Hot Country Podcast with Chris McKay

Hot Country Podcast Guest Gary Morris

Official Hot Country Podcast Website: http://www.hotcountrypodcast.com
 
Chris McKay interviews Billboard, CMA, ACM, and Grammy award winner Gary Morris. Gary is a singer-songwriter with over 25 charted singles. Gary is also a star of television, movies and the broadway stage.
 
From WIKIPEDIA - 
Although his credits include more than twenty-five other chart singles on the Billboard country charts, "The Wind Beneath My Wings" including five No. 1 hits. He has also released nine studio albums, mostly in the country pop vein, with his 1983 album Why Lady Why having earned a gold certification from the RIAA.
"Headed for a Heartache" that song reached No. 8 on the country chart in late 1981. Two follow-up singles Why Lady Why focused more on ballads. One of the album's four singles was "Wind Beneath My Wings,"[1] which showcased Morris' soaring tenor. Written by Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, the song about heroes — which Morris recorded as a ballad — became one of the earliest hit versions of the song; a better-known version by Bette Midler would top the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989.
The Why Lady Why album also featured the ballad "The Love She Found in Me,""Velvet Chains" and the up-tempoed title track as singles; all of them peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. Also during this time, Morris recorded a duet with Lynn Anderson called "You're Welcome to Tonight," 
After two more top 10 hits in 1984 — "Between Two Fires" and "Second Hand Heart" — Morris scored his first No. 1 country hit in March 1985 with "Baby Bye Bye." During what was his most prolific hit-making part of his career, Morris had three more solo No. 1 hits during the next two years: "I'll Never Stop Loving You," "100% Chance of Rain" and "Leave Me Lonely."
He also recorded a chart-topping duet with Crystal Gayle, "Makin' Up For Lost Time (The Dallas Lovers Song)." Although he rarely saw any success outside country music, many of Morris' hit songs were in the pop-country vein during the height of his career.
Morris had two more hits in 1987: the solo "Plain Brown Wrapper" and another duet with Gayle called "Another World." The latter song was used for many years as the theme for the NBC soap opera.[1] After that, Morris' success on the country charts began to fade, as tastes switched once again to neo-traditional country music. Morris later opened a music publishing office in Nashville, with one of his employees being future star Faith Hill.
In early 2008, Morris released two gospel albums. His most recent CD is called, Faith and Freedom, dedicated to the military troops. Gary Morris performed two songs featured on Juice Newton's album Duets: Friends & Memories, which was released in October 2010.
Morris took a break from touring to pursue a serious acting career. One of his first big roles was in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, as Jean Valjean. The full symphonic recording of Les Misérables is a platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning album and features Morris' vocals throughout in the role of Valjean, including his version of the song "Bring Him Home." Morris has also appeared in a production of Puccini's opera La Boheme with fellow country/pop singer Linda Ronstadt.
In the 1980s, he did a stint on The Colbys as blind country music singer Wayne Masterson, signed to Dominique Deveraux's label. On the show, he sang "Try Gettin' Over You" from his Anything Goes release.
In the 1990s, he spent a great deal of time working on music projects, such as the PBS special concert production, in Moscow, Russia, in the Tretyakov Gallery. He returned to country music in the 1990s, performing in concerts and as a record producer. Morris hosted and also produced the Nashville network's The North American Sportsman. In 1992, he appeared in an episode of Designing Women as Julia's surgeon.
RECENT TEXAN BY THE GRACE OF GOD
Gary’s new album “Sense of Pride” released on Sept. 14 to all major online retailers including iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, Spotify and more. Co-produced by Morris and Michael Bonagura (Baillie & The Boys), the album features nine songs, eight of which are written or co-written by Morris, one song – “The Moment” – was co-written by Kathie Baillie and Michael Bonagura. “Sense of Pride” is Morris’ 13th album
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Hot Country Podcast Guest Michael Peterson

