By Marcus K. Dowling

2026’s most enduring, evolutionary lesson about the country music industry is that Nashville has now become a 20-year town.

Yes, it was once a “ten-year town.” But the country industry now also makes pop superstars, too. So for artists so deeply entrenched within solely country’s traditions, it takes twice as long to break it big.

Amongst artists to which that statement directly correlates, the best of that incredibly small lot is award-winning musician and live-tour show-stopper extraordinaire Charlie Worsham.

His latest album, Once Upon A Second Time Around, arrives on August 7, 2026.

As this is his first album released independent of Nashville’s vaunted, machine-like major-label system, its excellence suggests it should be cast in a brilliant new light.

Today, country music encompasses global streaming stars like Ella Langley and Morgan Wallen, reaching beyond its roots. In contrast, the essence of country music remains what legends like Willie Nelson spent decades mastering.

While Nashville’s mainstream chases broad commercial appeal, artists like Worsham honor the tradition at its core. Both approaches have their merits, and the current landscape is richer for it. 

Worsham’s first independent album, released 20 years after his arrival in Nashville, stands as a testament to authentic artistry and marks a defining moment in his career.

Charlie Worsham’s Journey Through Country Music’s Generations

Worsham views the past generation of his existence, leading into Once Upon A Second Time Around as a singular album unto itself.

That essentially gives him, yes, a top-20 radio single, via 2013’s “Could It Be.”

But that also yields him the respect of somewhere in the realm of a dozen Country Music Hall of Famers and Grand Ole Opry members of multiple generations, including Kenny Chesney, Vince Gill, Kenny Rogers, Marty Stuart, Dierks Bentley, Luke Combs, and Lainey Wilson, plus critically and popularly renowned names like Eric Church, Brent Cobb, Elle King, Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert, Kip Moore, Old Crow Medicine Sgow and Taylor Swift.

Those years also allowed his dozen-plus-year-old and artist-to-artist beloved “That’s How I Learned To Pray” to evolve into a stellar Combs duet in 2023.

That run also yielded him two Country Music Association Awards in 2024 for Musician of the Year and Touring Musician of the Year, and two Academy of Country Music Award victories for Acoustic Guitar Player of the Year.

“[Once Upon A Second Time Around] proves that I still love the art and craft of making music as much as I did 20 years ago,” Worsham says in an extensive conversation with Goldmine Magazine.

“I love it now, more than ever, because I’ve [endured the hard-earned process] of mastering being confident as an artist. I’ve gone from the place of needing to feel like I’m Elvis Presley at this craft, or I’m just fooling people, to being able to know that if I just keep on doing what I’m doing, I’ll be able to do this, exactly as I want to, as long as I want.”

In March, he joined Wilson onstage at Stubbs in Austin, Texas, as she celebrated the release of a career retrospective documentary on Netflix. Three months later, he was playing a trio of shows in 2,500-capacity Florida rooms with Gill.

The only other band Vince Gill plays with these days? The Eagles.

“To be called by both your heroes and pals to have a seat at their table is all I ever wanted from a career in country music. That’s the biggest award I’ve ever wanted to receive.”

Consider that, in country music, a “seat at the table” means joining a circle that, in the 1930s, The Carter Family offered, remained unbroken, “by and by,” forever.

Worsham’s Evolution from Interpreter to Storyteller

The greatest power of Charlie Worsham’s latest album is that, if you view it as a “sophomore” release of sorts, it’s unquestionably not a “slump.”

Imagine that, somewhere along the way of playing way too many concerts and recording sessions, plus sitting in everyone’s songwriting rooms enough times to have his name engraved on a chair, Worsham finally gets the opportunity to, instead of being a peerless interpreter of the souls of others, shine a light into his own depths.

He describes the process as emerging from a series of “dizzying seasons” where, in a true songwriter’s turn of phrase, he describes “sitting in the woodshed” and journaling his emotions, yielding a career’s worth of material. 

That’s not the same as idiomatically “going to the woodshed” and dealing with his emotions in a private, harsh manner. That’s instead, sitting amidst those emotions, unresolved, and, as Nashville’s songwriting process often allows, aggressively tying those emotions together like so many loose ends.

However, Worsham is now in a phase of his life in which, over the past decade, he has been earning empathy as both a husband since 2018 and as a father of two children under the age of six.

“Filling up pages with the truth” has grown into “using a different mechanism to allow [his] heart to connect to the lives of the country music fanbase.”

“I’m a dad and husband who works a job and comes back home to my family. Therefore, there’s now a bigger chunk of my life that exists outside of music.”

Developing a work-life balance has yielded an album where, though he is an acclaimed songwriter, a quarter of the material is written by others. That includes Lainey Wilson’s work with Josh Nix and Dallas Wilson for “They Never Do,” as well as “Family Man” (Matt Rogers, Ben Stennis, Josh Jenkins) and “Whiskeysippi” (Jon Nite, Andrew DeRoberts, Drew Parker).

That balance was bolstered by Sony/ATV Publishing Executive Vice President Josh Van Valkenburg, who essentially served as A&R for Worsham on the project.

“Because Josh knows my heart, he was able to locate songs that felt like it, he says, offering that at points in their career as well, vaunted performers like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson grew to become Nashville industry artists who could trust how others knew them authentically to yield outside songs as top-tier material, too.

“Those songs turned over new rocks to experiences I had yet to put into the universe.”

Honoring Tradition: Worsham’s Noble Purpose and Collaborative Spirit

“Country music serves a higher, more immediate, and incredibly noble purpose,” Worsham continues, as he opines about the strengths of his latest album.

One could get the sense that Worsham, in deference to the genre’s 100-year history, would begrudgingly offer that he’s likely been in the room on some of the modern era’s great additions to a list of “noble” classics. Still, none were directly his as a lead performer.

This album contains material that might not yet challenge that notion. Still, it shows the 40-year-old Mississippian as finally ready, as Willie Nelson did with “Red Headed Stranger” in 1975, to kick off a second half of life as an epic note in country’s permanent legacy.

“Remember, country music comes from these roots where these songs were largely either an encouraging balm for hard times, or it was the end of hog killing season and a band was celebrating that. If you look at my work, you’ll see that I may be one of the few artists still deeply connected to both of those traditions, among many others,” Worsham says, laughing.

To wit, collaborators of note on Worsham’s record include Wilson, “Death Cab for Country”-branded countrified, yet emo and grunge-inspired rocker Stephen Wilson, Jr., and Grammy-winning bluegrass act The Travelin’ McCourys.

The songs Worsham performs with the artists, almost specifically in the case of the album closing Travelin’ McCourys jam session “Wrap My Porch Around” and the Stephen Wilson, Jr. pairing for “Years Go By” benefit from how years and experiences temper truly seasoned performers’ creative desires.

“We’re still humble and hungry, singing songs that are, in some cases, five years old,” the performer starts.

“Put Stephen and me being authentically ourselves the whole time in front of a laptop camera while I’m talking about preparing to be a dad, and he’s telling me how his teenage stepson was getting ready to drive — that’s how ‘Years Go By’ happened,” Worsham recalls.

“Stephen sang a verse that’s meant for me about having a son on the way, almost as a way of offering me advice, dad-to-dad — he didn’t have to do that, so it’s special that he did.”

Add Worsham’s son, then age 2, with some added vocals at the start of the track, and it’s super-palpably poignant in its delivery.

“The Travelin’ McCourys and I are both acts skilled at making music that can either inspire you or pay the bills,” Worsham continues, describing their work on “Wrap My Porch Around.”

“If you listen to how Vince Gill did two versions of ‘High Lonesome Sound’ (on an eponymously-titled studio album) 30 years ago, or how my traveling buddy Dierks Bentley always has a bluegrass song on every release, that was my inspiration for doing the same with the McCourys on this album.”

A Harmonious Collaboration: Worsham and Wilson’s “They Never Do”

Regarding working with Wilson, their duet “They Never Do” arrived from writing sessions had while her breakout, 2020-released chart-topper “Things A Man Oughta Know” was in the midst of its 16-month climb to the top of country’s radio charts.

Dial back the pages of country history to how Patty Loveless often served as a background vocalist on many Vince Gill cuts, even though she was a star in her own right, and that’s the energy Worsham expected to mimic on “They Never Do.”

Imagine skimming ten percent of the spiritual energy from George Jones’ “The Grand Tour” and adding it to something that 100% already feels like a guitar-driven breakup anthem aimed like a bullet for the top of the country industry’s radio charts.

Worsham’s the male half of the breakup, “half-past drunk in a haunted house,” lamenting how his ex-girlfriend’s “on a new high,” while he’s “getting stoned.”

