Country Thunder Wisconsin Announces Lineup

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Just one day after the lineup for its Arizona counterpart was announced, Country Thunder Wisconsin has revealed the initial list of performers for its July 18-21 music festival. Among those scheduled to perform are headliners, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Little Big Town and many more. The 2013 lineup (full schedule below) also includes previously announced group, Lady Antebellum, for the four day festival in Twin, Lakes, Wisconsin. Attendees will also be able to check out the GAC sidestage, bluegrass tent, food vendors, and thrill rides.

Four day passes are currently available through the end of the year (12/21) at the discounted rate of $99. For more information, visit www.countrythunder.com.

Thursday:
5:30-6:30pm – Chris Janson
7:00-8:30pm – Justin Moore
9:00-10:30pm – Dierks Bentley

Friday:
1:00-2:00pm – TBA
2:30-3:30pm – Morgan Frazier
4:00-5:00pm – Parmalee
5:30-6:30pm – Dustin Lynch
7:00-8:30pm – Little Big Town
9:00-10:30pm – Keith Urban

Saturday:
1:00-2:00pm TBA
2:30-3:30pm – Sweetwater Rain
4:00-5:00pm – Phil Vassar
5:30-6:30pm – Lee Brice
7:00-8:30pm – Chris Young
9:00-10:30pm – Brad Paisley

Sunday:
1:00-2:00pm – TBA
2:30-3:30pm – Edens Edge
4:00-5:00pm – TBA
5:30-6:30pm – Joe Nichols
7:00-8:30pm – TBA
9:00-10:30pm – Lady Antebellum

Ticketmaster Forms Partnership With Walmart

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Walmart and Ticketmaster have announced a strategic partnership to provide consumers more ticket purchasing capabilities both in stores and at walmart.com.

A pre-determined pool of tickets will be available to Walmart customers for major league sporting events, FELD Entertainment family events, arts & theatre performances and more. The new “Walmart Ticket Values” program featuring “Tickets under $30” is available in approximately 1,200 Walmart stores or online for in-store pickup or delivery by mail.

“By partnering with Ticketmaster, we are able to offer our customers the best selection of live event tickets at an everyday low price,” said Seong Ohm, SVP of entertainment merchandising for Walmart U.S. “We hope our customers will take the time to enjoy a game, concert or show.”

“We collaborated with Walmart to introduce another convenient ticket buying option on Walmart.com and fans can choose to have their tickets mailed or available for in store pick up at their Walmart,” said Sandy Gaare, EVP of retail partnerships, Ticketmaster.

Weekly Register: Give The Gift of Music!

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Florida Georgia Line's breakout single "Cruise" goes No. 1 where it really counts—on the sales charts! Weekly Register is now predicting Platinum status for the track next week.

Seven more weeks and the 2012 sales year will be complete. YTD country sales are up 2.4% which isn’t fireworks and champagne, but looks better when compared with overall industry sales, currently down -4.1%.

So what should we expect before the last notes of “Auld Lang Syne” echo down the office hallways? Firstly, there’s a few more album stocking stuffers scheduled such as Rascal Flatts (11/19), Florida Georgia Line (12/4) and a Nashville soundtrack (12/11). We also have holiday albums from Lady Antebellum, Blake Shelton and Scotty McCreery which are already feeling the holiday love as folks bring them home to get in the spirit.

Compared with last year, country sales need to average 1.206 million albums for each of the remaining seven weeks to break even with 2011. A quick glance at last year’s performance shows that five of the corresponding seven weeks easily passed the million mark. Not surprisingly, the 2011 week just before Christmas was the biggest cash register event with country album sales reaching 2.186 million units. Will 2012 country sales push ahead of the previous year? Sure seems likely, but it’s doubtful we’ll increase our Y/Y gain much above where it stands currently.

Tracks are showing a 13.5% gain Y/Y which slipped a bit this week from last week’s 14.8% tally. Still there’s a lot of factors that could affect the final shopping outcomes—everything from weather to concerns about the economy.

Chart Tipping
The top 7 this week are all newly released offerings. Swift (No. 1; 196k), Aldean (No. 2; 48k), Lady A holiday (No. 3; 27k), Little Big Town (No. 4; 25k), Shelton holiday (No. 5; 24k), McCreery holiday (No. 6; 20k) and T. Keith (No. 7; 20k). Filling out those that scanned over 10k units for the week are Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Hunter Hayes and Zac Brown Band.

