Honky Tonk Times | Issues 9 & 10 | December 2021/January 2022

ISSUES 9/10 — DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022

L A I C E SP E L B U DO !

E U S S I

NOEL McKAY

ARTICLES FROM YOUR FAVORITE DISC JOCKEYS, CALENDAR, INTERVIEWS WITH MARTY STUART, SOUTH TEXAS TWEEK, DALLAS BURROW and SARAH SHOOK, AND MORE!

$12.00

HOWDY Y’ALL I hope this finds you all well. I am sitting here at my desk watching the snowfall as I enjoy my evening Moon Pie and ponder how things are going and what the future holds.

It’s just after Thanksgiving, with Christmas barreling down on us as I write this. Things got held a bit for a few different reasons, so I’ll get you my Thanksgiving and my Christmas thoughts here in one.

As some of you may know, we are a very small team, and it only takes some life events to hold us up longer than we expect. We were going to have a digital Christmas special out, and due to some work-related events, both Molly (who does our layout, editing, and writing) and I were unable to pull that off. Honky Tonk Times is a passion project at the moment, so we need to be attentive to our full-time jobs that pay the bills! So the digital Christmas special got tabled for this year, and we are focusing on the physical copies that our subscribers have paid for.

You readers have proved to us time and time again that you like a tangible item. That warms my heart!

I am thankful for all the kind words and support you have shown.

At Honky Tonk Times, I feel as if we are a family. I am very thankful for those who have been a part of the magazine in one capacity or another. It is the great writers, artists, graphic designers, and editors that have made my dream of running an old-school publication come true. It’s hard to believe that from a passion for preserving history and reading old honky tonk magazines on my couch came Honky Tonk Times, the wonderful connections

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Taylor Austin, AKA Cousin Early, head-honcho of Honky Tonk Times, poses outside the festive Vermont statehouse just before Christmas 2021. and opportunities I’ve had.

I would also like to thank all of those who have believed in us and given this Vermont boy a chance to prove that Honky Tonk Times is worth supporting. All of the wonderful PR folks that work hard to promote their artists and keep me up to date on the new and upcoming things; thank you!

As part of the magazine, I have gotten the opportunity to cover different shows and festivals that I may not have been able to go to otherwise to provide coverage for.

I’d also like to thank the folks at Ernest Tubb Record Shop for carrying our publication in their store.

They are right in the heart of things on Broadway in Nashville. If you are

down there, pop in and say hello and pick up a copy of the magazine. You never know what might be unique about the copies you find there.

The last group I’ll mention here to be thankful for is pretty important here at Honky Tonk Times: the musicians that make the music that we all love so much. Without them, we would have nothing to write about, nothing that touches our hearts and souls so much, and nothing to want to share with the world. Music is life.

So to all of you who have ever picked up an instrument, a microphone, or put pen to paper, thank you! From the bottom of my honky tonk heart, I truly can’t thank you all enough.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and happy new year to you all.

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What’s inside?

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Noel McKay chats with Whiskey Preachin 4 | December Calendar 5 | Chicago Hustle with Lawrence Peters 8 | The Northern Report 6 | Finest Fashions Marty Stuart

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14 | It wasn’t God who made sober honky tonk angels

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January 2022 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

# BIRTHDAY *ANNIVERSARY OF PASSING FRIDAY

THURSDAY

SATURDAY *Hank Williams Sr., 1953 *Del Reeves, 2007 *Patti Paige, 2013

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#Harold Bradley, 1926 #Roger Miller, 1936 *Tex Ritter, 1974 *Little Jimmy Dickens, 2015

*Phil Everly, 2014

#Lorene Mann, 1937 #Patty Loveless, 1957 #Justin Townes Earle, 1982

#Sam Phillips, 1923 #Iris Dement, 1961

#Earl Scruggs, 1924

#Jack Greene, 1930

#Luther Perkins, 1928 #Elvis Presley, 1935 *Sara Carter, 1979

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#Roy Head, 1941 #Crystal Gayle, 1951

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10 #Steve Earle, 1955 *Don Harron, 2015

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#Johnny Russell, 1940

#Doug Kershaw, 1936

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#Goldie Hill, 1933 #Jody Payne, 1936 #Naomi Judd, 1946 #Robert Earl Keen, 1956

#Ronnie Milsap, 1943 *Dixie Hall, 2015

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11 #Hargus “Pig” Robbins, 1938 #Bobby Goldsboro, 1941

18 #Speedy West, 1924

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5 #Tex Ritter, 1905 #Ray Price, 1926 #William Lee Golden, 1939 #Ricky Van Shelton, 1952

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6 #Jenny Lou Carson, 1915 #Liz Anderson, 1927 *Bonnie Guitar, 2019

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#Billy Walker, 1929 #Billie Jo Spears, 1937

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#Ken Nelson, 1911 #Charlie Waller, 1935 #George Hamilton IV, 1937

#Slim Whitman, 1924

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#Claude Gray, 1932 #Dave Rowland, 1942 #Lucinda Williams, 1953 *Charlie Louvin, 2011

#Buddy Emmons, 1937 *Shirley Collie Nelson, 2010

#Barbi Benton, 1950 *Al Dexter, 1984

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#Mac Davis, 1942 *Maxine Brown, 2019

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The

Chicago Hustle with Lawrence Peters

Hello from Chi-Town!

Here’s what’s cookin’ in the cold, dark Windy City: The Chop Shop recently hosted a real cool bill with Sparkle Carcass, Cat Mullins and Them Boys, Tommy Goodroad and the Highway Birds, and Boy Howdy and the Electric Ranch Hands. It was an outstanding show, with sounds that stretched across the roots music spectrum.

I’d seen local greats Sparkle Carcass and Cat Mullins’ band before, but the other two acts were new to me.

Boy Howdy and his crew released their debut album the night of the show. The Wisconsin group is usually a six-piece, but they held their own that night playing a moody set as a guitar and steel duo.

Tommy Goodroad recently relocated to Chicago from Minnesota, presumably to live someplace warmer.

His band, including his older brother Nick (who sang the heck out of those harmonies), hiked all the way from Minnesota to play the show.

My good buddy Wild Earp, chief cook and bottle washer with the Free for Alls, was also in attendance at the event, and he remarked that Goodroad was a youngster with

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songwriting skills well beyond his years. I completely agree.

The debut album, “Swimming in the Clay,” was released this August and can be heard on all of the usual streaming platforms, including Bandcamp. Give it a spin and drop some coin if you like it.

A Chicagoland-based chain of bowling and bocce pubs called Pinstripes recently added live music to their list of diversions, and they’ve made the classy choice to include country and roots acts in their Wednesday and Thursday night rosters. Local faves The Hoyle Brothers, Hat Stretchers, Wandering Boys, and my band The Lawrence Peters Outfit are among the groups they’ve brought in. The shows are free, and they pay the bands well. Nice!

Speaking of ol’ Wild Earp & the Free for Alls, they made good on their threat to release a Christmas album, and they get major respect for dropping it the day after Thanksgiving, as is correct and proper for Xmas stuff. The record features 11 tracks, with a mix of originals and standards. I got the advance files for the record just as I was finishing this column, so I haven’t given it more

than a cursory spin, but it sounds like it’ll be a fun one to dig into later.

Give it a listen on their Bandcamp page, and consider paying them for their efforts, like a mensch.

Starting in January, Save More Lounge (4060 N. Lincoln Ave) will have a monthly country night.

Woohoo! The details are still being sorted, but it looks like the series will hit on the fourth Sunday of every month, somewhere in the school-night-friendly range of 6-10 p.m. I’ll be curating the night with owner Jason Ward. I will keep you posted, for sure.

Lastly, as I write this, the ink is still pretty fresh on the report of Chicago stalwart Bloodshot Records sale to Exceleration Music. I hope that everyone involved with the altcountry titan lands on their feet.

I have more to say about the label and their 25-plus year’s contribution to Chicago’s music scene and the world beyond, but the news is too fresh for an objective take. Maybe I’ll give it a try next month, once the dust has settled.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

Happy Holidays to you all; see ya in the New Year!

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FINEST FASHIONS LISA SORRELL CHATS WITH MARTY STUART LS: Your musical genius is wellknown, but perhaps everyone isn’t so aware of your passion for collecting vintage country music stagewear.

Why is this important to you?

MS: It’s about preservation. When I began collecting, you could find this stuff at thrift stores and garage sales.

I understood that they were relics of the past. Plus, they looked cool!

As a child, I’d watch country music shows with my dad on an old black and white TV. The first time I saw stagewear in color was when Ernest Tubb visited Mississippi, and I got to see him in concert. He and his band stepped out in pink suits with rhinestones, and it was

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the most beautiful vision ever.

I had the opportunity to meet many of the artists and makers behind the clothing when I was a kid traveling with Lester Flatt. We went to Nudies, and just by showing an interest, I got invited to back rooms to meet the makers — the ones actually doing the work. I met Manuel at Nudies when I was 13 or 14. I was interested in what they were doing, and because of that genuine interest, they shared information and knowledge and made me feel welcome. That gave me another level of appreciation for the clothing and boots as I began collecting them; I often recognized

the work of individual artists.

LS: You and I met when you were commissioning boots from Jay Griffith in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

How did you find Jay? MS: In the early days of going out on my own as a musician, I played a bar in Oklahoma and met a guy named Bobby Barnett. He was a country music singer who had a great eye for clothing and boots, and he gave me some Nudie suits and boots.

We hung out after a show one night, and he told me there was a bootmaker in Guthrie I needed to meet. He introduced me to Jay, who was an absolute legend. He was like the Porter Wagoner of boot making, one

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of the original architects of the craft.

Jay complained about the boots I wanted him to make for me. He griped about the high, undershot heel I wanted and the “damn Nudie toe,” and there was always a long wait between ordering the boots and receiving the boots. But when the box arrived in the mail and I opened it, it was worth it!

LS: Of all the interesting pieces you own, is there one that’s your favorite? One that makes you happy just to see it or touch it?

MS: Connie Smith!

Of my stage wear collection, though, I would have to choose a Nudie suit and boots made for Hank Snow. The suit is black with embroidered guitars and roses, and he wore it with a pair of Nudie boots that are pink and white with inlaid butterflies. The work is absolute perfection, and it looks as good up close as it does from far away.

LS: Has anything in your collection ever inspired or informed your music?

MS: Without question. When I dress for a show — when I put on these clothes — I feel like Superman coming out of a phone booth. That makes me write and perform like Superman too. The old country stars understood this. The clothes represented not only individualism and a way to set yourself apart, but also achievement. Many of those stars started out very poor, and the clothing acknowledged not just what they’d achieved but also the trust the public placed in them and the responsibility to give them a good show.

LS: Was collecting stagewear always a dream of yours, or did collecting develop out of the necessity to preserve it?

MS: Both, really. It started with the goal of preservation, but I began seriously collecting around the same time I was moving from being a band

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member to having my own band.

