A few weeks ago I posted an article talking about one of the biggest years in country music history, 1989.  That was the year of Garth, Alan, Clint, and Travis Tritt bursting onto the scene and shoving country into the highest gear ever.  But there are two other years that led up to that point and were maybe more pivotal. This week, we will look at one of them, welcome to 1986. 

1986 -  One Of The Most Influential Songs And Albums We've Ever Had  

I have been in country radio for 41 consecutive years and I have always maintained 1986 deserves a whole lot more credit than it gets.  It was incredibly important, transitional and had to happen before we would have a boom like 1989. You may have heard recently that this is the 35th anniversary of Randy Travis' debut album, Storms Of Life, and how it changed the direction of our beloved format. It did, but it wasn't alone.  But it was the bolt that held the new movement together.  1986 began a seismic shift.

1986 - This Song And Artist Helped Change The Landscape

In the early to mid 80's we were wrestling in country. There was good music, but much of it was not connecting directly with the core country fans. For many we were too pop, and not daring enough to be real country.  So, many of our fans tolerated it, but didn't love it.  The pop country crowd was growing weary with the pop country movement that had worn out its welcome and grown stale.  Enter four pivotal people -  Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam, Keith Whitley, and Holly Dunn.  They accelerated a new and daring sound - real country -  that the core fans had been waiting for.  They joined George Strait, Hank Jr., The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, Reba, and Alabama as artists that were starting to build to a new day.

1986 - This Song Peaked At #7 - But Was A Very Influential Song

Randy Travis debut album was new, fresh and his warm voice was a throw back to a degree, but not old sounding and fans loved every song on that project.  Yoakam was new and exciting, especially on stage, very avant gard and fans loved him. Whitley had been around for a couple years, but 1986 he broke through, and vocally reminded fans of Travis at times, and fans flocked to his emotive songs.  And Dunn, such a powerful and emotional voice melted us all with Daddy's Hands and the powerful songs that followed for her.

1986 - Keith Whitley -  Fans Loved Him For His Run Which Was Way Too Short

These four were new, young, different, and they were country.  Travis had been told by every record label in Nashville he was "too country."  Yoakam the same and even more. Imagine that, new artists that were too country. That shows you how far we had strayed from our roots.  I will never downplay the talent of the established artists from that era, they were all great, and recorded some great music. But overall, it was just not resonating with the core fans and was not growing our music to new and especially younger fans.  The pop country fans had moved on, as we all thought they would.  If you want something to grow, you don't water the leaves, you water the roots.  We learned that.

1986 - Tanya Tucker Returned To Greatness And Gave Us A Big Lift

Mainly Travis and Yoakam opened the ears of our fans that had been waiting for a more traditional sound, and kicked down the door for new fans to pour through. They changed the minds of the record companies and allowed traditionalists like Patty Loveless, and vocal stylists like KT Oslin to show up in 1987, then country folk singers like Suzy Bogguss in 1988 and a battalion of others.  It began an avalanche that went on for a number of years and led country to its greatest success ever, as you well know the 1990's were something real special.

 1986 -George Strait Released This Huge Song

1986 was a very important time for us. We needed hero's but as I remember it, we didn't really know we did. We had been in a groove that was successful to a degree, and it's possible that many of us in the biz and at the stations didn't really know how big we could get, because we could only imagine.  Alabama showed us earlier in the decade how big they could be with insane success and exposure. We wished we had more acts that popular and why not, they were everywhere. Strait was incredibly popular with deep country fans, as was Skaggs, and Reba was coming on strong. The Judd's were traditional but had wide appeal in addition to the core country fans, sort of like Alabama did.  And the incredibly resurgent Tanya Tucker found herself back near the top of the charts and that was a big deal for us as she helped connect the past and the future. She too was a pivotal artist for us that year.

1986 - Another Huge Travis Song

But when the new traditionalists showed up, they brought everyone with them, and we, in a few years soared to heights that were previously unthinkable. And then the kicked down door from 1986 allowed 1989 and the 1990's to happen. The flood was on, Garth, Alan, Clint, Travis, Tracy Byrd and Lawrence, Tim McGraw, Brooks And Dunn, Vince Gill, Billy Ray Cyrus and dozens more both men and women.  Dunn and Loveless led a charge of incredible women singers that rocked the 1990's to historic levels bringing us Shania, Pam Tillis, Terri Clark, Faith, Martina, Trisha, LeAnn Rimes, Lee Ann Womack, Jo Dee Messina, Kathy Mattea, Lorrie Morgan and tons more. It started with 1986 we were selling albums and tickets like never before, it was incredible.

