McGraw No. 1 Hits Package Coming In Nov.

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Album artwork from The Boot. Click for more.

Curb is planning the Nov. 30 release of a Tim McGraw hits package, boasting all the singer’s No. 1’s, starting with his first trip to the top of the charts with the tear-jerker “Don’t Take The Girl.”

Number One Hits will be a double-disc package covering his double-decade long career, reports The Boot. Among the 24 tracks are “Live Like You Were Dying,” “It’s Your Love” (with Faith Hill), “Just to See You Smile,” “Something Like That,” “My Next Thirty Years,” “I Like It, I Love It,” “Real Good Man,” “Where the Green Grass Grows,” and “Southern Voice.”

The Boot reports that the compilation will include two bonus tracks: a dance mix of “Indian Outlaw,” and McGraw’s latest single, “Felt Good on My Lips.”

The superstar’s sales tally has pushed past the 41 million album mark.

Chesney Debuts Tenth Album At No. 1

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Sales stats for Kenny Chesney’s latest album show the superstar continuing his hot streak. Hemingway’s Whiskey moved 183,000 units its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This is more than double the debut week sales of his last project, Greatest Hits II, and also outpaces the first week sales of his 2008 Lucky Old Sun album.

Driven by his No. 1 single, “The Boys of Fall,” Hemingway’s Whiskey is Chesney’s sixth album to debut at the top of the all-genre Billboard 200. It’s his tenth consecutive project to enter at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album Chart.

“My sixth number one album feels like my first one,” said an excited Chesney. “I love great songs and I love my fan base that has helped build all this… I’m proud of the songwriters, proud of [my producer] Buddy Cannon, proud of Renee Bell [EVP A&R Sony Music Nashville], proud of the musicians, and everyone involved in this historic ride we have all been on!!!”

His historic ride includes total album sales of more than 30 million, 20 No. 1 singles and Pollstar Magazine recently cited Chesney as the second best ticket seller of the decade, behind only Dave Matthews.

While Chesney did not tour in 2010, he spent the year working on his Summer in 3D movie which was released in April, and the Boys of Fall football documentary, which will be available at Wal-Mart on November 9.

Sony Music Nashville Chairman and CEO Gary Overton commented, “We’re so proud of Kenny and this is the result of all of the pieces coming together and everyone working as a team. This is a terrific number, and when you factor in a really tough marketplace to that, it’s even more impressive.”

This morning’s @MusicRow contained a detailed look at this week’s SoundScan report, including Chesney’s debut and more. @MR is available only to paid subscribers.

IEBA Wraps 40th Annual Conference

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L-R: Dolly Parton and Jim Morey. Photo: Kevin Kennedy

The International Entertainment Buyers Association concluded its annual conference with loads of showcases and star power. Dolly Parton presented her former manager and IEBA keynote speaker Jim Morey with the Industry Achievement Award to kick off Monday’s (10/4) activities, following a stand up performance by Gloria Gaynor.

Kevin Costner and Modern West put on a great show prior to an informative and introspective Q&A session with Costner and GAC’s Suzanne Alexander. “I was always afraid to follow my first love, which is music,” said Costner. “My wife was listening to some of my music and really pushed me to reengage in my music and it was a great thing she has done for me,” he continued.

Kevin Costner. Photo: Kevin Kennedy

At the evening showcases, CAA hosted Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Tonic and Danny Gokey. BLA (Buddy Lee Attractions) offered Bush Hog, award-winning Australian sister trio The McClymonts, Colt Ford and the crowd stopping Here Come The Mummies.

WME had a crowd lined up down Broadway to get in for Steel Magnolia, Lee Brice, Clay Walker, Chris Young, Jerrod Niemann, James Otto and Randy Houser.

CEG (Conway Entertainment Group) had a late late night slot with Diana DiGarmo, The Cleverlys, and pop rocker Brennin. Other performances included David Bradley, BLA’s Matt Stillwell and Paradise Artist’s Ashley Matte.

