Journalist Lydia Dixon Harden Passes

LydiaDixonHarden

Lydia Dixon Harden

Country-music journalist Lydia Dixon Harden passed away last week at age 55.

During the 1980s and 1990s, she profiled hundreds of Country celebrities in the pages of the fan publication Music City News. She rose to become the monthly magazine’s managing editor.

At the time, Music City News was country music’s most prominent fan periodical. It published continuously between 1963 and 2000. The magazine began giving annual awards in 1967, and these were nationally televised in 1978-1999.

Lydia Dixon Harden was also the co-author of the books The Stars of Country Music: The Legends and the New Breed (1996), New Country Stars (1993) and The Stars of Country Music (1994). She wrote essays for the program books for the Academy of Country Music Awards and penned one of the Dolly Parton biographies. 

In recent years, the Tennessee Tech University alumna worked for Windsor Health Care. Lydia Dixon Harden died on July 15.

She is survived by her husband of 30 years, Tim Harden, by daughter Claire Harden, by brother David Dixon and by sisters Donna Dixon, Sue Ellen Weaver, Janet Hopkins and Amy Becktell.

Funeral services were conducted Sunday, July 20, 2014 at Woodbine Funeral Home, Hickory Chapel.

Highlights Of Summer NAMM's Largest Show In Six Years

NAMMNAMM members rolled into Nashville’s Music City Center July 17-19 finding the largest Summer NAMM in six years.
“NAMM members who attended Summer NAMM are leaving Nashville with a competitive edge to succeed in the second half of the year,” said Joe Lamond, President and CEO of NAMM. “We are grateful to the members who shared their paths to success with their peers during breakfast sessions and the Top 100 Dealers Awards. Together we will continue to strengthen our industry.”
This year’s Summer NAMM featured the most exhibitors since 2006. When the show opened on Thursday (July 17), 438 exhibitors representing 1,510 brands debuted new products. An increase in exhibiting companies expanded the show to two full halls, 25 percent larger than the footprint of last year’s Summer NAMM.
Adding to the convention were 103 new-to-Summer NAMM companies including Hang Over Guitar Straps, Blakhart Guitar Company, and Emerson Custom Guitars. Another 112 companies including Pearl Corporation, KHS, and Orange Amplifiers returned to the showroom after a hiatus. The number of buyers attending Summer NAMM increased 5 percent over 2013, which saw an 8 percent increase over 2012. In total 12,442 people registered for the event.

Singer/Songwriter/Actor Jonathan Jackson and brother Singer/Songwriter Richard Jackson attend Music Industry Day At Summer NAMM. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM

Singer/songwriter/actor Jonathan Jackson and brother singer/songwriter Richard Jackson attend Music Industry Day At Summer NAMM. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM


Leading retailers from Japan, Venezuela, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and exhibitors from 12 countries including China, Sweden, and Germany added to the global business opportunities at Summer NAMM. Overall international attendance increased 19 percent over last year’s event.
Recording Artists Chase Bryant and Greg Bates attend Music Industry Day At Summer NAMM. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM

Recording artists Chase Bryant and Greg Bates attend Music Industry Day At Summer NAMM. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM


Similar to January’s NAMM Show, the exhibitor mix reflected the full spectrum of music products including woodwinds, percussion, pro audio, recording, publishers and as to be expected in Nashville, a strong showing of fretted string instruments. Pro audio and technology driven exhibitors grew 23 percent, filling up much of the expanded floor space.
Perennially popular acoustic string instruments remain one of Summer NAMM’s star attractions. Attendees crowded C.F. Martin & Co., Taylor Guitars, Gibson Brands, Cordoba Guitars, Deering Banjos, Eastman Guitars, Breedlove, Bedell and Weber Acoustic Instruments to strum the latest instruments. Just off the show floor, NAMM’s new Acoustic Nation stage featured acoustic performances by dozens of artists including Greg Bates, Jonathan Jackson and Enation, The Ukedelics and more.
“Insight,” Wednesday night’s pre-show opening party featured country music icon Vince Gill, his band The Players, and Two Old Hippies’ founder Tom Bedell. They combined musical performances and a lively discussion on the relationship between musicians and their musical instruments.
The world’s best retailers packed Davidson Ballroom Friday night for the Top 100 Dealer Awards. The industry celebrated excellence and innovation as host Ira Dean of the Country trio Trick Pony awarded trophies in eight ‘Best Of’ categories. Enlisting flourishing forward thinkers of music retail, NAMM U’s breakfast and Idea Center sessions tutored attendees on making the most of the industry’s current opportunities.

Weekend Round-Up

Blake Shelton played a sold-out stadium show at Chicago’s Wrigley Field over the weekend, topping out capacity with over 40,000 fans in attendance. Shelton is only the fourth country artist to have appeared at the 100-year-old ballpark. Currently on his Ten Times Crazier Tour 2014, Saturday night (July 19) Shelton hosted opening acts The Band Perry, Dan + Shay and Neal McCoy. The outing also includes sold-out shows August 1 at NYC’s Madison Square Garden and October 4 at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. Shelton recently celebrated his 12th consecutive No. 1 single, “My Eyes,” which is his 17th No. 1 overall.

Shelton onstage at Wrigley Field.

Shelton onstage at Wrigley Field.


• • • •
Brad Paisley and Sarah Darling performed Paisley’s hit “Whiskey Lullaby” Friday night (July 18) on the Grand Ole Opry. Paisley is a judge on ABC’s new singing competition show Rising Star, where Darling was a contestant. She was eliminated from the show last week by a fraction of a percentage in votes and Paisley promised they play the Opry together when she returned to Nashville.
Brad Paisley and Sarah Darling. ©2014 Grand Ole Opry. Photo By: Chris Hollo

Brad Paisley and Sarah Darling. ©2014 Grand Ole Opry. Photo By: Chris Hollo

Luke Bryan Leads Country Noms For Teen Choice Awards

Luke Bryan

Luke Bryan received four nominations for the Teen Choice Awards.


The next wave of nominees has been announced for Teen Choice 2014, airing Sunday, Aug. 10 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live) on FOX. Country stars receiving nominations include Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum and Jake Owen. 22 Jump Street leads the nominees with seven nods, while Iggy Azalea follows closely with five. Trophies will be presented at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Fans ages 13-19 can vote once each day per category for their favorite nominees at www.teenchoiceawards.com. Voting ends at 11:59 PM PT on Saturday, Aug. 9.
Choice Country Song
“Bartender,” Lady Antebellum
“Beachin,'” Jake Owen
“Play It Again,” Luke Bryan
“Somethin’ Bad,” Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood
“This is How We Roll,” Florida Georgia Line featuring Luke Bryan
Choice Summer Music Star: Male
Luke Bryan
Jason Derulo
John Legend
Sam Smith
Pharrell Williams
Choice Summer Music Star: Group
5 Seconds of Summer
Fifth Harmony
Florida Georgia Line
Magic!
Rixton
Choice Summer Tour
Beyonce and Jay-Z, “On The Run Tour”
Justin Timberlake, “The 20/20 Experience World Tour”
Katy Perry, “The Prismatic World Tour”
Luke Bryan, “That’s My Kind of Night Tour”
One Direction, “Where We Are Tour”
A full list of categories and nominees is available at www.teenchoiceawards.com.

Radio Friendly: Chris Young, Kristian Bush, Kip Moore, Dan + Shay

Kristian Bush co-hosted with Larry and Klaudia in the Morning on Go Country 105/KKGO. The station was the first to premiere “Trailer Hitch,” the debut single from Bush’s solo project. “Trailer Hitch” officially goes for radio adds July 28.
Bush is currently on his Put Your Soul In It Tour and working with longtime producer Byron Gallimore on his debut solo album to be released via Streamsound Records.

Kristian bush_KKGO

Pictured (L-R): KKGO’s Larry Morgan, KKGO/PD Tonya Campos, Kristian Bush and KKGO’s Klaudia Aresti


• • • • •
CMT Radio’s Cody Alan chatted with Kip Moore at a taping for the Mountain Dew CMT Summer Concert Series. CMT and Mountain Dew are teaming up for live performances from Moore, Dierks Bentley, David Nail and Chris Young. The four-part series launches with Moore on CMT Hot 20 Countdown Saturday, July 19, at 11:00 a.m. ET/PT.
Pictured: Kip Moore, CMT’s Alecia Davis, Cody Alan

Pictured (L-R): Kip Moore, CMT’s Alecia Davis, Cody Alan


• • • • •
RCA Records Nashville artist Chris Young recently headlined a sold out show at the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, MS. On hand for the performance was WGKX music director Kay Manley. Young’s current single “Who I Am With You” has already reached No. 1 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart.
chris young on road

Pictured (L-R): Kay Manley and Chris Young


• • • • •
Dan + Shay show off WGNA’s Country Fest banner last weekend with Sean McMaster from the station’s morning show.
(L-R): Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney & Sean McMaster

Pictured (L-R): Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney and Sean McMaster

Revenue From Google Play Continues Climb

GooglePlayGoogle’s Play store gave the company a $550 million revenue increase in the second quarter year-over-year. Play revenue experienced a 53 percent bump compared with the same quarter in 2013.
Executives discussed the news this week at the company’s second quarter earnings conference call.
The Play store, which sells and/or streams apps, music, movies, television, books and more is the tech company’s fastest growing business segment.
Revenue from Play is included in Google’s “Other Revenue” segment of the earnings report. This segment represents one tenth of the company’s overall sales. In the second quarter Other Revenue pulled in $1.596 billion in sales, 10 percent of Google’s overall $15.955 billion.

