Merle Haggard is honored with the first CMT Artist of a Lifetime award, presented by Billy Bob Thornton. Photo courtesy of CMT
CMT held an elegant soiree Tuesday evening (Dec. 2) at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, an upscale music venue known for its impeccable acoustics and hosting everyone from bluegrass musicians to the Nashville symphony.
The event, which aired live, honored
Jason Aldean,
Miranda Lambert,
Luke Bryan,
Keith Urban, and
Florida Georgia Line as CMT Artists of the Year for their career accomplishments in 2014.
However, the star of the evening was clearly
Merle Haggard, who was presented with CMT’s first Artist of a Lifetime award.
Billy Bob Thornton was on hand to present the honor, and went off-script to add his own words of tribute.
Keith Urban performs with an all-female band at CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
“I’d just like to add something to what they’ve got here,” said Thornton, “which is that I wouldn’t only include Merle Haggard in the greatest songwriters of all time. But I would put him up there alongside people like Tennessee Williams and William Faulker, Erskine Caldwell and John Steinbeck because he is truly a storyteller. That’s something that has been lost over the years, and I’m glad to see that it is coming back a little bit. And Merle Haggard personifies the storyteller.”
Haggard was nearly in tears as he accepted the honor. “Anything I would say would be short of the mark, so thank you very much and God bless you,” he told the audience. Off-camera, industry members and artists including Aldean and Florida Georgia Line were quick to welcome the legend as he entered the room.
Florida Georgia Line performs during the CMT Artist of the Year event. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Jason Aldean and
Chris Cornell of Soundgarden opened the show with Aldean’s latest single, “Just Gettin’ Started.” Kenny Chesney was in attendance to honor his future tourmate. Chesney and Aldean will combine their headlining shows for several stadium concerts in 2015. “His fire and passion is one of the reasons he’s one of CMT’s Artists of the Year,” said Chesney.
Host
Larry the Cable Guy kept the elegant evening from getting too stuffy, with his repertoire of one-liners.
Luke Bryan could not be in attendance. He is in Georgia with his family, following the death of his brother-in-law Ben Lee Cheshire over the weekend. Cheshire was 46, and the husband of Bryan’s late sister Kelly.
Chris Stapleton and Lady Antebellum perform “Drink A Beer” to honor Luke Bryan during the CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Lady Antebellum and
Chris Stapleton stepped in to honor Bryan with an emotional rendition of his single, “Drink A Beer,” (co-written by Stapleton and Jim Beavers), which drew the first standing ovation of the evening. Other artists, including fellow Georgian Jason Aldean and Keith Urban, offered their condolences to Bryan’s family throughout the broadcast.
Miranda Lambert was honored by friend and fellow songwriter
Ashley Monroe. Lambert gave a soulful, refined performance of “Holding On To You,” an album cut from her recent album
Platinum. She also teared up while thanking husband Blake Shelton. “You are my rock,” she said. “I think he’s on a TV show somewhere tonight.”
Wiz Khalifa honored genre-melding duo Florida Georgia Line as CMT Artists of the Year. “As musicians, we are all brothers and sisters,” he said. Florida Georgia Line’s
Brian Kelley and
Tyler Hubbard gave a rousing rendition of their single, “Sun Daze.”
Miranda Lambert performs during CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Another highlight of the evening was Urban’s guitar-driven rendition of James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” backed by a 15-piece all-female band, complete with a string and horn section.
Urban was quick to praise his fans after receiving his CMT Artists of the Year honor. “Why are fans so important? Because without them it’s just one long sound check,” he said.
Chris Cornell and Jason Aldean kick off the CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Eric Church, Ashley Monroe, and
T Bone Burnett rounded out the evening’s performances with a tribute to Haggard on his 1969 classic, “Workin’ Man Blues.”
Encore presentations of
Artists of the Year will air Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 1:30 a.m., 8 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. ET/PT, and Sunday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. ET/PT.
'CMT Artists of the Year' Honors Haggard Alongside Today's Stars
/by Jessica NicholsonMerle Haggard is honored with the first CMT Artist of a Lifetime award, presented by Billy Bob Thornton. Photo courtesy of CMT
CMT held an elegant soiree Tuesday evening (Dec. 2) at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, an upscale music venue known for its impeccable acoustics and hosting everyone from bluegrass musicians to the Nashville symphony.
