Coming Full Circle
As far back as I can remember, I have always loved music. A lot of my friends were in bands. I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket – still can’t. So radio seemed like a logical choice. Unlike Ted Baxter’s mythical, charmed career, my career didn’t start at a 5,000 radio station in Fresno, although it did make a long stop in Fresno. It’s where I met and married the love of my life, Karen, my wife of nearly 28 years. It’s where we merged our two families into one, and where, the “Ours” in the “Hers, mine and ours” menagerie, Bailey was born.
Fresno is where I was dragged kicking and screaming into the music my Father listened to more than any other, the music I SAID I didn’t want to play – Country. I was a single Father, and even after finding myself out of work turned down opportunities to be the morning guy at a country station. I finally wound up not only as the morning guy, but when my friend and the best man in mine and Karen’s wedding Tim Murphy left for a station in Seattle, I became Program Director at KNAX-FM, a 10,000 Watt FM station in Fresno. A note of irony, my Dad was visiting and upon returning to my office after lunch, there was a phone message on my desk, from legendary Country music star and businessman Buck Owens. My Dad, a card carrying member of the Buck Owens fan club said “Who are YOU that Buck Owens would be calling you.” I had officially arrived.
Fast forward a year or two, I was in Phoenix for an event where Capitol Records introduced a new artist. That same night, one of the Phoenix Country stations was hosting an event featuring Country crooner Neal McCoy, a newcomer introduced to the industry by trailblazing Country legend Charlie Pride. “At This Moment,” Neal McCoy’s debut album for Atlantic Records didn’t produce any big hits but his performance that night in Phoenix sent a lot of Country Radio Programming executives back to their radio stations to add McCoy’s single “If I Built You Fire” to their playlists.
In 1995, I left Country powerhouse KPLX-FM in Dallas after two-years as their Program Director. My first meeting was with Neal McCoy’s manager, who wanted a Nashville presence without living there. So I was to move there, open a satellite office, assist with Neal McCoy’s career and help recruit new artists to the roster. That lasted less than 6-months, but for my 40th birthday, my boss gave me Frank Sinatra’s Duets 1 & 2 package. While my career in Country music would go on, the seed was planted with that gift.
So imagine my surprise when Martini in the Morning listener Peter Lange wrote from his home in Wisconsin to ask if I’d heard Country star Neal McCoy’s new album “You Don’t Know Me,” produced by Steve Tyrell. A Country singer recording “You Don’t Know Me,” is nothing new as Country legend Eddie Arnold shares songwriting credits with Cindy Walker and had the first hit recording of the classic. But the album performed by McCoy and produced by Steve Tyrell including such Standards as “All My Tomorrows,” “I’ve Become Accustomed to Her Face” and “I Get a Kick Out of You.”
I told “Mother” Miriam that my career has come full circle, with guys from two parts of a very interesting four decade career, coming together. In her own inimitable way she responded “Now you die.” But that collision wasn’t over. The Neal McCoy album was sitting on the desk when singer/songwriter/producer Billy Vera came in to talk about his recent performance at Catalina Jazz Club. “Neal,” Billy said, “was the first guy to cover ‘At This Moment’.” Did I mention that it was the title track on Neal’s debut Atlantic album?
The point of this story isn’t to recap my career. It’s to talk about why we’re here. Our reason for existence is to provide you with a curated listening, entertainment experience and to give the likes of Neal McCoy, Steve Tyrell, Billy Vera and myriad other artists a place to display their art and create commerce. Yes, we continue to feature performers like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and Bobby Darin. We play the latest releases from today’s crooners like Steve Tyrell, Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall. And we take great pride in introducing new artists like Michael Buble, Renee Olstead, Tony DeSare and so many more. We’re proud of the role that we play in actively presenting great singers and great songs … some new, some new to you. With that, meet some new artists we’re proud to introduce.
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