Dollar Country

08/21/2024

Very excited to be returning to the Gar Hole Records Garholidays fest this winter! I'll be spinning records on Saturday definitely, and there's a slim chance I'll be able to do that on Friday too, but either way it's gonna be a blast!

08/06/2024

Tonight at the Little Rose Tavern! There will be tacos but I hear they sell out.

07/23/2024

the July newsletter is up online and available physically. I wrote a column called Country Gospel For The Non-Religious about why I think gospel music is important and good even for people like me who don't worship.

Janet Cunningham, Jean Smith, Eddie Nash & Charlie Sloane

04/30/2024

I used to not get into Cajun music, now I can't stop listening to it. It looks like so much fun!

03/13/2024

Dollar Country Newsletter is up!

12/20/2023

Newest episode of Dollar Country is all Indigenous country artists with guest host Justis Brokenrope of Watheca Records!

This is some really great stuff, I hope you dig it.

Listen at dollarcountry.org

11/09/2023

Xmas tapes are restocked on the store!

Choose your mix from the menu. All tapes are professionally duplicated. Hand drawn covers by your friendly Dollar Country DJ Frank the Drifter....

11/08/2023

Howdy Folks, today we've got episode 231 freshly uploaded and ready to hear. A ton of great ones I got from Mack Stevens about a year and a half ago when I drove all the way down to Dallas to pick these up.

Listen at dollarcountry.org or on apple podcasts.

Playlist:
Gene Henslee - Welcome To Hardtimes
Dianne Phillips - Call Him To The Phone
Kirk Davis - Nacogdoches
Rudy Gaddis - Sandy Land Farm
Gary & Fran - You & Me
Logan Smith - The Dungeons Of My Mind
Bob Williams - Through This Door
Roxanne Waggoner - How Come It's Wrong For Me
Marsha Lynn - Tell Me
Chic Sorenson - Georgia Jail House
Charles Hendon - Where The Old Red River Flows
Buzz Pollard - Old Man Willis
Richard Allen - Wondering Why
Dave Conway - Flowers And A Mound
Clyde & Marie Denny - Look What Your Love's Done For Me
Devvy Davenport - Hurtin' The Most
Heavenly Heirs Gospel Singers - Squaring For Jesus

Patreon Bonus Tracks:
Lonnie Holt - Forever Is Such A Long, Long Time
Bonnie henderson - I Can't Believe
Mel Price - One Man's Love
Nut-Bolt+Screw Co - Zero Point Pt 1
Jim Scott - Creations Part 1
Rowland Taylor - Gunned It Anyway

09/27/2023

Take a nice musical ride through West Virginia on this week's episode of Dollar Country.

Listen at dollarcountry.org or on your favorite podcast app that isn't spotify

ps. if you want more, patrons get an extra 4-8 tracks at the end of each episode that are often too weird to put on the show

Dale Brooks & Country Caravan - Ambridge Boogie
Trinity Four Quartet - Happy Am I
Bill & Paul and The Mountain Blue Grass Boys - Amen Corner
Dixie Lee - Until The Hurt Is Gone
Denton King - Mr. Manchin
Roger Wheatly - The Ballad Of The Coal Miner's Son
Lefty Miller & The Rhythm Kings - Sweet Bunch Of Daisies
Danny Harrison - And The Devil Took Me
Mary Ann Cook - There's More Fish In The Ocean
The Heckels - Burlington Theme 11
The McComas Quartet - Will The Lord Be With Me?
Christian Trio - Satisfied With Me
Sidney Allen, Bonnie Gayle & The Lonesome Drifters - Big Darling
Dusty Owens and His Rodeo Boys - A Place For Homeless Hearts
Don Sowards & The Laurel Mt. Band - I Called Her Sunshine
Gracie Allen & Charlotte Barnes - Virginia's Flood Of '69
Russel Blankenship & The New Country Express - I've Had All The Good Life I Can Stand
James E. Wyatt - Little War Orphans
Noblemen Quartet & The Thacker Sisters - Dogwood Tree
Jim Cooper - American Hostage Prayer
Souther's Family Qt. - Give Up
Ozzie Jones - What Will I Leave Behind
Joe Shamp - When Love Is Everything
Denton King - Call Me West Virginia

09/25/2023

Come see me play records and talk!

