Legendary Songwriter Dallas Frazier Passes Away At The 82

The first major sad announcement from the world of country music for 2022 came today (January 14) with the news of the passing of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Dallas Frazier. 

Frazier’s family announced on Facebook that the songwriting legend died this morning from complications of a stroke he suffered late last year.

Dallas June Frazier was born October 27, 1939 in Spiro, Oklahoma.  His parents went to California, landing the youngster in Bakersfield.  There he discovered the fertile ground of the Bakersfield sound, performing when he was just 14.

His first songwriting hit was hardly a country standard:  the Hollywood Argyles’ novelty hit “Alley Oop.”  The road was paved, however, and soon Frazier was writing and performing songs that would last generations.

One of them was another novelty-type song Frazier wrote and recorded in the late 50s:  “Elvira.” That song is now legendary, thanks to the #1 version by the Oak Ridge Boys in 1981. 

Frazier’s composition list reads like a compilation album of country’s greatest hits: “Beneath Still Waters” (Emmylou Harris), “All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)” (Charley Pride), “Fourteen Carat Mind” (Gene Watson), and “What’s Your Mama’s Name” (Tanya Tucker).  

In 1967 he received the first “song of the year” award from the CMA for the Jack Greene hit “There Goes My Everything.”  He was also nominated for a Grammy for that tune.  A devoted Christian, Frazier reworked the song into a praise song, “He Is My Everything.”  It was first recorded by Roy Clark on Clark’s gospel album The Magnificent Sanctuary Band.  Jack Greene frequently did “He Is My Everything” after “There Goes My Everything” while performing on the Opry.

In 1988, a dozen years after his induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Frazier walked away from music.  He became a full-time minister at Grace Community Fellowship in White House, Tennessee.

While he should have been in the Country Music Hall of Fame a good 20 years or so ago, that honor, when it comes, will be posthumous.

Farewell to the legendary Dallas Frazier, who was 82

K.F. Raizor, author of the website Raizor's Edge and the book We Can't Sing and We Ain't Funny: The World of Homer and Jethro is our guest writer today on That Nashville Sound. She's ever so gracious to provide wonderful tributes to honor those to whom the music we treasure just wouldn't be the same without. Thank you, K.F.

Gene Watson Invited To Become Next Member of Grand Ole Opry

Country music legend Gene Watson was surprised on stage at the Ryman Auditorium during the Grand Ole Opry last night by Opry member Vince Gill with an invitation to become an official Opry member. Watson, whose hits including “Fourteen Carat Mind” and “Farewell Party” have become country standards, made his Opry debut 55 years ago at age 21 on the Ryman stage.

“He’s one of the greatest country singers that’s walked the earth,” Gill said, introducing Watson on stage to perform. After Watson performed “Sometimes I Get Lucky and Forget” and “Nothing Sure Looked Good On You” Gill asked, “Would you mind singing ‘Farewell Party’? The Opry told me if you would, you could be the next member of the Grand Ole Opry.” A nearly speechless Gene replied, “I’m not sure I have anything left after that kind of surprise” and then gave an outstanding performance that kept the sold-out crowd on its feet.

“The Opry strives to showcase an array of musical styles in every show,” said Dan Rogers, Vice President and Executive Producer, Grand Ole Opry. “When Gene Watson steps onto the Opry stage, fans know they are going to hear one of the most respected traditional country singers of all time. For years, we’ve watched him wow audiences in the crowd and fellow artists backstage. He’s been committed to the Opry for decades, and we look forward to him becoming an official member of the family. Plus, when all is said and done, you just can’t beat that last note of ‘Farewell Party.’”

Watson, a native of Houston, Texas, has been thrilling audiences for more than 50 years. His tally of 75 charted titles, 23 Top 10 hits, six No. 1 country records and three No. 1 gospel hits has led to membership in the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and the Houston, TX Music Hall of Fame.

Here's the moment of his invitation last night on stage...

