GAC’s Headline Country added a new component to coverage of Sunday’s ACM Awards. Show host Storme Warren was on the orange carpet providing live updates via the online social network, Twitter. Additionally, Warren plucked a fan from the bleachers to the orange carpet to file the Twitter updates visible at www.twitter.com/headlinecountry.
Warner Bros. artist John Rich and Crown Royal Canadian Whisky are teaming up to offer one winner a “special mentorship experience.” The For Every King, A Mentor contest includes a trip for two to Nashville for a behind-the-scenes look into Rich’s performing, producing and songwriting career; a tour of the mansion where his CMT show Gone Country is filmed and a personally-signed guitar. Rich will also conduct a tour of some of his favorite Nashville hangouts. Fans of legal drinking age can enter the contest by visiting www.CrownRoyal.com and explaining their aspiration for being mentored by Rich. “Crown Royal is all about getting people together and celebrating responsibly, and that’s how I like to enjoy myself with my friends and family,” Rich said.
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer has introduced legislation designed to crack down on ticket resellers and ensure that fans get the opportunity to obtain concert tickets at face price. The legislation would give fans two days to buy tickets before they became available to ticket resellers to sell on the secondary market. The legislation also requires resellers to obtain a federal registration number from the FTC, and post that number in conjunction with all ticket re-sales on brokerage websites and through other means. According to Schumer, Ticketmaster supports the proposed legislation and he plans to meet with Ticketmaster to draft a formal code of conduct for ticket reselling. The legislation will be introduced in two weeks when the Senate reconvenes.
“I am very happy to support Sen. Schumer’s thoughtful proposal and leadership on this issue,” says Irving Azoff, CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. “Staggering the resale process to commence 48 hours after an on-sale is a very important step in reforming the process and bringing transparency to the on-sale process.”
Frank Oakley, a well-liked music executive who worked with country artists including Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves, Faron Young and Willie Nelson, died on April 2. He was 83. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Oakley was a veteran of WWII and a former police officer. His country music career began in 1961, when he was hired by the Mary Carter Paint Company, charged with attracting country stars for the company’s advertising. In 1979, Oakley and his wife Jeanie went to work for Nelson, opening the Willie Nelson and Family General Store, which they ran for the next 30 years. He chronicled his life in country music in a recent book, The Nashville Sidekick. Oakley was was a member of AFTRA and R.O.P.E.
Big Kenny Alphin is joining forces with Sheryl Crow, Kathy Mattea and Emmylou Harris to launch a new campaign, Music Saves Mountains, to halt mountaintop removal coal mining in Tennessee and across Appalachia. The musicians are urging people to contact Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and encourage him to support the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act which would prohibit mountaintop coal mining within 100 feet of streams and rivers. The act would also protect mountains over 2,000 feet high in Tennessee. “This campaign was founded out of the respect musicians — and especially people from Appalachia — have for our beloved mountains,” Alphin said.
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BNA artist Craig Morgan is no stranger to the military, having served 10 years of active duty in the Army with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and delivered countless performances for US troops at home and abroad. Now, Morgan has teamed with the US military on a special audio message for Easter. By utilizing his latest single, “God Must Really Love Me,” several members of the military will be sending Easter greetings to their families and friends at home. The song, with its positive message of thanks, will serve as an audio backdrop for the Easter greetings. Morgan was honored with the 2006 USO Merit Award for his work with the military, joining the likes of Steven Spielberg, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bob Hope as a recipient.
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Great American Country (GAC) will debut Backstory, a biographical documentary series devoted to the lives of country music’s top stars, on Monday, April 6 at 7:00 PM/CT. The premiere episode will feature multi-platinum RCA artist Sara Evans. The show will feature an in-depth interview with the singer and those closest to her including her mother, her husband, her label head, her co-writers and her close friend, Sheryl Crow. Future episodes of Backstory are currently being shot, and the next artist featured will be Darius Rucker.
