Paul Sikes, Tim McDonald, A.J. Downing, Jana Kramer
Last week, I couldn’t find any newcomers to like, and this week the opposite is true.
No DisCovery Award was handed out when the pickins were slim. Now, I have three of them to bestow. They go to Sony-ATV writer Paul Sikes, rootsy Texan A.J. Downing and suburban Nashvillian Tim McDonald. Congratulations, fellows.
By contrast, all of the Disc of the Day contenders are women — Kathy Mattea, Sarah Darling, Holly Williams and our winner, Jana Kramer.
JANA KRAMER/Whiskey
Writer: Catt Gravitt/Sam Mizell; Producer: Scott Hendricks; Publisher: Ink Pen Mama/Songs of Max/Tunes of R&T Direct/Razor & Tie/Be My Lamb/On Like a Neckbone/Simpleville, SESAC/BMI; Elektra/Warner Bros.
—At times, I had to strain to hear the lyric clearly, but there’s no denying the ultimate listening pleasure. She regrets the bad boy she fell for while harmony singers, fiddles, guitars, steel and mandolins chime and echo all around her.
A.J. DOWNING/My Wagon Just Won’t Roll
Writer: A.J. Downing; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; Charkansas (track) (www.ajdowning.com)
—Downing’s CD is titled Good Day, and it kicks off with this ragged-but-right thumper. His country drawl is instantly engaging, and when you tune into his talent as a lyricist, you’ll be as hooked as I was. Sure, the instrumentation lacks Music Row polish, but sometimes a sound that is a little rough around the edges is just what the doctor ordered.
PAUL SIKES/My Epitaph
Writer: Paul Sikes; Producer: Paul Sikes; Publisher: Sony-ATV Cross Keys, ASCAP; 7-Layer (track) (www.paulsikes.com)
—The Sikes CD — titled Craft — isn’t due until January, but he has already created a stir with this tune from it. When Today show co-host Hoda Kotb was in town, she caught his set at The Bluebird and invited him to perform this on national TV. It is a moving, delicate elegy, a tender message to a loved one that says, basically, that after he’s gone the only thing that needs to be remembered about him is the love he gave.
HOLLY WILLIAMS/Drinkin’
Writer: Holly Williams; Producer: Charlie Peacock & Holly Williams; Publisher: none listed; HW (track) (www.hollywilliams.com)
—The forthcoming Holly Williams CD will be called Highway. On it, she is moving in an Americana direction with her talented co-producer Charlie Peacock. She is also even more startling as a singer-songwriter than she was before. This lead track spotlights her aching vocal delivery as well as her knife-sharp talent as a wordsmith. This is what modern country music ought to be doing.
STEVE LUSCOMBE/I’m a Natural
Writer: Alex Smith/Rock Carroll; Producer: Dan Drilling; Publisher: none listed; Taytown (track) (www.steveluscombe.com)
—The song is well constructed, and he sings it well. But the tempo is taken way, way too slowly. It sounds like he is trying to swim in molasses.
KATHY MATTEA/Hello, My Name Is Coal
Writer: Larry Cordle/Jenee Fleenor; Producer: Gary Paczosa & Kathy Mattea; Publisher: Wanderchord/NayerPuddingPie, BMI/SESAC; Sugar Hill (track) (www.mattea.com)
—Mattea’s latest CD, Calling Me Home, is a song cycle about her Appalachian homeland. This latest emphasis track couldn’t be more timely as it both reveres and reviles “black gold.” “Some say I’m a savior; some say death is what I bring,” rings out over a minor-key acoustic melody. Haunting.
SARAH DARLING/Home To Me
Writer: Caitlyn Smith/Bobby Hamrick; Producer: Dann Huff; Publisher: Music of Stage Three/Songs of Carrman/BMG/EMI Foray/Turning Twenties/Dollarsandpense, BMI/SESAC; Black River
—This endearing, lilting love song compares her beau to the some of the best of America’s states. As always, her delivery is as sweet as sugar. Radio ready in the extreme.
AARON LEWIS/Forever
Writer: none listed; Producer: James Stroud & Aaron Lewis; Publisher: none listed; Blaster (track)
—The former Staind rock singer continues his bid for country acceptance with this midtempo, moody meditation on a fading romance that just might rekindle. Abundant steel guitar is a big plus here.
