Barbara Fairchild - see artist discography

Shelly Fairchild "Ride" (Columbia Records, 2005)
(Produced by Buddy Cannon & Kenny Greenberg)
Blechh. In the wake of Gretchen Wilson's redneckin' breakthrough debut, Ms. Fairchild was hailed as another back-to-basics bad girl, part of a "new generation" of kickass country gals... Yeah, right. She just sounds like another warbling, overwrought wannabee soul singer to me, with bad, loud, clunky, overly-obvious, power chord-heavy musical backup. This is just bad music, and her vocals are really mannered and really irritating. Sorry, folks, but listening to this record is like having my teeth pulled by a blind tree sloth. I'm sure she'll be fabulously successful, but for an old-school country fan like me, this disc doesn't offer much that's worth revisiting. At first I was hopeful she was related to Barbara Fairchild, who I adore, but after I listened to this album, I was super-glad she wasn't.

Shelly Fairchild "Ruby's Money" (Revelation Nation, 2011)
Bluesy soul and bland, generic soul-rock. I guess, given the drift of Nashville over the last few decades, parts of this could be considered "country," but it's a pretty straight-up rock/pop record. Doesn't do much for me.

Shelly Fairchild "Buffalo" (Self-Released, 2016)
(Produced by Shelly Fairchild, Jeremy Lister & Carey Ott)

Donna Fargo - see artist discography

Tyler Farr "Camouflage" (Monument Records, 2010) (EP)
(Produced by Rich Hanson & Julian King)

Tyler Farr "Tyler Farr" (BNA Records, 2012)
(Produced by Jim Catino & Julian King)
Apparently, Missouri-born new-kid-on-the-block Tyler Farr was making headway as a newly-minted Nashville songwriter and had recorded a full album for BNA that was slated for release in 2012. However, the project fell afoul of dumb corporate mergers and got shelved after BNA folded, and the tracks stayed in the vault until the newly-expanded Columbia Nashville was able to sort out its roster. Most of the songs on this jettisoned album -- which exists in the wild in a few generic, no-art promotional copies -- were eventually released on Farr's official debut the following year, though two tracks, "Get Down" and "Running Out Of Guys Like That," remain unique to this orphaned album. I'm sure a box set will eventually come out that will right this wrong. Maybe.

Tyler Farr "Redneck Crazy" (Columbia Nashville, 2013)
(Produced by Jim Catino & Julian King)
A decent, slightly mediocre entry into the generic Top 40 dudely-dude-country subgenre... I didn't think Farr's voice was particularly strong, but with all that high-tech music around him, I guess it doesn't really matter. Like a lot of these guys, he's better on the uptempo, novelty-oriented material, and they wisely only give him a couple of slow ballads to sing. There's a whiff of the whole Big & Rich rock-rap influence as well, which doesn't do much for me. This is basically a rejiggering of the album that BNA Records shelved the year before: two songs, "Get Down" and "Running Out Of Guys Like That," were replaced by a couple fo newer tracks, "Ain't Even Drinkin'," and "Whiskey In My Water." So I suppose if you're a really, really big fan of Tyler Farr, you'll have to go onto the black market and track down one of those fugitive promo copies of the earlier version. But most of us can probably just check out this official debut disc, and shrug our shoulders anyway.

Tyler Farr "Suffer In Peace" (Columbia Nashville, 2015)
(Produced by Jim Catino & Julian King)

Narvel Felts - see artist discography

Freddy Fender - see artist discography

Rick Ferrell "Different Point Of View" (Dreamworks Records, 2001)
(Produced by James Stroud)
Terrible. Soggy, poppy crap that sounds like a mildly countrified version of Toto. Or something like that. The arrangements are just too cutesy and lightweight for me (hate that tinkly electric piano!) and Ferrell's voice seems pretty thin... Usually I can find something on a Nashville album that I find okay... Not here, though. I guess later he formed a duo with Jennifer Lee Hicks (the daughter of legendary steel player Russ Hicks!) but that seems to have fizzled out by decade's end. Originally from Portsmouth, Ohio.

Florida Georgia Line "Anything Like Me" (FGL Records, 2010) (EP)
(Produced by Wesley Walker)
These guys became huge. I missed it. This is a duo made up of Brian Kelley (who's from Florida) and Tyler Hubbard (from, yup, you guessed it, Georgia). This self-penned, prefab, brotastic six-song pop-country EP was their intro into Nashville, and two years later they went through the roof when their first album came out. I missed the whole thing. Saw a little bit early on, and just wasn't into it enough. Oh, well. Guess that's just my problem.

