Music

Country, gospel, rock and the standards. Listening well, playing something and the stories behind the songs.

Country music videos

GuideCal Brennan23 Sept 20266 min

Learning an Instrument After Sixty Is Good for Your Brain

Twenty minutes a day, the right instrument for your hands, and a hymn you already know by heart. That's the whole plan.

Start a Vinyl Collection Without Torching Your Budget

The turntable matters more than the records, the thrift bins are better than you think, and the suitcase player is quietly eating your albums.

GuideWes Dunbar23 Sept 20265 min

Roots Music Isn't a Costume

Del McCoury sang with Bill Monroe in 1963. Billy Strings learned Doc Watson songs from his dad. The line is unbroken, and you can join it.

Ask BRO

Rewrite my CV so it actually gets read

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StoryWes Dunbar23 Sept 20266 min

Johnny Cash Never Served Time in Prison

The straight version: the pills that nearly killed him, the gospel records nobody bought, and the four months between June's funeral and his own.

PartnerWhackAWoke.com

5 min read

How to Take Your Family to a Concert and Actually Enjoy It

Ear muffs, curfew math, and the kind of shows that work with a seven-year-old in tow. Plus the mistake most dads make at the merch table.

Poll

Where does your phone charge overnight?

GuideDean Shaw23 Sept 20266 min

Build a Home Stereo That Actually Sings for Under $1,000

Spend it in the right order, put the speakers in the right place, and a thousand dollars buys you a system you'll keep for twenty years.

GuideSam Ortiz23 Sept 20265 min

Clean Music a Teenager Will Actually Turn Up

The playlist loses the second you call it clean. Here's what to play instead, artist by artist, and how to get it past a fifteen-year-old.

Names.com — The name is the first thing you sell

PartnerNames.com

GuideDean Shaw23 Sept 20266 min

Turn a Story Into a Song Without Losing the Story

The craft behind a three-minute country, gospel or bluegrass song, from the one-sentence test to the line you'll have to cut.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next fortnight.

GuideWes Dunbar23 Sept 20266 min

How to Get Into Bluegrass and Actually Start Playing It

Five instruments, one 1945 band that started the whole thing, and a listening order that takes you from Bill Monroe to Billy Strings without getting lost.

GuideSam Ortiz23 Sept 20266 min

Twelve Minutes a Day Beats an Hour of Arguing

Count repetitions instead of minutes, fix the bench height, and stop asking a nine-year-old to be the one who remembers.

Ask BRO

Give me something to do with my kids this weekend

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StoryJosh Halloran23 Sept 20265 min

The Stories Behind the Hymns You Sing Without Thinking

A telegram reading "Saved alone," a slave ship captain, and a father who lost everything in two days. The hymnal is full of people having the worst week of their lives.