Back in 2010 when Uckfield FM gave me the opportunity to present my own 3 hour show, the Programme Director took a risk. The station already had a popular country show that had been on the air since the station started, so the only way they could justify another country show was if that show would be different. The resultant show ran almost continuously for 11 years!!

In 2021, I left Uckfield FM when the station changed its music policies and since then, the show has been on multiple stations around the world on different days of the week. So one week I record a new show, the weeks in-between feature one of the original shows edited for rebroadcasting.

Like so many of us in Country Music, I make my living doing something else, so my time invested in country music – both writing and presenting - is largely a labour of love – I do it because I love the music and want to share it with others. As a presenter, I don’t seek to get paid by radio stations but the stations I send the show to, do give me freedom to play whatever I and my listeners feel is relevant and that is the beauty of the show.

Back in 2010 it had long been an ambition of mine to present a country music show that opened the door to all genres and sub-genres of country music – past and present. I have so often heard people say “all country music sounds the same” and I find that frustrating in the extreme – I would propose the counter argument; that country music is at least as diverse as any other genre – possibly more so. When one adds in those hybrid sounds where country merges with blues, swing, jazz, folk and rhythm ‘n blues, it becomes amazingly diverse. So when this opportunity came along, I snapped it up and proposed a show that really would demonstrate that diversity. The term “Three-dimensional country” was coined and “Paul Hazell’s World Of Country” was born. The “three dimensions“ are:
 

• Any sub-genre or hybrid, so long as it has a country connection. This embraces honkytonk, country gospel, bluegrass, western swing, dawg music, Cajun, zydeco, bush ballads, yodelling, cowboy songs, rockabilly, etc. So listeners have been treated within one show to the country rock sounds of Mick Jagger singing along with Jerry Lee Lewis, followed by the frantic Cajun fiddling of Doug Kershaw, a tear-jearking bush ballad from the Australian King Slim Dusty and a beautiful version of “Home On The Range” by a Taiwanese yodeller!
  
   
• Through the decades – there is a mind-blowingly rich mass of material to draw from – many shows tend to focus on recent recordings but country music has been the subject of recordings since the 1920s. I regularly delve into back catalogue for “World Of Country” and will play Jimmie Rodgers, Carson Robison or the Allen Brothers alongside Alan Jackson, Eric Diamond or The Time Jumpers. I will even go back to vinyl – yes pops, crackles and hiss from time to time!!
  
   
• From anywhere in the world where country music is recorded – this opens the opportunities still further. Over recent shows I have played tracks by artistes from USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, mainland Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.
  
  There is so much great country music in countries like Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for instance – where the way of life has many parallels with the more traditional source of the USA. Listen to the plaintive bush ballads (the bush is broadly the name for the Australian equivalent of the prairie) of Buddy Williams, the warm crooning country sound of Johnny Heap or the crying steel guitar of Kenny Kitching. Then when you add in all the other countries too, you can take in the old timey sounds of England’s Brian Golbey, the western ballads of South Africa’s Charles Jacobie, the bluegrass of New Zealand’s Hamilton County Bluegrass Band and the traditional country of the USA’s Lorraine Chavana or New Zealand’s Bruce Greaves and you have a truly eclectic mix.

The original station, Uckfield FM, also had a chat room which became very lively when the show was on. Listeners from different countries would exchange information and opinions about the music; artistes often joined in the chat. Today, we have replaced the “chat room” with a “Facebook group”, www.facebook.com/groups/650611586348404

I hear a lot from people and from the media and record companies telling me what is and is not country and what the public do and do not like.
I find that there is a lot of great country music being recorded today, in many parts of the USA but also in many other parts of the world too. Just like all other industries, country music has gone global. But my audience also loves to hear the songs of yesteryear – be they the digitally remastered sounds of a hitherto rare artiste like Canada’s Luke Simmons who made his name afresh in New Zealand or Australia’s Reg Lindsay or a crackly old EP on an obscure label by an excellent but unknown artiste!

One thing is for sure though; traditional country music is certainly not dead – whilst I play a lot of current releases, I receive lots of favourable comments for playing traditional sounds – be they from today’s young acts or from old LPs and Eps and – guess who my most requested artiste is? None other than the man with the silver tonsils, the great Slim Whitman.

Please feel welcome to join us for some Three-Dimensional Country on “Paul Hazell’s World Of Country” – the show is informal and I aim to make it informative without being overly heavy on talk. The listeners seem to like it that way and the show continues to build a following both in the UK and other countries. I promote the show through posts on numerous Facebook pages and groups, once every week.

Contact Details:

* For details of times, stations and listening links see the full text of posts on www.facebook.com/paulhazellcountry  - also chat group www.facebook.com/groups/650611586348404
 

* listeners can email me at any time with requests and dedications using paulhazellsworldofcountry@gmail.com

*  If you are an artiste with music you feel would fit in with this format, you can send CDs to:

Paul Hazell,
Royal Mail Building (Box 3),
Brambleside,
Bellbrook Industrial Estate,
Uckfield, East Sussex,
United Kingdom
TN22 1XX

Email: paul@pithon.co.uk  Tel: +44 7775 545 902

I still like using CDs – I keep them for future use and research - but can of course also work with good quality MP3s