Erin Enderlin To Release Faulkner County On November 1

Artist: Erin Enderlin
Album: Faulkner County
Label: Black Crow/Blaster Records
Release date: November 1, 2019

She's a writer for Nashville royalty, the kind that appreciate the depth and emotional power of a good classic country song. Among those she's written for include the likes of Reba McEntire, Joey+Rory, Terri Clark, Randy Travis, Lee Ann Womack, Rhonda Vincent, Alan Jackson and Bill Anderson.

She's also a storytelling artist- whose last project, Whiskeytown Crier, was a critically-acclaimed album filled with stories only further exemplify Enderlin’s fantastic ability to carve something out of the trials and tribulations of small-town America.

This time around on her next album coming out November 1 called Faulkner County, Enderlin receives storytelling help from some friends, as she is joined on a few tracks by Dillon Carmichael (“Whatever Gets You Through The Night”), Vince Gill and Alison Krauss (“Sweet Emmylou”) and Ronnie Bowman on a gorgeous and faithful rendering of the Gene Watson’s “Use Me Again.”

To know Erin a little bit is to know about Faulkner County. The proud Conway, Arkansas native might call Nashville home these days, but her Razorback roots run deep. In June, she took home three Arkansas Country Music Awards including Female Vocalist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

On the influence that her hometown had on her music, Enderlin says, "I think it was very influential. I brought a Conway Twitty record to show and tell when I was in kindergarten, and I am sure part of the reason I gravitated toward it because it was Conway. When you are little, you don’t know how to make different associations … plus there is a really strong music base in Arkansas: Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell. Growing up around all the other Arkansas writers, singer-songwriters, it definitely influenced the music I was making. Dan Clanton, for instance, an Arkansas singer-songwriter, he’s the one that showed me you don’t need the pick. Put the pick away and learn how to do the finger-pickin’ first. That’s been a huge influence on my playing, and my sound. I think there is a rich storytelling tradition in general in Arkansas. My grandparents were big into that, so I think that also really influenced me."

Track listing:

1 I Can Be Your Whiskey
2 Whatever Gets You Through the Night
3 The Queen of Marina Del Rey
4 Tonight I Don't Give a Damn
5 Use Me Again
6 Broken
7 Hell Comin' Down
8 A Man with 18 Wheels
9 Hometown Jersey
10 Till It's Gone
11 These Boots (Full Band Version)
12 Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle to You)
13 Sweet Emmylou
14 Run Baby Run

Erin Enderlin To Release Chapter Three: Whatever Gets You Through The Night This Friday

Artist: Erin Enderlin
Album: Chapter Three: Whatever Gets You Through The Night
Label: Black Crow/Blaster Records
Release date: 8/23/19

Nashville troubadour Erin Enderlin will soon reveal the third chapter of her four-installment 2019 digital EP series with the eagerly-awaited release of Chapter Three: Whatever Gets You Through The Night on August 23. As did its predecessors, the new EP focuses on character-driven lyrical storytelling on matters of love, loss, struggle and hope.

This time around, Enderlin receives storytelling help from some friends, as she is joined on its three tracks by Dillon Carmichael (“Whatever Gets You Through The Night”), Vince Gill and Alison Krauss (“Sweet Emmylou”) and Ronnie Bowman on a gorgeous and faithful rendering of the Gene Watson’s “Use Me Again.”

Enderlin is already enjoying a successful 2019, with roughly a hundred shows on the touring calendar and her songs included on new releases by personal heroes Reba McEntire, Rhonda Vincent and Rodney Crowell. In June, she took home three Arkansas Country Music Awards including Female Vocalist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. Shortly thereafter, the title track from Chapter Two: I Can Be Your Whiskey, was featured in Rolling Stone’s “10 Best Country Songs To Hear Now.”

