April/May ’12—On the Cover: Blake Shelton

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Blake Shelton, the reigning ACM and CMA Male Vocalist of the Year recently celebrated three Grammy nominations and No. 1 hits with “Drink On It,”  “God Gave Me You” and “Honey Bee.” All three singles are off his release Red River Blue, which debuted at No. 1 on the Soundscan Top Current Albums chart and Soundscan Top Country Albums chart with the Associated Press calling the album “the best album of his career.” Shelton’s infectious multi-week No.1 hit, “Honey Bee” is also off Red River Blue and is his first-ever digital Platinum single. He holds the record for the fastest-selling digital Platinum single for a male country solo artist. Shelton has 11 No. 1 hits and has not had a single peak outside the Top Ten since 2007. Shelton currently appears on NBC’s The Voice for the second season along with other celebrity judges Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine.

“If you’d have told me a few years back that my life would be this good,” Shelton says, “I’d have told you that you were crazy. But I’ll damn sure take it.”

Shelton’s journey since his first single “Austin” in 2001 has been a testament to the talent and persistence he brings to the table. He left Ada, Oklahoma at 17, two weeks out of high school, for Nashville after encouragement from legendary songwriter Mae Axton (“Heartbreak Hotel”). He met and worked with another legend—Bobby Braddock (“He Stopped Loving Her Today”)—and earned a deal on Giant Records. It would be several years before that led to a contract with Warner Bros. and “Austin,” which launched his career. Since then, his star power, world-class voice and irreverent personality have brought him the acclaim that has translated so well from the world of country music to a wider audience.

“I’m still learning, still reaching and growing,” he says, “and it’s great to have more and more people along for the ride.”

Label Warner Bros. Records
Current Album Red River Blue
Current Single/Video “Drink On It”
Current Producer Scott Hendricks
Hometown Ada, Oklahoma
Management Starstruck Management Group
Booking William Morris Endeavor
Recent Hits “God Gave Me You,” “Honey Bee,” “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” and “Home”
Awards Reigning ACM Male Vocalist of the Year & Vocal Event of the Year, two consecutive CMA Male Vocalist of the Year awards, CMT Male Video of the Year & Collaborative Video of the Year, AMA’s Favorite Country Male Artist of the Year
Special TV/Film Appearances NBC’s The Voice; Co-hosting the Annual Academy of Country Music Awards with Reba on CBS
Birthday June 18, 1976
Interesting Facts I have never owned a car, only trucks.
Outside Interests Hunting; Gardening – growing watermelon, squash, sweet corn, and potted tomatoes.
Musical Influences Earl Thomas Conley, Bellamy Brothers, Conway Twitty, John Conlee
Favorite Record Somewhere Between Right & Wrong (Earl Thomas Conley)

Nielsen to Host Webinar For CMA Members Today

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Nielsen SoundScan will host a webinar on the state of the country music industry for CMA Members today (4/26) at 2 pm CT. The report, which includes a look at the year 2011 in Country music and a recap of Q1 2012, will be delivered by Nielsen’s Analytics SVP, David Bakula.

Click here to join the online meeting. In addition to this afternoon, the report will be made available on the CMA member-only website.

For more info, email Nielsen’s Josh Bennett here.

Bobby Karl Works NaFF’s World Premiere of the Hank Cochran Documentary

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Lee Ann Womack yesterday (4/25) at NaFF.

Photos by Shelley Justiss/NaFF

Chapter 395

I usually try to make a point of supporting the Nashville Film Festival by attending some of its many movies with music themes. On Wednesday evening (4/25) that meant a trip to Green Hills for the sold-out screening of Hank Cochran: Livin’ for a Song. The documentary tells the life story of one of the most endearing, gifted, fascinating, charismatic, charming and quirky characters who ever called Nashville home.

