The sad truth about the music business is, it's ruthless... to put it lightly. I think many of us have heard stories from our favorite artists, and even icons like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and others who had to, quite literally, fight tooth and nail to make a name in country music. Waylon started out playing bass in Buddy’s band on Buddy’s “Winter Dance Party” tour in 1959 before he had his own solo career. They became close friends, and was famously and tragically tragically killed in a plane crash that same year, and it haunted Waylon for most of his life. Now known as "the day music died," the (short) story goes that Holly and several other artists took flight in a Beechcraft Bonanza from a small Iowa airport and flew into a blizzard, crashing about five miles from the airport, killing everyone on board on February 3rd, 1959. Their tour bus heat had gone out days before, and one of the other band members actually had to leave in the middle of tour because they got frost bite on the bus… it was that cold on their Midwest run. Because conditions were so bad, Holly chartered a plane that was supposed to take some of the group to Moorhead, Minnesota, where they would be able to get a few more hours of sleep (and warm up) before the next run of shows on the Winter Dance Party tour. Waylon famously gave up his seat to a sick J.P. Richardson, and decided he would take the bus and meet up with the rest of the band at the next stop, and due to fate, or whatever you want to call it, went onto have a legendary career in country music because he did not get on that plane. And during a recent interview, Gary Nicholson (singer-songwriter and record producer who worked with Waylon many times) on Otis Gibbs’ stellar YouTube channel, he gave a little more detail about what happened after the horrific accident, which he heard straight from Waylon. He recalled a time Waylon went to speak to students at Belmont University in Nashville, where they wanted some inside scoop on the music industry, and obviously, the man to ask if you want a completely honest and real answer was Waylon Jennings. He recalled the night Holly died, and how the surviving band members went ahead and played the show they were all originally headed to before the crash, because the club owner wanted them to and they had signed a contract. I imagine they didn't really want to, but my guess is, they probably thought it's what Holly would've wanted and decided to due to pressure from the club owner: "He told me the story about the Buddy Holly thing, not getting on the flight. You know, one time, Waylon told this story about how they played the gig that night, the night that Buddy died... Waylon had some kind of thing, he was talking to the students at Belmont, they said, 'Tell us something about the music business.' He says, 'Well, the night Buddy Holly died in the plane wreck, we went ahead and played the gig because the club owner asked us to play the gig, you know, go ahead and make some music.'" They play the full show, in the wake of unbelievable tragedy and the loss of several friends (I don't even know how they got through it), and at the end of the night when they went to payment from the owner... he refused to pay them. He told them it was because their contract had stated that Buddy Holly would appear, and he refused to pay: "So we play the gig, at the and of the night, we went to get the payment. The guy said, 'It says here on the contract, Buddy Holly's supposed to be here.' He didn't pay them. And he's talking to a bunch of Belmont students, he says, 'That's what the music business is all about. There you go, that's my example for you.'" I think any one with any sort of moral compass, or even a minuscule amount of heart, can tell that's an absolute a**hole move, and the guy truly sounds like a horrible person. But, sadly, especially at this time in 1959, it was just a different time, and like I said, completely ruthless... still is, just in different ways. I can't see this happening now, especially because it would probably get blasted  all over social media (rightfully so, in this hypothetical case), but it just goes to show how hard it was to make it and how much these artists had to fight for every last thing. They really earned every bit of their success, and there's no better example of that than Waylon Jennings. You can watch that prat of the interview below, and I'd highly recommend it: https://youtu.be/tpr1qHafsro?t=343