In one of the year’s nicest surprises, Florida Georgia Line catapults itself to the No. 1 country tracks position this week with over 81k downloads. Next week the song will go platinum passing the one million sales mark. FGL also performs a neat trick—outselling BMLG label mate Taylor Swift this week. The Red chantuese’s “We Are Never Ever….” now in its 12th tracks chart week scanned over 73k units for a RTD (release to date) total of 2.520 million.

As noted on our grid, country track sales are up a robust 13.5%. To see this gain with a more sedate album perspective divide by 10 (TEA=track equivalent albums; 10 tracks=1 album).

Peering accurately into the future will be a bit easier after the we get numbers for the Thanksgiving sales week ended 11/25/12. That milestone will leave us with only five additional weekly periods.

In the meantime, stay warm and tell friends to, “Give the gift of music…”

DISClaimer Single Reviews (11/14/12)

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King's Bullet, Lee Brice

As we get deeper into the fall, the sounds of country music grow warmer.

On the holiday drives to friends and relations that lie ahead, I’m going to welcome hearing Kix Brooks and Lee Brice coming over those car speakers. I’m taking along some left-field CDs, too, like the new one by Lindi Ortega and the duets of Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale.

You’ll find all four of them discussed in this week’s column. Lee Brice has my heart as the Disc of the Day.

There was a little surprise tucked into today’s listening session. Singer-songwriters Trey Bruce and Loni Rose have become King’s Bullet, and in so doing win this week’s DisCovery Award.

LINDI ORTEGA/The Day You Die
Writer: none listed; Producer: Colin Linden; Publisher: none listed; Last Gang (track) (www.lindiortega.com)
—I’m still crazy about this gal. This super hooky, neo-rockabilly, speedy romp has mordant wit as well as echoey twang and thump. It’s produced with verve by her fellow Canadian in Nashville, Colin Linden.

DAVID KROLL/Little Soldiers
Writer: David Kroll/Arlos Smith; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; Tenacity (www.davidkrollmusic.com)
—This being the week of Veteran’s Day, this ballad is certainly timely. It concerns the families left behind when soldiers go off to war, and it is very well written. In addition, Kroll sings it with real feeling. Proceeds from downloads of the single this week go to the Code of Support Foundation.

LIZZIE SIDER/Butterfly
Writer: Lizzie Sider/Jamie O’Neal/Jimmy Murphy/Lisa Drew; Producer: Jamie O’Neal; Publisher: none listed; Blue Steel (www.lizziesider.com)
—Wildly upbeat and catchy as all get out. The pulsing production rings with repeated guitar riffs and notes of steel. She sings with confidence and volume, riding atop the sonic excitement like a pro.

CARRIE ZARUBA/Woman on a Mission
Writer: Carrie Zaruba/Kent Wells; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; CZ
—Her vocal is almost swamped by the busy-sounding instrumental track. But there’s real talent here, in songwriting as well as singing.

BUDDY MILLER & JIM LAUDERDALE/I Lost My Job of Loving You
Writer: Lauderdale/B. Miller; Producer: Buddy Miller; Publisher: Ginger Dragon/Songs of Bug/West Bay/Julie’s Freaking Out, SESAC/ASCAP; New West (track) (www.buddymiller.com / www.jimlauderdale.com)
—Talk about a dream team. Individually, these two men are among the best country singers and songwriters in this whole city. Their Buddy & Jim collection together is a banquet of audio delights. This opening-track twang fest is drawling and haunting, with plenty of alt-country production touches. Most of the CD is original material by them. But they do take side trips to Johnnie & Jack (”South in New Orleans”), Joe Tex (”I Want to Do Everything for You”), Jimmy McCracklin (”The Wobble”) and to a pair of traditional tunes.

CLAY WALKER/Jesse James
Writer: Kyle Jacobs/Joe Leathers/Ben Glover; Producer: Keith Stegall; Publisher: Curb/JacobsongFortune Favors the Bold/Mike Curb/Ghermkyle/WB/Screaming Norman, ASCAP/BMI; Curb (track)
—He dreams of being a free-and-easy, wild outlaw in the Wild West. It’s a battle between the dark and the light, the good and the wicked, sung high up in his range while chanting men, screaming electric guitars and a plunking banjo surround him. Too noisy for these ears.

