Capitol and MCA hosted lunch for CRS attendees Thursday (Feb. 28) to showcase performances by Jon Pardi and Gary Allan. On display were two unique artists with very different, yet equally engaging sets.

Pardi’s energetic opener was a rockin’ mix of upbeat, radio-ready fare. “His music is frat-party meets Buck Owens. We won’t stop until we break Jon Pardi,” proclaimed Mike Dungan. Pardi has already scored with his debut hit “Missin’ You Crazy,” and proudly offered his equally catchy next single “Up All Night.” The laid-back vibe that makes Pardi such an accessible artist didn’t linger for fellow California native Gary Allan’s performance—but it turns out that’s a good thing.
Allan brought a captivating intensity to the stage, his recognizable voice full of conviction and believability. The set was a thorough reminder of the hit-stacked catalog he’s been compiling for 17 years including “Watching Airplanes,” “Smoke Rings In The Dark,” “Nothing On But The Radio” and “Right Where I Need To Be.”
Lesser-known tunes such as “It Ain’t The Whiskey” went over just as well with the audience. Allan has been singing the powerful song of heartbreak on the road and hopes it will one day become a single. The emotion oozing from his facial expressions makes every song seem autobiographical, including current single “Pieces.” He closed the set with the biggest single of his career, “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain),” and was joined onstage by Hillary Lindsey, who co-wrote the song with Allan and Matt Warren.

 

11th annual CountryBreakout Winners
Male Artist of the Year: Dierks Bentley, 127,652 spins
Female Artist of the Year: Miranda Lambert, 100,934 spins
Group/Duo of the Year: Zac Brown Band, 118, 356 spins
Breakout Artist of the Year: Kip Moore, 93,869
Independent Artist of the Year: Taylor Made, 35,409 spins
Label of the Year: Capitol Records Nashville, 597,897
CountryBreakout Reporter of the Year: Paul Ciliberto, WDNB/Liberty, NY
Read all about the award winners in the new print issue of MusicRow, available for free at the Nashville Convention Center during CRS. Awards are based strictly on spins on theMusicRow CountryBreakout chart during 2012. 

BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM: Chapter 417

There was no bang from a starter pistol, no clang of a gong or ringing of a bell, but the 2013 CRS attendees are definitely off and running.
Hundreds surged into Margaritaville on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 26), packing the venue’s upstairs event space for the MusicRow CountryBreakout Awards. Now in its 11th year, this gig has become the unofficial kick-off event of Country Radio Seminar.
The throng included Tracy Lawrence, The Roys, Robby Johnson, Sherry Lynn, Angel Mary & The Tennessee Werewolves, Tyler Dean, Brent Cobb, Shelly Mullins and Alex Flanigen schmoozing the likes of David Newmark, David Ross, Isabel Ross, Al Brock, Dan Mitchell, Regnia Hensley, Judy Harris, Christy Watkins, Brenda Larsen, Wes Vause, Teddi Bonadies, Steve Pope, Preston Schmidt, Susan Collier, Neil Spielberg, Chuck Dauphin, Frank Myers, Woody Bomar, Robbie Huff, Byron Gallimore, Renee Grant-Williams and hostess with the mostest, Margaritaville’s Tinti Moffatt.

“Repeat after me, ‘Welcome to CRS!’” shouted entertainer Jaida Dreyer to the crowd. Her debut album, I Am Jaida Dreyer was released that very morning. From it, she chose to sing the wry, minor-key “Confessions of an Ex Girlfriend,” her single “Half Broke Horses” and the bopping “If That Ain’t Love.”

Also entertaining at the event were the three-part sibling harmony masters High Valley. The group, which is opening shows for Little Big Town this spring, sang the driving, energetic “Love You for a Long Time” and the anthemic “Call Me Old Fashioned,” then introduced a brand-new song, the throbbing “Rescue You.”

Between performances, MusicRow owner/publisher Sherod Robertson handed out the magazine’s radio chart honors. This year’s Male Artist of the Year is Dierks Bentley, thanks to “Home,” “5-1-5-0” and “Tip It on Back.”

“I’m a huge fan of MusicRow, so it is an honor to be here,” said Bentley. “And my fan club is on the front row! This is awesome.”
Accepting the Female Artist of the Year award for Miranda Lambert was Sony Music Nashville promo guy R.G. Jones. “Thank you very much for all your support, country radio,” he said. “I just wish I was as good looking as Miranda.” So do we.
ROAR’s Matt Maher and Chuck Swaney of Southern Ground Artists accepted the Group/Duo prize on behalf of the Zac Brown Band. MCA’s Van Haze got up to collect the Breakout Artist award on behalf of Kip Moore, who was busy shooting the video for “Hey Pretty Girl.”


Can you believe this? Capitol Nashville Records won the Label of the Year award for the eighth consecutive time. The company had 11 of the 32 No. 1 songs on the MusicRow chart during the past year.

“Thank y’all for playing our fantastic music,” said the label’s Steve Hodges, who was accompanied to the stage by co-worker Shane Allen.
The West Virginia-bred sibling trio Taylor Made was clearly delighted by its win. Their press releases now refer to them as “MusicRow Independent Artist of the Year Taylor Made.”
Radio Reporter of the Year Paul Ciliberto of WDNB in Liberty, N.Y. accepted his award by saying, “The best award of all is making true friends of so many in this room. I am truly honored.”

Robertson bid us all adieu: “We appreciate you starting Country Radio Seminar week with us. Have an awesome CRS. Have as much fun as you can…legally.”
A-a-a-a-a-nd they’re OFF! Let the week of yakking and drinking and music begin.


Photos by Isabel Ross and Caitlin Rantala. Click to see more event pics.

Country Radio Hall of Fame inductees: Gaylon Christie (Radio category); Dr. Don Carpenter, Crook & Chase, Eddie Edwards, Bill “Dex” Poindexter (On-Air category)
CRS President’s Award: Bob Romeo, Academy of Country Music CEO
CRB Career Achievement Award: George Strait

BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM—Chapter 418

Brevity and wit were the characteristics of this year’s Country Radio Hall of Fame ceremony.
The annual Country Radio Seminar event was staged Tuesday evening (Feb. 26) at the Convention Center’s Renaissance Ballroom. This is an occasion that in past years has lumbered on for hours, with multiple musical performances and long-winded speakers basking in the sounds of their dulcet radio voices. This year, we were in and out of the banquet in about two hours. Another big difference was the fact that, for a change, almost all the tables were sold.
“We are so pleased to have this room full,” said Charlie Morgan. “It’s such a terrific way to begin this week.”
The Academy of Country Music’s Bob Romeo was given the President’s Award. “When I got the call, I was humbled and really speechless,” said the normally loquacious and humorous exec.

Country Music Hall of Fame member George Strait was honored with the artist Career Achievement Award. He has more No. 1 hits than any artist in history. As he took the stage, the ballroom attendees jumped up in an enthusiastic standing ovation, whooping and waving their napkins in the air.
“Thank you very much; I really appreciate this,” said the superstar. “It’s coming from radio, so I’ll definitely have a special place for this in my house. The country-music business is the best business in the world. It’s meant so much to me to have made so many friends over the years. I also want to congratulate the Country Radio Hall of Fame inductees tonight.
“That’s about all I’ve got to say,” concluded the famously terse cowboy crooner.
Paul Allen inducted Gaylon Christie, who has been in country radio for 50 years. His Texas station, KUSJ, is categorized as “small market,” but it serves Ft. Hood, the largest U.S. military installation in the world. His listening audience there, alone, numbers more than 297,000. For many years, he was its owner/operator as well as its on-air personality.
“I hope sometime during your life, you feel as thankful and blessed as I do tonight,” Gaylon said to the crowd.
Sammy George did the honors for Bill “Dex” Poindexter, who has won three CMA Air Personality of the Year awards for his work at WUSY in Chattanooga. In the peripatetic world of radio, he is unusual as a jock who has worked his entire career in his hometown.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he responded following Sammy’s laudatory introductory remarks. “But he sounds like a helluva guy.” Dex lost his wife eight weeks ago, and bravely went on the air to share his deep feelings with his listeners.
Tim Roberts inducted Dr. Don Carpenter, a former veterinarian who made his mark at stations in Joplin, Tampa, Des Moines and Pittsburgh before settling in at WYCD in Detroit. Don gave the evening’s most irreverent acceptance speech, indicating that he didn’t like country music except when it sounded like Southern rock and bragging that he had stars do interviews sitting on a toilet seat.
“For the past 30 years, all these P.D.’s [program directors] in here have been telling me I’ve been doing it all wrong,” said Don. “I still can’t figure out how I got here.”
WNOE program director Don Gosselin introduced inductee Eddie Edwards and praised him for helping to bring country music back to prominence in New Orleans. Eddie, who is also a member of the Louisiana Hall of Fame, gave the funniest speech of the night.
He played a little harmonica and quipped, “I smoked so much weed that Willie Nelson did my intervention,” then added, “That’s great wine. If I’d had one more glass, I’d have come up here as Randy Travis.
“People always ask me, ‘What made you choose radio?’ Well, look at me: I had very few career options….I have made literally hundreds of dollars, and I have dozens of t-shirts and hats. My daughter is a lawyer. I’m so disappointed in her: I wanted her to be a disc jockey.”
Tim McGraw, who is celebrating his 33^rd No. 1 hit this week, inducted Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase. “Crook & Chase was born in 1983, and it’s been fantastic ever since,” said Tim. Actually, the team first came to radio in 1987, but who’s counting?
“They’ve always had a way of making artists and fans feel at home.” Tim told the crowd that he’s always had a crush on Lorianne and that he named his pet jackass after Charlie.
“We are here to help other people’s talents shine,” said Lorianne, who is a Nashville native. “It’s not about Crook & Chase. It’s about that artist. It’s about country music. It’s about the fans.”
“My buddy Lorianne Crook has made going to work a lot of fun,” said Charlie, who grew up next to the radio station in Rogersville, TN. “We discovered a partnership that is rare. Lorianne and I are honored and blessed to join all the professionals in the Country Radio Hall of Fame.”
Greeting the inductees with multiple standing ovations were Mike Wilson, Mike Dungan, Bob Kingsley, Bob Paxman, John Esposito, John Huie, Eddie Mascolo, Ed Morris, Frank Mull, Matt Watkins, Jim Owens, Kyle Cantrell, Julie Talbot, Lon Helton, Peter Svensen, Tom Baldrica, Phil Sweetland, Vernell Hackett, Sean Ross, Chuck Aly, Adelaide Yoder, Kay Smith, R.J. Curtis and Sherod Robertson.
Working the room were such artists as Charlie Worsham, Kristen Kelly, X-Factor champ Tate Stevens, Toby’s daughter Krystal Keith, Brett Eldredge, George Johnson and Tracy Lawrence. We dined on steak, potato wedges, broccoli crowns, salad and apple pie and/or chocolate cake. Craig Campbell and Katie Armiger were booked to perform at the After Party.