Official Hot Country Podcast Website: http://www.hotcountrypodcast.com
Chris McKay interviews Michael Peterson. Bursting into Country music in the late 90's, Chris and Michael talk about his hits; Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie", "From Here to Eternity", "Too Good to Be True" and "When the Bartender Cries". Stories of the the songs beginnings and how one person in radio kept a single from being a #1 song...
Michael serves as National Spokesperson for The American Legion’s American Legacy Scholarship for nearly ten years, Michael assisted in raising millions of dollars to help ensure college educations for the children of post-9/11 Veterans who gave their life in service to our nation. Over the last decade, Michael and his wife, Army Women’s Hall Of Fame inductee COL Jill W. Chambers U.S. Army (Ret) have provided ongoing leadership and creative consulting for several groundbreaking Military Veteran support programs including Syracuse University’s renowned - Institute For Veterans & Military Families (IVMF). For the past ten years Michael has served as the National Spokesman and Master of Ceremonies for The National Veterans Creative Arts Festival (NVCAF). This program showcases the Veterans Administrations work utilizing art therapy to help wounded Veterans find healing. 120 Gold medal recipients in the visual and performing arts are honored annually on this PBS Television special. Following eleven tours and over 150 performances for deployed Service members in Iraq and Afghanistan, Michael Peterson received the prestigious Spirit Of Hope medal from the U.S.O. and the U.S. Army. This honor is given annually to individuals whose selfless service as entertainers perpetuates the legacy of the late Bob Hope.
 
Recorded July 1, 2021
Episode Sponsored by: Surfshark and Passport America.
 
From WIKIPEDIA:
Michael James Peterson (born August 7, 1959) is an American country music artist. He made his debut on the country music scene in 1997 with his self-titled debut album, which produced five Top 40 hits on Billboards Hot Country Singles & Tracks, including the Number One hit "From Here to Eternity". Peterson's second album, 1999's Being Human, produced two more chart singles, and a third album, 2004's Modern Man, was issued only in Europe. Peterson also made a cameo appearance on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. After attending high school at Richland High School in Richland, WA, Peterson later earned a football scholarship to Pacific Lutheran University, where he won a national championship. One of his teammates, Brad Westering, was also working as a producer for Deniece Williams at the time. Through Westering, Peterson got the opportunity to write songs for Williams, as well as gospel headliners The Imperials. This all led to the production of Peterson's first release, "Michael Peterson", a collection of contemporary Christian songs, on Sparrow Records in 1986. Eventually, Peterson traveled to Nashville, Tennessee where he started working as a professional songwriter, collaborating with other writers such as Josh Leo and Robert Ellis Orrall.
 
Orrall suggested that Peterson sign to a recording contract, and in December 1996, Peterson was signed to Reprise Records, a division of the Warner Music Group. His debut single, "Drink, Swear, Steal & Lie", was released that year, charting at No. 3 on the Billboard country charts and No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the lead-off single to Peterson's self-titled debut album (not to be confused with the Christian album of the same name from 1986), which also produced four more chart singles. The second one, "From Here to Eternity", became Peterson's first and only Number One hit, while "Too Good to Be True" reached No. 8. Following it were "When the Bartender Cries" at No. 37 and "By the Book" at No. 19. The album was certified gold by the RIAA for shipping 500,000 copies in the U.S. Also in 1997, Peterson was named Male Artist of the Year by Billboard. In 1998, Peterson appeared on Jenny Simpson's 1998 self-titled album, singing duet vocals on "Grow Young with You". Peterson made a guest appearance on a 1998 episode of Walker, Texas Ranger called "Eyes of a Ranger."
 
Peterson released his second album, Being Human, in 1999.[3] Its lead-off single, "Somethin' 'bout a Sunday", failed to reach top 40, and "Sure Feels Real Good" peaked at No. 39. Also in 1999, Peterson co-wrote the title track to Travis Tritt's album No More Looking over My Shoulder, which was released as a single. After a Super Hits album for the label, Peterson exited Warner Music Group.
 
