Photos: Warner Patio Party; Jamey Johnson; Joe Diffie

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••••Warner Music Nashville hosted its final Pickin’ On The Patio party of the inaugural season last Thursday. Over 300 attendees were treated to a songwriter round with tunesmiths Jim Collins (“She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”), Tony Arata (“The Dance”) and Marv Green (“Amazed”), whose demos of these smash hits are featured on the recent Warner Bros. Records release Original Songwriter Demos. Also performing were new Atlantic Records signee Ty Stone and the JaneDear girls whose debut single “Wildflower,” is already a Top 20 hit on the MusicRow chart.

Top Photo: Warner Music Nashville President and CEO John Esposito and the JaneDear girls. Bottom Photo (L-R): Esposito, Ty Stone, and Warner Music Nashville Sr VP Brand Management and Sales Peter Strickland.

••••UMG Nashville artist Jamey Johnson will appear on CMT’s Southern Fried Flicks with Hazel Smith Saturday night, November 6.

Hazel Smith and Jamey Johnson on the set of her show.

•••Rounder Records artist Joe Diffie stopped by BMI last week to deliver his new CD Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album. Diffie, known for hits such as “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Third Rock from the Sun,” and “Pickup Man,” collaborated with several bluegrass leaders including The Grascals and Rhonda Vincent on the new album which is available now.

Pictured (l-r): Big Show Music’s Al McManus, BMI’s Jody Williams, Joe Diffie, Big Show Music’s Jeff Lysyczyn, and Rounder Records’ Brad Paul.

Underwood Performs/Writes Narnia Title Track

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Carrie Underwood will be on the silver screen this holiday season, well at least her voice will. Underwood, has co-written the title song, “There’s A Place For Us” from the upcoming film The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 10. A rough cut of the film was shown for Underwood, together with co-writers Hillary Lindsay and David Hodges. Producer Mark Bright was also part of the team.

“I’m a big fan of the ‘Narnia’ books and films,” says Underwood. “I was blown away by the film. People are going to be really excited when they see it. The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader presents an imaginative world that’s also relatable because it’s easy to connect the characters and themes to our own lives,” Underwood continues. “The land of Narnia represents a place where the young heroes truly belong. That inspired me to get together with David and Hillary and write ‘There’s a Place for Us,’ which says that for everybody, there’s a place where you’re powerful and where you belong. The movie and song are about finding that place where you fit in.”

“There’s a Place for Us” will receive major broadcast and online debuts this month, and will be available for purchase exclusively at iTunes on November 16th.

Industry Items: Rondal Richardson, Rob Crosby, Third Coast

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Rondal Richardson

••••Rondal Richardson has been named entertainment industry relations manager for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In this newly created position, Richardson will develop and strengthen relations between VUMC and professionals in music, athletics and performing arts.

Richardson was previously the manager for Wynonna Judd. Throughout his career and with his business, Greater Purpose Productions, he has worked closely with key artists to generate more than $100 million for charities.

Richardson, a graduate of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., serves on the board of directors of the W.O. Smith Community Music School in Nashville and is an active volunteer with many community groups. He is a member of the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music.

••••Songwriter Rob Crosby has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Universal Music/ FireFly Music in Europe. Crosby has had over 65 songs recorded, including such hits as  “Concrete Angel,” by Martina McBride; “She’s More,” by Andy Griggs; and “Holding a Good Hand,” by Lee Greenwood. Crosby will continue to be based in Nashville.

••••New contact info for Third Coast Talent, LLC
P.O. Box 334, Kingston Springs, TN 37082
615-685-3331 (Phone), 615-685-3332 (Fax)
Carrie Moore-Reed, CEO/Agent, [email protected]
Debbie Moore, Entertainment Coordinator, [email protected]
www.ThirdCoastTalent.com

SESAC To Honor Jim Lauderdale

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Jim Lauderdale will receive SESAC's Inspiration Award.