Charlie Daniels delivered the conference’s closing keynote address.

Here Come The Mummies, The McClymonts and Kevin Neal. Photo: Kevin Kennedy

Dierks Bentley on CMT, Frankie Ballard in California

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Evan Farmer, Host CMT Top 20 Countdown; Dierks Bentley. Photo: Amber McSwain

Dierks Bentley stopped by the CMT studios recently to catch up with Top 20 Countdown host, Evan Farmer. The two chatted about the success of Bentley’s bluegrass album, Up on the Ridge, as well as his involvement with the “Miles & Music for Kids” celebrity motorcycle ride, which he will host in Nashville October 17. This marks the fifth year Bentley has hosted the event that benefits Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, a Children’s Miracle Network hospital and CMT One Country partner.

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L-R: R.A. Clark, Executive Producer, ACM Awards; Frankie Ballard; Bob Romeo, CEO, Academy of Country Music. Photo: Michel Bourquard

Frankie Ballard with Melissa Etheridge

Reprise Recording artist Frankie Ballard was in Los Angeles, CA last week for a number of events. He appeared at the Hard Rock Café’s Pinktober party to fight breast cancer at the restaurant chain’s new Hollywood location. The event featured a performance by rocker and breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge. In addition, Ballard attended the exclusive launch party for Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock which included a rare performance by Soundgarden, visited the Academy of Country Music and caught Jamey Johnson’s concert at the House of Blues.

Ballard’s debut single “Tell Me You Get Lonely” is already Top 40 on the country singles chart and climbing. He will join Atlantic Records artist Uncle Kracker on his club tour this fall.

Black River Names Gordon Kerr COO

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Black River Entertainment has added Gordon S. Kerr as Chief Operating Officer. The New York state native will oversee all leadership functions and business affairs of Black River Entertainment and its subsidiaries which include Black River Music Group, Black River Publishing, Black River On-Line, Ronnie’s Place Studio and the newly acquired Sound Stage Studios. His background is in corporate and educational administration.

“I am humbled to be a part of such an outstanding organization,” says Kerr. “It is the desire of Black River Entertainment to demonstrate a healthy respect for the past, to recognize and understand the present and then through incredible teamwork and some unbelievable creativity, demonstrate a collective vision for our future!”

Kerr will report directly to Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of Black River’s parent company East Resources, Inc. He plans to divide his time between Nashville and Orchard Park, NY.

Concert Photos: Urban And All-Star Friends Honor Their Roots

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Vince Gill onstage at We're All For The Hall. Photo: Isabel Ross www.izzynashville.com

Keith Urban. Photo: Donn Jones

Keith Urban led a stellar We’re All For The Hall benefit last night (10/5) in Nashville. Joined for most of the show by Vince Gill in his signature Predators jersey, the pair and their A-list band backed a slew of performers ranging from Alison Krauss to John Mayer. The concert was Urban’s second annual fundraiser for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and in accordance with the Hall’s devotion to the heritage of country music, each artist offered one of their own songs as well as a song that inspired them.

Dolly Parton. Photo: Donn Jones

The enthusiastic crowd at the Bridgestone Arena gave multiple standing ovations. Hall of Fame inductees on the bill included Gill, Charley Pride, and Dolly Parton, who was aglow in a sparkly white number while singing “Jolene,” and George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”

Rocker Mayer was a highlight of the evening. Swapping licks with guitar heroes Urban and Gill, he gave a bluesy performance of “I’m Gonna Find Another You” and Dwight Yoakam’s “Ain’t That Lonely Yet.” Mayer, straight off a plane from Milan, said, “I want to thank Mr. Keith Urban for introducing me to the real Nashville. I’ll be anywhere you want me to be.”