9/28 - 9pm, $10
The Happy Dog with Roselit Bone Craig Brown Band Nolan Covano

NO LITTLE ROSE NIGHT IN OCTOBER

10/23 - 7-8pm, Free
Killer Songs: Country Murder Ballads
A presentation about murder ballads
Cuyahoga County Library, Fairview Park branch

10/31 - the grog shop w/ Nick Shoulders and the Okay Crawdad

11/2 - 7-11pm, Free
Country Night

09/14/2023

Dollar Country 227: Frank's Market

Listen at dollarcountry.org or apple podcasts.

I dug more out from the boxes of stuff I brought home on my recent trip last month.

Preston Ward with the Echo Valley Boys - Old Man In The Moon
Bob & Karen Louise Sawyer - Stop, Look & Listen
Debby Mingua - The Way That You're Living
Neal Ragle - Mind Of Matter
Orangie Hubbard - Crawl Right Off
J.C. Adams - Reaching For Tomorrow
Mike Vanata - Old Man Jones
Elaine Craze - Poor Rich Man
Hartley Sisters - Gloryland March
Forest Pelfrey, Dave Sloas & The Bluegrass Six - Bluegrass Stomp
L.C. Angel with Coye Farmer & The Blue Mountain Boys - Don't Judge Me Guilty
Lawrence Tyner - In Other Words
Kenny Webb - One Mistake In Life
Shannon & The Country Sounds - Two Worlds Apart
Tim Rutherford - Live And Let Live
Hyannis Port Hole Loungers - Chatham Fisherman
Ray Ward - Do You Ever Think Of Me
Dick Richards - Old Maid And The Burgler
Orville Couch - The Lonesomes
Landon Williams - The Red White And Black
Jimmy Blakley - H***y Tonk Princess

08/30/2023

Episode 226 is all stuff I picked up digging in WV, VA, and TN last week! The appalachians were beautiful and so are these records.

Listen at dollarcountry.org or search your podcast app for it!

Kay Dingus - Jesus Of Nazareth
Bill Franklin - That Moon's No Stopping Place For Me
Lyle Collins - Spaceship To Heaven
Molly O'day - I'd Like To Talk It Over With Him
Rocky River Band - Dark Shadows
Bob Hamilton - I'm A Truck Drivin Man
Unknown Artist - Tarnished Wings
Bob Sewell - Money Stick
Bonnie Baldwin - The Mocking Bird
Don Trimble & The Rovers - Denver
Carl Dryer with Real Country - Tips
Blue Velvet - Blue Grass Meadows
Dodie Cherry - The Girl In My Home Town
Sidney Allen - Mothers Casket
Charley Brown - Born Rich
Brother Claude Ely - The Love Of God Is Real

Patreon Bonus Tracks:
Mac Odell - One Day Religion
Bernie Waldon - Your Future's Mine
Johnny Paycheck - The Cave
Denver Duke & Jeffery Null - Tears In The Wind
Mildred Turner - Gentle Surprise
Elder Teddy Ball - Amazing Grace



https://www.dollarcountry.org

08/16/2023

From Cincinnati to Akron, this episode features just a few of the great bluegrass releases from the great state of Ohio.

https://mailchi.mp/cfd56a60fdbb/dollar-country-news-august-16th-2023

Howdy Dollar Contrarians! Something that has been great about doing the show every other week is having time to do fun shows like this. I was adding things to the database and noticed that I had enough bluegrass from in or around Ohio to make a whole show out of it. I spent many hours researching these artists and labels so I could really present some good information, I hope that comes through in the show. In the process I've also tried to update those pages on the dollarcountry.org database.