SESAC will honor the top songwriters and publishers in the Country and Americana genres at the SESAC Nashville Music Awards on Monday, November 8, 2010 at the performing rights organization’s Nashville headquarters.

This year, SESAC will be presenting revered artist/songwriter/producer Jim Lauderdale with the “Inspiration Award.” His genre-defying songs have been recorded by George Strait, Patty Loveless, Vince Gill, Mark Chestnutt, Dixie Chicks, Lee Ann Womack and many others. As an artist, he has collaborated with Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, and Ralph Stanley. Lauderdale, a two-time GRAMMY winner, will be on hand to accept the award.

The invitation-only event will offer performances, and salute the most popular songs of the past year with awards for Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year and Publisher of the Year.

ABC’s Robin Roberts Spotlights Nashville

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Reporter Robin Roberts will host an hour-long special Wed., Nov. 3 on ABC, giving viewers a pass into the homes and private lives of country music stars. In The Spotlight With Robin Roberts: All Access Nashville will feature Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes and others. See photos from the special below.

Roberts talks with LeAnn Rimes and boyfriend Eddie Cibrian at Rimes' home in CA, as part of In The Spotlight With Robin Roberts: All Access Nashville. Photo: ABC/Rick Rowell.

Roberts talks to Brad Paisley at his farm in Tennessee. Photo: ABC/Katherine Bomboy.

Robin Roberts talked to Carrie Underwood before her concert in Texas, as part of the show airing Nov. 3. Photo: ABC/Amy Gutierrez.

American Media, Owner of “Country Weekly,” Announces Restructuring

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American Media Inc. today (11/1) announced it will engage in a financial restructuring through a prepackaged Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. The process is expected to begin in about two weeks and last about 60 days.

American Media, Inc. is the publisher of Country Weekly, Star, Shape, Men’s Fitness, The National Enquirer and more.

The reorganization is premised around a debt-for-equity exchange with a group of its bondholders, approximately 80% of which have agreed to support the restructuring.

Chairman, President and CEO of American Media Inc. David Pecker says, “For our advertisers, employees, customers and vendors, this short period will be business as usual, with considerable upside in the future.”

2011 Country Radio Hall of Fame Inductees

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Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® has announced that Dale Carter, Charlie Cook, Dene Hallam, Barry Kent, Bill Payne and Lee Rogers will be inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame.

Dale Carter, Barry Kent and Lee Rogers are the 2011 On-Air Personality inductees. Charlie Cook, Dene Hallam and Bill Payne are the Radio inductees. The class of 2011 will be officially instated at a dinner ceremony on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, at the Nashville Convention Center.

Advance ticket prices for the Hall of Fame ceremony and dinner are $100 for CRS 2011 registrants and $110 for non-registrants.  The $125 on-site ticket price goes into effect after Feb. 15, 2011. Tickets are on sale now at www.CRB.org.

The Country Radio Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony unofficially kicks off Country Radio Seminar each year. CRS 2011 is March 2-4, 2011, at the Nashville Convention Center.

About the 2011 On-Air Personality Inductees:
Dale Carter – Dale Carter’s career in Country radio began in 1979 at WROZ in Evansville, Ind.  He moved to WKDQ during his college days at the University of Southern Indiana, then took a job at WYNG in 1984, becoming the station’s program director at only 21 years old.  The following year, he won the Beasley Group’s Program Director of the Year award.  In 1992, Carter moved to WWYZ in Hartford, Conn., where he programmed the station and worked on-air for the next three years before settling into his current position as PD and morning show co-host at KFKF in Kansas City, Mo.  He has been instrumental in KFKF’s charity efforts with St. Jude’s, raising more than $4 million since 1996.  Carter has previously served on the CRS agenda committee, CRB Board of Directors and served as Chairman of the Country DJ Hall of Fame Committee.  He has been nominated by the CMA eight times, once for Small Market Air Personality of the Year and seven times as Large Market Air Personality of the Year. He is currently a District 1 City Councilman in Blue Springs, Missouri, and the stadium voice for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Barry Kent – A native of West Terre Haute, Ind., Barry began his radio career at WWVR in 1969 working for WPFR before moving to WBOW AM/FM the following year where he became known as “Rockin’ Barry Kent.”  In 1975, he became the station’s program director, and in 1980 WBOW-FM changed call letters to WBOQ and flipped to country. Kent moved to WTHI in 1982, where he served as program director and afternoon DJ.  In the late ‘80s, he switched to the morning show and has remained there ever since.  In 1989, the station bought WWVR, and Kent currently serves as operations manager of WTHI and WWVR, the first station he ever worked at.  WTHI has been a St. Jude station since 1990, raising more than $1 million for the hospital.  Kent hosts all 30 hours of the station’s St. Jude Radiothon.

