A few times a year, Flap Jones, host of Little Rock Public Radio’s Not Necessarily Nashville will take a week off and I get the joy of filling in, playing some of my favorite music. That’s what I did last night. There was also a lot to talk about.
AUDIO: Not Necessarily Nashville, June 13, 2026, 7 p.m. on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1.
Recording the June 13, 2026 episode of Not Necessarily Nashville at my home in North Little Rock.
Willie Nelson released a new album on May 29 called “Dream Chaser,” so I played the title track. I also opened the show by playing a song from Willie’s 1996 album “Spirit,” which was released a few days before he stopped by Glenwood, Arkansas radio station KWXI/KWXE. I wrote about the 30th anniversary of that event for a story in The Glenwood Herald, and talked about that on the show.
I also played some Lucinda Williams two weeks ahead of her performance at the Arkansas Folklife Festival in North Little Rock on Saturday, June 27 at 8:30 p.m. on The People’s Stage. Blues legend Bobby Rush is the headliner the previous night. You can find a full schedule for the three-day festival at this link.
James McMurtry returns to Little Rock at the end of the month for two nights at the White Water Tavern on June 30 and July 1. Tickets for both shows are sold out, but the White Water often makes a few tickets available in the hours before shows, so anyone looking for tickets might want to contact the venue.
Not Necessarily Nashville playlist, June 13, 2026
Willie Nelson — “Too Sick to Pray” (Spirit)
Lucinda Williams (featuring Mavis Staples) — “So Much Trouble in the World” (World’s Gone Wrong)
New Grass Revival — “Do What You Gotta Do” (Friday Night in America)
Sam Bush — “Eight More Miles to Louisville” (King of My World)
James McMurtry — “South Texas Lawman” (The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy)
Rodney Crowell — “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” (Acoustic Classics)
Joe Ely — “Cornbread Moon” — (Honky Tonk Masquerade)
Gary Stewart — “She’s Got a Drinking Problem” (The Essential Gary Stewart)
Merle Haggard — “I Won’t Give Up My Train” (My Love Affair With Trains)
Al Green — “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (single)
Willie Nelson – “Dream Chaser” (Dream Chaser)
Commander Cody — “Looking at the World Through a Windshield” (We’ve Got a Live One Here!)
The first time I filled in hosting “Not Necessarily Nashville” for Flap was in 1990. At that time, she and I were both doing programs on Little Rock community radio station KABF-FM 89.1. She moved her show over to KUAR-FM 89.1 in 2009, shortly after I moved back to Arkansas to take a news job at the station. I’ve been her fill-in ever since, and occasionally we’ve even hosted the show together or appeared together during KUAR pledge drives.
Veteran reporter, editor and manager at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