The records on this episode have come from all over the last 8 years of the show. For the most part they've come from other Ohio collectors because if there's one group of people who love Ohio Bluegrass it's Ohio record collectors. I've met a good number of them since moving here, and appreciate them holding stuff for me.

I've named the books I used in the episode if you want to check any of them out. As always I hope you enjoy this one and if you want to join the patreon or support what I do here you can find those links up above in the blue text blocks.

Cheers
Franklin

Dollar Country 225: Ohio Bluegrass Special (8/16/23)

Track list:
Bill Box & The Dixie Drifters - Forty Miles Of Bad Road
Sonny Osborn - Down The Road
Old Kentucky Ike - Dark Calvary Friend
Charles & Tim Fugate - He's Coming Back To Earth Again
Charles & Tim Fugate - Stormy Waters
Harley Gabbard - Uncle Bill's Still
Bluegrass Blackjacks - Get Right With God
Frank Necessary & The Stone Mountain Boys - Stone Mountain Breakdown
Frank Necessary & The Stone Mountain Boys - Highway Of Love
Hulen Wilson - I Should Have Stopped Drinkin'
Hulen Wilson - Overton County Breakdown
Johnny Blue & The Pelfrey Bros - New Angel In Heaven
Bernice Hatchett & The Bluegrass Mtn Boys - He's Coming Home From Vietnam
Paul Mullins & The Backwods Boys Quartet - Is There Room For Me
Roy Crockett & The Pleasant Valley Boys - I'm Building A Highway
Ethel Delaney - Ridin' Down The Trail Together

Patreon Bonus Tracks:
Ray Lunsford - Shelia
Old Kentucky Ike - Prison Song
Old Kentucky Ike - Wreck Of 418 Out Of Corbin, KY
Frank Necessary & The Stone Mountain Boys - Blue Train
Barnett Bros - Tragedy Of Silver Bridge
Gospel Valley Boys - The Old Country Church

08/06/2023

Songs like this are why I love country music. A great tune about socks that get lost in the wash.

08/02/2023

Dollar Country 224 - Dirty Faced Angel

Up now, check it out through the link below or stream it from dollarcountry.org

Tracklist:
Zane Martin & Bobby Shepard - Stop Accusing Me
Lowell Varney with Cousin Ezra - My Daddy Was A Preacher
Rudy Thacker And The Stringbusters - Take This Hammer
Candy Noe - Buck Up, Back out
Williams Bros. - The Last Time
Dick Ryan - Reflections Of A Man
Roane Brothers - My Brother Sleeps In Vietnam
Luke Majors - Living With The Blues
Jimmy Watford - Cold-Hearted World
LeAnne Mack - Dirty Faced Angel
Benny Strong & Gene Jenkins - Ramblin Man
Hulen & The Buckeye Strings - Long Black Veil
George Lewis & The Traveling Nashville Band - Drink To Remember
Rich Schiller - The Night We Broke In Pappy's Still
Damon Long - Fast Gun
J.J. & The Texas Stompers - Up Against The Wall Red Neck Mother

Patreon Bonus Tracks:
Oakie McDonald - Take Your Heart
Skelton Brothers - I Hate To See You Back In Town
Johnny Rowland - Sign On The Dotted Line
Virgil Briggs & The Valley Ramblers - Heartaches And Sorrow
Dick Schrecengost & The Country Playboys - Daddy's Little Angel
Larry Hillman - Should I Tell Her
Les Waldroop - The Appalachian Trail

https://mailchi.mp/af1d2f09e62e/dollar-country-news-august-2nd-2023

07/29/2023

One I played on episode 223. A really great up beat tune about living while you're still alive. This one is from California I think but I don't know the year.

