The “Country History X” Podcast Is Coming
• “Country History X” will tell the history of country music, one story at a time.
• The audio podcast will delve into the darker side of country music, meaning crime, death, drugs, deception, and murder. But it will also tell more inspiring stories, and the story of redemption through music.
• First episodes to be available starting on Saturday, April 17th through Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, right here on Saving Country Music, and on most major podcast networks.
• Subject matter will span from the very beginning of the genre, to more present-day stories.
For years folks have wondered why Saving Country Music doesn’t have a podcast. There are a few explanations for that. First off, I’m a writer, not an orator. I prefer communicating in a forum where I can utilize the backspace key, and compose thoughts constructively before sharing them.
Secondly, it has always seemed silly to me to start a podcast about music when you can’t play music on podcasts, and least not without having to jump through all kinds of legal hoops or obtaining extremely expensive licenses, and even then you run the risk of episodes getting pulled from hyperactive copyright bots. Spotify recently made song play available though there podcast network, but only full songs, and only on Spotify. So that doesn’t entirely solve the problem.
Also, since interviewing artists directly isn’t really my thing (and even if it was, it sure would be nice to be able to play the music your talking about, but can’t), the interview format doesn’t hold much appeal either. I know what kind of podcast I would put together if there were no limits on playing music. It’s just not possible under the current parameters.
And so until those parameters change, print will continue to be the primary way Saving Country Music will communicate with the world, which has actually worked very fine for 13 years, and despite the decline across the board in all media and in print media especially, Saving Country Music continues to see very strong numbers, and even continued growth, to the consternation of some. So if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Also, I never wanted to launch a podcast if it would in any way interfere with the print website. I still believe in the beauty and impact of the written word, and never want to get away from that. Country History X won’t eat into the important reviews, commentary, and other stuff Saving Country Music already does.
In truth, many years ago there was an entire podcast network hosted on Saving Country Music, with multiple shows by multiple hosts, a live chat room, live stream events, interviews, and all kinds of stuff. However, this was in the Wild West days of podcasting, when nobody knew the rules, and fewer enforced them. Even though permissions were granted to play songs by the artists featured, eventually that all had to be put to an end, like it was in many other places.
But I have finally decided to get into the podcast business, not with the flagship podcast I hope to launch sometime in the future that will include whatever song I wish to play at any time I want to play it, but one where the lack of playing songs is not a hindrance, and one that I can bring a sincere passion and knowledge to the subject matter, while also hopefully fulfilling a need and desire in the public.
It’s called Country History X, and it’s going to be the history of country music, told one story at a time. Instead of starting at the very beginning of the genre, or zeroing in on an artist or an era, or filibustering with filler material just to kill time, Country History X will be a series of calorie-rich podcasts that select out super-compelling stories from the history of the genre, and tells the story of country music through them. Hopefully these are stories that someone who doesn’t even really care that much about country music would still find intriguing.
Yes, there will be lots of drugs, divorce, death, crime, intrigue, and even murder. In some respects, you could consider Country History X like a crime podcast mixed with music history. But this will not always be the case. Sometimes the story will simply be about a cool song or moment. And just like many country music songs and albums, ultimately the stories will lead to a lesson or conclusion of victory through perseverance, redemption, and inspiration.
The podcasts will not be especially long, though some of them might be, while others may unfold in multiple installments. There will also be shorter supplemental episodes that may only be a few minutes. But for the most part, the story itself will dictate the length for each episode, not some arbitrary time limit. Ultimately though, there will be many of these episodes where you can dive as deep as you want into the subject matter.
As time goes on, all of the episodes will slowly feed into a grander narrative that has been planned out, where if you continue to listen, you will start to get a clearer picture of country music history overall, and get to know some of the biggest artists, players, side men, and songwriters. You will start to understand what makes country music tick, and how the genre itself unfolds like a story. Eventually, each little vignette will begin to reveal a bigger tapestry, with small bits of information conveyed in passing becoming part of a much bigger and richer narrative.
Though a particular episode may seem like a tangent or only tangentially associated with country music, hopefully over time, listeners will slowly become well-versed in country history, or even if you’re an expert already, you will learn something new. It’s crazy how so many of the stories and subject matters in country music feed into deeper, recurring themes.
