Songwriter Signings

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UMPG Nashville signs Ray Scott • Pete Best signs with Dan Hodges Music

UMPG Nashville signs Ray Scott

Universal Music Publishing recently signed singer/songwriter Ray Scott to its roster. Scott wrote or co-wrote every song on his latest project, Ray-ality, produced by Dave Brainard.

(L-R) back: UMPG Nashville Creative Mgr. Dave Pacula, Sr. VP Creative Kent Earls, and Creative Mgr. Freeman Wizer. Front: UMPG Nashville VP A&R/Special Projects Ron Stuve, Pres. Pat Higdon, Ray Scott and Sr. Creative Dir. Cyndi Forman

Pete Best Signs with Dan Hodges Music

Singer/songwriter Pete Best has signed a publishing agreement with Dan Hodges Music, LLC.

(L-R): Perry Howard, BMI Dir. Writer/Publisher Relations; Pete Best; and Dan Hodges, Owner/GM Dan Hodges Music, LLC

Writers Nights

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BMI & KUPL present Kix Brooks & Friends • Singles Only offer “A Night of Hits”

BMI & KUPL Partner to Present “Songwriters Night with Kix Brooks & Friends”

BMI joined KUPL-FM in Portland, Oregon, to present a special “Songwriters Night with Kix Brooks and Friends” at Alpha Broadcasting’s Bing Lounge on January 20. In addition to Brooks, BMI songwriters Bob DiPiero and Big Al Anderson gave KUPL listeners and clients an inside look into the art of songwriting.

(L-R): BMI’s Dan Spears, Bob DiPiero, Big Al Anderson, KUPL PD Scott Mahalick, Alpha Broadcasting Chairman/CEO Larry Wilson and Kix Brooks.

Singles Only Presents “A Night of Hits”

Singles Only, a new pitch group consisting of pluggers from seven successful independent publishers, held its first “A Night of Hits” show featuring performances of the writers’ best uncut material. The quarterly event took place at the Listening Room on January 19. The group’s roster includes multiple Grammy and CMA award winners who have amassed over 100 No. 1 hits, including hitmakers Bob DiPiero, Hillary Lindsey, Brett James, Liz Rose, Bobby Pinson, Jim Collins, Dave Berg, Tia Sillers, busbee, Neil Thrasher, Chris Lindsey, Victoria Shaw, Robert Ellis Orrall, Peter McCann, Jonathan Singleton, Jon Mabe, and Kent Agee, as well as up-and-comers Angaleena Presley, Brandon Kinney, Bruce Wallace, Caitlyn Smith, Casey Kessel, Dean Alexander, Emily Shackelton, Eric Paslay, Kip Moore, Lonnie Lee Fowler, Lisa McCallum, Sarah Buxton and Steven Lee Olsen.

(L-R): Natalie Harker, Cal IV Ent.; Denny Carr, Roots Three Music; Penny Everhard, Love Monkey Music/Tom-Leis Music; Daniel Lee, Ten Ten Music Group; Taylor Lindsey, BMG Rights Mgmt.; Scott Ponce, Liz Rose Music; and Shane Barrett, Shane Barrett Music.

First Music From Dunn's Solo Debut

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Ronnie Dunn is releasing his first post-Brooks & Dunn single. “Bleed Red,” is the lead track from his upcoming solo debut album for Sony Music Nashville.
Produced by Dunn, and penned by Tommy Lee James and Andrew Dorff, “Bleed Red” is a ballad that Dunn says, “knocked me out from the first listen. I genuinely felt the spirit of the lyrics in my gut. It’s a really big song, and it needed to be sung.”
Beginning today, fans can preview a snippet of “Bleed Red” at www.RonnieDunn.com. The full song will be available to country radio on Jan. 30, the same day that fans will be able to hear the full version of on Dunn’s site. It will hit digital outlets Feb. 8.
Dunn’s debut solo album is set for release later this year.

Sony Music Unlimited Sets Sights On U.S.