After his departure from Warner, Peterson signed to Monument Records Nashville. His third studio album, Modern Man, was to have been released in 2002 for the label. Although its title track and "Lesson in Goodbye" both entered the country charts (with the former being the highest-debuting single of his career), the album itself was not issued in the US due to a restructuring of the label's parent company. AGR, a European record label, acquired the album and issued it in Europe in 2004. Six singles were released from it in Europe, including Peterson's own rendition of "No More Looking over My Shoulder." Also included on the album was the track "Right About Now", which Ty Herndon later released from his 2007 album of the same name.
 
Peterson's songs have been covered by a number of artists. Though his last charting song was in 2002, he continues to release albums and performs at military benefits.
 
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Hot Country Podcast Guest Dave Gibson

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Chris McKay interviews ACM Award Winner, singer, songwriter and performer Dave Gibson from the Gibson/Miller Band. From his humble beginnings in Nashville to writing huge hits for Alabama, Confederate Railroad, Tanya Tucker, Joe Diffie and Steve Wariner and others. Dave Gibson is also an award winning Children's book author: CLICK THE TITLE of "War at the Ice Cream Store: Mustachio Pistachio vs Bully Vanilli". 
Recorded May 13, 2021
Episode Sponsored by: Surfshark and Passport America.
 
 
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
David Lowell Gibson is an American country music songwriter. Gibson has written songs for Alabama, Tanya Tucker, and others. Gibson was born in El Dorado, Arkansas and raised in Odessa, Texas before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 1982. He held a publishing contract with a company owned by The Oak Ridge Boys. Between 1990 and 1994, Gibson was the frontman of the Gibson/Miller Band. 
 
List of songs written by Dave Gibson
Gibson wrote or co-wrote the following songs:
Alabama: "Jukebox in My Mind"
Larry Boone: "Don't Give Candy to a Stranger"
Confederate Railroad: "Queen of Memphis", "Daddy Never Was the Cadillac Kind"
Joe Diffie: "Ships That Don't Come In"
Gibson/Miller Band: "High Rollin'", "Texas Tattoo", "Red, White, and Blue Collar", "Stone Cold Country"
James House: "That'll Be the Last Thing"
Montgomery Gentry: "Lonely and Gone"
Southern Pacific: "Honey I Dare You", "All Is Lost"
Pam Tillis: "Do You Know Where Your Man Is"
Tanya Tucker: "If It Don't Come Easy"
Conway Twitty: "House on Old Lonesome Road"
Steve Wariner: "Midnight Fire", "Don't You Give Up on Love", "Heart Trouble"
 
Gibson/Miller Band was an American country music band founded in 1990 by Dave Gibson and Bill "Blue" Miller, the latter of whom was a former guest musician in rock musician Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band. Both Gibson and Miller served as vocalists and guitarists in the Gibson/Miller Band, which also included Mike Daly (steel guitar), Bryan Grassmeyer (bass guitar), and Steve Grossman (drums). Grassmeyer was replaced in 1993 by Doug Kahan. Between 1992 and 1994, the Gibson/Miller Band recorded two albums for Epic Records, in addition to charting seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. After disbanding in 1994, both Gibson and Miller assumed solo careers.
 
Gibson/Miller Band was formed in 1990, when Doug Johnson, then-vice president of Epic Records, introduced Dave Gibson and Blue Miller to each other, thinking that the two artists would work well together as songwriters. Among Gibson's cuts were "If It Don't Come Easy" by Tanya Tucker, "Ships That Don't Come In" by Joe Diffie and "Queen of Memphis" by Confederate Railroad. Gibson and Miller soon assembled a band and recorded a demo tape, which they sent to Johnson.
 
By 1992, the band was signed to Epic Records; their debut single, "Big Heart", was released at the end of the year.
In 1993, the group's first album, titled Where There's Smoke, was released. Counting "Big Heart", the album produced five chart singles overall, including the No. 20 "High Rollin'", their highest-charting. The Gibson/Miller Band also received the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Vocal Duo or Group.
 
