Star-Studded Events Calendar

Martina McBride is putting on her party shoes...she'll be attending the Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award Gala, and the Best Cellars Dinner.


Best Cellars Dinner—April 25
The twelfth annual Eco-Energy Best Cellars Dinner will be Monday, April 25 at the Hutton Hotel with celebrity guests Blake Shelton, Martina McBride, Kix Brooks, Amy Grant, Big Kenny, Jonathan Cain, Lisa Hartman Black and Clint Black, Kellie Pickler and Dierks Bentley.
These best sellers will team with some of wine’s best cellars for the fundraiser for the TJ Martell Foundation. Among the wine collectors participating are Mary and Sam Beall (Blackberry Farm), Jamie and Larry Beckwith, Tom Black, Jim Clendenen, Chantel and John Esposito, Patricia and Joe Harbison, Nancy and Billy Ray Hearn, Jeff Hopmayer, Irv Lingo, Eliza Kraft Olander, Deby and Keith Pitts and Bill Shea. The wines will be paired with a four course, gourmet dinner prepared by guest chef Ken Frank from La Toque in Napa, California.
The event will begin with an “All Things That Sparkle” reception and silent auction sponsored by David Yurman with sparkling wine provided by Italian Wine Merchants. During dinner, Big Kenny will conduct a live auction.
Music Supervisor Speed Networking—April 19
A limited number of tickets are still available for the Nashville Film Festival and CMA speed networking event featuring top music supervisors. Set for tomorrow (4/19) from 6:30-9 PM at the CMA offices, the event includes food and drinks in an informal setting. This is NOT a pitch session, so please do NOT bring CDs. Tickets are $150/person. Call Ted Crockett (615) 742-2500 with credit card information. More info here.
Grammy Block Party—May 10
The Recording Academy® Nashville Chapter will host its 13th annual Grammy Block Party on Tuesday, May 10 at Owen Bradley Park adjacent to the Music Row roundabout. The performance line-up is a showcase for Nashville’s musical diversity, featuring Laura Bell Bundy, The Civil Wars, Denny Jiosa, Jerrod Niemann, Old Crow Medicine Show, Royal Tailor band and Chancellor Warhol. The event is free for Recording Academy members and $20 for non-members; those signing up for membership at the event will also be admitted for free. Gates open at 4:30 and live music begins at 5:00.
Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award Gala—May 17
Brad Paisley and Keith Urban have been added to the list of superstars set to salute the Country Music Association when the organization is honored at the Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award gala dinner on Tuesday, May 17 at the Renaissance Hotel. They join previously announced performers Little Big Town, Martina McBride, and Ronnie Milsap, as well as special guests Mayor Karl Dean and Metro Nashville Director of Schools Dr. Jesse Register. Reservations to attend the invitation-only fundraiser must be made by May 1. For more information, contact the Leadership Music office at LM@leadershipmusic.org or (615) 770-7090.
 

Signings at EMI CMG and Bluewater

EMI CMG Publishing is pleased to announce two songwriter signings that round out its new crew of country writers. Megan James and Fred Wilhelm are the latest additions to the country roster that already included Ben Glover, making up a small, but talented team.

Pictured (L-R): Ben Glover, EMI CMG Publishing Pres. Eddie DeGarmo, Megan James, EMI CMG Creative Mgr. Jeremy Ash, and Fred Wilhelm.

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Cody Canada


Bluewater Music is proud to announce a worldwide administration and creative placements agreement with prolific singer/songwriter and artist Cody Canada. Bluewater Music will license and collect for Canada’s catalog, Shan Can Music (BMI), in addition to soliciting the music for TV and film placements. Canada is known as frontman for Cross Canadian Ragweed, and has recently started a new solo project under the moniker Cody Canada & The Departed. Bluewater Music’s Benom Plumb says, “We are so excited to be working with Cody. His music has inspired and helped define a new generation of southern rock and country music artists, songwriters and fans alike.” Licensing inquiries may be directed to benom@bluewatermusic.com.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, Whitney Duncan

Luke Bryan performed on the Tuesday Night Opry last week and was joined onstage by NBC’s Lester Holt. Holt played bass on Bryan’s current single “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” for an Opry “I’m With The Band” segment, which spotlights celebrities from different fields performing on the Opry stage.

