Ben's Country Music Show

30/12/2025

Listen Now! Join Ben for this year's New Year Special. We look back on the year and play the biggest music from 2025, review the top albums, bring you the biggest news stories and more. We'll reminisce on the big UK festivals from C2C to the Long Road Festival, and there's a special Opry 100 feature and a tribute to those we've lost this year.

https://benscountrymusicshow.com/shows/week-of-the-29th-december-2025-new-year-special/

24/12/2025

You can now listen to our 2025 Christmas Special over on our website, or on the radio all this week. Merry Christmas to all our listeners and the stations that broadcast our show each week. Enjoy this two hour programme filled with festive favourites old, new, borrowed and blue. Happy Holidays y'all! 🎄

https://benscountrymusicshow.com/shows/week-of-the-22nd-december-2025-christmas-special/

21/12/2025

Listen again to our final regular broadcast of 2025, including the split of duo Maddie & Tae; after 15 years, as the pair announce an indefinite hiatus. There's a tribute John Michael Montgomery, who recently performed his final concert in his home state of Kentucky, Trace Adkins’ 30th Anniversary Tour and the beginning of Emmylou Harris’s "Farewell European Tour" in January. The Album of the Week is Brad Paisley's new festive record, Snow Globe Town.

https://benscountrymusicshow.com/shows/week-of-the-15th-december-2025-maddie-tae-and-brad-paisleys-snow-globe-town/

09/12/2025

From Ben: The Mavericks Collection was one of several albums I remember 'borrowing' from my parents, and Dance The Night Away would have been one of the first country songs I heard when it was released back in 1998, around the time Shania Twain was huge in the UK and being played at all the school discos.
Their 2020 album En Español is one of my favourites and a sublime introduction to Latin music based around Malo's Cuban-American heritage.

“If people feel a sense of inclusive joy when they hear the Mavericks’ music, then I’ve done my job,” Raul Malo said to "The Tennessean" in 2024 as he reflected on his band’s legacy of making life-affirming music. Malo, whose operatic croon and songwriting anchored the Mavericks’ eclectic discography, died Monday, December 8, at the age of sixty following a 2024 cancer diagnosis.

Born Raul Francisco Martinez-Malo and raised by Cuban immigrant parents in Miami, Florida, Malo formed the Mavericks in 1989 after meeting Robert Reynolds. With their fascination for artists like Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, the group stood out in Miami’s rock-centric clubs.

The Mavericks signed with MCA in 1991 and released the album "From Hell to Paradise" in 1992, featuring a revved-up cover of Williams’s “Hey, Good Lookin’” that grazed the country charts. The band continued to refine its sound, deftly blending pop, country, and Tejano sounds while staging electrifying live shows. The 1994 album "What a Crying Shame" attained platinum sales, and 1995’s "Music for All Occasions" produced the hit singles “Here Comes the Rain” and “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down.” The group briefly disbanded after 1998’s "Trampoline," then reunited in 2003. In the interim, Malo sang with the Latin music collective Los Super Seven.

When the Mavericks took a longer hiatus in 2004, Malo released solo albums including "You’re Only Lonely" and "After Hours," finding a receptive community in the Americana scene. But the Mavericks weren’t done: the group reunited in 2011 and released the albums "In Time" and "Mono" on the Valory Music label. Subsequent releases, such as the covers project "Play the Hits" and the Spanish-language "En Español," were issued independently through the band’s label, Mono Mundo.

In 2024, the Mavericks released the album "Moon & Stars," featuring guest appearances by Maggie Rose and Sierra Ferrell. Shortly after the album’s release, Malo went public with his cancer diagnosis. The band was still planning to tour in 2025, but canceled dates when Malo’s health declined. In early December, friends and admirers from across the country and roots music spectrum came to the Ryman Auditorium to honor Malo with two nights of joyous performances joined by other members of the Mavericks. Performers included Steve Earle, Marty Stuart, Jim Lauderdale, Maggie Rose, Nikki Lane, Joshua Ray Walker, and many others.

09/12/2025

One of the Dylan Gossett tribe (that's us then! 🙋🏻‍♂️)

06/12/2025

Well and took us to church in Birmingham last night y'all. What a great night on Drew's first UK tour following his debut at C2C earlier this year. And great to be in such an intimate venue with so many other country fans. The energy last night was electric! Hear all about it on our show next week! 🤠🎸

28/11/2025

Happy 100th anniversary . The show began this day in 1925 when Uncle Jimmy Thompson walked into the newly formed WSM radio station studio and played his fiddle for an hour over the airwaves. A century on and the country music community come together tonight to celebrate the circle and all it means for our music. Here are some photos from our visits to the Opry over the years, and some favourite moments. Happy 100th! ✨🎈🤠

28/11/2025

28/11/2025

Tonight’s the night. 🎉

On November 28, 1925, Uncle Jimmy Thompson’s fiddle kicked off a radio show that turned into a century-long country music tradition. One hundred years, thousands of broadcasts, and countless memories later, the Grand Ole Opry turns 100 tonight.

Join more than 25 Opry members— including Bill Anderson, Vince Gill, Scotty McCreery, Lorrie Morgan, Jamey Johnson, Pam Tillis, Riders In The Sky, and many more— as we celebrate a full century of country music’s most famous stage.

Watch the show LIVE here on our page, or listen on the station that's been there since the very beginning: 650 AM WSM.

Here’s to the first 100 years of the Grand Ole Opry…and the next 100 still to come. 💯🎶

26/11/2025

Emmy Lou Harris with Jim Lauderdale opening, on Emmy Lou's final UK show. Boy, this is going to be something special.

26/11/2025

Sat 27th June 2026 | BST Hyde Park