The event, which aired live, honored Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, and Florida Georgia Line as CMT Artists of the Year for their career accomplishments in 2014.
However, the star of the evening was clearly Merle Haggard, who was presented with CMT’s first Artist of a Lifetime award. Billy Bob Thornton was on hand to present the honor, and went off-script to add his own words of tribute.
Keith Urban performs with an all-female band at CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
“I’d just like to add something to what they’ve got here,” said Thornton, “which is that I wouldn’t only include Merle Haggard in the greatest songwriters of all time. But I would put him up there alongside people like Tennessee Williams and William Faulker, Erskine Caldwell and John Steinbeck because he is truly a storyteller. That’s something that has been lost over the years, and I’m glad to see that it is coming back a little bit. And Merle Haggard personifies the storyteller.”
Haggard was nearly in tears as he accepted the honor. “Anything I would say would be short of the mark, so thank you very much and God bless you,” he told the audience. Off-camera, industry members and artists including Aldean and Florida Georgia Line were quick to welcome the legend as he entered the room.
Florida Georgia Line performs during the CMT Artist of the Year event. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Jason Aldean and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden opened the show with Aldean’s latest single, “Just Gettin’ Started.” Kenny Chesney was in attendance to honor his future tourmate. Chesney and Aldean will combine their headlining shows for several stadium concerts in 2015. “His fire and passion is one of the reasons he’s one of CMT’s Artists of the Year,” said Chesney.
Host Larry the Cable Guy kept the elegant evening from getting too stuffy, with his repertoire of one-liners.
Luke Bryan could not be in attendance. He is in Georgia with his family, following the death of his brother-in-law Ben Lee Cheshire over the weekend. Cheshire was 46, and the husband of Bryan’s late sister Kelly.
Chris Stapleton and Lady Antebellum perform “Drink A Beer” to honor Luke Bryan during the CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Lady Antebellum and Chris Stapleton stepped in to honor Bryan with an emotional rendition of his single, “Drink A Beer,” (co-written by Stapleton and Jim Beavers), which drew the first standing ovation of the evening. Other artists, including fellow Georgian Jason Aldean and Keith Urban, offered their condolences to Bryan’s family throughout the broadcast.
Miranda Lambert was honored by friend and fellow songwriter Ashley Monroe. Lambert gave a soulful, refined performance of “Holding On To You,” an album cut from her recent album Platinum. She also teared up while thanking husband Blake Shelton. “You are my rock,” she said. “I think he’s on a TV show somewhere tonight.”
Wiz Khalifa honored genre-melding duo Florida Georgia Line as CMT Artists of the Year. “As musicians, we are all brothers and sisters,” he said. Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard gave a rousing rendition of their single, “Sun Daze.”
Miranda Lambert performs during CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Another highlight of the evening was Urban’s guitar-driven rendition of James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” backed by a 15-piece all-female band, complete with a string and horn section.
Urban was quick to praise his fans after receiving his CMT Artists of the Year honor. “Why are fans so important? Because without them it’s just one long sound check,” he said.
Chris Cornell and Jason Aldean kick off the CMT Artists of the Year. Photo courtesy of CMT.
Eric Church, Ashley Monroe, and T Bone Burnett rounded out the evening’s performances with a tribute to Haggard on his 1969 classic, “Workin’ Man Blues.”
Encore presentations of Artists of the Year will air Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 1:30 a.m., 8 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. ET/PT, and Sunday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. ET/PT.
Combustion Atlas Announces First Songwriter To Joint Venture
/by Eric T. ParkerPictured (L-R): Scott Safford; Chris Van Belkom, Vice President, Combustion Music; Jameson Rodgers; Chris Farren, President, Combustion Music; Robert Filhart; and Kenley Flynn, Creative Director, Combustion Music.
Combustion Music and Atlas Music Publishing have signed the first writer to the new joint venture Combustion Atlas, which was announced last month.
Jameson Rodgers has inked a worldwide publishing deal with Richard Stumpf (Atlas CEO) and Chris Farren (Combustion owner/President).
Rodgers was born and raised in Batesville, Miss. After a baseball career at Northwest Mississippi Community College, he headed to University of Southern Mississippi where he performed at bars with a band named Silky Smooth.