Luke Bryan and Lester Holt

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Rascal Flatts’ song “Red Camaro” inspired an episode of the show Inside West Coast Customs. Last night’s (4/17) season finale featured the band and their car with a custom red paint job, handcrafted factory style T-tops, 22″ wheels and 3 exhaust tips representing each member of the band. The car’s interior is black leather and suede with red stitching, handcrafted Swarovski crystals and the Flatts logo.

Rascal Flatts on the Discovery HD show Inside West Coast Customs.

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Singer Whitney Duncan appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America over the weekend, sending a desperate plea for information leading to the whereabouts of her missing cousin Holly Bobo. The 20-year-old nursing student is believed to have been kidnapped from her home near Parsons, TN last Wednesday (4/13).

Blake Shelton's "Honey Bee" Treats The Single Like A Full Length Album Release

Peter Strickland


This year’s post-Academy of Country Music Awards sales showed little, if any, overall sales bump (week ended 4/10/2011) according to Nielsen SoundScan. Country album sales inched a meager 1% over the previous week. However, Warner’s Blake Shelton, who debuted “Honey Bee” on the show and co-hosted with Reba, was a notable exception. His new single lodged firmly at No. 1 on the  country digital tracks chart selling almost 139k downloads, more than double the sales of the No. 2 track. Shelton, also posted six additional country digital tracks in the Top 100 all of which showed growth from the previous week of 10%-135%. “Honey Bee” is now the highest selling debut single by a country male soloist—ever.
“Singles often take big jumps based upon TV,” says Warner Music Nashville Sr. VP Brand Management and Sales, Peter Strickland. “Even when a track is played within the context of a show and not necessarily only with a performance, we see big digital spikes.”
Digital tracks usually have a Tuesday debut, but this writer noticed that immediately after Shelton’s Sunday night ACM debut, an email arrived alerting that the song was available at iTunes for purchase. Clearly, a plan was in place. And when SoundScan revealed the single’s impressive sales results, we wanted to find out more. MusicRow “tracked” Strickland while on the road in New York City where he graciously shared some of the behind-the-scenes elements leading to Blake’s strong showing.
“The timing was perfect for a premiere on the ACMs,” explains Strickland. “It gave us some breathing room after the last single to lead into a new single from a new project. Once the performance was confirmed on the ACMs we began building our plan. Knowing how people react to a TV appearance, performance or a song being featured we said, ‘This song has to be available digitally at the same time that the performance takes place.’ We went to our partners and gave them the opportunity to have the track available ‘off cycle’ which would be anything other than a Tuesday.”
Strickland notes, “It was delicate because radio wouldn’t have the single either. So the add date was based around the TV show as well. We delivered the song to radio on Sunday just before the performance, so they could immediately play it. Everything was timed around the performance and making the single available for people to buy. Part of the strategy was that if I could get Blake into the Top 10 overall digitally it puts him on the front page everywhere and then the curiosity factor happens. You know Katy Perry is No. 1 and Blake is No. 2 or 3. People ask, ‘Who is that guy?’ People shop off of the chart.
“All our online strategy was put in place as well. We bought advertising online, engaged the socials, the email database and put some of the older tracks on sale. We actually treated the single like we would a full length album release. We went out and bought TV spots in the Top 10 Blake Shelton markets advertising the single during the show. So people saw the performance and then heard, ‘You Can Buy It Now.’ Those things are hard to measure. If we didn’t buy TV advertising would we still have been at that number? It is hard to say. But taken collectively, it gave us a huge debut, and continued Shelton’s momentum growth.”
All marketers would rather sell an album unit with its higher revenue/profit as compared to a track unit. But with album sales, and the shelf space the physical portion of those sales require, shrinking faster than an over-dried Wal-Mart t-shirt the question arises: Are we entering a new phase for track strategy? “Digital singles are funny,” says Stickland. “You usually release them without a mass audience which means you are not going to have a big first week. It’s not treated like an album in the sense of getting the record all the way up the charts to reach critical mass before making it available in order to get big first week numbers. But we have to figure out how to do things differently. Treating this single as we would an album was a new way of thinking. We are still collecting pennies, but at the end of the day it’s going to lead to a bigger place. It might be an early upfront investment on the full length release in the future or maybe it is about selling five to seven million singles. Either way I’m not going to try and stop the consumer. I want to learn from their habits and hopefully give them more of what they want, when they want it.”
Over a year ago when WMG announced they would release a series of six track album packages on Shelton, there was a lot of marketplace discussion, not all positive. But Shelton’s star has undeniably risen and he’s received an avalanche of publicity. “It was March 2010 when we released the first six pak and wanted to do something different for Blake,” says Strickland. “It appears our decisions were fruitful in many areas, especially increasing Blake’s overall exposure in the marketplace. His appearance on The Voice is a tribute to this career building. Putting him in front of the country consumer and the fringe country consumer has created opportunities. Finally, people have had the opportunity based upon the number of press hits he’s had in the last 12 months to see his personality in addition to the music that he delivers to his base. If you are going to grow a career you have to hit that fringe audience.”
Can treating a single release as if it were a full album make economic sense in some way? “Yes,” says Strickland. “If you aren’t careful with the spend you can be losing money, but at the end of the day it is an investment and part of the marketing strategy for our format’s artists and the various revenue streams they produce. As an industry, we are investing in the artists and more than just record sales.”

Corey Wagar


“Hurricane”
GTR Records
Corey Wagar is releasing her hook-filled new single “Hurricane” to country radio. Wagar co-wrote the song with Gordon Brown and it’s a standout track from her forthcoming album On The Edge. The single goes for adds May 12, and Jerry Duncan Promotions is spearheading the radio promotion effort.
The 17-year-old singer grew up in Monmouth County, New Jersey, listening to country music and started coming to Nashville to write and perform. Moving to Music Row for this project, she teamed up with producer Kent Wells (Dolly Parton) and some of Nashville’s finest tunesmiths to write and record On The Edge, which is slated for a Summer 2011 release.
“I fell in love with country music because every song tells a human story, shares our feelings and moods and sets a tone,” says Wagar. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to have the ability to touch people’s hearts and to make them love music as much as I do.”
www.coreywagar.com
Corey Wagar “Hurricane”

Shawna Russell

“Get Right Or Get Left”
Way Out West Records
Thank you early believers: KFAV, KKOW, KLMJ, KREK, WMEV, WPPL, WUPY WYVY, KCNY, KMGO, KSMA, KXOX, WATX, WTHO, WYBL & KBCN!
“She’s a wailer. And this take-a-hike-buddy attitude is perfect for her rocking vocal chops.”
—Robert K. Oermann, MusicRow
“Shawna is now truly ready to compete with the big label stars. On “Get Right Or Get Left” there’s a hint of the vocal swagger of LeAnn Rimes. With a little luck and help from radio stations, we may have the birth of another star.”
—Matt Bjorke, Roughstock
Oklahoma recording artist Shawna Russell has released her latest single, “Get Right Or Get Left” to radio. The song is from her forthcoming self-titled sophomore album on Way Out West Records, which was co-produced by Grammy winner Julian King with Clif Doyal and Tim Russell. Shawna wrote or co-wrote the project’s 10 songs. The single goes for adds May 23.
Shawna arrived on the scene in 2008 with her debut album Goddess, which featured singles “Should’ve Been Born With Wheels,” “Fire In The Desert,” and the title track. The CMA named her one of its Who New to Watch, Country Weekly gave the album 3.5 stars, and MusicRow’s Robert K.Oermann bestowed his DISCovery Award on her.
Contact:
Clif Doyal
Way Out West Records
wowrecordsllc@aol.com
Publicity:
CDA Promotions-Nashville
CDANashville@aol.com
www.shawnarussell.com
Programmers may download a broadcast quality copy of the song at AirPlay Direct: www.airplaydirect.com/shawnarussell
[wpaudio url=”https://musicrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/sr-grgl.mp3″ text=”Shawna Russell – Get Right Or Get Left” dl=”0″ autoplay=”1″]
 