John Mayer. Photo: Isabel Ross

The audience seemed to love the tribute performances of classics that aren’t often on today’s radio station playlists. Billy Currington’s vocals were spot-on for “Must Be Doin’ Something Right,” and Kenny Rogers’ “Sweet Music Man.” Miranda Lambert shined on “The House That Built Me” and Merle Haggard’s “The Bottle Let Me Down.” Martina McBride showed off her rafter shaking pipes on “A Broken Wing” and Reba’s “Is There Life Out There.” The arena went nuts for timeless Alan Jackson, and was awed by Alison Krauss’ lilting soprano which filled the room.

Urban opened the show with his own hits, including “Stupid Boy,” and “Somebody Like You.” He chose to play Don Williams’ “I Wouldn’t Want To Live If You Didn’t Love Me,” and brought producer/musician Garth Fundis onstage because he helmed Williams’ original sessions. Among the others in the band were John Hobbs and Paul Franklin.

Alison Krauss and Vince Gill. Photo: Isabel Ross

Check back for more coverage of We’re All For The Hall, as well as Lady Antebellum’s No. 1 party and other events from MusicRow’s own Bobby Karl.

ACM Lifts Lives Through Donations

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ACM Lifting Lives® has donated $800,000 this year to programs that improve lives through the power of music. Among its newest beneficiaries are the Nashville Symphony, Sophia’s Heart Foundation and Stars for Stripes.

Throughout 2010, the organization has supported flood relief in Middle Tennessee, the Diane Holcomb Emergency Relief Fund for music industry professionals in need, and artists’ favorite causes through a monthly “My Cause” web feature.

“These gifts can ultimately be attributed to the support ACM Lifting Lives has received from the music industry and the artist community, who give of their time for ACM endeavors that raise our corpus,” said Erin Spahn, Executive Director of ACM Lifting Lives. “In a year of economic recovery, we are thrilled to be in a position to increase our giving and support these deserving organizations.”

“Our goal has been to grow ACM Lifting Lives through our grant cycle – to expand our reach and help people in need all over the country through the power of music,” said Gayle Holcomb, Chairman, ACM Lifting Lives Board of Directors. “In addition to serving our home bases of Los Angeles and Nashville, we are now funding programs in New York, Austin, Washington, DC, Charleston and even on a Native American reservation in Boulder. The need for healing and learning through music is widespread, and we’ve taken great strides toward meeting that need, nationally.”

Among the 20 beneficiaries are:

• Holston Home in East Tennessee, a favorite of Rodney Atkins who lived there as an infant, prior to being adopted.
• Lollipop Theater Network in Los Angeles, CA and Nashville, TN received funding for music sessions for pediatric patients at the local children’s hospitals.
• Musicians On Call received funding to launch a chapter in Washington D.C. to bring music to the bedsides of military hospital patients.
• Nashville Symphony received funding to provide musical instruments and services for at-risk youth.
• Sophia’s Heart Foundation in Nashville, founded by Danny Gokey in memory of his late wife, received funding for an after-school music and arts program for children.
• Stars for Stripes in Nashville received funding for an overseas celebrity entertainment tour for the troops.
• Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp in Nashville, for the second consecutive year, received scholarships for children and complete funding for a camp that studies Williams Syndrome and provides music therapy through performance and education.

DISClaimer Single Reviews (10/6/10)

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This is a column full of old favorites of mine.

Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen are back, sounding as hale and hearty as ever. Dale Watson returns as well, and he is still a country singer’s country singer. The evergreen Bellamy Brothers remain the groove masters they have always been.

The Disc of the Day belongs to Little Big Town. I dig it that they are following “Little White Church” with something that shows a different sonic side.

Whenever I am asked, “What is your favorite music to listen to?” my answer is always the same. It is old-time music, sounds from before World War II, when folks in recording studios sounded like just plain folks in recording studios. I love the purity and innocence of The Blue Sky Boys, Patsy Montana, Jimmie Rodgers, Vernon Dalhart and their peers of the 1920s and 1930s. And my favorite old-time group of all is The Carter Family.

Having said that, it should come as no surprise that this week’s DisCovery Award is going to The Carter Family III.

