Blog

September 11, 2026 —– Chart #367 Hello Music Friends, Every so often a songwriter sits down and writes a hymn, and the whole world decides it’s a drug song. Tommy James wrote “Crystal Blue Persuasion” with a Bible open on his lap. It was 1968, and James — the same fellow who gave the world “Hanky Panky” and “Mony Mony,” not exactly seminary material — was reading the Book of Revelation. The imagery of the… Read more: CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION

September 4, 2026 —– Chart #366 Hello Music Friends, Before John Mellencamp ever wrote a note about fighting authority, authority took his name. In 1976 his management decided that nobody named Mellencamp was going to sell records, and his debut album came out credited to “Johnny Cougar.” The story goes that John found out about his new name about the same time the record stores did. He hated it. He also needed the career, so… Read more: AUTHORITY SONG

August 28, 2026 —– Chart #365 Hello Music Friends, No woman in the history of rock and roll ever got better songs out of her men than Pattie Boyd. George Harrison married her and wrote “Something.” Eric Clapton fell for her while she was still married to his best friend and wrote “Layla,” which is what desperation sounds like with a slide guitar. Then Clapton married her and wrote “Wonderful Tonight.” Three of the greatest… Read more: OLD LOVE

August 21, 2026 —– Chart #364 Hello Music Friends, The most famous father-and-son conversation in popular music is not about a father and son. It’s about the Russian Revolution. I’ll give you a minute with that one. In 1969 Cat Stevens was writing a musical called Revolussia, set in 1917 Russia, about a boy who wants to run off and join the revolution over the objections of his conservative farmer father. “Father and Son” was… Read more: FATHER AND SON

August 14, 2026 —– Chart #363 Hello Music Friends, Herb Alpert had a question he liked to ask great songwriters, and it’s a beauty: is there a song tucked away in your drawer somewhere — one that never got the right recording — that you still find yourself whistling in the shower? He put that question to Burt Bacharach over the phone one day in 1968. Burt reached into the drawer. What came out went… Read more: THIS GUY’S IN LOVE WITH YOU

August 7, 2026 —– Chart #362 Hello Music Friends, Rusty Young was hired to be the guy in Poco who didn’t sing. That was the deal. He played the pedal steel, the banjo, the dobro — all the instruments that make a country-rock band sound like a country-rock band and none of the ones that get you on the radio. So naturally, the only monster hit Poco ever had is a song Rusty Young wrote… Read more: CRAZY LOVE

July 31, 2026 —– Chart #361 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we are going deep into soul music with one of the great heartbreak songs ever recorded. Today’s feature is “The Dark End of the Street” by James Carr. This is not a happy little toe-tapper. Nobody is driving to the beach in this song. Nobody is ordering nachos. This one lives in the shadows,… Read more: THE DARK END OF THE STREET

July 24, 2026 —– Chart #360 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we are going all the way back to the early days of rock and roll with one of the greats. Today’s feature is “Ain’t That a Shame” by Fats Domino. And before we are done, we are also going to tip our hats to Cheap Trick, who came along years later, plugged the song… Read more: AIN’T THAT A SHAME

July 17, 2026 —– Chart #359 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we are returning to Van Morrison, and that is never a bad place to go. Today’s feature is “Bright Side of the Road,” a terrific Van Morrison song from his 1979 album Into the Music. It is upbeat, soulful, joyful, and just plain fun to hear. Some Van songs make you stare out the… Read more: BRIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD

July 10, 2026 —– Chart #358 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week’s selection is a little different from many of the songs I feature here. It is a little racy, a little suggestive, and not exactly the kind of tune you would expect to hear at vacation Bible school. But it is catchy, it was a huge hit, and it features one of the most distinctive… Read more: TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT

July 3, 2026 —– Chart #357 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. Since this one lands on July 3rd, right before Independence Day, I thought we needed something with a little red, white, blue, and maybe a brown paper bag in the back of a pickup truck. Today’s feature is “Family Tradition” by Hank Williams Jr., also known far and wide as Bocephus. That nickname came from his… Read more: FAMILY TRADITION

June 26, 2026 —– Chart #356 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we are going back to 1967 for a song that is fun, clever, and just a little bit unusual for the artists who recorded it. Today’s feature is “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” by Peter, Paul and Mary. Now, when most folks think of Peter, Paul and Mary, they probably think of folk… Read more: I DIG ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC

June 19, 2026 —– Chart #355 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we are taking a little break from tradition. Most of the songs I feature here come from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, with an occasional toe-dip into the 80s if the song behaves itself and doesn’t show up wearing parachute pants. But this week we are jumping all the way forward to the 1990s.… Read more: ALL FOR YOU

June 12, 2026 —– Chart #354 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we are going with one of those songs that seems to have lived several lives. It began as a Van Morrison song, became a big Rod Stewart hit, found its way into about ten thousand weddings, and still somehow manages to sound sincere when played by one person with a guitar. That is no… Read more: HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY

June 5, 2026 —– Chart #353 Hello music friends, Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we return once again to one of the most distinctive and enduring bands in classic rock—The Moody Blues. Over the years they moved gracefully from orchestral progressive rock into a more modern, synthesizer-driven sound without losing what made them recognizable in the first place. Today’s feature is “The Voice.” It’s one of the strongest… Read more: THE VOICE