Artist Pics: Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker (12/21/2012)

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Kellie Pickler sits in a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected simulator during a visit for the USO.

Kellie Pickler returned from her sixth USO tour on Dec. 19. The country entertainer performed for U.S. troops as part of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey’s annual USO holiday tour.

The seven-day, four-country tour of the Middle East also included performances by artists Ross Detwiler and Craig Stammen of the Washington Nationals, Matt Hendricks of the Washington Capitals and comedian Lliza Shlesinger.

Stops included Bagram Air Base and Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan; U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart in Germany and a visit with sailors stationed aboard aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, among other locations.

“[During] the holidays, everyone wants to be home with their families and loved ones. And I know it’s just as hard for [your] families back home, so they’re making a sacrifice as well,” Pickler said via a release. “I just want to say thanks so much for all that you do, and thank you to your families as they make a huge sacrifice. This time of year is really hard so I hope that you know that we love you. The USO, all of us, we are praying for a safe return home for you all. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

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Photo (L- R): Lance Corporal Morales; Sergeant Cory Tribble and Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker visited Toys “R” Us in Carle Place, N.Y. on Dec. 17 to donate over $10,000 worth of toys to benefit the U.S. Marine Toys for Tots program. The toys will be distributed to children in the Lindenhurst, N.Y. area, which was recently affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Rucker partnered with digital media company Eventful, and over 30,000 music fans in 3,028 cities “Demanded” that Rucker bring his $10,000 worth of donated toys to their city. Fans used Eventful’s social media platform “Demand It!” to spread the word virally on Facebook and Twitter and invited friends to help their city win.

Artist Pics (12-20-2012)

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Big Ride’s Craig Wayne Boyd participated in the annual Christmas 4 Kids tour bus tour held in Hendersonville, Tenn. on Monday (Dec. 17), where he met with Nashville area children. Proceeds from the event benefited more than 400 underprivileged Middle Tennessee children during the holidays.

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Photo (L-R): "Cowboy" Jack Clement and studio manager Juanita Copeland

“Cowboy” Jack Clement dropped by the legendary Sound Emporium Tuesday to visit the studio he founded in 1969. Pictured here are Cowboy and Studio Manager, Juanita Copeland, in the lobby under a gallery of photos from the 70s that feature him. He toured the recently remodeled lobby and saw the recent updates to the world-famous “A room,” which include a much anticipated drum booth.

PLA Publicist Job Opening

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Nashville-based public relations organization PLA Media is looking for a motivated and experienced publicist to join their team. A minimum of two years experience coordinating publicity campaigns for entertainment and/or corporate clients is required.
PLA Media is owned by veteran publicist Pam Lewis. The operation’s clients include Justin Moore, William Lee Golden, The Johnny Cash Museum, Lynn Anderson, Scarletta and many more.
Resumes can be sent to info@plamedia.com.

 

Artist Updates (12/20/2012)

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Zac Brown Band, Kellie Pickler, Easton Corbin, Brantley Gilbert and Billy Currington will perform at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works on Dec. 29 as part of the ‘2012 Ram Jam’ concert. The web broadcast of the event can be accessed here. Beginning Jan. 16, select concert performances will be available for on-demand viewing. Each participating artist received a lease on a 2012 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn truck. Each truck will be auctioned off in early 2013 with proceeds going to a charity of each artist’s choice.

The first auction, featuring Pickler’s truck, will be held Jan. 22, to benefit the USO. For more information on the auction, visit www.ebay.com/roadtoramjam.

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Singer-songwriter Sarah Buxton and husband, session guitarist Tom Bukovac, welcome son, Marshall. “Tom and I are in love with our sweet baby boy, Marshall! He came December 4th. My little Sagittarius,” Buxton said via Twitter. Bucovac won MusicRow‘s Top 10 Album Album All-Stars award in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The couple were married on Nov. 20, 2010. Buxton penned Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy” and “Put You In A Song.”

 

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Miranda Lambert is slated to be a guest judge on the upcoming season of Lifetime’s Project Runway.

Other guest judges for the season include Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, John Legend, Emmy Rossum and Kristin Davis. Season 11 of Project Runway premieres Jan. 24 at 8:00 p.m. CT.

 

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Craig Campbell will have a front row seat at the upcoming game between the Tennessee Titans and the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Dec. 23. Campbell is slated to perform the national anthem prior to the game. CBS will air the game from Lambeau Field beginning at 12:00 p.m. CT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decosimo Nashville Adds Larry Felts

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Larry Felts

Larry Felts, CPA, has joined the Nashville office of Decosimo as assurance principal. He has more than 30 years of accounting and management experience, including serving as an office managing principal with two Big Four international accounting firms.

“Adding Larry supports our firm’s strategic initiative for growth in our current markets,” said Nick Decosimo, managing principal of Decosimo. “His leadership strengths and strong relationships across many of our firm’s industry focus areas like manufacturing and distribution, healthcare and financial services groups will be critical to our firm as we grow in Nashville and beyond.”

Felts’ experience with both public and private company clients extends into industries such as manufacturing and distribution, higher education, financial services, retail, government and technology. His significant experience with financial institutions has ranged from major public clients to many Tennessee community banks, credit unions and savings banks. He has extensive experience in SEC services, including initial and secondary public offerings, periodic reporting, and advisory services for client and audit committees. He is also experienced in performing employee benefit plan audits.

Felts is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA), where he has served on the Financial Institutions and Sports and Entertainment Committees.

