Dan Bowen Named WSM-FM PD

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Dan Bowen


Dan Bowen has been tapped as Program Director of WSM-FM Nashville. He is leaving his post as Airplay Direct’s VP of Radio Strategies after only a few months.
Bowen replaces Russell Penuell at the Cumulus station.
Cumulus Senior VP of Programming Jan Jeffries made today’s announcement. “We have known Dan personally and competitively in previous markets over the past decade,” he said. “Dan was our No. 1 choice for this coveted programming position. Dan’s extensive programming track record, gold standard work ethic and life-long love for Country is impressive.”
Bowen commented, “I’m proud to be joining the team at Cumulus Nashville and look forward to working with SVP of Programming, Jan Jeffries to build upon the heritage of WSM-FM. This time of change in Nashville radio presents tremendous opportunity to jumpstart one of the greatest and most famous stations in Country radio.”
Bowen’s experience includes time as VP of Strategic Marketing and Communications at the CMA. In the radio world, he spent 11 years at Atlanta’s WSTR as PD. He has also been PD of KWMX, KHHT and KQKS in Denver, and served a decade at WNCI in Columbus, OH.

Big Benefits: Jeffrey Steele Tonight, Ringside Tomorrow

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Jeffrey Steele


The fourth annual Jeffrey Steele & Friends benefit concert will be tonight (3/10) at The Loveless Barn, with guest performers Frankie Ballard, Billy Ray Cyrus, Chris Janson, Jeremy Lister, LoCash Cowboys, Eddie Montgomery, James Otto, and Chuck Wicks. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., with an acoustic pre-show and auction viewing. Tables for the event are on sale at www.NowPlayingNashville.com or by calling The Community Foundation at 615-321-4939.
Proceeds will benefit the Alex LeVasseur Memorial Fund of The Community Foundation and its initiatives to provide safe, supportive opportunities for kids with a passion for skateboarding.

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RINGSIDE: A Fight For Kids is set for tomorrow night (3/11) at The Factory at Franklin’s Liberty Hall. The black-tie boxing event has been drawing music industry attendees since starting seven years ago. It features gourmet dining, live music, surprise celebrity guests and a live auction. The highlight of the evening will be four professional boxing bouts sanctioned by the Tennessee Athletic Commission. Famed boxer Joe Frazier is scheduled to attend.
Billy Greenwood of WSIX’s “The Billy and Karla Show” will be the emcee, and Blair Garner, host of nationally syndicated radio program “After MidNite” will be the ring announcer.
Funds raised will benefit the Charley Foundation, which provides assistance to disabled and underprivileged children served by medical, recreational and care groups throughout Middle Tennessee. For more information visit www.charleyfoundation.org or contact Carolyn Miller at 615-297-3099 ext 103.

Jason Aldean Extends Tour

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Jason Aldean is adding a summer leg to his 2011 My Kinda Party Tour. Special guests Chris Young and Thompson Square will join him for the new dates, which kick off July 8 in Milwaukee, WI. More shows will be announced over the coming weeks.
The first leg of the tour has sold over 154,000 tickets for 14 dates.
Click here for a short video clip from the tour.

Jason Aldean


Newly announced dates
7/8      Milwaukee, WI
7/9      Ft. Loramie, OH
7/14    Orange Beach, AL
7/15    Tampa, FL
7/16    West Palm Beach, FL
7/21    Monticello, IA
7/22    Omaha, NB
7/23    Cheyenne, WY*
7/26    Paso Robles, CA*
7/27    Mountain View, CA*
7/30    Camrose, Alberta Canada
8/12    Des Moines, IA
8/13    Sedalia, MO
8/14    Springfield, IL
8/20    Louisville, KY
8/25    Scranton, PA
8/26    Pittsburgh, PA
8/27    Chicago, IL
*Indicates shows without Chris Young

