Don't give anyone $10 for a one-way ticket. Give that $10 to me, instead. I'll use it to buy one of the hundreds of albums/records I need to make a season of the podcast. (The Rusty & Doug Kershaw episode alone included over 50 audio clips.)

Supporters of this tier will get exclusive access to a video version of the monthly update post. That's going to usually be the same information as the regular update post but you're giving more to the podcast so you get a more direct experience of me talking to you, straight from C&R HQ - a.k.a. the computer where I write, edit and produce the podcast. I'll try to throw extra things into the videos now and then. We'll see how it goes.

Of course, you also get to see the Patreon-only posts, vote in the episode poll and you'll get even more of my eternal gratitude. (Yes, it's possible.)

They say you'll give me $20 a song. Well, I serve up a lot of song critiques and context and analysis in my podcast, so you can't afford that. But if you give me $20 a month then I'll spend it on upgrading my hosting plan to make better quality audio files available.

Many of my podcast episodes are over 90 minutes in length and some of them hit the two-hour mark. Those are big mp3s and hosting them costs money. Right now, I'm having to pay a monthly penalty to go over the limit on the only plan I can afford, which lets me deliver 128kbps files in mono. That's very low quality audio for a show about music. I'd love to be able to offer a better-sounding show, perhaps even in stereo. (It was heartbreaking for me not to be able to dive into the stereo experimentation of the Bakersfield Sound production in the episodes on Buck Owens, Don Rich and Ralph Mooney.)

Now that I've had this Patreon page running for a while, I've noticed that many people aren't really interested in getting anything in return, other than knowing that they're helping this show exist. As such, Townes-level supporters will get all the current benefits of the lower tiers, plus Nothin' but my deep gratitude for what you're giving to help the show continue.

You don't owe me 40 bucks but, if you feel like giving it to me anyway, I could use a better recording setup. My current situation is... not great. To be frank, this podcast gets made in a basement (with concrete floors) and it has to be recorded overnight or else you'd be able to hear cars driving by outside. That means I'm losing (at a minimum) two nights' sleep for every episode that gets made. At the very least, I'd love to be able to upgrade this home recording setup. If enough people contribute, I could even start using a real studio during the day and sleeping at night.

Hey, Tom T. Hall sure does seem like a great guy, though, huh? I made a whole episode of the podcast about him and, wow, he seems like a great guy to be friends with. I'm probably not that great of a friend but, for everyone who supports the podcast at this tier, I can make an exception.

Tom T. Hall-level supporters will get all the rewards of the lower tiers and, honestly, I think one thing a good friend probably does is know when to ask for advice and listen, so you tell me what kind of a reward you would like at this level. If you merely want to give this much to the podcast and don't really care about getting anything (other than more of the podcast) in return, that's amazing. But I'll keep an eye out to see if we can come up with something that works for you and for me as a reward at this level.

It's been a long time since you could get a decent funeral for anywhere close to $100 but they might have to start digging a hole to put me in if you decide to support the podcast at this level.

I don't know what you had to do or who you had to kill to be able to afford to give me this much money but, please, know that I will use it to make any upgrade necessary to keep making a better season of a podcast than the last season that I made. If you love this show this much, the least I can do is show you that it can be even better than it already is.

While I don't believe I can employ another person to help me create the show and still end up with the same show, there are other services for hire that will help me grow the audience for the show, offer better rewards to listeners who become patrons and keep pushing to make the history podcast that country music deserves. That's what this money goes toward. 

Thank you, so incredibly much. 

If there's anyone out there who wants to give even more money to the show than this, I believe there's a window to customize your contribution amount after selecting this option.