“You’d think hearts break even — but they never do,” they sing.

“Lainey was so tickled that a song that she wrote from before the era where she was an Entertainer of the Year (caliber artist) had been picked up by a friend of hers, that instead of just singing harmonies, she made her part a feature-ready collaboration.”

Worsham offers that because she’s an artist still super-grounded in her community, she’s able to meet him authentically, creatively, and energetically eye-to-eye in their work.

The song feels like it could join Worsham on a list alongside Cole Swindell (“Never Say Never”), Lukas Nelson (“More Than Friends”), and HARDY (“Wait In The Truck”) as artists with whom Wilson has achieved chart-topping success.

Reaching Rarefied Air

After 20 years, Worsham has reached a place where remaining humble and grounded as an artist has allowed him to become as deeply connected to every creative, emotional, and professional facet of the industry. As someone who grew up idolizing bluegrass icons and could name every song on country music radio across any generation, it’s an ideal situation.

As a creator and performer, Worsham is keenly aware that he’s in a unique position to be the artist who, like Willie Nelson in 1975, has the chance to represent and synergize what it means to occupy a space in the middle of what it means to have lived through and understood enough of country music’s past to embody it. As well, similar to Nelson, he’s also been gifted to be progressive-minded enough to have a foot solidly shepherding the steps the genre’s most celebrated tier will take into the present and future.

Worsham describes the present moment as being one where country music has so many people responsible for so many number one singles over, say, one-third of the genre’s history, working at the peak of their skills, that “a group of people who came up the ranks together, are now a community that, while supporting each other. Now, that community has the opportunity to now be able to [incredbly] evolve each other as artists.”

“This is a time in my life where I’m getting so many cosmic affirmations about the sum of the parts of years of hard work that I’ve put into my career,” he continues, broadly discussing the power of his next-level career moment.

Note that, cosmically, this is also a career in which Worsham considers Vince Gill his creative and professional North Star. At the same time, Marty Stuart serves as the guiding star you find immediately after the North Star.

To extrapolate a point from earlier, on Once Upon A Second Time Around, Worsham has finally achieved a firm position in the most rarefied of country music’s air.

“I mean, I guess if people whose names I used to read on liner notes are now my friends, I guess I’m up there in the stars, too, now. I love it. I’m glad that this is happening because I honestly can’t stop making music because it [on every level] keeps my creative battery charged and feeds my humanity.”

Get Country Music in the Golmine Shop

In June, as part of our Black Music Month series, Goldmine spoke with music executive Joe McEwen about the Record Store Day LP that he co-produced, Stax Killer B’s: 14 Fabulous Flip Sides. McEwen said, “Being an archival person, I came up with the idea of a Record Store Day release of these soul flip sides, selecting songs from the past, and spending the right amount of time on the project. I sent Steve Greenberg, of S-Curve Records, my list and asked him to fill in anything missing. I approached making this album from a fan’s point of view. The wonder of discovery never ends.” Now we share more of his soul music discoveries from his new ZE Books paperback Tastykakes, Soul Songs & Shining Stars. Goldmine focuses on McEwen’s coverage of ‘70s soul songs with 10 sample selections.

Cover photo: Joe McEwen and Betty Wright, 1974

Joe McEwen

Tastykakes, Soul Songs & Shining Stars

ZE Books (paperback)

In the book’s preface, Joe McEwen described growing up as a young teenager in Philadelphia: “There was no music played in our house. In the car, my mother sometimes tuned into WIP, the adult radio station, which seemed to program an exclusive soundtrack of Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, and Tony Bennett. She tuned in. I tuned out. The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan in February of 1964, an event seen by 73 million people. I was among them. Later that year I decided to dive in and find out more. My little transistor radio, the one I listened to Philadelphia Phillies games on, was now moved to WIBG (WIBBAGE). I kept a notepad in my room and when I heard a song on the radio that I liked, something that really struck a chord, I’d write it down. My teenage room was my sanctuary, my private space. Basketball and music consumed me. Music was my outlet when at home. WDAS, at 1480 AM, far right on the dial, was a radio station I discovered shortly after I started listening to WIBG. WDAS was the city’s primary black radio station aimed directly at Philadelphia’s black population. My listening time was soon divided evenly between WIBG, Top 40 hit single radio, and WDAS. At Rose Playground on the western edge of West Philly, there would often be a portable radio tuned to WDAS. The station provided my soundtrack to playground basketball.” WDAS was influential. For example, on February 2, 1970, years after McEwen first tuned into what had since become known as soul music, the station published its weekly survey of music, and in the Top 10, after nine singles, was an album cut by Jr. Walker & the All Stars. By the end of the month, the team at Motown released the song as a single on their Soul label and soon “Gotta Hold on to This Feeling” became a Top 5 national soul hit and a Top 20 pop hit as well.

from page 235 of Tastykakes, Soul Songs & Shining Stars

“I kept a notepad in my room and when I heard a song on the radio that I liked, something that really struck a chord, I’d write it down. My teenage room was my sanctuary, my private space.” – Joe McEwen

Radio was very important to the record companies’ promotion staff. As McEwen gained access to the music world in the ‘70s, he wrote stories in his college newspaper and magazines beyond that, with many of those articles and observations shared in the book, including one with music promoter Rowena Harris calling a radio station, successfully begging to play the funky “Let Me Be Free” by Brother to Brother. McEwen overheard the phone conversation: “Hi, baby, how you doin’? You gonna play my record, hon? Come on, now, I need this one. I know you don’t want me to come out there and throw a damn tantrum in your office, do you? Thank you, dear. You got the album too? Make sure you listen to it and tell me what you like. I love you; you still love me?” Harris’ tactics worked. “Let Your Mind Be Free” spent eight weeks on the soul chart nationally in early 1976.

In Goldmine’s June interview article with McEwen, we shared eight flip sides from Stax Records. By the mid-‘70s, Stax was forced into bankruptcy, resulting in their acts seeking other record labels to continue their careers. The Staple Singers were picked up by Warner Bros. and rebranded as The Staples, a family act including Roebuck “Pops” Staples and his daughters Mavis, Cleotha, and Yvonne at that time. McEwen visited Pops at Staples Studios in Chicago, in a building that previously belonged to Prudential Insurance Company, as the neighborhood had changed from middle-class white to middle-class black residents and businesses. Pops stated, “Prejudice! Too much prejudice! A man sold me his home in such a hurry to get out that he gave me the house for less than half of what it was worth. Now he called me and said that the blacks are coming to where he moved and there’s nothing he can do about it. I bought this place the same way, which still has the old Prudential logo. They couldn’t wait to get out. Now I got me ‘a piece of the rock.’ Somebody got to turn this thing around. It’s just too much hate. People got to learn to live side by side.” He sat in his chair and began to pick “Mystery Train” on his guitar, playing along with the tape booming through the speakers and said, “That’s a hit, man, that’s a hit!”

“Mystery Train” became the flip side of The Staples’ Top 20 1978 soul single “Unlock Your Mind,” with the A side sung by Mavis Staples, who shared her struggles with a love for secular music in a religious family with McEwen: “I would sing around the house, or anywhere for that matter. I remember once I got my worst whipping for singing in school. Mom and Pops had sent Yvonne and me to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, when I was about eight years old. We lived with my grandmother, and for a year that’s where I went to school. One time we had a variety show at school, and at this time there was a record out called ‘Since I Fell for You’ by Ella Johnson. That song stuck with me, and I would sing it over and over, which was fine, except my grandmother didn’t expect me to sing it in public. It was considered a sin. The kids pushed me out on that stage and told me to sing ‘Since I Fell for You.’ I got out there and started to sing, and from the corner of my eye I could see my uncle running down the aisle. He snatched me off that stage and took me straight home. My grandmother got out the switch and tore me apart, just for singing the blues in school.”

In addition to a strong blues history, Chicago had plenty of soul music. McEwen explained, “Major Lance, the father of future Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Curtis Mayfield grew up together in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini-Green housing project. Their last collaboration came on Mayfield’s Curtom label, with “Stay Away from Me (I Love You Too Much)” peaking at No. 13 in 1970.” Like 1963’s Top 10 pop hits “The Monkey Time” and “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um,” this single was written by Mayfield.

