Nashville’s Filmworkers provided editorial, color grading and other post-production services for “American Heart,” the new music video from Faith Hill. Film and television editor Adam Little edited the video, which includes a dance duet between Hill and 10-year-old sensation T.J. Jones. Working simultaneously with Little, colorist Jimmy Cadenas performed color grading, applying the final polish to the video’s rich, playful, All-American look.

Directed by Trey Fanjoy, the video weaves performance imagery with dance sequences in which Hill and young T.J. Jones perform on a stage in front of a giant American flag made of flashing red, white and blue lights. A large projection screen, also positioned behind the dancers, displays images of American cities, people and icons. “American Heart” is the first single from Faith Hill’s forthcoming album of the same name.

Fanjoy notes that editing and grading the video at the same facility offered both practical and artistic advantages. Among other things, Cadenas’ grades could be immediately applied to Little’s cuts. “Raw footage from digital cameras has a very flat look,” she says via a release. “Although this allows for great color flexibility in grading the final video, showing rough cuts to clients with milky, non-color-corrected footage is not optimal. In doing the post production at Filmworkers, we were able to work simultaneously on different parts of the process. As we were editing with Adam, we were color grading the rough cuts with Jimmy. This way each version was always presented to the artist with stunning color.”

Brad Paisley will star in a PSA that will debut tonight (Dec. 20) during the ABC Television Network’s holiday special CMA Country Christmas. The PSA will help raise awareness of the Country Music Association’s Keep The Music Playing initiative, putting the spotlight on the importance of music education.

The spot features footage of Paisley rehearsing with two talented Nashville student musicians–Nashville School of the Arts student Marcus Wanner and Hume-Fogg Magnet High School student Joey Santoro.

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Florida Georgia Line will appear on NBC’s The Better Show today (Dec. 20) at 11:00 a.m. CT. The spot will feature FGL in an interview on-campus at their alma mater, Nashville’s Belmont University.

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Jake Owen wrapped up his first headlining tour, CMT On Tour with Jake Owen: The Summer Never Ends 2012, with a sold-out annual foundation concert in Owen’s hometown of Vero Beach, Fla. on Saturday (Dec. 15).

Proceeds from the concert went to the Jake Owen Foundation, which supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and youth organizations in Indian River County, Fla. Over 6,200 fans attended the concert, helping to raise over $125,000 for the charities.

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Josh Turner made a special holiday delivery with CMT One Country and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville by delivering handmade wreaths from Barefoot Mountain Farms to several Nashville families.

“The holidays have always been about giving back for me and my family,” explains Turner via a release.  “I really enjoyed being able to visit with these families.  I applaud the work that Habitat and CMT One Country are doing for the folks in our community.”

 

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Matt Stillwell will appear on Fox & Friends on Monday (Dec. 24), performing his Christmas single, “Our Christmas.”

 

There are four days left to enter Guitar Center’s Singer-Songwriter Contest, a nationwide search for the next great undiscovered singer-songwriter. Dec. 23 is the last day for unsigned singer-songwriters across the United States to submit an original live music performance video at www.guitarcenter.com/songwriter.

Submissions will be ranked through the use of WHOOZNXT, a leading digital music company that tracks an artist’s fan growth across top social networks. All artists who enter will be ranked based on their online fan growth during the first round. In the second round, the top-ranked 140 artists will be reviewed by a panel of judges (including producer John Shanks), who will handpick 10 finalists. The finalists will perform live at the Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, where one winner will be chosen.

The contest was first introduced last fall, receiving over 17,000 submissions. The program has quickly become a viable platform for aspiring songwriters to achieve opportunities for a successful career.

The winner will receive multiple prizes, including the chance to record a 4-song EP with Shanks, a live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!*, the chance to design his or her own electric or bass guitar courtesy of Fender, $10,000 cash, a feature in American Songwriter Magazine, recording studio time at Converse Rubber Tracks Studio in Brooklyn, N.Y., worldwide digital music distribution from TuneCore and gear from Martin, Bose, Korg, Zoom, Shure, D’Addario, TC-Helicon and Converse.

“Last season was such a positive experience that I am thrilled to be back for another round of Guitar Center Singer-Songwriter,” says Shanks. “Working with up-and-coming artists to help them hone their sound and refine their style is what I love to do, and this program has laid out the perfect platform to allow me to do just that.”

For contest rules, click here.

* Winner must be 21 or older to qualify for a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

PLA Media has added Dawn DeJongh as Senior Publicity/Marketing Executive.

President/CEO of PLA Media, Pam Lewis, says, “Dawn has the extensive experience, diversity and a great reputation within the industry and we’re excited to have her join our momentum after a very successful 2012 and forward into an even better 2013.”

Prior to joining PLA Media, DeJongh worked to secure international media coverage on world movie tours and also worked with numerous charities across the country to raise awareness for their missions.

DeJongh can be reached at dawn@plamedia.com.