Bless his heart... he really tried. Of course, Peyton Manning was one of the hosts of the CMA Awards last night alongside Lainey Wilson and Luke Bryan, and he did a solid job... I mean, these days, the CMA Awards aren't what they used to be, but Peyton has charisma and everyone seems to like him, so it works well enough. And after his hosting duties last night, he made a surprise appearance at Losers, a popular bar in Midtown in Nashville, but he wasn't just there to drink... he actually stepped up to the mic and gave the crowd a performance of David Allan Coe’s country classic “You Never Even Called Me by My Name.” Now obviously, Peyton is a much better football player than he is a singer, but it was pretty funny to see him get up there and give it a go... he clearly doesn't take himself too seriously, which says a lot for someone who is as rich and famous as he is. Of course, the song was originally written by Steve Goodman and John Prine, though Prine did not want to be credited as a writer on the song because he thought it was “goofy” and didn’t want to offend the country music community, as it was originally written as more of a parody than anything else. Goodman released the song on his self-titled 1971 debut album, but of course, it was made most famous by Coe when he included it on his 1975 Once Upon a Rhyme album. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard country singles charts later that year. I'm actually quite impressed that Peyton knew all the words and really gave it everything he had... I mean, what else are you supposed to do after you host the CMA Awards? Peyton has pretty good taste, too: @theonlydemunjones Peyton Manning rocked it last night! #peytonmanning #fyp ♬ original sound - DEMUNDEMUNJONESJONES In terms of big winners at the show, Morgan Wallen took home top honors with the coveted Entertainer of the Year award, though he wasn't there in person to accept it. Cody Johnson won Album of the year for his impressive “Leather” record, Lainey Wilson took home Female vocalist of the year for the third year in a row, and Chris Stapleton won Male Vocalist of the Year again as well. https://twitter.com/CountryMusic/status/1859446456865694119 You can check out the full list of winners below, which also includes Brooks & Dunn, Ella Langley and Riley Green both winning their first CMA Award and more. Entertainer of the year: Morgan Wallen Single of the year: “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton Album of the year: “Leather” by Cody Johnson Song of the year: “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton Female vocalist of the year: Lainey Wilson Male vocalist of the year: Chris Stapleton Vocal group of the year: Old Dominion Vocal duo of the year: Brooks & Dunn Musical event of the year: “you look like you love me” Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green) Musician of the year: Charlie Worsham Music video of the year: “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” by Lainey Wilson New artist of the year: Megan Moroney

Jelly Roll out here supporting inmates even at the CMA Awards. The rapper-turned-country singer is well known for the work he does to support those who are locked up, from visiting with inmates in jails around the country while on tour to helping establish a music program in the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center right here in Nashville. Of course the issue is one that's personal for Jelly Roll (whose real name is Jason DeFord) after the superstar spent much of his younger years behind bars himself. He was convicted of robbery in 2003 after being arrested as a juvenile, and sentenced to 8 years in prison. He was released after serving a year of his sentence, but was picked up on drug charges in 2008 and forced to serve another year behind bars. Since then, he's managed to turn his life around and dedicate his career to not only making amends for his past behavior, but helping others avoid making the same mistakes he made. And now he's even supporting one of his fellow country music stars who recently found himself in jail. Jamey Johnson was arrested this past weekend in Williamson County, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, on charges of speeding and felony marijuana possession. The singer was released on Monday, and appeared at the CMA Awards himself last night to pay tribute to the legendary George Strait, despite the fact that Johnson is potentially facing 6 years in prison for his charges. (Which is ridiculous, but that's another story). So maybe Jelly Roll just felt like showing his friend some support, or maybe he understood how Jamey felt when he was picked up on drug charges. Or maybe he's just continuing his work supporting those who are facing time behind bars. Who knows. But whatever the reason, viewers of the CMA Awards quickly noticed that Jelly Roll was wearing a Jamey Johnson patch on his jacket during last night's ceremonies. https://twitter.com/SoulwellPublish/status/1859515345733620134 Respect. Of course I think Jamey's doing alright for himself despite his legal troubles. He recently released his first studio album in 14 years, Midnight Gasoline. And ahead of the album's release, he spoke about his own battles with addiction while revealing that he hasn't had alcohol, and stopped smoking weed for a while too: "I think that lasted about eight years. Nine years. In that time period, it was all about sobriety. And with a sober mind, I’m able to do things like get a pilot’s license, manage a business, start a product line. I’m sober for the most part, but every now and then, I may still break out a joint if I’m writing or something like that. But I don’t play games with the alcohol." It's a journey that mirrors the one faced by Jelly Roll, who has discussed his own struggles with addiction and learning the limits of what he can and can't handle. (Although Jelly Roll got his jail time out of the way earlier in his career but hey, we're all on different timelines). Either way, it was cool to see Jelly rocking the Jamey Johnson patch on his jacket at the show last night - and obviously it was great to see Jamey on stage paying tribute to King George. @turtlebutt79 #jameyjohnson @JameyJohnsonOfficial #turtlesworld ♬ original sound - Turtlebutt

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