SCOTCOUNTRY MUSIC NEWS

Country songwriting great Frank Dycus has died at age 72. The writer of hits for George Strait, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, Mark Chesnutt, Porter Wagoner and others passed away on Friday, November 23, following years of failing health.
One of Music Row’s best raconteurs, Marion Franklin Dycus was born in Hardmoney, Kentucky and was one of 13 children. He was fronting a country band by the time he was in his teens. He hitchhiked to California at age 15, then returned to Kentucky and joined the Air Force for a seven-year stint.
He spent time in Kansas working at Boeing and hosting a radio show before moving to Nashville in 1967. Dycus first tasted songwriting success in 1970, when George Morgan had a hit with his co-written “Lilacs and Fire.” His  first top-10 hit was with the 1974 Jerry Lee Lewis single “He Can’t Fill My Shoes.”
Dycus is perhaps best known for the trio of hits he co-wrote for George Strait, 1981’s “Unwound” and “Down and Out,” plus 1982’s “Marina Del Ray.” George Jones won a 1992 CMA Award for “I Don’t Need Your Rockin’ Chair,” which Dycus also co-wrote.
Dycus also wrote charted singles for Johnny Bush, Red Sovine, Johnny Paycheck, Joe Sun, Stella Parton, David Ball, Doug Supernaw, Gary Allan, Ronny Robbins. The Rovers, Southern Reign, Gary Stewart and his frequent song collaborator, Dean Dillon.

Geordie Jack from The Jacks (and previously Colorado & Caledonia) has announced on his Facebook page that The Jacks are to disband at the end of the year . Looks like we might not have seen the last of Geordie though. His statement reads:

Hi All, I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported The Jacks over many years. We are dis-banding at the end of this year. I'm very proud of both my sons Kevin & Trevor who are both fantastic musicians, and also Dado who has been a loyal buddy for a very long time. We've had some great gigs and memories from all around the globe. I'm now going to be spending my time writing and recording and if that all works out, then I'd probably like to do some selected gigs in the future. I'm not sure what the other guys plan to do but no doubt they will re-appear in some new form, and I'm sure it will be awesome. I do still love to sing and play all the story-telling songs & self-penned material, but no more weddings/ dinner dances doing the 'flogged to death' cover songs etc.
Who knows, this ageing singer may well find new opportunities to perform in your locality if enough folks are still interested, so I hope I'm not completely written-off quite yet. Meanwhile, my sincere gratitude to everyone who came to any of our gigs and enjoyed 'The Jacks' era. We still have a few gigs to go yet, but we know and appreciate it's only been possible to play our music with such huge support from so many people.
To all those good folks,Thank you once again,
Geordie

The Faroese national radio aired a program on the Thurso Festival earlier today , which will be repeated Sunday night 10pm
Faroese artist Evi Tausen will make her UK debut at the festival next Easter
Here is the link to listen: http://www2.kringvarp.fo/playerwidget2/