LATEST ADDITIONS

The year was 1956, and Elvis had just finshed his set on the December 15 <I>Louisiana Hayride</I> radio show. Elvis was one of a half-dozen acts that were broadcast that night on KWKH, the radio station that originated <I>Hayride</I>. After his encore, Elvis left the stage and the crowd went wild&mdash;so wild that they would not stop screaming for more of the soon-to-be king of rock'n'roll. Because several acts on the bill had not yet performed, the show's announcer, Horace Logan, went to the microphone in an attempt to quiet the audience, and ended up making a little music history.

<B>GEORGE JONES: <I>Cold Hard Truth</I></B><BR> Asylum 62368-2 (CD). 1999. Keith Stegall, prod.; John Kelton, eng.; Mark Nevers, Brady Barnett, Steven Crowder, John Stolpe, asst. engs. AAD? TT: 34:16<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****?</B>

My father could not resist buying electronic and photographic gear. As soon as he heard about a new Polaroid camera, or a new weather radio, tape recorder, or color television, he'd go shopping. He'd be even more eager to buy an updated version of what he already had, particularly if this meant there was a story to tell. He'd buy one for himself, and sometimes he'd give me and my three brothers one of our own for a birthday or Christmas gift. (I often thought he took more pleasure from giving to us than he did from getting his own.)

<I>"Gotta get my hands on these!"</I>

While we're on the topic of high-end audio e-commerce, have you tried your hand at the online market in <I>used</I> audio equipment?

Country music reached the peak of its popularity six years ago, when it claimed 18.7% of the recorded-music audience. Since then, it has steadily declined to its present 14.1%, according to the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industry Association of America</A>'s 1998 Consumer Profile. Reasons for the decline include the increasing crossover of country stars into pop and rock styles, a phenomenon that has broadened many artists' reach and made acts like Garth Brooks and Shania Twain household names among folks who may not previously have paid much attention to country. Crossing over, unfortunately, also dilutes the support of traditional music fans. Apart from the twang in the vocals, much current "country" music sounds amazingly like the rock and pop of 10-15 years ago.

It's been a busy week for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) pioneers <A HREF="http://www.lucent.com">Lucent Digital Radio</A>. (See <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10463/">previous report</A>.) The company has announced that a new entity, <A HREF="http://www.lucent.com/ldr">Lucent Digital Radio, Inc.</A>, has been created as a result of an investment by Pequot Capital Management. The new company will be owned by Pequot Capital investors and Lucent Technologies, which will hold a majority ownership stake. Lucent says it will continue to support the new venture and provide ongoing access to research from the company's Bell Labs research and development unit.