Here I am sitting knee deep in a stack of CDs, furiously trying to make a dent in this current batch that still needs reviewing. I then realize, it’s the end of the month already- when editorial time rolls around, and I haven’t had even a minute’s time to contemplate a topic. Then it suddenly dawned on me, being buried in enough work to keep me busy (not to mention safely out of trouble) for weeks to come, makes for the perfect topic!

Let’s backtrack the last decade or so. Up until about ‘92, I’d turn on the radio, and I’d hear Haggard, Jones, Cash, Don Williams, Conway Twitty, Johnny Lee, Randy Travis, George Strait, Tanya Tucker, Roseanne Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Reba, Waylon & Willie, Hank Jr., Eddie Rabbitt, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Holly Dunn, John Denver, Patty Loveless...in other words, a little bit of EVERYTHING. Then at some point in ‘92, this thing they called "Young Country" took over the airwaves, and suddenly no more Haggard, Jones, Waylon or Willie. No more Eddie Rabbitt, John Denver, Holly Dunn, Hank Jr., Roseanne Cash, Conway Twitty or Johnny Lee. Some of those that broke through in the mid to late 80's were still being played- Randy Travis, George Strait, Patty Loveless, Lorrie Morgan, Dwight Yoakam, Rodney Crowell, and Tanya was going through a renaissance, so she was still being played, as were "the new kids on the block"- Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks and Travis Tritt. But even so, with the exception of the latter 4 artists, most of the others were taking a back seat to all these new names that were unfamiliar. Needless to say, this abrupt change caused quite an uproar, and people vigorously protested the sudden ban of our legends, and other artists we came to depend on, who put out the music we loved, as well as no longer being able to hear all our favorite songs.

Our complaints fell on deaf ears. After all, it was explained to us, no one stays on the airwaves forever. Every artist eventually fades away. Yeah ok, we understand this- but they usually fade off slowly over time, and not abruptly, all at the same time. Besides which, most of the artists no longer being played were still charting. And what’s the problem with still playing old favorites mixed in with the newer music? No one ever got any kind of justifiable answer, but the final answer was- this is the new format, and this is the way it’s going to be, so get over it and get used to it.

Ok, I deeply missed hearing Waylon & Willie, Hank Jr. and Don Williams, but to be honest, most of these "new guys" weren’t too bad. Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Byrd, Joe Diffie, Sammy Kershaw, Brooks & Dunn, The Mavericks, The Kentucky Headhunters...John Anderson and Tanya Tucker made "comebacks"...Yeah, some of them brought new sounds to the table, but they were still good. And after enough wrangling, the station eventually gave us Sunday nights to hear all the stuff they didn’t play anymore via "The Sunday Night Oldies Show." It wasn’t the same, and these artists and songs were still sorely missed in the regular rotation- but at least it was something.

Then misfortune struck, and Garth became an inexplicable phenomenon (apologies to anyone that’s a fan, but I stopped listening to Brooks after his second album). Soon country themed bars and clubs started appearing by the dozens, and with them came dozens of unremarkable, forgettable "hat act" clones. By the end of about ‘94, Reba had turned decidedly "Vegas" pop, there was NO escaping the "G" word no matter how hard one tried, and the endless parade of faux cowboy hatted clones had grown tiresome and BORING. The shining stars that appeared in the early 90's started to sound redundant and formulaic. Apparently all the "trendies" got bored too, because as fast all they all opened, all the "country clubs" shuttered their doors. Ok we thought, now it was time to get back to business.

However, just when we thought things were going to make a change for the better, de-regulation struck and corporations started consuming each other, buying up everything in sight to be the king of the hill. Playlists got even shorter, as did the roster of songs and artists that were played, until it drove perfectly sane people completely mad. And just when we thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, in rides Shania and her "bubblegum pop disguised as <cough, gasp> country music" gang, with their silly girl-power anthems and sappy, schmaltzy AC love songs. To counter balance the multitude of women that took over the airwaves, they invented the "sensitive guy" singers, who sang of love and happily-ever-afters. By the end of ‘96, I’d completely surrendered- I just couldn’t take it anymore, so off went the radio. I wanted to dance on the tables with Jose Cuervo, I wanted to hear George Jones rip my heart out, I wanted to hear why people shouldn’t let their babies grow up to be cowboys.

So here I was left holding my vinyls and CDs from the past, with nothing new to look forward to in sight. I’d put on TNN or CMT, they at least still played a somewhat broader range of songs than radio did, and would usually play a new video by an unproven act at least a couple of times before they’d drop it because radio wouldn’t play the artist. That’s how I stumbled upon Dale Watson, through a video I only ever saw them air once, but I was sold- and forever hooked. I managed to find his CD, and would keep on the lookout for any subsequent ones he released. Ditto with artists like Kevin Welch and Kieran Kane, but there wasn’t a whole lot to be found locally, but I scrounged up what I could find. Then came that wondrous day when I got connected to the Worldwide Web. I began surfing and searching. I knew I wasn’t the only one that was disgusted, and there just had to be something else out there. Before I knew it, there it was right before me. Artists that I thought had long stopped recording, I found hadn’t, and I'd found a list a mile long of artists I’d never heard of, from far away lands like...Texas, Oklahoma, California, Georgia, Virginia- and even Tennessee. I started visiting their websites, which in turn provided links to other like minded artists- I was like a kid in a candy store. Soon names like Morrow, Marchman, Alverson, Burleson, Wallace, Bosworth, Robison, Burns, Blaker, to name a few, started getting added to my collection, and it grew by leaps and bounds, and has continued to do so- all without the benefit of "country" radio, "CMT" or major labels.

And here for all that time, I’d given up all hope that there was any real country music left, and that it was all but dead. Instead what I found was that country music, the real kind, was far from dead, and was actually in some pretty danged great shape- it had just gone "underground." Little did I realize, when I was given the opportunity to join the TCB staff, that I’d only hit the very tip of the iceberg on my own. Sadly, at the moment, you have to search it out, but it is there, in great abundance.

The list is far too long to mention everyone individually, but y’all know who you are: A huge thank you to all our legends and long established, well respected artists for hanging in there, keepin’ on keepin’ on. Much gratitude goes to those artists that have been kicking around a while, and though they haven’t hit the "big time," they keep on plugging away at it, never giving up or compromising their music, or their belief in the music. And a big thanks to all the new kids on the block, for having the love, belief and desire to carry on and make sure the torch never burns out. It’s hard work, and I’m sure many times feels like thankless work wondering if anyone’s listening. Rest assured, we are listening, and there’s more of us out here than you might ever imagine. We’re savoring every note, every lyric, every song, every album, and passing the word on...country music IS indeed very much alive and doing just fine.

And given that fact, it’s now about time to get back to work...and believe me, absolutely no complaints here. Nope, not by a longshot.