Florida Georgia Line "Here's To The Good Times" (Republic Records Nashville, 2012)
(Produced by Joey Moi)
Like I said, these guys were super-huge right out the gate. That much I was dimly aware of, but still couldn't care less. I had more obscure stuff to learn about. So, thank goodness for Wikipedia, which explains everything. Give then money when you can. Anyway, as my country music spidey sense was trying to warn me, this album shot to the top of the Country charts and crossed over into Pop. It sold millions of copies. The next one did even better. There was a disturbance in the Force. Still, I couldn't tell you the title of a single one of their songs. Life's too short.

Florida Georgia Line "Anything Goes" (Republic Records Nashville, 2014)
(Produced by Joey Moi)
Apparently this second album sold less units than the first, but officially topped both the Country and Pop charts. I imagine it was very professionally made.

Florida Georgia Line "Dig Your Roots" (Big Machine Records, 2016)
(Produced by Joey Moi)

Florida Georgia Line "The Acoustic Sessions" (Big Machine Records, 2019)

Florida Georgia Line "Can't Say I Ain't Country" (Big Machine Records, 2019)
(Produced by Florida Georgia Line, Joey Moi, David Garcia & Mark Holman)
Yeah, well, but I don't really need to say it, do I? Methinks you protest-eth too much. I mean... if you have to brag about it... maybe you're not as secure in your country roots as you say? Especially when you kick your album off with a song called "Tyler Got Him A Tesla"? Seriously: I don't think even bad grammar can help you out this time, my dudes. This was, by the way, their last album with their long-time Svengali producer Joey Moi, the guy who sculpted their prefab, pop-barrage, singalong anthem sound. Make of that what you will.

Florida Georgia Line "Life Rolls On" (Big Machine Records, 2021)
(Produced by Corey Crowder, Andrew DeRoberts, Jeff Gitelman, Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Priscilla Renea & Jordan Schmidt)
Shorn of their original producer Joey Moi, the lads put together a studio team enough producers to form their own major league baseball team. That's never a good sign. This was their last studio album together as "Florida Georgia Line," with both Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley going solo after this, and the label squeezing out one last "best-of" collection to keep the royalties flowing. Maybe I should listen to that sometime. Or, maybe not.

Florida Georgia Line "Greatest Hits" (Big Machine Records, 2022)

Danny Flowers - see artist discography

Charlie Floyd "Charlie's Nite Life" (Liberty Records, 1993)
(Produced by Jimmy Bowen & Clyde Brooks)
Some folks once heralded Charlie Floyd as a neotrad roots-country dude, but I think that's mostly in contrast to the ever-increasing prefabness of Nashville around him... This album seems pretty by-the-numbers to me, disappointing even, with Floyd distinguishing himself on some tracks by employing a Springsteen-ish growl, though overall I'd say his vocals are fairly weak. While he pays homage to the greats (in ""By George, I'm Jonesin' ") the arrangements are pretty pedestrian, pitting his Keith Whitley-ish voice against the studio production that's more along the lines of what you'd hear on a Shenandoah or Alabama album. There were two chart entries from this one, both back forties entries, "Good Girls Go to Heaven" and "I've Fallen in Love (And I Can't Get Up)." Personally I'd go for the George Jones song, and another ballads that's paired up with it, "If It Wasn't For The Pain." Otherwise, this is pretty skippable, though not bad. Apparently the album title, "Charlie's Nite Life," was also the name of a nightclub that Floyd owned in his home state of South Carolina.

Charlie Floyd "Sounds Of Home" (Country Boy Records, 2010)

Flynnville Train "Flynnville Train" (Envoy Records, 2003)
(Produced by David Barrick)
So, here are the indie roots of this shaggy-lookin', made-for-stadiums-and-summer-festivals, southern rock-oriented country band from Middletown, Indiana. The band included brothers Brent Flynn (lead guitar) and Brian Flynn (lead vocals), along with drummer Tommy Bales, bassist Joseph Shreve and various others who fell by the wayside. This was their first album, recorded at Barrick Recording Studio, an independent sound house in Glasgow, Kentucky, self-released by the band while they were still plugging away on a local and regional level. Four of these songs made it onto their major-label debut (below) and personally I like it that they brought their original producer along with them after they went Nashville. I suppose if you're a hardcore Flynnville fan, you might want to track this one down for the other seven tracks that are unique to this record.

