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Filling in hosting ‘Not Necessarily Nashville’

by | Mar 10, 2025 | Not Necessarily Nashville

I sat in for my pal Flap Jones this past weekend hosting Not Necessarily Nashville on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1. It’s always a joy selecting an hour of music to play and discuss. 

With only a few days before the Wednesday, March 19 screening of the Arkansas PBS documentary Unveiled: Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash at Robinson Center in Little Rock, followed a week later by Bob Dylan performing at the same venue on Wednesday, March 26, I played two songs Cash and Dylan recorded together. These versions of “Guess Things Happen That Way” and “I Still Miss Someone” were recorded during two days in a Nashville studio in February 1969 and were eventually released a half-century later in 2019 as part of Dylan’s The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15, Travelin’ Thru. 

Not Necessarily Nashville, March 8, 2025, 7 p.m. on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1.

I also played a couple of songs from an album by Mary Chapin Carpenter and Scottish musicians Lulie Fowlis and Karine Polwart. Looking for the Thread was released in January and has been a relaxing escape during my work commutes over the last few weeks.

Not Necessarily Nashville playlist, March 8, 2025, Little Rock Public Radio

Buck Owens and the Buckaroos – “Johnny Be Goode” (Buck Owens in London)
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart “Satellite” (Looking For The Thread)
Jim Lauderdale “Delta Blue” (Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney)
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash – “Guess Things Happen That Way” (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15: Travelin’ Thru, 1967-1969)
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash – “I Still Miss Someone” (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15: Travelin’ Thru, 1967-1969)
Glen Campbell – “These Days” (Meet Glen Campbell)
Kinky Friedman – “See You Down the Highway” (Poet of Motel 6)
Ray Charles and Willie Nelson – “It Was a Very Good Year” (Genius Loves Company)
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood – “Some Velvet Morning” (Movin’ with Nancy)
Alison Krauss & Union Station – “Looks like The End of the Road” (Arcadia)
Sam Moore and Conway Twitty – “A Rainy Night in Georgia”
Ringo Star – “Time on my Hands” (Look Up)
Tom T. Hall – “I Miss a Lot of Trains”
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart “Looking for the Thread” (Looking For The Thread)

Screening to premiere ‘Unveiled: Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash’

by | Feb 17, 2025 | Arkansas PBS, Daisy Bates, Johnny Cash

Nathan Willis films as Benjamin Victor works on his clay model of Daisy Bates. Photo: Arkansas PBS

On this state holiday honoring civil rights pioneer Daisy Gatson Bates, people can register for free tickets to a screening next month of an Arkansas PBS original documentary that tells the story of placing statues of Bates and singer-songwriter Johnny Cash in the U.S. Capitol. While working for Little Rock public radio station KUAR in previous years, I reported on each step of the process — often alongside filmmaker Nathan Willis — and know people will enjoy watching the fascinating details of the legislative debate, selection of the sculptors, the physical work of making the statues, then getting all the needed approvals to place them in the Capitol.

The screening will be Wednesday, March 19, 7 p.m. at Robinson Center in Little Rock. You can register for free tickets here. There will first be a panel discussion, followed by the documentary. It will make its broadcast premiere the following night, Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.

UPDATE: After the two nights of showings, the entire film can now be watched on the PBS app and YouTube. I’ve replaced the promo clip that was there with the film. Enjoy!

Raving about Willie Nelson during Arkansas PBS pledge drive

by | Dec 24, 2024 | Arkansas PBS, Johnny Cash, Music, Willie Nelson

I had the most fun I’ve ever had during a pledge drive on Wednesday, Dec. 11 as Arkansas PBS featured an evening airing Willie Nelson’s 90 Birthday Celebration, followed by a 1990 concert with country supergroup the Highwaymen, which was made up of Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson.  

I’ve long been a huge fan of Willie and have seen him in concert more than any other performer — maybe a dozen times since 1990. I spoke about being introduced to Willie’s music at a young age in the 1970s when my mom would play his 8-tracks Red Headed Stranger and Stardust on practically every family trip to see my grandparents. I didn’t enjoy Willie then, but over the years, watching him perform during the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 and many times on Austin City Limits helped me begin building an appreciation. Eventually seeing him in concert, I realized what an amazing performer he was.

So it was a joy to talk about Willie as we were showing a couple of his concerts. Joining me on the air was singer-songwriter Ryan Harmon, who, despite his young age, has an encyclopedic knowledge of country music. Years earlier he had worked in the marketing department at Arkansas PBS, but after being selected for an audition with ABC’s American Idol, took the encouragement he received from judges and is now focused on building his career as a musician. 