“Jameson has impressed me not only as a gifted artist and songwriter, but as a self starting manager of his own career,” said Chris Van Belkom, Vice President, Combustion Music. “We’re so excited to get to work with him and add to the relationships he’s been able to create for himself.”
Rodgers joins a prolific and diverse roster of songwriters who have eared a total of 10 ASCAP Country Music awards, including Ashley Gorley being named ASCAP’s 2014 Country Music Songwriter of the Year.
LifeNotes: Services To Be Held For Jackie Pillers
/by Jessica NicholsonJackie Pillers
Longtime Nashville media member Jacqueline Ann “Jackie” Pillers passed away Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. She was 53.
Pillers, who was known to many members of the local media and music industry, spent nearly 20 years working at WSMV Channel 4. She also worked for WTVF News Channel 5, and WKRN News 2 during her career.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 1:00 p.m., at the Chapel of Neal-Tarpley-Parchman Funeral Home in her hometown Clarksville, with Demetria Kalodimos officiating. Visitation will be Friday, Dec. 5, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., and on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 11:00 a.m. until the hour of service, at the funeral home.
Arrangements are entrusted to Neal-Tarpley-Parchman Funeral Home, 1510 Madison Street, Clarksville, TN 37040. Online condolences may be made at www.neal-tarpley.com.
Weekly Register: Revamped Chart Debuts
/by Sarah SkatesCraig Wayne Boyd. Photo: Trae Patton/NBC
The updated Billboard 200 albums chart debuted this week. The new version takes into account album sales, on-demand streaming and digital track sales. This formula is designed to represent total album activity and more accurately reflect consumption, instead of only including album purchases. Details here.
The formula is:
album sales + TEA (defined as 10 tracks = one album) + streaming activity (defined as total streams divided by 1500) = total activity
Even without the boost from streams of her newest album 1989 (which has been withheld from streaming sites), Taylor Swift landed at No. 1 on the new Top 200, with total activity of 339K.
Black Friday shopping gave a 33 percent increase to all-genre album sales, totaling more than 7 million units. By comparison, the same week last year experienced a 62 percent jump, thanks to then-new releases by One Direction (546K) and Garth Brooks hits (164K).
Country album sales are up 46 percent week-over-week, selling 1 million units TW. Brooks stays put at No. 1 on the Country album chart with 63K, and 255K RTD in its third week. The methodology for the individual genre charts has not changed.
Top 5 Country Albums
Garth Brooks, Man Against Machine, 63K
Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt, 31K
Darius Rucker, Home For The Holidays, 30K
Sam Hunt, Montevallo, 26K
Miranda Lambert, Platinum, 26K
Tracks: Craig Wayne Boyd, the indie star from The Voice, has the top-selling country track this week, moving 46K of his version of “I Walk The Line.”
As we zoom to the end of 2014, sales stats are down across the board:
Total albums YTD -12.3 percent (222.297 million TY/ 253.563 million LY)
Country albums YTD -11 percent (28.551 million TY/ 32.091 million LY)
Total digital tracks YTD -12.6 percent (1.009 billion TY/ 1.155 billion LY)
Country tracks YTD -17.3 percent (125.7 million TY/ 151.8 million LY)
Info according to Nielsen Soundscan.
Briggs Exits New West Records
/by Kelsey_GradyBefore being promoted to the A&R/Artist Relations position, Briggs oversaw all AAA radio promotion campaigns for New West in addition to producing their Live From Austin, TX CD and DVD Line in conjunction with PBS and Austin City Limits. He is based in Austin.
Prior to New West Records, Briggs was Owner/President of Beyond Rust Management representing Lucinda Williams, M Ward and Beth Orton in partnership with Azoff Music Management. Briggs also previously served as President of Vapor Records, a label founded by Neil Young and his managers, Elliot Roberts and Frank Gironda. Additionally, he held the title of VP of Artist Relations/Creative Marketing at Warner Bros. Records, where he worked on projects involving Wilco, Chris Isaak, Eric Clapton, Don Henley, Mark Knopfler and Neil Young.
