Bobby Bones To Launch Funny & Alone Stand Up Comedy Tour

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bobby-bonesBobby Bones, host of iHeartMedia’s The Bobby Bones Show, will be on the road in early 2017, when he launches his Funny & Alone Stand Up Comedy Tour on Jan. 13 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Bones’ one-man stand-up routine will blend his love of country music and comedy, with stories from his childhood in rural Arkansas and also from hosting his radio show.

Special guests Walker Hayes and Nikita Karmen will join him for the tour.

“I’ve been doing stand up comedy since I was 19 years old, and I’m really excited to be able to do it for more people next year,” said Bones. “My favorite thing to do is be on the radio, but it’s followed very close by my love for comedy and the stage. I wanted to put together a show that lovers of comedy and music would enjoy. It’ll be fun to bring out Walker Hayes, who is one of my current favorite artists. And I’m also excited for the rest of the country to see Nikita Karmen, but mostly I’m just pumped to make people laugh.”

Tickets will go on sale on Friday, Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. local time, at bobbybonescomedy.com.

BOBBY BONES: FUNNY & ALONE STAND UP COMEDY TOUR Dates:

Jan. 13: Virginia Beach, Va.
Jan. 14: Roanoke, Va.
Jan. 20: Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Feb. 3: Richmond, Va.
Feb. 4: Washington, D.C.
Feb. 10: Sacramento
Feb. 11: Chico, Calif.
Feb. 24: Muskegon, Mich.
March 10: Durham, N.C.
March 11: Greensboro, N.C.
March 24: Bismarck, N.D.
March 25: Grand Forks, N.D.
March 31: Bakersfield, Calif.
April 7: Boston *(Opener TBC)
April 8: Northampton, Mass.
May 19: Wichita, Kan.

Luke Bryan Extends Kill The Lights Tour In 2017

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luke-bryan-farm-tourLuke Bryan is extending his very successful Kill The Lights Tour into 2017, with today’s announcement of 11 additional dates during February and March.

The two-time CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year has already visited 58 cities on the tour. The outing played to 1.6 million fans and wrapped at the end of October after six sold-out stadium shows, and 10 back-to-back sell-outs in five cities.

The 2017 leg opens in Huntington, West Virginia on Feb. 17. Bryan returns to Madison Square Garden on March 1 where he performed a sold-out show in 2014.

Brett Eldredge will open the Kill The Lights Tour 2017 shows.

Live Nation is the national tour promoter. Cabela’s and Citi are brand partners and Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Nov. 30.

Kill The Lights Tour 2017
Feb. 16: Huntington, W. Va.; Big Sandy Superstore Arena
Feb. 17: Bloomington, Ind.; Assembly Hall
Feb. 18: Jonesboro, Ark.; ASU Convocation Center
Feb. 23: Columbia, S.C.; Colonial Life Arena
Feb. 25: Jacksonville, Fla.; Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
March 1: New York; Madison Square Garden
March 3: Manchester, N.H.; Verizon Wireless Arena
March 4: Providence, R.I.; Dunkin’ Donuts Center
March 9: Richmond, Va.; Richmond Coliseum
March 10: Fayetteville, N.C.; Crown Coliseum
March 17: Orange Beach, Ala.; The Wharf

Lifenotes: Tony Martell, Founder of T.J. Martell Foundation

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t-j-martellTony Martell, founder of the T.J. Martell Foundation for leukemia, cancer and AIDs research, died on Sunday, Nov. 27. He was 90.

Martell launched the T.J. Martell Foundation in 1975, in honor of his son T.J., who died at age 19 after battling leukemia.

Tony Martell was a music industry senior executive from the 1960s through the 1990s. He earned Executive Producer credits on more than 50 albums from artists including The Isley Brothers, The O’Jays, Stevie Ray Vaughan and more. He was instrumental in bringing Stevie Ray Vaughn and Ozzy Osbourne to Epic Records. In the 1980s, Martell was head of the imprint label CBS Associated Records, where he continued working with Osbourne and signed artists including Joan Jett to the label.

The T.J. Martell Foundation has raised more than $270 million to date for scientific research.

His wife of 65 years, Vicky, died in February. Martell is survived by daughter Debbie Martell.

Memorial plans have not yet been announced.

Weekly Chart Report (11/23/16)

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Click here or above to access MusicRow‘s weekly CountryBreakout Report.