Photo Friday

A new cinema spot stars Carrie Underwood performing “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” the opening theme for primetime television’s No. 1 program, Sunday Night Football on NBC. The 2.5-minute clip will debut Friday, July 25 on more than 19,000 movie screens nationwide in AMC, Cinemark, and Regal theaters. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this year’s Sunday Night Football show opener featuring Underwood and NFL stars.

Carrie Underwood. Photo: Paul Drinkwater/NBC

Movie theater clip goes behind the scenes of Carrie Underwood’s Sunday Night Football opener. Photo: Paul Drinkwater/NBC


• • • •
BMI treated restaurant association executives who were in Music City for the Annual Summer Meeting of the CSRA (Council of State Restaurant Associations) to a good old fashioned guitar pull that featured three of Nashville’s finest songwriters. Award-winning BMI songwriters Kylie Sackley, Clint Daniels and Phillip White played July 14 in front of a packed house at Puckett’s in downtown Nashville, performing the hits they have written for country giants like Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Reba, George Strait and Brooks & Dunn.
Pictured after the performance (l to r):BMI’s Dan Spears, Clint Daniels, Kylie Sackley, BMI’s Mike Steinberg, CSRA President and Arkansas Hospitality Association Executive Director Montine McNulty, Phillip White, BMI’s Jessica Frost.

Pictured after the performance (L-R): BMI’s Dan Spears, Clint Daniels, Kylie Sackley, BMI’s Mike Steinberg, CSRA President and Arkansas Hospitality Assoc. Exec. Dir. Montine McNulty, Phillip White, BMI’s Jessica Frost.


• • • •
The Academy of Country Music welcomed Deana Carter to the office recently. While at the Academy, she performed her hit “Strawberry Wine,” as well as Kenny Chesney’s hit “You and Tequila,” which she co-wrote with Matraca Berg. Click here to watch a video from Carter’s visit featuring an exclusive interview and clips from her performance.
Carter currently hosts Southern Roots Movement, an acoustic music series at Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, California.
Deana

Deana Carter performs at the Academy of Country Music in Encino, CA. Photo: Michel Bourquard/Courtesy of ACM.

Lady A's '747' To Land Sept. 30

lady a 747Lady Antebellum’s fifth studio album 747 will land in stores Sept. 30 via Capitol Records Nashville. The lead single “Bartender” is already one of their fastest rising singles at Country radio. Nathan Chapman co-produced the 11-song disc with the seven-time Grammy winning trio. See the full track list below.
“We unanimously knew that our album title had to be 747,” said Lady A’s Hillary Scott. “The track itself has this pushing, driving spirit about it that sums up our attitude right now. We are pushing ourselves as a band and as songwriters…taking ourselves out of our comfort zone and not taking ourselves too seriously. There’s an urgency and an energy to it that we’ve never released before.”
“We are so ready to get this music out,” continued Charles Kelley. “To get the reaction we’ve gotten from ‘Bartender’ has only made us more fired up about the rest of these songs!”
“We had the opportunity to write with some new songwriters and really dig for outside songs that were songs we wish we’d written,” added Dave Haywood. “As we took them into the studio, we changed our approach and challenged ourselves to try some new things that were outside of what we’d done before.”
Lady A is mid-way through their headlining 80-city Take Me Downtown Tour.
747 track list
1. Long Stretch of Love
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Josh Kear)
2. Bartender
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Rodney Clawson)
3. Lie With Me
(Marc Beeson, Abe Stoklasa)
4. Freestyle
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Shane McAnally)
5. Down South
(Stephanie Chapman, Christian Rada, Dave Thomson)
6. One Great Mystery
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Josh Kear)
7. Sounded Good At The Time
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Brad Warren, Brett Warren)
8. She Is
(Ben Rector, Jeff Pardo)
9. Damn You Seventeen
(Rodney Clawson, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally)
10. 747
(Gordie Sampson, Caitlyn Smith, Cary Barlowe)
11. Just A Girl
(Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Shane McAnally)

2014 Summer NAMM Opens With Vince Gill

Recording Artist Vince Gill, Joe Lamond President & CEO NAMM, Recording Artist Brent Mason, Tom Bedell of Two Old Hippies, Recording Artist Paul Franklin, Recording Artist John Hobbs, Recording Artist Eddie Bayers and Recording Artist Michael Rhodes backstage before Vince Gill Hosts "Insight: Iconic Artists And The Gear That Inspires Them" To Kick Off Summer NAMM, July 17-19 In Nashville at Music City Center on July 16, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM)

