101 Hodag Jokes is now available online from The Hodag Store!

Do you love cryptids? Do you love jokes? If so, perhaps you would love some jokes about cryptids! 101, to be specific. And did I mention limericks? And cute hodag illustrations? A thorough description of hodags and a 10-page bibliography of hodag references?! We've got you covered!

Marcus Cederström, Anna Rue, Fred Chao, and I (Nate Gibson) have a new jokebook out, 101 Hodag Jokes, and it is now available for sale online from The Hodag Store in Rhinelander, WI.

https://www.thehodagstore.com/product/101-hodag-jokes/715?cs=true&cst=custom

And if you are in the Rosendale NY area, please visit our friends at Postmark Books, as they also have a handful of books available!

A Polka Party on Back to the Country 4/10/24

Thirty years ago, on 4/21/94, polka was adopted as the official Wisconsin State Dance. There will be all sorts of polka events throughout the state this month to celebrate (including the big Polka Party on Pinckney on 4/18), and tomorrow’s Back to the Country program adds to the polkabration!

It seems to me, there was a time when nearly every country band included polkas in their sets and tomorrow morning I’ll be playing three hours of my very favorites: Hot guitar polkas by Merle Travis, Joe Maphis, Chet Atkins, Hank Garland, Don Rich, Jimmy Bryant, Roy Clark, George Barnes, Biller & Wakefield, T.K. Smith, and many more! Vocal polkas about baseball, cocker spaniels, apple pie, beer, and marijuana! Swing Billy polkas from King Records! Yodeling polkas! Rockabilly polkas! One-man band polkas!

It’ll be a three-hour polkabilly extravaganza from 9am-noon (CST)! Tune in via 89.9fm in Southern Wisconsin or stream via wortfm.org and don’t forget your dancing shoes!

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers & Hot Club of Cowtown at the Stoughton Opera House 4/11/24

A lot of people gathered outside my office today because they heard that Nate Gibson and the Stardazers would be playing a concert on the roof of Memorial Library.

Alas, I'm sorry to disappoint, but our next gig is actually this THURSDAY evening (4/11) at the Stoughton Opera House, opening in the lounge for the legendary Hot Club of Cowtown. We're live at 5:55pm. Hope to see some friends there for what is sure to be a great night of honky-tonk and western swing!

Black Country Music on Back to the Country 3/13/24

Just last month, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to top the Billboard country songs chart and last week, Swamp Dogg released his first-ever bluegrass album (feat. the great Kenny Vaughan on guitar!). I'm super pumped for both of these upcoming album releases. Also, last month, Camille Parker debuted on the Grand Ole Opry and a few months before that Jimmie Allen was topping the radio airplay charts.

As more and more Black artists are being recognized for their country music contributions today, I thought I'd use my next Back to the Country radio program to spin some of my favorite country records by Black musicians from the 1940s-1970s (and maybe a couple current faves, too). I think a lot of WORT's listeners are already familiar with Charley Pride, Ray Charles, Linda Martell, Tina Turner, and others, but hopefully I can introduce you to some new ones along the way.

As always, the hardest part is cutting the playlist down from thousands to just 50 or so songs, but you've just got to hear some of these amazing lacquer discs by bluegrass pioneers Allerton & Alton, 45s by Wisconsin's own Chuck Brimley and Lonnie Walker, a rare interview disc with O.B. McClinton, 78s by Jimmy Sweeney and Jimmie Newsome, country music beer ads by Ray Charles, Etta James covering the Louvin Brothers, rare live recordings by my recently departed bandmate and dear friend, Eric S Sheridan--years ago dubbed "The King of Blackabilly" by Bill Kirchen--and so much more. Showtime is 9am-noon CST and you can tune in at 89.9 FM in Southern Wisconsin or stream it via wortfm.org.

Back to the Country Dog Show

 Howdy Friends, tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I'm hoping you'll spend at least part of it with me. I'll be hosting Back to the Country from 9am-noon (cst) on WORT FM and paying tribute to the most loyal and loving souls on this planet--dogs! 

There will be no songs about junkyard dogs or tough dogs and no "Salty Dog" or "Hound Dog" varieties, since those songs are really about people and not dogs. Instead, tomorrow morning's show will be a festive country music tribute to all those sweet, kind, compassionate, and funny dogs that make our lives so much better.

Tune in via 89.9fm in Southern Wisconsin or streaming via wortfm.org . Pictured here: me with Lola the dog in her new Doggy Parton dress.

Live at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Full Video Available

Last year I was invited to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to take part in a special panel discussion about the Bob Pinson Recorded Sound Collection alongside country music scholar and discographer Tony Russell, the CMF's first full-time Director, Bill Ivey, and moderated by historian Patrick Huber. I shared a few of my thoughts on the greatest collection of country music recordings, some of the nitty gritty of collecting and curating, and a few of the challenges surrounding access and engagement.

I was then invited to select and spin a few of my favorite records from the collection alongside museum archivist and curator Alan Stoker. We played and talked about some rare Vogue, Bluebird, Sterling, Starday, and Black Patti 78s and I had a blast.

The panel was titled "The Bob Pinson Recorded Sound Collection at Age Fifty" and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum just uploaded the entire video. You can check it out in its entirety here:

Full program: https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/the-bob-pinson-recorded-sound-collection-at-age-fifty-2023

Country Music Sister Acts on WORT-FM's Back to the Country 1/10/24

Howdy there friends and neighbors, I'm taking a break from hours and hours of shoveling (why, corner lot, why?!?!) to let y'all know that I'll be hosting Back to the Country again tomorrow morning from 9-noon (CST) on WORT FM 89.9.

The theme this week is Country Music Sister Acts. I won't be playing any brother/sister duets, no friends billed as sisters, and not even any mother/daughter acts billed as sisters. Instead, it'll be an entire show of my very favorite classic country sister acts on record: the Carter Sisters, the Amos sisters, the Lewis sisters, the DeZurik Sisters, and about 45-50 more. Hope you can tune in via FM or streaming at www.wortfm.org