Justin Timberlake Announces New Album

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Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods video trailer.

Justin Timberlake is set to release a new album next month, and judging from a video clip previewing the project, Timberlake’s homestate of Tennessee has a big influence on the new project.

The album, Man of the Woods, releases Feb. 2, with the project’s first single releasing Friday, Jan. 5.

“This album is really inspired by my son, my wife, my family but more so than any other album I’ve written, where I’m from. It’s personal,” Timberlake says in the trailer clip for the album. Timberlake is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, and in 2015, he purchased a home just outside of Nashville, in Leiper’s Fork. After his collaboration on “Drink You Away,” with Chris Stapleton at the 2015 CMA Awards, the song was promoted to country radio.

In September 2017, he headlined the third annual Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival in Franklin, Tennessee, after signing on as a partner and producer for the festival in 2016.

Michael W. Smith To Release Two New Album Projects in February

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Michael W. Smith is releasing two new albums next month, a brand new studio album, A Million Lights (Feb. 16), and a live worship album, Surrounded (Feb. 23), from Rocketown Records and The Fuel Music.

Leading a diverse chorus of voices, Michael’s new worship album features 12 tracks, including the declarative “Surrounded (Fight My Battles),” which released Dec. 29 as a single and is available as an instant download with each iTunes album preorder. The video for the song world-premiered Christmas Eve on Michael’s Facebook and website, and is streaming now on Spotify and other outlets internationally.

“I feel God moving through His Church and He is calling us together to be one voice and one heart. One bride. Every nation, every tribe and every tongue. Every social class, every denomination,” said Smith of the spirit of the new album. “What if we bring Him the thing that pleases Him most– our unity. We may each have different stories, and skin, and songs, but we all share His same Spirit.”

Surrounded is available now for pre-order everywhere while A Million Lights is available for pre-order now at digital and physical retailers globally, with multiple instant song downloads available from iTunes. Special, limited edition autographed versions of both albums are also available for preorder now from Amazon.com.

Two instant downloads from A Million Lights are also available now with each iTunes preorder: both the Yahoo! Music–premiered “Love Always Wins” and the album’s title track, which is also the first video from the album.

Surrounded Track Listing:
1)   Your House
2)   Light To You
3)   King Of My Heart
4)   Reckless Love
5)   Here I Bow
6)   Miracles
7)   Do It Again
8)   Surrounded (Fight My Battles)
9)   Build My Life
10) Washed Away
11) Great Are You Lord
12) Light To You (reprise)

Cash, Dolly, Garth Among Hit-And-Miss Music Books

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Recent months have seen a flurry of books addressing Nashville music, from Nashville music writers and about Nashville personalities.

Among those with new memoirs are Charlie Daniels, Wayne Moss, Naomi Judd, Norbert Putnam, Jessi Colter, Rory Feek, Charlie McCoy, Jim Dickinson, Billy Burnette, Jerry Foster and Scotty McCreery. Of these, I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone by the late Dickinson is the most entertaining. Gathered below are some other notable current music “reads.”

ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM: THE BOUDLEAUX & FELICE BRYANT STORY
By Lee Wilson (Two Creeks Press, $19.95)

If you don’t know who the Bryants were, you should. They founded the Nashville songwriting community and have an incomparable catalog of hits. This clearly written account of their star-crossed life together is a crash course on how we became Music City.

JACK WHITE: HOW HE BUILT AN EMPIRE FROM THE BLUES
By Nick Hasted (Overlook Omnibus, $29.95)

Well researched and thorough, Hasted’s book unwraps the enigma that is rock star White (ne John Gillis). It is particularly insightful in its depiction of his formative years in Detroit. The author romanticizes the Motor City’s gray decay and sneers at Music City’s technicolor success.

COUNTRY MUSIC HAIR
By Erin Duvall (HarperCollins, $16.99)

What a clever idea. What a disappointing book. I knew we were in trouble when a photo of Jeannie C. Riley was misidentified as Janie Fricke.

DOLLY ON DOLLY
By Randy L. Schmidt, editor (Chicago Review Press, $28.99)

Schmidt chronologically reprints key Dolly Parton magazine interviews from her earliest days as a Nashville newcomer through her rise to megastardom. She is, of course, consistently charming. The compiler comments in the introduction that reading the book, “is to witness a slow and steady development of media manipulation, all masterminded by her.” I object to this depiction. In what way does this make her different than every other copiously interviewed superstar?