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Sony has rallied support among the major labels—Warner Bros., Universal and EMI—to form a streaming music service that the partners hope will challenge Apple’s iTunes (now passed the 10 billion downloads mark) and give their artists an additional platform from which to be heard. Dubbed Music Unlimited Powered by Qriocity (sounds like- curiosity) the service opened last December in the U.K and Ireland and this past weekend (1/22) in France, Germany and Spain. It is expected to open for U.S. consumers first quarter 2011.
Music Unlimited is available on Sony’s Playstation 3 game console, Blu-ray Disc player, Bravia televisions, personal computers, and will be on smartphones using Google Inc.’s Android operating systems. The new online cloud-based offering contains over six million songs and gives its major label partners more control over business model and revenue, without having to interact with additional entities.
Users are required to pay for song access choosing either basic plan for 3.99 euros per month or the premium plan which costs 9.99 euros /month. Unlike iTunes which allows users to enjoy their song files offline, Music Unlimited users must be connected for the files to stream. The Sony site also has no plans to offer free content or ad supported only content. “Free doesn’t make any money,” said Thomas Hesse, head of digital operations and corporate strategy Sony Music Entertainment.
Analysis: The corpses from a number of streaming and download services lie strewn about the digital highway such as LaLa, the original Napster and many more. Others, like Spotify, have been rumored to reach the U.S. but not yet arrived. However, Sony’s size and its installed hardware user base gives Music Unlimited added market clout—the company expects to have about 350 million devices in the marketplace over the next few years. However, it appears that users have to be connected to listen to the songs they have purchased. In the future that should not be a problem as wireless connectivity seeps further into our world’s infrastructure. However, at this time, there are many areas even inside major cities nicknamed “dead zones” where the signal is not robust, and this may slow adoption of a streaming only model.

Song From "Country Strong" Earns Oscar Nod

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This morning’s (1/25) Academy Award nominations included the song “Coming Home,” from the Country Strong soundtrack. Nominated for Best Original Song are songwriters Tom Douglas, Troy Verges, and Hillary Lindsey. Bob DiPiero also has a writing credit on the song, but only three songwriters are allowed to be nominated. (read why)
“Coming Home” was performed by Gwyneth Paltrow for the original motion picture soundtrack and feature film.
Released by RCA Nashville, the Country Strong soundtrack is currently one of the nation’s best-selling albums, perched at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart last week and at No. 6 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
The 83rd Academy Awards will air Sunday, February 27, on ABC.

Artist News

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Ty Stone


Ty Stone on Kid Rock tour • Billy Currington on Leno • The Band Perry team with Purina • Randy Montana’s free single • Brantley Gilbert new single • Ride/Capstone launch Glen Templeton • Clay Walker plays Pebble Beach • Gatlins on Craig Ferguson • Lorrie Morgan climbs Pink Ladders
>>Atlantic Records newcomer Ty Stone was discovered by future label mate Kid Rock, who has now invited the fellow Detroit native on his upcoming Born Free tour. Stone’s debut country single, “American Style,” off his forthcoming album (executive produced by Kid Rock) is out now. The tour stops Feb. 18 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
>>Billy Currington will celebrate his tenth Top 10 hit, “Let Me Down Easy,” with a performance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno this Thurs., Jan. 27. Currington will also join Kenny Chesney’s 2011 Goin’ Coastal’ Tour.
>>The Band Perry and their four dogs are the face of the new Purina® Dog Chow® campaign. The siblings will perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Jan. 28 and will appear on Ellen on Jan. 31.
>>The iTunes “Single of the Week” is Randy Montana’s “1,000 Faces.” Free download through next Tuesday.

Brantley Gilbert


>>Average Joe’s artist Brantley Gilbert’s has released new single, “Them Boys.” It’s the third single from his sophomore album, Halfway to Heaven. Gilbert also co-wrote Jason Aldean’s current hit, “My Kind of Party.”
>>Ride Records and Nashville-based Capstone Music Group have aligned to launch Glen Templeton. His debut single, “I Could Be the One,” will impact country radio in March. He is signed with Buddy Lee Attractions for booking.
>>In February Clay Walker will return to the 2011 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am along with professional golfers and celebrities including Ray Romano, George Lopez, Don Cheadle, and Josh Duhamel. This is Walker’s 14th consecutive year playing in the event which has raised over $85 million for charity.
>>Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers will be on the CBS Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson Friday, Jan. 28 performing “Black Gold,” the latest single from their new album, Pilgrimage (Curb Records).
>>Lorrie Morgan is featured in the current newsletter of women’s career website, Pink Ladders. She offers career advice to other women and acknowledges the people who have been a part of her success, including legend Tammy Wynette.

Dierks Lets Fans In On Recording Process

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Dierks Bentley will be heading to Asheville, NC next week with producer Jon Randall Stewart and recording engineer Gary Paczosa to record his sixth Capitol Nashville studio album. The entire recording experience from the studio will be viewable online through a live video feed 24 hours a day beginning Jan. 30 on www.dierks.com.
“I’ve been writing and re-writing and tweaking songs for the past four months to get ready for the studio,” says Bentley. “I usually come home from the road and go right into the studio, so I’ve never put this much time into prepping and doing pre-production on songs. I learned from my experience recording Ridge that getting out of Nashville and away from the business side of things can be really inspiring. I’ve got the best musicians in the world, and we’re going to go hunker down for a few weeks and live and breathe this record. I thought it would be cool to let the fans be part of the whole experience, so we’re going to let them watch as it all goes down.”
Bentley plans to release a new single to radio this spring, followed by his upcoming album. Bentley is also planning a complete relaunch of www.dierks.com in March.

Josh Kelley Sets Release Date

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Josh Kelley at WMAD-Madison (l-r) Steph Peters, morning host John, Josh Kelley, morning host Tammy, and MCA Nashville midwest regional Donna Jo Passuntino


>>Josh Kelley’s country debut will be released March 22 on MCA Nashville. The lead single and title track “Georgia Clay” is at radio now. He and brother Charles Kelley wrote the song about their youth, with help from Josh’s producer, Clint Lagerberg. Among other tracks on the album will be “Raining Whiskey” (“It’s hard staying dry when it’s raining whiskey), “Naleigh Moon” about his daughter with actress Katherine Heigl, and “Baby Blue Eyes,” which he co-wrote with Lee Brice.
>>A Thompson Square EP is available exclusively on the Verizon Wireless Media Store and V CAST Music. The three-song release features songs from the duo’s self-titled Stoney Creek Records’ debut, due out Feb. 8. Included are lead single “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” “I Got You” and “As Bad As It Gets.”
>>In anticipation of their self-titled debut coming Feb. 1, Warner Bros. Records duo the JaneDear girls (Susie Brown and Danelle Leverett) are offering a sneak peak of full-length songs on their Facebook page.
>>Steve Earle is set to release I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive April 26 via New West Records. The 11-track set was produced by T Bone Burnett.

Chesney, Cannon Reach Milestone

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Buddy Cannon and Kenny Chesney


Kenny Chesney and producer Buddy Cannon are celebrating a milestone. Chesney’s latest No. 1 hit “Somewhere With You,” marked the star’s 21st time at the top of the charts, and his 20th charttopper produced by Cannon. Chesney says he knew the song by Shane McAnally and John Harding was very unique the first time he heard it.
Since their first pairing on the 1997 album I Will Stand, the Cannon/Chesney collaboration has resulted in numerous multi-platinum albums. Among Cannon’s co-producers are Chesney and Norro Wilson.
In more news from the East Tennesean, his “No Shoes Radio” is now being distributed on the A.P.E. Radio network. Dubbed A.P.E. for “artist personal experience,” the distribution includes Clear Channel Radio’s “iheartradio” network, made up of hundreds of local radio station websites, the iheartradio mobile app (12 million downloads), and widgets. The Chesney-programmed channel is still available at www.NoShoesRadio.com and iTunes radio.
As Chesney preps his summer tour, 12 dates are on sale and have moved more than 400,000 tickets.

Joanna Smith

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Joanna Smith will be playing at MusicRow’s Annual CRS Meet & Greet Tuesday, March 1, 2:30-5 pm at Cadillac Ranch.
Joanna Smith is releasing her new single, “Georgia Mud,” which she co-wrote with Jim McCormick and Aaron Scherz. The song will appear on her upcoming debut album for Columbia Nashville.
“Aaron had the line about ‘bare feet hanging off the tire swing’ and he had that thump, thump, thump beat and I loved it,” says Smith of the song’s inception, “but I was trying to think of a nice way to tell him, I didn’t know if I should write this song because I have so many Georgia songs. I was trying to think in my head how to politely divert his attention from that title and then he started kind of playing me a little riff that he had and I said ‘okay let’s write it!’ It bumped another Georgia song off this record.”
Smith was raised on a farm in tiny Crestview unincorporated, Georgia, and proudly displays her rural roots in songs like “Farm Girl” and “Gettin’ Married.” After arriving in Nashville, she honed her live performance chops in front of the rowdy nighttime crowds at legendary Broadway hang Tootsie’s. The music that Smith is recording is an authentic extension of her rural upbringing and the sounds that inspire her.
“I write like I talk,” Smith says. “It’s just the way that I express myself and the most honest I can be. Songs that have a true story inspiring them are the songs that reach people. I play them and I watch the crowd. I see what they react to and that helps me write better songs.”
http://www.joannasmithofficial.com/
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