This was also the time when song videos became a thing. I remembered watching TV with Dad, and I realized that wearing those suits might get a reaction. I didn’t want to do it exactly like the old stars — I wanted my own look — so I decided to wear my rhinestone jackets with blue jeans. It was all about visual appeal.

LS: Are there specific country music icons that inspired your taste and your looks?

MS: The Maddox Brothers and Rose were the best of the best. Their costumes were made by Nathan Turk, and they were drop-dead gorgeous. The set of the Marty Stuart Show featured a Rose Maddox outfit and many other items. It was a way of showcasing country music history and having those spirits and that vibe on stage.

LS: Is there anything about vintage country music fashion that you’d like to talk about or convey?

MS: Everybody needs to do it their way. If that’s a backward ball cap and ripped jeans and a flannel shirt, go for it. But after a while, you owe it to yourself to give classic country music stagewear a try.

LS: Final thoughts?

MS: Check out the upcoming “The World of Marty Stuart” exhibit opening on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at the Museum of Mississippi History. Also, be sure and follow and support the progress of my upcoming Congress of Country Music Museum in Philadelphia, Mississippi. It will be the home of the largest private collection of country music artifacts in the world, as well as a performance and educational space.

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The Northern Report volume 9

BY SEAN BURNS HTT Contributor Well, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, friends.

I’m comin’ right at ya from Boots & Saddle Headquarters with the studio speakers pinned to the sounds of Edmonton, Alberta’s Jr. Gone Wild. We’re in the midst of a near three-day blizzard here in Winnipeg, and there’s no better time than now to hunker down and really take this record in. You see, friends, Jr. Gone Wild is back, and “Still Got the Jacket” marks their first release since 1995’s “Simple Little Wish.”

From 1983-1995, Jr. Gone Wild blew minds with spirited live shows and turned heads with the groundbreaking songwriting of front-man Mike McDonald. By the time Edmonton became known as the “City of Champions,” Jr. Gone Wild had been making an impact in not just their hometown but far and wide across the country, grinding it out in dive bars, community halls and even soft-seaters.

Garnering attention in the major national markets with their powerpop and punk rock sensibilities, Jr. Gone Wild is credited as Canada’s altcountry innovators. The group released five critically acclaimed albums during their reign as the nation’s Kings of Cowpunk: “Less Art, More Pop!” (1986), “Folk You” (1989), “Too Dumb To Quit” (1990), “Pull The Goalie” (1992) and “Simple Little Wish” (1995). Over that initial 12-year run, Jr. Gone Wild left an indelible impact and influence. After reuniting in 2013, they have continued to deliver on stage with the consistency you expect

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but especially appreciate from a group of grizzled vets. Sure, the stories of the band’s infighting are legendary, but that’s seemingly not what brought them to their demise. Being in a band isn’t easy, and as members came and went, the culture was changing, and our live music industry was drastically deteriorating. In ‘95, they “sold the van, split the money and that was it for 18 years.” Their final tour was less attended than their previous runs, and there would be no opportunity for all those people who said “we were gonna catch you next time” to see Jr. Gone Wild again. Ever. Or so it seemed.

By the time I started hammering the west on tours of my own, Jr. Gone Wild had been split for 15 years. At that time, they weren’t being talked about outside of those in the know, but that’s not to suggest they were in any way an after-thought. The band continued to be celebrated by people of all ages across the country, but in no other place than Edmonton did their star shine so bright.

Mike maintained a presence on the local scene working in record stores on Whyte Avenue, performing solo and with a band under his own name.

But nobody, and I mean nobody, especially Mike himself, would have ever believed there’d be another Jr. show. People continued to ask him when or if the band would ever reunite and every time, the answer was the same. It wasn’t gonna happen.

Until it did. Mike was working at Mega Tunes record store when he was approached asking if he’d consider putting the band back together for a big show. “Absolutely not.” As the offer pressed on, a couple of months later the same fella returned to make

his request again, asking what it would take. Unprepared or unwilling to believe anyone would pony up enough to call him on his bluff, Mike said, “a lot of money,” quoted an “outrageous figure” and was left in disbelief when it was met without hesitation.

McDonald soon after got on the phone to inquire with his bandmates.

They reassembled and rehearsed for nine months before making their triumphant return to 600 fans at their show just outside of Edmonton. One show turned into many as offers began pouring in for big shows and festivals across Alberta and the Prairies. Riding high on the back of their reunion and the buzz it generated, the band hit the road and were welcomed back warmly in great Canadian rooms such as The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and our very own Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club here in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Still Got The Jacket was released Nov. 12, and Jr. Gone Wild ceased to be a legacy act. They’ve been back for eight years, but now it seems more official. The bulk of the record was recorded in Nanton, Alberta,

by Jr. guitarist Steve Loree. A wellrespected cat, over the years, Steve has made a wide range of records by artists such as Ian Tyson, Petunia & the Vipers, Corb Lund, SNFU, Tin and The Toad, Mayhemingways, and The Real McKenzies. Sonically speaking, Still Got The Jacket sounds as good — or arguably better — than Steve’s previous output and that of the band’s five earlier albums.

The chemistry of the band members is evident, and the 16 tracks that make this record showcase the twangy rock and melodic country-

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punk that made us all fall in love with Jr. Gone Wild in the first place.

Perhaps it’s slightly more refined now, but I, for one, am glad that Jr’s “fuck-off ” attitude and energy haven’t faded away with time. The album’s opening cut and early single, “Girl In The Crowd,” is a standout track for me. Certainly not a country song, but absolutely vintage McDonald/Jr. Gone Wild. Among other highlights are country-rock songs like “Old and Ugly,” “Behind The Wheel” and “Barricades.” More in the vein of the Jr. Gone Wild style of alt-country are great tracks “Fool’s Errand” and “What Can You Do.” Sitting atop the sturdy groove of “Fool’s Errand” is a parade of F-bombs from McDonald with none being more charming than Mike’s, “C’mon Steve, fuck off !” ahead of some hot pickin’ by Loree in the solo.

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“Still Got The Jacket” marks a true return to the game by Jr. Gone Wild. It serves as a reminder that they’ve still got a lot of gas in the tank and are as strong a Canadian band as there is out there today.

It’s great to think (and hope) that these guys might be able to hit the road next year for the faded lights of dive-bars and shitty front-ofhouse mixed festival stages rather than growing into another tired old casino-playing nostalgia act that so, so many of our artists have become in a desperate attempt to retain some glory. No need to look back for Jr. Gone Wild.

Glory lies ahead as their legion of devoted fans is here to celebrate the group and their new record.

Catch my interview with Mike McDonald on The Northern Report Podcast. We covered the early years

of the band, its demise, and eventual return while spending a good chunk of time discussing the new record.

Find it wherever you get podcasts or at the show’s homebase: anchor. fm/thenorthernreportpodcast.

That’s all for me this time. Stay safe, be smart and don’t be a dick.

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Noel McKay recently sat down for a chat with Honky Tonk Times contributor Tony Sexton. — Photo by A.Golliher

Noel McKay chats with Whiskey Preachin

BY TONY SEXTON HTT Contributor “Craftsman” and “poet” are two words often bandied around when discussing songwriters. Undoubtedly, many songwriters put their all into their craft, and few people would dispute that it is an art form. Irish poet Brendan Cleary once told me that while a song’s lyrics may be poetic, writing even the most poetic of lyrics does not make someone a poet. It makes them a songwriter, which is as distinct a mode of writing as the novel or the short story, or journalism for that matter. It may be apposite to describe a songwriter’s

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work as poetic, but that does not make her, or him, a poet. In the world of music writing, where adjectives abound, and superlatives fly like shrapnel, one might wish to avoid this trap. Describing a songwriter as a “craftsman,” however, seems appropriate, even if we should try to use the term sparingly when truly justified. A bit like “genius.”

Words have more weight when used with care and deliberation.

Noel McKay is a craftsman. Guy Clark, who disliked being described as a craftsman himself, was a friend of Noel McKay. They wrote songs and even built guitars together. On his new album, “Blue, Blue, Blue,” McKay

sings a wonderful version of his old friend’s song “Flying and Falling,” where he captures the phrasing and feel of Clark’s original beautifully.

The song fits perfectly with the set of songs McKay has pulled together for “Blue, Blue, Blue,” an album that is very easy to leave on repeat for hours. So, I was very pleased when our esteemed editor asked if I would like to get in touch with Noel McKay for this interview. As well as asking him about the album and his songwriting, I was keen to ask the talented songsmith his opinion on the “lyrics as poetry” question.

TS: “Blue Blue Blue” could be a

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career-defining album. How do you feel about it? Is this the album you have been building up to making, the one that your previous albums have been signposting? Or do you see it as another mile marker on the way to where you’re going?

NM: Honestly, I’m very happy with how “Blue Blue Blue” came out.

I tried, as I always do, to walk the tightrope between perfectionism and letting things come out as they’re going to. When you’ve hired and entrusted someone of enormous caliber to play on your song, as was the case with every artist featured on this record, and particularly when you have something specific in mind, you have to tell them what you want, then let go and let them make their magic. Everyone involved with this record gave me their absolute best, and I think that comes through.

I’m very grateful to them for that.

I dreamt of realizing this record as it is currently realized, so, yes, I was building up to this record.

That said, I’ll try to apply the same level of intention and care to the next one. How it’s perceived and received after I release it is not really my responsibility; only that I do my best with it and involve people who care about making it good.

TS: The album has a lovely, warm, timeless feel. How easy was this to achieve? Where was the album recorded, and who produced it?

Is that your band, The Texas Oil Men, playing on the album?

NM: That feel is a combination of me just trying to match the calm I wish to surround myself with and Eldridge Goins’ brilliant production/ playing style. Those became the sounds the songs make when they’re put together here. When I moved to Nashville, I had some new songs that I thought “Blue Blue Blue” would really benefit from, but I didn’t have the luxury of going back to Austin to record them with Eldridge, so

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I hired Ben Sanders, who is also a brilliant producer. At that point, it became Ben’s job to match the feel that had already been established with Eldridge’s recordings and go from there. We tried to make it sound as seamless as possible from song to song. The record was produced by Eldridge Goins and Ben Sanders.

The Texas Oil Men is really who I’ve got on stage with me; it’s what I call my band when there are three or more of us. Many of the men and women who play with me regularly are playing on “Blue Blue Blue.”

TS: Are you playing the guitar you built with Guy Clark on this album?

NM: On many of the tracks, yes.

TS: You appear in the bonus material of “Without Getting Killed or Caught,” the recently released documentary about Guy Clark.

Among other things, you discuss writing “El Coyote” with Guy Clark.

Do you still play that song live?

NM: I play that song at most shows. When we first finished it, Guy was so fond of it. People would tell me all the time that he’d played it for them and made sure he mentioned that I’d co-written it. I had a realization that knocked me upside the head recently when it occurred to me that I’ll end up playing it many more times in my life than he did during his. This makes me sad, but it’s also an incredible gift he gave me. One of many.

