The family of Merle Haggard, Blackbird Presents and Willie Nelson will host an all-star concert event taping, titled Sing Me Back Home: The Music Of Merle Haggard, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Thursday, April 6, 2017.

The concert, which will begin at 7 p.m. CT, honors what would have been Haggard’s 80th birthday and the one-year anniversary of his passing.

The event will feature performances from Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, John Mellencamp, Dierks Bentley, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams Jr., The Avett Brothers, Alison Krauss, Ronnie Dunn, Warren Haynes, Jamey Johnson, Kacey Musgraves, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lucinda Williams, Ben Haggard, John Anderson, Connie Smith and Bobby Bare. Additional performers to be announced in the coming weeks.

Keith Wortman, Mark Rothbaum and Theresa Haggard are the creators and executive producers of the show. Don Was, Ben Haggard and Buddy Cannon will serve as music directors and preside over a house band backing the performers at the taping. The event will be filmed and recorded for multi-platform distribution throughout traditional media (worldwide broadcast, music, and digital). A portion of the proceeds will benefit the T.J. Martell Foundation.

Tickets on sale Friday, March 3, 2017 at 11 a.m. CT online at ticketmaster.com, by phone at 800-745-3000, all Ticketmaster locations and the Bridgestone Arena box office.

Garth Brooks continues to top himself, breaking another touring record last Friday night (Feb. 24) with a record five millionth ticket sold in just 60 cities played on his Garth Brooks World Tour. Brooks was recognized for the feat during his show Friday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB, where wife Trisha Yearwood interrupted her own set to surprise him with the big news.

Yearwood invited Jared Smith, President of Ticketmaster and Michael Evans, President of Arenas for Live Nation to the stage to present Brooks with a commemorative plaque honoring the five million tickets sold in 100 cities during the 1996-1998 world tour along with a second plaque honoring the five millionth ticket sold in just 60 cities during this current tour. Garth Brooks and Ticketmaster have been working together for more than 20 years.

Following that presentation, Bob Nicholson, Oilers Entertainment Group CEO & Vice Chair and Susan Darrington, General Manager of Rogers Place joined the two on stage to unveil a new banner hanging from the rafters celebrating the five millionth ticket sold and Brooks’ nine sold-out concerts at the new Rogers Place in Edmonton. The banner will hang alongside the championship banners of the Edmonton Oilers and Edmonton Oil Kings. As Garth then tried to leave the stage, Trisha stopped him for another surprise – a special video message from Wayne Gretzky that played on the big screen.

In just over two years the tour has sold over five million tickets, making it the biggest tour in the world and breaking records held by acts like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The tour is presented by Amazon Music Unlimited.

 

The Blues Foundation will induct its 38th class into the Blues Hall of Fame on May 10 at Memphis’ Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts and Education. Fourteen inductees representing five categories: Performers, Non-Performing Individuals, Classic of Blues Literature, Classic of Blues Recording (Song) and Classic of Blues Recording (Album) will be inducted this year.

The six artists chosen for induction into the Performers category are Mavis Staples; Latimore; guitarists Magic Slim and Johnny Copeland; and Howlin’ Wolf sidemen guitarist Willie Johnson and piano-man Henry Gray.  The year’s non-performer category inductee is Living Blues Magazine co-founder/radio show host Amy van Singel, who passed away in Sept. 2016. The Classic of Blues Literature pick is Father of the Blues, W.C. Handy’s 1941 autobiography. John Lee Hooker’s 1966 Chess album Real Folk Blues is the Classic of Blues Recording Album category induction pick.

The Classic of Blues Recording songs going into the Hall of Fame include Bo Diddley’s signature tune “Bo Diddley,” Tommy Tucker’s classic “Hi Heel Sneakers,” the Albert King hit “I’ll Play the Blues For You,” Son House’s “Preachin’ the Blues” and “I Ain’t Superstitious,” which features 2017 inductee Henry Gray playing on Howlin’ Wolf’s well-known 1961 recording. 

Tickets for the ceremony, which is open to the public, are $100 per seat and can be purchased online here. 

BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM

Chapter 556

The 2017 edition of the New Faces Show was the event’s most “country” collection of talent in years.

This annual capstone of the Country Radio Seminar convention has been showcasing up-and-comers, hopefuls and future superstars since 1970. This year, it was a celebration of neo-traditionalism as William Michael Morgan, Jon Pardi, Drake White and Granger Smith offered their various styles of twang and drawl. Even show closer Maren Morris eschewed the drum loops, electronic effects and auto-tune of her album’s sound to deliver a rootsy performance.

This year’s New Faces Show took place Friday evening, Feb. 24, at the Omni Hotel’s spacious Broadway Ballroom. The banquet meal was a pecan-encrusted chicken quarter on a bed of parsley-pureed mashed potatoes with zucchini, carrot and tomato sides and berried chocolate tarts for dessert.