Enderlin puts that authenticity on full display throughout Chapter Three: Whatever Gets You Through The Night. While the theme of Chapter Two: I Can Be Your Whiskey is the eternal pursuit of love, the thread that runs across Chapter Three: Whatever Gets You Through The Night is of the bitter heartbreak that comes from losing it. The Arkansas native croons mournfully about the travails of despair and loneliness on the EP’s title track while “Sweet Emmylou,” is a plea from the song’s broken-hearted main character to Emmylou Harris for help getting them through their heartbreak. Enderlin chooses the perspective of the “other woman” in Watson’s “Use Me Again,” written by Curly Putnam, Dale Dodson and Billy Lawson, to round out this chapter’s reflections on the desolation of love lost.

The fourth and final chapter in Enderlin’s storytelling tour de force is slated for release later this year.

A That Nashville Sound Exclusive Interview With Courtney Patton On New Album, What It's Like To Fly Alone

Harlan Howard might have been the first to mutter the famous phrase that country music was, “Three Chords and the Truth,” but Courtney Patton has clearly made that her life mantra. Following her previous solo albums, Triggering a Flood (2013) and So This Is Life (2015), Patton has continued to draw on true life day-to-day autobiographical life experiences filled on her third album, What It’s Like To Fly Alone, to be released February 16, 2018.

Fresh off her second annual Hard Candy Christmas Tour with friends and fellow respected artists Sunny Sweeney, Jamie Lin Wilson and Brennen Leigh, Patton is quickly becoming a driving force within the Red Dirt and Texas music scenes and beyond. Patton married fellow musician Jason Eady in March of 2014 and together, they released the collaborative project, Something Together, in January of 2017.

Patton explains the genesis behind the project, “The album is titled after one of its songs, “What It’s Like to Fly Alone”. The title sounds melancholy, but the resolve isn’t. This record is full of songs about people who have had to “fly alone” in some way, whether through grief, loss, life choices, addiction or love. We have to work through our struggles, choose our own destiny, just like the characters in each song. We have to make ourselves happy. No one else can do that for us. I’ve been down in all of those ways, but I chose happiness. In the end, “flying alone” is soaring because you pick your path and you find your way.”

The album is phenomenal. In an era in which clichés and bravado is mistaken for bold noteworthiness, there’s something far more brave in peeling back highly personal and emotional open-book songs and delivering them with sensitivity and sentiment. Patton has done just that. She is the consummate storyteller on this project. Heartache isn’t just described, it’s tangibly felt.

Patton has called upon many of her musical friends to assist on the project. Chip Bricker, piano player with Gene Watson's highly acclaimed Farewell Party Band, is on keys. Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame member Lloyd Maines is on pedal steel. Heather Stalling (wife of Texas troubadour Max Stalling) is on fiddle, Jamie Lin Wilson (The Trishas), Dan Tyminski (Alison Krauss & Union Station) and husband Jason Eady are on background vocals. But after having fellow Texas troubadour Drew Kennedy produce her last album, Patton has taking the production reins this time around, further cementing this as her most personal work to date.  She took a time to talk to That Nashville Sound about the new project...

 

Ken Morton, Jr.: Well, first of all, happy album release week. How exciting!

Courtney Patton: Thank you.  It felt like a long time coming. I’m ready.

KMJ: It’s awesome. Talk to me first about some kind of general themes running through this record and maybe compare ‘em against your previous 2 LPs that you came out with.

