Ferriday To Hurricane Mills To West Reading?

Three Music Row greats took up most of the space the last few weeks: a wild man at the keyboards and two ladies that sang/sing exactly what they are thinking about. Three people that are characters big enough to make movies about (well, two of them, but does anyone doubt there will be a Taylor Swift bio movie someday?).

Ladies first. Could never get that excited when everyone was talking about no female power in the music business. Yes, Country radio goes through phases with its love of pinup boys, and the playlist gets out of whack. But there’s enough girl power this fall for even the strongest advocate! The Naomi Judd farewell extravaganza, WOW… that alone!

Then Taylor put her album out and it sold a fast million, and got 10 of the Top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100. The Music Row-raised Queen of Pop has a million-plus seats nationwide to sell this month, and I bet she sells them all.

Swift’s “Eras” tour will storm through 28 dates, including Nashville on Saturday May 6th and Atlanta April 28th-29th at Mercedes Benz stadium. Ticket prices range from $49 to $449, with VIP tickets available too.

She has been and remains amazing, and can we now say she has no equal? No one has done what she keeps doing. Can still see her and that big box guitar singing “Tim McGraw.” Most powerful one ever on the performing side. Yes, I thought about that before I typed it. (Who more? Madonna, Lady Gaga and Beyonce have not done what she’s done on this rerecording thing. I didn’t say most talented. She is talented, but no Gaga.)

Another girl power extravaganza was the Loretta Lynn Celebration of Life event. Could there have been more love in a building for anyone than that night at the Opry House? As Sheryl Crow suggested, Loretta was bigger than Country. Loretta the songwriter/singer opened the gate for songwriter/singer Swift and so many others.

Loved seeing the men she adored singing for her: Keith Urban, George Strait, Alan Jackson. We all loved Loretta. Looking back, we needed a lot more of that Loretta/Dolly and Tammy get-togethers!

As you say goodbye to bigger than life stars like Loretta, you wonder how Country went from Loretta to Taylor via Shania and Reba and Miranda. All strong personas. Add the power singers like Trisha, Faith, Wynonna and Martina. The women of Country have their own Mt. Rushmore. I will leave too many out, but all on the female side of the Country music history book are so memorable. The scales are pretty even.

There have been plenty of men who didn’t get the radio play or career many thought they should. Too many to list, including a few currently out knocking on the door.

There is much more to being a phenom like Taylor than just talent: timing, the message, the management, label, the team, and yes, the fan support.

The more I see Brandi Carlile the more I can’t understand why she’s not the biggest thing going. Kasey Musgraves is another one. Two very talented, charismatic people.

I can hear the voices telling me all kinds of reasons why some people don’t catch on and others do. It’s magic dust on some of them.

Luck is not a stranger to the winners either.

Loretta had it all, and that CMT tribute show came together nicely.

Jerry Lee Lewis left us twice. Leave it to the Killer to have a train wreck around even his departure. He was volatile, yes, saw that firsthand. But he was talented in the musical arts: playing, singing, performing.

Hope they let him in heaven, and he behaves so he can stay. He did so much right and so much wrong. He was a must in the first class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and before he left he deserved that Country Music Hall of Fame medallion!

And who ever thought this skinny kid from Ferriday, LA who was there when Rock ’n’ Roll was created would be the last one to leave? It’s somehow fitting that he outlasted them all. The stories of two very different stars saying goodbye to us so close together.