Songwriters Highlighted By ‘The Wall Street Journal,’ Nashville Public Radio

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Nashville Songwriters Profiled In The Wall Street Journal

Pictured (L-R): Love Junkies' Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT

Pictured (L-R): Love Junkies’ Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT

The Wall Street Journal recently profiled three of Nashville’s top songwriters, Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose. Dubbed “The Love Junkies,” the trio’s writers have provided powerhouse songs for Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and more.

For more, visit wsj.com.

 

Nashville Public Radio Highlights Work Of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant

Felice and Bourdleaux Bryant

Carolyn Smith Bryant and Del Bryant

The work of late songwriters Boudleaux and Felice Bryant was highlighted by Nashville Public Radio, via an interview with former BMI leader Del Bryant. Del was interviewed by his wife Carolyn Smith Bryant about how his parents met and the important role they played in country music.

Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant were best known for songs including “Rocky Top,” “Love Hurts,” and several hits by the Everly Brothers, including “All I Have to Do Is Dream” and “Bye Bye Love.”

 

People’s Choice Awards Voting Open Through Dec. 15

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People's-Choice-AwardsVoting for the People’s Choice Awards is open through Dec. 15.

The People’s Choice organization has opened public voting in all 64 categories, with fans able to weigh in at vote.peopleschoice.com. Voting ends Dec. 15 at 11:50 p.m.

Blake Shelton has landed two all-genre nods for Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Album (If I’m Honest) in the upcoming awards. Big Yellow Dog writer and pop artist Meghan Trainor has also earned a nod for Favorite Song (“No”).

The 43rd annual awards air live from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater on Jan. 18 on CBS.

Country music categories include:

FAVORITE MALE COUNTRY ARTIST
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban
Luke Bryan
Sam Hunt
Tim McGraw

FAVORITE FEMALE COUNTRY ARTIST
Carrie Underwood
Dolly Parton
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert
Reba McEntire

FAVORITE COUNTRY GROUP
The Band Perry
Florida Georgia Line
Little Big Town
Lonestar
Zac Brown Band

New Book Explores T Bone Burnett’s Life In Pursuit

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t-bone-burnett-book

A new book by author Lloyd Sachs offers a critical appreciation of T Bone Burnett and his influence on American music and culture. A Life In Pursuit explores Burnett’s work as producer of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and Raising Sand, the multiple Grammy Award-winning album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. It also delves into Burnett as a singer-songwriter and his advocacy for analog sound.

The book ventures through Burnett’s early days as a member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue and then to his recent work with the TV shows Nashville and True Detective, and his production of the all-star album Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes.

Sachs is a nationally known voice on pop music and jazz for publications ranging from Rolling Stone and Washington Post to Village Voice and USA Today. He was a longtime music columnist and award-winning editorial writer at the Chicago Sun-Times and a senior editor at No Depression.

Industry Ink: Mistletoe Madness, Morgan Wallen, YEP, Cirque Du Soleil

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mistletoe-madness

War Memorial Auditorium, Curb Records, and 25 Entertainment have teamed to present Mistletoe Madness, featuring Rodney Atkins, Jerrod Niemann, Love and Theft, and Dylan Scott performing their hits one night only on Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets, starting at $18, are on sale now at WMARocks.com, by phone at 615-782-4030 and in person at the TPAC Box Office, 505 Deaderick St., in downtown Nashville. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Mistletoe Madness is part of Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC)’s first-ever Winter Holiday Fest, a celebration of the performing arts throughout the holiday season between Nov. 25 and Dec. 31 and including a broad variety of live performances in TPAC venues from the Nashville Ballet, Nashville Repertory Theatre and more.

 

Morgan Wallen Visits TODAY In Nashville

Pictured (L-R): Morgan Wallen, TODAY in Nashville host Kelly Sutton and guest co-host Craig Wayne Boyd

Pictured (L-R): Morgan Wallen, TODAY in Nashville host Kelly Sutton and guest co-host Craig Wayne Boyd

Big Loud Records artist Morgan Wallen performed his debut single, “The Way I Talk,” on TODAY in Nashville on Nov. 21.

“The Way I Talk” has earned 3 million-plus plays on Spotify. Wallen is working with producer Joey Moi on his debut album and is on the road opening for fellow Big Loud Records artist Chris Lane.

 

YEP Hosts Pause For The Claus Concert

yep-holiday-eventYoung Entertainment Professionals (YEP) will host a Pause For The Claus concert on Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Nashville’s The Basement East. The event will feature an evening of Christmas classics performed by Brinley Addington, Aaron Eshuis, Joey Hyde, Matthew McGinn and Mike Walker. The house band will be led by Preston Leatherman.