CP: So, the title track kind of was the anchor for this and that’s "What It’s Like to Fly Alone." And on the onset, when you read that, it sounds like a very sad thing. But when you really dig into that song, it’s really about like self-exploration and trying to overcome things and knowing that you are the one person that has to make yourself happy at the end of the day, you know, and you’re the one that has to decide what that means. And I wrote it after a bad gig in Austin. And one of those that you get flustered by something that happens during the show that's beyond your control and has nothing to do with you, but then it causes you to forget lyrics. And ironically, I had a show like that 2 nights ago. Sound issues that popped the whole time I was playing and I started forgetting words to songs and then I just got so overcome, you know. And you just go “Man, I just can’t— I don’t know. Maybe I’m not cut out to do this.” And so, that whole drive home from Austin, I was just devastated and was thinking of ways to get out, you know. How can I salvage this? I’m gonna go back to college. I’m gonna get a bigger degree than what I have and I'm gonna teacher or I’m gonna do something, you know, in my public relations field or whatever. And by the time I got home, I realized that that was ridiculous and I had complete control over all the things in my life that bother me. One of the verses is about being a hypochondriac. You come out and say that, but just I worry that something’s gonna happen to me before I’m ready, but none of us can control that, you know. We just have to do the best we can to live every single day. So, that's kind of what that song is about. I didn't mean to write a record that fit into that them. But when I look back to the pile of songs that I had to go into this record, I realized that there was a resounding theme of figuring out how to do something on your own. And you know, I wrote a song about losing my sister and so that was learn how to grieve without her. One of them was about somebody who chooses drinking over a heartache. So, whether that's the right thing to do or not, that was one of the things and then one of them is about being on the road and being away from somebody you love and trying to get back home. So, that’s traveling this road by yourself and trying to get back. Song after song, I just realize that every one of them kind of fit in with that theme of just personal resolve and choosing happiness over heartbreak in whatever form that takes. And I think that's different than in the other ones. I don't know if there was much hope. In some of my other records, I think I was writing a little of a dark place or working through some things personally and maybe I didn't put as much joy or it's gonna be okay and I really did try to do that and it's hard.

KMJ:  For me, I thought that So This is Life was kind of, you know, heartache and being broken little bit. And I thought this time around it felt like you’re healing and you're advancing emotionally a little bit.

CP:  Yeah. And the biggest part about this record that most people don't know, I do write such personal songs normally and there are few of those on this record. But for the most part, I just try to be a songwriter this time. And I made up some stories. And I wrote stories from characters that I saw or fictional characters, but with very realistic stories. And it doesn't mean that some point in my life I didn't live some of those tales, but I didn’t write a complete autobiographical record, you know. I just took the theme of things that I've been through before and just try to force myself to write better because I am happy. I am a happy person now and I don't have sad things going on in my life constantly. And so, that's a struggle. When you’re a country songwriter, so how do you write songs that still will like evoke feeling, but aren’t cheesy, you know. I don’t wanna just write drinking songs or party songs. I just don't do that. So, that was a challenge for me this past couple years when I was writing to write a lot co-writes. You’ll notice there are more co-writes than anything I've ever had on any record. I think 7 of the 12 songs and 8 if count one of them, the cover, but 7 of them I co-write with friends of mine.

And so, that was a different thing for me that I've never done before and it helped me I think grow as a writer to learn to work with other people. And it pulled me out of my comfort zone and forced me to be more creative. So, that was fun too.

KMJ:  I've made you laugh at this comment before, but you're such a funny contradiction there. There is no one I’ve ever seen perform who has more fun on stage than you do particularly when Jamie Lin (Wilson) is egging you on. But then you have this amazing collection of terribly sad songs. It's such a funny contradiction.

CP: (Laughter) I’d rather be that than the other way around. Like seriously, it’s so fun and you’re so depressing.

KMJ: It's a wonderful dynamic.

CP: Thanks.

KMJ: This time, you produced the album yourself too.

CP:  I did.

KMJ: What was your thought from taking the reins this time around?

CP:  Really, the main reason, which is kind of embarrassing to admit, but financially I had more control financially doing it myself. You know, you pay a producer. And a lot of times when you work with your friends, it's not that much. They actually deserve a lot more than you're able to pay them. But this time, I chose to make a record in my hometown so I could be there to pick my kids up from school and really, really trying to be home for my kids more than I have been the last couple years touring. And in order to do that, I was able to find a studio at home with a couple of my friends with engineers and they got me a really, really great unbeatable day rate for the studio. And I was able to work on the hours that I wanted to. I was able to use our band. And then we tracked record in 2 days, which is pretty crazy. We just got through and knocked it out, which these guys have been playing these songs with me for over a year anyway just in my shows and stuff. So, we went in and tracked the record and then I was able to get the over dubs done on different times like Lloyd Maines he works from home. And so, I get everything to him and he has a timeline. So, I give him all that. He does all the parts and then sends them back to me and then I hired a piano guy in Dallas and he works from home as well. He has a home studio. So, it was just one of those things that was very easy for me to do it myself this time around. And it was a challenge too because I'm not maybe as good at delegating as I should be and I try to put a lot of pressure on myself in all parts of my life, you know.