Lucy Angel – "Serious"

“Thanks to radio for all the support for ‘Serious!’ You can now hear it on KBCN, KBCR, KCJC, KFAV, KGMN, KGRT, KITX, KLMJ, KMGO, KMKS, KNAF, KREK, KTJJ, KVOM, KVVP, KXOX, KYYK, KZZY, WATZ, WCJW, WDHR, WDNB, WDXX, WEZJ, WIFE, WJMQ, WJNR, WKBQ, WKSR, WPPL, WTHO, WUPY, WYBL, WYVY KBCN, KBCR, KCJC, KFAV, KGMN, KGRT, KITX, KLMJ, KMGO, KMKS, KNAF, KREK, KTJJ, KVOM, KVVP, KXOX, KYYK, KZZY, WATZ, WCJW, WDHR, WDNB, WDXX, WEZJ, WIFE, WJMQ, WJNR, WKBQ, WKSR, WPPL, WTHO, WUPY, WYBL, WYVY”
Lucy Angel is releasing the single “Serious,” which kicks off their self-titled EP produced by Nashville songwriting prodigy Anthony Smith (George Strait, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts). The EP is available for purchase now and includes several of Smith’s songs like the debut single “Only Woman Left,” which peaked at No. 45 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart.
Mother Kate and daughters Lindsay and Emily Anderton comprise the trio, and the girls grew up on the road with Kate after she won the Wrangler Country Showdown. By the time Lindsay was 12, she had begun singing onstage with Kate and when the duo began to gain some traction in Nashville, Emily picked up the guitar and joined them.
Lucy Angel has performed hundreds of shows in the U.S., including opening for Neal McCoy for their first gig as a trio. Additionally, they have toured Japan, Switzerland and China, where they became the first Western/American group to sing at the Great Hall of the People in Tianamen Square before government officials and dignitaries.
http://www.lucyangel.com/
[wpaudio url=”https://musicrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/la-s.mp3″ text=”Lucy Angel – Serious” dl=”0″ autoplay=”1″]

Jack White Named Music City Ambassador

Jack White (L) receives the honor from Mayor Dean (R). Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins


Mayor Karl Dean and the Nashville Music Council honored Jack White and his Third Man Records with the inaugural Music City Ambassador Award on Saturday, April 16.
“Today’s award recognizes an individual who carries Nashville’s diverse musical message worldwide,” explained Mayor Dean at the ceremony at Third Man Records. “Jack White’s individual talent and unique creative spirit bridges gaps between genres and generations and I couldn’t be more pleased to thank him for his work on behalf of the music industry and its hometown.”
White accepted the honor saying, “Every day we’re excited to be in a city that truly fosters local music and businesses and new ideas. I don’t know another town whose mayor is on the board of its music council.”
Mayor Dean’s co-chair of the NMC, Mary Ann McCready, President of Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy added, “Jack is a global superstar whose music is successful and celebrated in virtually every genre of music. Jack and Third Man calling Nashville their home is a testament to the city’s creative class.”
The Ambassador Award is voted on by the 50-plus members of the NMC.

 Criteria requires that the recipient be a resident of Middle Tennessee with a career in any branch of the music industry, and demonstrate commitment to Nashville’s unique creative climate and musical diversity.
The Ambassador Award is one of several new initiatives set forth by the Nashville Music Council, which also includes the Entrepreneur Center partnership unveiled last week, and other forthcoming announcements.

