I have wondered for a couple years if someone would ask about Mindy McCready and her story. This week, Jennifer did, and yes she has a sad and tragic story.  In my 42 years of country radio, this is one of the toughest ones for many reasons. 

Her First Single - Much Loved By Fans

MM was from Ft. Myers, Florida and moved to Nashville at 18 with a dynamic almost angelic voice many thought, a contemporary look with a huge smile, and a sassy attitude that was right on time for early to mid 90's country.  She had grown up singing in church and graduated high school early at 16 and was on her way.  In just three years she signed a record deal and had her debut album on the charts in 1996, Ten Thousand Angels.  Keep in mind this was way before the real internet and YouTube and all that.  I was doing the morning show at WPCV in Lakeland, Florida at the time, and there was a tremendous phone buzz about her debut song, the title song of the album, long before we were playing it.  Fans had known of her and were excited about hearing her music on the radio.   She was a hero to them at just 21 years old.

Her Only Number One - A Smash!

She rallied a very young fan base and there was a big demand to hear her debut song.  Sure we played it as did everyone else, and it was big for her going to number 6 on the charts.  But there was something there. Something magnetic that was drawing.  She was right on time debuting in 1996 in country and seemed to initially fit right in. Women in the 1990's in country had a GREAT run. Shania, Terri Clark, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, JoDee Messina, Suzy Bogguss, Lee Ann Womack, Martina McBride , Holly Dunn and others.  And MM seemed to be the next in a line of wildly popular women with great music, popularity, image and attitude.  She was award nominated in 1997, but lost to Deana Carter at the ACM's, who had nothing short of an incedible year.

With Richie McDonald Of Lonestar

Her second song, Guys Do It All The Time was a smash number one with a driving beat, fantastic guitar riff, and a slick video. Then two more singles came from the first album that sold over 2 million, and we had a new star.  Her second album in 1997 was a success selling close to a million copies. In 1999 she released a third album that was no success at all, dropped from her record label and then making two more albums later with virtually no commerical success, it was now the 2000's.  What had sadly happened, MM was now becoming more famous for things far outside of any kind of music.

Big Favorite As Well

For a number of years, MM found herself in many very tough legal and personal crisis situations.  Substance abuse was at the forefront. She appeared on numerous reality TV shows were she discussed her struggle with drugs of many kinds. She was engaged to actor Dean Cain but that ended.  There were numerous other romantic relationships as well including an NHL player, various actors and others.  Her life had become a series of sad errors with substance abuse, and domestic abuse as the ongoing problems.  The list of troubles is very long and went on for very long.

Great Song - Underrated

You can Google the exact details of many of these really terrible situations, they are no secret.  But the truth is, all of this along with a career that faded all too quickly lead to the worst of ends, with Mindy McCready taking her own life in 2013.  She was only 37 years old.  It was a very sad day for us all.  Even tough it had been quite a while since any real success for her, we were all pulling for her, as we were all watching her struggles in the news and on TV.

Mindy McCready for me, is one of the real tragic stories of my long career.  Fans liked her, young listeners really liked her, she was going to the top, and somehow it all just went wrong.  Hers is a very tough story to tell, as there is no shortage of sad.  Read the comments on the videos here.  She was very influential to many new listeners who were in their teens when she hit the charts. 

I was initially like a lot of people feeling like she was on her way to join the others and maybe surpass many of them in the 1990's as a very successful artist singing songs that we would all play for a long time.  I was very impressed with the entirety of that first album especially, as it had all the earmarks as a first class project introducing an incredible new artist.

It's very sad for many involved, and for many loyal fans.  But for a moment that was far too short and fleeting Malinda Gayle McCready  - was on top.

Part of the firsat day of my vacation in Boston was spent at the Kennedy Library. In kind of a weird, spooky twist...we visited on the 62nd anniversary of the famous Kennedy/Nixon televised debate (Sep. 26th)! Being it was JFK's only term and election, much of the museum is spent on the election between him and Richard Nixon. Another huge topic discussed is the Cuban Missle Crisis. VERY interesting to look back on. As the library sits right on the bay, there are absolutely beautiful views of the water and the city of Boston. Totally BREATHTAKING!

I have visited several presidential museums/sites:

1. James Garfield home in Mentor (Highly recommend btw...and SO close!)

2. Rutherford Hayes home in Fremont

3. Andrew Jackson's Hermitage Home & Museum in Nashville

4. LBJ's boyhood home & ranch outside Austin,TX

5. The Nixon & Reagan Libraries outside Los Angeles

While the Kennedy Library is not my favorite of these sites, I still enjoyed it and feel it's a great way to learn about our history.