And I’m lucky to have somebody like Lloyd who has no problem telling me his opinion on something whether I agree with him or not. He likes to guide me and I appreciate that. My buddies, you know, they’re so helpful in arrangements and things that maybe I didn't hear drums. And they'd say, “Why don’t you just let me try it and see if you like it?” And I ended up loving it. And so, on the phone, I wasn’t gonna have drums. We have drums. So, I really should say produced by all of us because all of us together, you know, kind of brainstorm, but it was fun. It was fun being in control of that and getting to put the instruments that I wanna do on things and having an idea on a piece of paper and making it come to an audible reality was pretty fun.

KMJ:  So, you're saying that Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks comes by her strong opinions honestly, huh?

CP: Correct. I would say that as a positive statement and not a bad one.  Yeah. Lloyd is such a great guy and I’m just so— I thank him profusely every time I talk to him and he's so hands that even after he was paid and done, for a few months he would message me. I'd wake up to an e-mail saying, “Hey, I'm just making sure you're still happy and you don't need anything. And I just want you to know how much I love your voice.” So, that’s pretty cool coming from him. I mean, he's worked with more people that I look up to and I can name. And if he's at the helm of all of that, that's pretty cool.

KMJ: The most powerful track to my ears was probably the most personal one. You mentioned it earlier with "Fourteen Years." I’d imagined that that came from a very therapeutic place as well, huh?
 
CP:  True. So, I was playing a show at our hometown, which is about an hour away from where I live now. And she passed away on the road that I was playing the show on about 2 blocks down from where I was. And so, she was a manager. It's so weird how that one street had so much to do with her story. There’s a main street in our town and then there's a street that runs parallel called Santa Fe. She was manager of a subway on Santa Fe. She lived on Santa Fe. She was killed on Santa Fe. And she was 2 blocks from her apartment when she passed and I was 2 blocks from the other side of that when I was playing my show.

And I realized it was anniversary the last time that I saw her, which is a week before she died. And I've gone home for my mom's birthday and she got off work at subway and we all met at mom’s and ate Whataburger together. And then I followed her back to her apartment. And she wanted to show me and she was so proud. And she was so excited about it. And I went in her room and she had this candle that I'd given her. It was purple and it was like a luminary thing and it said sisters on it. And she had it right next to her bed. And I remember like being so proud of my little sister was like growing up. And I told her I was proud of her and I'm so excited. And we had plans to see each other. And I gave her a hug and I turned around and I opened her door and walked out. And for some reason, I turned around and went back and hugged her again. I don't know why. And so, I've always been grateful that I did that and sometimes I think these things happen and they're outside of our control. And you look back and go “Man, somebody was giving me a little nod, you know, and telling me not to forget to tell her that I loved her.”

KMJ: (sniff sniff) It’s gotten very dusty in my office here by the way.

CP: (voice breaks) Yeah. Me too. But we had just happened to drop by the place where her accident was. I just started crying. I cried all the way home. But by the time I got home, I had 8 or 9 voice memos of just lines that I was just singing to her. And by the time I got home, I had a whole song. So, it kind of wrote itself.

KMJ: Wow.

CP: And it took me— I mean, it was 14 years, you know, too me to write it. But I think I was finally at a place where I could look back and really just appreciate the time that I had with her, but also just longing of— you know, wondering what it would have been like to still have her around with my kids. Now, I'm crying, Ken. Way to go. (laughter)

KMJ:  Oh, boy. Sorry about that one. That's my curse. I tend to have that effect on women. Okay, change of subject. There is one track on there that you didn't write. Talk me through that track and why you selected that one.

