T.G. Sheppard, And His Legendary Friends, Have The Best Country Album Of 2015

It's 1974. I had just started my first job in radio at KWYR in Winner, S.D.  A fresh faced kid (now I'm a fresh faced, uh, seasoned veteran of radio) spinnin' the discs. Oh, and if you don't know what 'spinnin' the discs is, well, you wear a younger persons skin.

Anyway, one of the very first  'new' country artists I was introduced to was a guy named T.G. Sheppard. T.G. had a new song out called 'Devil In The Bottle' and to this day, all these years later, it's still one of my all time favorites. If you want to talk about a great real country record, you can't do a whole lot better than 'Devil In The Bottle'. And that was just the beginning.

Over a dozen number one hits and thirty or so Top Ten hits later, T.G. Sheppard has established himself as one of the great artists of the music we love. Now, truth be told, with a career like that, T.G. could well rest on his laurels and say something like 'been there, done that'.

But thankfully he hasn't!

If I had a vote for Best Country Album Of The Year', it might well be T.G. Sheppard's new release 'Legendary Friends and Country Duets'. The first thing you notice, of course, are those 'friends'. Wow! Folks like Jerry Lee Lewis, Oak Ridge Boys, Willie Nelson, Mickey Gilley, Crystal Gayle, Merle Haggard and...well, and more. It's a literal 'who's who' in country music and beyond.

And to say T.G. and his friends deliver is an understatement! There truly isn't a weak cut on the album. I mean, this is one you'll play over and over...and then over and over.

Just as an example, give a listen to T.G. and Jerry Lee Lewis duet on the aptly titled 'The Killer'.

OK, but I'll be honest here. The first cut off this album that caught my ear was a terrific real honest-to-goodness great country song called 'Wine To Remember, Whiskey To Forget', a duet with the great Mickey Gilley. Give this a listen...

So I'd advise this: If you want someone to know what real country music is...no, let me rephrase that...what real good country music is...play 'Legendary Friends and Country Duets' for them. But don't let them borrow it. You'll never get it back!