TS: One of the stand-out moments from the film is when Guy is talking about wishing he could write a No. 1 hit for Garth Brooks, but unfortunately finds himself “cursed with artistic integrity.” Do you suffer from this same curse?

NM: First of all, Garth Brooks is still with us (I’m a big fan), and who knows, he might yet record and make a No. 1 hit out of a Guy Clark song. That’s the kind of thing he does. I say that partially to illustrate that artistic integrity

might have been a financial curse to Guy, but his songs are the longterm beneficiaries of that integrity.

TS: What is it to be a songwriter?

What does it mean to you?

NM: To me, to be a songwriter is to (or attempt to, at least) capture an experience, situation, or feeling with words and then try to match that with the appropriate melody and chord progression, or vice versa. It’s the learning how to express oneself with words and with music that’s the tricky part. Those are lifetime pursuits that can never be completely learned.

TS: What makes Texas particularly fertile ground for singer-songwriters? Is there artistic integrity in the water?

NM: Look, my family has been in Texas for a really long time, and I often get teased for being “Texas as Hell,” but I don’t really think it’s necessarily more fertile ground for songwriting than other places. It’s just got style. What’s made it fertile ground is its proximity to Mexico, its connection with the old west, and its wildness. But, let’s face it, that horse’s been broke. I’ll ask anybody reading this in Texas right now: when’s the last time you saw a mountain lion or even one of its tracks?

TS: How much of your art is inspiration, and how much of it is hard graft and editing? How does the songwriting process work for you?

NM: That varies from song to song, but those are most frequently two separate events. The inspiration usually happens when I don’t have time to sit down and edit something into a linear, believable storyline with an appropriate musical melody and accompaniment. Therefore, the idea goes onto paper or a note on my cellphone, but it, itself, is very quick. There’s still room for little inspirations in the editing process as the song unfolds, but, for me, inspiration is always lightning fast.

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And, saying “I’ll remember that and write it down later” is a mistake.

It’s usually gone as quickly as it comes.

The art form for me is mostly the sometimes challenging and sometimes easy work of justifying the idea and rationalizing the idea. Even if it’s far-fetched, there’s no reason it can’t still be believable. It’s all a greater or lesser degree of using psychology to convince the listener that something is really happening and, if you can draw them in and not distract them with anything that takes them out of the context of the song as it’s unfolding, you’re likely to draw them in and keep their attention for the two to six minutes that is the life of a song.

TS: Which song on “Blue Blue Blue” took the longest to finish?

NM: Probably “Pawnee Waltz.”

I dreamt the B Section, which is the instrumental part, when I was about 23 or 24. It became its own song called “Waltz For Mary Magdalene” for about a decade, fell out of circulation, and was revived when the idea for “Pawnee Waltz” came around. The A section didn’t take long to complete at all, but those two parts got written about 20 years apart. “Blue Blue Blue” also took a long time to finish. Most of that first verse was part of another song in the repertoire of The Laughing Dogs, which was my brother’s and my band in the 1990s. About 10 years later, I was in a relationship with a woman that I could see, despite my best hopes, wasn’t going to end well. I incorporated those lines into “Blue Blue Blue.”

When I thought it might be finished, I took it to Guy to get his opinion about the third verse because I wasn’t sure it was concise enough. He said, “I don’t hear anything wrong with it, man.” If it was good enough for Guy...

TS: “When This Town Was Cool” is the kind of song that stops people dead in their tracks and makes them really pay attention.

Is there a song that stops you every time you hear it and makes you

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think, “I wish I’d written that?”

NM: I wish I’d written “On The Road Again.” It’s perfect. I also wish I’d written “Pineola” by Lucinda Williams, but I wouldn’t have wanted to live through its inspiration. “Last Gunfighter Ballad.” If there were a University Of Songwriting, “Ode To Billy Joe” would be its own semester-long class and a requirement for graduation.

TS: Certain songwriters often

“The level of skill that these writers are bringing to Songwriter Thursdays astounds me. There are new faces with great songs every week.

I’ve particularly been enjoying the compositions of Alec Lang, Charlotta Chutter, and a bunch of others.”

— Noel McKay have their songs likened to poetry.

What is the difference between writing lyrics and writing poetry?

NM: They definitely overlap.

To my mind, what defines them distinctly is the point at which they become incompatible. For example, when song lyrics sound poorly

recited as poetry or when poetry can’t neatly be incorporated into song structure with melody or meter.

TS: Have you written prose?

Is there a novel in you?

NM: I’ve recently been inspired by the writings in the book “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.” That’s the first sort of prose I’ve written in a long time. Of course, after it was written, my mind started wanting to put it in song form, but I think that would ruin it. In terms of a novel, I did start writing one when I was on tour with High Plains Jamboree a few years ago. Maybe I’ll finish it sometime.

TS: What novelists do you like reading? What’s your favourite Texas novel?

NM: I’ve been reading sci-fi novels written by Larry Niven, non-fiction books like “Caste War Of Yucatán” by Nelson Reed and “Relación de Las Cosas de Yucatán” by Fray Diego de Landa. I’ve also been slowly reading some Shakespeare plays like “Love’s Labour Lost” and “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.” Those, I can only read for short periods of time because they’re so incredible that I’m humbled, and I have to stop and gather myself. I recently re-read “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry. It’s pretty extraordinary. I also like “Comanche Dawn” by Mike Blakely. He did an incredible amount of research on the Comanches, and it’s a book about Texas that explains a lot about how and why it is like it is now.

TS: “Real Cowboy” is an alternative take on the cowboy song. Who is your favourite cowboy songwriter, and do you have a favourite cowboy song?

NM: My favorite cowboy song is probably “Goodbye Old Paint,” which was written by Charlie Willis.

TS: There is an excellent podcast

by Andy Hedges called Cowboy Crossroads, about cowboy poets and cowboy poetry. Do you have a favourite cowboy poet?

NM: I’ve actually been on that podcast. I was very honored to be

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invited. “The Strawberry Roan” is also a favorite poem as well as song. That was written by Curley Fletcher. My buddy James Steinle writes some mean cowboy poetry.

TS: You co-host the Songwriter Thursday night at the American Legion Post 82 in Nashville. Who have you hosted recently that we should keep an eye and ear open for? Who are your favourite songwriters working today?

NM: The level of skill that these writers are bringing to Songwriter Thursdays astounds me. There are new faces with great songs every week.

I’ve particularly been enjoying the compositions of Alec Lang, Charlotta Clutter, and a bunch of others. Too many to list here. I had a hunch that there were people who cared more about the songs than if they made them look cool. The success of the night shows I was onto something.

TS: “The 50 Loneliest Places in the Nation” deserves to become a classic. How long did that one take to write? Is there a story behind this song, or is it as simple as a great melody and a map?

NM: Thank you! I actually rewrote it for an England/Scotland tour that got canceled last year because of Covid. It’s called “The 50 Loneliest Places In The UK.” Maybe I’ll get the chance to play it there this summer. I dreamt the chorus of the song. Roger Miller was singing it. I looked at a map a couple of times when I was trying to match up sounds and rhyme cities with one another as I finished it.

TS: To a British ear, “Lurlene” is reminiscent of Chas and Dave, the cockney personas of the late Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock, two British session musicians with storied careers. Are Chas and Dave a known quantity to you?

NM: I do see a little bit of a parallel. However, Chas and Dave were products of their time and generation, and “Lurlene” is about a

DECEMBER 2021

Noel McKay’s latest release, “Blue Blue Blue” dropped Oct. 8 and is available on all streaming platforms. woman getting some much-needed and very belated personal autonomy.

It’s just from the perspective of the person who that affects the most.

TS: What’s next for you? Are you already thinking about the next album? What’s the situation with touring the album?

NM: I’m going to do a record about a smaller South Texas city that was central to my childhood. I’ll be including two or three Mexican corridos as well. The place has two blending cultural identities.

TS: Dead or alive, who would you have on the bill at your fantasy festival?

NM: I’d bring Guy back (no surprise) and Townes Van Zandt.

Lucinda Williams would get booked, Miguel Aceves Mejia and Lola Beltran

with an accompanying Mariachi band for each, and the classical pianist and composer Fredric Chopin.

TS: What words of advice would you give to aspiring songwriters out there?

NM: You do it, or you don’t. If you want to write songs, do it, and study music theory and poetry. Read as much as you can and be patient with yourself.

Nobody is born knowing how to do it, and nobody’s really very good at it until life crushes them a few times, and don’t expect to get rich. If you want to get rich, start a health insurance company in America. Writing songs is a lot better for your soul, though.

“Blue, Blue, Blue” is available everywhere now. It’s a lovely album and deserves to be listened to far and wide and often.

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God didn’t make sober honky tonk angels

BY DONALD C. CUTLER HTT Contributor “If I didn’t quit drinking, the doctor said I wouldn’t see 30,” said 27-year-old rising country music singer and songwriter who goes by South Texas Tweek. After what had been the best year of his music career, playing classic Texas venus with artists he admired and enjoyed even before he started in the industry, it was hard for him to come to grips with the fact that his lifestyle was killing him.

“This was the first time I started touring,” he said. “And I fell into partying just a bit too much. It was the first time I was being paid to party, you know?”

A regular drinker since the age of 10, this husband and father of two’s drinking habits had ebbed and flowed over the years — alternating between “just a tallboy after work to a handle of vodka a day.” Over the past year or so, he was more often than not finishing off nearly two liters of booze each day.

“If I was being honest, I needed help for more than a few years,” Tweek said of his drinking. But in the spring of this year, his addiction landed him in the hospital. His liver and kidneys had about enough of his drinking, and he vowed to stop.

But that lasted only a few days until he got back on the road, drinking and partying three nights a week.

On Sept. 16, there was an abrupt stop to the ride when early-stage liver failure, kidney infection and pancreatic inflammation landed him in the hospital. This six-day stint provided him with a forced detox and the time to consider what the

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After suffering from early-stage liver failure, kidney infection and pancreatic inflammation, South Texas Tweek, above, checked into a residential rehabilitation center. “The reality is that I had a me problem with a drinking solution,” the now-sober father of two recently told Honky Tonk Times. doctor had said earlier in the year.

“I need to be there for my kids and wife,” and while sitting in the hospital, alone with his thoughts due to COVID-19 safety regulations limiting visitors, he accepted that he needed help. “I wish I saw the whole picture before this, but once that demon takes hold of you, it’s hard to see straight.”

A day after his release, he checked into a residential rehabilitation center.

The trite inspiration of a truck breaking down, the love of a dog, or a woman leaving has nothing on the omnipresent muse of substance abuse in neo-classical and altcountry music. The genre leans hard upon its hard-drinking image.

And not without good reason.

These themes reach back to civilization’s earliest days, or at least as far back as there were places to get a drink after a hard day’s work.

