George Jones

Believe it or not, Richard Sterban once was a boy soprano. The Camden, N.J., native -- whose impossibly deep voice forms the foundation of The Oak Ridge Boys -- sang in his church choir and as a tenor in junior-high glee club. After seventh grade, Mr. Sterban's vocal range plunged more than an octave, ending up safe at second bass.

The bass voice gets better with age. That's one of the advantages of getting older   -Richard Sterban

 

For a singer-songwriter associated with the Grateful Dead, Jim Lauderdale is surprisingly unknown in Marin County, the Dead's longtime home base. But that may soon change with the upcoming release of "Patchwork River," the Nashville-based musician's new album of songs co-written with longtime Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Lauderdale will be debuting some of those songs Nov. 21 when he makes his second appearance at Rancho Nicasio.  

Emmylou Harris' web of musical connections is so vast and intricate it shames even Kevin Bacon, whose eponymous "Six Degrees" game unites seemingly disparate Hollywood actors in six short steps. A family tree of Harris' collaborators would fill the ceiling of the Grand Ole Opry House, branching from her obscure 1970 debut, "Gliding Bird," into her famous work with Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt and dozens of others. Like most Nashville legends, the 62-year-old's solo  

If you didn't get out this past week to catch the 25th annual Frank Brown International Songwriters' Festival, you missed a lot of superb shows. But worry not, because the music festival continues through Sunday. Before the big finale at the Silver Moon Café, the festival rocks today at several locations in Pleasure Island and at America's last great roadhouse, the Flora-Bama Lounge and Package on Perdido Key, with a who's who of songwriters.  

Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Band — whose music was always an extension of American roots music — blues, R & B, rockabilly, gospel, and straight-up hillbilly sounds. to his muse. And both albums are full of good-time, honky-tonkin' fun. First, the Fogerty album: when Creedence — for my money, the best singles-oriented band of the '60s — crumbled in the early-'70s, Fogerty regrouped by degrouping.  

Country singer Leon Seiter of Michigan will perform with local singer Gary Mullis from 2-4 p.m. Nov. 29 at the House Cafe, 263 E. Lincoln Highway, DeKalb. Seiter starting singing in honky-tonks in the early 1960s, according to a news release.  

The 'All American Family' is usually compared to famous on-screen families such as The Waltons or The Brady Bunch. To Larry Elliott, Fire Inspector for the Houston Fire Department, the All American Family was one he knew all too well, his own. His parents, Margaret and Leon Elliott fell in love in 1944 and soon after got married, at the time Margaret was just sixteen and Leon seventeen.  

Dalton State College will welcome award-winning blues artist E. G. Kight back to campus for an evening of jazz, country, Southern rock, gospel and blues on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in the Goodroe Auditorium of Memorial Hall. The concert, which will begin at 7:30 p.m., is sponsored by the Fine Arts and Lecture Series and is free and open to the public. "E. G. Kight is a versatile entertainer who has performed at blues festivals and clubs both with her full band and as a solo artist," says Jane Taylor, director o

E. G. Kight is a versatile entertainer who has performed at blues festivals and clubs both with her full band and as a solo artist   -Jane Taylor

 

George Jones is known as the Rolls-Royce of country singers, but his origins are anything but luxurious.