“I was gonna write a speech,” Johnson said as he took the podium. “But like everything else I did while I was here at Jacksonville State I have procrastinated until the last possible second.”
It’s a bit ironic that it’s a band from Alabama that most famously explained the importance of the fiddle to music from Texas, but few if anyone will complain how they did it, and 40 years ago today.
Where in the world has Wade Hayes been? He’s been hiding in the same dark honky tonk on the edge of town as actual county music for the last decade or so. How country is his latest record Who Saved Who? The title track is about the love of his dog if that gives you any indication. That’s to say his newest album is unapologetically country.
The stereotypical observation about the classic side of the country music divide is that classic fans only like music because it’s old and sounds old, and only hate the new music of today because it sounds new. But the truth of the matter is country music’s past has plenty of bad music, eras marked by disappointment and poor trends, and songs and artists that time has not been very kind to.