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The tavern, and its warm, nonjudgemental embrace, foster a culture of indulgence, which can lead to an environment that promotes addiction.

And stories like Tweek’s are not uncommon among people from all walks of life. But working night after night in that welcoming, partyfriendly environment makes it all the more common among working musicians and their supporting teams.

Honky tonking and its harddrinking, hard drugs and hangovers take a toll on many of its best.

And while it’s unlikely that honky tonks will stop the steady flow of booze from the bar and drugs from the back, it’s also possible that entertainers critical to this culture who deal with substance abuse addiction won’t survive unless they make drastic changes to their lives.

Dallas Burrow, a Texas-born altcountry and Americana artist who will be sober three years in January, said, “Getting sober has been nothing but positive for my personal and professional life as an entertainer.

There have been no drawbacks.”

Since quitting, Burrow is always on time, has the stamina to get through the entire show at top speed, and is “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” the following day. Cutting out the drink “cuts out a lot of the BS,” he said in a recent phone interview.

result of not having healthy coping mechanisms I needed to deal with major depressive disorder and severe social anxiety,” Shook explained, who lends their name to Sarah Shook &The Disarmers. “And my depression and anxiety were directly caused by years of compounded trauma and traumatic events that I also didn’t have healthy coping mechanisms to deal with. I stopped using because I realized that feeling better and getting better aren’t the same thing.

Staying dry in the well

To stop you need to understand why you started “I’m not tempted to drink because I’ve completely changed the way my brain regards alcohol; it’s no longer viewed as a reward or respite,” said Sarah Shook of Chatham County, N.C., who uses they/them pronouns.

For Shook, the journey toward sobriety started when they realized that these substances were more of a crutch than anything else.

“All of my years of binge drinking and recreational drug use were the

DECEMBER 2021

October of last year, Shook noted that they were worried that ending their use of drugs and alcohol would change who they were and what they produced. Listening to their music from those earlier years could leave one asking the same questions.

However, as Shook wrote in the post, eliminating the use and abuse of substances did not remove their “fire.” Shook explained they were “still heartbreak, dark humor, righteous indignation [and] an artist, a creative, a maker.”

Dallas Burrow “Sobriety for me is not just ‘not drinking,’ it’s a brand new take on life. [Sobriety is] constantly improving my relationship to myself by coming to terms with my past and gaining confidence in my ability to navigate the present.”

In a social media post from

Surrounding a recovering addict with booze and drugs seems like a recipe for disaster, or at the very least relapse. An environment in which the addictive substance is actively consumed and sold presents nearly endless opportunities for failure.

Burrows said that finding ways to remain connected to the people and the barroom culture without partaking has helped.

“I started drinking a lot of Topo Chico,” said Burrow of his first days of sobriety while working the bars and clubs across the Lone Star State.

“With so many folks wanting to buy you a drink, you need something that they can get for you,” he said. And that bubbly cult classic “provides a perfect placebo — it’s the right weight, has a nice fizzy feel, and is refreshing."

And while there are always temptations, he explained, remembering that your job is to be the entertainer on the stage and not the drinking buddy at the bar keeps things in perspective for Burrows. “To best do my job, I need to be healthy and energetic, and it doesn’t require you to have a drink.”

But it is not that easy for everyone.

Shook notes that “touring is a very unnatural way to live, and it’s really difficult to stay healthy on the road, even as a sober person.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

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Sarah Shook, center, of Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, said “sobriety for me is not just ‘not drinking,’ it’s a brand new take on life. [Sobriety is] constantly improving my relationship to myself to come to terms with my past and gaining confidence in my ability to navigate the present.”

“Without whiskey and blow to lure me out into social situations, I spend a lot of time alone in my hotel room reading and writing,” they said in an email interview from the road. “Getting sober has made being away from my son and my partner a great deal harder.”

Embracing the past to move forward Many programs that support addicts through recovery stress the importance of accepting the choices and mistakes made while using or drinking. And for those who make a living off of telling personal stories — or ones fans may

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assume are personal — from behind a guitar and a microphone, making peace with the past is essential.

“I needed to stop drinking because I was destroying myself with alcohol,” said Shook. “But I’m not ashamed of my struggle with addiction; it’s an important part of my story.” At shows, that means they still perform songs about heavy drinking and drugs with the same energy as they did before getting clean — but with a new perspective.

“It will be weird to play those drinking songs now,” said South Texas Tweek of his upcoming dates at venues in Texas and beyond. “But it wouldn’t do it justice to leave them

out. I don’t want to leave out the big picture,” he said, just because he is not drinking anymore.

Getting to this point took a lot of what Tweek calls “inner work.” He meditates and uses spirituality to address the drivers of his addiction — a practice he started while in the treatment facility and continues at home.

“The reality is that I had a me problem with a drinking solution,” Tweek said in what easily could find itself on to a lyric sheet in the future.

“I’m now learning how to be OK with being myself and being OK with not being OK, without drinking.”

HONKY TONK TIMES

ISSUES 9/10 — DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022

LONEY HUTCHINS

ARTICLES FROM YOUR FAVORITE DISC JOCKEYS, CALENDAR, INTERVIEW WITH MATEUS CANTIERI, FINEST FASHIONS, MEET THE STAFF, AND MORE!

$12.00

HOWDY Y’ALL Happy New Year! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there.

I ended up getting COVID on Christmas Day, and it put me right on my ass. Thankfully I didn’t need to spend any time in the hospital, but I did end up in bed and off my computer for about 10 days.

Between COVID, the weather, the fires, and the news from across the country, I am glad to be back focusing on music and work. I was able to get caught up on listening to the music sent to us. I listen to all of the submitted albums from beginning to end. That’s how we come out with the Honky Tonk Radar and get leads and some of the stories that we run.

We have also picked up a few new writers moving forward. Our honky tonk family is constantly growing.

One of the challenges we face moving forward is the U.S. Postal Service. Our local post office is severely understaffed, as is the rest of the country. This has caused delays in our mailing turnaround time.

The cost of postage has gone up a bit, as has the magazine’s weight as we get more writers and add pages to the publication. For those who are subscribers, you will notice a 25 cent increase in the postage cost. We also have a system set up to print labels instead of hand-writing each envelope; this will also help with mailing turnaround time. We are always seeking advertisers to keep the cost at $6 per issue. I will do everything I can to keep this cost where it is as we grow. The more subscribers we have and the more advertisers we have, the easier it will be to keep this at the current cost.

I just got the news that our local

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Taylor Austin, AKA Cousin Early, too sick for photos, shares an old selfie.

Honky Tonk Tuesday host, Radio Bean, has decided to close for January.

My first Honky Tonk Tuesday of the year will be spent watching Joshua Ray Walker on Jimmy Fallon. I’m sure if you missed it, you’d be able to catch it on YouTube or elsewhere online.

Congratulations, Joshua Ray Walker!

We love seeing our honky tonk heroes on the late-night shows. After that, I am headed to Nashville Jan. 1721. I always make some excellent connections while I’m down there. I can’t wait to see what this trip holds.

Lastly, I know I’ve been pretty slack about posting on social media, so I’m gonna be getting

better about that. Make sure to give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook and tell your friends about us. We certainly appreciate it.

PS: The magazine you hold in your hands is a double issue. Due to our production team’s car accidents, day jobs, and COVID-19, we were unable to provide you with the special Christmas issue we had planned for.

The aforementioned extenuating circumstances delayed the production of our December issue. We hope you will enjoy this special, double issue of Honky Tonk Times.

HONKY TONK TIMES

What’s inside?

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Whiskey Preachin meets Loney Hutchins 20 | February Calendar 21 | Chicago Hustle with Lawrence Peters 22 | The Northern Report 24 | Finest Fashions Lisa Sorrell

JANUARY 2022

26 | Mateus Cantieri talks becoming a country picker

33 | Meet the founder 34 | Meet the editor 19

February 2022 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

#Howard Bellamy, 1946

*J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson Jr., 1959

#Clint Black, 1962 *Kenneth C. “Jethro” Burns, 1989

#Claude King, 1923 #Henson Cargill, 1941

3

4

5

#Wesley Rose, 1918

#Moe Bandy, 1944 *Paul English, 2020

11

12

#Pee Wee King, 1914 #Juice Newton, 1952 *Johnny Paycheck, 2003

#Bobby Emmons, 1943

18

19

1

2

*Merle Kilgore, 2005

#Wilma Lee Cooper, 1921 #Garth Brooks, 1962

#Pappy Daily, 1902 #Dan Seals, 1948

#Ernest Tubb, 1914 #Stompin’ Tom Connors, 1936 #Travis Tritt, 1963

#Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1919 #Boudleaux Bryant, 1920 *Waylon Jennings, 2002

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#Razzy Bailey, 1939

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*Fred Foster, 2019

#Mary Chapin Carpenter, 1958 #Eric Heatherly, 1970

20

21

SATURDAY

#Don Everly, 1937 #Jason Isbell, 1979

31

7

FRIDAY

THURSDAY

30

6

# BIRTHDAY *ANNIVERSARY OF PASSING

8 #Wally Fowler, 1917 #Hank Locklin, 1918

15 *Sonny James, 2016

9 #Jimmy Wakely, 1914 *Smiley Burnette, 1967

16 *Penny DeHaven, 2014 *Bobby Emmons, 2015

22

23

1

2

10 #Johnny Bush, 1935 #Buck Trent, 1938

17

#Ralph Stanley, 1927 #Faron Young, 1932

#Johnny Cash, 1932

24

25

26

3

4

5

#Sammy Kershaw, 1958 *Webb Pierce, 1991 *Goldie Hill, 2005 *Mac Wiseman, 2019

#Audrey Williams, 1923 #Don Helms, 1927 #Joe South, 1940

27 20

28

HONKY TONK TIMES

The

Chicago Hustle with Lawrence Peters

Hello from ChiTown!

Here’s what folks have been up to in our greazy ol’ hamlet.

The 2021 Chris & Heather’s Country Calendar Show was outstanding, as always. I’ve often described it as being the closest approximation to the glory days of the Grand Ole Opry most of us Chicago musicians will experience. There were great performances all night long.

Jane Baxter Miller, and her former partner in the legendary Texas Rubies, Kelly Kessler, did a killer job on a couple of songs by Waylon Jennings. Kent Kessler, husband of Jane and brother of Kelly, held down the bass rhythm. Devil In A Woodpile was typically raucous as Roy Acuff. Andrew Sa put a classy shine on the music of Hawkshaw Hawkins, and I think that my band, The Lawrence Peters Outfit, acquitted ourselves nicely on our two songs by Scotty Stoneman of the Stoneman Family, even though our shit-hot lead picker Matt Gandurski was home recovering from the cooties.

For our set John Huber stepped up

JANUARY 2022

-

from his role as ace rhythm guitarist and nailed it on the electric, and my good buddy, the aforementioned Kelly Kessler, handled the acoustic chores as only she can.

The rest of the featured music tended toward rock and pop, but I can’t leave out Kelly Hogan’s great tribute to The Boswell Sisters and my pals Hawk Colman and John Forbes ripping it up as Ike And Tina Turner. Helluva night.

Chicago roots stalwart Dan Whitaker and his boys (formerly The Shinebenders) toured the living snot out of December, with stops in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, and Iowa, with a homecoming show at The Friendly Tap. It’s good to see Chicago being represented so damn hard outside of our friendly confines.

Wild Earp And The Free For Alls celebrated the release of their holiday album, "A Cynical Christmas," with a Krampus-themed show, which seems very appropriate for the vibe of that record. If you are unfamiliar, Krampus is St. Nicholas’s sidekick; a German

Xmas creep who punishes children.

I had to miss the shindig, but it looks like it was a real good time.

No kids were harmed in the making of the show, not even the bad ones.

The mighty Kent Rose (aka The Voice That Remembers) has been keepin’ it country with recent shows at Montrose Saloon and Fitzgerald’s.

He’s one of Chicago’s elder statesmen of country music and “the last of the great Jewish hillbilly singers.” It’s always a pleasure to hear him and his band The Remedies onstage.

Lastly, I’m excited to report that LP’s Happy Hour has been greenlighted to return to the backroom of The Hideout. Starting Jan. 14, I’ll get to program most of the early Friday nights with my favorite country and Americana acts. Maybe I’ll see you there.

I hope your holidays were as good as possible. Here’s hoping for a very fine year in 2022.

Catch ya later,

Lawrence

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The Northern Report volume 10

BY SEAN BURNS HTT Contributor Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, friends. I’m here today to wrap up 2021 by shining a light on The Northern Report’s 10 favourite albums of the year. It’s been two years now of false starts. Shows, tours, festivals booked, postponed, and some sadly cancelled altogether.

Musicians and artists worldwide have pivoted, and many have simply put their heads down and soldiered on in the face of their adversity. The result has been a wealth of fantastic releases, and your neighbours to the north provide no exception. So let’s break ‘em down, shall we?

The year started with a bang with a pair of releases on Jan. 8 by country artists from the Maritimes that I featured way back in Issue No. 2 of Honky Tonk Times. From “Hub City,” Moncton, New Brunswick, The Divorcees reinforced the notion that they are leading keepers of Outlaw Country in Canada with their album, “Drop Of Blood.”

Celebrating 15 years as a band, “Drop Of Blood” marked a return to the fold for founding member Jason Haywood (vocals/guitar) after a 12-year absence. In the time since Alex Madsen assumed the role as lead singer and primary guitar picker and on “Drop Of Blood,” Alex and Jason split lead vocal duties, each providing their own sauce on the dish. I’m still of the firm belief that Alex is Canada’s finest and most beautiful country music singer today, and his pure country inflections shine on songs like “Dying Breed” and “Must Be Nice,” where Jason’s standout tracks include blue-collar

22

country cuts “Losing Hand” and “The Other Side of Blue.” As always, great job from The Divorcees, and I remain a hard fan of this band.

You can find Alex Madsen as a guest of The Northern Report Podcast, Episode 003.

Just a little further east in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, is Scott MacKay. Scott’s album “Stupid Cupid” was also released on Jan. 8, with most of the recording happening out on the Island while other parts were flown in from the homes of Grant Siemens (guitar) from Winnipeg and Burke Carroll (pedal steel) in Toronto. MacKay has appeared to make a natural and wise decision in leaning into a more country sound than his previous works suggest and his stellar vocals pepper the 10 tracks on “Stupid Cupid.” “When She’s Sleepin’ She’s Cheatin’,” is without question one of the finest and truest country music performances of the year up here. For more hot pickin’ and sweet singin’ dig into “Half of Everything” and “11 Yellow Roses.”

You can find Scott as a guest of the Northern Report Podcast, Episode 005.

2021 was a big year for Montreal’s Bobby Dove. My buddy Bobb-o moved from sensual, sexy Montreal, Quebec, to small-town Manitoba, and on Feb. 12, they released a stellar effort in “Hopeless Romantic.” It had been almost five years since their previous release and time well spent by Bobby grinding out on the road as hard as any independent Canadian act out there and spending a good chunk of time in Toronto with an all-star cast of Canadian

roots/country music royalty. Coproduced by Bazil Donovan (longtime bassist for Canadian country-rock heroes, Blue Rodeo) and Tim Vesely (a founding member of the celebrated indie rock band, Rheostatics), there’s no shortage of high-quality songwriting among the 11 tunes that comprise the album.

Look to the title track “Hopeless Romantic,” as well as “Early Morning Funeral,” “Golden Years” and, “New Endings New Beginnings.”

You can find Bobby as a guest of The Northern Report Podcast, Episode 002.

I wrote about young Nicholas Campbell last month, and I’m happy to circle back to include his album, “Livin’ and Other Western Ideas” into the mix. Give this album a pass, and then let it sink into your dome that Nicholas is just 17 years old and possesses enough hot-licks and chops as a legit guitar picker to be at home with any of our nation’s finest. It’s clear he’s spent just as much time with rock ’n roll and rockabilly guitar as he has soaking up traditional country music and its most beautiful singers. I’m actually kind of scared to see how it plays out with Nicholas. Look out for him, all you guitar pickers out there. You’re on notice. Campbell is coming in hot, and “Livin’ and Other Western Ideas” is just the beginning. Highlights include “Mend This Heart Of Mine,” “Coming Home To You,” and “Livin’.”

From the Rural Municipality of Eyebrow, Saskatchewan No. 193 is Jolie Blue, a part-time wheat farmer, seasonal fruit salesman, and good citizen of country music. Jolie writes

HONKY TONK TIMES

what he lives and knows, be it songs of harvest, hockey and antiquated hockey equipment, or other tales from his rural situations. Released on May 20 by Dog In The Window Records, Jolie Blue & The Habaneros presented the EP “Picante.” No stranger to winters spent south of the U.S. border, this sevensong EP brings us warm-weather tales where the boys are “chasing Caribbean run with Marley tunes.”

Highlights include: “Fancy Island,” “Smokin’ A Camel,” and “Spanish Fly (All the Tequila’s Gone).”

You can find Jolie Blue as a guest of the Northern Report Podcast, Episode 019.

For me, Canada’s current Queen of Tonk is Shaela Miller, and she solidified this position with “Big Hair Small City,” released July 9 on Bad Ideas Records. Hailing from the Windy City of Lethbridge, Alberta, Big Hair is a successful follow-up to Shaela’s 2018 record, “Bad Ideas.” In classic Miller fashion, the album is a collection of bangers and heartbreakers. Not shying away from emotion and truth at any cost, Shalea takes no shit wearing her heart on her sleeve, and you can feel it all over Big Hair.

Accompanied by her steady, longtime band (highlighted by Skinny Dyck on pedal steel), “Big Hair Small City” acts as a natural progression and a step-forward for this wellloved regional star. My favourite cuts: “I Don’t Want Your Love,” “Tombstone Grey,” “Poor Man,” “I’m Gonna Fall,” and “Good Woman.”

You can find Shalea as a guest of The Northern Report Podcast, Episode 017.

Like my buddy Donnie Sticks/ DJ Salty Cracker out in Los Angeles and any respectable spinner of songs on the airwaves, I’ve got my ear to the ground spending a fair amount of time digging and sniffing around the internet and other radio shows

JANUARY 2022

for new music. A large percentage of Facebook and Instagram friends/ followers are folks met on the road or maybe downtown Winnipeg at the Times Change(d). Maybe only once or twice you’ve crossed paths, but they’re there, and that’s precisely how I came to find Jake Vaadeland via a member of his band, the Sturgeon River Boys. Another of the young guns I recently featured here in Honky Tonk Times, Jake hails from a small community in the beautiful Province of Saskatchewan and burst onto the scene and my radar this summer with his EP, “Retro Man,” released Aug. 1. Citing Johnny Cash and Lester Flatt as primary influences, at just 18 years old, Vaadeland sings and plays with a maturity well beyond his years. I wish I had my shit that together at 18. Nevermind that, I wish I had it together this much when I was 28!

Self late blooming and regret aside, it’s so refreshing to hear someone so young playing this music and especially this proficiently. Jake followed “Retro Man” up on Nov. 13 with another EP entitled “No More Pain In My Heart,” but for our Top 10, I’m sticking with “Retro Man.” At home with anything you’d find on Sun Records, I’m looking to “Retro Man,” “Every Night I Have a Dream” and, “Be a Farmer or a Preacher” as highlights.

Find me a Canadian musician who tours and works as hard as Gordie Tentrees does, and I’ll kiss your ass. Gordie hangs his hat way up north in Whitehorse, Yukon (for some geographical perspective, that’s approximately 5,540 KM, or 3,380 miles from Nashville, Tennessee).

And in the face of long drives and expensive flights, Gordie tours the globe as much as any independent artist you’ll find. In barrooms, soft seaters, house concerts, coffee shops, legion halls, folk clubs, anywhere! It’s incredible. Gordie released “Mean

Old World” Sept. 14 on Buckaroo Records and has already pounded the pavement hard and will continue to do so on the back of it. Helping to bring the songs to life are Gordie’s longtime musical compatriots, Jaxon Haldane and Bob Hamilton. “Mean Old World” is further away from country music than any album on this list is, but I cannot overlook the effort and artistic merit of this work.

Highlights include “Rosetta,” “Train Is Gone,” and “Far Away Friends.”

You can find Gordie as a guest of The Northern Report Podcast, Episode 021.

Also largely outside the honky tonk box but equally impactful and impossible to overlook is “Old Guitars & Shooting Stars,” from Regina, Saskatchewan’s Wolf Willow. There’s really nothing glamorous or glorious to be found in the Queen City, but Wolf Willow proves otherwise with this fantastic album. This, the band’s third fulllength offering, is undoubtedly their best, and as much as I say it’s not country in the traditional sense of the term, I cannot concisely describe the genre presented here on “Old Guitars & Shooting Stars.” I’ll just say it’s an extremely well thought out and put-together collection of songs that stand out to TNR as quite probably the year’s finest and most interesting Canadian release.

Highlights include: “Does The Sun Know?,” “Heaven Didn’t Seem So Far,” and “Love Letters Left Unsent.”

I covered Edmonton, Alberta’s Jr. Gone Wild, and their latest album “Still Got The Jacket” extensively in a recent TNR column, so I’m sure it comes as no surprise to see their name here on this list. Altcountry pioneers and Canada’s kings of Cowpunk, the pride of the City of Champions returned with their first new album since 1995. Maybe you read the column a couple of Please see REPORT, Page 32

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FINEST FASHIONS A CHAT WITH COWBOY BOOT MAKER LISA SORRELL Q: How did you become a cowboy boot maker?

