
John Emil List was a man of faith. He read the Bible daily, taught Sunday school and prayed often. He did everything he could to shelter his wife and three children within the Lutheran faith. Though he failed, it is the way he dealt with his failure for which he will be remembered. John's mother had been a hatmaker and part-time nurse. When her widowed cousin fell ill, she nursed him back to health, and they eventually married. At the time she was 40, he was 20 years her senior. She bore one child, John, whom she [...]

Here we are at last - thirty different covers of "Tonight You Belong To Me" which was written in 1926; beautiful words by Billy Rose, music by Lee David. I couldn't find the original recording by Irving Kaufman, but this one by Gene Austin is absolutely lovely. It does contain what I take to be the original opening lyrics, which are rarely included in later versions. Once more we meet, You look so sweet Dear, can't you see how I feel?. I love you still, I always will You have the same old appeal. [...]

Here we are at last - thirty different covers of "Tonight You Belong To Me" which was written in 1926; beautiful words by Billy Rose, music by Lee David. I couldn't find the original recording by Irving Kaufman, but this one by Gene Austin is absolutely lovely. It does contain what I take to be the original opening lyrics, which are rarely included in later versions. Once more we meet, You look so sweet Dear, can't you see how I feel?. I love you still, I always will You have the same old appeal. [...]

Hank Snow, another of the Nudie Suit -wearing, honky tonkin' stars of early post-war country music is, for Peter Guralnick, a pair with Ernest Tubb. Both were profoundly shaped by their early exposure to Jimmie Rodgers, and worked to maintain his legacy (most notably at the Jimmie Rodgers Country Music Festival, annually in his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi). Both served long apprenticeships prior to "making it" in mainstream country, including unsuccessful stints in Hollywood trying to fit the Gene Autry mold. Both encapsulated the "Golden age" country sound, a sound that was the face of [...]