Eventually I’m sure many of country music’s most famous stories will receive the Country History X treatment, but the focus especially in the beginning will be on stories that aren’t found in history books, haven’t been covered in podcasts or in major news stories, that are breaking or being revealed in the here-and-now, as well as revising history when necessary if the record got something wrong. It also won’t exclusively focus on classic country or old stories. Some episodes will cover relevant topics of today. Episodes may have a lot of twists and turns that may seem sensational, everything has been painstakingly fact-checked.
Though the podcast will not have interviews per se—though perhaps audio snippets of interviews may be used here or there—if subjects or their heirs are still alive, information is verified and vetted directly from sources to make sure it’s as accurate as possible, and sources will be cited in corresponding articles that will be found here on SavingCountryMusic.com for each episode. This isn’t just a regurgitation of stories found in biographies, but a more detailed telling and assessment of these important country music moments. So even though the stories might seem crazy and sensational, they’re 100% true, at least from what we know. That’s what’s so cool about country music. You just can’t make this stuff up.
And finally, there continues to be no Patreon for Saving Country Music, and there won’t be one for the Country History X podcast at the moment, and no subscription fee is needed. There’s no T-shirts or koozies for sale. Take your musical dollars, and spend them on today’s artists who are doing what they can to keep music alive. All I ask of you is your attention, and if you like what you hear or see, tell someone else.
Country History X will be made available on most major podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. But the primary way it will be conveyed to the public will be right here on Saving Country Music via an embedded YouTube player (subscribe to SCM’s YouTube Page), along with the transcription of each podcast, and links to sources.
Thanks as always for reading (and now, listening), and as always, your feedback on Country History X, suggestions, tips, revisions, etc. are encouraged, either through the comments section, or directly through the Contact Page.
HerbieVorus
April 14, 2021 @ 8:51 am
I’ll take 2. Good luck Trig. I will listen.
Stéphane
April 14, 2021 @ 9:04 am
I’m glad and look forward to Country History X.
Saving Country Music is a great source of information and inspiration for my radio show “Pastoram Mécanique”, in French, in France. I’m active at debunking the clichés around our music, which in Europe is often reduced to dance music with boots and cowboy hats, whereas country music has much more to offer.
Sure I want to dance, but only by stumbling and falling down from the barstool!
Keep on twangin’, Kyle!
Trigger
April 14, 2021 @ 12:54 pm
Thanks Stephane, and thanks for spreading the word about country music in France.
Jason
April 14, 2021 @ 9:28 am
Awesome! Very excited for this. I will be a loyal listener.
Barstool Hero
April 14, 2021 @ 9:38 am
I’m very intrigued! Looking forward to listening.
Kent
April 14, 2021 @ 9:39 am
Thanks a lot for this article/info Trigger. Will be interesting to listening to.
Motown Mike
April 14, 2021 @ 9:41 am
The history of country music starts at Jason Aldean, Lady A, Rascal Flatts, and Sam Hunt right? Hello, I’m Gary LeVox. In all seriousness, this should be a solid podcast and one well worth checking out.
Toots
April 14, 2021 @ 9:47 am
Late April fools? Haha, does it start on April 20?
Trigger
April 14, 2021 @ 9:54 am
April 17th is when the first episode will post.
Venturacountryfan
April 14, 2021 @ 9:57 am
Interested to know what the first episode will be.
MJ
April 14, 2021 @ 9:59 am
Can’t wait – what a great idea!
I Stan For Moe Bandy
April 14, 2021 @ 10:10 am
I just hope they’ll cover Rascal Flatts’ road crew getting drunk and kicked off a plane in 2006. The real outlaws.
Trigger
April 14, 2021 @ 12:56 pm
Ha! One of the early episodes does actually involve Rascal Flatts, but it’s not about the plane incident.
Stogie5150
April 14, 2021 @ 10:27 am
I am actually pretty damned happy about this, because there’s nobody I’d trust in modern music journalism to tell it how it is more than Trigger. More often than not I disagree with the man, but I value his views.
I don’t watch any kind of music TV, nor listen to ANY kind of music radio, because there’s nothing that will make these 50 year old ears perk up like Country Gold. And Country Gold aint cool no more. Looking forward to learning more about my heroes. Thanks Trigger.