Hank Cochran died in 2010. The filmmakers immortalized his remarkable saga during the five years leading up to then. The film’s content is thoroughly compelling, for Cochran was one of the great raconteurs. His life story is fascinating as a fourth-grade-educated Mississippi child who rose to become a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (and who should be a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame). His classic songs are undeniable – “Make the World Go Away,” “She’s Got You,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Set ‘Em Up Joe,” “The Chair,” “Don’t Touch Me,” “It’s Not Love But It’s Not Bad,” “Why Can’t He Be You,” “Don’t You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me,” “Ocean Front Property,” “A-11,” “That’s All That Matters to Me,” “A Little Bitty Tear,” “This Ain’t My First Rodeo,” “Who You Gonna Blame it on This Time,” “You Comb Her Hair,” “Funny Way of Laughing,” “Is It Raining at Your House” etc. etc.

Whenever someone performs one of these in the movie, time stands still. Elvis Costello, Ronnie Milsap, Lee Ann Womack, Jamey Johnson, Mandy Barnett, Beegie Adair, Mike Henderson, Mark Chesnutt and others create magic whenever they’re on screen in song.

Buddy Cannon yesterday (4/25) at the NaFF.

So, yes, the content is terrific. The film’s finesse, not so much. The Nashville Scene charitably described it as “a straight-forward, no-cinematic-frills documentary.” What that means is that absolutely no attention seems to have been paid to photographic composition, lighting, film technique or visual quality. It’s as if the subjects were simply sat down just anywhere and the camera turned on. At times, the visual results are downright ugly. Also, my heart went out to whoever had to deal with the wildly varying sound quality during editing and post-production.

But for the sheer enjoyment of seeing and hearing “Hanktum” again, we were willing to put up with oafish production values. Packing the Regal Cinema 16 were John Prine, John D. Loudermilk, Dean Dillon, Dale Dodson, Luke Lewis, Martha Moore, Troy Tomlinson, Mandy Barnett, Buddy Cannon, Jay Orr, Suzanne Kessler, Cathy Gurley, Brett Woolcott, Suzi Cochran, Holly Gleason, Vernell Hackett and Belmont’s Don Cusic and James Elliott, among many others.

Mark Chestnutt and NaFF Executive Director Ted Crockett.

Other music-oriented films at the festival centered on Paul Williams, Charlie Louvin, Rick Springfield, Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, Bobby Bare Jr., Wes Cunningham, Andrew Bird, Common and Hole rock drummer Patty Schemel. Under African Skies, the doc about Simon’s Graceland album, won the Music Films Grand Jury Prize. Parton was given the Career Achievement Award. Williams was presented with the Mike Curb Award for Film Music. Nashville theater entrepreneur, director, actor, playwright and filmmaker jeff obafemi carr won a special award for He Ain’t Heavy, his controversial film about fraternity hazing.

• • • 

The hostess with the mostest at Tuesday’s (4/24) Dining Out for Life AIDS charity event at numerous Nashville restaurants, was Kay West, presiding at the French-themed bistro Table 3.

She attracted such fabulons as Kristi Rose, Jill Forbert, Robert Ellis Orrall, Tamara Saviano, Wendy Stamberger, Liz Thiels, Elaine Wood, Paula Batson and Denise Stiff, not to mention a big politico table including Rich Riebling, Christine LaLonde, Dan Kornfeld, Hedy Weinberg and I-hope-our-future-mayor Megan Barry.

Miss Mary dined on the succulent veggies in puff pastry. I had the beef bourguignon, which was delish.

Photos: WO Smith Benefit; CMHoF Words And Music Night

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Stars Perform at WO Smith Benefit Concert

Billy Currington, Ronnie Milsap, Phil Vassar and the Lost Trailers performed at Tuesday night’s (4/24) fifth annual Dustin J. Wells Gift of Music Foundation benefit concert at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon. Proceeds from the event benefit the W.O. Smith Music School which provides 50 cent music lessons to Nashville’s under-served children.

Pictured (L-R): Billy Currington, Ronnie Milsap and Phil Vassar with members of the W.O. Smith School student band. Photo: Aaron Crisler / The Judy Nelon Group

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Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum hosts 33rd annual Words & Music Night

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum hosted its 33rd annual Words & Music Night on Tuesday (4/24). Diamond Rio hosted the event during which Nashville-area students performed their original songs accompanied by professional songwriters. Words & Music Night is the culmination of the year-long Words & Music program where students learn about the lyric-writing process and write or co-write lyrics in the classroom; the lyrics are then given to professional songwriters, who refine their lyrics and add melodies.

