“Hunger Games” Soundtrack Poised For Big Debut

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The release of The Hunger Games movie today (3/23) is shaping up to be a huge event—like $20 million from late night shows on release day huge. The film’s companion soundtrack, titled The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond, hit stores 3/20 and is expected to make a big debut on the sales chart next week. That’s a great thing for Nashville.

The collection combines revered artists from several genres, a move that will no doubt bring in many different types of fans. Several Country and Americana favorites are featured prominently, including the lead single “Safe & Sound” by Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars, as well as a solo-billed Miranda Lambert featuring The Pistol Annies, The Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and solo tracks from both Swift and The Civil Wars. Also included are beloved indie rockers The Arcade Fire and The Decemberists, as well as rapper Kid Cudi. Full tracklist is below.

Universal/Beladroit sibling duo The Secret Sisters performed the song “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder” last night (3/22) on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. Check out the Sisters’ performance here, which begins at the 38:35 mark.

The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond tracklist:

1. The Arcade Fire – Abraham’s Daughter
2. The Secret Sisters – Tomorrow Will Be Kinder
3. Neko Case – Nothing To Remember
4. Taylor Swift feat. The Civil Wars – Safe & Sound
5. Kid Cudi – The Ruler and the Killer
6. The Punch Brothers – Dark Days
7. The Decemberists – One Engine
8. Carolina Chocolate Drops – One Engine
9. The Civil Wars – Kingdom Come
10. Glen Hansard – Take The Heartland
11. Maroon 5 feat. Rozzi Crane – Come Away To The Water
12. Miranda Lambert feat. Pistol Annies – Run Daddy Run
13. Jayme Dee – Rules
14. Taylor Swift – Eyes Open
15. The Low Anthem – Lover Is Childlike
16. Birdy – Just A Game

Don Williams Releasing First Album in 8 Years

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Country music’s Gentle Giant, Don Williams has announced the release of his first new album since 2004. Titled And So It Goes, the collection is due out June 19 via Sugar Hill Records.

The “Tulsa Time” singer and 2010 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee reunited with longtime producer Garth Fundis, with whom he’d worked for seventeen years, to create the new record.

The recordings feature contributions from longtime guitarist Billy Sanford and percussionist Kenny Malone, as well as Williams admirers Keith Urban, Alison Krauss and Vince Gill adding instrumentals and vocals.

“We weren’t looking to reinvent Don,” Fundis notes, “just to make a good new Don Williams record.”

The ten track album features songs by expert tunesmiths Kieran Kane, Ronnie Bowman, Al Anderson and Leslie Satcher, Williams’ son Tim Williams, and Williams himself. Selections include the duet with Krauss, “I Just Come Here for the Music,” and “What If It Worked Like That,” which fans can check out here.

Don said, “The only description that I’ve ever had for songs I choose to do is that they affect me emotionally and that, hopefully, they have something to say that will touch other people.”

CountryBreakout No. 1 Song

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For a second consecutive week, Lady Antebellum’s “Dancin’ Away With My Heart” is tripping the light fantastic at the top of MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart.

A lucky group of high school juniors and seniors from Henryville, IN will get an up close encounter with the multi-Platinum trio in the coming months. Henryville High School was chosen as the winner of Lady A’s “Own Prom Night” contest due to its moving story of resilience and strength after tornadoes devastated the area. A neighboring high school turned in the winning submission. Though a scheduling conflict will keep Lady A from being able to attend the actual prom for HHS, the group is planning a special party and concert for the students at a later date.

Universal Music Publishing Group Signs Kalisa Ewing

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(L-R) Standing: Kent Earls, EVP/General Manager, UMPG Nashville; Cyndi Forman, Senior Creative Director, UMPG Nashville. Seated: Todd Wilkes, KingSpirit Music and Kalisa Ewing

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) recently announced the signing of Nashville singer/songwriter, Kalisa Ewing, to an exclusive, worldwide publishing agreement.

Ewing originally met veteran publisher Todd Wilkes, who brought her to the attention of Kent Earls, Executive Vice President/General Manager, UMPG Nashville. Earls and Wilkes jointly signed Ewing to Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville and Wilkes’ publishing company, KingSpirit Music.

Born and raised just outside Nashville, Ewing has been sharpening her talents since the age of 10 when she began playing guitar and studying voice. By the time Ewing turned 18, she had been co-writing with hit songwriter Kelly Garrett for several years. In addition to her co-writes with Garrett, other collaborations include Rivers Rutherford, Angelo, Marcus Hummon, Phillip White, Marla Cannon-Goodman, and Brian Maher. Ewing is also currently in the studio working on her debut album.

