I presented Tommy’s song “I Made The Prison Band” to almost 3500 people today, and each day more people express their love for real country music by joining our effort, and I certainly appreciate it.

Here is Tommy Collins from 1968:

This week’s show started with Leslie Sloan singing “Honky Tonk Hangover” from her CD “Between The Whisky And The Wine”. Leslie writes her own blog where you can always keep up on what’s going on.

Leona Williams performed the second song of the night “New Patches”, a song written by Tommy Collins. A gifted songwriter herself, Leona Williams was once married to Merle Haggard. As the third song of the night Leona chose “Blue Darlin’”, a song from her CD titled “I Love You Because“.

As the fourth song of the night on Tru Country, Leona thrilled everyone with “Guitar Pickin’ Man”, after which an interview with Leona was very interesting. During the interview Leona talked about feeling like she was being taken for granted. In 1983 she put her thoughts on paper, writing a #1 song for Merle Haggard titled “You Take Me For Granted”, and performed the song as the fifth and final song of the night.

After seeing the interview, and listening carefully, “You Take Me For Granted” by Leona Williams was very touching.

You can visit the official Leona Williams website to learn more about her. I’m sure you will find her bio very interesting, and Leona is a true professional. Her experience in the music business is very impressive, and she still holds Merle Haggard in high esteem.

Episode thirteen of Tru Country was a joy to watch. Band members are Bobby Flores on fiddle, Jim Loessberg on steel guitar, Jake Hooker on upright bass, Bob Gothar on lead guitar, Larry Mitchell on drums, and Bodie (Bode) Barker on piano.

To watch music videos by many of the artists on Tru Country and other stars of Texas visit the Stars Of Texas video library at The Country Classics.

Tru Country from the Circle T Arena in Hamilton Texas is on RFD TV every Friday at 12:30pm and 10:30pm CST, with replays on Sunday at 1:30pm and 2:30pm EST. The show features traditional country music at its best. You can order CD’s by calling 1-800-371-4121, or by mail. The address is TruCountry, PO Box 1422, Brady TX, 76825. You can also go to the TruCountry website to hear previews and to order.

“Legends of Country Music” is a 90-minute tribute to music from 30 Nashville greats, including Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard, George Strait and Martina McBride. Singers highlight around 60 No. 1 hits from the 1950s through 1990s, and some of the band members have traveled with the same famous artists they pay tribute to. The all-ages concert also includes what promoters call “a little bit of gospel” and a “touching tribute to patriotism.”

Tickets are $15 in advance if purchased at Apache Junction Chamber of Commerce, 567 W. Apache Trail, or Food City, 1477 W. Apache Trail. Tickets cost $30 if purchased at the door on the day of the show.

The last time the concert came to Apache Junction two shows were soldout and over 100 people were turned away. It’s good to see such interest in classic and traditional country music.

For information, call (928) 202-2977 or visit www.countryprideproductions.com.

I was watching an episode of “The Dog Wisperer” the other night wherein a woman and her daughter had to go to Wasco California. “Where is Wasco?”, she asked. But Merle Haggard knows exactly where Wasco is, and wrote a song titled “I’m A Radiator Man From Wasco.” If you don’t believe me you can look it up yourself.

The point is when Merle Haggard sings about “singing a new song I’d wrote on the way into town” he is serious. Merle travelled up and down Highway 99 in California.

You can read or download this PDF file to learn much more about Bakersfield’s country music scene and new rising stars of the day like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

Here is Merle Haggard with “Makeup And Faded Blue Jeans”. The song is just as honest as the day is long. Listen to the words:

At the end of the song Merle mentions playing at the Blackboard, and later that night at Lu-Tal studios (Lu-Tal Records).

You can read or download this PDF file to learn much more about Bakersfield’s country music scene and new rising stars of the day like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

I can’t say much about the video but the song is great, so let’s turn Merle Haggard loose with “A Bar In Bakersfield”:

This is part 1 of our series about Merle Hagagrd and the Bakersfield sound. Part 2 is “Makeup And Faded Blue Jeans” by Merle.

When the incident happened I thought the Kanye West – Taylor Swift incident should be ignored. Today I think Swift may have caused some of the problem, playing it for all the marketing and air time possible.