TIM McDONALD/Livin’ Breathin’ Havin’ Fun
Writer: Tim McDonald; Producer: Tim McDoanld & Bill Warner; Publisher: none listed; TM (track) (www.timmcdonaldband.com)
—The title tune to McDonald’s CD is a lovely, nostalgic trip down memory lane. To the accompaniment of rippling guitars and gentle keyboard work, he sings of his days of youth and innocence while visiting the Arlington grave of a buddy. His songwriting skill is outstanding, and his gently persuasive vocal is perfectly delivered. Elsewhere on the disc are such enticing titles as “Beer’s Good Food,” “I’d Be Screwed,” “Every Song Sounds the Same” and “Shit List.” Take my word for it, the guy can definitely write and sing.
American Country Awards Adds Performers
/by Sarah SkatesHosted by Trace Adkins and Kristin Chenoweth, the event at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas will also feature appearances by Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Casey James, LeAnn Rimes, Lee Brice, Jana Kramer, Dustin Lynch and Chris Young. Additional performers and presenters to be announced soon.
Voting for all categories remains open until Mon., Nov. 12 at www.theacas.com. Voting for Artist of the Year continues until Fri., Dec. 7.
Aldean swept the ACAs last year, taking home six awards, including Artist of the Year. He is nominated five times this year. Bryan earned seven ACA nominations this year, Lady A captured six, and Bentley and Little Big Town scored one each.
American Country Awards is executive-produced by Bob Bain (Teen Choice 2012, Kids’ Choice Awards). Fletcher Foster, Paul Flattery and Tisha Fein serve as producers. Greg Sills is supervising producer. Michael Dempsey will direct the live special.
Colt Ford Plots Fall Tour
/by Freeman“I’m really excited to be headed back out West,” says Ford. “I’m bringing my buddy JJ Lawhorn on the road with us. We’ll be visiting a lot of great cities on the tour and can’t wait for it to kick off!”
Answer To No One Tour dates:
10/26 – Mesa, AZ
10/27 – Tucson, AZ
10/28 – San Bernardino, CA
10/31 – San Juan Capistrano, CA
11/1 – Bakersfield, CA
11/2 – San Jose, CA
11/3 – Sacramento, CA
11/4 – Springfield, OR
11/6 – Portland, OR
11/7 – Boise, ID
11/8 – West Valley City, UT
11/9 – Denver, CO
Rascal Flatts Plan DVD Release
/by Sarah SkatesFans will see exclusive performance footage of the group’s biggest hits and interviews from the road. It shares stories behind the songs, and shows the recording process at Jay DeMarcus’ home studio, where the album was produced with Dann Huff.
The flick made a one-night-only debut in movie theaters across the country in conjunction with the album release earlier this year. The group celebrated with fans at the AMC Theater in New York City’s Times Square.
Rascal Flatts will kick off the winter leg of the Farmers Insurance Presents Changed Tour on Jan. 10, 2013 with special guests The Band Perry.
Since Rascal Flatts’ debut in 2000, the band has sold over 21 million albums, and 25 million digital downloads.
RareSpark Reveals First Signings
/by Sarah SkatesOwner/CEO Suzanne Strickland
Suzanne Strickland and Scot Sherrod have officially launched RareSpark Media Group, Inc., offering music publishing, production, development and management services. The company’s first signings are songwriter/producer Jon McElroy, Victoria Banks, Jim Reilley, and E Marlowe.
McElroy’s cuts include Lee Brice’s “Happy Endings” and “Upper Middle Class White Trash,” Neal McCoy’s “The Shake,” and Patty Loveless’ “She Drew A Broken Heart.” Banks, the 2010 CCMA Female Artist and Songwriter of the Year, has had cuts by Sara Evans and Jessica Simpson. Singer-songwriter/producer Reilley is formerly of The New Dylans and has cuts by Vince Gill, Hal Ketchum, Jack Ingram, and Sam Bush. Rising writer E Marlowe is a past winner of the CMT/NSAI song contest.
Scot Sherrod will oversee day-to-day operations as VP/GM. “We are forging ahead in this ever-evolving industry,” he says, “continually finding new ways to help the songwriter develop, build, and manage their career—constantly striving to increase their brand, building enterprises for each individual that will financially sustain them through their art.”
Scot Sherrod
Owner/CEO Suzanne Strickland brings more than a decade as a songwriter and CCM touring artist to the venture. She also spent 10 years as director of operations for A&M Recovery Services, Inc., a mortgage field services company. “Our deals will fundamentally be the same for every songwriter as far as ownership, but we will tailor every deal from a creative perspective to meet the needs of each individual,” she says. “Being based in Nashville, the epicenter of songwriting, is important to us. However, we are passionate about coming up with new and innovative ways of marketing our songwriters in the industry and the marketplace without limiting ourselves geographically, or with regard to platform and genre.”
