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Friday, December 30, 2011

2011 SONG OF THE YEAR !

HAPPY NEW YEAR From Skydog's Red Dirt Radio!
As Rated by the Listeners of
Skydog's Red Dirt Radio
The 2011 Song of The Year
is:

Cocaine - Jackson Taylor & The Sinners

Congratulations!!!!

   Skydog's Comments: This is one Hell of an accomplishment...the play list consists of 250+ songs, rated by listeners from all 50 states and 35 foreign countries(at last count). 
   And...there's no one better to represent the "Screw Nashville" attitude than Jackson Taylor, in our opinion! You are THE MAN, Brother Jackson!
   Jackson Taylor's "Cocaine" isn't a remake of the tune made famous by Eric Clapton and others; his song has BALLS !

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The REAL OUTLAWS Start At Midnight

12:00 Midnight
When the REAL Outlaws Come Out!
12:00AM - 06:00AM 
   Ol' Skydog was looking at the listener stats and the play list and got to thinking...we have loyal listeners who play RDR during the day while they're working; I know this for a fact from the comments listeners send to me. But, sometimes you don't need a song about "rollin' a joint on Gideon's Bible" to be rockin' out of the speakers when the Big Boss walks by...Do you? Really?
   So...here's what we're gonna do: During the usual working hours in the good ol' USA, Red Dirt Radio will try to behave...our listeners in other countries...you're on your own...blame it on the crazy, redneck Americans!!
    But...After MIDNIGHT...all bets are off!

   All the songs about drinkin' and druggin' and watchin' TV (thanks for the line  Bobby Bare) will come after 12:00 midnight Eastern Standard Time. I'll try...I promise...
  With Full Respect and Honor to the Original Outlaw David Allan Coe, many of his songs will be featured during the Outlaws show. In the opinion of Skydog's Red Dirt Radio, Mr. Coe is what the Music Outlaw really is: "Screw Nashville...I'll do it MY way"  And he did.
    
Send the Kids to bed
Crank It Up !

Saturday, December 24, 2011

2011 In The Rearview Mirror

  Back in 2005, I started Skydog's Red Dirt Radio with one goal in mind: preserving my sanity...I'd been a paramedic for close to 30 years at the time...a stressful job at it's best and down right brutal at it's worst. Through all those years, music was my savior. Get off duty, come home, crank up the stereo (now the computer)....and all the stress went away.
  Guess What!! It Still Works!!!

Y'all Have a Great 2012 !





Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Shooter Jennings Is My Hero...Part 2

Skydog Speaking...

Hello Folks,
  When I started this Blog as a part of the promotion strategy for Skydog's Red Dirt Radio, one of the things I promised to include is "Skydog" commentary. So here it is:
On a Personal Note:

Let me introduce you to the "Real" Skydog :
Meet Fred, my song expert for the last 13 years. If he likes the tune...the ears go up...sometimes he even sings along... If not :
What Do You Think?
Enough Said!
Bands submitting songs might take note!

Now back  to the Topic: Why IS Shooter Jennings my hero? 

  'Cause he tells it like it is about the whole music industry in general and "Country" music in particular !

  But first and foremost...Ol' Skydog ain't some "Shooter groupie" or nothing! I'm really not into his "Black Ribbons" type music of late; but purely love his earlier stuff..."Busted In Baylor Country" and "Fourth Of July" are classics!! I don't always agree with him...just highly respect his credentials for saying it!!!