Rascal Flatts Join Spalding Entertainment

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Rascal Flatts have signed with Clarence Spalding’s Spalding Entertainment for management. The band with 20 million in album sales now joins the roster that is home to Ronnie Dunn, Kix Brooks, Jason Aldean, Sara Evans, Terri Clark, and Ashley Monroe.
As reported on MusicRow.com, the trio split with their longtime management team earlier this year.
Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney also found a new label home in the last year. After the shuttering of Lyric Street Records, where the band was the flagship artist, Rascal Flatts joined Big Machine Records. The group’s first release for the label, Nothing Like This, entered at No. 1 on the country album sales chart in November 2010.
Up next, look for the TV concert special Rascal Flatts: Nothing Like This Presented by JCPenney, airing at 8 PM/CT, Saturday, March 12 on ABC. It will feature guest appearances by pop stars Justin Bieber and Natasha Bedingfield.

John Rich Debuts On "Celebrity Apprentice"

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John Rich with fellow contestants Mark McGrath and Lil Jon in the boardroom on the Celebrity Apprentice.


John Rich is on the new season of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, which debuted Sunday night (3/6). Competing to raise money for St. Jude’s Childrens Research Hospital, Rich stated, “Don’t underestimate the country boys.”
The opening night challenge had each team making and selling pizzas to see who could earn the most money.
This Sunday night (3/13), in an episode titled “Child’s Play,” the celebrities must write an original children’s book and perform it for a group of 4 and 5-year-olds. The show airs at 8 p.m. on NBC.
Among the other celebs on this season are Franklin resident and former model Niki Taylor, Gary Busey, La Toya Jackson, Star Jones, Mark McGrath, Meat Loaf, and Dionne Warwick. David Cassidy was the first star to get fired.

Sara Evans Grows Stronger With New Album

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Sara Evans (L) celebrated the release of "Stronger" with a March 9 appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America Winter Concert Series. Pictured here with GMA’s Robin Roberts (R). Photo: Sean Murray


Sara Evans seems poised for a comeback with yesterday’s (3/8) release of Stronger, her first full-length studio set since 2005’s Real Fine Place.
Signaling the potential for solid first-week sales is news that the album’s lead single, “A Little Bit Stronger,” is already approaching 500,000 paid downloads (Nielsen SoundScan). The track is steadily climbing the MusicRow Country Breakout chart, landing at No. 16 last week.
Evans went through major personal and professional changes between albums. Personally, she experienced a divorce, remarriage, and move to Birmingham. Professionally, her celebrity status got a boost from an appearance on Dancing With The Stars, and she changed management teams, joining Spalding Entertainment. She also signed a book deal and released a greatest hits album.
When it came time to get to work on her sixth album for RCA Nashville, Evans recruited hitmaking producers Nathan Chapman and Tony Brown for the project.
She co-wrote six of the album’s 10 tracks, and turned to some of Nashville’s best writers for the rest, including Luke Laird, Hillary Lindsey and Hillary Scott, who penned the first single. Evans and Leslie Satcher co-wrote “Ticket to Ride,” and the singer teamed with Marcus Hummon for “Desperately.” Other tracks include a remake of the Rod Stewart hit “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” from the pens of Nashville songwriter Dennis Morgan, and Simon Climie. Evans also worked with Marti Frederiksen, who produced the track “Wildfire,” which he co-wrote with the artist, her brother Matt Evans, and Kara DioGuardi.
Evans is promoting the new album in New York with appearances on Good Morning America, and Hannity, as well as a signing event at Barnes & Noble, for her album and new novel Softly and Tenderly.
Evans has career sales totaling more than five million units, driven by No. 1 hits including “Born to Fly,” “No Place That Far,” “Suds in the Bucket,” and “A Real Fine Place to Start.”