‘
mouths of babes
April 14, 2021 @ 10:40 am
Stoked! Please give us what Cocaine and Rhinestones promised, failed at and left us hungry for!
Andrew
April 14, 2021 @ 11:54 am
Cocaine and Rhinestones Season 2 is coming out starting next week (April 20). Tyler has said the total run time for the season (not counting liner notes) is more than 30 hours.
Zues
April 14, 2021 @ 9:36 pm
3 years later? I had already forgotten about Cocaine and Rhinestones till this article reminded me of how great it was. It WAS great, but for me, the momentum and enthusiasm for C&R is gone. I was a fan and proselytizer.
I understand it’s an undertaking, but it took a year of lock downs and no bars for Coe (bless his heart) to put all that patreon money to good use and throw us a bone. Maybe I’m being salty, but it’s a podcast, not Game of Thrones. Unless he blows me away with some amazing million dollar CGI voices. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up behind a paywall too. Meh…I wish my job worked like that.
I honestly want it to be good and will give it a listen. I want it to be worth the wait.
Looking forward to the alternative, “Country Music X.” If they’re super consistent, and all I’m asking for is 1 season a year, I’ll be a regular listener. Even if it’s slightly subpar, regularity and consistency is key in the saturated podcast market.
Trigger
April 14, 2021 @ 10:48 pm
Look folks, I highly praised the first season of Cocaine and Rhinestones, wrote not one, but two dedicated articles promoting it early on when few knew about it, along with promoting it on social media. I look forward to Season Two and hope Tyler Mahan Coe the best with it. Though I know some will say that I’m trying to do battle with Cocaine & Rhinestones, I’m not that stupid. As I said in this article, I’m not a podcaster or orator, I’m a writer. I’ve posted more than 2,000 articles since the last episode of Cocaine & Rhinestones aired, along with preparing this new podcast, and criss crossed the United States multiple times attending dozens of festivals and conferences searching for new talent. It appears Coe has something gargantuan planned. My plan is to present stuff in bite-sized portions. It may suck. It may be great. All that I can assure you is that I will put my heart and best effort into it, and hopefully it will lend to the effort to preserve and expand country music history. But Country History X is not my version of Cocaine and Rhinestones. I’m taking a pretty significantly different approach, and my plan was to launch it as soon as the pandemic lifted, and I was ready to get back out on the road, which I will be doing in the coming weeks.
Also, there will be no seasons. Country History X will be an ongoing endeavor—ongoing as long as people find appeal in it and I have the passion to keep it going. It’s simply a side project and compliment to Saving Country Music, and not even really the more expansive podcast idea I have planned once the music rights for podcasts finally gets resolved.
Toots
April 15, 2021 @ 8:28 am
This article literally lays out the same concept as Cocaine and Rhinestones except it seems less ambitious. If you use the same backwards logic you use in a lot of your articles it will be easy to see that is is just a troll move. I’m going to listen and I hope you create a positive body of work for country music but the timing and tone seems off.
Trigger
April 15, 2021 @ 9:14 am
I agree the timing is off. In fact, I would call the timing insane. But that’s not my timing.
Country History X is not the same concept as Cocaine & Rhinestones. In fact in many respects, it’s a completely opposite approach. Tyler Mahan Coe was not the first to have the idea of delving into the sordid stories of country music. I was doing it for a decade, and did it dozens and dozens of times before his podcast came about. Strangely, I also posted many rants against bad music. Now all I’m doing is putting many of those stories in audio form to hopefully increase the audience. That’s all.
Jake Cutter
April 14, 2021 @ 10:45 am
“As someone” with a decent commute, I will be listening.
Your passion for country music is inspiring. Best of luck with this.
Bertran de Born
April 14, 2021 @ 11:06 am
Buddy, this is the best news I’ve heard all week! I’ll be curious to see how Tyler Mahan Coe reacts; Cocaine & Rhinestones really rocked my socks for that one season, and then he lost the plot altogether. Perhaps a competing podcast of equal quality might kick him back into gear (though I kind of doubt that). Anyway, you definitely have my attention, and I’m looking forward to the first episode!