A: I was raised in a conservative little church where the ladies all wore long hair and long dresses. As a girl, I was expected to graduate high school, marry, have babies, and take care of a home, so when I was 12 years old, my mom began teaching me to sew clothing. By 14, she was coming to me for sewing tips; at 15, I started sewing for women in my church, and by 18, I was making prom and wedding dresses. I could look at a picture of a dress in a magazine and understand how to recreate it.

I married my husband Dale when I was 20, and we moved from Missouri to Guthrie, Oklahoma.

I’d left my sewing customers behind in Missouri and wasn’t having much luck restarting my business in Guthrie, so after six months in a three-room apartment, I got bored and answered an ad in the newspaper looking for someone to “stitch boot tops.” I had no idea what that meant, and I’d never worn cowboy boots.

As fate would have it, the ad was placed by Jay Griffith, a legendary cowboy boot maker. He was also an alcoholic who loved to scream and cuss. Since I’d never been around anyone who drank or swore, I used to hide in the bathroom and cry. But as soon as I figured out what we were doing, I knew I’d found my craft. Jay hired me as an

Cowboy boot maker Lisa Sorrell

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employee — that means he only taught me what I needed to know to do my job. After I left Jay’s shop, I paid another bootmaker, Ray Dorwart, to teach me boot making, and I opened my shop in 1996.

Q: Do you have a favorite piece or project?

A: That would definitely be Taylor Malpass’s “Satan Is Real” boots. The “why” is kind of a long story.

My daughter Paige started working with me in the shop at age 12. She had drive, passion, and talent, and she was becoming a fine shoemaker, but she died of suicide at age 20 because she also suffered terribly from depression and anorexia. I was just drifting and going through the motions of living after she left.

A year or so after, I attended a Malpass Brothers concert and really liked their music. I approached Taylor and Chris after the show and asked if I could make them each a pair of boots. I think they were somewhat suspicious of this strange lady offering custom-made boots, but we began chatting about possible boot designs. Chris said I could design whatever I wanted, and he’d be happy, but Taylor asked if I could make him a pair of “Satan Is Real” cowboy boots.

I was raised on the gospel music of the Louvin Brothers, and I’d occasionally considered making a pair of “Satan Is Real” boots, but I’d never pursued the thought.

It was a moment of serendipity that confirmed my decision to approach them, and making

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book on creating art with leather -- “The Art of Leather Inlay and Overlay” (Schiffer Publishing).

Besides making boots and shoes, my absolute favorite things to do are public speaking and writing. I often give lectures and seminars, and writing my book was an incredibly fun challenge.

Imagine writing a cookbook for an audience who probably doesn’t have a stove and may never have used or seen one, they don’t know what measuring cups or spoons are, they have only the vaguest idea of what flour, butter, and sugar are and where to buy them, terms like “mix” “stir” and “beat” are complete mysteries, and also you need to describe all of the hand motions necessary to pick up, hold, and use the measuring Lisa Sorrell works in her shop. cup or the mixer. That’s what those boots for Taylor was what colleges, but I don’t teach in my writing a book about footwear began bringing me back to life. studio anymore. I started a business techniques is like; it has to convey Since then, I’ve become obsessed selling leather, tools, and supplies to information for complete beginners with making “Satan Is Real” boot and shoemakers; that business but also be interesting enough boots and shoes because they’re has grown so much that I no for more experienced readers. so fun, and they also function longer have the time to devote to a as a friend detector. If someone student in my shop. What I do now likes my “Satan Is Real” shoes, I is occasionally accept an apprentice. know they’re friend material.

I require them to have some Q: Tell us about your studio. boot or shoemaking experience A: I like things to be neat, and and be able to work alone and efficiency is important to me. I unsupervised, but they get to don’t necessarily consider speed as be in a studio full of tools and a virtue — as a one-person shop, I equipment, and I’m there to answer can never make footwear as quickly questions or make suggestions. or as cheaply as a factory, so speed Some apprentices come to me is never my goal. But I like for for several weeks or months; each of my tools to have a defined others have very specific goals or resting place, and my machines are techniques they wish to learn and arranged in order of flow. Things only stay for a few days. I charge can get pretty messy when I’m in enough to cover the materials used. the middle of a project, but I’ll It’s my way of contributing to the clean and straighten after I finish longevity of my craft without the and before I begin a new project. full-time responsibility of teaching.

Q: Do you teach or Q: Are there other ways accept students? you contribute to the craft?

A: I occasionally teach leather A: I sell my entire boot-making art and design techniques at craft class on video, and I’ve written a

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Royal Hounds guitarist Mateus Cantieri, pictured above, hails from a small town in Brazil, where at 12 years old, he began playing the guitar and later became interested in country music.

From Brazil to Nashville: Mateus Cantieri talks becoming a country picker

BY BRENDAN SKWIRE HTT Contributor After Honky Tonk Times reviewed The Royal Hounds latest album, “Whole Lotta Nothin’”—it’s a banger, by the way—I got a chance to catch up with their guitar player, Mateus Cantieri, who moved from Brazil to Nashville to play with the Hounds full-time after a one-off tour took on a life of its own.

Brazil isn’t exactly a hotbed of American honky tonk music, so it was interesting to learn about Cantieri’s path to the genre. For one thing, he

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didn’t grow up as a country boy.

“I’m from a small town, but I can’t say it was really rural,” Cantieri said. “On my mom’s side of the family, they always worked on farms, and my grandad used to make cheese to sell. So mom’s side is rural, in this tiny city. I guess there’s that connection to the way of life—you can say I can kind of relate to the subject of the songs and the lyrical content in a way, but it’s not like I was a cowboy.”

Cantieri picked up the guitar when he was just 12 years old.

“My dad tried to teach me before that, but . . . he just had high expectations

and tried to show me some complicated stuff right away. I wasn’t quite ready for it,” he recalled. “But when I was about 12, I just started jamming with friends and stuff. What got me into it was Iron Maiden, really, Pink Floyd after that—I was big into all those rock bands.

“I got interested in country later on because pretty soon what happened was I got addicted to the guitar. I’d just play all day long, just trying to find different techniques. I always liked the sound of country, even though I didn’t know any bands or musicians, just the sound that you get from a movie

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or a song you hear on the radio.”

Cantieri was about 17 when he expanded his musical palette.

“The guitar geek side of me is always trying to find out about new techniques and stuff,” he continued.

“I was like, ‘let’s see what these other kinds of players are doing.’ I just fell in love with country music, and when I started playing it, it felt natural. And it was kind of cool being from Brazil and playing that kind of music—it was different. So I just went for it.”

Soon after, Cantieri began working at a local music school.

“I was surrounded by musicians that were older than me, and they kind of felt that it was cool that I was playing country music,” he remembers. “So that got me in the mood for going farther in that style.”

It wasn’t easy, by his own admission.

“I started writing songs before I even started playing any covers. I would write stuff that sounded country to me, without much real knowledge.”

Cantieri soon found himself down the honky tonk rabbit hole.

“The first country musician that blew my mind? That was Albert Lee,” he says.

“He’s just so different. I was used to fast players and shredders from metal. I had no idea someone could do that with a clean guitar. Those types of solos, it was just a whole new level. The first thing I heard by him was ‘Country Boy,’ and that might still be my favorite song of his. It’s one of those songs like [Dire Straits] “Sultans of Swing” — pretty much the whole song is a guitar lesson. You can learn so much from it. It just blew my mind.”

Long before he joined the Royal Hounds, Cantieri was putting out his own albums in Brazil, even if they weren’t exactly pure country. If you haven’t seen the video he’s put up of his 2010 release, “Instrumental De Granja,” it’s well worth your time and a good example of just how advanced Cantieri’s playing was more than a decade ago.

“I had a little technical knowledge on the guitar, and I could execute stuff, even if I didn’t entirely know what I was

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doing,” he says. “I had more of a rock influence, but I knew my way around the neck. Country is much more of a jazzy approach, and I didn’t have that knowledge at all. So for that album, a lot of rock and prog rock influences, maybe even a little bit of Brazilian music.”

Not entirely sure how to play country as such, Cantieri says he “started making up stuff that would sound good, without trying to follow any particular patterns—which nowadays is actually hard for me to write a song that way.”

“I could never rewrite that stuff,” he adds, a bit ruefully. “It was very free in a way, because I didn’t quite know what I was doing, so I couldn’t decide to go any other direction even if I wanted to. Nowadays, I get myself caught in the technical aspect of it—I’m gonna go this way or that way because that’s the way it should go, instead of just trying out if the song’s good or not.”

Those first albums got the recognition of a writer at Guitar Player magazine, who showed Cantieri some live clips of the Don Kelley band, a stalwart of the honky tonks on Broadway in Nashville. Cantieri was hooked.

“I started watching all these videos on YoutTube of people playing at Robert’s Western World,” he remembers.

“Then I made a video of my own, paying tribute to all those guitar players that you see on Broadway.”

That video took off, and Porter McClister—one of the sidemen Cantieri was celebrating—saw it and began sharing it. “Then I got a bunch of friend requests on Facebook from over here, and Scott was one of them,” Cantieri says. “But that was it for a while, long before I even came up here to visit.”

In fact, the two didn’t even meet until Cantieri’s second visit to Music City.

“Shortly before I came back on my second visit, he sent me a message,” he says. “‘Hey man, I’m moving back to Tennessee, my guitarist is leaving the band, we have this tour in Europe, and then we have some dates in the U.S. Would you be interested in subbing in for these gigs?’”

Cantieri signed on, and the rest is history.

“It was just supposed to be that one tour,” he says, laughing. “It worked out so well that we’re still making music.”

Cantieri shared a bit of the Royal Hounds’ songwriting process and what he thinks makes a good song. Singer/ bassist Scott Hinds writes most of the lyrics, as well as contributing chord progressions for the overall flavor of any given song. Cantieri’s focus is on making those songs stand out musically.

“When I listen to music, I’m into the song structure and melody before I even pay attention to the lyrics,” he says. “So if there’s not a musical hook or anything that holds me, I think it sounds kind of generic. So I’m big on finding cool intros and parts, and making it kind of fun to play, instead of just following the lyrics or playing the chords.”

No interview with a guitar player is complete without a gear discussion, and I’m not about to leave that out. Cantieri’s rig is simpler than you might expect.

“I use my dad’s guitars, HC guitars,” he says. “Funny thing, I’ve never actually bought a guitar. I might just do it someday to see how it feels.”

Cantieri’s father, a retired engineer, began making his own guitars after winning one in a contest—a guitar that eventually became Cantieri’s first.

“In 2005, my dad started building his own instruments—it’s been almost 20 years,” Cantieri says. “He’s built me all sorts of crazy stuff, including a guitar with a B-bender, which is super rare in Brazil. I like light guitars.”

As far as tone, Cantieri takes a straightforward approach, boosted by a signature line of pickups made by Planet Tone.

