Country Music

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Gary Allan had gone more than eight years without a No. 1 country hit. Then a song called “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)” brought him back — and gave him something he had never achieved before. Allan’s previous chart-topper, “Nothing On but the Radio,” had reached No. 1 in December 2004. He continued recording and touring, but another No. 1 never came. Years passed while country radio changed around him. Then came “Every Storm,” written by Allan with Hillary Lindsey and Matt Warren. The message was simple: bad times do not last forever. In February 2013, the song reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, ending an eight-year, two-month gap between chart-toppers. It became the fourth No. 1 of Allan’s career. But the comeback was even bigger than one song. That same week, his album Set You Free reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — the first time Gary Allan had ever topped the all-genre album chart. After eight years waiting for country music to bring him back to No. 1, Gary Allan returned with a song whose title seemed to explain the entire journey.

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Gary Allan’s Long Wait Ended With “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)” For more than eight years, Gary Allan kept…

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David Lee Murphy had gone nearly 23 years without a No. 1 of his own. Then Kenny Chesney heard a song Murphy thought Chesney should record — and instead helped put Murphy back behind the microphone. Murphy had been one of country radio’s familiar voices in the 1990s. “Dust on the Bottle” reached No. 1 in 1995, followed by more hits, but eventually his recording career slowed. He never disappeared from Nashville. He simply moved behind the scenes, writing songs other artists took to the top, including Kenny Chesney’s “Living in Fast Forward” and Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor.” Years later, Murphy brought Chesney “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” a song he had written with Chris Stevens and Jimmy Yeary. Murphy originally hoped Chesney might record it. Chesney had another idea: Murphy should make a new album himself. Chesney and Buddy Cannon helped produce No Zip Code, and Chesney joined Murphy on the song. In June 2018, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” reached No. 1 on Billboard Country Airplay — Murphy’s first chart-topper since “Dust on the Bottle,” nearly 23 years earlier. Five months later, Murphy and Chesney won CMA Musical Event of the Year. It was Murphy’s first CMA nomination — and his first CMA Award. For more than two decades, David Lee Murphy had helped other singers find hits. Then one of those singers helped make sure country music heard his voice again.

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How Kenny Chesney Helped Bring David Lee Murphy Back to the Front of Country Music For a long stretch of…

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TWENTY YEARS AFTER JOHNNY CASH DIED, HIS GREATEST INHERITANCE WASN’T WRITTEN IN A WILL — IT WAS SITTING ON A SHELF, WAITING FOR HIS SON TO FIND IT. September 12, 2003. Complications from diabetes. Johnny Cash was gone at 71, less than four months after June Carter Cash. He left behind “Ring of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” multiple Hall of Fame inductions, and one of the most recognizable voices American music ever produced. But John Carter Cash would eventually inherit something the public had never heard. Back in 1993, Johnny had recorded an album’s worth of his own songs at LSI Studios in Nashville. Then he met Rick Rubin, began the American Recordings chapter of his career, and those tapes were shelved. Nearly three decades later, John Carter rediscovered them. He stripped the recordings back to his father’s voice and acoustic guitar, then brought musicians who had actually played with Johnny — including Marty Stuart and Dave Roe — into the Cash Cabin to finish the music with producer David “Fergie” Ferguson. On June 28, 2024, Songwriter arrived: 11 Johnny Cash songs, all written by him, released more than twenty years after his death. The awards were already on the shelf. The legend was already secure. But John Carter found something better — eleven chances to hear his father speak again.

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Twenty Years After Johnny Cash Died, His Greatest Inheritance Was Sitting on a Shelf When Johnny Cash died on September…

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THE OLD MAN IN “DESPERADOS WAITING FOR A TRAIN” WAS REAL. HIS NAME WAS JACK PRIGG, AND HE RENTED A ROOM IN GUY CLARK’S GRANDMOTHER’S HOTEL IN MONAHANS, TEXAS. Rossie Clark ran a thirteen-room shotgun hotel that took in oilmen, drifters and bomber pilots. Prigg was a wildcatter and oilfield worker, and he was Rossie’s boyfriend. With Guy’s father overseas during the war, Prigg became the male figure in the boy’s life — and he took him into oil fields and pool halls and the Green Frog Cafe, where old men sat over dominoes and told whatever version of their lives sounded best that night. Clark said Prigg let him drive the car home from Odessa years before he had a license. Then Clark watched him get old. He wrote the song after Prigg died and called it a eulogy, as true as he could make it. Jerry Jeff Walker cut it first on Viva Terlingua in 1973. Rita Coolidge, David Allan Coe and Tom Rush all recorded it in 1974, before Clark finally released his own version on Old No. 1 in 1975. Ten years after that, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson released it as the Highwaymen and carried it to No. 15 on the country chart. Four of the most famous voices in American music, on a stage in front of thousands, singing about an old oil driller from a West Texas town almost none of them had heard of — a man who had been dead for years, and who never once heard his own name in the song.