KING’S BULLET/Watermelon Sun
Writer: none listed; Producer: Trey Bruce; Publisher: none listed; KB (track) (www.kingsbullet.com)
—Hit Nashville songwriter Trey Bruce spent part of his summer months collaborating on songs with Loni Rose. While working in the studio, they “accidentally” created an album, a new sound and an identity as King’s Bullet. Her sweet soprano takes the lead, while he provides a dusky harmony part. This opening track wafts across like a dry prairie breeze in late afternoon. Refreshingly different.

LEE BRICE/I Drive Your Truck
Writer: Jessi Alexander/Connie Harrington/Jimmy Yeary; Producer: Kyle Jacobs, Matt McClure & Lee Brice; Publisher: none listed; Curb (track)
—This man is turning into a star with every successive disc. He smacked homeruns right out of the ballpark with “A Woman Like You” and “Hard to Love.” The third single from Brice’s CD is immensely evocative, as a son recalls his deceased dad by driving his truck and listening to their favorite country station. If this doesn’t punch you in your heart, you haven’t got one. Another homer.

KIX BROOKS/Moonshine Road
Writer: Kix Brooks/Leslie Satcher; Producer: Kix Brooks; Publisher: Sony-ATV Tree/Buffalo Prairie/Leslie Satcher, BMI; Arista (track)
—The drawling country boy promises the fancy lady a wild and wooly time in this moody, minor-key “outlaw” slab of sound. Very, very cool, with a “heartbeat” rhythm track that is irresistible and a production that gets right under your skin.

J.D. SHELBURNE/Grandma & Garth
Writer: J.D. Selburne/Bob Stewart; Producer: Greg Cole; Publisher: J.D. Shelburne/Giraffekey, BMI; Star BLase (CDX) (www.jdshelburne.com)
—He cleans out his late Granny’s house and finds a guitar. It leads him to a life as a country singer. Along the way, the lyric quotes the Garth song titles she loved. As a song, it’s certainly unique.

Keith Urban Announces 2013 Tour

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Keith Urban announced the first leg of his 2013 North American tour today (11/14) in an online video short with tour mates Little Big Town and Dustin Lynch. The video shows the artists on a road trip together.

The first leg opens July 18 in Cincinnati, OH and has about 25 dates scheduled through Oct. 5 in West Palm Beach, FL. No Nashville date has been announced but the current itinerary includes nearby stops in Atlanta on July 27 and Birmingham on Aug. 22.

Details at Keithurban.net/tour

Thompson Square Pens First Novel

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CMA Vocal Duo of the Year Thompson Square will publish their first novel titled Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not? with Howard Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not? is based on Keifer and Shawna Thompson’s chart-topping love song of the same title and features characters David Winters and Zoe Spark and their journey to love. Travis Thrasher will co-author.

David and Zoe are friends from high school and musical partners who date sporadically throughout college. Though they go their separate ways, two of their songs eventually become hits. The pair reconvene at a low point in their lives and realize what they had been missing all along.

The book is slated for release June 4, 2013.

Thompson Square will also join award-winning Country star Luke Bryan on his first headlining tour, the 2013 Dirt Road Diaries Tour, beginning January 17 in Evansville, IN. Thompson Square’s latest release, “If I Didn’t Have You,” is the duo’s fastest rising single to-date and the first from the duo’s sophomore album due in early 2013.

Patsy Cline’s Live Performances Featured in New Collection

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Fourteen recordings of Patsy Cline’s live performances have been collected for Patsy Cline On Air: Her Greatest TV Performances, which was released today (11/13) by Universal Music Enterprises. The collection is available both digitally and on CD.

For the first time, the album brings together some of Cline’s greatest on-camera appearances, including a 1963 performance of “Walking After Midnight” on Country Style U.S.A., her Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry debut in 1962 singing “Crazy,” and two performances of “San Antonio Rose” and “I Fall To Pieces” on The Glenn Reeves Show just five days before she passed in a plane crash.

