But wait a minute: classic rock isn’t the only music I am familiar with. I just realized that this year. I was raised by my grandparents and they really didn’t like “that goddamned loud rock and roll music,” as my grandpa used to call it. I was banned from playing Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein” once because I played it so loud, but I digress.

My grandparents listened to country music. And not that “pop” country stuff that’s around today. No, it was the hardcore classic country from artists like Buck Owens, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette. So that means I listened to it too, although at the time I despised it as much as they did my rock music.

Then I got older. I listened more to the country music of the past and realized that the music and the singers often crafted some very good songs. I began really listening in earnest to modern country around 1994. Why did I start then? It was because as a writer, I felt that the songs being produced in the country genre far outweighed most of the stuff that was coming out on the rock stations. It wasn’t so much the music, but the lyrics. Rock music was screaming guitars and killer bass lines and loud drums and ear-piercing vocals. I loved it and I still do, but country music offered something different for the most part: lyrics. They were telling stories that most rock artists weren’t.

This fall I decided to add a classic country show to my KEOL repertoire. After all, rock music is not that far removed from country music.

Yes, it’s true. Rock and roll grew out of country music and rhythm and blues music back in the mid-1950s when Elvis started shaking his pelvis all around. But he wasn’t the only one who took up the new musical style. Conway Twitty, Charlie Rich, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash-all were putting out music that was considered more rock ‘n’ roll than country back then. There are differences between classic rock and classic country. When I play classic rock on KEOL, I play “real” classic rock. It’s not all about the biggest hits by the biggest stars. Don’t let those other radio stations fool you. The classic rock era that we know started with FM stations moving to album-oriented playlists, shunning the “Top 40” hits of the day and focusing on deeper album tracks from famous and unknown artists alike. “Stairway to Heaven” was a huge song for Led Zeppelin, right? Yes, but it was never released officially as a single, therefore, according to chart nomenclature of the day, it was not a “hit.”

The Classic Rock Extravaganza strives to bring deep album cuts that many people have not heard as well as some of the bigger hits from the era. The Classic Country with Papa Lory show is almost the exact opposite. Classic country deals with the biggest hits often performed by the biggest stars. It’s the music that shaped country music history and inspired country artists long afterward. The classic country show celebrates the music that came before that continues to inspire artists and fans to this day.

So there you have it. Whatever your music tastes, KEOL can provide nourishment for you. Jazz, country, indie, bit music, classic rock, classic country: it’s all there waiting for you. So why not tune in?