CRS 2014 Core Panel Moderators Announced

/by

crs2014Country Radio Seminar representatives have announced Ken Boesen (Operations Manager, WKIS/Miami), Erica Farber (President and CEO, Radio Advertising Bureau/New York), Lon Helton (Editor and Publisher, Country Aircheck/Nashville), Bob Richards (Operations Manager, Emmis Radio Indianapolis), and Todd Schumacher (VP/Market Manager, Summit Media Louisville) as core panel moderators for CRS 2014. This marks Boesen’s and Schumacher’s second consecutive year to serve as core moderators; all five moderators have previously served.
Collectively, they will oversee and direct the majority of the educational panels throughout the seminar, which will be held Feb. 19-21, 2014 inside the downtown Nashville Convention Center.
The CRS 2014 early bird registration rate of $399 is now available at CountryRadioSeminar.com.

MusicRowPics: Sherry Lynn

/by

New Jersey native Sherry Lynn visited the MusicRow offices on Thursday (Aug. 22) to showcase several songs, including “Beautiful Life,” which was recorded as a duet with Country legend Crystal Gayle. According to Lynn (no relation to Loretta Lynn), after opening a concert for Gayle, the well-known singer asked if Lynn would sing a duet with her. They recorded “Beautiful Life” at Gayle’s studio in Nashville. Lynn recently made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry, after Gayle asked her to perform the duet on the historic stage.
For MusicRow, Lynn also performed “I Like Them Like That,” penned by Karen Rochelle and Edward Monroe Hill, followed by “Girls Will Be Girls,” written by Ashley Gorley and Kelley Lovelace.
Most recently, Lynn and her team have been on the road visiting MusicRow reporting stations across the country. The singer plans to record a Christmas single this September.
[slide]

Music Row Ladies Golf Tournament Raises More Than $75,000

/by

The 27th Annual Music Row Ladies Golf Tournament raised more than $75,000 to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee this year. The event, held Monday (Aug. 19) at the Old Natchez Country Club in Franklin, Tenn., welcomed nearly 200 female music industry professionals, with their male counterparts serving as caddies, refreshment providers and cart drivers.
Recording artists taking part in this year’s event included Jessi Alexander, Frankie Ballard, Sarah Darling, Jamey Johnson, Jaren Johnston, Eric Paslay, Morgane Hayes Stapleton, Matt Warren and more.
Major sponsors for the 2013 MRLGT included ASCAP, City National Bank, Tim McGraw, McGhee Entertainment, Kenny Chesney and Clint Higham. To date, the Music Row Ladies Golf Tournament has raised nearly $2 million for United Cerebral Palsy of Middle Tennessee.

Sponsor Toby Keith's Wild Shot Mezcal's booth in "Tent City"Pictured (l-r): TKO Artist Management's Misha WIlliams, Paradigm Agency's Jenn DeLamar, and TKO's Laura Covington and Michelle Garramone, with ASCAP/MRLGT's Alison Toczylowski

Sponsor Toby Keith’s Wild Shot Mezcal’s booth in “Tent City”
Pictured (L-R): TKO Artist Management’s Misha WIlliams, Paradigm Agency’s Jenn DeLamar, and TKO’s Laura Covington and Michelle Garramone, with ASCAP/MRLGT’s Alison Toczylowski.


Pictured (l-r): Team ASCAP's Southern Ground Artists' Lynn Oliver, ASCAP's LeAnn Phelan and Evyn Mustoe, BMLG recording artists The Cadillac Three's Jaren Johnston, Three Ring Circus Music's Casey LeVasseur, and ASCAP's Anna White and Ryan Beuschel

Pictured (L-R): Southern Ground Artists’ Lynn Oliver, ASCAP’s LeAnn Phelan and Evyn Mustoe, BMLG recording artists The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston, Three Ring Circus Music’s Casey LeVasseur, and ASCAP’s Anna White and Ryan Beuschel.


3rd Place Costume Contest Winners, Team Martin Allbee & AssociatesPictured (l-r): SchlitzLaw's Stacey Schlitz, Discovery Center's Tara MacDougall, Martin Allbee & Associates' Lainie Allbee, and Dodd Drennan & Associates' Melinda Drennan

3rd Place Costume Contest Winners, Team Martin Allbee & Associates
Pictured (L-R): SchlitzLaw’s Stacey Schlitz, Discovery Center’s Tara MacDougall, Martin Allbee & Associates’ Lainie Allbee, and Dodd Drennan & Associates’ Melinda Drennan.


