Category Archives: Pursuit of Happiness

Raton, New Mexico

Willow Springs stage station once provided respite at the southern base of Raton Pass for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail’s mountain cutoff. In 1879, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway set rails over the pass from Colorado and … Continue reading

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Absaroka County, New Mexico

In 2004, author Craig Johnson created Sheriff Walt Longmire as the protagonist in his series of Western-crime novels set in fictional Durant, Wyoming, county seat of the equally fictional Absaroka County. Longmire is a crime fighter, but first and foremost … Continue reading

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Corb Lund Live at the Launchpad on 2020-03-08

Corb Lund put on an amazing show on Central Avenue–Old Route 66–in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Sunday March 8th, 2020, just before we all went into nation-wide lockdown. Corb has a new album coming out, Agricultural Tragic, and I scored … Continue reading

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Grammys do Good, Ameripolitan Awards do Awesome

Dale Watson doesn’t much care for the “Americana” appellation, so he went and dubbed himself “Ameripolitan”. That’s a nod to the old “Countrypolitan” style of Chet Atkins’ 1960s’ Nashville Sound. Now I’m not much of a Chet Atkins fan of … Continue reading

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2019 Blog Posts in Review: JCShepard.com turns 10

It’s the end of the decade… or maybe that’s the end of 2020 instead of the beginning. Either way, jcshepard.com is 10-years old, a decade since we went online 1 January 2009. Happy birthday to the blog. In 2018, our … Continue reading

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JC’s Americana Top Tunes of 2019

The Year in Music for 2019 was dedicated to Guy Clark and Susanna Clark, with a coda for the late, great Townes Van Zandt. As soon as I heard about Steve Earle’s project to dedicate an album of covers to … Continue reading

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No Depression 2019 Readers and Critics Favorite Albums

No Depression magazine started out covering “Alt.Country…whatever that is”. As such, they still cover, well, Alt.not-country but we’re not quite sure whatever that is”. No Depression isn’t an “Americana” magazine, but it isn’t NOT an “Americana” outlet either. Mostly, though, … Continue reading

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Americana Radio Top 100 Airplay for 2019

Hayes Carll and Good Companions Hayes Carll’s album What It Is took the top spot for most spins by Americana Radio in 2019 (through 12/17/19). Denver’s very own The Lumineers’ cut “Gloria” off III was the single most spun single … Continue reading

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Grammy Award Nominations Don’t Get It All Wrong This Year

The Recording Academy announced their 2020 nominations for the 62nd Grammy Awards last month. While I could pan their General Field nominations as the typical generic, awful ear candy (in particular the controversial NasX-Billy Ray Cyrus fiasco), I won’t. Life … Continue reading

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ICYMI – The Diary of Pvt. Orrin Brown 1864-1865

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, I blogged the diary of my ancestor Pvt. Orrin Brown, Co. E, 14th Michigan Infantry, who marched through Georgia and the Carolinas with General Sherman. It remains some of … Continue reading

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