If you watch the video below, you’ll see we had a great time on the air. The video only features highlights from our local breaks with none of the concerts we were showing to avoid copyright infringements by posting this to YouTube. 

Among the things I spoke about during the pledge drive was my one experience interviewing Willie for a half-hour in South Florida in 2005. I was working for the Miami Herald, which had a partnership providing local news to PBS/NPR station WLRN. You can hear the interview and read a transcript here.

During breaks in the Highwaymen show at Nassau Coliseum, we also talked about the unveiling of the Johnny Cash statue earlier that year in the U.S. Capitol, which I was excited to attend. His statue and one of civil rights pioneer Daisy Bates, unveiled earlier in the year, now represent Arkansas. Each state is allowed two statues, and Bates and Cash were selected by the Arkansas General Assembly in 2019.

Interviewing Willie Nelson in Plantation, Florida on May 26, 2005. Photo: Candace West/Miami Herald

I also discussed covering the restoration years earlier of Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess, which began when Arkansas State University bought the dilapidated farmhouse as part of its Arkansas Heritage Sites program. Fundraising for the project began with a 2011 with a concert in Jonesboro, which included Kris Kristofferson. Willie would perform the second year, with a dedication ceremony of the home eventually held in 2014.

The preservation of the Cash home and placing a statue of he and Bates in Washington are, by far, my favorite stories to have covered during my long career.

Hosting ‘Not Necessarily Nashville’ on Little Rock Public Radio

by | Nov 17, 2024 | Music, Not Necessarily Nashville

A few times a year I’ll fill in for Flap Jones hosting her long-running country music program Not Necessarily Nashville, as I did last night on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1. Flap has been a friend for 35 years since the first time she asked me to sit in hosting the show in 1989. 

Not Necessarily Nashville, Nov. 16, 2024, 7 p.m. on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1.

It’s always a joy because playing music was what inspired me to get into broadcasting. Then I learned how little freedom commercial radio DJs have in selecting their music, so in 1993 I made the transition to news, which was a wise choice for me. I was always interested in reporting and anchoring, and that led to a more solid career path. There are a tiny fraction of jobs for DJs now compared to when I got into radio due to the corporatization of the industry and the rise of computer automation.

On this weekend’s program, I played several songs from a new David Olney tribute album that was released last month. I was a big fan of Olney’s since the first time I saw him play live about a decade ago at Little Rock’s White Water Tavern. I wasn’t familiar with him that night, but the songs and his voice were amazing. I never missed another show when he would come through town. Below is a video I recorded of him playing “Dillinger,” “Always a Stronger” and “Vincent” at the White Water on Nov. 13, 2019.

Olney died about two months later of an apparent heart attack during a performance at a music festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida on Jan. 18, 2020. He was 71. In the middle of Olney’s third song, he abruptly stopped, said “I’m sorry” to the audience and put his chin to his chest, according to musician Scott Miller who was performing with Olney. “He never dropped his guitar or fell off his stool. It was as easy and gentle as he was. We got him down and tried our best to revive him until the EMT’s arrived,” Miller wrote on Facebook.

The tribute album Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney was released on Oct. 18 and the range of performers covering his shows just how much respect he had from his peers. They include Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale and Willis Alan Ramsey.  

I played four songs from the new album, as well as a live version of Olney performing “Vincent” during a performance that was eventually released as the Live in Holland album in 1994. You can find the full playlist of songs from this weekend’s program below.

I also played a couple of Willie Nelson songs. From several decades ago, I pulled “To Make a Long Story Short, She’s Gone” from one of Willie’s albums, which was a duet with Kris Kristofferson. I’m still mourning Kristofferson’s death on Sept. 28 at the age of 88. The only time I got to see him play live was at the first Johnny Cash Heritage Festival in 2011, which was a fundraiser to support the restoration of Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess, Ark. I covered the event for a news story, which included Kristofferson speaking at a press conference before the show about his friendship with Cash.

“I’ve never met another human being who had the power just in the presence that John had. And to be working on a tribute for him and for his home is a real honor for me,” Kristofferson said.

I also aired a song off Willie Nelson’s new album Last Leaf on the Tree, which was released on Nov. 1. Many songs on his albums in recent years seem almost like he’s preparing fans for his eventual death. I played “Keep Me In Your Heart,” which includes the lyrics: “Shadows are fallin’ and I’m runnin’ out of breath, Keep me in your heart for a while. If I leave you, it doesn’t mean I love you any less. Keep me in your heart for a while.”