2nd Place Costume Contest Winners, Team Major BobPictured (l-r): Major Bob's Wendi Crosby, songwriter Karyn Rochelle, and Major Bob's Mike Doyle, Jesse Frasure, Kates Snyder and Camille Kenny

2nd Place Costume Contest Winners, Team Major Bob
Pictured (L-R): Major Bob’s Wendi Crosby, songwriter Karyn Rochelle, and Major Bob’s Mike Doyle, Jesse Frasure, Kates Snyder and Camille Kenny.


1st Place Costume Contest Winners, Team Huskins-HarrisPictured (l-r): Songwriter Anthony Smith, Huskins-Harris's Dorothy Leonhardt, Becky Harris, Jen Sackett and Donna Huskins, and Warner Bros. recording artist Frankie Ballard

1st Place Costume Contest Winners, Team Huskins-Harris
Pictured (L-R): Songwriter Anthony Smith, Huskins-Harris’s Dorothy Leonhardt, Becky Harris, Jen Sackett and Donna Huskins, and Warner Bros. recording artist Frankie Ballard.

Thomas Rhett Preps Debut Album with Headlining Dates

/by

It-Goes-Like-ThisThomas Rhett’s debut album, It Goes Like This, will release Oct. 29 on The Valory Music Co. The singer-songwriter will celebrate with a string of headlining club shows.
The “It Goes Like This” singer will hit major markets through release week including Jacksonville (Oct. 31), Atlanta (Nov. 1), Chicago (Nov. 2) and Minneapolis (Nov. 3). Rhett will continue with Jason Aldean’s Night Train Tour through October.
As for the 12-track debut (full list below), producers include Jay Joyce, Michael Knox, Luke Laird, and Dann Huff. Fans were able to help Rhett reveal the album cover from a social media campaign. Watch the 16-video collection to get a glimpse of childhood videos used in the effort, including rare images with his dad, songwriter Rhett Akins.
For dates and more info, click here.
It Goes Like This Track Listing:
1.) Whatcha Got In That Cup (Thomas Rhett, Rhett Akins, Craig Wiseman)
2.) Something To Do With My Hands (Rhett, Lee Thomas Miller, Chris Stapleton)
3.) Get Me Some Of That (Michael Carter, Akins, Cole Swindell)
4.) Call Me Up (Luke Laird, Akins, Shane McAnally)
5.) It Goes Like This (Akins, Ben Hayslip, Jimmy Robbins)
6.) Make Me Wanna (Rhett, Bart Butler, Larry McCoy)
7.) Front Porch Junkies (Remix) (Rhett, Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Mark Irwin, Josh Kear) *Remixed by Huff
8.) In A Minute (Rhett, Akins, Ashley Gorley)
9.) Take You Home (Gorley, Chris Tompkins, Rodney Clawson)
10.) Sorry For Partyin’ (Rhett, Barry Dean, Robbins)
11.) All American Middle Class White Boy (Rhett, Jay Joyce, Brett Warren, Brad Warren)
12.) Beer With Jesus (Rhett, Rick Huckaby, Lance Miller)

Josh Thompson Hosts Free Online Show For Environmental Education

/by

Josh Thompson

Josh Thompson


Josh Thompson has teamed up with NRA Country to perform an exclusive, free online StageIt concert today (Aug. 26) to benefit the National Environmental Education Foundation. The show will begin at 8 p.m. ET. Thompson will perform and also answer questions in a live Q&A session during the event, and the top tipper will receive two tickets for an exclusive meet-and-greet with Thompson at a future show of their choice, as well as a Josh Thompson/NRA Country merchandise prize pack. The second and third highest tippers will also receive prize packs as well.
NRA Country will also offer fans the opportunity to win an exclusive VIP experience including the chance to hang with Thompson on his tour bus at each of his upcoming shows. Signups will be at Thompson’s merch booth at each tour stop, where fans can also find a new, limited edition Josh Thompson/NRA Country hat.
“My love for the outdoors started as a kid, and it plays a big role in my life still.  I think it’s important to get kids interested in the environment, especially now when it’s so easy to spend hours playing on a phone or computer all day,” says Thompson.  “Allowing me to champion this cause is just another reason I value my partnership with NRA Country.”
The show can be viewed and tickets reserved here.

Chesney Wraps No Shoes Nation Tour

/by

stage

Chesney performs at Gillette Stadium.