Charaway
April 14, 2021 @ 11:23 am
Cocaine and Rhinestones season 2 is back April 20
Maestro-09
April 14, 2021 @ 11:28 am
C&R is coming back this month too. He’s been working on season 2 since the last one ended.
Tubb
April 14, 2021 @ 11:17 am
Good luck. Looking forward to checking it out.
Blackh4t
April 14, 2021 @ 11:31 am
Sounds great. Look forward to reading the transcripts. I don’t listen to podcasts.
You’re a legend.
RyanPD
April 14, 2021 @ 11:59 am
I’m stoked to learn about the instrumentalists who don’t get the same recognition as the guys they play alongside.
Stellar
April 15, 2021 @ 9:57 am
You know, there’s some really amazing YouTube video series about various session musicians, band members involved in famous bands, etc.
Ask Zac focuses on guitar in general but he often talks about the guitar styles of various famous players and gives a bit of history, hit the same guy does longer interviews with living musicians as Truetone Lounge, And there are a bunch of other country history YouTube channels that I’ve seen go into a lot of detail on important folks like session players.
Looking forward to this podcast, looking forward to the new Cocaine and Rhinestones, and I’m psyched about all the good audio that’s out there to fill up our commuting/mindless work time/dish-doing time .
Country Music Disciple
April 14, 2021 @ 12:06 pm
Really looking forward to this. Can you give us a hint on any particulars of the first episode?
Mike Basile
April 14, 2021 @ 2:22 pm
Sounds really exciting, Trig. Hope it gets off to a great start and turns out to be as big a success (and pleasure for us followers of SCM) as the print blog. I’ll look forward to an episode on my guy Gary Stewart real soon (Lord knows he checks all the boxes). Knock it outta the park, brother!
ExcitedSouthnr
April 14, 2021 @ 2:57 pm
I will definitely be listening!!
Di Harris
April 14, 2021 @ 3:01 pm
So, what time-ish will the first Country History X podcast be available, on the 17th?
Or, am i asking this incorrectly?
If it is as smart-a**-ish & smile inducing, as the bobby bones parody i just witnessed, i’m in.
Seriously, Good Luck.
Predicting this new venture is going to go well for you
Trigger
April 14, 2021 @ 4:11 pm
I don’t have a specific time at the moment, but my guess is it will be late morning.
Di Harris
April 14, 2021 @ 4:18 pm
Ok, thank you.
Will be looking for it.
Mark
April 14, 2021 @ 5:44 pm
I am looking forward to this.
JAY
April 14, 2021 @ 6:22 pm
Can’t wait.
Probably the best news I’ve heard all year.
Ian
April 14, 2021 @ 7:08 pm
Sounds killer! I just stumbled across the wild story about Gary Paxton getting shot four times *maybe* as hit to get Vern Gosdin out of their contract. I tried to find more information, the interviews of Paxton are great (he became a christian and forgave the shooters and never accused anyone of a plot). Can’t wait to hear what you are working on, your music history stuff is my favorite!
Stellar
April 15, 2021 @ 10:01 am
OH YEAH THAT STORY. I’ve been trying to encourage people to write some kind of murder ballad about it, this guy’s entire life story is insane.
There’s a Wikipedia article about him with a bunch of details, but there’s also a slightly different write-up in Country Music USA and I think maybe one of the Bakersfield Sound histories
To me the amazing part is that he had some involvement in the Jim and Tammy Bakker scandal and Tammy Bakker was apparently obsessed with him to the point that Jim Baker thought it was okay to cheat on her, or at least that was the excuse.
The whole thing is such a crazy larger than life ridiculous story that it desperately deserves its own country song or three.
DJ
April 15, 2021 @ 4:30 am
I sure hope the transcripts are available- and I WISH you’d get T-shirts! I’d buy 5 right this minute if you had them- 1 medium, 1 large, 1 extra large, 2 xxx large.
Daniele
April 15, 2021 @ 9:54 am
Cool, best of luck with your new adventure. I’ll tune in for sure!
Josh
April 15, 2021 @ 12:32 pm
You should have started a Patreon 3 years ago to take all of our money first! Haha! Looking forward to it.