Lee Rogers – Lee Rogers has worked in the radio business for more than 40 years.  His first job in the Country format came in 1970 at KBAM in Longview, Wash.  His career includes stops at KMPS (Seattle, Wash.), K102 (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.), WQIK (Jacksonville, Fla.) and KCBQ (San Diego, Calif.).  For the last 13 years, Rogers has held the job as operations manager and morning show host at Portland, Oregon’s KUPL.  Combining his Country radio career with his love of live music, Rogers has toured and performed with artists including Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Don Gibson, Keith Whitley, Minnie Pearl, Dwight Yoakam and Charlie Daniels.

About the 2011 Radio Inductees:
Charlie Cook – Charlie Cook began his Country radio career in 1972 at WSDS in Ypsilanti, Mich.  In the ‘70s, Cook spent time at KLAK in Denver, Wheeling’s WWVA and WHN in New York.  He was named “DJ of the Year” by Billboard in 1977.  In 1980, he joined KHJ in Los Angeles, flipping the station to Country.  Cook then went to KLAC before joining McVay Media in 1983 as Sr. VP of Country Programming, where he consulted more than 40 Country stations over the next 12 years.  In 1996, Cook joined Westwood One as VP Programming/Formats, and in 2006 he joined Cumulus as VP Programming for the company’s 61 Country stations.  Los Angeles’ KKGO hired Cook as Sr. Manager of Country Programming in 2008.  Cook has previously served as president of both the ACM and CRB.  In 2010 he was awarded the CRB’s President’s Award.

Dene Hallam – Dene Hallam (1954 – 2009) was one of only two programmers to win Billboard’s Program Director of the Year in two different formats (Country and Top 40).  His Country radio career began as a program director at WFEC in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1977.  Among the numerous stations Hallam programmed were New York City’s first FM Country station, WKHK, as well as WWWW (Detroit), WHN (New York), KKBQ (Houston), KYCY (San Francisco), WKHX (Atlanta) and WDAF (Kansas City).  In 2007, Hallam returned to Atlanta, where he served as program director for the “Moby in the Morning” network until his death in 2009.   While at KKBQ/Houston, Hallam was awarded Billboard’s Program Director of the Year award (Country format) in 1995.

Bill Payne – Bill Payne began his professional radio career in 1951 at only 12 years old, spinning records on “Bill Payne’s Record Shop” on KWHP in Cushing, Okla.   By his early twenties, he had become an FM pioneer in Oklahoma, having built an operable radio station that broadcasted from inside his garage.  In 1977, he purchased Tulsa’s KTFX and changed the format to Country, becoming the first FM Country station in Tulsa.  Today, Payne owns five Country radio stations in Oklahoma, including KEOK/Tahlequah, KTLQ/Tahlequah, KITX/Hugo, KTNT/Eufaula and the relocated KTFX in Warner/Muskogee.  Payne’s KITX has been nominated nine times for Marconi awards and received numerous awards from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.

The Country Radio Hall of Fame is dedicated to the recognition of those individuals who have made significant contributions to the radio industry over a 20-year period, 15 of which must be in the Country format.

Cracker Barrel Offers Smokey Robinson Collection

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Cracker Barrel, known for releasing exclusive product from country and bluegrass artists, is expanding its music collection with a new album by legendary hit-maker Smokey Robinson. Starting today, Nov. 1, he is visiting national media in Nashville and New York to promote Now and Then.