DON’T GIVE YOUR HEART TO A RAMBLER: MY LIFE WITH JIMMY MARTIN
By Barbara Martin Stephens (University of Illinois Press, $19.95)

The late Jimmy Martin (1927-2005) crowned himself “The King of Bluegrass.” He was a grandiose, gifted, alcoholic, self-pitying, volatile, outrageous, magnificent showman. Stephens bore his children, managed his career, booked his shows and endured his emotional and physical abuse. It’s all here in this extraordinary memoir. And it turns out that this pioneering female music business figure is also a terrific story teller.

GARTH BROOKS THE ANTHOLOGY PART 1
By Garth Brooks (Melcher Media $39.95)

This volume covers the first five years of the superstar’s career. You won’t find many personal revelations in the prose. He comes across as a fundamentally decent and very loyal fellow. It’s mostly an “inside baseball” account of songs, shows and recording sessions. The real value in the book is its cornucopia of previously unseen photos. The package also contains five CDs of 52 songs. Nineteen of these are previously unreleased demos, first takes or new tunes.

FROM CABBAGETOWN TO TINSELTOWN
By Tommy Roe (Tommy Roe, $24.00)

The singer of “Dizzy,” “Sweet Pea” and “Jam Up and Jelly Tight” starts out by defending his honor as “The Father of Bubblegum Pop.” Co-written with Michael Robert Krikorian, the book quickly veers from being an account of the heady days of “Sheila” and “Everybody” into being a right-wing screed. Hollywood is crooked and corrupt. The ‘50s and ‘60s were happy and carefree and white. Society was better then. Our music was better. Today’s music sucks. And hey you kids get offa my lawn.

THE MAN WHO CARRIED CASH
By Julie Chadwick (Dundurn Press, $19.99)

It turns out that manager Saul Holiff was just as intensely complex as his famous longtime client, Johnny Cash. This account of his career is an excellent book, full of insight about what made The Man in Black tick. If you’re a Cash fan — and who isn’t? — this is essential reading.

CHANGE OF SEASONS: A MEMOIR
By John Oates (St. Martin’s Press, $29.99)

This Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame member became an international superstar as half of Hall & Oates. He is now a part-time Nashvillian. Written with Chris Epting, his memoir is a fascinating recollection of his journey. The tales are really well told — in his case, being a songwriter is apparently only a step away from being a fine prose stylist. The book comes with a five-song sampler CD of the Americana music Oates makes in Music City today.

WOMAN WALK THE LINE: HOW THE WOMEN IN COUNTRY MUSIC CHANGED OUR LIVES
By Holly Gleason, editor (University of Texas Press, $24.95)

It is a highly readable collection of essays by female music writers dwelling on their heroines. Like most anthologies, it’s a mixed bag. Rosanne Cash’s entry about June Carter Cash is an elegant jewel. Holly George Warren’s love for Wanda Jackson shines through every line. Elysa Gardner’s essay on Taylor Swift made me want to applaud. Ronni Lundy totally gets Hazel Dickens. But the Rita Coolidge piece is incoherent. And I simply did not believe the testimonies of several of these writers. Particularly the ones that pen something like this: I was a New Yorker who loved alt rock, and then I found out about this country female, and she inspired me. A few more Nashville voices would have been welcome. Alice Randall, Wendy Pearl, Gleason and Aubrie Sellers are here, but Juli Thanki, Jewly Hight, Cindy Watts, Kay West, Ann Powers, Beverly Keel and several other worthy Music City journalists are not.

ADVENTURES OF A BALLAD HUNTER
By John A. Lomax (University of Texas Press, $18.95)

This is one of those classic music books that I have always meant to read, but never did. Originally published in 1947, it chronicles the folk song collector’s travels throughout America to find and preserve “Home on the Range,” “Irene Goodnight,” “Midnight Special,” “Git Along Little Dogies,” “Rock Island Line,” “In the Pines” and hundreds of other work songs, lullabies, spirituals, blues songs, fiddle tunes, spirituals, banjo melodies and other American folk music that might otherwise have been lost. I had always assumed that it would read like an “academic” book. It is anything but. It is immensely warm and engaging. Highly recommended.

THESE ARE MY PEOPLE: THE MERLE KILGORE STORY
By Mark Rickert (Writelife Publishing, $17.95)

The flamboyant Merle Kilgore (1935-2005) was a one-of-a-kind, oversized personality. This Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member was a character almost impossible to describe on the printed page. Just about everybody in the music biz has a story about him. Grandson Mark Rickert knows his subject is too big to capture, but he gives it the ol’ college try.

