Brett Bingham

Billy Parker will always be one of the greats... I'm proud that he has this autobiography to really show who he was and is. Dolly PartonA lover of country music and broadcasting from his earliest days, Billy Parker took his first tentative steps into both those fields while still in his teens, leading to lasting renown as both a top-rated deejay and country recording artist. Following a stint as the front man for Ernest Tubb's famed Texas Troubadours, Billy returned to his native Oklahoma, where he originated one of the first nationally known overnight radio shows of the '70s. For years, Billy's voice rode nightly over the mighty airwaves of the original KVOO, a 50,000-watt flamethrower that spread Billy Parker's Big Rigger show all across the country. Later, as program director for the station, he helped many country performers at all levels, becoming well-known for giving everyone a fair shake, regardless of their stature in the industry. Thanks - Thanks A Lot doesn't just refer to the famous hit record he cut back in the 1960s; it's also Billy Parker's sincere nod to those who helped make him what he is today: a performer with several national hits; a trailblazing, multiple-award-winning deejay; and-as the call letters of the station that brought him stardom indicate -nothing less than the Voice of Oklahoma. Billy was so important to the Oak Ridge Boys. He helped break all our songs and the Midwest followed. Billy was a trusted voice of radio. I am so blessed that our paths crossed and we became good friends for over five decades. Duane Allen (of the Oak Ridge Boys)

It was supposed to be a car dealership. Instead, it became one of the most famous American music venues of all time... Only one place in the whole world can claim to be both the Carnegie Hall of western swing and the penultimate stop on the Sex Pistols' infamous American tour. Now, for the first time ever, all the secrets of the hottest honky-tonk of the 20th Century--Cain's Ballroom--are revealed, in the words of the people who made it happen. Spanning the famed venue's first 75 years, from 1924 through 1999, Twentieth-Century Honky-Tonk tells it all, from Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys--who became a national sensation with their clear-channel ballroom broadcasts--to U2, the Police, and Van Halen--as Cain's became an essential stop for breakout acts and cosmic cowboys. The book also covers cutting-edge alt-rock acts, metal bands, and off-the-wall attractions like ladies' mud wrestling (which worked) and Pig Time Racing (which didn't)./p>BuyTwentieth-Century Honky-Tonk for the fascinating (and unauthorized) story of this fabled hardwood hangout's first seven-and-a-half decades. It's a honky-tonk fever dream