Minnesota's 11 biggest contributions to country music
By  Jon Bream
 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 — 11:19AM

1 Dave Dudley of Spencer, Wis., records "Six Days on the Road" at Kay Bank Studios in Minneapolis. One of the first big truck-driving songs, it zooms to No. 2 on the country chart in 1963. The studio at 2541 Nicollet Av. S., where everyone from the Trashmen to the Replacements recorded, still exists as Creation Audio.

2 After recording three albums in Nashville, including the landmark "Blonde on Blonde," Bob Dylan sings on "The Johnny Cash Show" in 1969, making the country singer cool overnight, as his daughter Rosanne Cash relates in the Ken Burns series.

3 After writing a story about the Grand Ole Opry for the New Yorker magazine, Anoka's Garrison Keillor, in 1974, creates his own St. Paul-based radio show, "A Prairie Home Companion." It features country stars such as Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris and Brad Paisley — and a Keillor-sung versionof Hank Snow's "Hello Love" as its theme song.


STAR TRIBUNE
Michael Johnson in 1986. He died in 2017.
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4 Dennis Morgan of Tracy, Minn., becomes a hot Nashville songwriter in the late 1970s, penning "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" and "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" for Barbara Mandrell and hits for Ronnie Milsap, Sylvia and others.

5 After playing with the Sky Blue Water Boys in the Twin Cities in the 1970s, Russ Pahl becomes a first-call pedal steel guitarist in Nashville, working on recordings with Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton, Dan + Shay, Luke Bryan and Taylor Swift.

6 In 1986, Ree Guyer Buchanan moves from St. Paul to Nashville to establish a song publishing company called Wrensong. The catalog has grown to more than 3,000 tunes, including the Oak Ridge Boys' "Little Things," Faith Hill's "Wild One" and the Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss duet "Whiskey Lullaby."

7 When his pop career slows, Twin Cities singer/guitarist Michael Johnson ("Bluer Than Blue") heads to Nashville and quickly tops the charts in 1986 with "Give Me Wings" and "The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder."

8 Brooklyn Center native Jon Vezner co-writes "Where've You Been," a song about his grandparents coping with dementia. Recorded by his wife, country singer Kathy Mattea, it goes to No. 10 in 1989 and earns a Grammy for best country song.

9 Two Minnesotans enjoy success in Nashville bands: Paulette Carlson of Moose Lake scores four No. 1 hits as lead singer of Highway 101 in the late '80s, including "Cry, Cry, Cry," and Ira Dean of North St. Paul triumphs as bassist for Trick Pony, with "Pour Me" in the early '00s.

10 Twin Cities musicians Dan Wilson of Semisonic and Gary Louris of the Jayhawks co-write six and four songs, respectively, for the Dixie Chicks' 2006 album "Taking the Long Way," which grabs the Grammy for album of the year. Wilson shares a Grammy for song of the year for "Not Ready to Make Nice."

11 Bloomington native Kyle Jacobs finds success as a songwriter — most notably Garth Brooks' 2007 chart-topper "More Than a Memory" — and as a reality TV star with his wife on CMT's 2015-17 show "Love Kellie Pickler."[/size][/size]

I was shuffling Melissa Manchester music today and heard "I'll Always Love You."  Did she do it after MJ?  First time I remember hearing it by her.  I prefer MJ, no surprise there.

oh Cindy...….

.there are two songs particularly that stick out for me that I've not heard before; one is Family Tie and of course the other is Martha...
(Also, I have stories about both. But I still have my Friend of Mine is Going Blind story to put up. I wish people would nag me. ) 

nag...……...nag...……..nag

I finally added my "A Friend of Mine is Going Blind" story to the MJ Stories page. I just noticed the official name on John Dawson Read's LP is "Friend of Mine" but MJ always called it by the long title.

Also Paul Ashley has contributed 2 song sheets: Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon and Tennessee Waltz. As always, on the MJ Lyrics page.

New tablature from Dale: If I Fell From Grace With You

https://mjblue.com/mjlyrics.html

Thanks, Dale!

Michael Johnson - Cookhouse 1973 - audio only
https://youtu.be/goTrk_1Jdmw

Radio broadcast September 1973; recording date unknown
Songs: Cain's Blood (MJ), May You Never (John Martyn), Chicken Road (Joe Greene), Happier Days (MJ), Catch Another Butterfly (Mike Williams), Love and Sex (Tom Rapp), Study in E Minor (H. Villa Lobos), Garbage Can (Ted Anderson), In Your Eyes (Crow Johnson), Here Comes the Sun (George Harrison), In the Name of Love (Estelle Levitt, Kenny Rankin), Got You Covered (Biff Rose/MJ), The Ladybug and the Centipede (Leon Bibb), Take Five (Paul Desmond, Dave & Iola Brubeck), On the Road (Carl Franzen), Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon (Greg Brown)

A Cookhouse performance of 5 songs was on PBS in March 1974. i have the audio but haven't compared if it's from the same show.

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday Dear Michael,
Happy Birthday to you!!!

Hope all the angels in Heaven give you a B-I-G Birthday cake with lots of pesky candles for you to blow out!

You are MISSED here on Earth, much more than you know...

A new MJ story at https://mjblue.com/mjstories.html

From Adam Kindness, Mj's agent in the 90's. I asked him if he had a photo of him and MJ to accompany the story but I haven't gotten a response yet. Here's hoping! A great story and birthday related. 

Also on that page is a story from Hobo Jim. He said he'd send a photo of them together but Michael dropped off his list before he shared it. I'm finding that's often the case with Michael's friends. I'm so grateful for his true friends who haven't forgotten him.

Who has the first pressing of Ain't Dis Da Life with the brown back cover? The next pressing was the black, sharper version. Who knows what else is different? (both versions are at https://mjblue.com/aaddl.html. Right click on images to enlarge.)

Original:

Celebrate his life and honor his memory by sharing his music and directing people to this website and the YouTube channel. And don't forget to celebrate Cindy and all her efforts at keeping the music alive by making a donation to keep the music coming.  She has released so many songs that were never recorded on cds so maybe fans of Michael's music could donate those cd funds to this website. We are so fortunate that Michael left such a legacy!