Tuning In: Radio News (3/23/12)

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Kudos to Clear Channel’s KAJA/San Antonio, for raising over $517,000 on behalf of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during its March 15-16 Country Cares radiothon. This was the station’s third year to run a St. Jude event, and marks a 27% increase over funds collected in 2011. In total, the station has raised over $1.2 million for St. Jude.

(L-R): KJ Morning Co-Host Randy Carroll, KJ Morning Co-Host Jamie Martin, KJ Personality Bree, KJ Program Director Travis Moon

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Melissa Frost

Congratulations go out to CENLA Broadcasting KRRV/Alexandria, LA MD Melissa Frost, who is adding Program Director to her list of duties. She replaces Hollywood Harrison, who remains with the station’s top-rated morning show.

• • •

Premiere Radio Networks’ Big D & Bubba are on a quest to lose 100 pounds in 100 days. You might think that number divides down pretty easily day-by-day, but if you’ve seen this then you know math is pretty doggone tricky. In this response video, newly minted WMN regional Katie Bright and tv personality Shane Tallant attempt to crack the 100 pounds in 100 days equation.

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WIL/St. Louis has announced the 2012 edition of its “Cornbread Idol” competition, which will be held 1-4 pm Saturday, March 31 at Wild Country in Collinsville Illinois. The first 75 contestants will have 90 seconds to perform a cappella. WIL staff members will make video clips of the contestants and listeners will vote for their favorites at www.wil92.com over the next three weeks until a winner is named. That individual gets a chance to perform during a taping of WIL’s St. Louis Country TV Show, a chance to perform at an additional WIL event, and a pair of Bandana’s BBQ Mega Tickets to each country show this Summer at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

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Bold Gold Media’s WDNB/Liberty, NY will host its 7th Annual Thunder 102 ThunderBash on May 19, at the Monticello Casino & Raceway. Average Joes artist Ira Dean will headline, with additional performers including Tommy Steele, David Bradley, David Adam Byrnes, Amber Hayes, Darren Warren, Sherry Lynn, Iron Cowboy, and Somerville. The station will be taking donations at the door to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the YMCA of Sullivan County’s Strong Kids Campaign.

HER and King's County stopped by KLMJ/Hampton, IA to visit with MD Mike Betten. The Elektra Nashville group’s single “White Trash Country Boy” lands at No. 30 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart this week.

Weekly Chart Report (3/23/12)

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Rodeowave recording artist Phil Vassar (L) greets KAJA KJ97/San Antonio PD Travis Moon (R) during the station's successful St. Jude Jam 2012, held at Cowboys Dancehall. Vassar's latest hit "Don't Miss Your Life" provided a poignant moment during the evening, and is currently at No. 21 on the CountryBreakout Chart.

SPIN ZONE
We might need a photo finish on this one. Lady Antebellum’s “Dancin’ Away With My Heart” retains the CountryBreakout Chart’s No. 1 spot by a nose, only six spins separating it from Blake Shelton’s “Drink On It.” In the distance, but quickly closing the gap is Rascal Flatts’ “Banjo” which moves 5-3 after a 172 spin gain. Rounding out the Top 5 are Jake Owen’s “Alone With You,” and Miranda Lambert’s “Over You.”

The parade of superstar singles has begun, and it’s shaking up the Top 40 a bit. Toby Keith’s “Beers Ago” is the newest arrival to the party, and it’s the biggest spin gain of the week with a move to No. 34. Also pulling in lots of new plays is The Band Perry’s “Postcard From Paris,” which moves to No. 27. Still, it doesn’t keep Rachel Holder’s “In Your Arms” from making progress at No. 25, or Corey Wagar’s “I Hate My Boyfriend” at No. 32.

Several newer faces are among those making debuts in this chart edition, with Eric Paslay’s “If The Fish Don’t Bite” leading the pack at No. 67. Also making strong first appearances are Joanna Smith’s “We Can’t Be Friends” at No. 72, Hunter Hayes’ “Wanted” at No. 74, and One Night Rodeo’s “We Could Go To Jail” at No. 78. The only more established artist with a new single debuting this week is Chris Young, whose “Neon” is glowing at No. 68.