Flynnville Train "Flynnville Train" (Show Dog Nashville, 2007)
(Produced by David Barrick & Richard Young)
After working for several years as local-level rust-belt southern rockers, Flynnville Train was championed by the late, great Toby Keith, who signed them to his Show Dog imprint. Universal Music dropped them, however, after Show Dog got folded into the larger corporate structure in '09, and also because this first album yielded only a couple of mid-range singles... and in Nashville it's pretty much the kiss of death if you don't pump out a #1 hit single every other week. So, semi-indie status and lots of touring for these guys.

Flynnville Train "Redemption" (Evolution Records, 2010)
(Produced by David Barrick & Flynnville Train)
Over the last few years, the classic Southern rock sound has found a new venue in the country Top 40, championed by bands like Montgomery Gentry, et. al. On their second album, this Indiana-based quartet ups the ante with a headlong rush into classic a Lynyrd Skynyrd/Johnny Winter/Allman-esque guitar attack. Lots of blue-collar, middle-America, heartland nostalgia as well: the opening track, "Home," follows a familiar path of extolling the virtues of the American family farm, although the Flynnville boys do it with way louder guitars than most of the Nashville bands. "Preachin' To The Choir" is a political number that puts a harsh spotlight on the current economy, probably more from Glenn Beck's perspective than Paul Krugman's, but a legitimate, heartfelt blast of frustration and anger, nonetheless. (Note to the band: the one line here I don't really like is the one that condemns "all" politicians -- I think there are real differences between the parties, and individuals on both sides of the aisle that are working in good faith to solve our problems; voter apathy and anger definitely are not going to help us get out of this hole... But paying attention to voting records and putting people's feet to the fire will help. Anyway, enough preaching from me... back to the music...) This is a really strong record, with many different textures and talents on display... If you like a more rugged sound than what's coming out of Nashville, you might wanna check this album out.

Flynnville Train "Back On Track" (AMP Entertainment, 2013)
Oh! I get it! "On track..." Like they were a train or something. Anyway, the band kept chugging away, albeit on a more indie level. No radio singles and no chart hits after their first album, but they seem to have had a pretty solid fan base that kept 'em on the road. Also worth noting: Gretchen Wilson dropped in for some guest vocals on "Don't Misunderstand Me."

Flynnville Train "FVT IV" (AMP Entertainment, 2017)

Red Foley - see artist discography

Colt Ford "Ride Through The Country" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2008)
(Produced by Shannon Houchins)
Gee, could anyone possibly do country-rap better than Cowboy Troy?? Oh, yeah. For sure. But do I really want to listen to it? Nope, not really. Colt Ford (ne Jason Farris Brown) barreled out of Athens, Georgia with his whole schtick ready to go, and plenty of moxie to make it happen... A former pro golfer, Ford self-funded his rise into redneck country celebrity, co-founding the Average Joe's label and pumping out record after record with no fear of some corporate overlord screwing things up. He didn't actually do that well on the charts, with his best singles coming from guest-star duets featuring the likes of Eric Church, John Michael Montgomery or Jake Owen. A couple of these tunes cracked into the lower Top Forty, but mostly he remained a mid-rung chart artist, with his bread and butter coming from album sales, not airplay. Ford also found modest success as a songwriter, with his song "Dirt Road Anthem" scoring a chart-topping hit for Jason Aldean a couple of years after Colt Ford released his own version on this album. Maybe more of a comedy artist, and not my cup of tea, either way.

Colt Ford "Country Is As Country Does" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2009) (EP)
A 6-song EP...

Colt Ford "Tailgate: College Football Versions, v.1" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2009)
About four-dozen versions of the hick-hop football anthem, "Tailgate," each one with a tailormade shout-out to a different college football team. Sort of like Floyd Flowers' NFL album from a few years earlier, or all those work-for-hire albums Bobby Hardin did in the early 'Eighties. Seems like kind of a weird gig for someone as famous as Colt Ford... but what do I know? Go, teams!!

Colt Ford "Tailgate: College Football Versions, v.2" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2009)
But wait: there's more! Just in case anyone at Fresno State or Tulane felt left out.

Colt Ford "Live From Suwannee River Jam" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2009)
A live performance...