“Live, I’ve been using a Vox AC15, a special edition with a different speaker than they usually use. I only use three pedals,” he continues. “I have a Boss compressor CS-3, an overdrive that’s a clone of the Clone—which is this famous overdrive pedal that’s super expensive. It’s called a Mexiclone.

Please see CANTIERI, Page 33

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Loney Hutchins, pictured above during his time with the House of Cash, recently sat down with Honky Tonk Times contributor Tony Sexton to discuss the 24 tracks recently released as “Buried Loot: Demos from the House of Cash and Outlaw Era,’ 73–’78.”

Whiskey Preachin meets Loney Hutchins

BY TONY SEXTON HTT Contributor What era would you most like to go back to if such a thing were possible? Is there a specific time and place that captures your imagination?

Ancient Egypt, perhaps? Maybe the Savoy Ballroom in full swing or Berlin in the ‘20s? The Cavern Club, CBGBs? Personally, I find this sort of question particularly difficult to answer, but an evening at the Armadillo World Headquarters would be a lot of fun. If you spend some time, as I have, immersing yourself in the music presented on “Buried Loot – Demos from the House of

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Cash & ‘Outlaw’ Era’ 73-’78,” I’d be surprised if you didn’t end up wishing you could have been there, as well.

Loney Hutchins was there.

Hutchins grew up in the povertystricken hills of East Tennessee, and by the mid-1960s, decided his best route out of the mountains and to university was by way of the military.

He signed up but managed to avoid Vietnam when his natural ability with numbers saw him stationed at a nuclear missile base in Arizona.

The following years saw him posted to Germany and the border with the USSR and back to the U.S. He finally found a regular posting in Kansas.

It was here that he found himself a

wife and started a band. His desire to pursue a career in music led him to quit the army and move to Nashville, where he soon found himself with a job at the House of Cash, working as a writer and, later, as manager.

During this period, Loney made the demonstration recording that we are allowed to hear now for the first time.

The music collated on “Buried Loot” is a joy of a listen, taking us back to a period in country music history that most anyone reading this article will have a reverence for.

It was both a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to interview Loney Hutchins about this album, his time at House of Cash, and

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his plans for future releases.

Here’s what he had to say.

T.S.: The recordings on “Buried Loot – Demos from the House of Cash & ‘Outlaw’ Era ‘73 – ‘78” were made as demonstrations of songs available through Johnny Cash’s publishing company House of Cash. Can you explain what your role at House of Cash was and how these songs came to be recorded? How would these recordings have been used?

L.H.: I began as a staff writer, then promoted to song plugger, then publishing manager. Writers wrote songs, and when they, or with other writers, had enough for a demo, a session was booked with available players; usually a three-hour session, the demos were used to promote to labels and artists for cuts.

T.S.: These recordings have been selected for this album from your personal tapes. What was that process like for you? What criteria did you use when selecting the songs for the final album as we hear it today? How many more recordings are there that have yet to be heard by the public?

L.H.: Every writer ended up with personal tapes of their songs. I always made sure to store them in a safe, dry space. My son, Loney John Hutchins, began archiving them in 2017.

He spent through 2018 digitizing everything I could find. When it came time to put this compilation together, he chose songs he felt both told my personal story and those that speak to the era I was working at House of Cash. There were quite a few love songs that didn’t make the cut; tunes I was writing expressly with a commercial angle in mind for other artists to cut. My son estimates there is enough material for at least two single L.P. compilations—material from the ‘70s through mid ‘80s.

T.S.: There are some first-rate players on these recordings – Buddy

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Loney Hutchins, circa 1970s, with Johnny Cash.

Emmons, DJ Fontana, Lloyd Green, to name just a few. Then there are a host of current-day musicians, including your son Loney John Hutchins, who have recorded over-dubs on some tracks. Which tracks have been over-dubbed, and why was this decision made?

L.H.: As the compilation came together, my son made the decision to embellish a small portion of the tracks to make the album have a better throughline/ listening experience. Michael Rinne (Miranda Lambert) is playing upright bass on “Who’s Gonna Be My Fire” and “Whippoorwill.”

Pete Finney (Michael Nesmith, Chris Scruggs) added steel to “Every Day’s a Monday.” Elsewhere we have Americana Fest’s 2021 instrumentalist of the year, Kristin Weber, playing violin on “Reedy Creek.” She also joined a really talented cellist, Austin Hoke, on “Hillbilly Ghetto” and “My Tennessee Hills.” It was a way to match what we felt was the great quality of some of the already produced sessions and

letting some of today’s A-teamers share in the project, as well. On the whole, very minor additions.

T.S.: Was it common practice for top-flight musicians to play on demos if they weren’t booked in on sessions, or was this just because it was House of Cash?

L.H.: Those A-Team session players worked full schedules every day if they could, usually for threehour sessions a day. It was their full-time dream job. When they weren’t booked for master sessions, they booked demo sessions. They loved the House of Cash studio.

It was grand, large, and lush; just a beautiful ambiance and a fun place to hang. Charlie Bragg was also a friend and iconic engineer.

T.S.: What was the day-to-day like at House of Cash? Who decided which songs would be taken on board? Would artists and producers come to you to see what you had, or were you taking the songs out and selling them? How did that work?

Please see HUTCHINS, Page 30

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L.H.: Day-to-day was a lot of work and a lot of play. The day started at 10 a.m. and lasted till you stopped; sometimes till you went to bed at night. I decided on songs to take in and contract, pass along to John, etc. Sometimes producers came to me, or song pluggers. I hit Music Row three or four times a week, pushing our catalog to anyone in the conduit to an artist. I always knew who was recording when and where.

There was no set way to work it.

T.S.: Some of the songs on this album were written by Johnny Cash, some by other songwriters, and some by you. Which songs are yours, and do you have a favorite?

L.H.: Two by John, one by Helen Carter, one co-written by me and Phil Gaddis, one by Hazel Smith, and the other 19 by me. Songs are like children; it’s hard to pick a favorite.

T.S.: “Committed to Parkview” was written by Johnny Cash, who would later record it for his 1976 album, “One Piece At A Time,” then again with the Highwaymen.

Porter Wagoner recorded it for his last album, “Wagonmaster,” in 2007; it became his last single. When was this demo of “Committed to Parkview” recorded? Do you recall that session? Who was playing on it? Is there a story to your recording this demo version of the song?

L.H.: “Committed to Parkview” was probably 1975. I recall the session but not specific players, though it was definitely A-Teamers. John handed me a .25” tape that he’d put a rough version of the song on. I knew the place that the song was about, and had visited someone there before.

I also knew some of the people referred to in the song. I remember feeling that I’d been entrusted with something very personal and intimate.

T.S.: This album is released on your son Loney John’s label, Cleft Music, operating as a subsidiary of your label, Appalachia Record

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The above photo of Loney Hutchins, taken by Johnny Cash, is featured on the cover of the recently-released “Buried Loot: Demos from the House of Cash and Outlaw Era,’ 73–’78.”

Co, which has been dormant for two decades. Why has it taken so long for these recordings to see the light of day? Is it just that now seems like the right time?

L.H.: I’ve always been a creator that writes or creates work… Then document for copyright or protection put them away, and continue the creative process, not looking back, always forward. That includes songs, poems, short stories, books, paintings, and other passions. Deep down, I suspected discovery but never dwelt on that. This process of discovery began with restoration to prevent deterioration, and I had promised friends and family that I’d get around to releasing an album that I had released in 1983 that was limited to 500 cassette copies that I had sold out of the trunk of my car. The rest of the resulting discovery and bringing to light is thanks to my son. I do think the timing now is perhaps better than back when, but I’ve always tried to produce work

that is timeless. The right time is unpredictable, but I think it’s similar to every good wine having its time.

T.S.: You will be releasing your 1983 album “Appalachia” on vinyl for the first time in March 2022 (the album was originally released on cassette). It must be exciting to have another album release to look forward to. Do you have an archive of other unreleased recordings we can all look forward to?

L.H.: There is a huge archive.

Plus, I haven’t stopped writing. I suspect there is enough for as many albums as we choose to put out.

Shoot, maybe even enough for most to have a career. That’s not up to me or what I want it to be. That’s up to my son, his team, and the label.

T.S.: Working at House of Cash, you met a who’s who of country music stars. What was the scene like at House of Cash? Was it very business-like, or more like a family, or a non-stop party?

L.H.: Almost anyone of note

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could or would show up there or at the lakeside room of the Cash residence. It was a combination of business, family and pleasure—a lot like year-round Christmas.

T.S.: You started working at House of Cash in 1973. Before that, you had joined the army at an early age. Was this out of a sense of patriotic duty, or was it the best way of getting to see the world outside of the holler and your Appalachian mountain home?

L.H.: The best way I could see to get out of the holler and break the bonds of poverty was to finish high school and go to college (both firsts in my family). The only path to college was the G.I. bill. That meant enlisting in the middle of the Vietnam War, as I had no other recourse. It did help that I was a patriot! I was a bookworm and had seen the world through a reader’s eyes, but getting to see it with open eyes was another plus of giving three precious years to my country.

T.S.: You got to see some of the world in the army, being stationed

in numerous places, including a missile base in Arizona and on the Soviet border in Germany. When you finally got a fixed posting at Fort Riley in Kansas, you started a band called Hickory Wind, named for the song by The Byrds. The band played music from what could be considered the country-rock side of the counterculture. Was there a point where musical life and military life became incompatible?

What finally prompted you to quit the army and move to Nashville?

L.H.: I was offered an appointment to West Point if I would reenlist and serve another eight years.

Very tempting, but something about Nashville and the music world was too embedded in my gut. I thought about New York and was aware of a developing music scene in Austin, Texas. I chose Nashville over the others, it was near home, and I knew I was good enough to make it there.

T.S.: What advice would you give to a young songwriter moving to Nashville today?

L.H.: Listen to everybody that

Loney Hutchins and the Nashville Suite

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you respect, learn from them and then listen to your own mind, heart, and rhythm. Do your own way, don’t compromise those things, and eventually, you’ll know who you are as a creator. Find a way to survive and keep your creative self free; wisdom, love, and happiness is the most important thing. Hone, hone, hone your craft. Persevere!

Believe! If you put in the work, something has to happen, and the doors will always be open to you.

T.S.: You are still playing and singing today. How often do you go out and perform? Where is your favourite place to play?

L.H.: I play and sing every day.

I’m creating every day. I’ve always been open to performing when asked! I really have no favorite place.

Any place to share myself through my music is good; anything from a nursing home, schools, festivals, special events, clubs, venues, etc.

It’s all about connecting! That can be anywhere or just one person.

T.S.: Do you listen to much new country music today? Who do you think cuts the mustard these days?

L.H.: I can’t say I listen to contemporary country radio today.

Simply because it doesn’t fill my soul or need of any kind. I never really listened to music in one place or was limited to one genre.

