Listen to Season 2 of Cocaine & Rhinestones

Above all, what distinguishes Tyler Mahan Coe’s podcast about country music history, Cocaine & Rhinestones, from any conceivable competition is Coe’s combination of horse sense and subtle analysis of one of North America’s most enduring musical forms. The son of country singer and songwriter David Allan Coe, Tyler commands a substantial audience for Cocaine & Rhinestones, which kicked off in 2017 and boasts around 3 million listeners and 150,000 subscribers. During the podcast’s first season, Coe got his shot at explaining how the music business has deformed music and musicians — I find his two-part look at the story of Jeannie C. Riley and her 1968 hit “Harper Valley P.T.A.” both brilliant and horrifying. The second season started in April, and it promises to be as densely packed with detail and downright entertaining as the first. I listened to “Starday Records: The Anti-Nashville Sound” with an appreciation for how deftly he tells the story of a country label that sported, among many other great figures, George Jones. Established in 1952 in Beaumont, Texas, by Jack Starnes and Harold “Pappy” Daily, Starday issued its first single in early 1953. Jones’ 1955 single “Why Baby Why,” featuring the Possum harmonizing with himself by way of primitive overdubbing, established his career. Coe understands how Jones’ supreme artistry emerged from his great gift for mimicry of other country singers. Starday’s roster included Jones along with Moon Mullican, Red Sovine and, as I’m sure you recall, Buzz Busby and Mary Jo Chelette. Starday opened offices and a recording studio in 1960 in Madison, just outside Nashville, and the label navigated the country business while the music was being temporarily eclipsed by rock ’n’ roll. Coe reportedly has an 18-hour season about Jones in the can, and that should be interesting. Cocaine & Rhinestones is hard-nosed, dryly funny and totally sympathetic to a great art form — crack open a tall one and dive in. Find it on Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. EDD HURT