Colt Ford "Chicken & Biscuits" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2010)

Colt Ford "Every Chance I Get" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2011)

Colt Ford "Declaration of Independence" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2012)

Colt Ford "Thanks For Listening" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2014)

Colt Ford "Love Hope Faith" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2017)

Colt Ford "We The People, Volume 1" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2019)

Colt Ford "Must Be The Country" (Average Joe's Entertainment, 2023)

Tennessee Ernie Ford - see artist discography

The Forester Sisters - see artist discography

Peggy Forman "Presenting Peggy Forman" (Dimension Records, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Ray Pennington)
Songwriter Peggy Forman can be seen as a transitional figure, straddling a couple of distinct periods in Nashville history. She had considerable success as a late '70s songwriter, penning tunes recorded by Margo Smith, Conway Twitty and others, including of course Loretta Lynn, who recorded 1977's chart-topping "Out Of My Head And Back In My Bed," along with several other Forman songs. Peggy Forman also bridged the neo-trad era of the early 'Eighties, notably with her song "Fifteen Years Going Up (And One Night Coming Down)" appearing George Strait's third album. This album was a bid to break Forman through as a solo performer, on the major-label adjacent Dimension Records. The star thing didn't quite happen, but it's always nice to hear a songwriter covering their own material.

Peggy Forman "Honky Tonkin' Housewife" (GoldRhyme Records, 1996)
This back-to-basics set was recorded years later, with Forman firmly rooted in the indie-label private-press scene, or at least in the 1990s, digital-era version.

Peggy Forman "I Found Him" (Pen A Hit Records, 2003)
(Produced by Wayne Forman)
An all-gospel album, with about half the songs composed by tunesmith Peggy Forman, including several tracks co-written with her husband, Wayne Forman.

Sylvia Forrest "The Nights Are Never Long Enough With You" (Door Knob Records, 1989) (LP)

Foster & Lloyd - see artist discography

Jerry Foster "Looking Back" (Cinnamon Records, 1974) (LP)
(Produced by Johnny Morris & Lewis Willis)
One of Nashville's most prolific songwriters, Jerry Foster was born in Tallapoosa, Missouri, a tiny town just north of Memphis, and he made his way -- literally -- into the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame. His professional career started in the late 1950s, when he performed on a series of regional "jamboree" revues, including a TV show in Cape Girardeau, not far from Saint Louis. He met lyricist Bill Rice in the mid-1960s and formed a partnership that swept into Music City at the decade's end, placing hit after hit with stars such as Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Charley Pride. A commercially dominant duo for most of the 'Seventies: they won ten awards at the 1972 CMA ceremony alone, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Foster recorded albums of his own, including this gentle countrypolitan gem.

Radney Foster - see artist discography

The Four Guys - see artist profile

4 Runner "4 Runner" (Polygram Records, 1995)
(Produced by Buddy Cannon & Larry Shell)
Super-duper back-benchers. A vocal group that included Jim Chapman, Billy Crittenden, Lee Hilliard and Craig Morris, each of whom had their own tangential connections to the Nashville fame factory, incuding family members in other bands and s few songs recorded by star artists. First formed in 1993, the group semi-broke up when Billy Crittenden left to pursue other industry work, then the band really broke up, then got back together, etc. This first album was the only one that had any action on the charts, eking out a single song in the Top Thirty ("Cain's Blood," which peaked at #26). At some point several of the 4 Runner band members joined Loretta Lynn's tour band, but their own prospects as headline artists proved to be pretty limited.

4 Runner "Getaway Car" (Fresh Records, 2003)
(Produced by Tony Smith & Kent Wells)

4 Runner "Back Runnin' " (Audium Records, 2022)

Hank Snow & Kelly Foxton "Lovingly Yours" (RCA, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Bill Vandervort & Dan Dea)
Not a lot of info about Florida-born singer Kelly Foxton, although her partnership with Hank Snow was certainly a pretty high profile gig, even in the twilight years of his career. They recorded two albums together, yielding one single that sneaked into the back forty, the lead track off this album, "Hasn't It Been Good Together." There wasn't a lot of chart action beyond that, though, and even though they recorded another album, Ms. Foxton doesn't seem to have recorded any solo stuff after the Snow duet dissolved. She made a few TV appearances around this time -- on Hee Haw and The Johnny Cash Show -- and also toured with Box Car Willie. She really made her mark entertaining American troops at home and abroad, and hosted her own Las Vegas revue for a while, before retiring to Boca Raton, Florida.

Hank Snow & Kelly Foxton "Win Some, Lose Some, Lonesome" (RCA, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Bill Vandervort & Dan Dea)
This album alternated between solo tracks by both singers and duets... It's pretty syrupy and massively disconnected from most of what was going on in modern-day country at the time, but I guess you gotta give Snow some credit for still having a little gas in the tank. Ms. Foxton sounds awfully perky and bright, but neither of these albums really helped launch her solo career.