The innovators of any ilk, past and present, are the ones that cut the mustard. I gravitate to the standalone songwriters and singers of all genres in music. I’d say anyone that stands out today, like Chris Stapleton or Sturgill Simpson, certainly don’t need this old timer’s seal of approval!

T.S.: What records do you like to listen to when you want to relax?

L.H.: As far as singer-songwriters, I’m more apt to listen to someone like Prine or Mickey Newbury. Or a lot of Willie Nelson’s crossover stuff is really mellow. More than anything, I listen to blues or classical to relax.

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On the turnpike again

BY DONALD C. CUTLER HTT Contributor Never have the words “Coming Soon” on a website caused so much joy among middleaged country music fans.

In late November, Turnpike Troubadours relaunched their website with these two words, causing fans, meme accounts and journalists alike to speculate and giggle like a bunch of teenyboppers searching for meaning in the hot pop group’s latest haircuts.

Days later, the band announced it would headline the iconic Morrison, Colorado Red Rocks Amphitheater, again causing giggles and screams to rise from behind keyboards of weekend cowboys and honky tonkers worldwide. These screams turned to complaints when the show was sold out within minutes.

Turnpike Troubadours aren’t just any band that took a prolonged break. In the early 2000s, their music blasted onto the scene in diametric opposition to the trend of the period. With pedal steel and fiddle complemented by the driving guitar and omnipresent lyrical brilliance, their high octane style earned them a seminal place among the best of the alt-country and Red Dirt scene.

REPORT

From Page 23 months back or caught Jr. front-man Mike McDonald on TNR Podcast?

Either way, the band’s demise in the mid-’90s and 2013 reunion are well documented. Their one-off reunion show sparked a parade of bookings and re-interest in the group, and I

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They represent what so many call “real” country — whatever the hell that means — even though they “hadn’t made the Opry yet.” For me, a coastal city dweller with deep ties to Tulsa, Oklahoma, knowing every word to every Turnpike album, as they came out, was a badge of honor that gave me street cred among “real” country music fans, whoever the hell they are.

But even with their significant following and popularity, Turnpike Troubadours never really broke through to the mainstream. Were they about to do so when they took this hiatus? The market was primed for them with smarter, lyrically driven music gaining radio play and alt-country expanding its sphere of influence beyond record collecting geeks.

Around 2013, the band was touring the West Coast, and I missed them playing The Chapel in San Francisco. According to this Turnpike fanboy, this intimate room would have presented one of the coolest shows of all time. However, I did catch them on their last tour when they upgraded to the historic Fillmore Auditorium. With Charley Crockett opening, the energy in the room was akin to taking a ride on a rail fueled by trucker speed — which

I suppose might have been part of the reason this was their last set of shows.

Rumors and jokes flew through the audience after Crockett finished his explosive performance, but once Turnpike took the stage and upped the tempo, none of it mattered. This epic night of music was muted, if only a bit, when I heard about the hiatus a few weeks later. Selfishly I was pleased that I got in a show under the wire.

So now, as the band jumps back on the road, with more focus and balance, will they brush off the dust and finally bust through? Time will tell. But if the post-pandemic, sober Turnpike Troubadours can deliver the same level of performance without the off-stage distractions, the sky’s the limit.

Unsurprisingly, requests to interview the band for this article went unanswered. But what I would ask is if the carefully choreographed return and the soaring and at times glowing feature in Rolling Stone magazine represent so much of a departure from the edge that defined them and has come to mean so much to a genre that has dirt in the title.

Again time will tell, and if history serves as a guide, once they get on the stage, it won’t matter that much anyway.

suppose it’s eight years in the making, but I’ll say it’s been well worth the wait. “Still Got The Jacket” was released Nov. 12 with weewerk/Stony Plain Records and sees Jr. Gone Wild picking up right where they left off with this bitchin’ effort. Highlights include “Fool’s Errand,” “Girl In The Crowd,” and “What Can You Do.” You can find Mike McDonald as a guest of The Northern Report Podcast, Episode 026.

I’ve surely overlooked some quality releases here in this list, and by no means do I proclaim TNR’s Top 10 to be the “BEST” of the year. No blanket statements like that from me. But, I confidently say each of these albums deserves your attention and are firmly solidified as our 10 favourites of the year. Find The Northern Report 2021 Favourites Playlist on Spotify and have a safe and happy new year, friends. We’ll chat later.

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Meet the founder Q: When were you born?

A: Fifty-six years after Wynn Stewart.

Taylor Austin

Q: Where do you call home?

A: I’ve lived in a few states, but I always keep coming home to the Green Mountain State.

Q: How did you get into the magazine business?

Nobody told me I couldn’t, so I did.

Q: How did you dream up Honky Tonk Times?

A: Well, my pandemic experience was a bit different from most folks. I sell appliances during the day at a momand-pop store as my day job. Vermont shut down most businesses at the beginning of the pandemic. Most folks stayed home, but another coworker and I went in to answer the phones and help with curbside deliveries. While folks weren’t allowed in the store, I brought in a turntable, and we listened to records all day while painting and doing different projects between phone calls.

Anyway, while most folks were home going crazy, we were working six 10 to 12 hour days for what turned out to be eight weeks. During that time, I ended up coming home and sorting through some things I had picked up over the

CANTIERI

years. One of them was a publication called “Cowboy Songs” from the 1950s.

Something clicked in my brain, and I said to myself, “Self, you ought to find who is doing this for the new singers.”

It turns out there is only one other print magazine doing that, and it wasn’t quite what I envisioned. So I set out to do it. Nobody told me I couldn’t. So I did. I have funded it all out of my own pocket, and I’m pretty damn proud of it.

Q; Who are some of your favorite classic country artists?

A: Ray Price is my all-time favorite.

I even have a test pressing of an album from 1977 that was never released.

On it are a few tracks that were never released, period. Most of them did appear on a later album or as a single.

Q: Who are your favorite current honky tonk artists?

I wouldn’t dare answer this question to tell you the truth. Everyone we have put in this magazine. All the ones I have seen in person. All those who put their heart and soul into what they do. I truly don’t have just one favorite, and I wouldn’t want to forget anyone because they all deserve the top spot in my eyes.

Q: What two albums would you say are a must-have for any country fan?

and three pedals. For the working musician in Nashville, that’s what works for me. I can’t justify carrying From Page 27 that much stuff around. And, I sound better if I can focus on playing And finally, I use a delay made by a Brazilian company; it’s called Echoes. instead of stepping on a pedal between every change or chorus.”

It’s a tap-tempo delay that I can use Cantieri is excited to get back for whatever settings I need live, like on the road again. “Scott just had longer delays to slap-back echo.

“And that’s about it—a guitar amp a baby, so he’s trying to be around

JANUARY 2022

Honky Tonk Times Founder Taylor Austin A: Ray Price’s “Night Life.” I love that album so much. I even have the lyrics to “Night Life” on my jacket. Also, “Live At Charlie O’s” by the Starline Rhythm Boys. The boys are the catalyst of what got me back into country music.

I’m proud to call them friends and think everyone should have that album!

Q: What do you do in your spare time?

A: Spare time, what’s that? I’m usually doing something musicrelated. Whether it’s going to a honky tonk show or working on my album collection. I have about 4,000 honky tonk albums and growing. I also play pool and enjoy photography.

Nashville more, so it might be a bit before we go on a long tour again,” he says. “There are plans to go to Viva Las Vegas next year, and we’ll plan some gigs around that. We’ve been talking about going to Texas for a long time. Our drummer, Nathan Place, is from Texas, and we’ve never played there. I’ve never even been, and I’d love to go.”

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Meet the editor

Molly Haines

Q: Where do you call home?

A: Home always has and will always be Kentucky. In the words of Guy Clark, “There wouldn’t be no Kentucky if you didn’t stick to it.”

Q: When did you start listening to country music?

A: Country music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

There were multiple record players in my family’s farmhouse growing up. My dad listened to Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, where mom had Merle Haggard and The Statler Brothers. I became entranced by the stories those guys told and started digging for more.

My parents would take my brother Ben and I to a nearby flea market, and we would load up on $1 records several times a year. We couldn’t get enough. It became such a fascination that I would sit for hours reading the liner notes, or “The Country Music Encyclopedia.” To this day, nothing makes me happier than learning some new (to me) nugget of country music history or hearing a song I can’t believe I hadn’t heard before.

Q: How did you get into the editing business?

A: I grew up in a rural part of Kentucky where there weren’t a lot of kids my age around. I had to have something to do, so I would dream up all kinds of stories. After I got older, I started jotting bits and pieces down. At 14, I was introduced to Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and after that, I never had a desire to do anything but write. The summer I graduated from high school, the newspaper in the next county over needed what was then referred to as a “typesetter” and hired me for what should have been about a three-month stint but

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wound up turning into a 12-year-long career. About two months in, I started getting bylines and was named managing editor six years later. I’m not sure that I chose journalism; I think journalism chose me, but ink is in my veins now, and I suspect I’ll always have a passion for journalistic-type writing and editing.

Q: When and how did you get your start with Honky Tonk Times?

A: After I left the paper in May 2020, I was absolutely drained and exhausted – mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I won’t go into the gory details of the newspaper business just suffice to say it’s a rough go these days. But as I said, ink is in my veins, and in less than a year, I was itching to get back into it in one way or the other. My buddy Don Sticksel (AKA @bothkindsofmusic) started posting about Honky Tonk Times on his social media platforms, and I reached out wanting to know more. He put me in touch with Taylor, and I was assigned to the Living Legends beat. As Taylor’s vision grew, he required some additional help and I offered first to edit and later to do layout. It’s a perfect fit because it combines my two great passions: writing and country music.

Q: Who are some of your favorite classic country artists?

A: Merle Haggard, Faron Young, Hank Williams, and Porter Wagoner would top that list, only because it’s too cliché to say, “all of ‘em.”

Q: Who are some of your favorite current honky tonk artists?

A: I love Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay, together and as individual artists. Chuck Mead is a big favorite of mine, along with Robbie Fulks, Mike

Honky Tonk Times Editor Molly Haines and the Moonpies, and Zephaniah OHora. Sierra Ferrell’s debut release gets a lot of play at my house also.

If you’ve never heard Jason D. Williams’ album, “Hillbillies and Holy Rollers,” 10/10 would recommend.

Q: What two albums would you say are must-haves for any country fan?

A: If you never listened to a country album in your life, I would immediately hand you the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

I’m not sure there’s another album out there where you can hear the songs that made country music and some of its history all in one sitting. And since this is Honky Tonk Times, I think it’s only fair that my second recommendation is Gary Stewart’s 1975 “Out of Hand.” It’s a half-hour of 100 proof, unadulterated, hard-driving honky tonk. In the shortlived “Honky Tonk Magazine” (circa 1981), Christopher Allfirst had this to say of Stewart: “Gary’s singing voice might be described as an Americangothic vibrato yodel with just a touch of the old dying-swan-tremolo warble.” I mean, really. what more could you want?

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