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 Who
 What Local Radio Host Offers Hard to Find Classics and History Lessons Along With the Music
 When February 6, 2005
 Where Tuscaloosa, AL
 Source Country Music Flashback on Catfish 102.9
 

If you've given up on hearing "good ole" traditional country and bluegrass on the radio, you obviously haven't heard the local Saturday morning show that has West Alabama humming familiar, but hard-to-find, treasures from the past. Country Music Flashback with Andy Tucker, which airs Saturday mornings from 7-9 on Catfish 102.9, is the ultimate spotlight on traditional country & western, bluegrass and gospel music. Listeners can expect to hear the likes of Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Uncle Dave Macon, Rose Maddox, the Louvin Brothers plus scores of other legends. Radio is Tucker's hobby, as he owns the Andy Tucker Agency of Farmers Insurance on Skyland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa.

"The great thing about this show is that I have complete freedom to spin records from as far back as the 1920s. This is an artform that most stations have forgotten, much less would even offer in small doses like I am able to do," says the 28-year-old Tucker whose knowledge of the music he plays makes even the old-timers scratch their heads. According to Tucker, he was turned on to this music when he was 11-years-old after hearing Roy Acuff's version of "I Saw the Light" this drove him to begin his mission of learning as much as he could about this music that he says has been "lost in the shuffle." The University of Alabama graduate served as a weekend host on WSM in Nashville's Interstate Radio Network and fulfilled a dream by affiliating with the legendary Ernest Tubb Record Shop.

Anyone tuning Andy in might hear a record from regional favorite Carl Sauceman, an upbeat, driving shuffle number recorded on the West Coast or a selection from a Mississippi string band recorded in 1929. Tucker eludes, "There is far more character to a scratchy 78 or 45 rpm than the flawless, manufactured sound of today." Though he adds there is still plenty of worthwhile music being recorded on independent labels and it is added to the mix. Interviewees on CMF have included Eddy Arnold, Bill Anderson, Jean Shepard, Billy Walker, Hank Thompson and Charlie Louvin. Tucker also features live music periodically, which is certainly a throwback to days gone by.

Since going on the air in April of 2003, Tucker has learned that people are hungry for this particular kind of music. "In an age where the traditional aspect is often left out of 'country' music, folks find my presentation of these recordings refreshing…and the overwhelming response is not just from those that grew up listening to this, but from younger people as well," says Tucker. He plays only "music with integrity," which is what families were exposed to as they gathered around radios 60 and 70 years ago, and thanks to Country Music Flashback, now have access to again.

 
 Contact Andy Tucker
Country Music Flashback on Catfish 102.9
atucker1@farmersagent.com
(205) 242-9729


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