Like the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago for Major Lance and Curtis Mayfield, Betty Wright, pictured on the cover of the book with McEwen, grew up in Miami’s stucco projects on 62nd Street, which McEwen credits for the brashness she exuded on her records like her 1971 Top 10 gold single “Clean Up Woman.” McEwen wrote in 1974, “A distinctive ‘Miami Sound’ has developed, centering on Henry Stone’s stable of performers and session musicians with riffing guitars and prominent bass, present on most of Betty Wright’s recent singles. Since the success of ‘Clean Up Woman,’ Wright has created a series of ‘advice’ records, complete with sizzling instrumental tracks, including ‘Is It You Girl,’ ‘Baby Sitter,’ and ‘Secretary.’ Unlike many of her colleagues, Betty is a voracious collector of R&B records and memorabilia.” The Miami music scene was tight, with acts supporting each other. Wright told McEwen, “I look at it this way, we’re all one big family.”

Lamont Dozier, part of Motown’s Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team in the ‘60s, achieved success in the early ‘70s leading the Invictus/Hot Wax labels and as a singer in the mid-70s. McEwen stated, “Lamont Dozier had his own vocal aspirations; after his pre-Motown attempts at a vocal career both with groups and as a solo performer, he finally achieved his own success in front of the mic with his deeply affecting, grainy tenor and songs like “Trying to Hold On to My Woman” and “Fish Ain’t Bitin’.” The latter’s lyrics expressed political frustration aimed at President Richard Nixon. Three months after its release, Nixon resigned.

Among the artists on Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Hot Wax label was Laura Lee. McEwen wrote, “On the March 11, 1972 edition of Soul Train, Don Cornelius’ guests included the Detroit firebrand Laura Lee, who sang the gleeful vengeance anthem ‘Rip Off.’ The single was produced by the Motown refugee William Witherspoon, who had been the mastermind of Jimmy Ruffin’s stratospheric ‘What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.’”

In a 2018 Massachusetts concert review of a ‘Legends of Deep Soul’ show, McEwen wrote, “Thelma Jones owned the stage. She performed the penultimate ‘Salty Tears,’ a 1976 single on Columbia Records that was part Dorothy Moore’s ‘Misty Blue’ and part Burt Bacharach, written by Teddy Randazzo and Victoria Pike. ‘Salty Tears’ wasn’t a hit, slightly out of time in the mid-‘70s in tempo and composition, but it’s a near-great song, not easy to play and not easy to own, especially on one day’s rehearsal. This night in Cambridge, with Harvard and M.I.T. standing blocks away in either direction, Thelma Jones and the Eli Reed Band taught their own course, with a rapturous audience of willing students ready to learn the art of soul.”

Regarding non-hits, there are two recent books on non-hit albums, where many of us music writers participated in sharing some of our favorite lesser-known LPs. McEwen’s sections of the collection from HoZac Books are included within this new ZE Books paperback. McEwen explained, “During the COVID-19 period, Mitchell Cohen invited me to contribute to an anthology his friend Sal Maida and he were assembling called The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Ought to Know. The premise was to pick an album that did not make the Top 100, and to write about its merits. I enthusiastically landed on Syreeta’s Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta for Volume 1 and Mink DeVille’s Cabretta for Volume 2. Within the first volume McEwen wrote, “In the middle of the album by Syreeta was ‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,’ a heartbreaking melody, drenched in deep resignation and acceptance, as cinematic a ballad as Stevie Wonder ever created. ‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers’ finally found an audience in the hands of Jeff Beck, who dives deeply into the dark hues, a centerpiece of his signature Blow by Blow album. Wonder wrote this song alone, and while Syreeta delivers a crushing performance, it seems like it’s Stevie Wonder’s voice we should hear. Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta should have been a rousing success, recorded in the middle of Wonder’s full arts-and-crafts wizardry.” “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” became the flip side of “Harmour Love,” which peaked at No. 75 on the R&B chart in 1975.

For ‘70s soul you may enjoy in our Goldmine store (see below):

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Related Links:

Goldmine June 2026: Joe McEwen on Stax RSD Flip Sides LP

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Goldmine 2022: Sal Maida Flop Albums You Should Know Vol. 1 interview

Goldmine 2023: Sal Maida Flop Albums You Should Know Vol. 2 interview

hozacrecords.com/books

Warren Kurtz is a long-time music journalist, author and Contributing Editor at Goldmine, writing over 800 articles including the weekly Fabulous Flip Sides and monthly In Memoriam series (both exclusively online at goldminemag.com), along with album reviews-interviews, covering rock, pop, Americana, R&B and more. goldminemag.com/author/warren-kurtz/

Warren’s Fabulous Flip Sides radio segment can be heard most Saturdays, around 9 a.m. Eastern Time as part of DJ Brian Donovan’s Moments to Remember show, on WVCR 88.3 “The Saint” at wvcr.com or iHeart.com (search WVCR). Contact email: fabulousflipsides@yahoo.com

One week after Tyler’s U.S. Top 40 debut, Meat Loaf’s gold single “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” had its debut, from his Cleveland International Records album Bat Out of Hell, with all songs written by Jim Steinman. The following month, Meat Loaf made his U.K. television debut singing the title tune from the album, along with what would become his next single “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” Tyler saw the BBC performance and reached out to Steinman wanting songs from him. She would eventually record his compositions including “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which became a No. 1 platinum single for Tyler in 1983, the year when Steinman had four non-Meat Loaf songs in the Top 40.

The following year, the film Footloose debuted, with six songs from its soundtrack making the Top 40, all co-written by the film’s screenwriter Dean Pitchford, including the powerful Steinman and Pitchford composition “Holding Out for a Hero,” which became Tyler’s third and final U.S. Top 40 hit.

In 2021, Tyler released her eighteenth and final studio album, The Best is Yet to Come, produced by David Mackay, who produced her earliest albums in the ‘70s, along with her prior 2019 release.

Tyler was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her service to music. She was named to Queen Elizabeth II’s final Birthday Honors list in 2022 and officially received the medal in 2023. This past April, Tyler released a pair of singles, “Only Love” followed by “One World One Home.” “Hold on tight, my friend, this doesn’t have to be the end,” are the opening lyrics for “Only Love.”

Click here to read a touching Bonnie Tyler tribute from Goldmine’s John Borack

Freddy Cannon Early rock and roll vocalist Freddy Cannon, born Frederick Picariello Jr., passed away July 17 at age 89. Cannon debuted in the Top 40 in the spring of 1959 with “Tallahassee Lassie,” which reached No. 6.

As 1959 ended and 1960 began, Cannon scored his second hit with “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” which reached No. 3.

In 1962, Cannon had his third and final Top 10 hit on the Philadelphia based Swan label with “Palisades Park,” written by the future Gong Show host Chuck Barris, and like “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans,” the single also reached No. 3.

In 1964, Cannon changed record companies to Warner Bros. and achieved his first of two Top 20 hits for the label with the energetic “Abigail Beecher.” Dick Clark said that every time he hosted an oldies concert, he asked Cannon to open it, because he knew that Cannon would get the audience on their feet. Cannon also set the record for the most appearances on Clark’s American Bandstand, 110 times.

In 1965, Cannon was in the Top 20 for a final time with “Action,” the theme from Dick Clark’s weekday Where the Action Is show, co-written by Tommy Boyce.

Paul Wheatbread Gary Puckett and the Union Gap drummer Paul Wheatbread passed away July 6 at age 80. In 1968, the group had four Top 10 gold singles: “Woman, Woman,” “Young Girl,” “Lady Willpower,” and “Over You,” making them the biggest selling singles act that year. The following year they achieved two more Top 40 entries: “Don’t Give into Him” and their final Top 10 hit, “This Girl is a Woman Now.”

Calvin Hayes Johnny Hates Jazz keyboardist and drummer Calvin Hayes passed away July 10 at age 63. Hayes, the son of music producer Mickey Most, formed the British trio with vocalist Clark Datchler and guitarist and bassist Mike Nocito in the ‘80s and reached No. 2 on the U.S. pop chart and No. 1 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart in 1988 with Datchler’s composition “Shattered Dreams.”

Arlene Smith The Chantels’ original lead singer Arlene Smith passed away July 29 at age 84. Shirley Alston, the lead singer of The Shirelles stated, “The Chantels were our inspiration. Their harmonies were outrageous. We thought it was angelic. Of course, it made us want to harmonize the same way.” The Bronx female vocal group had their chart debut in 1957 with “He’s Gone,” co-written by Smith. Early the following year, their next single became their Top 40 debut and powerful signature song, “Maybe,” covered the following decade by Janis Joplin.

Glen Hansard The Swell Season singer-songwriter Glen Hansard passed away July 29 at age 56. Ireland’s Hansard formed the folk-rock duo The Swell Season with Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová in 2005, releasing three studio albums, and are best known for starring in the 2007 film Once, which has since been adapted as a Broadway musical, winning Tony awards. The tender opening track on the film soundtrack, “Falling Slowly” written by Hansard and Irglová, won an Oscar award for Best Original Song, and became The Swell Season’s sole Top 100 entry.