In June 2009 Gangsta Taylor Swift made her debut as T-Swizzy with T-Pain at the CMT Awards in Nashville this week with the song “Thug Story (a play on her hit “Love Story”), reports Rolling Stone magazine. She also cleaned up quite nicely at the awards show. The Chicago Tribune reports her Romeo-Juliet “Love Story” won the 19-year-old singer her “second straight pair of fan-dictated awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year.”

If that is the image you want, and the crowd you want to run with, then you shouldn’t be shocked when the same crowd disses you, steps on your moment, and acts like jackasses. (ABC News reporter Terry Moran claims that during a CNBC interview on Monday — off camera of course — Barack Obama referred to Kanye West as a “jackass” for his behavior.)

Kanye apparently found the award to be such an injustice that he got on stage, grabbed the microphone, and announced to the audience that Beyonce’s video was “one of the best of all time.”

Taylor was so shocked that she was unable to finish her speech.

Shocked? Swift opened the door long before Gangsta Swift in June. Shocked? Ill-prepared, or perhaps failed to read the crowd, but there is no excuse for being shocked.

I always stay away from Nashville – Texas discussions. I try to stay away from “new country versus classic country” arguments. Young versus old, seasoned veterans versus newcomers – to argue any of those points is a no-win situation. To do so implies there are only two alternatives when in fact there are more.

The Kanye West – Taylor Swift uproar simply reinforces the fact that I do not need conflict in my life when I am listening to great country music. While many of the lyrics mention conflict and sorrow, the music is in perfect harmony with the lives of real people.

I invite you to listen to Merle Haggard performing a very touching song. Just listen to the words. The song is “In My Next Life (I’ll make you proud of me)”

On my personal blog I have a video of Tommy during the bad days. From time to time I watch the video, but then I watch Tommy during the good days, and I watch videos like Merle Haggard performing Tommy’s “Roots Of My Raising.”

After talking with Liz Talley yesterday, I am reminded of the venues that are important to our kind of music. My memories take me back to those who poured out their life, heart, and soul for the music.

Tommy Collins is no exception. While Merle said a lot with “Leonard”, Tommy said a lot with his songs. Here is “You Better Not Do That”

There is simplicity in the words:

There’s bashful Bill on the dog house bass, Willie on the steel guitar

He hails from Pocatello and he drags a pretty mean bar

Back on the drums there’s two-time Tom, our rimshot tempo man

And the boys call me their singing MC since I made the prison band

You can hear the song on the Tommy Collins Leonard CD, which is an import. It is a five-disc set, and you’ll hear duets with Wanda Collins, Tommy’s wife at the time. See it at CD Universe

If you remember the words to Merle Haggard’s “Leonard,” Merle said the name was one that Tommy never used.

In keeping my honky tonk roots, I vote for “I Made The Prison Band” as our featured song of the day here at The Country Classics.

UPDATE and Followup: Merle has recovered completely and resumed his normal schedule. Here is the rest of the original article:

Our prayers are with Merle Haggard at this time, as always. On November 9th Reuters gave us the news about Merle, saying he was fighting lung cancer. He was a former smoker. Merle decided he would not fight the problem, but his family later prevailed and Merle had surgery in Bakersfield California. Some of you may remember Merle Haggard’s quotes before he toured with Willie Nelson and Ray Price. To paraphrase, Merle said if it was not a successful tour he would retire. Last of the Breed was a well received tour and CD.

Merle Haggard is 71, Ray Price is 82, and Willie Nelson is 75.

I think it’s time for Vernon Oxford and “Power In The Blood”

Artists drove from one radio station to another, promoting their music while hoping the DJ’s would play their songs. It was a tough life in un-airconditioned cars that were often crammed full of instruments. (Merle Haggard told of a night when he and his band were almost killed driving.)

Lefty was born on March 31, 1928 and we lost him on July 19, 1975 when he had a massive stroke. He was 47 years old. In 1970 Lefty Frizzell moved to famous Bakersfield California and later inspired some of the greats like Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. Lefty had a string of hits while releasing over 80 songs.

We are featuring a song that gets plenty of air play on Willie’s Place, XM-13, owned by Willie Nelson. To hear this song we get help from CD Universe and Muze Tunes, where you can hear sample tracks including “Saginaw Michigan”, “Just Can’t Live That Fast Any More” ( a song that probably came from the heart as Lefty battled alcoholism) and of course “I Never Go Around Mirrors”. Here are the sample tracks

Here is the Youtube video of Lefty Frizzell and “I Never Go Around Mirrors”, with a little help from Merle Haggard: