Saturdays at 3 p.m. Central on HPR1 (new episode premiere)
Mondays at 10 p.m. Central on HPR1 (rebroadcast)
Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Central on HPR1 (rebroadcast)
Thursdays at 5 a.m. Central on HPR1 (rebroadcast) On-Demand: look below for available episodes
Good ‘N Country features traditional, classic, out-of-print, and vintage country music – much of it not heard ANYWHERE else. It also presents music from contemporary and emerging traditional country music artists.
Good ‘N Country host Ken Hippler is a lifelong resident of the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area. He has loved country music since childhood, and he began collecting recordings and learning about country music at age 12.
The late Johnny Fields began the show in October 1982 on KFAI in Minneapolis, MN. Ken joined Johnny as his engineer in 1996 and took over the show upon Johnny’s retirement in the fall of 1997.
The show is blessed with many listeners who have donated recordings and information. In addition to donations and commercially available CDs, there is also a continuous effort underway to digitally remaster out-of-print recordings for presentation on the show.
The last KFAI episode of Good ‘N Country aired on April 25, 2020. Good ‘N Country premiered here on Heartland Public Radio on Saturday, June 6, 2020.
Please feel free to email your requests, comments, and questions to Ken at .
Also, if you wish to send surface mail, Ken’s mailing address is:
Good ‘N Country c/o Ken Hippler P.O. Box 2554 Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076
With thanks to our listener Shawn in Alabama, Heartland Public Radio now has a brand-new Apple/iOS app available for update or download! This app mirrors the beautiful Android app that Shawn built and donated to HPR earlier this month. And, for the first time in many years, this new Apple/iOS app allows you to enjoy HPR3: Heartland Christmas on your iPhone, iPad, and Macs with Apple Silicon (M-series chips). Visit the Apple App Store and update/download our free new app today!
HPR3: Heartland Christmas
Listener-Supported Heartland Public Radio’s Christmas tradition is on the air!
HPR3: Heartland Christmas features continuous commercial-free Classic Country, Western, and Bluegrass Christmas music through New Year’s Day.
4. On your Amazon Alexa smart speaker. Enable the skill by saying, “Alexa, enable Heartland Christmas.” Then, just say, “Alexa, open Heartland Christmas“.
After a brief lull, generous listeners like you helped us rally over the past two days, pushing us past the $4,825 finish line in just 4 weeks! We sincerely thank each and every one of you for your generous support of our commercial-free broadcasts. Without you, we would not be able to continue.
If you’ve been tuning in and supporting us for a while, you might have noticed that this recent funding goal was much lower than prior goals during our past drives. The reason is simple: you. Even after our Spring Fundraiser wrapped up in May, generous donations from listeners like you remained steady all summer long. We are incredibly grateful for that sustained support! In this same light, if you have been planning to donate to HPR this fall, please do so. Every dollar we raise between now and the end of the year will be applied as a balance forward for 2027. Every dollar you donate now is one less dollar we will have to ask for next year.
And, as promised, we will be launching our annual Christmas tradition, HPR3: Heartland Christmas early. HPR 3: Heartland Christmas will sign on the air very early Thursday morning, October 22nd at 12:00 a.m. Central Time. You will soon find links to HPR3 here on this website, on our Roku channel, and on our brand new Android app. We have been hoping to be able to add HPR3 to our Apple/iOS app this fall, but that may not happen in time. However, if you have an Android or an Apple smartphone and/or tablet, please keep checking for available updates to the HPR app.
Heartland Public Radio is broadcasting today because of the generous support from our listeners. Please consider the value of our non-commercial broadcasts and help us pay our bills so that we can continue playing the music you enjoy listening to.
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Dolly Parton Tribute on Good ‘N Country
Join Good ‘N Country host Ken Hippler for a two-hour tribute to Country Music Hall of Fame member and international icon Dolly Parton. This special episode premiered on Saturday, September 12, 2026, and is available for on-demand streaming on the Good ‘N Country show page.
