Outskirts of Country Blog

Getting acquainted

Rick Teverbaugh  |  July 1, 2009

For me this is the perfect time to be starting a blog called the "Outskirts of Country." In my next offering I will detail why this is such a great time for it.

Right now let me tell you what I envision will be covered here. It turns out it will be almost anything that I believe has or is being overlooked and/or under publicized under the broadest of umbrellas that contain country music. So don't look for much of the mainstream hit machine from Nashville. There's plenty of ways to find out what's going on in that territory including the host for this blog. But certainly don't expect me to dismiss that music as being somehow inferior to what I'm preparing to cover. I listen to a lot of it and like some of it very, very much.

I believe the largest part of the acts and music mentioned here will come from either the Americana or alt-country camps and there's a wealth of great artists and material from which to draw in those areas.

I came to the Outskirts of Country at a very early age. I was drawn there by Poco, Gram Parsons and several other acts who were considered country rock at the time. But, and this will tip you off about my age if you haven't read the bio, I followed them at the time they were making that music. Following Gram led me, of course, to the Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmylou Harris. From there I learned of Rodney Crowell and my world expanded rapidly.

I hope you enjoy our time together. I hope you will feel free to drop me a line here at any time to give me reactions that are both positive and negative. It is also my hope that you'll share this location with your friends whose tastes run into this music. I hope you become regular visitors.