Upcoming Singles
March 26
Chris Young/Neon/RCA
Martina McBride feat. Pat Monahan/Marry Me/Republic Nashville
Jon Pardi/Missin’ You Crazy/Capitol Records Nashville

April 2
Brandon Bolin/Angel Missing/Render

April 9
Jerrod Niemann/Shinin’ On Me/Sea Gayle/Arista
Edens Edge/Too Good To Be True/Big Machine
Lathan Moore/Nothin Like A Woman/Render
Dierks Bentley/5-1-5-0/Capitol

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New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Eric Paslay/If The Fish Don’t Bite/EMI Nashville – 67
Chris Young/Neon/RCA – 68
Joanna Smith/We Can’t Be Friends/Columbia – 72
Hunter Hayes/Wanted/Atlantic Records – 74
One Night Rodeo/We Could Go To Jail – 78

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Toby Keith/Beers Ago/Show Dog-Universal – 583
The Band Perry/Postcard From Paris/Republic Nashville – 458
Eric Church/Springsteen/EMI Nashville – 341
Carrie Underwood/Good Girl/19 Recordings/Arista – 321
Jason Aldean/Fly Over States/Broken Bow – 294

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Toby Keith/Beers Ago/Show Dog-cUniversal – 39
The Band Perry/Postcard From Paris/Republic Nashville – 20
Chris Young/Neon/RCA – 17
Justin Moore/’Til My Last Day/Valory – 17
Eric Paslay/If The Fish Don’t Bite/EMI Nashville – 13
Joanna Smith/We Can’t Be Friends/Columbia – 12
Martina McBride feat. Pat Monahan/Marry Me/Republic Nashville – 11
Jon Pardi/Missin’ You Crazy/Capitol – 11
Kix Brooks/New To This Town/Arista – 11

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Leah Seawright/Til Your Boots Are Dirty – 223
Barry Michael/Uncountrify Me/Stockbridge – 213
Susan Cattaneo/Little Big Sky/Jersey Girl Music – 210
Stephanie Grace/If You Asked Me/SMG – 207
Lucas Hoge/Give A Damn/Animal House – 194

Despite being under the weather 104.3 KSOP/Salt Lake City PD Deb Turpin took some time to listen to Due West’s new music, but made sure to stay far away. (L-R): KSOP PD Deb Turpin; Due West's Matt Lopez, Brad Hull and Tim Gates

Blake Shelton’s “Drink On It” came in at a very close No. 2 on this week’s CountryBreakout Chart, and he is currently on his Well Lit & Amplified Tour. Recently he visited San Jose, CA and KRTY. (L-R): Kristen Williams (WMN National Director of Promotion), Shelton, Tina Ferguson (GSM KRTY), Nate Deaton (GM KRTY)

Publishing Veterans Coburn and Morris Launch New Company

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Veteran music publishers Jewel Coburn and Jason Morris have announced the opening of Eleven Eleven Music Group in Nashville.

Eleven Eleven represents songwriters Lauren Lucas, Doug Gill, Angela Kaset and Wendy Waldman. The company has already landed its first cut with the Don Williams and Alison Krauss recording of “I Just Come Here For The Music” on Don’s upcoming And So It Goes album.

Coburn, who also co-owns Ten Ten Music Group, and Morris will share company duties of finding new talent, pitching songs, and assessing catalogs. Morris’ 20 years working in Nashville include cuts by Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, George Jones, and Rascal Flatts.

Eleven Eleven staff writers are all accomplished tunesmiths. Lucas is a former Warner Bros. recording artist who earned a Tony nomination for a song in the Broadway production of Urban Cowboy. Gill has had his songs recorded by Wynonna and Patty Loveless. Kaset’s credits include Lorrie Morgan’s “Something In Red” and “The Hopechest Song.” Waldman’s hits include Vanessa Williams’ “Save The Best For Last” and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishin’ In The Dark.”

Reach Coburn at [email protected] and Morris at [email protected].

Charlie Cook On Air: Encylopedia Britannica

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The summer between my junior and senior years in high school I went door-to-door selling encyclopedias. Well, that’s not correct—I never sold anything.

We were actually not asked to sell anything. We were instructed to “place” a starter set of the encyclopedias with a nice family. The punch line was that about two weeks after I left, bills started to arrive.

I honestly do not remember if the company was Encyclopedia Britannica but I am not one that lets facts get in the way of a good story. I recently read with interest that Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer printing its product, so for this column I am going to say it was Encyclopedia Britannica in order to write from personal experience.

That too would be pushing it. I seem to remember that I did this “job” for less than two weeks. Maybe for less than a week and a half. I do remember my next job that summer was making sausage. I wasn’t very good at that either, but you’ll have to wait for that story.

Anyhow, I hate that a company founded in 1768, part of our schooling history and as American as apple pie and Chevrolet, fails. Wait…Chevrolet? Well, apple pie is still safe.

