Rocket Club Completes Nashville Showcase Trifecta

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Minneapolis-based country act, Rocket Club, will conclude its three-night run of Nashville showcases tonight (7/21) with a 6:00 PM performance at 12th & Porter. The band’s current single, “One Thing Beautiful,” debuted at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart last week and climbed to No. 57 this week without the support of record label promotion. Rocket Club played their first Nashville showcase Monday night at The Rutledge, followed by a Tuesday night acoustic performance at 3rd & Lindsley.

(l to r): Spielberg Consulting’s Neal Spielberg, CMT’s Jay Frank, Rocket Club members Brian Kroening, Chris Hawkey, Don Smithmier, CMT’s Stephen Linn, Rocket Club members Matt Kirkwold, Al Bergstrom and Rocket Club manager Chris Palmer after the band's Monday night showcase at The Rutledge.

BigChampagne Unveils “Ultimate Chart”

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BigChampagne Media Measurement has announced the release of the Ultimate Chart (www.ultimatechart.com), a ranked list of the week’s most popular artists and songs. Integrating data from categories including Song and Album Sales, Radio Airplay, Online Audio and Video Plays, and Fans/Friends/Followers, the Ultimate Chart is the first and only chart that looks at all of the ways in which music is popular, online and off. The first published Ultimate Chart is the Ultimate 100, available now.

The news was broken yesterday (7/20) at the New Music Seminar, currently underway in New York, during the opening remarks conversation between NMS Founder Tom Silverman and BigChampagne CEO Eric Garland. 

BigChampagne’s partners and sources for the Ultimate Chart include retailers, online and traditional broadcasters (radio and television), major content companies, subscription services, social networks and other venues where fans demonstrate their passion for music: Yahoo!Music, Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, VEVO, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, MTV, Clear Channel, MediaBase, AOL, Napster, Microsoft Zune, We Are Hunted, LastFM and many more.

“The explosive popularity of music in the digital age has given us access to a quality of information about the connection between artists and fans previously unimagined,” said Garland. “The internet launched a thousand charts. But the marketplace is asking, ultimately, what does it all mean? There has been no satisfying answer, until now. The Ultimate Chart examines music sales and radio airplay and the access to music, and socializing around music, that are growing much faster. We’re rewriting the top of the charts for the new music business and enlisting the help of its chief architects to surface the most popular music that the charts have overlooked.”

“The evolution of the Ultimate Chart will revolutionize the way artists and labels measure the fan/artist relationship,” Silverman said. “This information will eventually allow artist and their representatives to maximize the monetization of that relationship.”

“This chart is long overdue and represents for the first time an 
accurate view of where popular music is today,” said Tamara Conniff, Founder/Editor of The Comet and former Billboard Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher. “Music is not just about sales, it’s about interaction—listening, watching, playlisting, evangelizing and socializing. The Comet (TheComet.com) will be publishing the Ultimate Chart and using BigChampagne’s data for analysis, prediction, and consumer trends.”

BigChampagne will also develop the Ultimate Chart for independent and DIY artists and has partnered with a who’s-who of top marketing and distribution partners, including Tunecore, CDBaby, Disc Makers, MySpace Music, Reverb Nation, Topspin, Nimbit and many more to ensure eligibility for all artists and to produce unprecedented insight into the independent music world.

“We’re examining the fastest-growing aspect of the music business for which there has not been a standard measure, by the numbers,” Garland said. “Every artist can be counted, and every artist will be counted.”

The Ultimate Chart is one of the new features of BigChampagne’s ground-breaking business intelligence dashboard, BC Dash Ultimate, and will be widely syndicated across BigChampagne’s media and press partners. The Ultimate Chart is a ranked list of the week’s most popular artists and songs.

DISClaimer Single Reviews (7/21/10)

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Is it hot enough for you?

With temperatures on Music Row soaring into the upper 90s this week, I’m taking every opportunity to stay here at my desk. Including penning today’s roundup of new country sounds.

