Alan Jackson To Release ‘Angels And Alcohol’ Next Week

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alan jackson angels and alcohol album 2015Next week Alan Jackson will release his first studio album of all new music in three years. Angels and Alcohol will hit stores and digital retailers on Friday, July 17.

The UMG Nashville album was produced by his longtime collaborator and friend Keith Stegall who has produced every one of Jackson’s 23 albums over the past 25 years with the exception of Like Red On A Rose, produced by Alison Krauss.

Angels and Alcohol includes seven self-penned songs, including lead single “Jim and Jack and Hank,” which is at country radio now.

Jackson has sold nearly 60 million albums worldwide and ranks as one of the 10 bestselling vocalists of all-time in all genres.

Angels and Alcohol track listing:
1) “You Can Always Come Home” (Alan Jackson)
2) “You Never Know” (Alan Jackson)
3) “Angels and Alcohol” (Alan Jackson)
4) “Gone Before You Met Me” (Michael White, Michael Heeney)
5) “The One You’re Waiting On” (Adam Wright, Shannon Wright)
6) “Jim and Jack and Hank” (Alan Jackson)
7) “I Leave A Light On” (Alan Jackson)
8) “Flaws” (Alan Jackson)
9) “When God Paints” (Troy Jones, Greg Becker)
10) “Mexico, Tequila and Me” (Alan Jackson)

The Parlor Studio Celebrates 15 Years On Music Row

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15th birthday partyThe Parlor Studio will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a party to be held on July 23 from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Some of the biggest names in country music have worked at The Parlor Studio over the past 15 years including Kenny Chesney, Vince Gill, George Jones, and many others.

Robin Ruddy and husband Larry Sheridan bought the space as a bungalow from Randy Travis in 1997. They converted it into a 4,200 sq. ft. recording studio and office complex which opened in 2000. They recently installed a Trident 80C analog console.

“I’m thrilled to announce this celebration of our 15th year of being in business,” says Ruddy. “In light of the industry’s technological advances, keeping a commercial recording studio busy in Nashville since 2000 is a true triumph.”

The Parlor Studio is located at 1317 16th Ave. S. in Nashville.

Dates Set For 2015 CMA Awards, Nominations Announcement

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Logo for the 49th Annual CMA Awards“Country Music’s Biggest Night™” will air live Wednesday, Nov. 4 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on the ABC Television Network from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

The final nominees in each of the 12 categories will be announced on Wednesday, Sept. 9. Steven Tyler, whose debut country single was recently released to radio, will appear on ABC’s Good Morning America to reveal multiple categories of the final nominees live on that morning’s broadcast.

Balloting for “The 49th Annual CMA Awards” began today (July 6).

The first ballot and instructions were emailed today to CMA members in good standing who are eligible to vote. Voting for the first ballot closes Thursday, July 16 (6:00 PM/CT).

The second ballot will be emailed to CMA members Tuesday, Aug. 11. Voting for the second ballot closes Thursday, Aug. 20 (6:00 PM/CT).

The third and final ballot will be emailed to CMA members Thursday, Oct. 8. Voting for the CMA Awards final ballot ends Tuesday, Oct. 27 (6:00 PM/CT).

The 2015 CMA Awards nominees and winners are determined by more than 7,400 professional members of CMA, which was the first trade organization formed to promote an individual genre of music in 1958.

The eligibility period for the 2015 CMA Awards is July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.

All balloting is officiated by the international accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Guitarist Jack Eubanks Passes

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jack eubanks recordOne of Nashville’s most successful session guitarists, Jack Eubanks, died on Wednesday, July 1 at age 78.

Eubanks was the session leader on six of the million-selling albums by Alabama. He played guitar on recordings by such superstars as Kenny Rogers and Charley Pride. He also recorded several solo albums and was a member of The Nashville Guitars, a group that recorded for Monument Records.

He appeared on the television shows of Jimmy Dean and Leroy Van Dyke, as well as on the Grand Ole Opry. He also worked on TV’s Hee Haw.

