Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Country music

Civil rights in popular music
Zeroto180

Plessy vs. Billboard

Billboard displayed a startling lack of judgment when it made light-hearted reference to Plessy vs. Ferguson — the 1896 United States Supreme Court decision that codified segregation — in an educational piece from 1969 that attempts to demarcate the difference in mission between the Country Music Association and the similarly-named

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"Miss, May I Drive You Home"
Zeroto180

“Miss, May I Drive You Home”: Ends Badly For The Singer

Judy Lynn – “America’s Western Sweetheart” – would get her one and only 45 picture sleeve, tragically enough, for this cheerful-sounding honky tonk tale in which the singer informs us she has only seconds to live before the “kindly” stranger who offered a ride at the train station prepares to

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Capitol Records
Zeroto180

Molly Bee – Cited Zappa Influence – Could Yodel

This full-page ad in Billboard‘s “World of Country Music” special edition gives every indication that 1967 promised to be a break-out year for Molly Bee: Billboard October 28, 1967 The previous year, inside the gatefold sleeve of 1966’s Freak Out – the groundbreaking debut double album by Frank Zappa‘s Mothers

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Autoharp +/- harp
Zeroto180

Cecil Null & His “Gun-tar” Of 1968

I recently stumbled upon Ray Brack‘s “lost” piece of reporting — “New Gun-Tar Takes Aim At Non-Shooting Market” — about Cecil Null‘s handcrafted musical long gun (i.e., gun guitar – or is it guitar gun?) for Billboard ‘s June 22, 1968 edition: MADISON, Tenn. — An explosive new concept in

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Cincinnati (OH-KY-IN tri-state area)
Zeroto180

The “Pre-Nashville A Team” at Cincinnati’s Herzog Studios

The Pleasant Valley Boys were considered country music’s first “A Team” of session players, whose services were highly sought by two of the top country artists in Nashville between 1947 and 1948 at the very dawn of that city’s ascendance as one of the world’s great recording capitals. When you

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Honky tonk
Zeroto180

Blink And You Miss It — Nudie Recording Co.

“Nudie Bows Own Label” reads the headline at the top of Billboard‘s “Country Music” section in the magazine’s May 12, 1973 edition. LOS ANGELES — Nudie, who creates costumes for the leading recording artists in the world ranging from Elvis Presley to The Grateful Dead and almost every other country

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45 sides +/- obscure tracks
Zeroto180

Curly Chalker’s Dutch-Only 45: Party Game for Steel Guitar Fanatics

Zero to 180’s summertime celebration breezes right along with this parlor game for music nerds: First, launch a new web browser and point it at 45Cat — www.45cat.com(go ahead, I’ll wait) Next, type the name of ace steel guitarist, Curly Chalker, in the search window(and press Enter) Curly Chalker  (c.

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