ARMADILLO WORLD HEADQUARTERS
By Eddie Wilson and Jesse Sublett (TSSI Publishing, $34.95)

I don’t know Eddie, but I do know Jesse, and he makes the colorful impresario of the Armadillo jump off the page. By turns rollicking, hilarious, wise and crazy, the story of Eddie and his legendary Austin venue is a real page turner. I would have loved to have been on this trip with this larger-than-life Texas character.

GOING DOWN TO THE RIVER
By Doug Seegers (Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins, $24.99)

Written with Steve Eubanks, this is Doug Seegers’ truly remarkable saga of homelessness, addiction and music redemption. For years, he was a street musician playing for tips on Lower Broadway in Nashville. Seegers performs in a sturdy, hard-country, throwback style that caught the ear of a Swedish documentary movie maker. After the film was shown in Sweden, Seegers and his song “Going Down to the River” went to No. 1 on that country’s charts. The musician tells his harrowing tale in an unsensational, dry, plain-spoken manner that makes it entirely gripping. He’s a walking miracle.

LIVING THE BUSINESS
By Mike Curb with Don Cusic (Brackish Publishing, free online)

The outstanding philanthropist and owner of one of America’s largest, longest lasting independent labels has quite a tale to tell. And it’s loaded with life lessons and show-biz know-how. The book could have used a stronger editor, since there is considerable repetition of its key points. A fact checker would have been useful as well. The title of Glen Campbell’s last Grammy winning song is incorrect. The chronology of Felix Cavaliere’s career is wrong, and there are other factual errors. But this is still an important volume.

GOOD BOOTY
By Ann Powers

Powers is a new Nashvillian who previously gained a writing reputation at The Village Voice and elsewhere and is now perhaps even better known as NPR’s head music correspondent. Her current book is an intelligent, witty  romp through music history that connects the erotic dots between race, dancing, rhythm and sex. It’s a ride well worth taking.

Ron Perry Officially Named Chairman, CEO At Columbia Records

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Ron Perry

Ron Perry has officially been named as the new Chairman & CEO for Columbia Records, it was announced Tuesday (Jan. 2) by Sony Music Entertainment CEO Rob Stringer.

Formerly the co-founder and president for SONGS Music Publishing, Perry, 38, will be based in New York and will head overall management of Columbia. The move comes after SONGS Music Publishing was sold to Kobalt, opening the door for Perry’s move to Columbia.

“Ron is an immensely dynamic and forward thinking executive who excels at bringing the best out of artistic vision,” Stringer says. “After his enormous success in recent years, we are thrilled to have Ron join Sony Music and lead the great team and unparalleled roster at the legendary Columbia Records label.”

“I want to thank Rob for the extraordinary opportunity to run the premier label in the history of music,” Perry says. “To embark as the curator of this storied company is both the highest and most humbling career achievement I could imagine. Columbia Records has stood the test of time as the industry’s marquee home for the world’s greatest stars. Rob has handed off an extremely talented team at Columbia. I look forward to building on his successes, while developing culturally innovative new artists and extending Columbia’s unprecedented run at the top into the future.”

In his role at SONGS Music Publishing, Perry was responsible for signing Lorde, The Weeknd, Major Lazer, Diplo, Desiigner and many others. Recently, Perry has been credited as the A&R on Lorde’s Grammy 2017 Album of the Year nominated Melodrama, and the pairing of The Weeknd and Daft Punk on the multi-platinum tracks, “Starboy” and “I Feel It Coming.”

Services Set For Recording Session Great Mike Leech

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Mike Leech

A memorial service for Mike Leech will be held on Jan. 20: The Musicians Hall of Fame member died recently in Nashville at age 76.

A bass, harmonica and guitar player, as well as a string arranger, Leech rose to the top of his profession in both Memphis and Nashville. His work can be heard on albums by more than 200 artists.

Among the iconic hits he played on are Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away.”

Mike Leech was a Memphis native who performed in the Memphis State University ensemble The Mighty Sound of the South Band as a youngster. He began his session career in the city’s Royal Studio.

He then rose to fame as the bass player in “The Memphis Boys,” a collection of studio professionals who were the “house band” at American Sound Studio in 1967-72. In those days, Leech performed on 122 top-10 hit pop records. He backed everyone from Presley to B.J. Thomas, from Dionne Warwick to The Box Tops. He is on the renowned Dusty Springfield LP Dusty In Memphis.

He migrated to Nashville in 1972 and quickly became an “A-Team” session musician on Music Row. During the next four decades, he played on hundreds of country hits.

Leech’s work can be heard on the records of more than a dozen members of the Country Music Hall of Fame. In addition to Presley and Nelson, they include Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Kris Kristofferson, Charley Pride, Jerry Reed, Bobby Bare, Conway Twitty, George Strait, Waylon Jennings, Ferlin Husky and The Statler Brothers.