06/30/2023

Well it's the last day of 2023. There's a thing that maybe I don't address often in an official capacity but it is something I ponder every day and talk about with people quite often. Country music is a genre with baggage. Let's face it, country music has a christian conservative shadow that follows it everywhere. Many people associate it with bigotry, whiteness, and homophobia. The Country Music Establishment™ has towed that conservative line at least since the early days of the Grand Ole Opry. In those times it was a way to connect with deeply religious rural folks who felt their way of life was being erased by modernization and technology. It was a warm fire to sit by in a changing world. Ever since then country music has had this baggage. The idea that country was for a certain type of people, the idea that it wasn't for certain other types of people. These lines have been drawn via race, sexuality, class, religion, and just about any other group we have for humans.

Country music will always have bigots, but in my show and social media I try to focus on the wonderful diversity therein. I've met so many who said they felt unwelcome by the genre, they grew up listening to it and stopped for one reason or another. Maybe they're q***r, maybe they're a person of color, maybe they just didn't like the people from their town that listened to it. But then they heard it again later in life and felt that comfort, the warmth of the fire. Like all groups of people country has everyone from black trans folks to old cis white guys, and it ALWAYS HAS. Maybe they weren't open about it back then, maybe they couldn't be, and maybe they never recorded anything, but country has always shared what it is to be human. Some people use country as a weapon, they use it to divide, they say it represents only one, correct way of living, but they are incorrect. Country music is for everybody and every body, always has been.

With each LGBTQIA+ person I talk to at a country night or see is making music online I'm overjoyed. The way to get rid of this shadow on the genre is to open it up, show it's diversity, share the beautiful music with people of all types. Show that anyone has the right to tell their story via country music, and tell the people who think it represents bigotry that they might not really know much about country music at all. But like brother Nick Shoulders says "Keep the door open" for those folks who might learn to be more compassionate and accepting. Give ex-bigots a place to land, a place to belong. Show them that they're welcome to build this new compassionate world with us. It ain't easy, but it's worth it.

05/25/2023

Upcoming dates! Come see me play records.

May 28th I'm in Nashville playing at Jack Studer's place for a big ole crawfish boil with Hannah Juanita, Luke Munday, Frankie Boots, Joe Wunderle

June 1st
Little Rose Tavern in Cleveland
7-10 pm, Free

June 20th
The Earnest Tube in Bristol, VA!
Records & Chill

June 21-23
Nice Valley outside of Asheville, NC

June 24th
The Fuzzy Needle Records & Books in Wilmington NC
Records & Chill

05/24/2023

Played a bunch of great shellac from Australia on the show this week. Tune in online and give it a listen!

Les Welch & His Naked City Seven - Cigareets And Whusky And Wild Wild Women
Bill McGrath with The Jim Gussey - Sextet Texas Roundup
Chad Morgan "The Sheik Of Scrubby Creek" - The Dinkum Dill
Shirley Thoms - I'm A Lonely Cowgirl
Smilin' Billy Blinkhorn - Poor Ned Kelly
Smilin' Billy Blinkhorn - I'd Rather Know The Truth
Buddy Williams (The Yodelling Jackaroo) - I'll Be Back Never Fear
Buddy Williams (The Yodelling Jackaroo) - The Shearer's Goodbye
The Yodelling Boundary Rider - Beautiful Queensland
The Yodelling Boundary Rider - Lonesome Valley Sally
The McKean Sisters - Between Two Trees
Shirley Thoms - Night Time On The Prairie
Buddy Williams (The Yodelling Jackaroo) - The Stockman And The Outlaw
Dusty Rankin - Out On The Queensland Ranges
Slim Dusty - How Can I Smile When I'm Lonely
The Yodelling Boundary Rider - The Big Rock Candy Mountain
Buddy Williams (The Yodelling Jackaroo) - Memories Of Home (Patron bonus track)
Gordon Parsons "The Yodelling Bushman" - The Parent's Song (Patron bonus track)
Unknown Artist (Acetate) - Yes Yes Yes (Patron bonus track)
Unknown Artist (Acetate) - Unknown Song (Patron bonus track)
Unknown Artist (Acetate) - Leaving New York (Patron bonus track)
Unknown Artist (Acetate) - Bye Bye Nassau (Patron bonus track)