Jim Gilstrap R&B vocalist and often hired session singer Jim Gilstrap passed away July 18 at age 79. In 1975, Gilstrap hit the R&B Top 10 with his debut single “Swing Your Daddy,” written by Kenny Nolan.

Adam Blessing The Damnation of Adam Blessing vocalist Adam Blessing, born Bill Constable, passed away July 8 at age 78. The Northeast Ohio band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1969 and featured their version of the bluesy “Morning Dew.” The following year, The Second Damnation was released, featuring the band’s original composition “Back to the River,” which charted nationally, and placed in Cleveland’s WIXY AM year-end survey at No. 36, one notch ahead of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s memorial tribute to the four students who lost their lives at nearby Kent State University on May 4 of that year, during a protest, at the height of the Vietnam War. In 2020, Goldmine spoke with the band’s rhythm guitarist Jim Quinn, celebrating the 50th anniversary reissue of both albums. Quinn reached out to Goldmine this month stating, “It is with a broken heart that I share the passing of one of the dearest friends I have ever known, Bill Constable, known to so many as Adam Blessing.

Bill passed away peacefully at home in his sleep. He and I met when we were only nineteen years old. We were young, full of dreams, and had no idea where the music would take us. In 1968, we began The Damnation of Adam Blessing, and from that moment on, our lives became connected by friendship, music, brotherhood, and a shared journey that lasted nearly sixty years. We traveled from coast to coast, recorded four albums, stood together on stages before thousands of people, and experienced moments that most young musicians could only dream about. When I look back now, it is not only the records, the performances, or the miles we traveled that mean the most to me, it is the time we shared between those moments, the laughter, the struggles, the long conversations, the inside jokes, the disagreements, the victories, and simply growing older while knowing that someone who had been there from the beginning was still part of my life. So much of my youth, my music, and my life’s story includes him. His passing leaves an emptiness I cannot fully explain, because losing him feels like losing a part of my own history. There was power and honesty in his voice that could never be mistaken for anyone else. That voice will continue to live through the records we made and in the hearts of everyone who heard him. I will always be grateful that two nineteen-year-old kids found each other and were given the chance to share such an extraordinary journey. I will treasure every memory, every mile, every stage, and every year of friendship we were fortunate enough to have. Rest peacefully, my old friend. Thank you for the music, the memories, the laughter, and the brotherhood. I will miss you more than words can ever say. You will always be part of me, and you will never be forgotten.”

Beaky Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich’s guitarist John “Beaky” Dymond passed away July 5 at age 81. The British Invasion quintet debuted on the U.S. charts in late 1966 with “Bend It,” featuring a sound inspired by a traditional Greek dance.

Lou Koller Sick of It All vocalist Lou Koller passed away July 24 at age 61. The Queens hardcore punk band released a dozen albums from 1989 through 2018 and were considered a major part of the New York hardcore scene with successful record sales.

Tony Thorpe The Rubettes’ guitarist and vocalist Tony Thorpe passed away July 18 at age 80. Thorpe, a founding member of the British group, was a member from 1974 through 1979, the era which included their breakthrough U.K. hit “Sugar Baby Love.”

Alan Walden Capricorn Records co-founder and southern rock music manager Alan Walden passed away July 16 at age 83. In the late ‘60s, after the death of his client Otis Redding, Walden, his brother Phil, and Frank Fenter formed Capricorn Records in Macon, Georgia, the founding label for the southern rock genre, spearheaded by The Allman Brothers Band.

In 1970, Walden formed his own publishing and management company, signing Lynyrd Skynyrd and working with them until 1974.

During Walden’s time managing Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band’s lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant introduced Walden to another southern rock band, The Outlaws, who he became the manager for and secured a record deal for in the mid-‘70s on Clive Davis’ newly formed Arista label.

For vinyl LPs and back issues you may enjoy in our Goldmine store (see below):

Click here to get the above items (and more!) in the Goldmine store

Warren Kurtz is a long-time music journalist, author, and Contributing Editor at Goldmine, writing over 800 articles including the weekly Fabulous Flip Sides and monthly In Memoriam series (both exclusively online at goldminemag.com) covering rock, pop, Americana, R&B, and more. goldminemag.com/author/warren-kurtz

Warren’s Fabulous Flip Sides radio segment can be heard most Saturdays, around 9 a.m. Eastern Time as part of DJ Brian Donovan’s Moments to Remember show, on WVCR 88.3 “The Saint” at wvcr.com or iHeart.com (search WVCR). Contact email: fabulousflipsides@yahoo.com

In 2018, guitarist Alex Lifeson confirmed that Rush would no longer tour or record. Lifeson’s comments came after drummer Neil Peart had said he was retired due to tendonitis and other health issues. Peart died from glioblastoma in January 2020. Lifeson and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee have both said that the idea of performing together again as Rush came to them after they played at the tribute concerts for the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in London and Los Angeles in September 2022. Encouragement from artists such as Paul McCartney further influenced them to do a reunion. And that has resulted in the amazing live show that Rush are currently performing in North America, aided by the German drummer Anika Nilles and the American keyboardist Loren Gold.

Before the band hit the Madison Square Garden stage on Thursday, July 30th, a comical six-minute video played as the crowd roared in anticipation. The stage featured video screens at the top and the sides of the stage that showed video of the band’s performance. A large video screen behind the band showed images and animation as the band performed.

The show was split into two 10-song sets with a 20-minute intermission between them. It concluded with a two-song encore.

The show began with an outstanding performance of “Xanadu” that had Nilles and Gold proving their mettle straight out of the box. Lee’s vocals were strong, as they were throughout the show, and Lifeson’s guitar work was stellar. The crowd’s roar when the band completed the song was sustained and absolutely deafening. We all knew that we were in for one hell of a show. Rush delivered on that. And then some. The fans were ecstatic to have Rush back, pumping their fists in the air, singing along throughout the show and sporting huge ear-to-ear grins.

Prior to the performance of “The Spirit of Radio”, Lee spoke a bit about Peart and then introduced Nilles and Gold to the crowd. The performance of the song that followed was tight and terrific, highlighted by Lifeson’s great guitar playing. Nilles’ explosive drumming during “The Analog Kid” and “Freewill” left the crowd in awe.

Lee switched back and forth from keyboards to bass during the great performance of “Subdivisions” that had the four musicians firing on all cylinders. That was followed by a Peart tribute video that played throughout the performance of “Bravado.” Lifeson and Nilles, in particular, gave stellar performances during the song. Lee’s funky bass playing was the highlight of the instrumental “Leave That Thing Alone.” Lifeson played an acoustic guitar intro to “The Trees” before switching back to electric guitar. Videos of trees played on the screen behind the band as they rocked out. The band softened the sound as the song drew to a conclusion, with bird sounds joining the mix. Pyro flames blasted up behind Nilles as she gave another impressive performance on “Caravan” that also featured some great guitar work from Lifeson. Introducing “Limelight,” the last song of the first set, Lifeson simply said, “This is where I go . . .” before tearing into the song’s well-known guitar intro. Lee provided another powerful lead vocal, Gold’s keyboard playing was an impressive and Nilles’ drumming was rock solid.

Following the 20-minute intermission, the band returned to the stage to perform the intricate “2112.” The crowd participated at one point, repeatedly thrusting their fists in the air and shouting “Hey!” Near the end of the performance of the song, Lee and Lifeson stood side by side and rocked out as the crowd went crazy. It was quite a sight.

“Animate” received a terrific performance, which was highlighted by Lee’s vocal and Lifeson’s rocking guitar playing. The crowd gave huge cheers to the stellar performances of “Closer to the Heart” and “A Passage to Bangkok.” After the performance of the latter, a second tribute video to Peart played that included a voiceover from the late drummer.

Images of Aimee Mann appeared on the video screen during the performance of “Time Stand Still” and a recording of her vocal was used. The band’s performance of the song was tight. They then rocked out quite ferociously on a spectacular version of the instrumental “YYZ.” Following that, Lee told a humorous story about Peart’s audition for the band. And he added that they jammed that day on a song that eventually became “Anthem,” the performance of which followed. And that performance was stunning. The band kicked it up a notch, delivering an incendiary performance of the song that had the tireless crowd roaring in appreciation. It was magnificent. I could feel Nilles’ kick drum in my chest. And they kept it up with a fantastic performance of “Red Barchetta” that was highlighted by Lee’s outstanding bass playing. The penultimate song of the main set was an all-hands-on-deck performance of “Witch Hunt.” And the main set closed out with an outstanding performance of “Tom Sawyer” that was preceded by a video featuring the main characters from the animated series South Park. In the video, the Eric Cartman character was dressed as Lee and put his own, and incorrect, spin on “Tom Sawyer.” The band’s performance of the song was memorable, and the crowd gave it a sustained ovation.

Following a very brief interval, the band returned to the stage to perform the two-song encore. “Finding My Way” was another spectacular effort by the band that had the audience cheering. And they topped that with an explosive performance of “Working Man” that concluded with Lee and Lifeson rocking out together in front of Nilles’ drum kit. It was the perfect end to an unforgettable show.

Rush’s Fifty Something Tour is one of the must-see shows of this year. If you are holding tickets for any of the concerts still to come on this tour, prepare to be knocked out. It really is a great thing to have Rush back on the concert stage.

Rush’s tour dates can be found on their official Website at https://www.rush.com/tour/fifty-something/.

The setlist was as follows:
SET 1:
Xanadu
The Spirit of Radio
The Analog Kid
Freewill
Subdivisions
Bravado
Leave That Thing Alone
The Trees
Caravan
Limelight

SET 2:
2112:
a. Overture
b. The Temples of Syrinx
c. Discovery
d. Presentation
e. Oracle: The Dream
f. Soliloquy
g. Grand Finale
Animate
Closer to the Heart
The Passage to Bangkok
Time Stand Still
YYZ
Anthem
Red Barchetta
Witch Hunt
Tom Sawyer

ENCORE:
Finding My Way
Working Man

GOLDMINE: Congratulations on Coherence. Before we go there, I would like to discuss a pair of classic Santana songs that you play on stage. In 1970, as you moved from our mutual state of Ohio to Connecticut, Santana’s second album Abraxas was released. The first single was the band’s Latin rock version of Fleetwood Mac’s bluesy “Black Magic Woman” with “Hope You’re Feeling Better” on the flip side, written by the group’s keyboardist and vocalist Gregg Rolie, who would become one of the co-founders of Journey. This exciting rock song is my favorite Santana flip side.

CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA: The drums are just banging on that song and I love playing it live. Whenever I see that it has made the setlist, I smile. It is hard hitting, rocking, and grooving. Everyone takes great solos on that fun song.

Santana

Fabulous Flip Side: Hope You’re Feeling Better

A side: Black Magic Woman

Billboard Hot 100 debut: November 14, 1970

Peak position: No. 4

Columbia 4-45270

GM: Let’s move from the 1970 Abraxas album to the 1970 Woodstock soundtrack triple album. When I watched the film that year, it was my first time seeing Santana. The performance of the instrumental “Soul Sacrifice” was incredible. That has to be a lot of fun to play.

CBS: Yes, it is. There is so much history with that song, visually introducing so many people to the group’s performance power. Michael Shrieve’s drumming was so great as were all the members of the group. The song has energy, drive, and it weaves in and out in different sections. I love to be able to drum all over the place. It is such a strong song, often an opener in our shows.

Available from Mack Avenue Records on CD and digital formats

GM: Talking about openers, “Illumination” kicks off your new Coherence album with a wonderful jazz sound. I remember growing up watching the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon and enjoying jazz performances that I wouldn’t hear on the radio, and I am reminded of that with you and your band.

CBS: These guys are so dedicated to the craft of developing an instrument and developing music. They have great ears. I am so happy to be playing with them. Emilio Modeste is like a young lion on tenor sax but he is also a young lion in the voice of music because he is pushing boundaries. He plays with me and he plays with Stanley Clarke. He studies music and has a lot to draw from. Zaccai Curtis is an amazing keyboardist with a Latin rhythmic perspective along with straight ahead jazz. Felix Pastorius is one of my favorite young bassists and has a great sensibility. He is Jaco Pastorius’ son but is his own great bass player in his own right with great harmonic knowledge. Guitarist Aurélien Budynek is like my right hand. He can play what we are doing to Broadway shows to rock bands. He can shred on the guitar but he doesn’t overdo it. He plays melodically, which I love.

GM: That’s what I also love about Carlos and he plays so powerfully on “The Message is Love.”

CBS: Carlos’ sound is so full, technical, and melodic. He is another person who knows how to give the music what it needs at any moment. When he comes in on “The Message is Love” on that first note, it blows my mind.

GM: I was reminded of the stereo approach of Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” where one speaker sounds wild and the other sounds calm. With “The Message is Love,” the left speaker has wild guitar from Carlos and the right speaker has soothing sax from Emilio, creating a wonderful contrast.

CBS: We weren’t thinking about “Maggot Brain,” but both Carlos and I like that song. I love the way that Carlos and Emilio play together beautifully. Carlos can get his guitar to sound like a screaming alley cat and Emilio has this beautiful Wayne Shorter-like tone. The combination of these musicians and the way they play off of each other is complementary.

GM: Talking about playing off of each other, that is how I feel about “Guitar Love” with Carlos and John McLaughlin. Zaccai’s organ is also very nice on this atmospheric song.

CBS: I love the melody and mood of the song. It has a very melodic John McLaughlin delivery. Having John and Carlos together is a perfect pair of guitarists, with both being among my all-time favorites and heroes. They love each other, making for a healthy collaboration. Playing drums behind each of their solos was so cool because they both play differently but greatly.

GM: I spoke with John earlier this year about his score to an unreleased film called Abandoned Heights, with the music recently released. That is what I am reminded of with “Psychedelic Movie House.”

CBS: It is like a soundtrack. I love movie music. Carlos plays slide guitar, Dave Eggar is on cello, and Ray Angry is playing keyboards. We added live sounds at the end because I envisioned playing this movie music in a stadium.

GM: The tasteful “Capri” has the beauty of “Samba Pa Ti,” another flip side on Santana’s Abraxas album.

CBS: I love this song, written by Pablo Rusticelli. When I was substituting in Santana for drummer Dennis Chambers, I met Carlos for the first time, who invited me to go to Las Vegas, hear the band, and sit in. Carlos lent me an iPod that he calls his Miles Davis iPod. I was thumbing through it and I stopped at the first track that I was unfamiliar with, which was “Capri.” I listened to it and I felt like I was floating. When it came time to make this album, I asked Carlos if he would want to play “Capri” because he did a gig with me and my band at the Blue Note in Napa, where he wanted to play “Capri,” which we did there and when he played with my band at the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Carlos said yes for this new album.

GM: The album ends with “Sanctuary” with Carlos, but what I hear immediately is you, so please tell us about your drumming, which you have been doing most of your life.

CBS: I started asking for drums when I was three years old. Then I started getting these toy drum kits when I was seven, and finally a real kit. Whenever I would listen to music, I would always key in on the drums. The roll that the drums had in the music was always intriguing to me so that is what I wanted to play. I was listening to Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Louis Hayes, Jimmy Cobb, Tony Williams, James Brown’s funky drummers Clyde Stubblefield and John “Jabo” Starks, Rufus’ John “JR” Robinson, plus the Motown drummers, the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson’s records, and rock drummers from Kansas and Cream. A lot of sounds amalgamated into one for me. My older sister had a collection of around 200 records and I used to go through her vinyl and play drums to all of them. Thank you for this Goldmine interview. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening to and enjoying my music.

“Whenever I would listen to music, I would always key in on the drums. The roll that the drums had in the music was always intriguing to me so that is what I wanted to play. My older sister had a collection of around 200 records and I used to go through her vinyl and play drums to all of them.” – Cindy Blackman Santana

Cindy Blackman Santana promotional photo by Denise Truscello, courtesy of PR

Upcoming shows:

Santana & The Doobie Brothers – August 6 – 27

Cindy Blackman Santana Group – September 7 – 13

Santana Las Vegas House of Blues Residency – September 16 – 27 and November 4 – 15

Related links:

cindyblackmansantana.com (includes all the tour date information shown above)

santana.com

Goldmine 2026: Santana and The Doobie Brothers concert coverage

Goldmine 2026: John McLaughlin ‘Abandoned Heights’ interview

Get vinyl LPs, CDs, and cassettes in our Goldmine store (see below):

Click here to get the above items (and more!) in the Goldmine store

Warren Kurtz is a long-time music journalist, author and Contributing Editor at Goldmine, writing over 800 articles including the weekly Fabulous Flip Sides and monthly In Memoriam series (both exclusively online at goldminemag.com) covering rock, pop, Americana, R&B and more. goldminemag.com/author/warren-kurtz/

Warren’s Fabulous Flip Sides radio segment can be heard most Saturdays, around 9 a.m. Eastern Time as part of DJ Brian Donovan’s Moments to Remember show, on WVCR 88.3 “The Saint” at wvcr.com or iHeart.com (search WVCR). Contact email: fabulousflipsides@yahoo.com

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By TONE Scott

Over 35 years ago, San Francisco native Martin Luther McCoy began to intently pursue a calling for a life and career in music. The awareness of his ability to compose songs, play guitar, produce music and wield an extraordinary vocal capability was evident to the artist and those around him from an early age. Nevertheless, with an equally level head regarding his education and future, McCoy was led to Atlanta, Georgia, where he would attend the prestigious Moorhouse College, focusing on entertainment law and marketing, graduating in 1992. Just over half a decade later, through persistence and perseverance, in 1999 the artist would self-release his debut album, The Calling, a cutting-edge, heavily Neo-classic Soul record via his own production company, Beyond Entertainment, which exemplified the artist’s fixation on classic soul, ’80s-era funk, and ’90s contemporary R&B.

Off the fuel of that debut, just about a half decade later, McCoy would release a sophomore effort that he would issue from his own newly formed record label under the umbrella of L.A.-based record label Avatar, whose roster has included everyone from Lionel Richie to hip hop icons, The Pharcyde, Kurupt, Goodfellaz, Mos Def, Planet Asia and more. Rebel Soul Music (2004) exemplified a great streak of musical maturity in just six years from his studio debut. Though his debut was impressive, his sophomore full-length was filled with a plethora of deep dives into his musical craw, resulting in an album reverberating with songs that represented that of a critical musical mind, one that cared nothing about conforming to the masses, but only what made sense to the artist from the standpoint of his deepest musical ideologies. Two years later, the artist would release his first live album effort, Live at Arlene’s Grocery (2006), a heavily soulful psychedelic rock-based performance which featured Nikki Glaspie (Beyoncé, Snarky Puppy, The Nth Power) on drums, and included older as well as new selections to boot.

Slightly over a half decade from this, McCoy would muster up a new batch of material that would manifest into two back-to-back albums (his third and fourth full-length studio recordings; albums that once again absolutely broadcast tremendous growth as an artist, keeping to his endemic soul style but simultaneously infusing heavy pop and slight rock sensibilities seamlessly into his core musical signature. The production quality exemplified over the entirety of both Extra Terrestrial Brother (2011) and Love Is a Hero (2012) was two recordings to be modeled, and landed McCoy with his most complex and introspectively creative works as a recording artist since his debut. We are not privy to the intimate details here; however, both albums should have at least seen Grammy Award nominations in 2012 and 2013, respectively; and yes, we are extremely earnest about that statement.

Many years would pass without much from the artist with regard to his own musical endeavors; nonetheless, he would spend time lending his talents to other artists in one form or another over an uncountable number of feature performances. Nevertheless, in 2024, McCoy would launch a digital-only 4-song EP album that would not only share the title of his forthcoming full-length, but act as a precursor to the artist issuing what we believe to be his biggest album to date. On July 17, 2026, Martin Luther McCoy released what Goldmine considers the artist’s magnum opus, Welcome Back Love; a full-length project that collectively exemplifies the McCoy’s total musical journey over the past quarter century. Goldmine was made privy to an early copy of the record, and immediately fell in love with its sonic span across previous decades of musical styles and non-conformity to current-day trends. Needless to say we were heavily impressed, and thus we invite you, the reader, into our honest and integral overview of the album.

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MARTIN LUTHER McCOY | Welcome Back Love

^{2026, Rebel Soul Records}

Over the tenure of the artist’s music career, he has not only earned the respect from many of his well-known musical peers (many legends who originate from the Bay Area of San Francisco), but has also has performed along side and collaborated with everyone from The Roots, Lady Bug Mecca (Diggable Planets), DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Spinderella (Salt-N-Pepa) and superstar DJ Miguel Migs, to the iconic Dana Fuchs (Across the Universe motion picture soundtrack), Gregory Porter and the SF Jazz Collective. Having gone by the moniker Martin Luther for the majority of his past musical escapades, he returned in the Summer of 2026 with his fourth full-length album, this time utilizing his full name once again — Martin Luther McCoy. And while his name may have been modified, one thing has remained the same: the artist’s undeniable talent.

It has been almost 15 years since the artist’s last full-length album release, during which time he did not remain stagnant whatsoever, playing alongside his aforementioned peers and many others over a plethora of recordings too numerous to list. Though his endemic sound is laid over a foundation of soul and funk music, McCoy has proven time and time again that rock and other genres hold a solid place in the entirety of the artist’s overall soundscape. Nevertheless, when Goldmine took hold of McCoy’s latest album project, Welcome Back Love, we were very pleased to experience the very broad soul-sonic identity of this album. The album contains all new tracks with the exception of four, which stem from his 2024 EP album of the same name. Essentially, the album portrays itself as a collective nod toward ’80s, ’90s, and new millennium-infused soul, funk, gospel and contemporary R&B music with slight but noticeable intermittent inflections of pop, hip hop and Afrobeat rhythms.

Although we would have loved to go track-by-track through the halls of this album, how selfish would it have been for us not to leave many of these songs on the table for you to explore for yourselves? That being said, Goldmine has chosen five selections out of the 15 songs strewn over the course of this album to highlight in ways that, when combined, will give you an overall sonic view of what you can expect when you take your own deep dive into Welcome Back Love for yourselves. Disclaimer: it was extremely difficult to choose the selections we did, as there is literally not one mediocre track over the entirety of the record; nevertheless, we did our best to cherry-pick the songs that we felt collectively represented the total spectrum of the album’s sonic signature.

“Reimagine the World” — As we’d mentioned previously, how the sonic character of the album’s sound signature spans decades of style types, this selection, the album’s opener, immediately and recognizably resonates with ’80s vibrations. From the percussion’s time signature to the endemic mid-to-late-’80s-sounding synthesizer accompaniment, McCoy adds to this with vocal melody and arrangements that fit inside of that like the final piece of a picture-perfect puzzle. It is an uplifting piece that brightens your initial thoughts about the record to the point that it makes you expect the same or better from what’s to come. This was the absolute perfect choice to lead off the album’s song sequence.

“Welcome Back Love” ft. Stic of Dead Prez — The title track immediately dictates one of the best examples of modern R&B and funk found over the album (the bass riffs alone represent this with a sickness). Not that labels are everything, but for the sake of description, this will easily reverberate the listener back to the mid/late 1990’s R&B scene. What helps to tag this song with that assimilation is the fantastic feature performance by rapper/hip hop artist Sticman (Stic) of the infamous hip hop act, Dead Prez. His lyrical content matches the song’s contextual message, where McCoy professes to rejuvenate the love and the power as a people that the ethnic community deserves to rediscover within itself, and just like McCoy’s beautiful vocal delivery, Sticman’s performance is just as incendiary as ever.

“I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” — While finding a reimagined cover tune on a modern album is no surprise, the choice to cover this 1983 Elton John classic admittedly did throw us for a loop at first. The artist doesn’t stray too far away from the core vocal arrangement of the original; however, he has produced his version with a totally and absolutely unique feel and sonic character. The first thing to notice is the cadence and tempo of the song; slower, more soulful and definitely a more melancholy approach. This is not only found in his vocal performance, but it was the choice of how he lushly orchestrated this version that, in our opinion, preferably outdoes the original. We might get some pushback about that comment, but, oh well … we’ve said what we’ve said.

“Peace of Mind” — As one of the four selections included on the album that were originally found on his EP of the same name two years previous, this one makes a huge impact up against everything else on the record. With a blatant modern Afrobeat rhythmic nature from start to finish, “Piece of Mind” narrates the chase for internal peace as we struggle to achieve our dreams and deal with the everyday pressures of our social lives, all while acknowledging your self-worth. The song not only exemplifies one of the most well-written compositions on the album, but is also the subject of a 2025 Gospel Choice Music Award win in the Afrobeat category. Fantastic to say the least.

“Widowmaker” — Nearing the album’s close is an extremely unique piece that is actually the backend of a combined effort with “Hit Parade” (the song just before it). Think how Stevie Wonder combined “Superwoman” and “Where Were You When I Needed You”; that’s the similar dynamic here. “Widowmaker” begins as a slightly psychedelic-tinged soul-folk production yet quickly segues into a Prince-esque mid-tempo spacey funk piece, which simply turns into a freeform-styled jam that leads out the remainder of the song. It is a brilliant production that lands as one of if not the most, creative selections over this extremely impressive album.

Overall, was it difficult to assess whether or not this was Martin Luther McCoy’s most prolific album ever? Of course it was, and we had to closely consider all of his brilliant work before this. Nonetheless, after careful consideration, the level of musical proficiency (regarding the songwriting, composition and production quality) shown over each and every selection here made it evident that the artist is performing and creating at his musical zenith, making this his most incendiary album out of the entirety of his short but extremely respectable discography. The album is available on a double vinyl LP (tested) as well as streaming and digital download (just in case you are a sucker for invisible music), though we are not sure about compact disc availability as of yet. All in all, there is not only ‘not one’ bad thing that can be attributed to this record, but moreover, there is a massive chance that Welcome Back Love might land as Goldmine’s Best Soul and R&B album of 2026 … we’ll come to that conclusion as the year comes closer to the next. —GM

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Contact TONE Scott at GoldmineMagazine@GoldmineMag.com. Please put The TONE of Soul (Martin Luther McCoy) in the subject line.

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Find a selection of Soul and R&B albums and collectibles in the official Goldmine store: (Click below)

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TONE Scott is a career-long American music industry professional.  As a Grammy Award nominated, platinum selling songwriter/ composer/ producer/ vocal arranger, he has worked with some of the world’s most renowned recording artists.  As a published music journalist, he has been a feature writer for many internationally accredited music publications.  Currently on staff at Goldmine magazine, he is Senior Contributing Editor with four reoccurring online columns — The TONE of Soul, Adventures of a Music Collector, Eclectic Discoveries and Jazzology — as well as a prominent feature-article writer for the magazine’s print edition, including the reoccurring article series — Modern Music Must-Haves.  He is an acknowledged multi-genre music historian, having contributed liner notes for many album releases, as well as an expert record collector with over three decades of dedicated music collecting experience.  As a content creator he hosts his own YouTube channel – TONE Scott – were he produces vlogs revolving around his music industry career and his life as a music collector.  He is also the host of Record Store Spotlight; an online show that highlights independent record stores everywhere. Follow TONE Scott on all social media, including his YouTube channel by visiting his Linktree page, HERE.

Dick Rossetti became known as a prominent DJ on Seattle’s alternative rock station 107.7 The End (KNDD) during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Decades later, he is still active in the Northwest music scene, whether it be reporting on or performing with local acts. He also has his own solo material.

On this Dollar Bin podcast episode, Rossetti discusses his lifelong experience in the music business, the U.S. Northwest music scene and the records that inspired his journey.

Get limited-edition and exclusive vinyl and collectibles in the Goldmine Shop!

By Marcus K. Dowling

Alabama native Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” has spent over 90 percent of 2026 as one of America’s Top 10 songs.

Her mega-hit stands out not only for its chart success but also for its profound social and cultural relevance, prompting a closer look at why Texas is central to country music’s rise.

Because this song places itself in a specific place — and that place is Texas’ 4,200-mile circumference, including five of America’s top 15 most populated cities (Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin) — it’s arguably a bigger hit worth exploring exactly why it is working unprecedentedly well.

To do so, it was necessary to find three artists familiar with the state and its surroundings. Their hometowns span 1,000 miles from the northwest tip of Texas to its southeast corner.

Country artists Amanda Kate Ferris (Red River, NM), Jenna Paulette (Lewisville, TX/Thackerville, OK), and Kylie Frey (Opelousas, LA) know why Ella Langley’s ex chose Texas—and why Texas is crucial to country music’s rise.

At the Country Music Association’s recent CMA Fest, these questions shaped Goldmine Magazine’s conversations with Ferris, Frey, and Paulette about Texas’s growing influence.

Why Is Texas Such A Country Music Industry Powerhouse?

There’s a popular idea in country music that says, “So goes Texas, so goes the country music industry.”

Examining what fuels this idea about Texas’ influence can clarify why songs like “Choosin’ Texas” resonate so deeply and why Texas is critical to country music’s current boom.

Texas is big business in every sense—it serves as a key driver and influencer for the broader global economy, music, and otherwise

Foremost, all 8 billion people on Earth could each live in a 930-square-foot townhome on Texas land, and the population density would be similar to New York City.

It’s not just a population-driven concept.

Reflecting this, the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards illustrated that Texas’ impact on the genre is not just talk.

Cody Johnson, who was born in Sebastopol, won the Entertainer of the Year award, while Conroe native Parker McCollum took home Album of the Year. Additionally, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” received ACM Awards for Song of the Year and Single of the Year.

This recent success reflects more than numbers—it signals how Texas’s role underpins country music’s evolution and its social and cultural resurgence.

It’s clear that this influence runs deep: It’s not just artists like Ella Langley, Miranda Lambert, or Kacey Musgraves singing about Texas or finding mainstream moments; the reach goes further.

Jenna Paulette: Bridging Ranch Life and Country Stardom 

Jenna Paulette, an Oklahoma native and Texas resident, exemplifies this trend.

She’s arguably more of a third-generation cattle rancher, mother, and wife who grew up on a nearly 2,000-acre ranch than she is a country star.

However, her career includes two EPs, a pair of albums, and fifteen years of bouncing between Music City and just east of Marfa in Southwest Texas. 

Paulette is also not only signed to the independent, artist-first label Leo33 but is also managed by the same company that has handled country icon George Strait’s career for four decades.

She’s also sponsored by Justin Boots and has launched an apparel line in partnership with Ely Cattleman.

Her view on the “why choose Texas” paradigm is that she’s proven that understanding and trusting something more comprehensive than any single measure of success is essential.

“I would not be in country music without the cattle industry — I have one foot on the ranch and one foot in the music business. Everything I do that has ever carried any meaning for me has originally stemmed from my love of my family, our land, and taking the time to be intentional in how I represent the people in our farm and ranch-based community,” says Paulette.

Her days often involve creating a third generation of proud homemakers in her family. For example, she starts mornings by cooking breakfast for her cattleman husband and posting it on social media (like French toast with strawberries, bacon, sausage, and an over-medium egg). She then goes into town and listens to local conversations.

“There’s a huge difference between how people talk in Nashville and how they talk in Alpine, Texas — where else are you going to hear someone say something like ‘it’s hard to make a living, but it’s easy to make a life.’”

Texas Style: Where Authenticity Meets Function 

Additionally, she shows that if a country’s future and sustainability depend on Texas, then aesthetics and style must yield to both form and function.

A conversation with Paulette reveals that there’s a toothpick tucked under the leather hat band of her Resistol hat. She’s also dressed in a signature Western shirt, straight-leg jeans, and dark brown suede cowboy boots.

The same outfit she wears after a day of chores is the one she’d wear for two-stepping at a bar and then for performing neotraditional country songs onstage for two hours.

“I try to live an unburdened, enriched, and grounded life. It’s beautiful,” Paulette says. “At the end of my days, on my deathbed, I’m not going to be thinking about accolades and awards. I want my legacy to be that my family felt loved and that people knew that I genuinely cared about them.”

Alexa, play “Choosin’ Texas” again…

The smile on that cowboy’s face? It comes from being with someone, like Paulette, who is genuinely and authentically comfortable in their skin, in all circumstances, at all times.

Amanda Kate Ferris: Championing Texas Women in Country 

Amanda Kate Ferris, from a small town in Northeast New Mexico, has chased country stardom since her teens. 

In 2026, she returned to Nashville for a panel honoring her recent work curating the Women of Texas Country playlist on Spotify.

It’s a five-hour collection of songs from mostly independent women artists. It includes 2023’s Honky Tonk Woman of the Year Ameripolitan Music Awards winner Summer Dean, blue-haired red-dirt singer-songwriter Shelby Stone, and Texas radio favorites like Bri Bagwell. Her fellow panelists, Frey and Paulette, are also featured, among many others.

Like Paulette, Ferris wears many hats.

She’s also a mother, wife, and yes, an equestrian, spending considerable time riding her three beloved quarter horses.

Regarding the current state of country music and how it impacts independent-minded Texans having a notably, not necessarily expected but definitely welcomed, extended moment in the spotlight, Ferris has thoughts.

She’s quick to note that gritty cowgirl lifestyle anthems straight from many female artists’ backyards connect easily with fans who attend everything from dance halls to rodeos.

That scene isn’t idle.

Texas alone earns over $2 billion in revenue from its state-based country music industry.

“In Texas, confident and self-aware female entrepreneurs who don’t take no for an answer are hearing yes more than ever right now,” says Ferris, eager to see women contributing to the state’s bottom line, with the financial gains stemming from the country industry’s broad mainstream appeal.

Kylie Frey: Authenticity, Roots, and the Texas Sound 

Opelousas, Louisiana native Kylie Frey is a Texas country chart-topper raised amid the rodeo circuit and as the daughter of boudin and cracklin entrepreneurs Billy and Patsy Frey.

Her mother and father own small gas stations and convenience stores. They later became central Louisiana-based boudin and cracklin producers and distributors. They are known for Billy’s Boudin and Cracklins.

Boudin? Yes, it’s a Cajun and Creole specialty (pronounced “boo-dan”) consisting of seasoned, ground pork, liver, rice, onions, and peppers, all combined and typically stuffed into a natural hog casing.

Cracklins? Yes, they’re crispy, fried pieces of pork skin and fat, often with a small bit of meat attached, resulting from rendering pork fat.

The Southern authenticity of both items highlights how Frey has remained grounded in real, traditional roots that extend beyond songwriting rooms and stages.

She made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 2023, was a semi-finalist on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, and was named a CMT Next Women of Country in 2024.

Like Paulette, her career has intersected with that of the late Erv Woolsey, who was known for guiding George Strait’s career.

Texas’ resilience—and its ability to shape and sustain the country music industry, even independent of Nashville’s influence—stems from the authentic, tangible connections and communities that thrive within the state.

Texas Country Radio: Chart-Toppers and Cultural Impact 

Let’s take a moment to note that Kylie Frey has achieved 13 No. 1 singles on Texas country radio.

That’s as many No. 1 hit singles as Luke Combs had consecutively on national country radio at the start of his career, as well as the number of U.S. Billboard country sales chart No. 1 hits achieved by Johnny Cash, George Jones and Webb Pierce.

Frey’s hometown sits between Southwestern Louisiana and Eastern Texas. This location allows many artists to blend soulful Southern rock with a funky Zydeco flair.

That vibe is inherently danceable, yet it isn’t jazzy Western swing or a traditional waltz-time tempo. In short, it’s a groove that invites party mode right away.

Additionally, she’s very much a Texas-based country artist now, aligning more with the straight-ahead red-dirt rock of acts like Wade Bowen, Cross Canadian Ragweed, the Randy Rogers Band, and Aaron Watson.

If you’re looking for a night where foot-stomping raucousness pairs with heartfelt emotion, that’s their signature style.

“I like ‘Choosin’ Texas’ because it reflects my genuine red-dirt roots,” says Frey.

In her view, the potential for country music — as a collection of songs that define a culture — to reach far beyond pop expectations, especially amid Ella Langley’s success and women from Texas wanting to respond in kind, is substantial.

“We’re also the kind of women who, 20 years after it was released, still listen to Lee Ann Womack’s ‘Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago,’ and although very few of us have even been married once, it still resonates deeply, making us feel like it’s our own story.”

Texas’s Enduring Influence on Country Music

Texas’s current ascendancy in country music is not accidental—it is the product of deep-seated cultural roots, economic strength, and a fiercely independent spirit that permeates every layer of the genre. 

The stories and successes of artists like Ella Langley, Jenna Paulette, Amanda Kate Ferris and Kylie Frey illustrate how the Lone Star State nurtures talent that is both authentically grounded and boldly innovative. Their careers demonstrate that Texas’s influence is more than a regional phenomenon; it’s a driving force behind the genre’s continued vitality and relevance on a national and global scale.

What sets Texas country music apart is its balance of tradition and evolution. Artists manage to honor the genre’s storied past while fearlessly exploring new sounds, styles, and perspectives. This environment cultivates not only hit songs and successful careers but also a sense of community and cultural pride that resonates far beyond state lines.

As the country music industry continues to evolve, Texas’s role will remain pivotal—not just as a birthplace of stars, but as a bellwether for the genre’s future. The state’s enduring appeal, entrepreneurial ethos, and unwavering commitment to authenticity ensure that its influence will shape the sound and spirit of country music for generations to come. In many ways, to understand where country music is headed, all you have to do is look to Texas.

Jenna Paulette describes Texas as a state “vast” enough to allow her to live both two and a half hours from an airport and nine and a half hours from her mother-in-law’s home.

The state’s size is comparable to a round-trip drive from Music City to Los Angeles and back, plus another trip to New York City.

“Texas, whether they’re from North Texas, South Texas, if they’re ‘keeping Austin weird,’ our large Mexican population, ranchers working 100 acres of land in the Northwest and Southwest corners of the state, whoever, wherever, are a group of people rooted in a shared identity,” says Paulette.

‘I’m a workhorse, not a show pony…’

Extrapolate this to mean that, potentially, a diverse population sharing a unified identity is, through one song and a multitude of award-winning artists, essentially able to hold the keys to maintaining country’s mainstream boom and growing the industry.

“Being able to reflect our authentic lives and perspectives in songs that have this type of potential allows us to invite more people than ever to experience their lives from (the Texas) point of view and have it grab and ground them for more than a moment,” Paulette says.

Whether it’s the gritty anthems of independent female artists, the red-dirt grooves of chart-topping acts, or the neotraditional narratives woven through breakout hits, Texas provides a space where diverse voices and stories thrive.

Kylie Frey adds, “Texas’ authenticity invites people who want crossover top-40 success to explore why what feels honest about (artists and music in the state) connects with them — and with radio and streaming success. Having already planted my flag in this sound, I’m excited to see the interest and to chase what’s next.”

She pauses and offers up a recent song title that perhaps best shows what it is about Texas, and its female artists, that will stand the test of the moment and sustain the country industry’s continued expansion:

“I’m a workhorse, not a show pony.”

Get Country Music in the Golmine Shop

Snarky Puppy guitarist-composer-producer Mark Lettieri has teamed up with sitar player Purbayan Chatterjee as Feathered Creatures (GroundUP). Their self-titled debut traverses “bold new sonic territory, forging a dynamic dialogue” between progressive classical from India and prog-rock electricity, resulting in a “true cross-continental creative kismet,” according to their camp. We couldn’t agree more. In fact, this is already a 2026 Top 10 album possibility. <rosie@girlieaction.com>

Orchestral Prog-Rock? Psychedelic Worldbeat? Jazz-Fusion Cacophony? Avant-Garde Punk? Classical Mambo? There’s simply no trying to describe The New Atomic (Trash City Records) by Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band.  Ferg is singer-songwriter-arranger-producer-bandleader Fergus Quill of Leeds, UK, who, I bet, wore out his Mingus, Zappa, John Zorn and Sun Ra albums. Thirty musicians add their talents. “Surfing On Saturn” is a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. No one has ever covered Dylan’s 1997 “Love Sick” like Ferg. Similarly, who has ever had the balls to do Civil Rights anthem “I Shall Not Be Moved” (written in 1908) with such daring, adventurism, eclectic ballsiness and sheer bravado?   

Brooklyn singer-guitarist Dida Pelled transmogrifies the blues into nine distinct variations using folk, pop and jazz to congeal its parts into a cohesive whole. I Wish You Would (La Reserve) is unique, unerring, provocative, breezy, soulful and captivatingly entertaining throughout. The title tune was a 1955 hit for Billy Boy Arnold. John Lee Hooker’s 1956 “Dimples” is playful and sensual. Jelly Roll Morton’s 1938 “Hesitation Blues” is nothing at all like the covers by Bessie Smith, Hot Tuna, Taj Mahal, Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson or Jerry Garcia. The 1922 Louis Armstrong hit, “Sister Kate,” features Pelled’s blistering lead guitar. On cover after cover, Pelled transforms what was once something traditional into a progressive alt-Americana stew of righteous proportions.

Fight On: True Blues Volume #2 (Yellow Dog Records) has Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Guy Davis finally following up, 26 years later, their True Blues. The five originals and four covers go from Charley Patton’s 1929 “Screamin’ and Hollerin’ The Blues” to the Reverend Gary Davis’s 1956 “I Belong To The Band” and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s 1959 “Highway 61.” The originals are just as pristine and authentic as the covers:  the title tune by Harris is adopted from an old banjo tune by Jimmie Strothers [1883-1942]. Hart’s “Highway 61” was written about his cherished time on the road with Honeyboy Edwards [1915-2011]. And Davis’s “Everything I Got Is Done In Pawn” is a reworking of Elizabeth Cotton’s 1960 “Shake Sugaree,” done in the style of Blind Willie McTell [1903-1959].    

Qualified (Sledgehammer), by Joe Krown Trio+1 featuring Papa Mali with Cyril Neville, is the ninth album by New Orleans pillar Krown. His keyboards are liberally sprinkled throughout this Crescent City travelogue on songs by Allen Toussaint (“Going Down” and “Last Train”), Dr. John (the title tune), Ahmet Ertegun (“Mess Around”), Naomi Neville (“Fortune Teller”) and six more. This follow-up to his 2023 Tribute album will make you want to sashay down Rampart Street with an umbrella in your hand.

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