  This is a quote from a recent article Shooter wrote from a site called Moon Runner's . The post is titled "Rock and Roll Is Dead" 

On "Country" Music these days, Shooter wrote:

"Which brings us to Country music. Country has never been “cool” per se. Sure to undergrounders etc, it’s cool and hip to do something not cool and hip so Country is cool. But what is happening now with Country is it’s broken into 3 categories in which there are very vague boundaries. First is the most popular form, “Pop Country” as we call it. This is what dominates the Clear Channel-controlled radio these days. One of good taste will listen to “Pop Country” radio for 24 hours and probably hear 3 songs that he/she enjoys. They are out there, but there is not near enough of them to make a change. Albums like Ronnie Dunn’s current solo offering, Miranda Lambert’s new album “Four The Record” as well as her side-project “Pistol Annies” are progressive, well-written and original and offer a glimmer of hope in the gloom and doom of the current state of mainstream country. People say mainstream music goes in cycles, but honestly we haven’t had radio and video formats long enough to prove this correct, and if Rock and Roll is going to have a “comeback” it’s going to take an entirely new approach and danger injected into the genre, so don’t hold your breath for a new “Outlaw Country” movement in mainstream."  (read more)

Preach On, Shooter...

"The second category of Country music is what I call the “Ship-jumpers”. This applies to two very different sects of people playing country now, neither of which gave a fuck about Country music at a previous time and now they all of a sudden do because it serves them. Lee Ann Womack (one of my favorite artists in the mainstream of country) said it best “Country isn’t a place for you to come and die”. This statement to me is aimed squarely at Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Aaron Lewis, Kid Rock and all the other rock and rollers who realize they are in a dying genre, and jump ship and start playing mainstream country because it’s easy to cash in on the fact that the Country audience is older by nature and contains a lot of folks who bought their records at a younger age. Nashville as a whole is usually very impressed by Hollywood, Hip-Hop, Rock and Roll, any big international money making entities, starfuckers to put it bluntly. This can be seen in the way that they will embrace any celebrity that decides to shine a bit of attention towards their humble home (see Jack White being given the keys to Nashville universe just for moving there, or Justin Beiber’s Rascal Flatt’s duet/CMT award appearance) And it’s just plain easy to have a few Nashville hit-makers, co-write with you or write for you a big dripping pop hit and disguise it with some fiddle and steel and BAM you're a bonafide Country star with a bonafide Country hit!"  (read more)

AND...

   " ...the third category are the “Outcasts”. Not to be confused with the “Ship-Jumper” the “Outcast” is someone who has an undying love for Country music and it’s roots and refuses to play by the rules of Nashville and with-or-without success will continue to play it. The “Outcasts” will always be cool in any genre, but in Country even more so. It’s why we started the XXX website over at www.GiveMeMyXXX.com. Because I think there is hope for this brand of folks to have their chance at the mainstream, but it won’t come through Country Music as a whole. Thanks to shifts in music that started with bands as early as Cracker or later with darker, more progressive artists like Hank 3, there is definitely a very strong foundation here for this type of music. It will come through an entirely different type of recognition, I believe. I’m not sure if it’ll come soon but I know it will come. I don’t think that it’ll be because of a movement like XXX or Anti-Country or any of the movements started before, but I think they all will help. These folks play what they want to play, bringing in influences from all across the board fearlessly and are creating a new Punk, a new Rock and Roll. That’s why it’s so exciting to watch because the scene is growing and growing and growing faster than ever. “Pop Country” doesn’t have a chance. This isn’t music that you’ll find on a kids show or in a Jack Black movie at any point in the near future. This is music much too real to be made into a novelty. And it’s dangerous. This is where the future of Rock and Roll lies in my opinion. "   read more

You know...Ol' Waylon would be proud...
Said like a true Outlaw ! !
That's Skydog's Opinion (and Fred's)

Now...go Crank up Skydog's Red Dirt Radio, Crack open a cold one...or whatever...
And Keep Spreadin' The Dirt !

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Links to New & Old Bands On The Play List

Hello All!
  We've added a butt-load of new songs and artists to Skydog's Red Dirt Radio lately. So...I'm faced with either workin' for HOURS...copying and pasting stuff...or giving y'all the links. The Wild Turkey gods say...."LINKS!"
Here they are:

Check these folks out...they're the stars of the future...the Wild Turkey gods say so!!!!!
More to come...Stand-by...

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Shooter Jennings Is My Hero ! ! !

