Country Music · Cowpoke Radio

Sacramento’s KRAK Country Radio

In Northern California back in the 1950s and 1960s, listeners had their choice of numerous radio stations playing both kinds of music — Country and Western. Among those stations were KEEN in San Jose; KVSM in San Mateo; KSAY in San Francisco; Lou Ripa’s little KNBA in Vallejo; KTRB in Modesto; KCEY in Turlock; and… Continue reading Sacramento’s KRAK Country Radio

Country Music · Cowpoke Radio

Country & Western Music Research Resources

Sometimes, just settin’ around in the bullpen here at Cowpoke Radio, somebody will ask a question about some long-lost Country and/or Western Music performer or song from the past, and we’ll get to searching the Interwebs to see what we can dig up. What are our go-to websites for helping to locate those lost treasures?… Continue reading Country & Western Music Research Resources

Country Music · Cowpoke Legends

Songwriting Legend Curly Putman (1930-2016)

If you’ve listened to Cowpoke Radio for any significant length of time — let’s say ten or fifteen minutes — then you’ve heard a song written by Claude “Curly” Putman. There’s Tammy Wynettes’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” He wrote Dolly Parton’s breakthrough 1967 hit “Dumb Blonde” and “My Elusive Dreams”… Continue reading Songwriting Legend Curly Putman (1930-2016)

Country Music · Cowpoke Radio

Willie Nelson, Disc Jockey

Around about the same time that he was working on becoming one of the greatest legends in American music history, Willie Nelson was also gainfully employed behind the microphone as a disc jockey for several Country radio stations, spinning records during the day, then singing his own tunes at night. As recounted in his must-read… Continue reading Willie Nelson, Disc Jockey

Country Music · Cowpoke Radio

New On The Cowpoke: “Gotta Travel On”

Just added to the KWPX Cowpoke Corral of Country Classics is the 1959 recording of “Gotta Travel On” by local legends Rose and Cal Maddox, backed by the fabulous Black Jack Wayne Band. Rose and Cal are part of the Alabama-born, Modesto-based Maddox Brothers & Rose, known far and wide as “The Most Colorful Hillbilly Band… Continue reading New On The Cowpoke: “Gotta Travel On”