With the addition of Felts, Decosimo has 38 active principals across the firm’s nine locations in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio and the Cayman Islands. Decosimo is a nationally recognized firm, perennially ranked by Accounting Today as a Top 100 accounting and business advisory services firm. Additionally, Decosimo is an independent firm associated with Moore Stephens International Limited to provide clients with access to a depth of resources and expertise comparable to Big Four accounting firms.

Swift Among Highest-Paid Women In Music

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Taylor Swift is the second highest paid woman in music according to the latest report from Forbes. She grossed $57 million between May 2011 and May 2012, and is the only country star on the top 10 list.

Significantly contributing to Swift’s coffers were her tour, which reportedly raked in about $1 million per night before expenses, and major marketing partnerships with CoverGirl and Sony.

Barely edging out Swift for first place is Britney Spears with $58 million, followed by Rihanna in third place with $53 million. Touring, endorsements, and fragrances boosted their income.

See the complete list and methodology here.

Black Keys Drummer to Host SiriusXM Series

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Patrick Carney

SiriusXM Radio announced Patrick Carney, drummer of The Black Keys, as host of a new series featuring a wide range of independent music from his personal collection.

The show, titled Serious Boredom, premieres on SiriusXM channel 35 tonight (Dec. 20) at 8:00 p.m. ET with new episodes debuting the first Thursday of every month beginning in January 2013.

“When an influential artist like Patrick Carney gets behind the mic and invites listeners for an inside look into his inspirations and personal favorites, it’s a special, must-hear moment for our subscribers,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM, via a release. “And we know Patrick’s Serious Boredom will be anything but.”

During the first broadcast, Carney will play music by artists like Pavement, Guided By Voices and Yo La Tengo as well as a new duet by Adam Green and Binki Shapiro.

After each broadcast, Serious Boredom will be available on SiriusXM On Demand for subscribers via Internet Radio App or online at siriusxm.com.

Nashville’s Filmworkers Edits Faith Hill’s Video

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Nashville’s Filmworkers provided editorial, color grading and other post-production services for “American Heart,” the new music video from Faith Hill. Film and television editor Adam Little edited the video, which includes a dance duet between Hill and 10-year-old sensation T.J. Jones. Working simultaneously with Little, colorist Jimmy Cadenas performed color grading, applying the final polish to the video’s rich, playful, All-American look.

Directed by Trey Fanjoy, the video weaves performance imagery with dance sequences in which Hill and young T.J. Jones perform on a stage in front of a giant American flag made of flashing red, white and blue lights. A large projection screen, also positioned behind the dancers, displays images of American cities, people and icons. “American Heart” is the first single from Faith Hill’s forthcoming album of the same name.

Fanjoy notes that editing and grading the video at the same facility offered both practical and artistic advantages. Among other things, Cadenas’ grades could be immediately applied to Little’s cuts. “Raw footage from digital cameras has a very flat look,” she says via a release. “Although this allows for great color flexibility in grading the final video, showing rough cuts to clients with milky, non-color-corrected footage is not optimal. In doing the post production at Filmworkers, we were able to work simultaneously on different parts of the process. As we were editing with Adam, we were color grading the rough cuts with Jimmy. This way each version was always presented to the artist with stunning color.”

Alive at the Bluebird 20th Anniversary

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January 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of Alive At The Bluebird, a fundraising concert series that helps Alive Hospice provide hospice care and grief support in Middle Tennessee. More than 80 songwriters are joining in again this year at The Bluebird Café.

The series kicks off Jan. 2 at 9 p.m. with Lionel Cartwright, Lari White and Tom Douglas. Reservations will become available Dec. 26 online at www.bluebirdcafe.com. Others who have signed on to participate during the month of January include Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Kim Carnes, Matraca Berg, Charles Esten, Lori McKenna, Jonathan Edwards, Marc Beeson and Bob DiPiero, just to name a few.

This concert series has raised more than $470,000 for hospice care and grief support services over the years.

Artist Updates (12/20/2012)

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Brad Paisley will star in a PSA that will debut tonight (Dec. 20) during the ABC Television Network’s holiday special CMA Country Christmas. The PSA will help raise awareness of the Country Music Association’s Keep The Music Playing initiative, putting the spotlight on the importance of music education.

The spot features footage of Paisley rehearsing with two talented Nashville student musicians–Nashville School of the Arts student Marcus Wanner and Hume-Fogg Magnet High School student Joey Santoro.

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Florida Georgia Line will appear on NBC’s The Better Show today (Dec. 20) at 11:00 a.m. CT. The spot will feature FGL in an interview on-campus at their alma mater, Nashville’s Belmont University.

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Jake Owen wrapped up his first headlining tour, CMT On Tour with Jake Owen: The Summer Never Ends 2012, with a sold-out annual foundation concert in Owen’s hometown of Vero Beach, Fla. on Saturday (Dec. 15).

Proceeds from the concert went to the Jake Owen Foundation, which supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and youth organizations in Indian River County, Fla. Over 6,200 fans attended the concert, helping to raise over $125,000 for the charities.

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Photo (L-R): Lauren Lane, Habitat for Humanity, Josh Turner, Amelia Griswould, Sarah Gaffney, CMT One Country

Josh Turner made a special holiday delivery with CMT One Country and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville by delivering handmade wreaths from Barefoot Mountain Farms to several Nashville families.

“The holidays have always been about giving back for me and my family,” explains Turner via a release.  “I really enjoyed being able to visit with these families.  I applaud the work that Habitat and CMT One Country are doing for the folks in our community.”

 

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Matt Stillwell will appear on Fox & Friends on Monday (Dec. 24), performing his Christmas single, “Our Christmas.”