I’m looking forward to being able to talk about him next month on Arkansas PBS when we air Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. I’m scheduled to be speaking during breaks in the program as part of our pledge drive. I saw the concert film in a theater in Little Rock when it had a one-day screening nationwide. During our broadcast, I hope to share details of my one experience with Willie, interviewing him in 2005, as well as what makes me such a fan of his work. 

My first exposure was as a kid when during any long drive, my mom would play the 8-tracks of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust, laying the foundation for an appreciation of his work. I’ve probably seen him play live about a dozen times over the decades, most recently on May 31, 2022 at Little Rock’s First Security Amphitheater along the Arkansas River. At 91, he has definitely slowed down, is not playing the guitar quite as heavily, sits on a stool for much of the show, and at times his voice is little more than a raspy whisper. But it’s amazing he’s still performing and maintaining a busy schedule.

Not Necessarily Nashville playlist, Nov. 16, 2024, Little Rock Public Radio

Flaco Jimenez (with Stephen Stills) — “Change Partners” (from Flaco’s album Partners)
Graham Wilkinson — “Lucky” (Cuts so Deep)
Rosanne Cash — “Money Road” (The River and the Thread)
Jimmy Dale Gilmore — “If it Wasn’t for the Wind” (Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney)
David Olney — “Vincent” (Live in Holland)
Steve Earle — “Sister Angelina” (Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney)
Willis Alan Ramsey — “Women Across the River” (Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney)
The SteelDrivers — “If My Eyes Were Blind” (Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney)
Willie Nelson & Kris Kristofferson — “To Make a Long Story Short, She’s Gone” (Extras)
Willie Nelson — “Keep Me in Your Heart” (Last Leaf on the Tree)
Townes Van Zandt — “I’ll Be Here in the Morning” (For the Sake of the Song)
James McMurtrey — “Vague Directions” (Candyland)
Joe Ely — “She Never Spoke Spanish to Me” (Joe Ely)
The Flying Burrito Brothers — Wheels (The Gilded Palace of Sin)

Johnny Cash statue for U.S. Capitol to be unveiled

by | Sep 22, 2024 | Arkansas History, Music

Five years after the Arkansas General Assembly approved replacing the state’s two statues in the U.S. Capitol with civil rights leader Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash, the singer/songwriter’s statue is about to be unveiled. A ceremony is set for Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 11 a.m. in Washington.

A clay model of Kevin Kresse’s statue of Johnny Cash as it appeared on Oct. 20, 2022, while he was working on it in a studio at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Photo: Michael Hibblen

As I start this blog entry, it’s just before dawn on Sunday, Sept. 22, and I’m about to begin a two-day road trip to our nation’s Capitol. After five years of following every step in the process — and getting to know sculptor Kevin Kresse, who was selected to make the eight-foot tall bronze statue — I wouldn’t miss it.

The statue, secure inside a wooden crate, left Arkansas on Sept. 5 to begin its own journey in the back of a tractor-trailer. A send-off ceremony was held outside the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock. Below is a video with highlights that I shot that morning.

On “Arkansas Week,” the program I oversee at Arkansas PBS, we previewed the Washington unveiling ceremony by talking with Kresse and the state’s Statuary Hall Steering Committee Chair Shane Broadway, who has overseen each step in the process, including selecting the artists for each project. We also included clips with daughter Rosanne Cash, who has raved about Kresse’s work in capturing her dad.

Then in the second segment, host Steve Barnes reflected on Bates, whose statue was unveiled earlier in the year, by talking with Janis Kearney. She had known Bates well and eventually became publisher of the Arkansas State Press, which had been run by Bates and her husband L.C. Bates. Mrs. Bates is best known for mentoring the nine Black students who desegregated Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957.

I’ll eventually write an update after the ceremony, while you can find links to my previous reports here. Below is a link from U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson to watch the live ceremony. His office had to approve the statue design and other factors before it was finally cast in bronze.

Traveling to see the legendary Al Green!

by | Dec 22, 2023 | Music

It was a spontaneous decision made the moment Glen Hooks and I saw that Al Green was going to be performing near St. Louis on Nov. 25 — we had to go. Among the top musicians to emerge from Arkansas, I can’t begin to say how much his music has meant to me. The concert was the final one of the year for Rev. Green, now 77. While it would mean a five-hour drive each way from Little Rock, Glen immediately took out his phone and bought three tickets, including one for his girlfriend Michelle Henderson.

What did we think of the show? Let us tell you all about it! I’d recently bought a dash cam for my car and recorded our post-concert thoughts during the drive back, mixing that with some good ol’ cell phone footage to provide highlights and analysis.

Maybe you’ll find this mashup of music and thoughts annoying, but I thought I’d try something new. If you’d like to just see the performance, there’s footage of the entire show recorded by other people that can be found on YouTube.