ACM Lifting Lives®’ January “My Cause” web feature will spotlight RCA Nashville recording artist Sara Evans and the charity organization, Alabama Forever. The web feature drives awareness of artist-supported charitable organizations and supports fundraising efforts for those philanthropies. Evans is scheduled to release her seventh studio album Slow Me Down on March 4, 2014.
“My Cause” allows ACM Lifting Lives to tangibly demonstrate the Academy’s support of country music artists.  Over the past two years, ACM Lifting Lives has donated more than $190,000 to artists’ favorite charities through this program, and will again make a donation in addition to driving fan awareness.
This month, “My Cause: Alabama Forever” highlights an organization that was founded in response to the April 27, 2011 tornadoes that ravaged the state of Alabama. The organization’s core purpose is to help Alabama communities in need by offering viable resolutions to maintain the best possible life for the citizens of Alabama for generations to come.
To donate, visit alabamaforever.org.

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Monday, Jan. 13 is the deadline to purchase $499 regular rate registrations for Country Radio Seminar 2014. The on-site rate will take effect on Jan. 14, increasing registrations to $599 per person.
The CRS 2014 agenda includes more than 20 educational panels and industry-leading speakers, including “Cracking the Code: Using Data to Discover the Hits,” “Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Beats: It’s Their Country, Too,” “Marketing On A Shoestring Budget,” “Would You Like Sales Prospects to Call You?” and more. In addition, the 2013 CMA Vocal Group of the Year, Little Big Town, will present a panel about perseverance in the Country music industry and featured musicians from the new award-winning documentary Muscle Schoals will present a panel discussing the impact that Muscle Shoals has had on the music industry.
For more information, visit countryradioseminar.com.

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The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. (CVC) is accepting entries for its seventh annual Music City Songwriting Competition until Feb. 15. Elektra Nashville recording artist, actress and songwriter Jana Kramer is serving as the honorary ambassador of the competition and will offer a mentoring session to the winner among other prizes.
The competition is open to amateur songwriters only and will accept entries now through Feb. 15, 2014. Submission forms with completed entries can be mailed to Music City Songwriting Competition, P.O. Box 190633, Nashville, TN 37219 USA or submitted online. Submission fee for the first song is $30 USD. Each additional song is $20 USD. For more information and to enter a song, visit visitmusiccity.com.

A song written by Marcus Hummon, son Levi Hummon and Andrew Dorff is in the running for an Academy Award. “Make It Love” from the film Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro is on the list of 75 potential final nominees for Best Original Song. The final ballot will be revealed Jan. 16.
The film is about megahit songwriter Desmond Child, his partner Curtis Shaw, and the birth of their twins via surrogate. “Make It Love,” performed by The Hummons, will soon be available via HitShop Records and Child’s Deston Entertainment.
Several songs with Nashville ties are on the long list, but unfortunately songwriters names aren’t given. Among the contenders:
• “Sweeter Than Fiction” from One Chance, performed and written by Taylor Swift with fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff
• “Last Mile Home” from August: Osage County, written and performed by Kings of Leon
• “Forgiveness” from Brave Miss World, performed by Natalie Maines and Ben Harper, written by Linor Abargil
This list includes artist names but not songwriters.

Eli Young Band will release their Republic Nashville sophomore album – 10,000 Towns – on March 4.
“To still be making music and going through the craziness of life together is something we’d only dreamed of when we met back in college. This album shows another chapter in our lives as a band, as husbands, as fathers and as individuals that we’re really excited to share with our amazing fans,” said lead singer Mike Eli.
In addition to penning over half of the tracks, EYB co-produced the 11-song project with Justin Niebank and Frank Liddell. In conjunction with the standard release, an exclusive version of the album will be released through Walmart; the exclusive version will include three additional tracks: “Traces” (penned by Mike Eli, Chris Thompson, Jon Jones, James Young, Lee Brice, Kyle Jacobs), “June, July, August” (penned by Jason Saenz and Jen Schott) and “The Moon’s On Fire” (penned by Lee Thomas Miller, Chris Stapleton and Al Anderson).
TRACKLIST
1. “Drunk Last Night” (Laura Veltz, Josh Osborne)
2. “10,000 Towns” (Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins, Craig Wiseman)
3. “Dust” (Jon Jones, James Young, Kyle Jacobs, Josh Osborne)
4. “Angel Like You” (Heather Morgan, Liz Rose, Mike Eli)
5. “Let’s Do Something Tonight” (Jimmy Robbins, David Lee Murphy, Jon Nite)
6. “Your Last Broken Heart” (Mike Eli, Jon Jones, James Young, Sean McConnell)
7. “What Does” (Mike Eli, Jon Jones, James Young, Sean McConnell)
8. “A Lot Like Love” (Dylan Altman, Will Hoge)
9. “Just Add Moonlight” (Will Hoge, Jon Randall)
10. “Revelations” (Mike Eli, Chris Thompson, Jon Jones, James Young, Sean McConnell)
11. “Prayer For The Road” (Mike Eli, Jon Jones, James Young, Chris Thompson, Kyle Jacobs, Billy Montana)

The 2014 Grammy Nominees album will hit stores on Jan. 21, 2014 and will feature songs from 18 Grammy nominated artists and songwriters. With the album’s release, fans will have the chance to win a trip to the 56th or 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
“For more than 20 years we have been creating some incredible editions of the GRAMMY Nominees album, which again represents some of the great songs and talented artists that make up this year’s remarkable nominees,” said The Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow.
The album will include performers nominated in the Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Country Album categories. The album’s Country artists include Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Aldean and Tim McGraw.
“We are honored to be joining with The Recording Academy to release this fantastic collection of GRAMMY-nominated performances and songs,” said Atlantic Chairman and COO Julie Greenwald. “And we’re especially proud to be associated with an album that helps support the essential missions of The Academy’s charitable endeavors.”
A portion of the album’s sales will benefit The Recording Academy’s charitable organizations GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares Foundation^. The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards will air live from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 26 on CBS from 8-11:30 E.T.
For more information, visit grammy.com.