Founders of CMT Camp Nashville, the first-ever multi-artist fantasy camp for country music, have reduced the $7999 price of the camp by nearly 40% for anyone who registers before April 15. The $1000 spouse packages will be discounted by 50%. CMT Camp Nashville will provide campers with five days in the role of a country superstar where they’ll have the opportunity to learn, hang and perform with country stars including John Rich, Ronnie Milsap, Darryl Worley, Andy Griggs, Bo Bice, Rhett Akins, Deana Carter, Jessica Harp and Henry Paul and industry leaders such as world-renowned vocal/image coach Renee Grant Williams. The camp will culminate with a Final Showdown, where bands will compete in concert at the Wildhorse Saloon on Memorial Day (5/25). The competitors will share the stage with Phil Vassar and Lady Antebellum. One Camp Experience will be sold to the highest bidder on CMTauctions.com to fund tornado relief for Boys & Girls Club of Rutherford County.
Country Music Hall of Fame member Charley Pride showed up in the town of Leduc in Alberta, Canada on Thursday (4/2), to take a stand against online ticket scalping and surprise a dedicated fan in the process. Determined to catch Pride’s show at the Jubilee Auditorium in nearby Edmonton, longtime fan Jacqueline Sharp ended up on a resale ticket site and paid $1,210.71 for a pair of seats to the June 20 show. Tickets are $58.50 and $67.50 plus service charges at Ticketmaster. Pride, who lives in Dallas, learned about Sharp’s situation when her son sent an e-mail to his agent. Amid a flock of cameras and journalists, Pride surprised Sharp at the City Centre Mall in Leduc, where she works. The singer handed her $933 US — or the equivalent of what she paid — and two floor seats to his Edmonton concert. Sharp cried when she hugged Pride. “I don’t think it’s right,” Pride said. “I wouldn’t like paying that much money to see myself.”
(Updated 4/6/09) The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville’s Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts and the Tennessee Bar Association Sports & Entertainment Law Section are hosting a Nashville Entertainment Law Clinic in the SunTrust Community Room at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum on Saturday April 18, 9:00 AM-1:00 PM. At the clinic, songwriters are welcome to sign up for a 30-minute slot to receive pro-bono legal advice from entertainment lawyers, who will answer questions about intellectual property matters, including copyrights, trademarks, licensing and related law issues. Attendees must sign up for a time slot by noon on Friday, Apr. 17 by calling the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville at (615)743-3055 or by sending a request to info@tnvla.org or mbyrd@abcnashville.org .
Knoxville-based AC Entertainment, co-creator of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, has announced that it has acquired Nashville-based concert promotion company Great Big Shows. The new partnership will strengthen AC Entertainment’s Nashville presence and expand its resources for event creation, management and production nationwide. The relationship between the two entertainment companies began when Rick Whetsel, owner of Great Big Shows, approached AC Entertainment founder Ashley Capps about booking a major event for him in Washington D.C. In turn, Capps enlisted Great Big Shows to handle production management for one of his events. Since then the two companies have collaborated on both big and small events. The first major Nashville event to be announced under the new venture is a co-headliner concert featuring the Allman Brothers Band and Widespread Panic at Riverfront Park on October 14, 2009. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 17. Visit www.acentertainment.com for more information.
Lyric Street kingpins Rascal Flatts will release their sixth studio album, Unstoppable on Tuesday (4/7), two days after their ACM Awards appearance, and they’re not stopping there. The hitmaking trio will appear on NBC’s Today Show on April 7, followed by guest spots on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 13 and The Late Show with David Letterman on April 16. Prior to all these performances the band will attend the Hannah Montana: The Movie world premiere this Thursday (4/2), at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Rascal Flatts makes a cameo appearance in the movie performing their songs “Bless The Broken Road” and “Backwards. Unstoppable is the band’s first studio album since 2007’s multi-platinum Still Feels Good.