Briggs can now be reached at gary.beyondrust@gmail.com
Live Nation Entertainment Appoints Jimmy Iovine To Board Of Directors
/by Troy_StephensonJimmy Iovine
Live Nation Entertainment has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Jimmy Iovine to the Board as a new independent director. Iovine is the co-founder of Beats Electronics and Beats Music. The Board will look to harness Iovine’s entrepreneurial experience creating new business models in the music industry, knowledge of brand building and insight into marketing to music fans.
“Jimmy is an extraordinarily gifted arbiter of culture who understands brands and creating compelling new products and services. He will add an important voice to our board of directors as we look to continue to accelerate Live Nation’s growth plans,” said Greg Maffei, chairman of the Live Nation Board of Directors.
“Jimmy is a great addition to the Board and will be a tremendous asset for me and the rest of the management team. He has been at the forefront of innovation in the entertainment industry for decades, and as an entrepreneur, he has combined business inventiveness and marketing prowess with a deep understanding of the music fan to develop and deliver some of the most sought after artist-oriented consumer products and experiences. This expertise will help Live Nation as we continue to discover new ways to attract and engage the live music fan,” said Michael Rapino, president and chief executive officer of Live Nation.
“Live Nation has put together the right management team and incredible assets to really be effective in the new music economy,” said Iovine.
'CMA Country Christmas' Ratings Tick Up
/by Sarah SkatesJennifer Nettles (l) and Idina Menzel perform during “CMA Country Christmas.” Photo: John Russell / CMA
Last night’s (Dec. 1) airing of CMA Country Christmas attracted 8.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen preliminary data on Zap2it.com. The ABC show garnered a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating, up a tenth from the 1.5 adults 18-49 rating earned by the 2013 special.
CMA Country Christmas was up for the second consecutive year in both total viewers (up 20 percent, 8.9 million vs. 7.4 million) and adults 18-49 (up 7 percent, 1.6/4 vs. 1.5/4). The show delivered its second-best-ever numbers in viewers and young adults.
The hour-long show came in second place among the major networks, falling behind NBC’s The Voice. The vocal competition earned a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating and scored 10.99 million viewers.
The show featured performances from host Jennifer Nettles, along with Carrie Underwood, Idina Menzel, Little Big Town, Michael W. Smith, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, LeAnn Rimes, Steven Tyler, and more.
Paul Jankowski Authors Book on Brand Building
/by Sarah SkatesIncluded is consumer insight research, consumer case studies, and the principal channels through which consumers can be reached and influenced. Nashvillian Jankowski writes about the core values which impact buying behavior, and five key points of access for brands to engage New Heartland consumers: music, food, sports, outdoors and social media. There is a free chapter download here.
Jankowski previous authored the book, How to Speak American: Building Brands in the New Heartland. His career includes time as Chief Marketing Officer for Elvis Presley Enterprises, VP/Media Marketing with SFX Entertainment (Live Nation), and Dir. of Global Entertainment Relations for Gibson Guitar Corp.
Kobalt Unveils Integrated Artist-Writer Services Portal
/by Jessica NicholsonAdditionally, the publishing section of the portal now allows writers to view digital collection data from Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes in real-time. KLS and publishing clients can also use the Kobalt Portal to follow the synch pipeline at each stage of the licensing process. Publishing clients can also take out advances on their income through the portal.
Willard Ahdritz, founder and CEO of Kobalt said: “This is another giant step toward creating an industry platform that offers a more transparent future for artists, songwriters and publishers around the world. The incorporation of label services as a third strand of the Kobalt Portal completes its transition into the world’s first fully comprehensive rights tool. With one hit song today creating billions of transactions, our portal offers an unparalleled level of transparency, enabling Kobalt clients to understand what is happening with their music throughout the global market.”
The Rolling Stones Saxophonist Bobby Keys Passes
/by Sarah SkatesDuring his more than 40 years with The Stones, Keys became an integral part of the band, bonding with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and playing on the classic albums Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main St.
Throughout his career he also contributed to recordings by legendary artists John Lennon, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, B.B. King, Carly Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Texas native settled in Middle Tennessee in the early ‘90s.
The Rolling Stones released this statement following Keys’ death: “The Rolling Stones are devastated by the loss of their very dear friend and legendary saxophone player, Bobby Keys. Bobby made a unique musical contribution to the band since the 1960s. He will be greatly missed.”