Luke Bryan is always eager to please. And he certainly does that this week with his irresistible “Someone Else Calling You Baby.” It earns him our Disc of the Day award.

With “Georgia Clay,” Josh Kelley coasts to an easy win as the DisCovery Award winner. I can’t wait to hear the rest of his project. If you didn’t get the chance to see him, as well as Randy Montana, opening shows on the last Lady Antebellum tour, seek both of them out in other settings as soon as you can. You won’t be disappointed.

JASON STURGEON/Simple Life
Writer: Jason Sturgeon/Dane Clark; Producer: Dane Clark & Jason Sturgeon; Publisher: none listed; Toolpusher (track)
—His vocal is super expressive—I really like the resonance and individuality in his phrasing. The song could have easily fallen into a ditch of cliches, given its small-town theme we have heard so often before. But he treats the topic with imagination, and the weaving melody and clear production values are added pluses.

CLAY WALKER/Where Do I Go From You
Writer: Don Cook/Clint Daniels/Ryan Tyndell; Producer: Keith Stegall; Publisher: Sony-ATV Tree/Katy’s Own/Sony-ATV Acuff-Rose, BMI; Curb (track)
—The follow-up to “She Won’t Be Lonely Long” has a rocking, swampy groove. He handles the lickety-split verbal pace with aplomb, even managing to sneak in the occasional improvised melodic lick. And although it is sung in his highest register, it never sounds forced. A winner.

JONALEE WHITE/Naked As Fools
Writer: Kay Harris/Molly Pauken/Jonalee White; Producer: James “Bubba” Hudson; Publisher: Harken/Smile Pretty, BMI/SESAC; Lick (track) (www.jonaleewhite.com)
—Softly jaunty. Pleasantly easy-going. Gently listenable.

LUKE BRYAN/Someone Else Calling You Baby
Writer: Luke Bryan/Jeff Stevens; Producer: Jeff Stevens; Publisher: Murrah/Bug/Katy Lou/Big Loud Bucks, BMI; Capitol Nashville (track)
—This one got my heart pumping before he ever uttered a note. The driving percussion and insistent guitar riff grabbed my ears at once. By the time he got to the hooks-a-plenty first chorus, I was bobbing my head and totally lost in this. The lyric might be a pang of heartbreak, but the record is a groovathon.

ROB BAIRD/Could Have Been My Baby
Writer: Rob Baird; Producer: none listed; Publisher: Tiltawhirl/Carnival, BMI; Carnival (track) (www.robbairdmusic.com)
—Squalling out on the open prairie. His strangled, semi-soulful vocal is buried too deep in the mix, and it takes forever to get to the chorus hook.

RANDY MONTANA/Tuesday’s Gone
Writer: Ronnie Van Zant/Allen Collins; Producer: Jay Joyce; Publisher: none listed; Hip-O/UMG (track)
—This is doubtless an emotional month for Randy Montana. On July 1, Joshua Ragsdale—his cowriter on his single “Ain’t Much Left of Loving You”—died following a protracted illness. On Friday, Randy stages his debut on the Grand Ole Opry. Yesterday, his standout track was part of the release of Sweet Home Alabama: The Country Music Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd. This Wal-Mart exclusive also features fellow Young Turks such as Randy Houser ( “Simple Man”), Shooter Jennings ( “Call Me the Breeze”), the Eli Young Band ( “Gimme Three Steps”), Eric Church, Uncle Kracker and Jamey Johnson. But Mr. Montana’s treatment of this oft-overlooked ballad is one of the set’s most majestic tracks.

DAN SHAFER/False Love
Writer: James L. Herman/Jerry Vandiver/George McClure; Producer: George McClure; Publisher: Trowbridge/North Fork, BMI/ASCAP; JIP (www.jiprecords.com)
—The track rolls right along, and the song is sturdy. But his pop-sounding vocal lacks country grit and believability.

