Curb Records Matches Taylor Swift’s Donation To The Tennessee Equality Project

Curb Records has made a donation to the Tennessee Equality Project, which is working to stop state lawmakers from passing legislation that would allow private adoption agencies to raise religious and moral objections over prospective parents, as well as legislation that prevents state and local agencies from taking action against a business based on its internal policies.

Curb Records is matching Taylor Swift’s donation of $113,000 to TEP.

Curb Records founder Mike Curb said in a statement: “As a former elected official, a Republican and a Christian, and as founder and Chairman of Curb Records and the Curb Foundation, I cannot believe that our legislators would put our brand new Governor in a position to have to consider potentially discriminatory legislation that could involve taxpayer funds.

“During my lifetime America has been rebuilt by public-private sector partnerships and I’ve been fortunate to have been involved in many of these projects across the country. I’d like to be able to do future projects in Tennessee, and I believe that there are many other individuals and organizations in the entertainment industry and other businesses who will join us in reconsidering whether we can make new investments and contributions in Tennessee if these discriminatory measures go forward.”

 

Brandon Will Aligns With BMI

Two years after making Nashville his home, singer-songwriter Brandon Will has signed with BMI.

“I got to know Brandon because he writes and plays with Essex County (formerly The Bass Brothers). I’m really excited to sign this impressive talent. Welcome to the BMI family!” says BMI Sr. Director, Creative David Preston.

 

Nashville’s W.O. Smith Music School Launches The Smitty Corporate Band Challenge

Nashville’s W.O. Smith Music School has begun accepting entries for the inaugural Smitty Corporate Band Challenge, a competition to determine which Nashville businesses have the most musically talented group of executives and employees.

The deadline for submitting band entries is June 30. The first round of bands will compete on Aug. 12; the second round of bands will compete Aug. 13, and the finals (including the top three highest-scoring bands) compete Aug. 20. All performances will take place at W.O. Smith Music School in Nashville. Fifty percent of each band must be made of employees from the company entering the competition.

A panel of four music industry professionals and one celebrity will determine which bands move through the two rounds of preliminary competition, and a second set of judges will be used for the finals.

Tickets will be sold for every round of competition with all proceeds benefitting the school’s mission of providing affordable music lessons to children. A ticket on-sale date will be announced soon. Event sponsors include City National Bank and Enterprise Solutions. For more, visit wosmith.org/smittychallenge.

This week’s country albums chart feels like a ’90s throwback. Brooks & Dunn‘s Reboot has debuted at No. 1, marking the first time the duo has debuted in the top slot since 2009. This marks the duo’s 10th Billboard 200 Top 10 album.

The collaborative album sold 31K in total consumption, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Luke Combs (who collaborated on Reboot with a take on “Brand New Man”) is at No. 2 this week with his own This One’s For You, which earned 28.5K.

Last week’s No. 1 album, George Strait‘s Honky Tonk Time Machine, falls to No. 3 this week, with 23K. Reba debuts at No. 4 this week, with her Stronger Than The Truth project, which moved 21K in total consumption.

Dan + Shay‘s self-titled album rounds out the Top 5 this week, with 20K in total consumption.

Combs continues to hold the top country streaming song slot this week with “Beautiful Crazy” earning 12 million streams. Chris Stapleton‘s “Tennessee Whiskey” earned 8.2 million streams, followed by Dan + Shay’s “Tequila” at No. 3 with 7.5 million streams. Kane Brown‘s “Heaven” is at No. 4 with 7.3 million streams and Dan + Shay’s “Speechless” earned 7 million streams to land at No. 5.

Thomas Rhett‘s “Look What God Gave Her” earned a 45 percent jump, following his ACM win for Male Vocalist of the Year; the track was streamed 6.3 million times this week.

Trio Fairground Saints will make their Grand Ole Opry debut May 31.

The trio, which includes Elijah Edwards, Meg McAllister and Mason Van Valin, recently released their Marshall Altman-produced debut EP Magic on March 8, via a joint venture between Sony Music Nashville and The Orchard.

“When we moved to Nashville playing the Grand Ole Opry was such a major goal for us,” enthused the band. “When our team told us we were going to have our debut we immediately high-fived each other. We have been on such an amazing music journey and the country music fans and Nashville have been such a huge part of that. This moment is truly a dream come true.”

The trio recently returned from a string of performances during C2C in the U.K. Since returning stateside, the band has been wrapping production on their full-length album and touring on select dates with Scotty McCreery, Josh Abbott, and their own Southern California headlining shows. They will open tour dates for Sara Evans and the Barker Family Band starting in May.

In a heartfelt social media post on Sunday, April 14, the family of Hal Ketchum revealed the singer is struggling with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The Grand Ole Opry member’s wife Andrea announced the singer is otherwise healthy and happy, enjoying time with his family and friends amongst speculation as to why his touring schedule has stopped.

Ketchum has had ongoing health struggles, having been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 20 years ago. Ahead of his I’m The Troubadour album release in 2014 for Music Road Records, it was revealed Ketchum had spent the last several years living in a cabin in Wimberley, Texas, where he was focusing on his health, which had suffered from bouts of paralysis and blindness due to his illness.

The note from Ketchum’s family is below:

 

Dear friends and fans of Hal, this is Andrea, Hal’s wife.

I know everyone is wondering why there are no future tour dates, and speculations as to the reason.

Our family would like to share the cause for this.

Unfortunately, Hal is suffering from Alzheimer’s/ Dementia. He has been battling this for some time now, but because of his love for his fans, he continued performing as long as it was possible.

Dementia is an exhausting and confusing illness and now it’s time for Hal to stay home with loved ones.

Hal is otherwise healthy and happy, enjoying time with his family and friends.

We all deeply appreciate how much love that you all have for Hal and how much his music means to you!

Also, a heartfelt thank you to all the incredible musicians that have joined him on this journey, with more than special love to Kenny Grimes, without whom, this last year of shows would not have been possible.

Please know that I do read all of your comments to Hal and that we will continue to check in from time to time.

Lots of love and appreciation to you all from Hal and the entire Ketchum family.