Jack Eubanks was the longtime producer of the legendary gospel act The Chuck Wagon Gang.

His session credits include records by Ed Bruce, Billy Parker, Leona Williams and Wynn Stewart, as well as such non-country artists as Connie Francis, The Platters, Louis Armstrong and Mike Douglas. He worked for four decades in Nashville’s recording studios.

Eubanks is survived by five children, nine grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a brother and a sister. His memorial celebration is 1-3 p.m. on Monday, July 6, at Goodlettsville Church of Christ, 401 Main St., Goodlettsville, TN 37072.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests honoring his memory by planting a tree or by donating to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Jack Eubanks was a resident of Silver Point, TN. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Huddleston Horner Funeral Home in Cookeville, TN (931-526-6111).

Luke Bryan Reveals Target Exclusive and Track List For ‘Kill The Lights’

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Luke BryanDetails have been revealed about Luke Bryan’s upcoming album, Kill The Lights, which is set for release Aug. 7. Bryan co-wrote six of the collection’s 13 songs, including the title track. The album was produced by Jeff Stevens and Jody Stevens.

Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild makes an appearance on one tune, “Home Alone Tonight,” and Bryan’s longtime buddy Cole Swindell appears as co-writer on the song “Corner Booth,” one of three extra bonus tracks co-penned by Bryan that are available exclusively on a special deluxe edition that will be sold at Target and is available for for pre-order now at Target.com.

Bryan will kick off album release day with a performance on Good Morning America as part of their 2015 Summer Concert Series at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park.

The UMG Nashville artist plays Nashville’s Vanderbilt stadium on Saturday, July 11.

Kill The Lights Track Listing:
1.  Kick The Dust Up (Dallas Davidson, Chris Destefano and Ashley Gorley)
2.  Kill The Lights (Luke Bryan, Jody Stevens and Jeff Stevens)
3.  Strip It Down (Luke Bryan, Jon Nite and Ross Copperman)
4.  Home Alone Tonight (Featuring Karen Fairchild) (Jody Stevens, Cole Taylor, Jaida Dreyer and Tommy Cecil
5.  Razor Blade (Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell and Rodney Clawson)
6.  Fast (Luke Bryan, Rodney Clawson and Luke Laird)
7.  Move (Luke Bryan, Michael Carter and Jay Clementi)
8.  Just Over (Chase McGill, Brad Tursi and Jessie Jo Dillon)
9.  Love It Gone (Jody Stevens and Jay Clementi)
10. Way Way Back (Luke Bryan, Ashley Gorley and Rodney Clawson)
11. To The Moon And Back (Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey and Tony Lane)
12. Huntin,’ Fishin’ And Lovin’ Every Day (Luke Bryan, Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins and Ben Hayslip)
13.  Scarecrows (Ashley Gorley, Trevor Rosen and Shane McAnally)

Target Exclusive 
14. Corner Booth (Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell and Jimmy Robbins)
15. Little Boys Grow Up And Dogs Get Old (Luke Bryan and Tony Lane)
16. Buddies (Luke Bryan and Dallas Davidson)

Photo Combo: Garth Brooks, Old Dominion, SOLID

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Garth Expands Life Zone at Texas Children’s Hospital

Garth Brooks was on hand to celebrate the grand opening of the newly-renovated and expanded Child Life Zone at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston June 26. Funded through his Teammates for Kids foundation, the Zone provides a fun, safe environment for patients and their families. The newly-renovated space includes video gaming with a new Microsoft Media Wall and Surface Pro tablets, pool, air hockey, and race car driving on the Zone’s arcade games, an expanded kitchen, and an expanded production studio which offers patients the opportunity to explore and create music and allows kids to go “on air” each week as Radio Lollipop broadcasts their radio program throughout the hospital. 

Garth Brooks Child Life Zone Texas Childrens Hospital

Garth Brooks greets a patient at the Child Life Zone.

