Articles: Jim Jones
All My Sins Remembered by Rod Miller
Rod Miller is an award-winning author and poet. People toss the phrase, “award-winning,” around so much that it can become meaningless, so let me give you a little context. Rod has won four Western Writers of America Spur Awards; he has won awards from the Western...
STAYIN’ ALIVE: SAVING LIVE MUSIC!
We went to a house concert last night, the Rio Rancho House Concert Series specifically, and we saw and heard a fantastic performer- excellent singer, accomplished songwriter, killer guitarist. We arrived worn out from a long day of work and left energized and excited...
Western Heritage Wrangler Awards 2022: Reflections
I’m back from the Western Heritage Awards Ceremony at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City this past weekend and I’m still savoring the event. The museum is a first class outfit in every way. The exhibits are breath-taking and really do...
Marketing in the 21st Century
There was a time (at least that’s what I’ve heard) that if you were on a record label as a musician or had a publisher as an author, they would handle all the marketing, publicity, promotion and such. All you had to do was decide which color M&Ms you didn’t want...
WOMEN WRITING THE WEST
One of the benefits of being a Western Storyteller…a songwriter and author…is that I get to hang out and become friends with other writers. I get to learn from them and sometimes, I get to collaborate with them. One of my good friends is the wonderful writer, Deanna...
Red River Songwriters’ Festival 2022
Texas in the early 70s was “songwriter heaven.” Everyone who was anyone hung out in Austin at the Armadillo World Headquarters, the Saxon Pub, the Broken Spoke and multiple other great venues. Willie moved to Austin. We had Rusty Weir, Michael Martin Murphy, BW...
Good Days Are Comin’ is Comin’!
I’m getting everything set up so that folks who are interested in purchasing my album, either the physical CD, the download of the CD or individual tracks off the CD, can do so through my website. It’ll be next week before that’s all completed but we’re working as...
Kerry Grombacher’s Range of the Buffalo
I met Kerry Grombacher almost twenty years ago when I joined the WMA (now the IWMA) and over the course of that time, he has become one of my favorite Western songwriters. His songs are authentic, lyrical and literate. It’s a mystery to me as to why he’s never had a...
MY HEROES HAVE HEROES
A singer/songwriter for whom I had tremendous respect and admiration was the late Michael Smith from Chicago. He’s probably best known for writing The Dutchman, one of the greatest love songs of all time, but he wrote a whole lot of wonderful music. I had the great...
Mary Kaye: Blending the Old West with the New
Over my years as a performer, I’ve often been asked by people, “What is Western music?” I’ll just cut to the chase here and tell you; if you’re curious, get a copy of Mary Kaye’s newest album, “Frontier,” and listen to it. There’s your answer. She blends beautiful...
No Secret Too Small Review
No Secret Too Small By Loretta Miles Tollefson Sometimes I think there must be a rule that says when you’re writing about history, you should make it as dry and monotonous as you possibly can. Provide names, dates and locations but don’t share anything that gives...
White Hats- Black Hats
There’s no question that the characters of my youth in literature, television and the movies helped me chart the course for how I’ve tried to live my life. They were the “good guys” and they stood up against evil, corruption, bullying and the like. They all wore...
All My Sins Remembered by Rod Miller
Rod Miller is an award-winning author and poet. People toss the phrase, “award-winning,” around so much that it can become meaningless, so let me give you a little context. Rod has won four Western Writers of America Spur Awards; he has won awards from the Western...
STAYIN’ ALIVE: SAVING LIVE MUSIC!
We went to a house concert last night, the Rio Rancho House Concert Series specifically, and we saw and heard a fantastic performer- excellent singer, accomplished songwriter, killer guitarist. We arrived worn out from a long day of work and left energized and excited...