Folks....Just watch this video.... Shooter (who has the bloodline and credentials to say this) puts it all out there.



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Swag: Supporting The Station

"How does Skydog's Red Dirt Radio stay alive on the Internet?" 


   Broadcasting fees on Live365 are very reasonable and worth every penny, considering that Live365 tabulates and pays the royalties to the artists for the broadcaster. THAT in itself would be a major task... More than this ol' southern boy could keep up with! So, Live365 is a good thing!!


   Live365 offers 2 types of membership to listeners: Free and VIP (paid). You can listen "free" with radio ads just like brick & mortar stations (whoopee!) or sign up for a VIP membership - averages around 6 bucks a month and No ads and CD quality sound. Can't beat that with a stick!! The station is credited a small percentage of the monthly fee...comes directly off the bill.

Find out more on the VIP Membership by clicking HERE.


 BUT...broadcasting certainly ain't free...and a paramedic's salary SUCKS...so where does the money come from? ANSWER: Swag


Swag...Stuff...You know...T-Shirts, Caps, Coffee Cups...even baby blankets and thongs (talk about covering both ends of the spectrum!). All with "Skydog" designed logos (and a few smart-ass sayings).


I use two sites: CafePress and Zazzle for the "swag production". Both produce high quality images on really good quality stock. I have T-Shirts and cups from both that are over 10 years old and still looking good...
I only make a dollar (or less) profit from sales, but on a good month, I can almost pay the Bill! Click on the links below to HELP SUPPORT RED DIRT RADIO :





Zazzle also has a widget...check out the swag from the Zazzle Store:





make custom gifts at Zazzle

Pretty Cool, ain't it?

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Welcome to Skydog's Red Dirt Radio Blog!

What the Hell is Red Dirt Music and why should I listen to it?

  Skydog says: "It was always thought that Nashville, Tennesee was the "Shining Light" of country music...the record companies, producers, writers, even the artists, all had a vision of what "their" music should be...Outsiders NOT Welcome! Then Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, Billy Joe Shaver (to name just a few!) came to town in the '70's...many battles were fought...both sides won a few and lost a few. Some of the walls crumbled over the years...but not all. Nashville continued to crank out country/pop music for the masses (and the money!) with little regard to what had been lost - the HEART of country music - the SONGS.

   Meanwhile, out in the Oklahoma / Texas area, there remained an Outlaw spirit and a love for the actual song itself... formulas be damned! Songwriters like Bob Childers, Kevin Welch, Cody Canada, Jason Boland, Brandon Jenkins, and so many more...crafted songs by mixing Texas country, Southern Rock, Blues...any type that felt right; AND writing intelligent lyrics to go along with the music...BUT, Nashville ignored it.

   So Skydog's Red Dirt Radio was born...

   Since the vast majority of "brick and mortar" radio stations are owned and controlled by ONE company called Clear Channel, the listening public gets a tightly controlled play list that's politically correct, bland, and mostly Pop Country...Skydog's Red Dirt Radio decided to hit the 'Net and provide an alternative.

Take a listen here: Skydog's Red Dirt Radio

The History of Skydog's Red Dirt Radio:

  Skydog's Red Dirt Radio was born in 2002 as a "stress reliever" from my "real" job as a Paramedic. You gotta get away from the blood & guts somehow! 

   An old-time Southern Rock and Outlaw Country fanatic, I grew up in Upstate South Carolina in the late '60's and early '70's...we were just small town, country boys growing up with the guys in The Marshall Tucker Band ( just a few miles north of us), digging the Charlie Daniels Band, The Outlaws, Skynyrd and so many more in the "Chitlin' Circuit" bars...fake ID's firmly in hand most of the time! The pride and the excitement of seeing a new music genre evolve has persisted til today...only now it's Red Dirt Music.

Check back often...Top 10 Song Charts will be posted monthly; CD reviews, links to band sites, rants about the crap being promoted as "Country" music...you never know what might show up here!!