Parton’s career spans half a century, and she’s still relevant as ever.

Quick, name two female recording artists who’ve managed to stay relevant for fifty years.

Likely, you immediately said “Dolly Parton”, and then were stumped. Me too.

It’s weird, because I can remember being very young, with our giant (for the day) console color television tuned to the old Porter Wagoner Show, and listening to Dolly sing, although what I mostly remember is her commercial spots on the show for their sponsors, usually a brand of soap powder.

“And you’ll get a fluffy bath towel inside each and every box of Biz!” she’d say with her down-home drawl. You just knew, despite the sequined look that was part of the show’s signature charm, she had a houseful of those towels herself.

Skip forward more years than I care to admit, and I’m sitting here listening to the songs on Dolly’s newly-released Backwoods Barbie album. The title is a wry reminder of Dolly’s sense of humor, which has been described as “bawdy” by some, and but for her distinctive voice, the music could be that of some new breakthrough star on the country scene. That sense of humor and enduring talent only adds to her appeal: Dolly Parton remains a country music icon, and probably the one you’d most like to sit and have a cup of coffee with.

It’s the kind of appeal that comes through no matter where you see her: meeting with kids to promote her own Imagination Library, founded in 1996 and now in 566 countries worldwide, joking with David Letterman late nights, or answering frank questions from Larry King on CNN. I suspect it’s because none of it is an act – she’s as genuine as they come.

Trailer Choir’s penchant for memorable lines puts them off the hillbilly hook

You’d think a name like Trailer Choir would completely and perfectly sum up a band with such tunes as “Rockin’ the Beer Gut”, “Rollin’ Through the Sunshine”, and “Off the Hillbilly Hook”.

You’d be right.

Trailer Choir is a good-timing band in the best traditions of Jimmy Buffett and Mother’s Finest, the kind of band you’d like to have a beer with, along with a few thousand of your closest friends. The kind of band that’s right at home at a frat party, in the parking lot during a football tailgate, at a seedy speakeasy, county fair, or even opening for a major act with a rowdy reputation of their own. And that’s exactly where you’ll find them, usually.

Trailer Choir is a band that’s still building a reputation, one beer-soaked party at a time. It hasn’t hurt that country star Toby Keith introduced himself following one of their shows, and subsequently signed them to Show Dog Nashville, his label. It’s allowed the trio to reach a wider audience, but they’re still plowing the same furrow.

“Rockin’ the beer gut
Well it’s just some extra love around her waist
Rockin’ the beer gut
She’s more than hot, she’s everything
And with the blue jeans
A little tight around her butt
Rockin’ the beer gut”

Country star Sara Evans stays true to her roots

Raised on a tobacco farm in the tiny township New Franklin, Missouri, country singer-songwriter Sara Evans must be living out a dream.

New Franklin boasts a population of less than two thousand. It probably would have been easy for her to settle into a routine on the farm, find a ready husband among the dozens of men who no doubt fawned over the striking Evans, and raise a family, quietly out of the limelight. The little girl who played mandolin and sang with her brothers would find a comfortable spot, and play a modest role.

But such was not meant to be, and Evans’ near-fairy tale life, married now to Alabama quarterback hero Jay Barker and enjoying a massively successful music career, must seem a far cry from her humble roots.

In fact, critics dismissed her sophomore album, No Place That Far, for straying from the classic country sound she displayed on her debut, Three Chords and the Truth. But her staying power and clear vision of her artistry have won through, as Evans has placed three platinum and one gold album on the charts to date, and is headlining a tour that combines elements including television soap stars and fund raising for sick children.

Brad Paisley goes for two straight at CMT Awards

Tonight, Brad Paisley fans will have their eyes glued to CMT at 8 pm, as the venerable country music network holds their annual CMT Music Awards show, featuring the top-selling artist and a skyful of country music’s brightest stars.

Paisley is nominated for Video of the Year and Male Video of the year with his excellent single “Waiting on a Woman” (having already won the CMA Award and the ACM Award in that category already), as well as for Collaborative Video of the Year with Keith Urban for “Start a Band” and CMT Performance of the Year for his part in “Country Boy” with Alan Jackson, George Strait and Dierks Bentley.

A complete list of Paisley’s awards is a litany of country music’s most prestigious, and includes three Grammy Awards, and he’s credited by Billboard Magazine with selling over a million copies of each of his seven albums, and no fewer than fourteen number-one singles on the Hot Country Songs charts. His current single, “Then”, is sitting atop the charts as of this writing.

He’s also known as a great entertainer who always has something new and exciting for concert-goers. His current tour, which kicked off June 5 in Charlotte, NC, is in support of his newest album “American Saturday Night”, scheduled to be released on June 30 on Arista Nashville, a show that the Boston Globe described as brimming with “style, energy, and grace” from “one of contemporary country music’s most likeable and gifted musicians”.