Old Dominion’s Video Break Up

Old Dominion filmed the video for their debut single “Break Up With Him” during CMA Music Festival in Nashville. 

Old Dominion

Pictured (L-R:) Whit Sellers (Old Dominion), director Steve (video director), Trevor Rosen (Old Dominion), Geoff Sprung (Old Dominion), Matthew Ramsey (Old Dominion), Tracy Fleaner (Director, Creative, Sony Music Nashville), Brad Tursi (Old Dominion) Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Sony Music Nashville

A SOLID Round Table Discussion

SOLID recently hosted a round table discussion at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center where industry leaders were on hand to address new trends in technology and changes needed to keep up in the music business.

SOLID also hosted one of its most successful yard sales during this year’s CMA Music Festival at the George Jones Museum, where over $6,800 was raised and donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Notes for Notes.

SOLID

SOLID round table discussion. Pictured (L-R): Stephanie Cox, Vice President of Creative at Kobalt Music Publishing; Mike Butera, Founder & CEO of Artiphon; Chris McMurtry, CEO and Founder at DART; Marc Dottore, President and Manager at M. Dottore Artist Management; and Kurt Nelson, Founder of Aloompa

Mid-Year Nielsen Report Finds Streaming Up, Sales Down

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nielsenNielsen has released its mid-year report for the 6-month period from December 29, 2014 through June 28, 2015.

Key notes include on-demand music streams up 92 percent with Video On-Demand streaming leading the way (+109 percent) and Audio On-Demand Streaming also experiencing significant growth (+74 percent). Those stats are from AOL, Beats, Cricket, Google Play, MediaNet, RDIO, Rhapsody, Slacker, Spotify, Xbox Music, and YouTube/VEVO.

Digital album sales remain virtually flat (-.1-percent) at 53.7 million, whereas digital track sales are down 10.4 percent.

Overall total units are down 4 percent (116.1 million over 120.9 million last year).

Physical CD sales are down 10 percent at 56.6 million, whereas LP/vinyl sales are up 38 percent with Taylor Swift‘s 1989 leading the way with 33,500. The majority of those physical albums are sold non-traditionally (internet, venue, direct-to-consumer) whereas mass merchant and chain stores declined in sales 18.2 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively.

Billboard‘s 2015 mid-year charts, compiled by Nielsen, include Swift and Meghan Trainor at No. 1 and No. 6, respectively for both U.S. album sales and combined sales+TEA+SEA. Interestingly, Swift maintains the top spot even while her on-demand audio streams are 188,000 compared 409 million from Drake‘s No. 2 stats, due to her highly publicized withdrawal from audio streaming sites.

Full report below.

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Industry Initiatives Show Importance of Hi-Res Audio

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Hi-Res MUSIC logo

Official logo

Hi-res audio is growing in popularity, leading the RIAA to introduce an official logo for product, and The Recording Academy to establish official guidelines.

The Recording Academy® Producers & Engineers Wing® is creating a series of Hi-Res Production Guidelines, with the goal of further clarifying the technology and techniques essential to producing great high-resolution music.

Topics to be addressed in these guidelines include:
• The importance of providing masters that have either been digitally recorded or re-mastered from analog sources at the highest resolution possible.
• The value of establishing workflow protocols and procedures for recording new projects at 96K/24 bit and higher.
• The need for utilizing best practices when transferring analog masters to hi-res digital formats.
• The importance of packaging Hi-Res files with high quality digital liner notes, credits, and other descriptive metadata that complements these recordings.
• The use of best efforts when documenting the origin format (“provenance”) of these recordings, in order to provide as much transparency to consumers as possible.
• A list of recommendations that support the minimum production requirements necessary to enable music labels to deliver hi-res content.