My dining companions included such media mavens as Deborah Evans Price, Troy Stephenson, Chuck Dauphin, Lorie Hollabaugh, Eric T. Parker, Bob Paxman and Ed Morris. After the yummy chow, we turned our attentions to the main event, the artists doing their utmost to impress the radio tastemakers.

The evening belonged to Drake White, who led off. This Alabama-bred fellow never delivers less than 100%, and his crackling performance on Friday was no exception. He was saucy, sassy and drawling on the rollicking “It Feels Good” as he opened his set.

“We are ‘living the dream’ today, because of y’all; thank-you so much,” Drake said as he tore into “Livin’ the Dream.” He invested it with immense energy and passion. Then came the even more intense, relentlessly driving “Heartbeat.” He closed with his torrid love ballad “Makin’ Me Look Good Again,” and was rewarded with a standing ovation.

“You won’t see a better act tonight,” I advised Miss Mary. At first, I was perplexed that this powerhouse performer was the opener. But you know what? At New Faces, this is actually the slot you want. While Drake sang, the place was packed to capacity with 1,300 still reasonably sober and super influential radio people. By the time Maren closed the show a couple of hours later, the ballroom was almost half empty.

Second up was William Michael Morgan. This tall, handsome youngster is an “old-school” vocalist. His stone-country delivery of the mellow, mid-tempo “Vinyl” suited the lyric’s old-fashioned values perfectly. The down-home, sincere, working-class salute “Beer Drinker” was even better.

“I Know Who He Is” was a heart-tugging, inspirational ballad. He introduced his lilting new single, “Missing,” a two-step, then closed with his No. 1 hit, the swirling, atmospheric and ultra romantic “I Met a Girl.” “Thank you: God bless country music!” stated William in closing.

The 23 year-old Mississippi native had a somewhat awkward, gangly stage presence, like a country boy plucked from a farm field and put into the spotlight. It made him seem warmly charming and endearing.

By contrast, Granger Smith is the ultimate showboating extrovert. The Texan opened with the romping “If the Boot Fits.” Then, his cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” segued into the churning, extended jam of “Backroad Song,” which was packed with personality.

Granger next changed into the costume of his redneck alter ego “Earl Dibble Jr.” and reemerged waving an oversized “Yee Yee” flag. Flaunting his full-bore, white-trash persona in overalls, he held up a guitar reading “Dip” on its back, offered a two-handed, beer-spray celebratory drink and stripped to his waist while performing “Country Boy Love.” The crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Also sublimely country was Jon Pardi. He was boyishly bopping on “Cowboy Hat” and appropriately drawling on “She Ain’t In It.” By this time, a large mosh pit had gathered for him in front of the stage. Like several of those who preceded him, he shook hands with those closest to him.

The California native had a sunny, optimistic quality throughout his set. He closed with back-to-back “boot” songs. His rolling, swaying big hit “Head Over Boots” was followed by the choppy, rhythmic “Dirt on My Boots.”

Petite, vivacious Maren Morris closed the show. She opened with her rumbling stomper “80s Mercedes,” punctuated by her handclaps and ad-libbed shouts. One of the big highlights of her set was her new single, a yearning, elegant, tuneful and super compelling ballad titled “I Could Use a Love Song.”

“Thank you for your support of new music and new artists,” said the singer-songwriter. “We couldn’t do it without you.”

The Texas native offered her hugely popular, Grammy-winning rouser “My Church” to great applause. Her closing “party song” was the wry, tongue-in-cheek and high-spirited “Rich.” The crowd gave the reigning CMA New Artist of the Year winner the evening’s final standing ovation.

Abetting the performances, the ACM’s Lisa Lee and Ben Vaughn presented that organization’s radio award winners, and Charlie Morgan, Lon Helton and Chuck Aly announced their Country Aircheck radio winners. There was also a salute to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a number of amusing video interludes and an “In Memoriam” segment honoring those in the country industry who passed away during the past year.

John Esposito, John Briggs, Mike Dungan, Mike Sistad, Rob Simbeck, Bobby Young, Tom Lord, Todd Cassetty, Preshus Tomes Harris, Autumn House Tallant, Travis Rice, Royce Risser, Rick Murray, R.J. Curtis, Paul Barnabee, Scott Hendricks, Daniel Hill, Maurice Miner, Phyllis Stark, Jim Catino, Ken Robold, Capucine Monk, Kos Weaver and Duane Clark were among those working the radio room.

In the past, the New Faces Show has helped to launch such stars as Alabama, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Vince Gill, Randy Travis, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Patty Loveless and Blake Shelton. More than 300 New Faces artists have been showcased to date. We added five more worthy names to that long list on Friday night.