The CD features six live versions of classics, including “Going to a Go-Go,” “I Second That Emotion,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” and “The Tears of a Clown,” recorded in 2010 during various performances. The other six tracks are from his 2009 CD, Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, including “Time Flies,” “Don’t Know Why,” and “Girlfriend.”

Catch Robinson on:
November 2: Mo’Nique Show – BET
November 3: The Today Show – NBC
November 3: What’s The Buzz – ABC.com
November 4: Fox Business – Fox Business Channel
November 4: Strategy Room – foxnews.com
November 5: Wendy Williams Show – Syndicated & BET
November 11: Better TV – Syndicated

Smokey Robinson has logged 37 Top 40 hits in his career and has received a number of significant awards, including a Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award, a Grammy® for “Best R&B Performance, Male,” and the Soul Train Music Award for Career Achievement. He has been inducted into the Songwriter Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has also received the prestigious Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award from ASCAP.

Unveiling of Rascal Flatts Surgery Center at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital

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A sign that bears the group’s name was unveiled, which marks the entrance to the “Rascal Flatts Surgery Center” on the third floor of Children’s Hospital. (L-R): Jay DeMarcus, Joe Don Rooney, Gary LeVox, Dr. John W. Brock III, surgeon in chief of Children’s Hospital, and CEO Luke Gregory. Photo: Joel Dennis

The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt honored Rascal Flatts in the naming of its Pediatric Surgery Center. The band has donated more than $3 million to Children’s Hospital.

The Rascal Flatts Surgery Center features a new specialized radiology suite, offering patients expanded services, and will house all of Children’s Hospital’s existing and new surgical programs. More than 12,700 general and specialized pediatric surgeries are performed each year at the hospital.

Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney were honored during a ceremony at Children’s Hospital, commemorating the band’s sixth consecutive year in visiting the hospital. The superstar group also visited children room-to-room to deliver Halloween treats and hosted a Halloween party for patients and their families, including an intimate live performance. Additionally, a sign that bears the group’s name was unveiled, marking the entrance to the Rascal Flatts Surgery Center on the third floor of Children’s Hospital.

Front Row: Gracie Davis (patient); Jonathan Gitlin, M.D., James C. Overall Professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics; Jacy Hinds (patient). Back Row: Big Machine's Scott Borchetta; Manager Doug Nichols; Gary LeVox; Jay DeMarcus; Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., Vanderbilt University’s Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine; Joe Don Rooney; John W. Brock III, M.D., surgeon in chief of the Children’s Hospital; and Trey Turner.

The Highway Girl Does “Ring of Fire”

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Samantha Murphy

Indie artist and Internet pioneer Samantha Murphy, also known as The Highway Girl, partnered with licensing and royalty service RightsFlow to raise awareness for Limelight, a service that assists artists with clearance for cover songs for release.

Murphy wrote, produced and is featured in the informational video “Ring of Fire,” which explains how the Limelight service assists artists in securing the necessary mechanical licenses and pay royalties to songwriters and publishers.

“I wanted to record a version of this Johnny Cash song for years,” Murphy explains. “Limelight provided the solution for my licensing needs and allowed me to finally record this amazing song.”

CMT will add Murphy’s music video for “Ring of Fire” to their Wide Open Country program this week.  Murphy produced the song, from her forthcoming album Some Assembly Required, with multi-Grammy-winning producer Ray Kennedy (Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle).

“Samantha is the rare combination of accomplished musician, technology advocate and champion for artists and songwriters.  She has produced not only a compelling video that highlights Limelight’s ease-of-use, but has also delivered a memorable version of Johnny Cash’s classic “Ring of Fire.” We are extremely grateful for her talents, passion and vision for this incredible song,” said Michael Kauffman, SVP of Sales & Marketing at Rightsflow.  The video premiered on both the Limelight and Highway Girl websites and is available through various channels and social networks in order to create awareness and education within the musician community.