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The Real Old Man Behind “Desperados Waiting for a Train” Long before “Desperados Waiting for a Train” became one of…

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Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White did not light a unity candle when they married. They sang to each other instead. On August 4, 1981, the two country musicians stood together for their wedding ceremony when their pastor suggested something that fit them better than the traditional candle. Ricky could sing a verse to Sharon, Sharon could sing one back, and then they could join together. They chose Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You.” It sounded simple, but Sharon later admitted it was difficult to get through because both of them were so emotional. The song became their own wedding symbol — two voices beginning separately, then meeting together. That moment lasted far beyond the ceremony. Ricky and Sharon continued making music together, raised a family, and decades later recorded “If I Needed You” again. More than forty years after that wedding, the song still carries the memory of the promise they made when their marriage was just beginning.

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Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White Chose a Song Instead of a Unity Candle On August 4, 1981, Ricky Skaggs and…

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WAYLON JENNINGS SANG “ONLY DADDY THAT’LL WALK THE LINE.” CONNIE SMITH HEARD IT — AND GAVE THE WOMAN HER SIDE OF THE STORY. In 1968, Waylon Jennings released “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” and the song climbed to No. 2 on the country chart. One of the things that caught Connie Smith’s ear was Wayne Moss’s guitar playing on Waylon’s recording. That same year, Connie recorded the song from a woman’s point of view as “Only Mama That’ll Walk the Line” for her album Sunshine and Rain. She even brought Wayne Moss in because she wanted that guitar feel from Waylon’s version. Connie later remembered that she recorded the song in a different key, which made Moss’s job harder — but he still pulled it off. Waylon gave the song its swagger. Connie kept that spirit, changed the perspective, and made it sound like the woman finally got to answer back.

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Waylon Jennings Gave the Song Its Swagger — and Connie Smith Answered Back In 1968, Waylon Jennings released “Only Daddy…

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BEFORE THE HIGHWAYMEN, JOHNNY CASH AND WAYLON JENNINGS STOOD TOGETHER AND SANG FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF A MAN BEHIND BARS. In 1978, Cash and Jennings released “There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang,” written by Hal Bynum and Dave Kirby. The song appeared on Cash’s album I Would Like to See You Again and became one of their earliest major recorded collaborations. The story is simple. A prisoner writes home to his mother and tells her what life behind bars has taught him. Cash takes the lead, while Waylon’s rougher voice joins him on the chorus. There is humor in the warnings, but underneath it is a man realizing that some lessons come too late. Released as a single in May 1978, it climbed to No. 2 on Billboard’s country chart. Years before Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson joined them in the Highwaymen, Cash and Waylon already sounded like two men who understood exactly how an outlaw song should feel.

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Before the Highwaymen, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings Already Sounded Like Outlaws Long before Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson,…

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WAYLON JENNINGS ASKED HANK WILLIAMS JR. ABOUT HIS FATHER. HANK JR. HAD BEEN ONLY THREE YEARS OLD WHEN HANK WILLIAMS DIED. “The Conversation” wasn’t written like an ordinary duet. Waylon Jennings asks the questions, and Hank Williams Jr. answers them — about his father, his mother Audrey, the Driftin’ Cowboys, and the complicated man behind the legend. Hank Sr. died in 1953, before his son was four, leaving Hank Jr. to grow up surrounded by his father’s music and reputation. Hank Jr., Waylon and drummer Richie Albright wrote the song together. It first appeared on Hank Jr.’s 1979 album Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound. Four years later, it was released as a single from Waylon’s Waylon and Company and reached No. 15 on the country chart. What makes it memorable is how little it feels like a performance. It sounds like Waylon simply asking an old friend about the father country music never stopped talking about.

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Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., and the Song That Felt Like a Real Conversation Some songs sound written for a…

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WAYLON SANG MOST OF “LUCKENBACH, TEXAS” ALONE. THEN, NEAR THE END, WILLIE NELSON’S VOICE WALKED IN. In 1977, Waylon Jennings recorded “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love),” written by Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons, for his album Ol’ Waylon. Willie Nelson didn’t share the whole song with him. He appeared only for the final refrain — but that short entrance became one of the record’s most memorable moments. The funny part was that Waylon later admitted he never really liked the song. At the time it was recorded, he hadn’t even been to Luckenbach. Still, listeners loved what it represented: leaving money, status and complications behind and getting “back to the basics of love.” The song reached No. 1 and stayed there for six weeks. And by the time Willie’s familiar voice arrived at the end, it sounded like two old friends reminding country fans how simple life could be.

