Since 2017, Anthony Spooner has been hosting The Country Power Hour, a radio show playing your favorite country hits and introducing you to the ones that don’t make the radio. Anthony’s favorite part of creating the show is “definitely playing the songs/artists you don’t hear on mainstream country radio, even the stations the dip into the 80s and 90s – there’s so many underappreciated current and former artists who just need to be heard!”
The Country Power Hour started in 2017 as a radio practicum when Anthony studied at the University of Mary. Since then, he has produced hundreds of episodes on Radio Access.
“One of my favorites is my vinyl-only episode, it’s actually the one that got me an award at the Best of the Midwest Media Awards,” he said, but it only ties as his favorites.
The really special ones are the ones he creates for or because of his dad. “He’s the reason I have such a love and appreciation for the country music I play, especially older groups like the Statler Brothers. They have a song called “How To Be A Country Star,” where they list off different country performers of the 60s/70s/80s and what made them special – so I used that as a framework for an episode and gave each artist mentioned a song, and filled out the episode by starting with the aforementioned Statler Brothers song itself, and closing with another and it perfectly fit the time…that was a really fun one.”
| Statler Brothers |
| Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson |
| Jerry Reed |
| Earl Scruggs & Tom T. Hall |
| Merle Haggard |
| Johnny Rodriguez |
| Ronnie Milsap |
| Roy Acuff |
| Conway Twitty |
| Webb Pierce |
| Sonny James |
| Little Jimmy Dickens |
| Mel Tillis |
| Roy Clark |
| Barbara Mandrell |
| Eddie Arnold |
| Charley Pride |
| Dolly Parton |
| Crystal Gayle |
| The Statler Brothers |
| How to Be a Country Star |
| Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (Remastered) |
| East Bound and Down (From “Smokey and the Bandit”) |
| Song of the South |
| Mama Tried (Rerecorded) |
| That’s the Way Love Goes |
| Smoky Mountain Rain |
| I’ll Fly Away |
| Play Guitar Play |
| It’s Been So Long |
| Running Bear |
| May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose (Rerecord) |
| Mental Revenge |
| Yesterday When I Was Young |
| I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool (Live) |
| Tenneessee Stud |
| Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’ |
| I Will Always Love You |
| Why Have You Left the One You Left Me For |
| Thank You World |
That was episode 74 of his nearly 300 episodes.
In 2020, Anthony and his friends started a podcast. In 2024, the podcast, Randomville, ND, grew to be a show on Community Access.
“Randomville, ND got its name from the town we tape the show in! You can’t find it unless you get lost in North Dakota’s Hoople Triangle (it’s kinda like the Bermuda Triangle, but cornered at Hoople, Buttzville, and Coleharbor)”.
While The Country Power Hour started as a school project, Randomville, ND is a way for Anthony, Dan, Gracie, and Austin to hang out and have “WAY more fun than should be allowed!”
A brand new episode of Randomeville, ND just premiered on Community Access last week, but you can catch it on Friday, November 7th at 9:30pm!
Anthony’s Recommendations
Steamer’s Blues
I wish I had the time to put as much effort into TCPH as he does his Blues, because he genuinely is the model for what an exceptional community radio music program should be! (And I’m not just saying that because he’s got more episodes than me!)
Bless the Broken Road, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
My favorite song is the original version of “Bless the Broken Road” AND ITS NOT by Rascal Flatts (although their cover is great), it’s actually by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, one of my Dad’s and mine favorite artists and that was mine and my wife’s first dance song at our wedding. It’s less produced, more intimate, acoustic, and genuinely a beautiful song.
Want more?