The Q-Crew's John Richards usually posts the new releases on his bio page but I'm not too proud to steal his thunder!

The SteelDrivers,

'Reckless'
Various Artists,

Sept. 14

Jamey Johnson, 'The Guitar Song'
James Otto, 'Shake What God Gave You'
Randy Houser, 'They Call Me Cadillac'
Joey + Rory, 'Album #2'

Sept. 21

Zac Brown Band, 'You Get What You Give'
Billy Currington, 'Enjoy Yourself'
Rhonda Vincent, 'Taken'
John Carter Cash, 'The Family Secret'
Mel Tillis, 'You Ain't Gonna Believe This

Sept. 28

Kenny Chesney, 'Hemingway's Whiskey'
Neil Young, 'Le Noise'
Tony Joe White, 'The Shine'

Just have time for a few quick lines as I go off the air today so lets catch up.... Lady Antebellum concert, worth the wait! Jason Aldean the very next night... wow, much different crowd. These people came to PARTAY! and Jason had no problem letting them do just that. Awsome show. Jim and Barb on vacation... They shouldn't be allowed! That's it! Last commercial and I gotta go!

KP

Random stuff:

Doncha hate it when stores push a season? We're in mid summer and there are back to school supplies and sales going on already. We know it's not going to last much longer but let us hang onto the illusion for a little while longer.

Think that's somthing? Wait til the Christmas stuff starts rolling out seemingly right after school starts.

Beginning of summer and I'm gung ho about mowing the lawn and other outdoor chores. Toward the end of July and thats all they are... chores.

While the carburetors are out of my MGB and at the machine shop I might as well remove the manifolds (both exhaust and carb intake are on the same side on a B) and degrease that side of the engine. I can get to the rest later.

If you have ever owned an older automobile you know the "might as well" syndrome... You pull one thing off to fix and while your at it you might as well do this, then that... etc.

With Jonh on vacation I thought I'd also post a list of upcoming country album releases. In case you don't check his bio on the KCQ website John Richards regularly posts the release dates for new CDs coming out. A great way to answer that age old question "when can I get the new one from my favorite artist?"

Cowboy's Back in Town from Trace Adkins will be released on August 24th

·Kenny Chesney's Hemingway's Whiskey will be available on September 26th.

·Bullets in the Gun from Toby Keith will be coming out on October 5th.

·Taylor Swift will release her third album, Speak Now on October 25th.

·Reba McEntire's new, still-untitled album will be out on November 9th.

Cheers,
Kevin

PS. do you call them albums or CDs? Some think that since they are not on vinyl anylonger they should be called CD's. My response is that album means a collection of things and not what medium they are contained in. What do you say?

While on vacation this summer I became a grillin' fool. I grilled burgers and brats. I grilled steak and ribs. It was the ribs that lead me to my great discovery... cherries.

When I cook a rack of ribs on the grill I sear the fat side of the rack for a couple minutes and then cook them the rest of the time meat side down. I cood them that way with indirect heat and never turn them. The idea is that with the fat side on top all of those juices will drip through and around the meat and they've always turned out well that way.

Well that day I had fresh cherries in the fridge and for some reason I decided to take a handfull and put them on top of the ribs to see what happens. What happens is meat-tastic taste! The cherries kind of bake like little baked apples and the juices do just what I described above. It's not overpowering or too sweet but rather a very subtle. And if you like spicy, hot sauces the contrast between the sweet cherry and heat is very interesting.

Here's how I did it. I bought pre-rubbed ribs at Meijer and pre-heated my grill to about 400°. I have a gas grill with a bottom and top cooking rack. I slapped the ribs, fat side down, on the bottom for about two minutes just to sear the outside. Then I placed the ribs on the upper rack and turned the heat down a notch to just under 400°. Here is when I put the cherries on top. I placed about a handful evenly spaced across the entire length of the rack of ribs. I closed the lid and let them cook like this for about an hour. At that time I brushed on barbecue sauce and let them cook another 20 minutes.

While the meat cooks I make a salad... and by "make a salad" what I really mean is I open a bag of already mixed greens. I put a couple of russet potato's in the microwave to "bake" for about 10 minutes and placed a couple of un-shucked corn ears right on the grill for about 15 minutes.

Thats it! Cherry grilled ribs with salad, grilled corn and baked potato with a pitcher of my soon to be famous margaritas. But then thats another story.

Cheers,
Kevin

I always thought it would be a great idea to write a book about mis-understood lyrics. Then I found out somebody already did. So here are just a few mis understood/mis heard lyrics I have run across over the course of my  career.

A caller to the studios once asked me to play the song by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton called "Islands in the Street". Of course the lyric is actually Islands in the Stream but it's an understandable mistake. After all, their are things called traffic islands right?

Another caller more recently called me to settle a bet between he and his girl friend. He says that in the Brooks and Dunn song Put A Girl In It they say you can lay out naked by the lake. She wins!... the lyric is you can lay out on a  blanket by the lake. I actually kind of prefer his version though.

This one I found on the internet while searching for song lyrics... its from the Rascal Flatts song Fast Cars & Freedom. The lyric is tee-shirt hanging on a dogwood branch but the website pretending to be a source for song lyrics said this,  tee-shirt hanging off the dog wood bridge. The lesson learned here is don't trust everything you find on the internet.

Finally here's one that I mis-understood for a long time. In Kenny Chesney's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem I always thought he said to pack your Hank Thompson flip flops if you got 'em. I figured it was a designer brand of flip flop and that's why he included the phrase "if you got 'em". Uh unh, he says while slowly shaking his head from side to side. What Kenny actually says is to pack your tank tops and flip flops. I gotta stop over thinking these things.

The book by the way is called 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy: And Other Misunderstood Lyrics. Here are few examples...

"The ants are my friends/They're blowin' in the wind" ("The answer my friend/Is blowing' in the wind"-Bob Dylan)

"Sweet dreams are made of cheese" ("Sweet dreams are made of these"-Eurythmics)

"The girl with colitis goes by" ("The girl with kaleidoscope eyes"-The Beatles)

Cheers,
Kevin

PS. If anyone asks... it's Lady Antebellum not Lady Annabelle.

Had some folks call the Q-Lines and ask about the KCQ Star Countdown game. Here are the most common questions and the answers.

You stopped the countdown before the hour was up: We play the game within those hours. The game doesn't last a full hour.

How do I know when to start and stop counting?: Near the top of the winning hour we have a special Station I.D. that tells you it's time to start counting. Later, we will tell you its time to stop counting and call the Q-Lines.

What are the Q-Line numbers?: Saginaw/Bay City 753-44 98... Toll Free 800-262-00 98.

Are we counting all the songs you play?: No, not every song... you are counting the stars who have performeded at the KCQ Country Music Fest Free Concert. Any star who played there in the past... or the ones who are going to be there this year.

What if a song has more than one KCQ CMF Star in it?: I ran into that on the air the other day and had to call a meeting to make a determination. What we decided is that all the stars who have a prominate singing role in a song will count. For example... Blake Shelton's "Hillbilly Bone" also features Trace Atkins so that counts as 2 stars.

If I guess wrong can I play again?: Yes! Even though we give you a consolation prize we don't count that as a win so you don't have to wait the usual time to win again.

I didn't get a KCQ Flyer in the mail... how do I get a game calendar?: We have one on our website. Go to the main page and click on the "KCQ Start Countdown" logo. There's also a list of the stars who you might hear in any given winning hour so you can double check when you hear one you are not sure about.

Thanks for listening and good luck playing!
Kevin