JOSH KELLEY/Georgia Clay
Writer: none listed; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; MCA Nashville
—Josh is the brother of Lady A’s Charles Kelley. He formerly recorded in a pop/rock vein. But this soaring-yet-earthy, summer-romance tune places him squarely in the country mainstream. He held me on every word, and the dynamics in the production tickled my ears from start to finale. Play it again.

ANDY VELO/Hank it Up
Writer: Charlie Monk/Rick Huckaby; Producer: Ted Hewitt; Publisher: Carlie Monk/13th Avenue/Head Coach, BMI; LoozLip (CDX) (678-997-5692)
—“Hank,” in this case, refers more to Bocephus than to his honky-tonking daddy. Mr. Velo bellows this as a thumping rocker, not as the lovesick blues. Muscular, sweaty and assertive, to say the least.

THE BELLAMY BROTHERS/Jalapenos
Writer: David Bellamy; Producer: David Bellamy, Howard Bellamy & Randy Hebert; Publisher: Bellamy Brothers Music, ASCAP; Bellamy Bros. (CDX) (www.bellamybrothers.com)
—It says here that this is “banned by radio.” Gee could it be that, “burn your ass tomorrow” line? Or the one about the little blue pill making you “too erect” perhaps? Actually, this is a boatload of fun. And, as usual, soaked in hypnotic Bellamy rhythm.

End In Sight For Wayne’s 1700 Mile Walk

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Some doubted, but the faithful have been rewarded as Jimmy Wayne’s 1,700 mile walk from Nashville to Phoenix, Arizona draws close to a successful completion. The country artist traveled through one of the coldest winters and hottest summers on record visiting states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico along his pathway.

Wayne’s Meet Me Halfway campaign is designed to raise awareness of children who age out of the foster care system, and without any sort of support, can end up homeless. All along his 1700 mile path, Wayne has talked to individuals, media, and politicians to make them aware of this situation and discuss possible solutions. In May he was named National Celebrity Spokesperson of FosterClub of America, the only organization representing youth in foster care.

Wayne is now expected to reach finish his trek at month’s end. Plans are now being set for Wayne and his band to perform a July 31 free evening concert at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill. The next morning, Aug. 1, the artist will invite supporters to join him in walking the last mile of MMH to Homebase Youth Services, his final destination.

Fontanel Hosts “Songwriters Sing For Nashville”

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The inaugural event at Nashville’s newest music venue, the Woods at Fontanel, was christened by some of Nashville’s most influential songwriters Saturday night (7/10) during Songwriters Sing for Nashville. Patrons gathered to hear music directly from the men and women who created songs recorded by some of the biggest names in music history.

The day kicked off with Marc Beeson, Jaron Boyer, Chuck Cannon, Danny Flowers, James House, Kendell Marvel, Danny Myrick, James Slater and Lari White performing their hits on the Gibson Tunesmith Stage in the Farm House Restaurant at Fontanel. The music transitioned to The Woods outdoor music venue late in the afternoon, where 12 members of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame delighted the audience with their own renditions of multi-genre hits spanning six decades. Matraca Berg, Kye Fleming, Dallas Frazier, Dickey Lee, Dennis Morgan, Hugh Prestwood, Mark D. Sanders, Don Wayne, Roger Murrah, Jim Weatherly, Mike Reid and Freddy Weller took turns individually or in small groups telling stories behind songs they wrote and then performing those songs as they were originally written. Highlights included Weatherly’s “Midnight Train To Georgia” and “You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” which were made famous by Gladys Knight and the Pips. Murrah sang his version of “We’re In This Love Together,” which was recorded by Al Jarreau, and Dallas Frazier had the crowd singing along to “Elvira.” Mike Reid delighted the audience with Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” and Matraca Berg wrapped up the evening by dedicating “Strawberry Wine” to the memory of Fred Carter, Jr., father of Deana Carter, who passed away Saturday morning.

During the evening, Walter Hunt, Nashville Metropolitan Councilman for the 3rd District, read a proclamation thanking the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame members for giving their time, talents and resources to help others in times of crisis. He then presented each songwriter an individual copy of the proclamation.

