Various Artists - A Country Music Celebration, Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville, TN, 1-13-1993

There are so many interesting tribute concerts that have taken place over the years but then were largely forgotten because they didn't get an official release. Here's another one I happened to find recently. 

There have been many country music themed TV specials over the years. I'm not familiar with most of them. But in terms of sheer star power, I couldn't overlook this one. The vast majority of the biggest names in country music at the time performed, back before country music went downhill with "bro country," rap, Autotune, and so forth. I don't know how often the Country Music Association has put on shows like this. I did find their 25th anniversary concert on YouTube, but it's less than an hour long and not as impressive a line-up.

This concert crammed in a surprising number of songs in the amount of time it had. That's because it often only allowed for truncated versions of songs, meaning two minutes or less. In the worst case, Glen Campbell's version of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" was under a minute long. But the plus side is the show kept moving, so if there's a song you don't like, it wasn't long until the next one started.

I pretty much kept the show intact, until near the end. Very late in the show, around track 45, there was an extended tribute to Dolly Parton. I cut the vast majority of it out, because it was a video presentation, with short snippets of the recorded versions of her most famous songs. I cut all that because it was meant to be seen more than heard, with no live musical performances in it. However, immediately following that was a speech by Parton, and I kept all that.

The sound quality is excellent, even though this all remains unreleased. The only problem I had was with the last song, "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton (with Kenny Rogers assisting). Clearly, the time allotted for the TV show came to an end, because the song was cut short, at only about a minute long, and then faded out. But at least it seems the performers knew the version was going to be a short one, because they only sang the chorus over and over. However, even that short version was marred by an announcer speaking over part of it to hype up the next shows coming up on that TV channel. I managed to cut that out by largely repeating one of the choruses. That's why that one song has "[Edit]" in its title. 

Oh, by the way, this website has a couple dozen nice photos from the event:

Nashville Then: A Country Music Celebration to honor CMA in 1993 

This album is an hour and 24 minutes long. 

01 talk (emcee)
02 This Nightlife (Clint Black with Ricky Skaggs, Glen Campbell & Mark O'Connor)
03 talk (Clint Black)
04 Road Scholar (Lee Roy Parnell & Delbert McClinton)
05 talk (Clint Black)
06 Here I Am (Lyle Lovett)
07 talk (Clint Black)
08 Heartland (Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson)
09 One More Last Chance (Vince Gill)
10 talk (Vince Gill & Travis Tritt)
11 What Would Elvis Do (Pam Tillis)
12 Wear My Ring Around Your Neck (Rodney Crowell)
13 T-R-O-U-B-L-E (Travis Tritt)
14 Devil in Disguise (Trisha Yearwood)
15 That's All Right, Mama (Vince Gill)
16 talk (Reba McEntire)
17 A Little Bit of Love (Wynonna Judd)
18 talk (Reba McEntire)
19 Goodbye Again (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
20 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
21 Take It Back (Reba McEntire)
22 talk (Randy Owen)
23 Old Time Rock and Roll (Little Texas)
24 talk (Randy Owen)
25 It's a Heartache (Lorrie Morgan)
26 talk (Randy Owen)
27 Hard Working Man (Brooks & Dunn)
28 Drive South (Suzy Bogguss)
29 I'm in a Hurry (Alabama)
30 talk (Vince Gill)
31 The Heart Won't Lie (Reba McEntire & Vince Gill)
32 The Whiskey Ain't Working Anymore (Travis Tritt & Marty Stuart)
33 Love Certified (Ronnie Milsap & Patti LaBelle)
34 Silver Bells [Instrumental] (Charlie Daniels, Mark O'Connor & Sam Bush)
35 talk (Charlie Daniels & Emmylou Harris)
36 Too Far Gone (Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill & Ricky Skaggs)
37 Two More Bottles of Wine (Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill & Ricky Skaggs)
38 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Glen Campbell)
39 talk (Glen Campbell)
40 The Ride (John Anderson)
41 Talking to Hank (Mark Chesnutt & Joe Diffie)
42 talk (Glen Campbell)
43 Midnight in Montgomery (Alan Jackson)
44 You Decorated My Life (Kenny Rogers)
45 talk (Kenny Rogers)
46 talk (Dolly Parton)
47 Full Circle (Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers & Glen Campbell)
48 talk (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton)
49 I Will Always Love You [Edit] (Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Eosyj9Qd

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/2l2znKTYkfdFKDm/file 

The cover photo is from the finale of this exact concert. From left to right: Emmylou Harris, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson.

Brooks & Dunn - CMT Storytellers, Worldwide Stages, Spring Hill, TN, 3-25-2022

I have to confess I'm not much of a Brooks and Dunn fan. However, I made a vow to post all the "VH-1 Storytellers" concerts I could by musical acts that are at least decent, and this country duo makes that bar. 

Technically, this isn't a "VH-1 Storytellers" concert. That TV show basically died out in 2012. But it's basically the exact same thing, same storytelling format, except it's on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel instead of the VH1 channel. Both channels are owned by the same mega corporation (Paramount). So the show was revived in 2022 with the twist that all the new episodes feature country music acts.

The duo was formed when Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both struggling singer-songwriters in the country genre at the time, decided to join forces. Their debut album as a duo went on to sell six million copies in the U.S. They had success after success after that, with a total of 20 songs that reached Number One on the U.S. country singles charts. They broke up in 2010. But they've had numerous reunions since then, including this one.

Here's their Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more:

Brooks & Dunn - Wikipedia

I faced some of the exact same problems when I was putting together VH-1 Storytellers albums. For instance, the applause was often abruptly cut off at the ends of songs. And snippets of songs played later in the show were played earlier in the show, right before commercial breaks. Furthermore, some of their talking between songs was actually from interviews and not the show itself. I had to do a lot of editing to smooth all that over and get this to sound like a continuous concert. I hope I succeeded.

This album is 40 minutes long.

01 Brand New Man (Brooks & Dunn)
02 talk (Brooks & Dunn)
03 Red Dirt Road (Brooks & Dunn)
04 talk (Brooks & Dunn)
05 Neon Moon (Brooks & Dunn)
06 talk (Brooks & Dunn)
07 Ain't Nothing 'bout You (Brooks & Dunn)
08 talk (Brooks & Dunn)
09 You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone (Brooks & Dunn)
10 talk (Brooks & Dunn)
11 Believe (Brooks & Dunn)
12 talk (Brooks & Dunn)
13 Boot Scootin' Boogie (Brooks & Dunn)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GmdfoLie

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/xqz0cFEFIjMhv2O/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. Ronnie Dunn is the one who has a big "cowboy" tattoo on his arm.