In recent years Sherrod has represented, produced, composed and/or performed works licensed in theatrical trailers and movies including Zombieland, Bounty Hunter, Knight and Day, Airbender, Green Lantern and Lost Boys III, as well as a national ad for Volvo. He previously spent 12 years at Major Bob Music and two years at Muy Bueno Music Group. As a producer he worked with Juno Award winner George Canyon. He also helped place “More Than A Memory” with Garth Brooks.
RareSpark is located at 508 E. Iris Dr., Nashville, TN 37204; Phone: (615) 678-5709; Email: info@raresparkmedia.com. www.raresparkmedia.com
Montgomery Gentry Releases EP
/by Eric T. ParkerThe single lands at No. 43 after 3 weeks on this week’s MusicRow Chart. Track listing is included below.
Additionally, Montgomery Gentry is featured on Average Joe’s Muddy Christmas album with its re-release of “Merry Christmas From The Family.”
For more information, visit www.montgomerygentry.com
Friends and Family track listing:
1) I’ll Keep the Kids
2) Where I Come From (Remix) [feat. Colt Ford & the Lacs]
3) Ain’t Out of the Woods Yet [feat. Colt Ford] (from the recent Colt Ford Declaration of Independence album)
4) Good Ol’ Boys (Dukes of Hazzard theme)
MusicRowPics: Kristen Kelly Artist Visit
/by Caitlin RantalaSony’s Kristen Kelly stopped by MusicRow headquarters yesterday afternoon (10/23) to share her songs and some of the stories behind them.
“This is a song about the first time I saw my ex and finally felt nothing,” she said before playing the song “Feeling Nothing,” a co-write with Paul Overstreet. Afterwards, Kelly introduced the next song by saying, “And this is the true story of how my ex ended up being my ex.” She went on to play her current single, “Ex Old Man,” her first top 30 hit.
Her set list also included “Drink Myself Outta Love with You” and “Miss Me.”
Kelly was most recently on Brad Paisley’s Virtual Reality Tour. When asked how the tour was she laughed. “It didn’t suck,” she said.
Kelly’s comfortable being on the road, however. Prior to her country career she was in a rock-cover band for several years. In fact, she’s so comfortable with touring that while she was on tour with Paisley, she had a tattoo artist come in and ink her on the tour bus. Her most recent tattoo says, “Let It Break Your Heart,” the title of one of her songs and a reminder to feel all the ups and downs in life.
Kelly’s self-titled EP will be out next Tuesday, Oct. 30. For more information, visit kristenkellymusic.com.
[slide]
Lady A To Perform With Symphony
/by Sarah SkatesOpening the concert will be a cappella group Breath of Soul which was selected by the trio through online submissions. GAC will tape the performance and air it beginning Wed., Dec. 5 at 7 PM/CT.
The ticket pre-sale is going on now, with the public on-sale scheduled for Fri., Oct. 26 at 10:00 AM/CT. Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is also sponsoring the event.
Lady A is nominated for Vocal Group of the Year and Album of the Year at the Nov. 1 CMA Awards. The group will release its first concert film, Own The Night World Tour, on Dec. 4.
Premiere Networks Presents “2012 CMA Awards Preview” Broadcast
/by Caitlin RantalaThe 46th Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Paisley and Underwood, will air live on Thursday, Nov. 1 (8:00 – 11:00 PM/ET) from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on the ABC Television Network.
Paisley Wraps U.S. Tour, Heads Overseas
/by Sarah SkatesBrad Paisley wraps the U.S. leg of his tour at the Hollywood Bowl.
Brad Paisley’s Virtual Reality World Tour played its final U.S. show Saturday night (10/20) to a sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl. He will follow the U.S. outing, which played to over one million fans, with six international shows next month including dates in Norway and Sweden.
Special guests on the Virtual Reality World Tour were The Band Perry and Scotty McCreery, with Easton Corbin on select dates. Kristen Kelly, Jana Kramer and Love and Theft performed on the “Virtual Opry” stage in “The Escape Plaza” throughout the summer. The Band Perry will continue on for the overseas concerts.
Paisley tours are known for their pranks and the last few shows are usually full of surprises. When the run stopped in San Diego Thursday (10/18) The Band Perry was taken off guard when four of Paisley’s crew guys came on stage dressed as police officers from Comedy Central’s Reno 911!.
The joke was on Paisley when his friend Jack Box, his co-star in the Jack in the Box® commercials, joined him and McCreery on stage during “Celebrity.”
Photos By: Ben Enos
Crew members in "Reno 911" costumes crash the stage during TBP's set in San Diego.
Paisley's marketing buddy Jack in the Box also made an appearance.
DISClaimer Single Reviews (10/24/12)
/by Robert K OermannPaul Sikes, Tim McDonald, A.J. Downing, Jana Kramer
Last week, I couldn’t find any newcomers to like, and this week the opposite is true.