CP:  So, Kelley Mickwee, formerly of the Trishas or maybe still the Trishas whenever they decide to play, and Owen Temple who I’ve been a fan of since I was in high school— I’d like to tell him that to remind him how old he is, but I’m kidding— but they wrote this song and I don't know where I heard it and she said something on the microphone, which when she played it and said— I think Jason and I were there. And she said, you know, it’s written for somebody, you know, kind of had Jason and Courtney in mind. And she may just played it for the audience. And it worked. And I said, “She wrote that song for us.” So, I texted her and said I want to hear it. And she said, “I knew you’d love this song. I want to send it to you ‘cause I think that’s what people do.” And I took that as her pitching it to me whether she meant it or not. And I saved it in my inbox for like 2 years. And then when it came time to put songs in this, I pulled it out and started playing it. It shows just kind of more of “Oh, I’m in her town tonight. I’m gonna play it.” Well, then the owner videoed it and sent tit to Kelley and then Kelley called me crying telling me how much she loved it and your voice sounds so good on it. And I thought “Well, I'm gonna try it.” So, I started playing it live in shows with the band, Jason and Kevin sing harmony. It was just so dynamic. It’s so powerful and it was just one of those that as a writer, you know, you don't want to have to put cover songs on your record, but it was too good not to put on the record. I couldn't not put it on there. I’m really glad I did. It’s such great song. It’s a love song and it just feels right. You know, it felt like the right thing to do.

KMJ: It seamlessly ties in perfectly.

CP: It did. Yeah. I thought so too.

KMJ: I know you're not supposed to ask what else is out there on a project that hasn't even come out yet, but what other musical initiatives out there do you see for yourself in the coming years? I'd love to hear.

CP: You know, it’s a really good question. I'd say I want to concentrate more on the family basis this year, which was, you know, taking more time off to be home so I don't miss basketball games and soccer games of my kids. So, I’m putting myself on a strict work every other weekend tour schedule.

KMJ: Good for you.

CP: Except in the case of festivals like this last one in Key West. So, I missed one of my weekends. But If something like this presents itself, of course, you know, I gotta do it, but it's been nice already. We've already had a slumber party at our house January and I’ve been to basketball games and albert Plays on Sundays and Patton plays on Saturdays soccer and Patton plays during the week. And now, he’s just started track. He’s in middle school now. So, there's a lot of after school activities. And it's just really, really great to be home for those and I can't imagine wanting to be anywhere else right now at this season of my life. They’re just growing so fast and I missed so much. And I know one day I’ll look back and be mad if I don't make more time to be there. So, honestly, that's kind of my goal, is to not work too much because I've worked a lot the last 2 years and for a good reason, you know, of trying to build a career.

But sometimes, you got to just pump the brakes a little bit and not miss so much and that’s where I’m at.

KMJ:  I’m happy for you. Balance will serve you well on both side of that equation. 

CP: We want to travel and one of the goals that Jason and I want to do is take a trip to Switzerland in the fall and bring some couples from the States with us and do kind of a traveling family show where we were in a tour bus and everybody rides together and we take a month going across different places. We kind of even joked yesterday about maybe going to the lake where I took the cover for So This is Life and like staged reenactment photos. That will be fun. Yeah. So, we’re just in the planning phases of getting that built for next fall. Gosh, I hope we get invited back to the Key West Music Festival. We’re getting to go Braun Brothers Reunion in the summer, which I can’t wait for. It’s one of my favorite things to be a part of and we’ve gotten to go once before and it was so much that I thought I hope I always get to go back. So, they asked this last year and we’d already accepted an offer. It kept us from doing it. And so, this year, we jumped as soon as they said, “Okay. Can you do it?” So, we’ll be going back to Challis, Idaho with the Braun boys this summer, which will be great.

And I just keep traveling and showing people the record, you know, and maybe trying to play with somewhat of a band more than I've ever done. Take a little trio with me where I can afford it and just make it more fun for me, you know. I don't know how long people want to sit much, I mean, stand with a guitar and sing, but I'm grateful they do.