Pictured (L-R): Director of Education and Public Programs Ali Tonn, Diamond Rio’s Dan Truman and Gene Johnson, Museum Director Kyle Young, DR’s Marty Roe and Jimmy Olander, Vice President of Museum Programs Jay Orr and School Programs Manager Nathalie Lavine. Photo: Donn Jones

 

Old Crow Medicine Show Celebrates Gold

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(L-R): Morgan Jahnig (OCMS), Norm Parenteau (OCMS Manager), Ketch Secor (OCMS), Mark Jowett (Nettwerk VP International A&R/Publishing), Kevin Hayes (OCMS), Terry McBride (Nettwerk CEO); Photo: Crystal Jahnig

Nettwerk Records and Nashville’s Old Crow Medicine Show recently celebrated Gold certification of the group’s breakout single “Wagon Wheel,” for sales surpassing 500,000 units. Nettwerk executives Terry McBride (CEO) and Mark Jowett (VP International A&R/Publishing) recently presented the band with Gold plaques while they were visiting Nashville.

“Wagon Wheel” was originally sketched by Bob Dylan and later completed by OCMS member Ketch Secor. It has now sold over 715k units and become a live bar band standard. The song has a fascinating history that reaches even further back than Dylan.

“‘Wagon Wheel’ is a gold record 75 years in the making,” said Secor. “Back in 1995, I first heard Bob Dylan sing that striking chorus on his unfinished 1972 studio outtake of ‘Rock Me Mama.’ Being an audacious, banjo-picking teenager, I quickly rattled off three verses and rushed it out to coffeehouses and street corners, singing it to anyone who would listen. In 2003, seeking a copyright to the song, I learned that Dylan had credited it to Memphis songster Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, who recorded the 1950s boogie-woogie number ‘Rock Me Mama.’ From there, I learned that Crudup attributed the song to Mississippi-turned-Chicagoan Big Bill Broonzy, who recorded it way back in the late 1920s. So, from Big Bill to Big Boy to Bob and on down to me, ‘Wagon Wheel’ has become a true American folk song, borrowed, half-stolen, and sung out far and wide. The rest, as they say, is history.”

ASCAP Licenses Rhapsody; Presents Combustion Writers in Chicago

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News from ASCAP this morning includes a new licensing agreement with Rhapsody, and a concert in Chicago by Combustion Music writers.

ASCAP recently teamed with Black Label Entertainment to present the Circle Sessions at Joe’s Bar in Chicago featuring the writers of Combustion Music. Black Label is bringing the songwriters-in-the-round concept to the Windy City and celebrating the writers behind the hits. Playing to a standing room only crowd were Combustion tunesmiths Brett James, Ashley Gorley, Chris Farren and Matt Jenkins. 

Pictured (L-R): Kenley Flynn (Combustion), Kelsey Maynard (Joe's Bar), Ryan Allen (Black Label Ent.), Mike Abramson (Black Label Ent.), Chris "the Falcon" Van Belkom (Combustion), Ashley Gorley, Matt Jenkins, Chris Farren, Brett James, and LeAnn Phelan (ASCAP).

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ASCAP and Rhapsody have reached a new agreement for the Rhapsody subscription streaming music service that covers licensing for 2012 and 2013. The license allows Rhapsody to publicly perform the works of more than 430,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members of ASCAP.

Although Rhapsody has been licensed since its inception, the new agreement is ASCAP and Rhapsody’s first independent agreement since Rhapsody’s separation from long-time parent company, RealNetworks, in April 2010.

Rhapsody was the first subscription music service, launched in December 2001. Today, it is the largest premium subscription music service in the United States, with more than 1 million paying subscribers and more than 14 million tracks.

In recent months, ASCAP also concluded agreements with other digital streaming services including Netflix and Hulu.

Industry Ink (4/26/12)

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Ronnie Milsap, Jamey Johnson, and Third Day have joined the expanding lineup for BamaJam 2012, set for June 14-16 in Enterprise Alabama. Previously announced performers include Kid Rock, Tim McGraw, Zac Brown Band, Alan Jackson, Eric Church, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, NEEDTOBREATHE, Casey James, Gov’t Mule, Uncle Kracker, Yelawolf and more. Tickets are available here.

