The liner notes of the expanded Varèse Sarabande reissue of the Mamas and Papas mastermind’s solo debut John Phillips [John, the Wolfking of L.A.] divulge a long-buried anecdote. None other than Elvis Presley rode motorcycles with Phillips in Palm Springs, heard a demo of Wolfking before its April 1970 distribution on Dunhill Records, and wanted to record the Top 40 country rock hit “Mississippi.” Colonel Tom Parker vetoed the notion, indignant that his sole client would wanna associate with a damn hippie.

An unlikely teaming upon first glance, but the counterculture folk rocker also hailed from the South and was…

How do you accurately introduce an artist who has conquered one musical genre after another without skipping a beat? In the case of legendary singer B.J. Thomas, firmly ensconced in his sixth decade as a recording artist, perhaps it is best to start with a list of his accomplishments.

Since 1966, 46 of his singles have appeared on Billboard’s pop, country, and adult contemporary charts. Of those, 14 went Top 40 on the pop chart, while 5 more climbed into the Top 10 on the country chart. By the late ’70s, the singer’s groundbreaking Contemporary Christian albums were also setting…

That’s Tony Brown’s boogie woogie piano licks anchoring Elvis Presley’s final single “Way Down.” Entering the entertainment field as a Southern Gospel accompanist, by the nineties Brown had transitioned into a Nashville power player presiding over MCA and Universal South. His production credits range from George Strait, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Lionel Richie, to boatloads more. Prior to Barry Gibb’s reimagined duets LP Greenfields exceeding expectations with a Top 3 placement on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, Brown met with the “New York Mining Disaster 1941” song weaver at his Miami home. …

“Two and a Half Men was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” Jennifer Taylor refuses to knock the bawdy, perpetually clever 30-minute sitcom that launched her into the living rooms of 15 million viewers over two seasons. As no-nonsense brunette bombshell Chelsea Melini, she loved freelance jingle writer and constant philanderer Charlie Harper “for who he was despite some of his crap.”

Before joining Two and a Half Men’s sixth season in 2008, the sole female player on her 10th grade football team had spent eight financially uncertain years slogging through occasional guest turns in movies…

When not supervising Blu-ray commentary tracks for such action flicks as The Valachi Papers and Chino, two-time Charles Bronson biographer Paul Talbot found the time to grapple with the bullshit-eschewing Death Wish architect’s early sagebrush sojourns Empire and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. That kindled a page-turning romp through other infrequently examined facets of Bronson’s 50-year career on a Tinseltown marquee. Ride back to the past chapter of the interview [“Scholar Paul Talbot Chronicles Badass Action Hero Charles Bronson”] if you’re just joining the rodeo.

“Do You Believe This Town” was Roy Clark’s overlooked July 1968 social commentary on covert rural prejudice, recorded several months before Jeannie C. Riley’s much-ballyhooed “Harper Valley P.T.A.” A nameless pastoral community is not as it seems. Town pillars, from the mayor to the chief of police, are knee-deep in hypocrisy. The church deacon “preaches brotherly love every Sunday, and forecloses loans on widows’ homes every Monday.” The final verse is even more scathing — “Do you believe they burned a house down yesterday…if the folks who lived there had a-known their place, they could still be hangin’ around.” The…

The Gene Watson Interview, Part One

You’re a natural entertainer, but does stage fright ever rear its head?

It’s not a problem for me. Way down deep inside I’ve always been a people’s person. The audience makes up so much of my show. I go onstage and be myself. I never plan out a show or what song will be next. I always play it straight off the cuff and take note of whatever vein the crowd’s in. We try our best to do what the people wanna hear, and it usually works pretty good.

Was that always the case?

You do have to go through…

The death of Jimmie Rodgers at age 87 from kidney disease and COVID-19 complications on Jan. 18, 2021, prompted a deep dive into his discography. Between 1957 and 1967, the Camas, Washington-raised artist accumulated 14 Top 40 Billboard singles such as “Honeycomb” [No. 1], “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” [No. 7], “Oh-Oh, I’m Falling In Love Again” [No. 7], “Secretly” [No. 3], “Are You Really Mine?” [No. 10], and “Bimbombey” [No. 11]. Rodgers’ composition “It’s Over” [No. …