Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay ConnectedSome call it old country; classic country; real country. We call it traditional country, and that’s exactly what we do here at “If That Ain’t Country”.
For three hours each week, we feature the very best traditional country, honky tonk, bluegrass and western swing from the golden years ’til today. It’s pretty simple but we think you’ll like it.
Hosted by Western Red – it’s US country with an Australian twist, keeping true to the traditions that make country great.
With a genuine love and deep respect for the foundations of the genre, the legends are right alongside the best of today’s independent artists – a mix you won’t find anywhere else.
For more information, email: westernred@ifthataintcountry.net.
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In this episode we're featuring an album from the marvellous Connie Smith - released towards the end of her time at RCA: "Just One Time" (1971). For a voice which George Jones has called his favourite female country vocal - Connie Smith remains criminally under-appreciated in the world country music. After bursting onto the scene with "Once A Day" in 1964, the pressure of the music business took it's toll and after a divorce in 1968, Smith scaled back public performances and recording. Taking solace in family and the church, this wholesome album - full of stories of love and loss, redemption and happiness - features the same effortless vocal mastery from the 4'11" Connie Smith as she's always had. Said vocals are on full display on tracks like "Don't Walk Away", "I Don't Want Be With Me" and the obligatory sacred number "Wait For The Light To Shine".
In this episode we're featuring the album that cemented Alan Jackson as a bona fide 90s country superstar: "Don't Rock The Jukebox" (1991). It sold four million copies and four of the five singles went to number one - catapulting this quiet Georgia-native to the forefront of traditional country music - a place he stayed until well into the 2000s. Excellent production, with just the right amount of slick to go with the twang, fiddle and steel - Jackson had a hand in writing nine of the album's ten tracks, so he can take much of the credit for it's success. Highlights include the haunting "Midnight In Montgomery", the magnificient play on words in "Walkin' The Floor Over Me" and "Just Playin' Possum" which mix nicely with the title track and a tender ballad or two. Really one of the best albums of the decade.
In this episode, we're featuring an early album from John Anderson: "I Just Came Home To Count The Memories" (1982). On the Warner Brothers label, this release came at a time when country music was in it's post-Urban Cowboy slump (traditionally speaking), and the slick not-very-country material out of Nashville was ruling the charts. This album's the opposite of that sound, featuring great production, with excellent session musicians to boot - fiddles and steel compliment Anderson's trademark "backwoods growl" to wonderful effect. Songs like "Would You Catch A Falling Star", "I Danced With The San Antone Rose" and the creepy "Jessie Clay & The 12:05" make for an enjoyable listen, peaking with an excellent cover of "Don't Think Twice (It's All Right)". Unfortunately the album didn't do so well commercially, which may have prompted a stylistic change upon Anderson's next release - which really was a shame. As Country Music Scene at the time said, this could have been "just the record to lead country music lovers out of the crossover wilderness and back to basics."
In this episode, we're featuring a Moe Bandy album from the height of his solo success: "Cowboys Ain't Supposed To Cry" (1978). Before his duets with Janie Fricke and later Joe Stampley, Moe Bandy was doing what he does best - making hardcore traditional country music. This collection of songs shows Moe's influences in very plain fashion: channeling Hank Williams, Sr. in Weldon Myrick's steel licks and even covering two of Hank's hits - this is a country album, sure enough. Songs like "Cowboys Ain't Supposed To Cry" (Moe would know, he's in the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall Of Fame), "Up To Now I've Wanted Everything But You" and "All I Can Handle At Home" keep the toes tapping and the twang a-flowing.
In this episode we're featuring one of Billie Jo Spears' finest records under the eye of producer Larry Butler on the United Artists label: "Lonely Hearts Club" (1978). Billie Jo had enjoyed popularity in the UK as the "Queen Mother Of Country Music" at times when her US sales were down - however this album did well in the USA as well, spawning three singles which charted at #18, #17 and #16 consecutively. We feature two of those three singles, including the title track, and a great love song penned by country great Ed Bruce. 
This week, it's part two of our look at Justin Trevino's latest album "A Salute To Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys" (2017). On the day in 1984 when Justin Trevino first heard Price's iconic honky tonk shuffle style on the airwaves - wafting in on the 50,000-watt KKYX out of San Antonio - a lightbulb went off: the song was "The Other Woman", the stylish combination of a 4/4 beat and vibrato vocals thrown in for good measure had Trevino hooked. Arguably with few stronger influences on his own singing style, this tribute album was a long time coming. As a personal fan and a friend to the great man, we look at six more of the best songs from Price's catalogue, expertly covered by Trevino and his A-team in studio. Highlights include the Conway Twitty-penned "Walk Me To The Door", and uptempo version of "Sittin' And Thinkin'" and the pinnacle of this release: a duet with Ray Price himself on "I Gotta Have My Baby Back", recorded in 2003. Sublime.
In this episode, we're featuring a high-energy trucking-themed album from Del Reeves: "Looking At The World Through A Windshield" (1968). Filled with well produced, fun and energetic traditional country truckin' tunes, this album is truly a romp from woe to go - typical of Del Reeves career. It's no surprise that Reeves would return to the trucking theme after the success of "Girl On The Billboard" in 1965, and he burns through "Highway 40", Jim & Jesse's "Diesel On My Tail", with a few Big Bopper-styled lines in "One Track Mind". A collection of 60s trucking tunes wouldn't be complete with a tip of the hat to the master of the genre in Dave Dudley, and Del Reeves does justice to an amped-up version of "Six Days On The Road". This album is a lot of fun to work through, and the title track remains one of the best examples of the truck-driving genre in country music history.
In this episode, we're featuring the best-selling album of George Strait's illustrious career: "Pure Country" (1992). As the soundtrack to the movie that was George's acting debut, it's not a huge departure from what he'd been doing up until that point - nay, more of the same. But the same formula proved to be a winning one yet again, and some 25 years later, "Pure Country" remains his best selling record - having sold over six million units since it's release. In the film, Strait plays Wyatt "Dusty" Chandler - a disillusioned country music superstar who wants to get back to his roots. The soundtrack album reflects that - songs like "Heartland" and "Where The Sidewalk Ends" straddle the line of country pop/rock from the early 90s - whereas songs like "Overnight Male", "King Of Broken Hearts" and "She Lays It All On The Line" are firmly in Strait's more accepted traditional camp. The acting left something to be desired, but this soundtrack is a sensational snapshot of an era where George Strait could do no wrong.
In this episode, we're featuring a 1976 album from master songwriter Mel Tillis: "Heart Healer". After having made himself a name as one of the finest wordsmiths in the country music field, and having written massive hits for Ray Price, Webb Pierce and Bobby Bare - it's nice to see this Tampa, Florida native get some recognition on his own. Having had to overcome a nasty stutter brought on by a childhood battle with malaria - Tillis fills this album with country music gold. From the heartbreaking "Someone Else Tends The Garden" and "The Morning After Baby Let Me Down", to the triumphant "Play It Again, Sam" and the hit title track in "Heart Healer" - this album travels the rollercoaster that is life, and that is what good country music is all about.