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Jason Charles Miller

Jason Charles Miller has signed a recording agreement with Nashville-based Render Records, it was announced recently by Render co-founder Steve Freeman. Miller was previously leader of the rock band Godhead, which was signed to Marilyn Manson’s Posthuman Records and sold over 200k albums. A Virginia native, Miller has been spending recent years rekindling his love of country music. His first single “Up To Me” ships to country radio May 1.

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Matthew Gordon’s The Dynamiter and David Fine’s Salaam Dunk earned the top prizes at the 2012 Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) presented by Nissan. The Dynamiter, which took the Bridgestone Narrative Competition Grand Jury Prize, is the tale of a young boy without his mother and looking at a future of social services. Salaam Dunk is a profile of the triumphs and challenges experienced by the American University of Iraq’s women’s basketball team and captured the Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize. Best actor honors went to William Ruffin, for his performance in The Dynamiter. A full list of festival winners is here.

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Rick Rekedal

Franklin-based Seabourne Pictures has announced that DreamWorks Animation executive Rick Rekedal has joined the company’s board of advisors. Rekedal’s efforts at DreamWorks has helped launch franchises like Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and more. Recently, Seabourne premiered its 2012 feature After (directed by Ryan Smith) at the 2012 NaFF.

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Singer/songwriter Jessica Campbell has signed a worldwide co-publishing agreement with Franklin-based The MWS Group. Campbell’s album Great Escape appeared in 2011 and she has placed songs on ABC’s Ugly Betty, CBC’s Heartland, and the CW’s Hart of Dixie. The MWS roster also includes Kyle Lee and Michael W. Smith.

(L-R): MWS Group’s Trevor Mathiesen, MWS Group Partner Greg Ham, Campbell, and Michael W. Smith

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The Hummingbirds of Avenue Bank

The winner of the Arts & Business Council’s 2012 Music City Corporate Band Challenge, which was held Monday (4/23) at the Wildhorse Saloon, was The Hummingirds from Avenue Bank. In second place was Totally Booked from Hutton Hotel, and third place went to Three Day Weekend from First Tennessee. The top three teams received cash prizes to donate to the arts organization of their choice. Judges for the competition included Kitty Moon Emery (Kitty Moon Enterprises), Tony Conway (of Conway Entertainment Group), and Gary Kraen (PD/Operations at Lightning 100). More info here.

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Bluegrass music documentary The Porchlight Sessions has four days left in its Kickstarter  campaign to raise $60,000. Currently the campaign has over $52k raised. Learn about the project here.

Laurissa Ryan To Exit CMT

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Laurissa Ryan is exiting her post at CMT after 13 years with the network. She currently serves as Sr. Director of Talent and has decided to leave the company to pursue new opportunities.

“I’m grateful for the incredible experiences and lifelong friendships these 13 years at CMT have afforded me,” said Ryan. “As difficult as this decision was, I am excited to see what the future holds.”

“We’re very sad to see Laurissa go,” said John Hamlin, SVP, Music Events and Talent, CMT. “We’re extremely proud of the work she’s done here and the relationships she’s been able to build on behalf of the network. We owe much of our talent department’s success to Laurissa and wish her nothing but the best in her new endeavors.”

Ryan will remain at the network through the end of this week. She can be reached at [email protected], or (615) 477-8752.

MusicRowPics: Jon Pardi Artist Visit

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Yesterday (4/24) Capitol Records Nashville artist Jon Pardi stopped by MusicRow headquarters to visit with the staff and play a few songs, including his single “Missin’ You Crazy.” The song is currently climbing MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart, landing at No. 55 this week.

Pardi also played “Write You A Song” and “Chasin’ Them Better Days.” Both songs will be available on his upcoming EP, which he co-produced with Bart Butler.

His full length debut album is expected to be released later this fall.

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“Tuskegee” Stays At No. 1

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Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee is hanging tight at No. 1 on the all-genre chart for the second consecutive week. The country duets project moved 114,110 units this week, with RTD sales totaling 536,967, making it the best-selling country album of 2012 just three weeks after release. The project, released via Mercury Nashville, saw a week-to-week sales slip of 11 percent.

Richie and Ray Charles are the only artists in history to have No. 1 albums on both the Billboard Country Albums and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.