https://mailchi.mp/010efe86db92/dollar-country-news-may-24th-2023

05/02/2023

Another brings me to sharing this great Buford Foster release. Buford Foster was a mainstay of the Lake Of The Ozarks, his family had been in the Ozarks for 5 generations before he was born. He bought and ran the Night Hawk restaurant for 40 years as well as opening and running an event space called the Rodeo Room as well as a bowling alley, gift shop and general Lake of the Ozarks community center. If you knew him then please let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear more.

Lake of the Ozarks

04/28/2023

On Tuesday I drove 5 hours, picked up some records, and drove 5 hours back to Cleveland. Turns out I got some great stuff, this is just one of them. A song about the death of RFK in 1968 sung by Zackie Neace on Log Cabin Records out of Cincinnati. I'll hopefully be getting to the rest of this collection shortly, there was a bunch of doubles I'll want to get out to people starting with my patrons so stay tuned!

04/23/2023

Can I play your event? Yes I can. Hit me up for any kind of thing you want me to play and we can figure it out.

Below is a classic DC rant about some stuff around gig playing that I run into often:

I get asked a lot to come to a place to play by people who want to see me, I'm flattered that people ask me to come visit their town, but many times they are asking me to travel 5+ hours to play a gig and that's a big undertaking. I hate to say it, but I gotta get paid at the end of the day, so if you have a place you want to see me then see if you can make it work.

I've done so many gigs in my years where I spent a day traveling and playing to end up with $100 when the local band I played with made twice that or much more. I get it, I'm just a guy playing records right? I'm not writing and performing music. As a DJ being paid less than anyone else is the rule and getting paid well is the exception. But I also spend my whole week every week working on this, creating and sharing this music that you may not have heard otherwise, and that has value. When I show up to a gig to play it might seem that I only spent 3-6 hours driving and the 2-3 hours playing, but really I spent hundreds of hours digging, sorting, cleaning, playing, learning, and curating all the stuff I bring to any event.

All that is to say that I appreciate you asking me to play. I really, really do, but when you ask me to play for free or for not enough to pay for my travel you are perpetuating a very common myth: that musicians, artists, and creators of all kinds should be happy to be offered gigs and offering them an opportunity to play or exposure to a new audience should be considered payment in lieu of an appropriate amount of money.

04/20/2023

Wayne Caddell - Country Fried (CPR, 1978)

#1978 #420

04/08/2023

I was asked about starting a radio show and thought the questions were representative of a lot of basic advice I get asked about so here I am sharing it.

Leave any questions you have in the comments and I'll try to answer them so everyone can see.

This covers more of the philosophical side of starting a radio show, the technical side is something I get asked about a lot too but it's harder to sum up well because I find that many people don't know much about gear and wires and that's hard to give advice about without being able to show you stuff with video or being in the same room. It really all comes down to getting a turntable and plugging it in to your computer, youtube has a lot of videos that can help you there.

04/06/2023

I was gifted this amazing record by the amazing Sean Secor on my trip last year to upstate New York. Honestly the whole record isn't as good as the title track, but you can't win em all. I love the lines "I'll take Conway Twitty, good lovin', and L*D" and "you'll be under my dead body if I overdose again." An honestly wild song in the realm of country music. Country was so often talking about drugs in a cautionary way that I always love to hear these tunes talking about them in any other way. I believe Bill was from Upstate NY, but all of his releases were put out on Nu-Sound out of Nashville which was actually a song poem label, and his name is fairly impossible to look up so I can't find anything else. Anyone who knows something please chime in in the comments. I'm guessing this LP is from circa 1980.

04/05/2023

That Last Long Mile, When The Work's All Done This Fall, I Know What You'd Do, Take A Load Off Your Shoulders and come on down to Dollar Country.

https://mailchi.mp/070ab1988216/dollar-country-news-452023

Rose Lee Maphis - Kiss A Day
Ken Lemon - Driftin' Along
Butch Miller - Put The Bottle In The Bag
Donna Jean Bennett - You Can't See The Forest For The Trees
Onie Wheeler - Burn Another H***y Tonk Down
Dixie Gentlemen - Your Heart Tells The Truth
Mary Ann & All Star Quartet - Beyond That Last Long Mile
Harry Bray & The Silver Spurs - I Know What You'd Do
Elsie Holly - I Know
Tim's Old Man - When The Work's All Done This Fall
Gene Woods & The Tune Twisters - Tho I'll Pretend
Myrna Lorrie - Just Count The Tears I'm Gone
Harry Wilcox - I Was Sorta Wonderin'
Phil Demmer - The Way Things Use To Be
Bob Hamilton - Making My Home In A Barroom
Bill Swanson - Take A Load Off Your Shoulders
Don Holly & Kiamichi Mt. Boys - Someone Like You
Mel Grubb's - Will The War In Vietnam Be Over Then (patreon bonus track)
Tommy Strange - One More Time (patreon bonus track)
Malcolm "Hi-Pockets" Miller - Magic Fingers (patreon bonus track)
Barbara Clawson - Out #3 (patreon bonus track)
Don Bailey - The Matador (patreon bonus track)
Roger Hill & The Blue Country Playboys - Whispering Conscience (patreon bonus track)

04/04/2023

Butch Miller - Put The Bottle In The Bag (Metrolina Sound, 1969)

Sorting records for the show and went to the fridge for a beer but found this killer tune instead!

03/16/2023

Songs about Hookers in Hairbows, H***ytonks in Heaven, and Joe Brown's General Store on this week in Dollar Country.

Find it through this link here:
https://mailchi.mp/fb05fac6df56/dollar-country-news-3152023

Dorothy Maynard - I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand
Sonny Brewer & The Stardusters - The Same Old Place
Don Brown And The Ozark Mtn. Boys - I Forgot To Forget
Stan Beaver - Where The Living's High
Bambi - Hookers Don't Wear Hairbows
Dave Bearpaw - A Fool Is No Bigger Fool Than I
Tex Wayne - I'd Climb The Highest Mountain
John M. Stahl - Ask, Seek And Knock
The Arkansaw Travellers - The Arkansaw Traveller
Carl Bean - Drop Mary Jane
Charlotte Harden - Standing Room Only
Bill Sterling - I Started World War I
Leroy Pullins - Joe Brown's General Store
Rip Goodman & The Nomads - Setting On A Bar Stool
Rusty Adams - Drinking Again
Dean Beard - (Are There) H***ytonks In Heaven
Ezzie Ray Wild - Born To Lose
Leon Payne - Doorstep To Heaven (patreon bonus track)
Unknown Artist - Unknown Song (patreon bonus track)
Billy Western - Worn Out Words (patreon bonus track)
Dorothy Maynard - Even My Dog's Like A Dog-Gone Man (patreon bonus track)
Bubba Talbert - Easy Catch (patreon bonus track)

03/14/2023

UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 1st: Talk @ Fairview Park Library in Cuyahoga County.
"Storytelling in Country Music"
2-3:30pm, Free
I'll be presenting at the library, come on out, it's free and should be fun!
www.cuyahogalibrary.org to register
April 6th: Country Night @ Little Rose
Cleveland, Ohio. 7-10pm, Free

May 4th: Country Night @ Little Rose
Cleveland, Ohio. 7-10pm, Free

May 17th: Presenting at the ARSC Conference
(Association for Recorded Sound Collections)
Pittsburgh, PA
I'll be presenting how to build and provide access to your collection.
www.arsc-audio.org/conference to register

May 28th: DJ Jack's place in Nashville, TN. More info about this one later.

03/13/2023

Ramona Reed's (I Want To Be A) Cowboy's Sweetheart

Check the comments from some news clips about her.