Holly Dunn - Her Emotive Style Was Very Influential Going Forward  - 1988

And country "bands" became a thing too with Shenandoah, Blackhawk, The Desert Rose Band, Kentucky Headhunters, Confederate Railroad, Southern Pacific, Lonestar, Diamond Rio and others. We were suddenly young, cool and rolling. Sadly, there were many casualties as well. Many artists that had staked their entire claim on pop country were now on the way out, and many older established artists, even the really big ones were now off the charts for good.  It was an extraordinary change.

1986 - Hugely Popular Song Started A Movement

As great as 1989 was and will always be historic, it was 1986 that did a whole lot of the heavy lifting to make it all possible. We should remember and thank those incredible new artists that dared to be country again. 

We owe them always -Thank YOU!

Mitchell Tenpenny released an EP called Neon Christmas last year... 

The EP was 7 songs which will all be included on the full Christmas Album this year called "Naughty List".

Tenpenny will release the 11-track Christmas album on Oct. 29

Here is a little bit.

I want to share this with you as many have reached out and sent very kind words to me the past couple of weeks...

My mom Barbara passed away September 25 at about 1045 AM.  She was one week short of being 94, so I'll give her that, she was 94.  She led a very interesting life in many regards and a very regular one in others.  But what is undeniable, is she lived through interesting times.  She lived an enviable 91 years of almost perfect health. We should all be so lucky and we are all thankful for that.

She was born the year Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean solo, and died the year billionaires are going into space as a hobby.  She lived through the Depression, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, Kennedy, Watergate, Y2K, computers, and smart phones. She was 19 the last time the Indians won the World Series, 37 when the Browns last won a title, and 87 when the Cav's won their first championship.  She traveled overseas, and saw the entirety of our country, but lived in the same state her whole life.  She went to Lakewood High School, Ohio Wesleyan, and ended up working for Marietta College right out of college.

About 22 Or So

Think about this, in 1950, she drove around rural Ohio alone on dusty roads visiting people's homes trying to recruit young women to go to college at Marietta, her first job.  Pretty gutsy in 1950.  (BTW she drove a car till she was 90).  She was dedicated to higher education and was around it her entire life.  She eventually taught at Tri-C, and then 30 years at Baldwin-Wallace where she taught speech until she retired at 73.  She additionally taught night and weekend college for decades and was hired by many big Cleveland companies to teach their CEO's how to communicate with other CEO's and employees.

She was an actor for many years, well known in Cleveland starring in musicals and plays. She was dedicated to the theater as well. The arts, that's where she lived.  She took an acting job downtown Cleveland one fall for a month, and used the money to buy us our first color TV when we were kids.  She taught students how to sing at our house in the summer.  She taught people how to act, and not be afraid of the stage.  Plus, the smash Broadway musical Godspell, some of it was written under the cherry tree in her side yard in Berea by one of her students named John Micheal Tebelek a Berea High grad and a B-W grad. He wrote it for his thesis at Carnegie Melon, but he spent much time here locally.  There were always theater people at the house when I was young.  In the summer, about every day - and night.

She was an artist, and her painting of furniture and wall paintings will live on forever as she was very generous with her incredible work. Many people have her work in their houses and some businesses in the area. She taught people how to paint as she was blessed with insane talent.  She always downplayed her talent, but she was great at it. We recently found a painting she did for her college senior project that hung in the Cleveland Museum Of Art (certified) in 1950.  It had been in her dark basement for about 50 years, and she never said a word about it.  In fairness, she was great at a lot of things that most of us are not.

Painting From the Art Museum - 1950

In My Home Office This Ships Box

She married my dad Robert in 1952 after 4 months of dating. Their first date was golf, after meeting at the Jack And Jill Dude Ranch in Michigan (It's still there). They were married until 1978 when my dad passed away of cancer at 53, she was 50, I was 16. She never remarried as she said my dad was a "tough act to follow."   My dad told her she would probably have to sell the house after he died, but she never did. In fact, she lived there until May of this year. They bought it in 1959 and wondered how they could afford a $147 a month mortgage for the old house on 3 acres. 

She eventually designed and built three large additions on that house after she was 70, as we learned very late in her life, she really wanted to be an architect. A closed in porch, an art studio, and a second suite she called a library, but later became her living area. The original house was built in 1853. (that's right) and she loved that place. We kept her in there as long as we could, where she lived in, and beautifully maintained the old farmhouse alone for 43 years, truly an incredible feat.

When She Married My Dad

The Train Station Box  In Our Living Room Now

Actor, artist, educator. That is what she was. And sadly the last few months she couldn't remember that she did any of it, or where she did it. I'm not sure she remembered me, Windy, or my siblings at the end. But that really doesn't make any difference today.  She left herself behind in her art, and in the minds of thousands of students and professionals with important skills that have benefited them their whole life.  You see, people like her are always looking forward to the next generation of educators and we need people like that. 