A second album, Red, White & Blue Collar, was released in 1994. Serving as its lead-off single was a cover of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson's "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys"; Gibson/Miller Band's version was also featured in the soundtrack for the 1994 film The Cowboy Way. Red, White & Blue Collar was less successful than its predecessor, however, and the Gibson/Miller Band was dropped from Epic's roster that same year, shortly before disbanding. Both Gibson and Miller continued to record solo, and as backing musicians for other artists. In 1997, Gibson married singer-songwriter Daisy Dern.
 
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Hot Country Podcast Guest Mark Sissel (Chris LeDoux)

Official Hot Country Podcast Website: http://www.hotcountrypodcast.com
 
Chris McKay interviews Mark Sissel of Western Underground. Mark has spent over 30 years "Riding The LeDoux Brand". First as Chris LeDoux's right hand man to now backing Chris' son Ned LeDoux on the road. From the first phone call from Kaycee, WY to first their handshake in Salt Lake City, The bond between Chris and Mark was predestined to be friends for life. 
 
Recorded March 10, 2021
Episode Sponsored by: Surfshark and Passport America.
 
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Chris LeDoux (October 2, 1948 – March 9, 2005) was an American country music singer-songwriter, bronze sculptor, and hall of fame rodeo champion. During his career LeDoux recorded 36 albums (many self-released) which have sold more than six million units in the United States as of January 2007. He was awarded two gold and one platinum album certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), was nominated for a Grammy Award, and was honored with the Academy of Country Music Music Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award. LeDoux is also the only person to participate and also perform at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 
LeDoux was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, on October 2, 1948. He was of French descent on his father's side. His father was in the US Air Force and was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base at the time of his birth. The family moved often when he was a child, due to his father's Air Force career. He learned to ride horses while visiting his grandparents on their Wyoming farm. At age 13, LeDoux participated in his first rodeo, and before long was winning junior rodeo competitions.
LeDoux continued to compete in rodeo events and played football through his high school years. When his family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, he attended Cheyenne Central High School. After twice winning the Wyoming State Rodeo Championship bareback riding title during high school, LeDoux earned a rodeo scholarship to Casper College in Casper. During his junior year at Eastern New Mexico University, LeDoux won the Intercollegiate National bareback riding Championship.
LeDoux married Peggy Rhoads on January 4, 1972. They had five children: Clay, Ned, Will, Beau, and Cindy.
Rodeo success and music beginnings
In 1970, LeDoux became a professional rodeo cowboy on the national circuit.To help pay his expenses while traveling the country, he began composing songs describing his lifestyle. Within two years, he had written enough songs to make up an album, and soon established a recording company, American Cowboy Songs, with his father. After recording his songs in a friend's basement, LeDoux "began selling his tapes at rodeo events out of the back of his pickup truck".
In 1976, LeDoux won the world bareback riding championship at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. Winning the championship gave LeDoux more credibility with music audiences, as he now had proof that the cowboy songs he wrote were authentic. LeDoux continued competing for the next four years. He retired in 1980.
Music career
With his rodeo career at an end, LeDoux and his family settled on a ranch in Kaycee, Wyoming. LeDoux continued to write and record his songs, and began playing concerts. His concerts were very popular, and often featured a mechanical bull (which he rode between songs) and fireworks. By 1982 he had sold more than 250,000 copies of his albums, with little or no marketing. By the end of the decade he had self-released 22 albums.
Despite offers from various record labels, LeDoux refused to sign a recording contract, instead choosing to retain his independence and control over his work while enjoying his regional following. In 1989, however, he shot to national prominence when he was mentioned in Garth Brooks' Top 10 country hit "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)." Capitalizing on the sudden attention, LeDoux signed a contract with Capitol Records subsidiary Liberty Records and released his first national album, Western Underground, in 1991. His follow-up album, Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy, was certified gold and reached the Top 10. The title track, a duet with Brooks, became LeDoux's first and only Top 10 country single, reaching No. 7 in 1992. In concert, he ended the song by saying, "Thanks, Garth!"
For the 35th annual Grammy Awards in 1992, the single track "Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy" was nominated for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.
For the next decade, LeDoux continued to record for Liberty. He released six additional records, including One Road Man, which made the country Top 40 in 1998. Toward the end of his career, LeDoux began recording material written by other artists, which he attributed to the challenge of composing new lyrics. With his 2000 release, Cowboy, he returned to his roots, re-recording many of his earliest songwriting creations.
The RIAA certified two gold and one platinum recordings for LeDoux. On February 22, 1993, the single "Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy" went gold. On June 2, 1997, the album The Best of Chris LeDoux went gold. And on October 5, 2005, the album 20 Greatest Hits went platinum.
Illness and death
In August 2000, LeDoux was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, which required him to receive a liver transplant. Garth Brooks volunteered to donate part of his liver, but it was incompatible. An alternative donor was located, and LeDoux received a transplant on October 7, 2000. After his recovery he released two additional albums. In November 2004, LeDoux was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma for which he underwent radiation treatment until his death. LeDoux died of cancer on March 9, 2005, at age 56. His funeral was held on March 11.
 