The show is sponsored by Huskins-Harris Business Management and Shepherd Therapeutics. For tickets, visit ticketweb.com.

 

Cirque Du Soleil Seeking Multi-instrumentalist

cirque-du-soleilInstrumentalists are needed to join Cirque Du Soleil. The company is holding an urgent casting call for a guitarist, accordion and mandolin player to join an arena show touring the United States in 2017.

The ideal applicant should be 18 years or older, possess excellent technical skills on acoustic/classic/electric guitar and good technical skills on accordion and mandolin, with the ability to perform improvised solos on guitar and accordion. Applicants should have excellent level of interpretation of music styles including klezmer, tango, flamenco, pop or other world music.

Other requirements include good physical shape, experience with in-ear monitors, no fear of heights, a valid passport, and a good understanding of English or French.

To apply, visit cirquedusoleil.com.

Garth Brooks Excluded From Nielsen Sales Figures Despite 134K Reported Sales

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garth-ultimate-collection

Garth Brooks‘ 10-disc Target box set, The Ultimate Collection, was noticeably absent from MusicRow‘s Weekly Register sales report, despite news outlets reporting sales of 134,000 units—enough to unofficially land the package at No. 2 overall this week (Nov. 11-17).

The reason: Target’s $29.99 offering was too low for the box set to appear on the SoundScan chart. Individual discs in a box set must be priced at at least $3.49 each, meaning his set would need to retail for $34.90 to be included. If the discs had sold for the qualifying price, an artist/retailer can still choose whether to report numbers of exclusive releases.

According to those internal numbers reported by Brooks’ own Pearl Records, the box set landed just a few hundred units shy of the total consumption of the No. 1 album, Tribe Called Quest (135k). The hip-hop group released its first new music after a nearly two-decade hiatus, on the heels of the death of one of its rappers in March.

A strict physical album sales comparison would show Brooks outselling the hip-hop group by well over 20,000 units. Brooks’ box set was not available for streaming.

Interestingly, Brooks’ forthcoming Gunslinger album was included as a disc in the Target exclusive. Gunslinger will officially be released to mass retailers as an independent album on Nov. 25 and will be streamed on Amazon. According to those numbers, Gunslinger has already sold 134,000 units ahead of its debut later this week, but those numbers may be null and void according to SoundScan.

Not all was lost, Brooks did debut at No. 1 (country chart) and 11 (overall chart) this week with his wife, Trisha Yearwood, for their Christmas album Christmas Together (21,144 units). The project also appeared at No. 2 on the overall holiday album chart (behind Penatonix‘ October release).

Like Billboard, MusicRow‘s Weekly Register figures are sourced courtesy of Nielsen Soundscan.

Kane Brown, Brett Eldredge Set TV Appearances

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Kane Brown album

RCA Nashville/Zone 4 breakout country artist Kane Brown is set to make his national television debut on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, Dec. 1, one day before the release of his self-titled debut album.

Brown co-wrote 7 of the 11 tracks on his debut album. The track “Learning,” an autobiographical anthem, now becomes the fourth instant grat track. The three other grat tracks include his current single “Thunder in the Rain,” co-penned by Brown, Josh Hoge and Matthew McVaney; “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now,” co-written by Brown, Jamie Paulin and Jordan Schmidt; and, “Hometown,” co-written by James McNair, Cameron Montgomery and Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley. All four grat tracks are available as part of the album pre-order here.

 

Brett Eldredge to Perform Christmas Album ‘Glow’ In Its Entirety On TV Tonight

brett-eldredge-donn-jonescma

AUDIENCE Network will host the holiday concert special “Glow: An Evening with Brett Eldredge,” premiering Friday, Nov. 25, 9 p.m. ET/PT via DIRECTV Ch 239/U-verse Ch 1114.

Eldredge will perform his holiday album Glow in its entirety alongside a big band at Bally’s Live in Las Vegas. For this exclusive holiday concert, Eldredge will perform standards like “White Christmas,” “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and more. Glow marks the third studio album and first Christmas album from Eldredge and is available now via Atlantic Records/Warner Music Nashville.

“Bringing a Christmas record like this to Vegas is something I’ve been waiting to do my whole life,” said Eldredge. “These songs were meant to be sung in a place like this, a place where Dean Martin himself performed. As a kid, I started out singing jazz music. I wanted to be Frank Sinatra! When I was 14 years old, I was singing like I was 50.”