My mom taught people her whole life how to do things that were hard to do. Sing, act, paint, and speak effectively in front of others.  She taught people how to do things that most people aren't good at and to me, that is her legacy.  The willingness to show others how to do things -  that came so easy for her.

She could be difficult, opinionated, stubborn and she wasn't perfect by any means. Who among us is? But with all she did  - and all she saw -  she was pretty cool.

"Babs"  (1927-2021)

She was about 90 at a Tribe game with my sister in-law Erin.  So glad they went that day!

For some reason, someone decided to do an article on the best way to store kitchen towels. I have no idea why. And for some other reason someone actually took the time to develop a methodology to store kitchen towels.

Here's to having too much time on your hands.

Knock yourself out!

Kitchen Towels!

Tough loss for the Browns this week, or was it? It was a game that should have been won.

I love the Browns and I am committed to expect more from them than seasons past.  OK, before we move on, I saw the pass interference play like you did. It was ridiculous and the league needs to hold these lousy officials and calls accountable. But they won't, and don't. It's a league wide problem of deciding games with their egos and it happens every week on a few NFL fields.  And can we stop with all the Facebook stuff like, "They must be paid by the Chargers" or "How much they paying you, ref?"  That's childish and excuse laden. Because even with that play, the Browns have themselves to blame for the loss.  Period.

The two losses this season could haven easily been wins, as was last years playoff game with the Chiefs.  One common denominator. The Browns don't know how to close out games. Not yet, and it needs to be fixed ASAP, or it's gonna get in their heads if it's not already. And looking at this honestly they are even having a tough time closing out lesser opponents as well.

Sunday, even after that horrible call and the gift of a shanked extra point, the Browns had a chance to close things out. The games best running game and a QB that doesn't turn the ball over is the perfect recipe for that, and they didn't get it done.  It's as simple as that. That's when you have to run the ball down their throat and drain the clock. That's what great teams do, and what we're built for.  On days the defense struggles, the offense has to pick them up and get it done. And Visa versa.  Please stop with the excuses of refs and all that kind of silly talk and look within.

There are plenty of games up the line where this will happen again, and they will be in a position to win late and they need to do it or the season will be a disappointment. Do you want to win 8 games or 12 games?  The Browns are a very good team, but that's not good enough. They need to play great when it matters . Again, that is nothing new for the Browns who have specialized in the 59 minute game for decades, giving things up very late.  And in Los Angeles against a good team that you need to beat would have been a great time to change it.  I'm not down on the Browns at all.  But if we want to get to the top, as they are built for, we must be demanding of them, and they of themselves.

Injuries, bad refs, bad breaks, great QB's, and away games are all a part of the NFL, and that can't be hidden behind.  You play the guys you have, the teams your scheduled, where they are scheduled, and the league officiates them. That is every teams reality.

Because 1 team will do all the things that we need to do, and they will be on top. The rest of us will wait for next year.  Close teams out, finish the game!  Finish the way you start and all will be OK.

GO BROWNS

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Give an ear and see if you like what you hear... 

New Release Albums:

Cody Johnson - Human (Double Album)

Old Dominion – Time, Tequila & Therapy

New Release Singles and Videos:

Dustin Lynch- Huntin Land (ft. Riley Green)

Jake Owen - Drunk on a Boat

Luke Bryan - Bill Dance

Mitchell Tenpenny - Good Thing

Matt Stell - Boyfriend Season

Dillon Carmichael - Paychecks & Longnecks 

Justin Moore - WIth A Woman You Love

HixTape Vol. 2 -  Hardy ft. Chris Lane & Scotty McCreery - Small Town On

If you are like me, you like to plan your lunches!  Well Monday, is another WQMX Fundraising Day!  

LeeAngelo's 

1077 W Exchange St, Akron, OH 44313

 (330) 867-7000

Click Here to order anytime but especially Monday!   Or find more on Facebook.

20% of the entire days sales on Monday (10/11/21) will go to WQMX Bosom Buddies...

We thank you ahead of time and good eating...

You should add a few "Bucket List Beers"... to your list with Ray Fulcher at The Dusty Armadillo October 16th.

Get your tickets by..  Clicking Here.  This show is part of the WQMX Charity Concert Series and benefits Bosom Buddies!  Tickets are just $10.

Zac Brown Band were the musical guests last night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and sang "Out In The Middle" from their upcoming album 'The Comeback' due out on October 15th! 

When Michael Ray, Jon Pardi and The Nature Boy get together.

I think we know what broke Facebook the other day.  

Look how happy Michael is...WOOOOOO!!!!