September 11, 2017 Issue 567
#1 Most Added! Thank You Country Radio! Remembering Don & Troy
The country music world took a hard blow Friday (9/8) with the passing of Country Music Hall of Famer Don Williams, followed all too quickly by news that Montgomery Gentry’s Troy Gentry died in a helicopter crash. The shock is perhaps best expressed in the experience of veteran artist manager John Dorris, who represented both at different times. “I was on the phone with Don’s son learning of his passing when John Michael Montgomery called in to tell me about Troy,” he told Country Aircheck Monday (9/11). Dorris and others who worked with Williams or Gentry share stories below illuminating just how big this loss is. Don Williams
Remembering Don Williams
Troy Gentry
Producer Garth Fundis: “Bob McDill had just finished writing ‘Good Ole Boys Like Me.’ I was blown away. I said, ‘Jiminy Crickets Bob, that’s like classic southern literature. Have you played that for Don?’ He mentioned they were going to pitch it to Kenny Rogers or somebody else that afternoon. I was heartbroken. A few months later I was at Don’s house. He said, ‘Man, I’ve got this one
All Day All Night: Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and friends prior to the Capitol group’s You Look Good Tour stop in Nashville Saturday (9/9). The trek continues in Europe beginning Oct. 1. Pictured (l-r) are Marilyn Shomby, Kelley, Cumulus’s John Shomby, Tessa Aly and Country Aircheck’s Chuck Aly.
Irma: The Unwelcome Tourist
More than 110 million people visited Florida last year, but this year’s Sunshine State count will include one big, unwelcome guest in Hurricane Irma. Radio pros across the peninsula and panhandle put in plenty of overtime. Here are their stories:
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