Category Archives: Songwriting

UPDATE: ‘Maple Sugar Sweetheart’

Posted on February 13, 2022 by cousinlynn953

Back when I posted about Ward Allen‘s wonderful fiddle tune ‘Maple Sugar’ and the lyrics Hank LaRiviere (‘Hank Rivers’) penned for it, there was no video available of Hank’s original 1960 record, ‘Maple Sugar Sweetheart’. I linked to a version … Continue reading →

Posted in Country History, Follow-ups, Songwriting | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Remember Angel Train? They Were Live on April 22, 1989!

Posted on June 25, 2021 by cousinlynn953

ANOTHER ARCHIVAL HILLBILLY AT HARVARD Anyone remember the band Angel Train? They were singer Diane Cannon, from Maine, guitarist Rick Plant, from Cambridge, bassist Tom Miller, originally from New Jersey, and drummer Jamie DeCato of Boston. Angel Train had just … Continue reading →

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Reelin’ Back to 1989, with Lincoln and Larry Live in Studio A!

Posted on June 2, 2021 by cousinlynn953

ANOTHER ARCHIVAL HILLBILLY AT HARVARD The metal reel on Revox tape recorder looks perturbed, but I prefer to think it’s singing. The slow-moving (3 3/4 ips) reels are regaling me with music from 1989 (two hours of The Down Home … Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia, Follow-ups, Hillbilly History, Hillbilly Journal, Program Notes, Radio Talk, Record Business, Songwriting | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Billy Joe Shaver Lives Forever

Posted on February 27, 2021 by cousinlynn953

Some years ago when Billy Joe Shaver was in town, Steve Morse, then of The Boston Globe, described him as “an American original.” I don’t know whether Steve invented the phrase; it has become so commonplace of late it sounds … Continue reading →

Posted in Country History, Country News, Hillbilly History, Hillbilly Journal, Songwriting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Willie, John T, and Me

Posted on November 1, 2020 by cousinlynn953

In which Willie sits around in his underwear, his friend John T sells sheets to the KLan, and I get suspended. Back on September 26th, a listener to one of our prerecorded shows (I’ll call him ‘Mr S’), wrote to … Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia, Country History, Hillbilly Journal, Program Notes, Radio Talk, Songwriting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

HAH History: Sinc and Dave Interview Patty Loveless in 1994

Posted on September 10, 2020 by cousinlynn953

Cousin Dave Schmalz hosted Hillbilly at Harvard with Ol’ Sinc from c. 1966 (see The Committee Saves the Show) into 1975, when Dave moved to Holland, and I came back from hither and yon.  Sadly, as I mentioned on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Country History, Hillbilly History, Hillbilly Journal, Radio Talk, Record Business, Songwriting | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Stuart and Stinson Celebrate Nashville’s ‘Duchess’, NC&StL No. 576

Posted on October 3, 2019 by cousinlynn953

Since 1953, Nashville, Chattanooga & Saint Louis locomotive no. 576 has adorned Nashville’s Centennial Park. It was the last of the 20 class J3 4-8-4 (‘Dixie’) steam engines built by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) for the NC&StL (abbreviated ‘NC’) … Continue reading →

Posted in Country History, Country News, Songwriting | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Pickin’ on Ninnies

Posted on July 7, 2019 by cousinlynn953

Saturday a listener named Liz posted a comment on the Paper and Pen page. I was going to respond there, but then decided that the question was important enough to merit a post. Liz wrote: “When the pickaninnies pick the … Continue reading →

Posted in Country History, Program Notes, Songwriting | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Extra! Fiddlin’ John Carson Played Tex’s ‘Christmas Time’ in 1927!

Posted on December 19, 2018 by cousinlynn953

Well, sort of. After I played Tex Logan fiddling his composition, ‘Christmas Time’s a-Comin’’ with The Lane Brothers, followed by Bill Monroe’s classic first recording of the song, listener Paul Murphy emailed me with this news (reprinted with his permission): … Continue reading →

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The Whiskey Gentry’s Dead Ringer—Is Lauren Staley!

Posted on October 26, 2018 by cousinlynn953

Hits and Misses 8 “It was a face I’d seen a thousand times at every Derby I’d been to.  I saw it, in my head, as the mask of the whiskey gentry – a pretentious mix of booze, failed dreams, … Continue reading →

Posted in Hits and Misses, Songwriting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment