TIME CAPSULE: charley pride.

we all know how much i love darius rucker. but we may not all know that in 2009, darius rucker became the first african american to win the cma for best new artist. he also was the first african american to reach #1 on billboard's country charts (for don't think i don't think about it in 2008) since 1983, when charley pride's night games topped the charts. in fact, after charley's huge success in the sixties and seventies, there was no black performer to get a cma award until darius rucker came around decades later! oh yeah, and night games was charley pride's 29th country chart-topper! so yeah, no big deal.

black country artists are hard to come by in such a predominantly white genre. in fact, when rca first signed charley in the 60s, they made sure not to release any photos of him since pre-civil rights jim crow was still rearing its ugly head in the south. but after something like a million hits, i guess good ol' dixie land decided to look past charley's tall, dark handsomeness and he became the first black artist to play at the grand ole opry. and in 1993, he became the first african-american country music hall of fame inductee. here i was going to say, "yee-haw! obama it up!" but clearly the correct phrase would be to say that obama is the one charley pridin' it up.

politics aside because that's not really my steez, below is charley performing his biggest hit, "kiss an angel good mornin" (1971), which won him cma's entertainer of the year AND top male vocalist. and perhaps most importantly of all, please tell me where i can get this red sweater. thanks.



{photo credit: lasvegascourierservice.com}

TIME CAPSULE: "me and bobby mcgee" by kris kristofferson

"if it sounds country, man, that's what it is. it's a country song." kris kristofferson.

"it has all the ingredients i like to hear in a song. all about freedom and travelin, even down to the red bandannas." willie nelson.

i didn't know me and bobby mcgee was a kris kristofferson original. he co-wrote it with fred foster (founder of monument records + producer of roy orbison's pretty woman) in 1969, and i believe this recording of kris singing it was made in 1970. i'm really diggin it and am studying for finals to it as we speak!

{me and bobby mcgee. kris kristofferson}

although originally recorded by roger miller in 1970, it arguably was made famous by janis joplin, whose version hit #1 posthumously in 1979. that's the version i know and love. but take a look below at just a taste of the SEVERAL artists who have covered this song, some more ridiculous than others. who gets your vote? dare i say i prefer pink's version to johnny cash's?

johnny cash (1972)


olivia newton-john + kenny rogers (1978)


leann rimes (1999)


pink (2004)


tori amos (2005)

TIME CAPSULE: "coat of many colors" by dolly parton.

"coat of many colors" (1971) was one of dolly parton's earliest solo hits, and is her favorite of all the songs she's ever written. before i write another word, can we talk about dolly's nails and how she's managing to play guitar with them?

anyway, so this classic country song alludes not just to joseph's coat of many colors from my favorite testament and yours, but also to a real-life coat her mom made for her out of rags when dolly was a little girl and her family was "dirt poor," as she tells it. so little dolly wears this amazing technicolor dreamcoat to school and all the nasty little kids make fun of her, as kids always do, and what amazes me is that, instead of "misplacing" or "forgetting" the coat on the playground (which is probably what i would have done) and then kicking and screaming at mom after school for being so embarrassing and ruining her life by making her wear that dorky thing in public, dolly schools the kids about how her coat is actually awesome because it's stitched with her mama's love, and that because of this love, she is actually rich and her coat is worth more than all of their clothes combined. oh, if they could all come out like dolly.

speaking of dreams, below is oprah making shania twain's lifelong dream come true: to perform her favorite song, "coat of many colors," with the queen of country herself.