KMJ:  That’s awesome. That Switzerland trip sounds like a totally Johnny and June Carter thing for you guys to do.

CP: Oh, is that right? We think that will be fun.

KMJ: Well, I end with the same question every interview and I've asked you this before. I'm gonna do it again now, Courtney. What is country music to Courtney Patton?

Courtney: I think more than ever especially with the news of Daryle Singletary passing yesterday very unexpectedly. It’s staying true to what country music means to you. And for me, it's the same thing I said last time. It’s in sad songs, and real songs, and singing in a pure voice and just being as authentic as you can be without arm being campy or falling prey to the more modern sounds that some people define country music as today, which is not my style. I like feeling nostalgic. And even if I'm writing songs today, I want ‘em to feel like maybe they could have been written when I was growing up. So, that's what country music is to me. Authenticity.
 

[Exclusive Preview} Courtney Patton Reveals "Words To My Favorite Memory" From Upcoming 2/16 Release, What It's Like To Fly Alone

Thank you to Courtney Patton for sharing this exclusive reveal of her new song "Words To My Favorite Memory" with the readers of That Nashville Sound. The track is off of her upcoming album, What It's Like To Fly Alone, set for release on 2/16. Preorders are available at www.courtneypatton.com.

Harlan Howard might have been the first to mutter the famous phrase that country music was, “Three Chords and the Truth,” but Courtney Patton has clearly made that her life mantra. Following her previous solo albums, Triggering a Flood (2013) and So This Is Life (2015), Patton has continued to draw on true life day-to-day autobiographical life experiences filled on her third album, What It’s Like To Fly Alone, to be released February 16, 2018.

Fresh off her second annual Hard Candy Christmas Tour with friends and fellow respected artists Sunny Sweeney, Jamie Lin Wilson and Brennen Leigh, Patton is quickly becoming a driving force within the Red Dirt and Texas music scenes and beyond. Patton married fellow musician Jason Eady in March of 2014 and together, they released the collaborative project, Something Together, in January of 2017.

Patton explains the genesis behind the project, “The album is titled after one of its songs, “What It’s Like to Fly Alone”. The title sounds melancholy, but the resolve isn’t. This record is full of songs about people who have had to “fly alone” in some way, whether through grief, loss, life choices, addiction or love. We have to work through our struggles, choose our own destiny, just like the characters in each song. We have to make ourselves happy. No one else can do that for us. I’ve been down in all of those ways, but I chose happiness. In the end, “flying alone” is soaring because you pick your path and you find your way.”

The album is phenomenal. In an era in which clichés and bravado is mistaken for bold noteworthiness, there’s something far more brave in peeling back highly personal and emotional open-book songs and delivering them with sensitivity and sentiment. Patton has done just that. She is the consummate storyteller on this project. Heartache isn’t just described, it’s tangibly felt.

Patton has called upon many of her musical friends to assist on the project. Chip Bricker, piano player with Gene Watson's highly acclaimed Farewell Party Band, is on keys. Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame member Lloyd Maines is on pedal steel. Heather Stalling (wife of Texas troubadour Max Stalling) is on fiddle, Jamie Lin Wilson (The Trishas), Dan Tyminski (Alison Krauss & Union Station) and husband Jason Eady are on background vocals. But after having fellow Texas troubadour Drew Kennedy produce her last album, Patton has taking the production reins this time around, further cementing this as her most personal work to date.

