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06:44

Four Up-and-Coming Women Country Singers

Rock critic Ken Tucker says that, with the rise of bad boys and neo-traditionalists in country music, fans and critics have overlooked several accomplished women artists. He reviews new albums by four singers worth checking out.

Review
11:28

Musician Lucinda Williams Discusses Her New Album.

Musician Lucinda Williams. She's been playing the folk and country scenes for most of the 80s, but her new album, titled "Lucinda Williams," is a type of straight-ahead story telling that crosses genres. Many listeners think of Williams as a folk singer, but in this album, Williams fronts a rock band.

Interview
06:00

A Musical Voice From the "Heartland."

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "Too Long in the Wasteland," the debut album of singer and songwriter James McMurtry. Like his father, the novelist Larry McMurtry, James McMurtry writes of the drifters and loners of the high plains.

Review
06:58

Two New Country "Hybrid" Albums.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews new albums by Webb Wilder and the quintet Billy Hill. Webb Wilder's "Hybrid Vigor" is an outsider's eccentric blend of rock and roll livened up with country, blues and rockabilly. Billy Hill has produced an album with a different type of eccentricity --they're Nashville insiders whose oddball act gives an edge to their country music.

Review
06:52

Reevaluating Roy Orbison's "Sun Years."

Rock historian Ed Ward looks back on Roy Orbison's early career at Sun Records. Ed says that early work shows that Orbison was a more versatile performer that his big hits would indicate.

Commentary
06:24

Country Music Returns to its Roots.

Rock critic Ken Tucker looks at the "New Traditionalism" in country music as performed by such singers as Randy Travis and Rodney Crowell, and with a unique twist by the Jayhawks.

Review
07:54

Country Music's First Boom.

Rock historian Ed Ward looks back at the birth of the country music industry, during the early days of Fiddlin' John Carson, A.P. Carter and his wife, Sarah, and the Tenneva Ramblers.

Commentary
06:58

A Little Known Blues Singer.

Rock and roll historian Ed Ward tells the story of "Rabbit" Brown, a little-known New Orleans blues singer from the 20s who made some of the most haunting music you'll ever hear.

Commentary
06:55

An Unparallelled Document of Time and Talent.

Rock historian Ed Ward plays us some tracks from the "Million Dollar Quartet" sessions. It was an early 60s recording date at the Sun Studios in Memphis, featuring Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash.

Commentary
11:19

Father and Son Duo "The Spanic Boys."

Musicians Tom and Ian Spanic. Together, the pair form the rock and roll band, The Spanic Boys. The band plays a country-twang influenced type of rock and they just released their first album, also called "The Spanic Boys." It's on Rounder Records.

06:55

Music You Might Not Hear on the Radio.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews what he thinks are some of the best new albums on independent labels...The Spanic Boys' debut album on Rounder Records and Ben Vaughn's new album on Enigma, "Dressed in Black."

Review
06:56

New Albums by Three Ragged Singer-Songwriters

Rock critic Ken Tucker says critical darlings David Berwald and John Hiatt are striving for a commercial sound, but their new, dolorous albums fall flat. On the other hand, Steve Earle's The Hard Way -- the latter half at least -- delivers the goods.

Review

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