“On behalf of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation Board of Directors, I express heartfelt gratitude to all of the performing writers and to every single person behind the scenes who worked so hard to make the Songwriters Sing For Nashville event the success it was this past Saturday,” said Murrah, who also serves as Board Chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation.

Songwriters Sing for Nashville was presented by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Anchor Trailways & Tours. The intimate outdoor music venue is located on the property of the Fontanel Mansion, which along with the Farm House Restaurant and the Trails at Fontanel, opened to the public last month.

Last month, Anchor Trailways & Tours presented a check in the amount of $10,000 to get the flood relief fund started so people in need could begin to apply and get much needed help quickly. Anchor Trailways & Tours, the exclusive transportation partner for Fontanel, also donated their services on the day of the concert, and receipts from Saturday’s tours of the Fontanel Mansion were donated to the cause.

Applications for flood relief funds will be available at most First Tennessee Banks in the Nashville area, and donations can still be made at any First Tennessee location. The certified public accounting firm of Hoskins and Company, Harvey Hoskins, CEO, will assess the needs and forward the application to First Tennessee Bank for payment on a case-by-case basis. The intention of the fund is to assist families affected by the May floods with short-term bills including, but not limited to, mortgage and rent payments, utility bills, etc.

(Seated l-r)): Fontanel co-owners Marc Oswald and Dale Morris; (Standing l-r): Hugh Prestwood, Roger Murrah, Mike Reid, Dickey Lee, Mark D. Sanders, Don Wayne, Jim Weatherly, Dallas Frazier, Dennis Morgan, Kye Fleming. (Not pictured, Matraca Berg, Freddy Weller.)

“All for the Hall” Fundraiser Returns to LA

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The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s All for the Hall fundraiser will return to Los Angeles for a second consecutive year. The event, which will take place on Thursday, September 23 at Club Nokia, will again follow a “guitar pull” format featuring performances by Country Music Hall of Fame members Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson, superstar Taylor Swift, and a very special fourth chair that must remain anonymous.

The evening offers a unique opportunity to see these acclaimed singer-songwriters interact with one another as they take turns swapping songs, stories and personal recollections. The “guitar pull” is a Nashville specialty; it originated in the homes of Nashville songwriters who gathered to try out new compositions for their peers. Nashville’s most storied guitar pulls were hosted by Johnny and June Carter Cash. The hallmarks of a great guitar pull are spontaneity and camaraderie.

The Museum launched All for the Hall, its first-ever non-bricks-and-mortar fundraising campaign, in 2005. The campaign addresses the Museum’s need for long-term financial security and will provide a safety net for the institution and its work. This is the fourth year the Museum has taken its “annual giving” event on the road, hosting previous All for the Hall events in New York in 2007 and 2008 and in Los Angeles in 2009.

“This year especially, the event will provide much needed support as Nashville works to recover from the devastating impact of a once-every-500-years flood,” said Director Kyle Young. “While our exhibits and collections are all on upper floors and never in danger, flood waters did reach ‘five feet high and rising’ in our ground-floor Ford Theater.”

Last year’s event, also held at Club Nokia, featured performances by Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam and Melissa Etheridge; special guests included Chris Isaak, who also acted as host, Kara DioGuardi and Michael McDonald.

“Our All for the Hall Los Angeles debut gave us an opportunity to focus on West Coast country music history and remind our guests that these artists and executives and their songs are a part of the story we both preserve and teach at the Museum,” said Young. “By design, guitar-pull content is unplanned and unrehearsed. It was very exciting to see West Coast country spontaneously become the theme of the 2009 performances, which included musical salutes to Gram Parsons, Buck Owens and Cindy Walker, among others. We are grateful for our warm welcome last year and look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones in September.”