Additional performances throughout the years at the Opry include “She’s Got You,” “Strange,” “Imagine That,” “A Church, A Courtroom, Then Goodbye,” “You’re Stronger Than Me,” “So Wrong,” “When I Get Through With You (You’ll Love Me Too),” “Why Can’t He Be You,” “Blue Moon Of Kentucky,” and “Leavin’ On Your Mind.”

Big Machine to Release ‘Nashville’ Soundtrack in December

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Don’t finalize those Christmas wish lists just yet, because Big Machine Records is releasing the soundtrack to ABC-TV’s Nashville on December 11. The collection features new music performed by the cast including Connie Britton, Hayden Panettiere, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson, Clare Bowen, and Sam Palladio. A full track listing for the album is below.

Producers T Bone Burnett, Dann Huff, and Michael Knox have collaborated to assemble the music featured in the show and soundtrack. Download sales of songs from the series have already exceeded 500,000 and the first official single, Panettiere’s “Telescope,” is quickly climbing the charts.

Nashville airs Wednesdays 9-10 pm/CT on ABC. See full episodes here.

Track listing:
1. Buried Under
Performed by Connie Britton / Written by Chris Destefano, Natalie Hemby

2. If I Didn’t Know Better
Performed by Sam Palladio, Clare Bowen / Written by Arum Rae, John Paul White

3. Undermine
Performed by Hayden Panettiere, Charles Esten / Written by Trent Dabbs, Kacey Musgraves

4. Sideshow
Performed by Charles Esten / Written by Aaron Scherz, Brad Tursi

5. Wrong Song
Performed by Connie Britton, Hayden Panettiere / Written by Marv Green, Sonya Isaacs, Jimmy Yeary

6. No One Will Ever Love You
Performed by Connie Britton, Charles Esten / Written by Steve McEwan, John Paul White

7. Twist Of Barbwire
Performed by Jonathan Jackson / Written by Elvis Costello

8. Love Like Mine
Performed by Hayden Panettiere / Written by Kelly Archer, Emily Shackleton, Justin Weaver

9. Telescope
Performed by Lennon Stella, Maisy Stella / Written by Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsay

10. When The Right One Comes Along
Performed by Clare Bowen, Sam Palladio / Written by Georgia Middleman, Justin Davis, Sarah Zimmermann

11. Telescope (Radio Mix)
Performed by Hayden Panettiere / Written by Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsay

New Power Duets

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Blake Shelton and Christina Aguilera on the set of The Voice.

• Blake Shelton joined fellow The Voice coach Christina Aguilera on her new song “Just A Fool.” The track is from her album Lotus, set for release today (11/13). See the video below for Shelton’s take on matching Aguilera’s high notes.

Kelly Clarkson and Vince Gill perform "Don't Rush" on the CMA Awards.

• Kelly Clarkson tapped Vince Gill for her latest single “Don’t Rush,” which is being worked at country radio by Columbia Nashville. It is from her Greatest Hits – Chapter One, due out Nov. 19. The track was produced by Dann Huff and written by Blu Sanders, Natalie Hemby and Lindsay Dawn Chapman. The hits album also features “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Jason Aldean.

 

‘Hee Haw’ Co-Creator Frank Peppiatt Dies

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John Aylesworth (L) and Frank Peppiatt (R).

Frank Peppiatt, who brought country culture to the forefront of the national media as co-creator of Hee Haw, died on Wednesday (11/7) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He was 85 and had been battling cancer.

Peppiatt and John Aylesworth helped launch the show in 1969. After CBS cancelled it two years later, it went on to become one of the longest-running syndicated series of all time, lasting more than two decades.

Peppiatt and Aylesworth loosely based the show on the then-popular sketch comedy series Laugh-In. The idea for the country twist came after appearances by country stars including Jimmy Dean, Dale Evans and Minnie Pearl led to a ratings spike on The Jonathan Winters Show, which Peppiatt and Aylesworth previously produced.

Hee Haw was produced by Sam Lovullo. Buck Owens and Roy Clark co-hosted, and regulars included Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Stringbean, and George Lindsey. George Richie, and later Charlie McCoy, led the house band which backed the numerous country stars who performed on the show.

Peppiatt also produced television variety shows, including series and specials for Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews. His book, When Variety Was King: Memoir of a TV Pioneer Featuring Jackie Gleason, Sonny and Cher, Hee Haw and More will be published in April 2013. Aylesworth passed in 2010.