CMT article for World AIDS Day. You might think an article about AIDS and country music would make for a very short word count indeed, but there has been at least one moment worth mention. The article focuses on Reba McEntire's She Thinks His Name Was John, a sort of musical Grim Reaper ad.

Happily they also mention one of my favourite albums of all time, Rodney Crowell's The Houston Kid:

Two songs in the collection focus on the disparate lives of twin brothers. "I Wish It Would Rain" is the ramblings and self-recriminations of the brother who has been "turning tricks on Sunset," a "cracker gigolo" now dying of AIDS. "Wandering Boy" is the response of his once-homophobic brother who has remained in Texas and now stands ready to accept and comfort his prodigal twin. While Crowell's songs are as direct and uncompromising as "John," they haven't enjoyed nearly as much airplay.

Crowell's songs are far more "direct and uncomprimising" but them simply getting a shout on CMT is a victory. Those songs are painfully real stories of people whose humanity you have no trouble believing in.

There are some fun rocking songs too like Telephone Road and You Don't Know How Much I Hate You, plus the tribute to his ex-father in law on I Walk the Line (Revisited).