Describing last year’s event, Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Any visitor to the [Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum] realizes that music also can take the form of a joke, a nursery rhyme, a prayer, a come-on or a campfire tale…Harris, Yoakam, Melissa Etheridge and Vince Gill touched upon all those forms, showing the flexibility of ‘country’ as they did so…” (10/2/09).

Guests at the 2009 event included legendary producer (and former Elvis Presley and Emmylou Harris pianist) Tony Brown; recording artist and songwriter Sarah Buxton; Desperate Housewives actor James Denton; eclectic singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones; renowned western tailor Manuel; actress/writer/director Marianna Palka; actress Mary Kay Place, star of television’s Big Love; and actor Jason Ritter, son of the late actor John Ritter and grandson of Country Music Hall of Fame member Tex Ritter.

All for the Hall Los Angeles patrons are offered their choice of seating for 10 for $10,000, or seating for five for $5,000. Individual tickets are available at $1000 per seat. A cocktail reception and dinner will precede the guitar pull. To purchase tickets or for more information, patrons may contact Holly Lane at hlane@countrymusichalloffame.org or telephone (615) 416-2035 or (800) 852-6437.

All for the Hall Los Angeles is chaired by AEG Live Chairman Tim Leiweke and produced by CAA’s Rod Essig and Vector Management’s Ken Levitan. The event is made possible by the generosity of AEG Live and Club Nokia LA Live. The 2010 host committee for All for the Hall Los Angeles includes Orly Adelson (dick clark productions), Thomas Carroll (SunTrust Bank), Jay Faires (Lionsgate), John Frankenheimer (Loeb & Loeb LLP), Gary Haber (Haber Corporation), Henry Juszkiewicz (Gibson Guitar Corporation), Levitan, Cameron Strang (New West Records) and Jody Williams (BMI).

All for the Hall Los Angeles’s supporting sponsor is Greenberg Traurig LLP.

Jerrod Niemann Debuts at No. 1

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Sea Gayle/Arista Nashville artist Jerrod Niemann has the No. 1 country album in the nation as Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury tallies first-week sales approaching 34,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, breaking Lady Antebellum’s six-month streak atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.

Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury is only the second country album to debut at No. 1 this year and the first by a male country artist during that time. One of only three albums in 2010 to earn the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, the album also scores an impressive debut on the all-genre Billboard 200 album sales chart, where it enters at No. 7.

While the hit single “Lover, Lover” is climbing the country radio charts, it’s the whole of Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury that’s impressing fans, as well as media.

The New York Times cheers, “In sum, Mr. Niemann is a gentleman outlaw, but mostly he’s a history-minded technician on this thoughtful, magnetic record,” while USA Today declares, “You’ve got to love a country album that opens with a movie-trailer spoof and a ballad comparing one’s lover to cocaine.  Niemann’s a freewheeling honky-tonker … and an intelligent singer/songwriter with a penchant for cornball humor.”

Niemann is also in esteemed company as one of only seven male artists on this week’s Billboard Top Country Albums chart to have hit No. 1 with their current releases, including Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, George Strait, Toby Keith, and Tim McGraw.

Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury features eight skits alongside a dozen songs, ten of which were written or co-written by Niemann. A throwback to the days of the album as musical journey, Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury was crafted as a start-to-finish listening experience.

This Friday (6/23) Niemann will appear on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, as well as on the new episode of CMT Insider, premiering this Saturday (6/24). The singer is also the focus of a feature in the new issue of Country Weekly, on sale now.

Following a packed schedule of upcoming appearances, Niemann will hit the road with headliner Gary Allan and Randy Houser on Allan’s Get Off on the Pain tour in September.

For more information on upcoming appearances visit www.JerrodNiemannOfficial.com.

Hall of Fame Honors Tammy Wynette

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The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will honor one of American music’s most indelible stars, Tammy Wynette, in Tammy Wynette: First Lady of Country Music, Presented by Great American Country Television Network, a biographical exhibit opening Friday, August 20 for a 10-month run in the Museum’s East Gallery. The exhibit will run through June 12, 2011.