(L-R): Vince Gill, NAMM President & CEO Joe Lamond, Brent Mason, Tom Bedell of Two Old Hippies, Paul Franklin, John Hobbs, Eddie Bayers and Michael Rhodes, backstage before Vince Gill Hosts “Insight: Iconic Artists And The Gear That Inspires Them.” Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM


Summer NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants), one of the largest musical instrument and product trade shows in the country, runs through tomorrow (Saturday, July 19) at Nashville’s Music City Center. On display are the newest instruments and state-of-the-art recording technology.
Joe Lamond President & CEO NAMM, Tom Bedell of Two Old Hippies, C. F. Martin & Co. CEO & Chairman Chris Martin and Vince Gill backstage before Vince Gill Hosts "Insight: Iconic Artists And The Gear That Inspires Them," Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM)

(L-R): NAMM’s Joe Lamond, Two Old Hippies’ Tom Bedell, C.F. Martin & Co. CEO & Chairman Chris Martin, and Vince Gill, backstage before Gill hosts “Insight: Iconic Artists And The Gear That Inspires Them.” Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM


Opening earlier this week, Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Vince Gill served as host with Two Old Hippies founder Tom Bedell for “Insight: Iconic Artists and the Gear that Inspires Them” kicking off the Summer NAMM convention in Nashville in Music City Center’s Davidson Ballroom. They shared the stage with their all-star musician friends for an evening of story and song, swapping tales of the beloved instruments used in some of their best-known hits. 
NAMM’s consumer “Music Industry Day” is set for tomorrow (July 19). Opening its doors to musicians, songwriters, and sound and staging professionals, NAMM offers an opportunity to demo new gear from hundreds of brands, attend workshops, check out live music, and network with music industry leaders. Workshops will guide musicians on topics ranging from marketing to navigating endorsement deals. The day also includes a session on building the ultimate pedalboard setup with Guitar World’s Paul Riario. Click here for the complete list of sessions and workshops.
Brent Mason, Vince Gill and Michael Rhodes of The Players perform as Vince Gill Hosts "Insight: Iconic Artists And The Gear That Inspires Them," Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM)

Brent Mason, Vince Gill and Michael Rhodes of The Players perform as the event hosted by Gill. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for NAMM

Industry Ink: Demonbreun Hill Debuts

demonbreun hillElmington Capital Group, owners of the Demonbreun strip, are rebranding the property and immediate surrounding area Demonbreun Hill.
Ben Brewer from Elmington explained the company’s desire to create a neighborhood feel and unique identity for the area, which will have over 1,200 new residential units in the near future.
Elmington has teamed with creative agency Mountain for the Demonbreun Hill branding initiative. They plan on working with businesses and the new 1505 Apartments across the street to produce outdoor events this fall such as concerts, street fairs, professional gatherings and a Big Wheel Race.
Anchoring the neighborhood will be a 100-foot-long mural by artist Bryan Deese telling the history of the block dating back to Timothy Demonbreun.
• • • •
The July installment of the ASCAP “We Create Music” showcase series was held on Wednesday, July 16 at The Basement in Nashville. The showcase featured Wrensong/Reynsong songwriter-artist Jacob Davis, songwriter-artist and hit ABC television series Nashville star Jonathan Jackson, up-and-coming songwriter-artist Josh London, and emerging songwriters Doug Brown and Gavin Slate. The popular monthly showcase series was designed to highlight ASCAP’s “best of the best” within the thriving Nashville songwriting community.

 Pictured (l-r): Gavin Slate, Josh London and bandmates, ASCAP's LeAnn Phelan, Richard Jackson, Jonathan Jackson, Jacob Davis and Doug Brown. Photo by ASCAP's Alison Toczylowski.

Pictured (l-r): Gavin Slate, Josh London and bandmates, ASCAP’s LeAnn Phelan, Richard Jackson, Jonathan Jackson, Jacob Davis and Doug Brown. Photo by ASCAP’s Alison Toczylowski.


• • • •
The Society Of Leaders In Development (SOLID) will donate $5,181 to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Nashville. The money raised at SOLID’s annual CMA Yard Sale & Auction will help send at least six local children to MDA Summer Camp.
SOLID president Brian O’Neil and SOLID Board Member and Yard Sale & Auction director Jeff Hoehne send thanks to those who supported the event as volunteers, by donating items and in other ways.
• • • •
Hunter Hayes will perform at the National Association of Broadcasters’ 25th NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show, sponsored by iBiquity Digital Corporation, the creators of HD Radio Technology. The event will take place Sept. 11 at the 2014 Radio Show, going on Sept. 10-12 in Indianapolis and produced by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and NAB.