Joe Redmond Switches Career Gears

Joe Redmond


Longtime radio promotion exec Joe Redmond is leaving the music business to open a bakery in Murfreesboro with his wife.
“I want to thank all my friends and co-workers through the years in the record and radio industries for the kindnesses shown me, and the opportunities provided me these past 17 years,” he says. “I wish you all well; and much personal and professional success.”
Redmond was most recently part of the promotion staff at Edgehill Music and Media. “I feel the Edgehill Music & Media business model is a brilliant re-creation of the promotion idea and it is the way the industry is heading. That said, many thanks to David Haley and Rick Rockhill for including me in the cutting-edge of this business.”
Redmond’s other career stops include Robbins Nashville, Lofton Creek, Warner Bros. Nashville and more.
Reach him at joeredmond@juno.com or 615-414-5488.

Eye On Idol (4/15/11)

Wednesday (4/13) night’s American Idol was themed Songs From the Movies, and kicked off with appropriately dramatic footage of Pia Toscano’s surprise elimination last week. Y’know, like a pivotal scene in a movie. So I figured we were in for a white knuckled, mind-bending results show on Thursday (4/14).
The result, however, proved anti-climactic.
Nashville-via-Huntsville, Ala. native Paul McDonald wound up being the first guy to exit the Top 13 competition, which I hate to say wasn’t a huge surprise. He faced the unenviable task of singing in the first slot on Wednesday night, which past results have shown to be a disadvantage. He then turned in a less-than-inspired version of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll.” Tough odds to overcome.
But I genuinely like Paul, and could see him making a career  fronting a Wilco or My Morning Jacket type outfit. He’s probably not destined to compete with Katy Perry for pop radio airplay, and thank goodness for that.
Joining McDonald in the bottom three were Stefano Langone and Haley Reinhart, both of whom have spent some time there already. If this was American Idol 1993, Langone would be killing it. But as he seems to traffic almost exclusively in a brand of R&B that hasn’t been widely popular since the Clinton presidency (like Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road”), his chances don’t seem too great.
Reinhart, on the other hand, has started to pick up a little steam after big performances of “Bennie and the Jets” and “Piece of My Heart,” but still got the judges’ only criticism on Wednesday. After a solid interpretation of Blondie’s “Call Me,” the judges seized on her song choice and said it wasn’t the best showcase for her voice. Which the American public hears as “You don’t deserve to be here” when compared to the soft praise given to everyone else.
Thankfully Reinhart got a chance to redeem herself on the results show, partnering up with Casey Abrams for the jazz standard “Moanin’.” The two played off one another wonderfully, Reinhart’s voice alternating between a silky coo and that trademark throaty growl. In the middle breakdown, both got a chance to show off their improvisational scat-singing skills to the audience’s delight. A memorable performance.
Scott McCreery and Lauren Alaina have both still avoided the bottom three so far by sticking to their instincts. McCreery teased us a little bit this week with a couple bars of Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin’,” which would have been amazing, but opted instead for the safer “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait. Alaina chose to tackle the Miley Cyrus hit “The Climb,” and sang it winningly. I suspect both will be around for some time yet.
Jacob Lusk gave one of his better performances with “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” a song that Iovine actually suggested to him during rehearsals. I don’t see him winning the competition, but it was enough for the night. And Abrams took yet another left turn with “Nature Boy” a la Nat King Cole, which was strangely subdued for him but interesting nonetheless.
But for now, it looks like James Durbin is trying to run away with this thing. He tried out Sammy Hagar’s “Heavy Metal” from the film of same name, and was joined by guitarist extraordinaire Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society. We’re talking serious metal cred, folks. And what’s more, voters no doubt got a kick out of seeing him tell Jimmy Iovine (respectfully) that he wasn’t going to change his song choice, and proceeding to knock it out of the park.
It’s the story of a one-time underdog, overcoming the odds to emerge victorious. Now that’s a movie I’d watch.