“Hi-Res Music is becoming more popular every day, and demand for these digital files is increasing rapidly,” said Maureen Droney, Producers & Engineers Wing Managing Director. “Our members want to ensure that there is enough music product in the pipeline to satisfy this demand. These professionals, who represent some of the best ears in the business, have volunteered their time, energy and expertise in order to demystify and simplify the overall process of creating Hi-Res Music. The guidelines they will create will go a long way towards realizing this.”

Additionally, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its member companies recently unveiled a new logo designed to help music fans more easily identify the highest-quality digital music. This significant step forward in the digital listening experience allows digital retailers to mark recordings that meet the official definition for “High Resolution Music” that was agreed to last year, in cooperation with the Consumer Electronics Association, DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing.

High Resolution Music is officially defined as “lossless audio capable of reproducing the full spectrum of sound from recordings which have been mastered from better than CD quality (48kHz/20-bit or higher) music sources which represent what the artists, producers and engineers originally intended.” This definition ensures consumers receive music that is delivered in a digital format that retains the highest quality captured during the creative process.

The new Hi-Res Music logo will be available to digital music retailers and record labels starting this summer. Interested parties should contact Shannon Gregory at shannon@degonline.org.

Music City Roots Kicks Off Summer Season With Chet Atkins Tribute, Pam Tillis

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Pam Tillis

Pam Tillis

Music City Roots Live From The Factory is paying tribute to guitar legend Chet Atkins this week in one of two special shows happening Tuesday and Wednesday (July 7-8) as it kicks off its summer 2015 season. Tuesday evening welcomes artists and guests of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention for a stellar show featuring some of the best finger-pickers in the world. The lineup includes performances by John Knowles, The Hot Club Of Nashville, Richard Smith, Thom Bresh, Jonathan Brown, and Parker Hastings. The evening will be capped off with a giveaway of a hand-made, $2,000 Maton acoustic guitar.

Wednesday night will kick off Roots’ regular summer schedule, with a diverse lineup of vocalists including Virginian Caroline Spence, funky soul band The Broomestix, singer/songwriter Matthew Fowler, and country hitmaker Pam Tillis.

Show times are 7 p.m. both nights, and tickets are available at musiccityroots.com, at Grimey’s record store, or at the Factory, and are $10 general admission and $15 limited reserved. Those not able to make the shows can watch them live-streamed on the website on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST or listen to them live on Hippie Radio 94.5 FM. Jim Lauderdale serves as host of the popular local roots music series.

 

 

 

BMLG Acquires Full Stake In Republic Nashville

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Pictured (L-R): Scott Borchetta, Florida Georgia Line, Jimmy Harnen.

Scott Borchetta‘s Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) has acquired full-stake ownership in Republic Nashville, according to sources.

The deal comes as BMLG re-signs a distribution agreement with Universal Music Group, which reportedly gives the label group a lower distribution fee.

Led by label president Jimmy Harnen, Republic Nashville’s current roster includes Florida Georgia Line, The Band Perry, Eli Young Band, Cassadee Pope and A Thousand Horses.

“Big Machine’s total industry market share including track equivalent albums is 1.7 percent year to date while [the] Valory imprint provides an additional 0.27 percent and now the Republic Nashville label adds another 0.37 percent for a total market share of 2.34 percent,” reports Ed Christman of Billboard.

Started in 2009 as the third imprint in Borchetta’s label group, Republic Nashville was created as a 50/50 partnership with New York’s Universal Republic President/CEO Monte Lipman. Republic Nashville launched with artists Sunny Sweeney and Fast Ryde, who have both since departed the company.

Big Machine and Republic first teamed in 2007 when Lipman’s staff helped cross Taylor Swift to Top 40 radio and beyond. That partnership continues to today, as Republic Records promotes Swift’s 1989 to pop radio.

Universal Republic also had a hand in Universal South, a company that eventually merged with Toby Keith‘s Show Dog in 2010 to become Show Dog-Universal. Keith’s label more recently became Show Dog Nashville and established closer ties to Universal Music Group Nashville. Keith was involved with Big Machine from the onset and remains a shareholder.