Famous Country Crooners Will Sing Praises Of Mom

Four of country music’s bestknown stars - Naomi Judd, Tim McGraw, Marty Stuart and Joe Diffie - are scheduled to talk about mothers and mothering in a one-hour Mother’s Day special May 6 on The Nashville Network’s “Path to Stardom” series.

Naomi Judd was interviewed at her farmhouse near Nashville and talked about being a single mother to country superstar Wynonna and acclaimed actress Ashley Judd while persevering in her career.

McGraw, Stuart and Diffie all appear with their mothers and talk about their appreciation of them, while their mothers discuss the problems of rearing sons who hungered to pursue the uncertain profession of country music.

McGraw, son of a famous major league baseball pitcher, grew up living with his single mother; when her son informed her of his ambition, she says she never doubted he would achieve it.

Hilda Stuart talks about the huge decision she had to make when 13-year-old Marty was invited to join the band of bluegrass patriarch Lester Flatt, saying she only decided to permit it “after much prayer.”

A few years ago, when Diffie was living through a divorce, bankruptcy and unemployment, it didn’t seem he would need a fan club. But Diffie now has one, and his mother supervises it.

Keith single a sing-along

Toby Keith has gotten to the single he thinks is the second real bombshell on his second album, “Boomtown.” The single, titled “You Ain’t Much Fun,” consistently turns into a sing-along even in front of audiences who have never heard it before, he says.

Keith says his record company, Polydor, had some understandable reservations about its sexist-sounding message, but “the crowd just goes nuts over it. ‘Who’s That Man’ (the album’s first single) gets as much applause as anything in my show, but ‘You Ain’t Much Fun’ comes right in there with it.

“It’s amazing, when they’ve never heard it, and all I tell ‘em is, ‘My bass player came on the bus one night when I was trying to write and said he’d called home and was going to have to do a lot of things when he got home. Then he said, ‘I guess my wife just ain’t as much fun since I quit drinking.’ I said, ‘Let’s write it.’ When I sing it, it’s like a sing-along: They know it.”

Just released, “You Ain’t Much Fun” is the album’s third single, following “Who’s That Man” and “Upstairs Downtown.”

“Boomtown” already has been certified gold (a 500,000 seller). Keith’s first album, “Toby Keith,” has been certified platinum, with sales in excess of 1 million copies.

Birth a bit unnerving

Mary Gregory, wife of rising star Clinton Gregory, recently gave birth to their second child, Haley Marie, who weighed in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces.

“I was there, but I wasn’t nervous - this is the second time I’ve done it,” reports Mary’s husband. Along with 8-year-old stepdaughter Lindsay, Gregory has a 17-month-old daughter named Ali.

“She (Haley Marie) looks a whole lot like Ali, and Ali looks a whole lot like Mary, so I’m relieved,” the proud father says, forgetting that he just said he wasn’t nervous. “She’s very healthy and has got everything, including a healthy set of lungs. She’ll either be a Baptist preacher or an opera singer.”

‘Marty Party II’ coming

“The Marty Party II,” videotaped in Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for broadcast on The Nashville Network May 24, promises to be a raucous affair.

The stage set resembles a bizarre back porch festooned with both an alligator and a rocket crash (the latter familiar to Stuart concertgoers). Stuart hosts his wellknown buddy Travis Tritt, who can get pretty vocally energetic, and the Kentucky HeadHunters, who reputedly were first discovered performing at a fair next to a stockcar competition - and drowning out the stock cars.

Stuart, Tritt and the HeadHunters also will be joined on the show by two of bluegrass music’s legendary instrumentalists, fiddler Vassar Clements and dobro player Josh Graves.

“All my guests are like my brothers, and what’s represented here tonight is blues, bluegrass, country music, rock ‘n’ roll,” Stuart explains early on. “When you’re jamming on my back porch it’s (all) the same thing. All it takes is a few good songs and a whole lot of heart and soul.”

New Crowell album

Rodney Crowell’s forthcoming second album for MCA (and the ninth of his career), “Jewel of the South,” features covers of two oldies, “Candy Man” and Buck Owens’ “Storm of Love,” as well as nine new songs written or co-written by Crowell.

Strait ‘family’ flying high

A member of George Strait’s extended musical family has been winning raves in Texas, Strait’s native state. Singer-songwriter Betty Elders, wife of Ace in the Hole fiddler Gene Elders, has just released “Crayons,” her first album for the respected Flying Fish independent record label, after releasing two albums on her own Whistling Pig Records.

Elders has won Best Female Songwriter and Song of the Year titles in the Music City Texas Industry Professional Insider’s Poll. Her husband is a featured player on the new album.