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Hot Country Podcast Guest Nikki Nelson

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Chris McKay interviews singer/songwriter Nikki Nelson, lead vocalist for ACM Award Winning "Highway 101". Fun interview sharing her start in Country music with her Father Gene and their band “Nikki and Gold Rush”. Working at the the infamous Nashville Palace, watching the stars on stage from behind the bar only to come full circle by becoming a star herself on that very stage. 
 
Recorded March 10, 2021
Episode Sponsored by: Surfshark and Passport America.
 
 
From Wiki: Nikki Nelson (born January 3, 1969 in La Mesa, California) is an American country music singer. At the age of seven, her family moved to Topaz Lake, Nevada. In 1991, she replaced Paulette Carlson as lead vocalist for the band Highway 101, and their first album together was that year's Bing Bang Boom. She also sang lead vocals on the band's next album, 1993's The New Frontier.Carlson returned to Highway 101 in 1995 for the album Reunited, and Nelson signed a solo recording deal with Columbia Records, Nashville. She released the single "Too Little Too Much" in 1997 and charted at No. 62 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Chrislynn Lee replaced Carlson after the Reunited album, and remained that band's lead vocalist until 2006, when Nelson rejoined.
 
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Hot Country Podcast Guest Jeff Carson

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Chris McKay interviews ACM Award Winner Jeff Carson. Jeff shares insights to his humble beginnings, the road to Nashville and leaving country music to pursue his passion of becoming a Police Officer. Stories behind "Yeah Buddy", his first number 1 single "Not On Your Love", "Holdin On To Something", Real Life, award winning "The Car" and the re-release of "God Save The World.
Recorded March 8, 2021
Episode Sponsored by: Surfshark and Passport America.
 
WIKI: Jeff Carson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Gravette, Arkansas. In his childhood, he played harmonica and guitar and sang in church. In high school, he and some friends formed a band. They won second place at a local talent show for performing the song "Seven Bridges Road". After graduating, he moved on to another talent competition held at a park in Rogers, Arkansas. The winner of that competition then asked Carson to play in his band, which he did for four years until the band split up.
Carson later moved on to Branson, Missouri, where he found work playing bass guitar in local bands, in addition to writing songs. While in Branson, he met his then-future wife, who persuaded him to move to Nashville, Tennessee, which he did in 1989. In Nashville, he found work with a band that played at the Opryland Hotel, before convincing the hotel to book him as a solo act. He eventually recorded demos for other artists, before he was discovered by record producer Chuck Howard in 1994 and signed to Curb Records.
 
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