Jeff Foxworthy "The Best Of Jeff Foxworthy: Double Wide And Single Minded" (Rhino Records, 2003)
I'm kidding, right? I mean, I'm not actually adding a review of that guy who does all those dumb "Yeww maht be uhh redneck, if..." jokes, right? The thing is, though, Foxworthy is a very funny guy... His timing is great, and his material is pretty well chosen, if also quite repetitive. That being said, this two disc set (one CD, one DVD...) is probably about as much of him as I'd ever need to hear... This set reprises a bunch of stuff from other albums, but it captures him pretty well. Worth checking out... The videos suck, though. Lip-synching to old standup routines just isn't a good idea, even if you're trying to look lame and rinky-dink.

Garland Frady "Pure Country" (Elektra/Countryside Records, 1973) (LP)
(Produced by Michael Nesmith)
A nice one! And well named. With his soulful, understated baritone, North Carolina-born Garland Frady (1941-2004) had a minor hit with "The Barrooms Have Found You," and his barely cracking into the Top 100 on an indie label led, inexorably, to cherished cult status. He was just that good. The rugged-voiced Frady had cut a string of singles dating back to the mid-1960s, but I guess nothing ever quite clicked, and this was his first LP, made while he was living in Los Angeles. An early-'Seventies regular in the Palomino Club's house band, Frady was pretty well-connected and is backed here by label owner Michael Nesmith and The Countryside Band, a group assembled to be the studio crew for the short-lived Countryside label. This was one of only two records released on Countryside, the other being a solo set by steel guitarist Red Rhodes. Speaking of pedal steel, this album is packed with lots of fancy riffs, prominently mixed into a remarkably rootsy, honkytonk-oriented album. On almost all the tracks, J. G. O'Rafferty plays steel, though Red Rhodes and J. D. Maness also play on one track apiece, with Rhodes providing some tasty licks on a more-countrified cover of "Teach Your Children," one of several tracks that give a nod towards the early '70s country-rock scene. Thematically, the song dovetails nicely with the lone song written by Grady himself, "The Barrooms Have Found You," in which a father laments his kid going nuts and partying a little too hardy after turning 21. The rest of the songs reflect a diverse repertoire, with tracks by Johnny Cash, Casey Kelly, a Dave Loggins oldie, Buzz Rabin and Jesse Winchester, as well a countryfied cover of Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now." All in all, a pretty strong album, sounding sort of like Dave Dudley doing a semi-hippie session, with some funny-smelling smoke in the air. Also on board were fiddler Byron Berline and Linda Hargrove working in the background as a rhythm guitarist... If you see this one, snap it up. It's nice and twangy... Apparently Frady hit on hard times in the music business (see below) but he re-emerged and released at least two more albums in the 1990s, before passing away in 2004. This first album sure is a great legacy.

Cleve Francis - see artist discography

Dallas Frazier - see artist discography

Frazier River "Frazier River" (MCA Records, 1996)
(Produced by Mark Wright)
Poppy, guitars'n'synth country, with big crescendoes, a thumping backbeat, and a hint of Shenandoah-style group harmonies. It's regular-dude guy stuff, with nods towards Springsteen and the Eagles, and pretty-boy lead singer Daniel Frazier does alright. Doesn't do a lot for me, but I've certainly heard worse. One clever song, "She Got What She Deserves," has a snarky-sounding title, but the twist is that she gets a nice guy who'll take good care if her, and not the loser that's narrating the song. The inspirational "Heaven Is Smiling" might become a favorite for religious listeners. This was apparently their only full album.

Janie Fricke - see artist discography

David Frizzell - see artist discography

Lefty Frizzell - see artist discography

Micki (Fuhrman) "Angels Watching Over Me" (Canaan/Dayspring Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Ken Harding)
In a curious career arc, singer Micki Fuhrman started out as a semi-successful regional artist, releasing an indie single while working on the Louisiana Hayride show that cracked into the country Top 100 (though just barely) and earned a contract with MCA Records that yielded another not-quite-hit in 1978. Then for a few years she recorded as a contemporary Christian/Southern artist, releasing two LPs for the Word label. She returned -- briefly -- to the world of Nashville Top 40, but never quite made a real dent in the charts. Fuhrman released an album's worth of secular singles between 1975-83, but her secular stuff has never came out on a full-length album. Maybe some day?

Micki (Fuhrman) "Look Again" (Dayspring, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Tony Brown & David Kent)

---

Hick Music Index

---