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Waylon Jennings Sings Most of “Luckenbach, Texas” Alone. Then Willie Nelson Walks In. In 1977, Waylon Jennings released “Luckenbach, Texas…

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THE BULLETS WERE COMING THROUGH THE JEEP. THE SOLDIER DRIVING LEE GREENWOOD LOST A FINGER. GREENWOOD STILL HAD A LETTER TO DELIVER TO 200 MARINES. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush asked Lee Greenwood to travel to Panama and perform for American troops. He also gave the country singer another job: carry a personal letter from the president to roughly 200 Marines stationed deep in the area. Greenwood later recalled that he traveled by jeep with an Army sergeant when they suddenly came under gunfire. Bullets struck around them. Greenwood wasn’t hit, but the sergeant driving him lost his index finger. They kept going. Greenwood reached the Marines and delivered the president’s letter. Years later, he said the wounded sergeant came to one of his concerts and introduced himself again. Greenwood had sung “God Bless the U.S.A.” thousands of times. But in Panama, supporting the troops wasn’t just something he sang about. It was something he had driven into gunfire to do.

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Lee Greenwood’s Quiet Mission in Panama In 1989, Lee Greenwood was asked to do more than sing for American troops.…

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Kris Kristofferson bought a ticket to Nashville in November 1970. He never used all of it. He met Rita Coolidge at the gate in Los Angeles. They were on the same flight and talked the whole way, and when the plane stopped in Memphis, he got off with her. Before that night ended they had already picked a name for a child they hadn’t had yet. She called it love at first flight. They married in 1973. Their daughter Casey was born the next year. They won two Grammys singing together. Then it came apart. They divorced in 1980, and when Rita finally wrote about it, she softened nothing — the drinking, the betrayal, crying every single day. She said it was not a good way to live. She asked for nothing when she left. But around that same time, asked about Kris, she wasn’t bitter at all. She said the two of them still had a bond nobody else could follow. Asked whether they might ever sing together again, she smiled and said, “Never say never.” They never got the chance. Kris died on September 28, 2024, at his home in Maui. He was 88. By then they had been divorced forty-four years.

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In 1978, Willie Nelson gave Columbia the last kind of album anyone expected from the face of outlaw country: ten old pop standards, some of them written before he was born. Willie had wanted to make that record for years. The problem was finding someone who could arrange songs as sophisticated as “Stardust” and “Moonlight in Vermont” without burying the way he naturally sang. Then he met Booker T. Jones. The legendary soul musician happened to be living in the same Malibu apartment building. Willie asked him to arrange “Moonlight in Vermont.” When he heard what Booker T. had done with it, he knew he had found the man to produce the entire album. Columbia executives were far less certain. Willie later remembered that they looked “stunned” when they heard what he was making. The audience answered for them. Stardust reached No. 1 on the country album chart. “Georgia on My Mind” and “Blue Skies” both became No. 1 country singles, and the album remained on Billboard’s country album chart for a decade. Willie Nelson had built his reputation by refusing to sound like everyone else. Then Booker T. Jones helped him prove that even the oldest songs could sound completely like Willie.

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In 1968, Kris Kristofferson was driving from Nashville toward the Gulf of Mexico when the end of a real relationship began turning into a song. He called it “For the Good Times.” Kris wasn’t writing about anger or trying to win someone back. The relationship was over, and the song simply imagined two people spending one last tender moment together before saying goodbye. Two years later, Ray Price recorded it. Price had been one of country music’s biggest stars, but he had gone 11 years without a No. 1 country single. On March 16, 1970, he walked into Columbia Studio A in Nashville and recorded Kristofferson’s song with a full orchestra behind him. That version changed things for both men. “For the Good Times” reached No. 1 on the country chart and crossed all the way to No. 11 on the pop chart. For Price, it was his first country chart-topper in 11 years. For Kristofferson, it became his first No. 1 as a songwriter. Kris had written the song because something in his own life was ending. Ray Price sang it, and suddenly two careers were beginning a new chapter.

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When Shooter Jennings was only four or five, Waylon Jennings realized cocaine was taking something from him that no hit record could replace: the chance to watch his son grow up. By the early 1980s, Waylon’s addiction had become severe. He later said he was spending as much as $1,500 a day on cocaine. In 1984, he rented a house in Arizona with Jessi Colter to get away and clean himself up. At first, he did not even plan to quit forever. He told Jessi he expected to start using again after 30 days. Then his mind began to clear. Waylon started thinking about Shooter. His little boy would reach out for his father’s attention, but Waylon said that on drugs, he could only stay present for a moment. Even at that age, Shooter seemed to know something was wrong. That realization hit Waylon harder than anything else. “I want to see him grow up,” he remembered thinking. So he quit. Years later, Shooter remembered the man on the other side of that decision simply: “He was a great dad.” Waylon had spent years fighting Nashville for control of his music. But one of the most important battles he ever won happened because a little boy still needed his father.