Today was my first day in my new time slot, I will be joining you each weekday from 10am - 3pm from now on! I am excited to be spending the workday with you all and have a lot of fun things on the horizon that I think you are really going to like, in addition to hearing your favorite songs of course.

I have loved my time as your evening host, and I am hoping you will be able to join me during the day as well. As always, thank you for listening!! 

So last week I was on vacation. In case you can't tell by the picture, my mom and I went to Boston. Boy did we have a great time! OF COURSE we had to stop by Cheers (did not go in though)!

We also spent a little time walking around Boston Common and the Public Garden which brings me to the ducks. Stopped and took a picture of the "Make Way for Ducklings" statue, which was made famous by the 1941 book by the same name. I have never read the book, however the statue does mean something to my family. We last went to Boston some 30 years ago when I was a toddler, and had our picture taken - my mom sitting on mother duck, while my siblings and I were sitting on ducklings behind her. Kinda neat to go back all these years later :). 

I could go on and on, but I will save the rest for other blogs in the coming days. Look for information on the Kennedy Library, Salem, Plymouth, and more!!! More great pics to come as well! As always, although vacation is a lot of fun, it is nice to be home.

  Well tonight is a night that I don't think any of us saw coming in April. The Guardians move on to New York to take on the Yankees in the second round of the MLB PLayoffs.  Simply incredible and so much fun.

I remember hearing local and national sports experts openly mocking them during Spring Training and literally laughing at the lineup and the chances of being anywhere near successful in 2022.  In fairness to them, I didn't either, you either more than likely, and neither did Vegas who I think said they would win about 72 games. But I wasn't laughing at them, as I knew they would pitch well, and have the games best manager.  Instead, they won 92, a division, and a Wild Card Round.

Where does this go?  I don't know.  But I do know this.  I LOVE THIS TEAM.  They play the game with kid-like joy.  They do things all season long that many major leaguers can't bring themselves to do even in the playoffs.  They hustle, they run out ground balls, they take the extra base, they play hard every inning of every game.  And that's refreshing, watching pro athletes not mailing it in.  Ask the Mets, they won 101 games, have the biggest payroll in MLB, blew a 10.5 game lead, and were eliminated in the Wild Card Round. The two players we got for Frankie Lindor had great seasons, one was an All Star, and both are still playing in the post season.  Frankie is on the first tee today, we saved 350 million dollars, and this week WE are playing in New York.  How can you not love that?

Can they beat the Yankees?  I think they can if they keep Aaron Judge in the park, don't get intimidated by the mystique, and play their game they way they know how, then possibly. But all of that is a tall order for such a young bunch.  But in fairness to them, they have answered the bell every time it has rung.  They swept away the White Sox, and the Twins for the divisional title. Then they swept away the Rays, a very good franchise, to move on. All along the way beating very good pitching, and pitching well themselves.

Do that -  and move on!  GO GUARDS!!!

I am not a gigantic fish eater, but somehow I do like salmon.  I like it smoked, and other ways when it's cooked creatively.  Salmon can be fishy, but this sounds REALLY good!

Let's give this a go!

Spicy Salmon Bowls!!

You can pre-order Russell Dickerson's self titled 3rd studio album now! He took to social media a couple days ago to teast 'RD3' and today announced that it will be released on November 4th. 

RD3. 15 songs. Nov 4th. Pre-order now! https://t.co/uKtD0BsAsI pic.twitter.com/QkPG5cWlZ1

— Russell Dickerson (@russelled) September 30, 2022

Russell also released a new song from the album today to go along with the announcement!

I am so excited for this that I have already subscribed! Priscilla Block announced today that she is launching a YouTube series that will follow her on and off the stage. New episodes will be available on Thursday's.

Just from this 14 second teaser clip you can tell this is going to be fun to watch, she's just so real and relatable, I'm such a fan of hers! Click here for a link to Priscilla's YouTube channel so you can subscribe and get notified when new episodes are available! 

SURPRISE Y'ALL! I’m launching a YouTube series following me through this crazy journey on and off of the stage. Watch me go off the deep end every Thursday ? pic.twitter.com/Oj9hpJjvhZ

— Priscilla Block (@priscillablock) September 29, 2022

Ever wonder what a 300 million dollar explosion looks like?   Here it is...  NASA's DART Mission (Double Asteroid Redirect Test spacecraft)  flying a $300 Million Dollar Spacecraft into an asteroid.  (I realize this could come in handy at some point.  I love you NASA.)  Just couldn't we have sent up the old Pinto of space travel, the one you use for the space demo derby or something!  This was a kamikaze mission, right?  Kudos...

George Birge has released a new single called "Mind On You" which he co-wrote with Colt Ford. George says he drew on inspiration for how he felt about his wife when they were dating. daydreaming about her all day just so he could go hang out with her that night, and that's how they came up with the idea for the song.