What It’s Like To Fly Alone track listing:

1. “Shove” (Courtney Patton)
2. “What It's Like to Fly Alone (Hawk Song)” (Courtney Patton)
3. “Round Mountain” (Courtney Patton, Larry Hooper)
4. “Open Flame” (Courtney Patton, Larry Hooper)
5. “I've Got One Waiting” (Courtney Patton, Matt Hillyer)
6. “This Road to You” (Courtney Patton, Micky Braun)
7. “Words to My Favorite Memory” (Courtney Patton, Larry Hooper)
8. “Sometimes She Flies” (Courtney Patton)
9. “Gold Standard” (Kelley Mickwee, Owen Temple)
10. “Devil's Hand” (Courtney Patton, Larry Hooper)
11. “Red Bandana Blue (Kent's Song)” (Courtney Patton)
12. “Fourteen Years” (Courtney Patton)

New Mark Chesnutt Album Features 12 Duets With Likes Of Womack, Jones, Diffie, Jennings, Watson & More

Artist: Mark Chesnutt
Album: Duets
Label: Row Entertainment
Release date: April 24, 2017

After selling more than ten million records over his career, Mark Chesnutt is doing something a little different and a little special for his fan club members this year. His brand new album featuring a dozen duets with the likes of Lee Ann Womack, George Jones, Tracy Lawrence, Joe Diffie, Waylon Jennings, Gene Watson and more is being offered solely as a fan club exclusive and only available through his website. The album will not be sold separately on the website or sold in stores. In addition to the new project, fans will get meet and greet opportunities and a signed photograph.

The project is a collection of songs and collaborations- a unique greatest hits of sorts- over Chesnutt's long and stories career. The first track is off of Lee Ann Womack's debut album back in 1997.  Track two is off Chesnutt's 1992 Longnecks and Short Stories album. All told, it's a solid combination of Chesnutt's unique traditional country voice with some of the bigger country names over the last two decades.

Duets Track Listing

1. Make Memories with Me (with Lee Ann Womack)
2. Talking to Hank (with George Jones)
3. Stay All Night (with Ray Benson)
4. A Couple More Years ( With Amber Digby)
5. A Good Way To Get On My Bad Side (with Tracy Byrd)
6. Rockin the Roadhouse Down (with Tracy Lawrence & Joe Diffie)
7. Rainy Day Woman (with Waylon Jennings)
8. Good Ones And Bad Ones (with George Jones)
9. Political Incorrectness (with Kevin Fowler)
10. This Side of the Door ( with Gene Watson)
11. When The Grass Grows Over Me (with George Jones)
12. Honky Tonk Song (with Tom Aster)

Gene Watson To Release Real. Country. Music. In February

Artist: Gene Watson
Album: Real. Country. Music.
Label: Fourteen Carat Music
Release date: February 26, 2016

Texas Country Music Hall of Famer (class of 2002) might have 35 albums under his belt to go along with his dozens of charted hits, but one of the more prolific singer/songwriters of our time is choosing to add to that legacy with the release of his new album Real Country Music on February 26, 2016.

The album is filled with Watson interpreting classic country songs from many of his favorite songwriters and singers he's met over his long and illustrious career.

Kris Kristofferson recorded the first track, "Enough For You"(written by Kristofferson) and included the track on Jesus was a Capricorn (Monument Records, 1972). Larry Gatlin wrote and recorded "Help Me" and included the track on Rain / Rainbow (Monument Records, 1974). Mark Chesnutt recorded "She Never Got Me Over You," which was written by Hank Cochran, Dean Dillon and Keith Whitley, and included the track on Rollin' With The Flow (Lofton Creek Records, 2008). It was the last song Whitley ever wrote before his tragic death in 1989. The album reads like a country music who's-who with songwriters and previous cuts by the likes of Bill Anderson, Waylon Jennings, Billy Jo Spears, Jerry Lee Lewis, Nat King Cole, Ray Price, Conway Twitty and more.

Track Listing:

1. Enough For You
2. When A Man Can't Get A Woman Off His Mind
3. Help Me
4. Couldn't Love Have Picked A Better Place To Die
5. A Girl I Used To Know
6. Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall
7. Ramblin' Rose
8. A Bridge That Just Won't Burn
9. Ashes To Ashes
10. Old Love Never Dies
11. She Never Got Me Over You
12. All My Tomorrows
13. I'll Find It Where I Can

TNS Video History- Rhonda Vincent and Gene Watson- "Staying Together"