Cumulus To Buy Citadel For $2.5 Billion

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Cumulus Media has reached an agreement to purchase rival radio broadcaster Citadel. The deal is valued at $2.5 billion in cash and stock.
Cumulus, under the leadership of chairman and chief executive Lew Dickey, had made bids for Citadel in the past. Those offers were rejected but led to exclusive negotiations in recent months.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Cumulus is the second largest radio station owner in the U.S., followed by Citadel as the third largest. Once combined the companies would own 572 stations across the country.
The largest radio broadcaster in the nation is Clear Channel Communications, with more than 800 radio stations.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

Randy Houser's Tour Bus Catches Fire

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Randy Houser’s tour bus caught fire this afternoon, destroying his gear, clothing and personal belongings. Houser and his crew were preparing for their concert tonight (3/9) in Isle of the Palms, SC when the crew noticed flames emanating from the rear suite of the bus. Thick black smoke billowed through the corridor and main cabin. The cause of the fire is unknown.
Houser and all the band and crew members were safely evacuated. In the midst of the chaos, he managed to take a video with his cell phone camera (below). “Fire is out. Lost all my clothes. I’m pretty sad, but so thankful we all got off safely,” said Houser. “That fire burned all through our home on wheels.”
Tonight’s show will go on as planned.

Photos: Toby Keith Debuts New Mezcal

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BMI recently hosted a Toby Keith press conference announcing his latest project, Wild Shot Mezcal, a 100% green agave spirit. Very few Mezcal products currently exist in the market and Keith plans to capitalize on that with his version of the traditional Mexican drink. Mezcal varies from agave-based tequila in its preparation method and the inclusion of the agave worm in the bottle. It is believed that the worm will bring wondrous experiences and every individual’s will be different.

(L-R): manager T.K. Kimbrell; Shock Ink’s Elaine Schock; Toby Keith; and BMI’s Jody Williams and Clay Bradley. Photo: Ash Newell

Miranda Lambert’s Platinum “House”

Columbia Nashville’s Miranda Lambert recently celebrated the Platinum certification of her Grammy Award winning single, “The House That Built Me.” The song is also nominated for the ACM Single Record of the Year, where Lambert has a total of 7 nominations.

(L-R): Sony Music Nashville CEO/Chairman Gary Overton; Sony Music Nashville VP Sales, Kerri Fox-Metoyer; Lambert; Sony Music Nashville VP Digital Business, Heather McBee; Lambert's manager Marion Kraft and Sony Music Nashville Sr. VP Marketing, Paul Barnabee. Photo: Alan Poizner

CMHOF Honors Wilson with Poets and Prophets Program

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum recently (3/5) honored Norro Wilson in its quarterly Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters series. Throughout the program, which included rare recordings and videos, Wilson discussed his time as a recording artist and his successful songwriting career that includes “The Most Beautiful Girl,” “A Picture of Me (Without You)” and “The Grand Tour.”

(L-R): Dan Penn, Red Lane, Joe Stampley, Norro Wilson, CMHOF Chairman Steve Turner, Dallas Frazier and John D. Loudermilk. Photo: Donn Jones

Edens Edge Make Opry Debut

Big Machine Records’ Edens Edge made its debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage with a warm welcome and introduction from Country superstar—and Summer 2011 tour mate—Brad Paisley this past Saturday night (3/5). The trio performed its debut single, “Amen,” for the sold-out crowd.

(L-R): Brad Paisley; Steve Buchanan, Pres. Grand Ole Opry Group; Dean Berner, Cherrill Green, and Hannah Blaylock of Edens Edge; Pete Fisher, VP/GM Grand Ole Opry; Virginia Davis, B.A.D. Management. Photo: Chris Hollo

UMG Names Lucian Grainge Chairman and CEO

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Lucian Grainge


Universal Music Group has given CEO Lucian Grainge the additional title of Chairman. Today’s announcement was made by UMG’s parent company Vivendi.
Grainge continues to report to Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy. He also continues as a member of the Vivendi management board, the company said in a statement.
This news follow last week’s official departure of former UMG Chairman Doug Morris. Morris was named CEO of competitor Sony Music.
More on Grainge’s background here.