Do y’all remember country music? I’m talking about REAL country music. The kind some of us (older folks) listened to back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, even the 80s… the kind of country music we watched as it changed from what it was then, to what it is now. Recently, I listened to a new CD by Tim Culpepper. The music is unquestionably country.If you were to meet Tim Culpepper, and ask him what his genre’ is – he could answer with one word. COUNTRY. Most artists today can’t do that. When you ask them what their genre’ is, they tell you it’s country/rock. Or, it’s country/pop, soulful/country or some other kind of country. But for most, it isn’t country music.
Tim records for HonkyTone Records, and they have got themselves quite a singer. I only wish that today’s Top 40 stations would go back to their country roots, and get music like this back on the radio. I think it’s a good thing that we have satellite and Internet radio stations out there. Because people who can sing like Tim Culpepper need to be heard somewhere.
For one thing – he’s got songs on here that are more than four minutes long. And when you listen to them, you are happy that they are more than four minutes long! And, you wouldn’t even care if they were longer! The first song I heard was Ghost. It’s one of those “Listen up, guys, I have a story to tell you” kind of songs. ‘You’re just a ghost of a love that’s dead and gone…a memory that keeps turning around to watch my tear drops fall.’. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Oh, wait – yes it does. Because when that one is done – we’ve gone “One More for the Road.” Then comes “Toss and Turn”, and then we get “Getting’ On with Getting’ Over You.” And by now – you want to put your boots on and go to a concert, or a honky tonk, or even the bar on the corner to drop a few dollars in the juke box and hope THIS is what comes out!
I really want to share two paragraphs from the “about” section of his facebook page. I think these two paragraphs pretty much tell you who Tim Culpepper is, and why Tim does what he does. “Tim’s journey began as kind of a love story, with the marriage of his Mother Judy, to his father, country entertainer/musician, Forrest Culpepper, or “Curly”, as he had come to be known by those who frequented the honkytonk scene in and around Montgomery, Alabama. The birth of Tim, soon after, would complete an already accomplished family of singers and musicians that, at the time, included such close friends as Hank Williams, Sr. (who had passed, before Tim’s birth), and Marty Robbins.
While most children began life experiencing a mostly subdued environment, young Culpepper was backstage with the likes of Hank, Jr., Marty and Johnny Cash, or in the audience with his Mother, while his father was performing. On one occasion, while sharing stories of her son’s early childhood, Judy fondly recalled one particular night during a Hank Jr. performance, when songwriter and manager, Merle Kilgore, was charged with babysitting Tim while she got up to 2 step, “It wasn’t the ‘Brady Bunch!’” she laughs. “But we sure were a family!”
I’m excited about this kid. His music is everything country music is supposed to be, and he sings great, too. I hope he wasn’t born 40 years too late for his music to find a place within the genre’ it was intended.
I hope everyone will take a minute to visit his website www.timculpeppermusic.com, and follow him on Twitter @TCulpepperMusic.
To say I’m impressed would be a huge understatement. I need to find a thesaurus, because my limited vocabulary just doesn’t have enough adjectives in it to accurately describe what this man does with a song. He’s my new ‘obsession’. And I think I’m going to spend the next week… or two… or three… listening to the music of Tim Culpepper. If you want to find something that takes you back – back to what country music is supposed to be. Tim Culpepper is just what you’re looking for.
Country (CountrysChatter.com)