As recently as 20 years ago Encyclopedia Britannica sold 120,000 copies of its printed product. In 2010 they sold 8000. Does this sound like anything else we deal with every day?

The product has moved online. Encyclopedia Britannica says 500,000 people pay $70 per year for their kids’ homework—I mean, unlimited access to the Encyclopedia Britannica website. This is a great deal for your kid’s homework—I mean, for a paid version of Google or Wikipedia.

This is like buying 6 or 7 full album downloads on iTunes. Or 70 single downloads per person.

That’s also $35 million. That’s a lot of money and a pretty good model.

But the printed version cost $1300. In 1990 with 120,000 sold, that’s $156 million. In 2010 the total was $10 million.

Does any of this sound familiar?

When the consumer has choices the business must change and change quickly. Twenty years is a slow change but to be fair, the fall from 120,000 to 8000 did not happen overnight.

The radio and record industries have changed slowly. The record industry was forced to change and the damage has been brutal. The radio industry is still changing and I should say we were forced as well. Radio is being forced by outside energies, but also from the inside as Clear Channel is becoming a digital company.

In case you didn’t do the math, Encyclopedia Britannica lost 94% of its revenue in 20 years. Neither radio nor records have taken hits like that. Britannica would like to go back to their profit levels of 20 years ago and many radio stations would opt for that. I suspect that most record companies long for the profit levels of past years.

All disc jockeys and programmers would like to go back to when there were full staffs and PDs didn’t have 6 stations to oversee. Technology appears to benefit the consumer a lot more than the industries that evolve.

Because I “may” be a former employee of Encyclopedia Britannica I feel badly for their demise. I am glad they have found a new model, even if it is one that is about 20% of their peak. What I am more afraid of is that the two industries that I do deal with everyday are not moving quickly enough to own the new technology.

Oh, I am also afraid that the technology keeps us from finding enough revenue to do anything but online.

GAC’s “Day Jobs” Returns For Second Season

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(L-R): Jason Aldean dresses with the Atlanta Braves; Scotty McCreery reprises his role as a grocery store clerk

Day Jobs, the show that takes stars back to the jobs they held before they made it big, returns to GAC for a second season Wed., April 4, 10 p.m. ET. Each new one-hour episode follows three celebrities as they put in a full day’s work with a new twist this season, participants were able to chose between their former day job or a job they’ve always wanted.

For Jason Aldean, that meant spending a day at spring training with the Atlanta Braves (air date: April 4); for Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, that meant teaching at a school within Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville (air date: April 11).

Celebs featured in the second season include:
Bill Engvall – caverns tour guide – April 4
Colt Ford – sports radio talk show host – April 18
Craig Campbell – corrections officer – May 16
Gretchen Wilson – Waffle House waitress – May 9
Hunter Hayes – Indy car driver (dream job) – April 18
Jack Ingram – automobile restoration – May 23
Joey + Rory – dairy farmers (no airdate listed)
Josh Thompson – concrete finisher – May 23
Karen Fairchild (Little Big Town) – stylist – April 18
Kellie Pickler – elephant caregiver (dream job) – May 2
Laura Bell Bundy – doggie daycare worker (dream job) – May 2
Lauren Alaina – CiCi’s Pizza waitress – April 11
Lee Brice – commercial electrician – May 9
Love & Theft – whiskey makers – May 16
Mark Wills – police officer trainee – May 16
Niki Taylor (super model) – sous chef (dream job) – April 25
Robin Meade – factory worker – May 9
Scotty McCreery – grocery store clerk – April 11
Trailor Choir – restaurant owners – April 25
Trisha Yearwood – candy maker (dream job) – April 25 

Day Jobs is produced by Taillight Inc. and Tigerlily TV, Sarah Brock is creator and executive producer; Tom Forrest and Thom Oliphant are executive producers.

Major Bob Announces Production Agreement With Frasure

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Major Bob Music, Inc. has announced a new production agreement with the company’s Director of A&R, Jesse Frasure. In addition to his current role helping lead the publishing company, Frasure will add his remixing, production and DJ background to assist in new endeavors.

A Detroit native who has been with Major Bob for a decade, Frasure has used his live DJ talents across the US and globe for clients including Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake and more. As a producer/writer and remix artist, he was worked on projects for Hot Chelle Rae, Luke Bryan, Tobymac, the Tammy Wynette Estate, David Archuleta, Pia Toscano and others.

“Jesse continues to be a valuable member of the Major Bob family. We are excited to see where he will take his newest role in the company,” says Bob Doyle, CEO/Major Bob Music, Inc. and Bob Doyle and Associates.

Congratulate him at [email protected].