Opening weekend festivities will include an exhibit introduction and talk by a Museum curator; a panel discussion featuring friends and associates of Wynette and illustrated with photos, film footage and recordings from the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive; and a screening of the 1987 documentary Stand by Your Dream.

“Tammy Wynette was a true steel magnolia, a daughter of the South whose ladylike appearance and slight physical stature belied the magnitude of her grit, determination and talent,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “Throughout her career, her personal and professional lives were indistinguishably interwoven, resulting in achingly honest recordings and performances to which fans could relate. She helped redefine what it means to be a female country singer. Her death at age 55 came far too soon, but Tammy left behind a musical canon that is among the strongest and most influential in American music history.

“Accordingly, we are thrilled to have Faith Hill play a prominent role in our exhibit,” Young continued. “Faith, who herself is a superstar and role model for many of her contemporaries, sat down with our curators for an exclusive on-camera interview and talked at length about Tammy’s influence. The resulting video, which is woven throughout the exhibit’s narrative, provides an artist’s unique context and insight. We are grateful to Tammy’s family and friends for sharing their mementos and memories and allowing us to tell this extraordinary story.”

Notable artifacts featured in the exhibit include the following:

* Several of Wynette’s childhood possessions, including a petite hand-painted wooden chair with rush seat; and an ecru embroidered cotton and lace baby bonnet

* Recipe box and numerous recipes in Wynette’s own hand, including directions for fried green tomatoes and ice box lemon pie, which Tammy noted as “my children’s favorite”

* A lead-crystal vase filled with cotton hand-picked by Wynette, which was long a fixture on the singer’s coffee table

* A black, leather-bound appointment book for 1977, given to Wynette by Billy Sherrill, which details her activities during the year. The journal-like entries note both career events and personal, sometimes humorous anecdotes, e.g. “August 10, 1977 – Maxine & Cliff went to Gov. mansion with us. Gov. Blanton took me to kitchen and made me drink 8 oz. glass of cabbage juice.”

* A peek into Wynette’s glam closet will feature an array of elaborate beaded gowns, many created by Wynette’s long-time designer, Jeff Billings, as well as casual and dressy designer separates, including a teal and russet brocade jacket designed by Oscar de la Renta, embellished with faux leopard fur, embroidery and bold enamel buttons.

* Numerous awards, including Wynette’s 1968-70 Country Music Association awards for Female Vocalist of the Year; her 1967 and 1969 Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy awards (for “I Don’t Wanna Play House” and “Stand by Your Man,” respectively); and her 2000 Academy of Country Music Pioneer Award

Brumley Publishing Signs Jill King

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Artist/songwriter Jill King has signed an exclusive publishing deal with the Brumley Music Group. King, who enjoyed indie success with her 2003 single, “One Mississippi,” is currently touring in support of her latest release, Rain on Fire.

(standing l-r) John Leal of Brace Management, BMI’s Bradley Collins, and Terence Burke, Creative Manager, Brumley Music Group. (seated l-r) Brumley Music President Bob Brumley, King, and Dave Durocher, VP Brumley Music Group.

Swift’s “Fearless” Follow-Up Coming Oct. 25

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Taylor Swift’s third studio album Speak Now will be released Oct. 25 via Big Machine. Fans will get the first taste of the project when lead single “Mine” debuts on August 16. The superstar revealed these details and more during a live web chat this afternoon (7/20).

Known for writing or co-writing her own material, Swift said she spent about two years writing for the new project, basically since the release of Fearless. The title, she said, “pertains to the album as a concept, and as an entire theme of the record, more than I can even tell you.”

“Thankfully, in the past two years I’ve experienced a lot of things that I’ve been dying to write about,” she explained. “A lot of things that I’ve wanted to say in the moment that I didn’t… Track by track, each song is a different confession to a different person.”

Starting on August 20th, Speak Now will be available for special pre-sale on the site www.SpeakNow13.com.

Swift reunited with longtime producer Nathan Chapman for the album.