New TV Show Delves Into Music Mysteries: See Exclusive Clip Featuring Faith Hill
It's a blessing that Faith Hill didn't get this gig!
Those who like mysteries will want to check out the upcoming Music’s Greatest Mysteries, which premiers Sunday (Nov. 15) on AXS TV at 9 p.m. ET. The original six-episode series takes viewers behind the scenes each week, investigating headline grabbing myths involving musical artists from the past and present.
Music’s Greatest Mysteries tries to separate fact from fiction, presenting a fresh perspective on stories that have been told over and over in the music world. Through their interviews with singers, songwriters, industry executives and noted experts, the show’s producers tie together archive footage and interviews to try to answer the who, what, where and how of each legend.
The first episode’s major story investigates the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson and his relationship with serial killer Charlie Manson. Wilson got to know Manson during the summer of 1968 and the question seeking an answer is if Wilson angered Manson enough for Manson to set off his series of murders.
The second segment explores American rapper Post Malone’s infatuation with the occult and takes a look at the possibility that he may be cursed by the world’s most haunted object, which he viewed at the Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.
Faith Hill is the subject of the third segment. The series delves into whether or not Faith Hill was blessed when she did not get the job of backup singer for a major superstar just as her career was getting underway.
“You hear these stories and you wonder is it really true,” muses Trevor O’Neil, one of the executive producers of Music’s Greatest Mysteries. “We started developing the show, and we now have many segments in reserve. We are just hearing all these stories from all these people we are meeting. There was one guy in Nashville who told me when we start the second season to call him because he has some great stories for us. The more people I meet in Nashville the more legends we hear.”
The series began taping at the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the producers found it hard to get people to leave their homes to tape the segments. There were also a few people who didn’t want to contribute their knowledge of an event because they were worried about it damaging their career.
“When you are dealing with something that happened a long time ago, like Dennis Wilson or Gram Parsons, it’s not so hard to get people to talk about because the story has been told over and over. We found that the newer legends were the ones that people were a little more reluctant to talk about,” O’Neil acknowledges.
Even though the producers of the series thought they knew all about the stories they were featuring, they did run into a few new bits of information when they began doing their interviews.
“Certainly, people came in with their own stories which added to what we were already doing,” O’Neil said. “For instance, we didn’t know that the reason Gram Parsons family wanted his body sent back to Louisiana for burial was because his father thought he would have claim to part of his inheritance if he were buried there. Phil Kaufman (Parson’s friend) filled in some of the blanks too. We started going down the road with it and we were like, ‘Oh, that’s weird.’”
Among those who share their insight into various legends revealed in the series are deejays Big D and Bubba, radio personality Blair Garner, journalist Holly Gleason, Ray Benson, Jack Ingram, Colt Ford and songwriter Wyn Varbel. Settings for the first segment include the iconic venues The Bluebird Café in Nashville and Antone’s in Austin.
Each segment will feature legends from the history of all genres of music, including country, rock, R&B, rockabilly and rap. Upcoming segments of interest to country fans include why did Charlie Rich burn the 1975 Entertainer of the Year card at the Country Music Association awards; were the publishing rights to Garth Brooks’ mega-hit “Friends in Low Places” actually sold to settle a bar tab; and was Elvis really an undercover NARC for the Nixon administration?
Music’s Greatest Mysteries airs as part of the AXS TV’s Sunday Night Rocks block, which also includes The Top Ten Revealed at 8 p.m. ET, Rock Legends at 8:30 p.m. ET and A Year In Music at 9:30 p.m. ET.The show is jointly produced by Nashville-based Hideout Pictures and Texas Crew Productions, with Shannon Houchins, Trevor O’Neil, Chip Rives, David Karabinas and Brad Bernstein serving as executive producers. Each episode in the first season is 30 minutes in length.
Upcoming Episodic Themes Include:
Nov. 22 – CIA, Impersonator and Insult
Did the CIA kill Bob Marley? Is a doppelganger impersonating the real Avril Lavigne? What was the meaning behind Charlie Rich’s insult of John Denver?
Nov. 29 – Death, Rivalry and Warnings
What happened to Gram Parsons’ body after he died? Did Prince and Michael Jackson really hate each other? What’s the real story behind “Parental Advisory” warning labels?
Dec. 6 – Vicious, Kissed and Undercover
Did Sid Vicious’ mother play a part in his death? Is KISS a band or a brand? Is Jamie Hewlett of the Gorillaz really Banksy?
Dec. 13 – Satanic, Immortal and Narc
What’s the satanic truth behind playing records backwards? Does Aerosmith have nine lives? Was Elvis secretly a NARC for the Nixon administration?
Dec. 20 – Desperate, Dissed and Goddess
Were the rights to “Friends in Low Places” sold to settle a bar tab? Was “Sweet Home Alabama” the first diss track, meaning a song to attack another artist? What explains the mysteries that surround Stevie Nicks?
