Category Archives: Pursuit of Happiness
Fort Hartsuff and 150 Years on the Nebraska Sandhills
Fort Hartsuff was established in the North Loup Valley of the Nebraska Sandhills in 1874, and was active until 1881. The fort was named for Maj. Gen. George I. Hartsuff, who died in 1874 from wounds received in the Civil … Continue reading
Nebraska Now
Looks like we’re Nebraska bound. I love New Mexico green chile and history and warm winters, but I have a great opportunity with a new consulting firm in a small town half-way between the here and home. That and Albuquerque … Continue reading
200 Years On the Santa Fe Trail
The Spanish founded the city of Santa Fe in 1610 on top of a native Pueblo, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís–the capital of Nuevo Mexico. The province became part of the nation … Continue reading
Raton, New Mexico
Willow Springs stage station once provided respite at the southern base of Raton Pass for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail’s mountain cutoff. In 1879, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway set rails over the pass from Colorado and … Continue reading
Absaroka County, New Mexico
In 2004, author Craig Johnson created Sheriff Walt Longmire as the protagonist in his series of Western-crime novels set in fictional Durant, Wyoming, county seat of the equally fictional Absaroka County. Longmire is a crime fighter, but first and foremost … Continue reading
Corb Lund Live at the Launchpad on 2020-03-08
Corb Lund put on an amazing show on Central Avenue–Old Route 66–in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Sunday March 8th, 2020, just before we all went into nation-wide lockdown. Corb has a new album coming out, Agricultural Tragic, and I scored … Continue reading
Grammys do Good, Ameripolitan Awards do Awesome
Dale Watson doesn’t much care for the “Americana” appellation, so he went and dubbed himself “Ameripolitan”. That’s a nod to the old “Countrypolitan” style of Chet Atkins’ 1960s’ Nashville Sound. Now I’m not much of a Chet Atkins fan of … Continue reading
2019 Blog Posts in Review: JCShepard.com turns 10
It’s the end of the decade… or maybe that’s the end of 2020 instead of the beginning. Either way, jcshepard.com is 10-years old, a decade since we went online 1 January 2009. Happy birthday to the blog. In 2018, our … Continue reading
JC’s Americana Top Tunes of 2019
The Year in Music for 2019 was dedicated to Guy Clark and Susanna Clark, with a coda for the late, great Townes Van Zandt. As soon as I heard about Steve Earle’s project to dedicate an album of covers to … Continue reading
No Depression 2019 Readers and Critics Favorite Albums
No Depression magazine started out covering “Alt.Country…whatever that is”. As such, they still cover, well, Alt.not-country but we’re not quite sure whatever that is”. No Depression isn’t an “Americana” magazine, but it isn’t NOT an “Americana” outlet either. Mostly, though, … Continue reading
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