Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester found inspiration in country stars Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift in preparation for her role in the upcoming movie Country Strong. “I tried to make it my own, but I was definitely inspired by Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift,” Meester explains. “I went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw […]
Leon Russell Signs Deal with UMPG for Elton John Collaboration Legendary songwriter and artist Leon Russell has signed a worldwide co-publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) for The Union, his collaboration with Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin. The Union was released on October 19th. Russell, John and Taupin co-wrote the album, which […]
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will hold a flood relief concert on Friday, Dec. 17th at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. Governor Phil Bredesen, Mayor Karl Dean, Senator Lamar Alexander, Senator Bob Corker, Congressman Jim Cooper and State Rep. Marsha Blackburn were in attendance at a press conference this morning, October 28th, at the State […]
On Monday, October 25th, Mercury recording artist Laura Bell Bundy will make her second appearance on the hit CBS show How I Met Your Mother. Bundy will reprise her role as “Becky,” Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) new co-anchor on the fictional news show Come On, Get Up New York! “I love it! These people are amazing […]
EMI Music Publishing Nashville announced two new hires today: Missy Wilson and Laura Wright. Wilson and Wright join the A&R team led by Ben Vaughn, EMI Music Publishing Executive Vice President and General Manager, Tom Luteran, Vice President of A&R, and Josh Van Valkenburg, Director of A&R. Both Wilson and Wright will work with EMI […]
Four-time CMA Award Nominee Blake Shelton threw an all-night party for a capacity crowd at Club Nokia in Los Angeles last night as part of his first-ever headlining tour, All About Tonight Tour. Shelton played hits “Hillbilly Bone” and “All About Tonight” and was joined by fiancee Miranda Lambert for their duet, “Draggin’ the River.” […]
In an interview with the L.A. Times Music Blog “Pop & Hiss,” Pandora founder and CEO Tim Westergren talks about future plans for the trailblazing media company. “Simply put, half of radio listening happens in the car,” Westergren says. “People spend 20 hours a week listening to music; 17 hours of that is from radio. […]
2010 Home Depot Humanitarian Award winners Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry helped build a playground at the Booker T. Washington Academy in Lexington, KY. They teamed up with over 250 volunteers from Home Depot, The Academy of Country Music, KaBOOM! and community supporters to complete the entire playground on October 20th. KaBOOM! is a national […]
The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) announced that the 73rd National Folk Festival will take place Labor Day Weekend (September 2-4, 2011) in Nashville, TN. The NCTA made this announcement with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Compass Records Group on October 20th. Nationally known as one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious […]
Taylor Swift‘s upcoming Speak Now is earning early raves from critics before the October 25th release date. Swift’s highly-anticipated third album will be released by Big Machine Records in over 40 countries. The Hollywood Reporter calls the album “brilliant” and The New York Times states that Speak Now is “The most musically diverse [album] of […]