Kenny Chesney recently wrapped his No Shoes Nation Tour with two nights at Massachusetts’ Gillette Stadium, bringing the crowds totaling 109,207 people on their feet, singing along with the entertainer’s two hour-plus set.
To celebrate the milestone, the Kraft family had a Super Bowl-style banner hung permanently near an end zone to commemorate the naming of the No Shoes Nation in 2012. The blue and white vertical flag rippled in the wind as Chesney and his band ran through a 27-song set that included guest appearances from tourmates Kacey Musgraves, the Eli Young Band, and Eric Church for the current single “When I See The Bar.”
“It’s an incredible life,” Chesney says. “Looking over and seeing all those faces, it was like ‘When I See This Bar’ was happening right there on stage right… and having Eric sing it with me, a guy who knows what it means to punch it out in a little dive bar with nobody there, well, that’s everything that song is! And everybody’s been there.”
Being the end of tour, there were several additional surprise “guests.” NoShoesRadio.com’s Mark Tamburino free-rapped “Blister in the Sun,” while production steward Robin Majors blew some tasty harp on the set closing “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.”
It was an acoustic debut of “Happy On the Hey Now,” considered to be the emotional center of Chesney’s recent album Life On A Rock, that quieted the second evening’s nearly 55,000 fans. Never played in concert, it was a starkly acoustic debut for the song written about living in the moment, the sudden loss of a dear friend and the preciousness of what is shared with friends.
“I was a little nervous about doing a song so quiet and so personal in a venue that big,” Chesney said. “But so many of the people who were part of that song were there… I knew those fans were just as much a part of my life, and I wasn’t going to see them again until 2015… and I wanted something to bind us all together. It was a risk, and when I saw all the lighters and cell phones with flames aloft, I knew it was the right decision.”

Artist Action (8-26-13)

/by

carrie-underwood-blown-away1

Carrie Underwood


Carrie Underwood, who is slated to portray Maria in the upcoming three-hour live broadcast of The Sound of Music on NBC, now has a leading man for her performance. True Blood star Steven Moyer has been cast as Captain Georg Von Trapp. The Sound of Music will be broadcast on Dec. 5.

• • •

Pictured (L-R): Red River Entertainment’s Chuck Rhodes, Michael Martin Murphey, and Murphey’s producer, Ryan Murphey.

Pictured (L-R): Red River Entertainment’s Chuck Rhodes, Michael Martin Murphey, and Murphey’s producer, Ryan Murphey.


Singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey will perform a benefit concert for the Fiona Rose Trust for Osteogenesis Imperfecta on Friday, Sept. 20 at Two Old Hippies in Nashville. For more information, visit twooldhippies.com.

• • •

dierks bentley featured11

Dierks Bentley


Dierks Bentley has partnered with Country radio stations nationwide to release the official lyric video for his current single, “I Hold On.” Fans can visit 120 radio station websites to watch and share Bentley’s first-ever lyric video, which includes memorable images pulled from Bentley’s own photo collection. To see the video, visit tweematic.com.
 

• • •

Lisa Matassa performed the national anthem for one of the singer’s favorite hometown MLB teams, the New York Mets, as they faced the Atlanta Braves recently. The game was held at Citifield in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

Pictured (L-R): Greg Gibson, Lisa Matassa, Jerry Layne, Alan Porter, Hunter Wendelstedt.

Pictured (L-R): Greg Gibson, Lisa Matassa, Jerry Layne, Alan Porter, Hunter Wendelstedt.

• • •

Lizzie Sider performed recently at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon. The 15-year-old South Florida native penned her debut single, “Butterfly,” with Jamie O’Neal, Lisa Drew and Jimmy Murphy; its corresponding video has received more than 1 million views on YouTube.

Lizzie Sider performs at the Wildhorse Saloon.

Lizzie Sider performs at the Wildhorse Saloon.

Taylor Swift Wins at MTV Video Music Awards

/by

taylor swift11

Taylor Swift


Taylor Swift was one of the top winners last night (Aug. 25) during the MTV Video Music Awards, as she accepted the mini moon man for Best Female Video for “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The star bested Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Pink, and Demi Lovato for the award, and got plenty of camera time during the awards show.
“I want to thank the fans because I tweeted about this a lot,” she said as she accepted her trophy. “I really, really wanted this, and thank you so much for doing this for me. I feel really lucky because I have both the video director Anthony Mandler and my co-star Reeve Carney here tonight, and I’m so happy that they are here.”
With one of her exes, Harry Styles of One Direction, in close range, Swift got a bit of vindication as she continued her acceptance speech. “I also want to thank the person who inspired this song — who knows exactly who he is — because now I’ve got one of these.”
She may have lost her cool just a little though when Styles and the band took the stage and thanked the fans for their support, since the cameras caught her dropping the F-bomb as she sat watching with close pal Selena Gomez.