With minimal dialogue, the broadcast keeps the focus entirely on Dolly and her music, featuring recordings that span five decades. Highlights include her very first record, “Puppy Love”—recorded at age 13 alongside her uncle Bill Owens—a rare recording of Dolly reading a letter she wrote to her parents just after moving to Nashville, and audio from her 1999 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame by Kenny Rogers.
If you are a Dolly Parton fan, you will not want to miss this special presentation.
Here are the personalities country music said goodbye to in 2025. May they rest in peace:
January 13 – Buck White (age 94) (singer, mandolinist, pianist, founder of the Whites)
January 15 – Melba Montgomery (age 86) (singer, songwriter)
January 24 – Buddy Brock (age 72)
(songwriter)
March 6 – Troy Seals (age 86) (songwriter)
March 20 – Eddie Adcock (age 86) (bluegrass banjoist)
March 29 – Dick Damron (age 91)
(Canadian singer, songwriter)
April 1 – Johnny Tillotson (age 86)
(singer, songwriter)
July 18 – Helen Cornelius (age 83)
(singer, Jim Ed Brown duet partner)
July 26 – Sandy Pinkard (age 78) (songwriter, half of Pinkard & Bowden duo)
July 31 – Flaco Jimenez (age 86)
(accordionist, formerly of the Texas Tornadoes)
August 1 – Jeannie Seely (age 85)
(singer, songwriter, long-time Grand Ole Opry member)
September 4 – Robby Turner (age 62)
(steel guitarist)
September 18 – Brett James (age 57)
(songwriter)
September 19 – Sonny Curtis (age 88)
(singer, songwriter, member of the Crickets)
November 2 – John Wesley Ryles (age 74) (singer, session vocalist)
November 14 – Todd Snider (age 59) (singer, songwriter)
December 8 – Raul Malo (age 60) (singer, songwriter, lead singer of the Mavericks)
December 15 – Joe Ely (age 78) (singer, songwriter, member of the Flatlanders)
December 25 – Stu Phillips (age 92) (Canadian singer, long-time Grand Ole Opry member)
Special thanks to “Good ‘N Country” host Ken Hippler for compiling this list
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Monday, November 10, 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter, the Edmund Fitzgerald, in Lake Superior during a severe storm. Join Good ‘N Country host Ken Hippler during this week’s episode as he pays tribute to the memory of the crewmembers lost in this tragedy. Ken will kick off the show with a story produced by Alison Young, a producer for radio station KFAI in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. This will be followed by the tribute song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” written, composed, and performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot one month afterward.
This episode premiered on Saturday, November 8, 2025 and is now available on-demand on the Good ‘N Country show page.
Listener-Supported Heartland Public Radio thanks KFAI for allowing us to share this segment with our listeners. Support for MinneCulture on KFAI has been provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.
Jeannie Seely Tribute
Join Ken Hippler for Good ‘N Country as he pays tribute to the late, great Jeannie Seely, who sadly passed away on August 1st at age 85.
A Grand Ole Opry member for 57 years, she has more Opry appearances than ANY other artist, taking that stage nearly 5,400 times! She was an accomplished singer, songwriter, radio host, AND the first female to host the Grand Ole Opry. Ken will spin some of her music, along with some duets with Jack Greene, songs she wrote or co-wrote, recorded by other artists, and an interview by former Arkansas governor (now ambassador) Mike Huckabee about her career.
If you are a Jeannie Seely fan, you won’t want to miss this episode, which is now only available to stream on-demand right here on the Good ‘N Country show page.
Promo: Good ‘N Country with Ken Hippler
Enjoy traditional, classic, and obscure country music from Mississippi Blue Yodeler Jimmy Rodgers to the modern songs of the Randy Rogers Band. It all happens on Good ‘N Country with Ken Hippler on HPR1: Traditional Classic Country. New episodes premiere Saturdays at 3 p.m. Central and then repeat on Mondays at 10 p.m. Central, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Central, and Thursdays at 5 a.m. Central. And you can listen anytime on-demand on the Good ‘N Country show page.
Good ‘N Country features traditional, classic, out-of-print, and vintage country music – much of it not heard ANYWHERE else. It also presents music from contemporary and emerging traditional country music artists.