BADHORSE/Mississippi Rain
Writer: Robert E. Walden/Adam Grant/Charlie Gilbert; Producer: Larry Blackmon; Publisher: none listed; GMR/Group 7/Pyramid (www.badhorse.tv)
—Washed up on the beach, having drowned in synth strings.

CHRIS HILLMAN & HERB PEDERSEN/If I Could Only Win Your Love
Writer: Ira Louvin/Charlie Louvin; Producer: none listed; Publisher: Sony-ATV Acuff-Rose, BMI; Rounder (track) (www.chrishillman.com)
—Chris is one of the great survivors (The Hillmen, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, Souther-Hillman-Furay, McGuinn-Clark-Hillman, The Desert Rose Band). Herb has collaborated with him for decades, from even before their Desert Rose Band days together. Also, Herb sang on Emmylou Harris’s 1975 revival of this Louvin Brothers gem. It appears anew on At Edwards Barn, a live CD that also brings back several other tunes from this team’s past (”Eight Miles High,” “Sin City,” “Love Reunited,” etc.). The sound is sparkling throughout.

JADI NORRIS/Home Is Where The Heart Is
Writer: Jadi Norris; Producer: Jadi Norris & Otto D’Agnolo; Publisher: Jumpin’ Armadillo, BMI; Jumpin’ Armadillo (track) (www.jadinorris.com)
—Twang rock, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Pile-driving and lotsa fun.

LITTLE BIG TOWN/Kiss Goodbye
Writer: Gordie Sampson/Hillary Lindsay/Steve McEwan; Producer: Wayne Kirkpatrck & Little Big Town; Publisher: No Such Music/Bug/Music of Windswept/Raylene/EMI Blackwood/Birds With Ears/, SOCAN/ASCAP/BMI; Capitol Nashville (track)
—In a word, gorgeous. It begins as a hushed, crystalline ballad then builds to a thundering, harmony-drenched chorus. A sonic marvel.

J.D. NEWBURY/Last One
Writer: J.D. Newbury; Producer: Lorne O’Neil; Publisher: none listed, BMI; Neches River (www.jdnewbury.com)
—A trainwreck. He can just barely sing, and the band members seem to be going off in different directions. The tempo shifting doesn’t help, either.

THE CARTER FAMILY III/Maybelle’s Guitar
Writer: Ron Short; Producer: John Carter Cash; Publisher: Lonesome Ace, BMI; Cash House (track) (www.carterfamilyIII.com)
—The group’s moniker is well earned. A.P. Carter and his wife Sara had a daughter named Janette. She is the mother of this group’s Dale Jett. After the original trio broke up, co-founder Maybelle Carter formed a second Carter Family with her daughters Helen, June and Anita. John Carter Cash is June’s son. He and his gifted wife Laura Cash form the other two thirds of The Carter Family III with cousin Dale. Are you with me so far? With Laura on acoustic guitar, fiddle and vocals and John on acoustic guitar and autoharp, the sound is beautifully folkie. Dale—who plays autoharp and acoustic guitar—sings lead on this track. “Music’s getting cold down on Music Row…They’ve traded music’s soul for a pocket full of gold,” he warbles plaintively while guitars strum “Wildwood Flower.” Charmingly Appalachian.

KELLY KENNING/Nothin’ But Smoke
Writer: Tony Ramey/Kris Bergsnes; Producer: Kelly Kenning & David Chamberlain; Publisher: Sony-ATV/Song Garden, BMI; Davis Music Group (www.kellykenning.com)
—He sings with great warmth, and the ballad is ultra melodic. Get a load of this hook: “There was nothin’ but smoke between me and my old flame.” A winner.

DALE WATSON/Carryin’ On This Way
Writer: none listed; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; E1 Entertainment(track)
—I am forever a fan. This guy remains one of our very finest neo honky-tonk vocalists. On this breezy outing, Mr. Watson manages to channel both Haggard and Glen Campbell. He phrases so beautifully that you hang on every word. Dazzling guitar and fiddle solos are the icing on the cake.

