee. Noted for the strong traditional influence on his music, the lanky singer builds a solid career after his 2000 debut, striking a major chord for patriotism with his 2003 release “Have You Forgotten?”

Oct 31, 1966 – Decca releases Loretta Lynn‘s “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)”

Oct 31, 1974 – Emmylou Harris records “If I Could Only Win Your Love” and her first single, “Too Far Gone”

Oct 31, 1983 – Lee Greenwood tapes the syndicated “Solid Gold” in Los Angeles, then visits the home of MCA chairman Irving Azoff to present him a tape of “God Bless The U.S.A.”

Oct 31, 1987 – Dolly Parton opens a restaurant in Honolulu, the Dockside Plantation

Oct 31, 1991 – Randy Travis accepts a unique Halloween treat: a gold album for “High Lonesome”

Oct 31, 1993 – Actor River Phoenix dies of a drug overdose outside the Viper Room in Los Angeles. His final picture was “The Thing Called Love,” based on Nashville’s famed listening room, The Bluebird Café

Oct 31, 1995 – Bryan White, Derek George and John Tirro write “So Much For Pretending” on Halloween, distracted periodically by trick-or-treaters

Oct 31, 1998 – Lari White blows out the speakers when she sings the national anthem before the Miami Hurricanes’ football game against Boston College

Oct 31, 2000 – “I Hope You Dance” becomes Lee Ann Womack‘s second platinum album

Oct 31, 2005 – “Inside TV” lists the Top 10 TV witches of all-time, ranking Lisa Hartman Black at #9 for her portrayal of Samantha Stevens’ grown-up daughter in the late-’70s series “Tabitha”

Oct 31, 2006 – During a Tuesday edition of the Grand Ole Opry, Jeff Bates gets down on one knee at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to propose to Kelly Vaughn. She nods yes

Oct 31, 2007 – Taylor Swift goes trick-or-treating in Hendersonville, Tennessee, disguised as the hairy “Star Wars” character Chewbacca

Oct 31, 2010 – Trace Adkins performs for U.S. soldiers in Basra, Iraq, near the outset of a USO tour

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Carrie Underwood helps Randy Travis celebrate 25 years as a Grand Ole Opry member. Photo by Chris Hollo, courtesy of Schmidt Relations.

Legendary country icon Randy Travis recently released his new album, Anniversary Celebration, which features duets with country music’s hottest stars.  Beginning today, fans can log on to GAC’s Facebook page for the Randy Travis Duets App. Fans can record and share their duet with Randy himself with available sing-alongs from Anniversary Celebration duets: “Is It Still Over?”, “A Few Ole Country Boys” and “Forever and Ever, Amen”.  Try it out and record your duet here »

Our very own Nan Kelley, host of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, couldn’t resist the temptation to try it out.  Watch this clip and see what happened: Continue Reading

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Carrie Underwood helps Randy Travis celebrate 25 years as a Grand Ole Opry member. Photo by Chris Hollo, courtesy of Schmidt Relations.

The Grand Ole Opry_® presented by Humana_®  paid tribute to Randy Travis as he celebrated 25 years in country music and as an Opry member tonight on the Tuesday Night Opry. Randy was honored in song by fellow artists who appear with him on his newest CD, Anniversary Celebration.

“It’s amazing to me to be celebrating my 25^th anniversary in the music business on this stage because of the way I grew up and what I grew up listening to,” Randy said onstage.

5 Things You Don’t Know About Randy Travis >>

Randy’s portion of the show opened with the Opry member and John Anderson performing “Diggin’ Up Bones,” followed by “Is It Still Over,” a collaboration with Carrie Underwood.  Josh Turner joined Randy on Continue Reading

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Gene Watson photo courtesy of GeneWatsonMusic.com.

Gene Watson and his band and crew are fine after their bus nearly flipped over in route to a show in Sandstone, Minnesota. The bus’s GPS system had set them on a narrow gravel road to the venue and when the bus driver pulled over to let an oncoming truck pass, the road crumbled beneath them. The bus narrowly avoided falling into a boggy area and instead landed on its side and stayed that way. They were just eight miles from the venue when the accident happened.

Four tow trucks were called to the scene. The first three trucks were too small to pull the bus out, so a 50 Ton rotator truck was called in to haul the bus back into the road. Gene and his band, who climbed out of the bus through a window, were driven to the venue with no instruments and wearing their traveling clothes.

The show must go on, however, so Gene and his band played the first of two shows in their traveling outfits and borrowed an opening band’s instruments. Gene’s pedal steel player borrowed a pedal steel from 80 miles away that arrived just in time for the first show. Continue Reading

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