I realize this is a photography blog, and I intend it to be a place to post pictures. However, every now and then, I like to deviate a bit.
There are all kinds of New Year’s resolutions we make. So I have an interesting one for 2026 – a resolution to take a journey through the world of vinyl records. I am a generation X guy. I grew up with CDs. Vinyl wasn’t more than an afterthought for me.
Time has gone on and the comeback of vinyl has sparked a new interest in the format and the sound.
So, every few weeks, I’m going to explore a record.
However, before we delve into that, I want to spend a few moments giving a very brief technical overview of equipment. I am using an inexpensive DIGITNOW turntable from Amazon, an AudioTechnica AT3600L cartridge, and I am capturing it to digital at a 24-bit sample rate of 96khz using the Intel C220 audio chip. Why? Because records aren’t really practical to play all the time with the way I’m set up. If I had the space for a large stereo system and big headphones with a huge recliner where I could kick back and drink diet coke (diabetics can’t drink alcohol, at least it’s very inadvisable) while I’m jamming to tunes, that’s one thing. The overwhelming majority of my music is portable on my iPhone with beats headphones or on smaller, much more convenient CDs. Being retro and modern at the same time is fascinating to me.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is as technical as I’m going to get. I will probably get hate mail from home audio snobs all across the globe. My goal here is to have a re-playable, precise duplicate of the record that can be replayed without wearing anything out. If it makes you all feel any better, I’m using gold-plated cabling!
Having gotten that out of the way, what’s spinning in January? It is actually a kind of ironic pick. I dedicate this to all the NFL fans that are rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight (Jan 12) watching them play the Houston Texans in the playoffs. Will there be a Super Bowl ring in their future? Definitely maybe.
Would you believe that the most famous of all Steelers – one Terry Bradshaw, who played 14 seasons with this team before going on to be the FOX NFL commentator we know and love today, made an album of country music covers? I’m serious, guys. In the year 1976, the year of my birth, Mr. Bradshaw released an album that is now out of print and not available on CD entitled “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”
In the mid-90’s, my father told me of this legend while watching a football game. I couldn’t believe it. He went on to some used record website and ordered this album used for a price of $1.99 U.S., or roughly about $5 in today’s money. Back then he had hair!
So, what does an NFL player turned sports broadcaster sound like on a country record from the 70’s? Honestly, not bad at all. The record opens with a cover of the Hank Williams classic I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry and it sounds as though he has an emotional investment in the song. Several songs have string arrangements as well. He has a very smooth voice and is much more impressive than you’d ever expect a football player to be. He could have traded his Steelers helmet for a cowboy hat if he wanted. It’s 45 minutes crooner country, which you really don’t see in modern country as much. There are no references to bar fights, pickup trucks, the american flag, or guns. All you will find on this record is the pure, sad, poignant, subtly humorous (The Last Word in Lonesome is “Me”), and relatable melancholy mixed in with string arrangements and steel guitars that define 20th century country music. I don’t know what happened after 2000, but the last 25 years of modern country is a sonic train wreck that Nashville is woefully uninterested in cleaning up. And this new breed of “MAGA Country” that we’ve been seeing in the past 5 years or so? Buck Owens is turning over in his grave.
However, I must digress as nobody asked for my commentary or opinion on the state of Country Music in 2026. In short, this is a great record. I could nerd out on the merits of the vinyl format, but I’ll save that for another time.
What do you think of my content departure? It’s just something a bit different. I have no intention of stopping posting photos or airing musings on my photography. I’m always going to be the digital film nerd. I just feel like being the digital film and home audio nerd for a change.
As I always say with photo articles – shoot photos, not each other!
Adventures of a Photo Nerd 