June 2026

Country Music

68,000 COPIES SOLD IN ONE WEEK — AND THE SINGER WAS IN HOSPICE WHEN SHE HEARD THE NEWS. Joey Feek always dreamed of recording a hymns album. But there was never the right time. Then came stage 4 cervical cancer — and suddenly, time was the one thing she was running out of. So they started recording. In Nashville studios when she could stand. In hotel rooms between chemo sessions when she couldn’t. Rory set up a microphone wherever they were, and Joey sang. What nobody expected was what happened next. Hymns That Are Important to Us debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country chart and #4 on the Billboard 200. When Rory brought her the news, Joey was lying in hospice in Indiana. She looked at him with tears and whispered — “No, honey, this is God’s record.” Less than a month later, on March 4, 2016, Joey passed at 40. The album later won a Grammy. Rory accepted it alone — keeping a promise she made him make.

Introduction 68,000 COPIES SOLD IN ONE WEEK — AND THE SINGER WAS IN HOSPICE WHEN...

Country Music

THEY HELD HER FUNERAL AT THE HENDERSONVILLE CHURCH OF CHRIST. THE QUEEN OF COUNTRY MUSIC GOT ONE LAST STANDING OVATION. Twenty-five Top 10 hits. The first woman ever to top the country charts. From 1953 to 1968, every major poll in Nashville listed her as the No. 1 female country singer — fifteen years straight. On July 20, 2012, Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, Bill Anderson, Ricky Skaggs and the gospel group The Whites filled the pews to say goodbye. Eddie Stubbs — the voice of the Grand Ole Opry, who had once played fiddle for her — stood at the pulpit and asked the room to rise. Every person stood and applauded. Then he said: “It’s one thing to make a contribution in life. It’s another to make a difference. Kitty did both.” Ricky Skaggs and The Whites closed the service with I Saw the Light. When the last note fell, the casket was wheeled slowly from the church, her family following behind in tears. Loretta Lynn wrote that day: “Kitty Wells will always be the greatest female country singer of all time. She was my hero.” Charlie Daniels wrote: “A Queen died today. The lady who set the standard for all who followed.” She was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville — the same city where, sixty years earlier, she had changed everything with one song and one voice nobody in Nashville had expected.

Introduction Kitty Wells and the Last Standing Ovation at Hendersonville Church of Christ On July...

News

29 NUMBER ONE HITS AND 70 MILLION RECORDS SOLD. BUT WHEN COUNTRY MUSIC’S QUIETEST TRAILBLAZER TOOK HIS FINAL BOW, THE WORLD HAD TO MOURN HIM IN ABSOLUTE SILENCE… In November 2020, Charley Pride stepped onto the CMA Awards stage for what no one knew would be his final performance. Looking out at the crowd, the man who had spent decades breaking down the highest walls in country music simply smiled and admitted he was “nervous as can be.” It was a stunningly human confession from a legend who carried the weight of history with absolute grace. Just 31 days later, he was gone. For a superstar whose record sales at RCA were second only to Elvis, the farewell was heartbreakingly small. There were no packed arenas. No grand public processions. The pandemic forced his family to hold a private wake behind closed doors in Dallas. The world had to grieve apart. He was a man who changed a genre not by shouting, but by simply standing in the spotlight and singing until the barriers melted away. He opened the door for generations of Black country artists who followed his quiet persistence. It took eight months for country music to finally gather on one stage to give him the tribute he deserved. There was no open door in Dallas that day. But the doors Charley Pride kicked open for the rest of the world will never be closed again.

Introduction 29 NUMBER ONE HITS, 70 MILLION RECORDS SOLD — BUT CHARLEY PRIDE’S FINAL GOODBYE...

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Country Music

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Country Music

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Oldies Music

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