STONEHONEY/Two Years Down
Writer: Davis/Hurley; Producer: Stonehoney & Fred Remmert; Publisher: none listed, ASCAP/BMI; Music Road (track) (www.stonehoney.com)
—Solid country-rock, played and sung by real pros. This spirited song kicks off a CD called The Cedar Creek Sessions. It is a measure of the band’s ability that the entire record was recorded live in the studio with “no overdubs or studio tricks.” Righteous.

THE BELLAMY BROTHERS/Back In The Day
Writer: David Bellamy; Producer: David Bellamy, Howard Bellamy & Randy Heibert; Publisher: Bellamy Brothers, ASCAP; Bellamy Brothers (www.bellamybrothers.com)
—As you might expect, this has a relentlessly catchy rhythmic groove, which is what these guys have always specialized in. It chugs along like a Z.Z. Top classic while the brothers sing of French kissing in the back seat of an old Chevy and other such nostalgia.

Troy Olsen EP Out Today

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EMI Records Nashville’s flagship artist Troy Olsen releases his self-titled 4-song EP today (10/5). In addition to his current single, “Good Hands,” the Troy Olsen EP features “Summer Thing,” “Tumbleweed” and “Ghost Town Train.”

The Arizona native makes his debut next Wednesday, October 13 on the 3rd Annual Capitol Street Party in Nashville, TN alongside his labelmates Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Jennette McCurdy and Walker Hayes.

Fans have the opportunity to learn more about Olsen in his own webisode series “Livin’ The Dream with Troy Olsen” on GACTV.com. He talks about how he discovered music, how he accidentally discovered he could produce and a multitude of other stories of his path to living his dreams of making music for a living.

Big 98 Guitar-B-Que Tomorrow, More Events

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•••The Big 98 Guitar-B-Que happens tomorrow night (10/6) in front of Losers Bar at the end of Music Row. The free end-of-summer bash will shut down Division St. for performances by Randy Rogers Band, Thompson Square, David Nail, Chris Young, Jake Owen and Uncle Kracker.

•••Also tomorrow, SOLID presents Writers in the Round at the Bluebird Cafe with Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Phil O’Donnell, and Cary Barlowe. The 9 PM show benefits Sweet Sleep – Haiti. Reservations at www.bluebirdcafe.com.

•••Join NSAI for a Porch Party at their offices on Tuesday, Oct. 26, beginning at 4 PM. Refreshments will be served. Feel free to bring a friend. To attend, please RSVP to Debi Cochran at debi@nashvillesongwriters.com or 615-256-3354.

•••Songwriter/author Marshall Chapman will celebrate the release of her new book, They Came to Nashville (Vanderbilt University Press/Country Music Foundation Press), with a special performance and interview at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum on Saturday, October 30. The book features Chapman’s conversations with fifteen artist-songwriters, including Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Miranda Lambert, about their first forays to Music City. The program, which will take place at 1:30 p.m. in the Museum’s Ford Theater, is included with Museum admission and free to Museum members. It will also be streamed live on www.countrymusichalloffame.org.

•••Blackhawk will headline the Tricky Hoedown on Oct. 16 benefitting the TJ Martell Foundation for cancer and AIDS research. The party will be about 10 miles from downtown Nashville on Cato Road. General admission tickets are $25, and VIP tickets are $60. www.trickyhoedown.com.

•••Capitol Records Nashville artist and star of Nickelodeon’s iCarly Jennette McCurdy is set to perform at the inaugural Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin Robbins Family Day on Oct. 31 from 1-4 PM. The exciting indoor carnival will be fun for kids of all ages and will take place at Belmont University’s Curb Event Center. Presented by Parallel Entertainment Los Angeles, the event benefits the T.J. Martell Foundation. General admission is $15.00 per person or $50.00 for a family of four, and children under the age of three are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased online at www.NashvilleFamilyDay.com.