His recording accomplishments extended far beyond country music. Leech performed on sessions for such r&b artists as Joe Tex, Jerry Butler, Esther Phillips, King Curtis, Bobby Womack, Arthur Alexander and Junior Parker. He was in demand for jazz records by Herbie Mann, Earl Klugh, Al Hirt and Hubert Laws, among others.

His rock ‘n’ roll credits include sessions with Eric Clapton, Roy Orbison, Delbert McClinton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Jones, Johnny Rivers, Dr. Hook, Carl Perkins, John Prine and Al Kooper. He was inaugurated into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mike Leech died on Dec. 11. He is survived by daughters Shelly Wood and Melanie Paquette, by three grandchildren, and by sister Anne Jones, as well as by many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 20 at The Cumberland, 555 Church Street, PH2403. Parking is available at McKendree Garage and at the Downtown Library Garage.

Bluegrass Great Curly Seckler Passes

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Curly Seckler

On New Year’s Day, funeral services were held for Curly Seckler and he was buried in Goodlettsville — the Bluegrass Hall of Fame member died on Dec. 27, two days after his 98th birthday.

In addition to having a solo recording career, Seckler served in the bands of six major bluegrass and/or country acts — Mac Wiseman, The Stanley Brothers, Charlie Monore, Jim & Jesse, The Nashville Grass and, most importantly Flatt & Scruggs.

Born John Ray Sechler on Dec. 25, 1919, he was raised on a farm in North Carolina. His childhood nickname was “Curly.” When he was 15, he and his brothers formed a group called The Yodeling Rangers that earned a show on WSTP radio in Salisbury, NC in 1935.

He joined Charlie Monroe’s Kentucky Pardners band as a banjo player and tenor singer in 1939. This took him to The Wheeling Jamboree in Wheeling, WV at age 19. Stints with Tommy Scott and Leonard Stokes ensued. This is when he switched from banjo to mandolin as his primary instrument.

He rejoined Monroe in 1945, recording “Mother’s Not Dead She’s Only Sleeping,” “Who’s Calling You Sweetheart Tonight” and other classics while the group played on WNOX in Knoxville.

In 1941-48, he worked with Mac Wiseman in Bristol, TN/VA. Next came his first stint with Jim & Jesse. He joined Flatt & Scruggs in their Foggy Mountain Boys band in 1949. This was to be his longest-lasting and most prominent gig.

When the group began recording, Seckler was there, playing mandolin and/or singing his distinctive tenor harmony on such bluegrass standards as “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” “Salty Dog Blues,” “I’ll Go Stepping Too” and the Grammy Award winning “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”

In 1951-52, he left Flatt & Scruggs for stints with The Sauceman Brothers, Jim & Jesse and The Stanley Brothers. He rejoined Flatt & Scruggs toward the end of 1952, in time for the group’s move to Music City and its own show on WSM radio.

In 1954, the band joined the Old Dominion Barn Dance on WRVA in Richmond, VA. Just after Seckler, The Foggy Mountain Boys and Flatt & Scruggs arrived, the barn dance cast went to Broadway as the short-lived musical “Hayride.”

The following year, Seckler and the band returned to Nashville, this time with its own television series and, in 1956, cast membership on the Grand Ole Opry. Seckler remained a member of The Foggy Mountain Boys until 1962. During his long tenure with Flatt & Scruggs, he wrote or co-wrote such band favorites as “No Mother or Dad” and “I’ll Never Shed Another Tear.” Flatt & Scruggs broke up in 1969.

Curly Seckler released his debut solo LP in 1971. At this point, he officially changed the spelling of his last name from “Sechler” to “Seckler,” to make its pronunciation clearer.

Two years later, he joined Lester Flatt’s group The Nashville Grass. When 13-year- old Marty Stuart joined the band, Seckler took him under his wing and became his mentor.

After Flatt’s death in 1979, Seckler assumed leadership of The Nashville Grass. He retired the band in 1994.

Curly Seckler issued further albums in 1980, 1995 and 2005. Well after his 70th birthday, he continued to appear at major bluegrass festivals and to record new material. He released his last solo album in 2007.

He was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010. He made his last TV appearance in 2011 as a guest star on The Marty Stuart Show.

Curly Seckler is survived by his wife Eloise, sons Ronnie Seckler and Monnie Sechler, brothers Floyd and Hugh Sechler, by six grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements were handled by Spring Hill Funeral Home at 5110 Gallatin Pike. He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens at 1150 Dickerson Road in Goodlettsville, TN.