Get More:
2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music

Linda Ronstadt Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease

/by

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt


Linda Ronstadt, 67, has revealed that she “can’t sing a note” due to suffering from Parkinson’s disease, according to AARP. The singer was diagnosed eight months ago, though she says she began showing symptoms approximately eight years ago.
Ronstadt has won two Academy of Country Music awards, including 1974’s Best New Female Artist and 1987’s Best Album honors, for her work with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the album Trio. She earned a Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, for “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)” from Heart Like a Wheel, in 1975. Another Grammy nod followed in 1987, this time for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the album Trio (with Parton and Harris). Her album Simple Dreams topped the Billboard Country charts in 1977.
trio album1“I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t figure out why,” says Ronstadt. “I knew it was mechanical. I knew it had to do with the muscles, but I thought it might have also had something to do with the tick disease that I had. And it didn’t occur to me to go to a neurologist. I think I’ve had it for seven or eight years already, because of the symptoms that I’ve had. Then I had a shoulder operation, so I thought that’s why my hands were trembling. Parkinson’s is very hard to diagnose, so when I finally went to a neurologist and he said, ‘Oh, you have Parkinson’s disease,’ I was completely shocked. I wouldn’t have suspected that in a million, billion years.
“No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease,” Ronstadt says. “No matter how hard you try.” According to the singer, she uses a wheelchair when she travels.
Her memoir, Simple Dreams, will appear on Sept. 17, though the book does not reveal details of her diagnosis, or the loss of her voice.

No. 1 Celebration: Kip Moore's "Hey Pretty Girl"

/by

Photo (L-R):: Dan Couch, Kip Moore, Brett James, Mike Dungan. Photo: Rick Diamond

Photo (L-R): Dan Couch, Kip Moore, Brett James, Mike Dungan. Photo: Rick Diamond


A line in Kip Moore‘s previous chart-topping hit “Beer Money” has proved prophetic: this newcomer certainly has his foot on the gas and his career is taking off at rocket speeds. He celebrated his third consecutive chart-topping single, “Hey Pretty Girl,” yesterday (Aug. 22) at the Flying Saucer in Nashville, Tenn., along side co-writer Dan Couch. “Hey Pretty Girl” follows Moore’s previous chart-topping songs “Beer Money” and “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Truck,” Moore’s debut single which he also co-wrote with Couch.
Among those who gathered to congratulate Moore on the feat were BMG Chrysalis’ Kos Weaver, Cornman Music’s Nate Lowery and UMG’s Mike Dungan. Avenue Bank’s Cooper Samuels announced that Avenue Bank would make a contribution to the Muscular Dystrophy Association on behalf of the songwriters.
Many in the throng of supporters, including UMG’s Dungan (pictured above), donned Moore’s signature red hat for the party. In addition to commemorative plaques, trophies and Dungan’s well-known accolade affectionately known as the “Impaler Award” that were given to the songwriters and publishers, Moore also received three Oakley black and gold Offshoot sunglasses.
Pictured (L-R): Corn Man Music's Brett James, co-writer Dan Couch, Corn Man Music's Nate Lowery, Kip, MCA Nashville's Miranda McDonald, BMI's Perry Howard, BMG Chrysalis' Kos Weaver and Capitol Records' Mike Dungan.Photographer: Rick Diamond

Pictured (L-R): Corn Man Music’s Brett James, co-writer Dan Couch, Corn Man Music’s Nate Lowery, Kip, MCA Nashville’s Miranda McDonald, BMI’s Perry Howard, BMG Chrysalis’ Kos Weaver and Capitol Records’ Mike Dungan. Photographer: Rick Diamond


Moore was the first songwriter signed to Cornman Music, the publishing company founded and owned by singer-songwriter Brett James (“The Man I Want To Be,” “Get Off On the Pain,” “Blessed”). During the celebration, James recalled how early on, before Moore released a single, the singer-songwriter held a solid confidence in his musicianship and star potential. “Four years ago,” said James, “Kip and I were in my office. I had a ’64 Hummingbird [Gibson guitar]. Kip said, ‘If I get three No. 1 songs in a row, you have to give me that guitar.'” Given the steep odds of any new artist amassing three consecutive No. 1 songs, James agreed. During the celebration, James held up his end of the bargain, gifting Moore the prized instrument before the industry crowd.
“Brett James is the ultimate believer,” said Moore. “He thought I was a rock star from day one and would not waver. That’s what it’s about, having faith and not wavering from it. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have, you can’t do it alone…I realize how many hands it takes, from my truck driver to me and the band, engineers, merchandise people.”