Start of an ongoing series of 'Artist Spotlight' mini episodes where we each discuss an artist we're listening to at the moment. Might be a new artist, might be someone we just saw live. This week we start with The Chattahoochies and Emily Zeck, a bunch of brand new honky-tonkin' gals we're digging quite a bit ..read more

Pop stars are crossing over to make country records, Yellowstone was the biggest show on TV, supermodels are crossing over to rodeo competition, and fashion trends are saturated with country and western music and style…is country cool again? And what are the upsides and downsides of this? Simpsons references abound with Düff beer from Sweeden and a spontaneous a capella rendition of Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel adjusted for Morgan Wallen. A high water mark if we do say so ourselves ..read more

Our thoughts on Cowboy Carter as a country record after its release last week. This follows our Part 1 discussion on Beyoncé's foray into Country Music which focused on her past controversy with country music, the genre's black history, and initial impressions whether it is country music from the first two tracks. Part 2 was recorded Monday April 1st, 4 days after the full Cowboy Carter release and prior to all the credits being released on Friday April 5th ..read more

Part 1 of 2 part discussion ahead of "Act II: Cowboy Carter" release. The biggest question everyone has been asking about Beyoncé’s latest music has been: "Is it Country?" Beyoncé has said herself “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Yet everything about it from the horses, hats, boots, and initial tracks, are signalling full-out country record. There’s a complicated history with Beyoncé and the country music establishment and an even more complicated hidden history of black artists and innovators in country music. We discuss her initial Country Carter tracks as well as 201 ..read more

A bonus mini-episode this week from our Midnight Mastermind guest spot on BBC Radio 2 in the UK. It’s a nightly segment on OJ Borg’s show where random guests quiz him on their expert topic. We were honoured their producers contacted us for some questions on country music and had a fun time doing it. Turns out OJ loves cowboy hats as much as Andrew and we pioneered an all-too-nice Canadian scoring system! Just a note that BBC Radio of course had the clearance for the music that was played for the research portion, and for the George Strait song that played us out, but our podcast does not. So w ..read more

This week we give our hot takes on the Follower Submitted Hot Takes on Country Central's Instagram account. Lots of polarizing polls that make for some good discussion ..read more

After a year hiatus the podcast is back with a chat about Andrew's serendipitous trip to Austin as the Ameripolitan Awards were happening. Highlights include Summer Dean, Brennen Leigh, The Golden Roses, Dale Watson, and Hannah Juanita ..read more

This was supposed to be a single episode but it looks like we had too much to say about each of these songs we love...so we're splitting it into 2! This is Part 1 of our favourite Country-Country songs of summer 2019 ..read more

The 2nd in our 3 part series looking at the major historical movements in Country Music. This week we're talkin' slick shiny suits, sparkling twangy Telecasters, dim lights, thick smoke and loud loud music! The Bakersfield Sound was California throwing down the gauntlet, bringing a whole new badass edge to Country Music that Nashville had never seen before. And this week we look at most the characters who made this a thing: Buck Owens, Don Rich, Merle Haggard, Red Simpson and all the other key figures behind one of country music’s biggest movement ..read more

The 1st in our 3 part series looking at the major historical movements in Country Music. This week, a deep dive into the origins of Pop-Country with an explanation of The Nashville Sound that was born in the 1950's and 60's and the effects that movement has had on country music still to this day ..read more