No DisCovery Award was handed out when the pickins were slim. Now, I have three of them to bestow. They go to Sony-ATV writer Paul Sikes, rootsy Texan A.J. Downing and suburban Nashvillian Tim McDonald. Congratulations, fellows.
By contrast, all of the Disc of the Day contenders are women — Kathy Mattea, Sarah Darling, Holly Williams and our winner, Jana Kramer.
JANA KRAMER/Whiskey
Writer: Catt Gravitt/Sam Mizell; Producer: Scott Hendricks; Publisher: Ink Pen Mama/Songs of Max/Tunes of R&T Direct/Razor & Tie/Be My Lamb/On Like a Neckbone/Simpleville, SESAC/BMI; Elektra/Warner Bros.
—At times, I had to strain to hear the lyric clearly, but there’s no denying the ultimate listening pleasure. She regrets the bad boy she fell for while harmony singers, fiddles, guitars, steel and mandolins chime and echo all around her.
A.J. DOWNING/My Wagon Just Won’t Roll
Writer: A.J. Downing; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; Charkansas (track) (www.ajdowning.com)
—Downing’s CD is titled Good Day, and it kicks off with this ragged-but-right thumper. His country drawl is instantly engaging, and when you tune into his talent as a lyricist, you’ll be as hooked as I was. Sure, the instrumentation lacks Music Row polish, but sometimes a sound that is a little rough around the edges is just what the doctor ordered.
PAUL SIKES/My Epitaph
Writer: Paul Sikes; Producer: Paul Sikes; Publisher: Sony-ATV Cross Keys, ASCAP; 7-Layer (track) (www.paulsikes.com)
—The Sikes CD — titled Craft — isn’t due until January, but he has already created a stir with this tune from it. When Today show co-host Hoda Kotb was in town, she caught his set at The Bluebird and invited him to perform this on national TV. It is a moving, delicate elegy, a tender message to a loved one that says, basically, that after he’s gone the only thing that needs to be remembered about him is the love he gave.
HOLLY WILLIAMS/Drinkin’
Writer: Holly Williams; Producer: Charlie Peacock & Holly Williams; Publisher: none listed; HW (track) (www.hollywilliams.com)
—The forthcoming Holly Williams CD will be called Highway. On it, she is moving in an Americana direction with her talented co-producer Charlie Peacock. She is also even more startling as a singer-songwriter than she was before. This lead track spotlights her aching vocal delivery as well as her knife-sharp talent as a wordsmith. This is what modern country music ought to be doing.
STEVE LUSCOMBE/I’m a Natural
Writer: Alex Smith/Rock Carroll; Producer: Dan Drilling; Publisher: none listed; Taytown (track) (www.steveluscombe.com)
—The song is well constructed, and he sings it well. But the tempo is taken way, way too slowly. It sounds like he is trying to swim in molasses.
KATHY MATTEA/Hello, My Name Is Coal
Writer: Larry Cordle/Jenee Fleenor; Producer: Gary Paczosa & Kathy Mattea; Publisher: Wanderchord/NayerPuddingPie, BMI/SESAC; Sugar Hill (track) (www.mattea.com)
—Mattea’s latest CD, Calling Me Home, is a song cycle about her Appalachian homeland. This latest emphasis track couldn’t be more timely as it both reveres and reviles “black gold.” “Some say I’m a savior; some say death is what I bring,” rings out over a minor-key acoustic melody. Haunting.
SARAH DARLING/Home To Me
Writer: Caitlyn Smith/Bobby Hamrick; Producer: Dann Huff; Publisher: Music of Stage Three/Songs of Carrman/BMG/EMI Foray/Turning Twenties/Dollarsandpense, BMI/SESAC; Black River
—This endearing, lilting love song compares her beau to the some of the best of America’s states. As always, her delivery is as sweet as sugar. Radio ready in the extreme.
AARON LEWIS/Forever
Writer: none listed; Producer: James Stroud & Aaron Lewis; Publisher: none listed; Blaster (track)
—The former Staind rock singer continues his bid for country acceptance with this midtempo, moody meditation on a fading romance that just might rekindle. Abundant steel guitar is a big plus here.
TIM McDONALD/Livin’ Breathin’ Havin’ Fun
Writer: Tim McDonald; Producer: Tim McDoanld & Bill Warner; Publisher: none listed; TM (track) (www.timmcdonaldband.com)
—The title tune to McDonald’s CD is a lovely, nostalgic trip down memory lane. To the accompaniment of rippling guitars and gentle keyboard work, he sings of his days of youth and innocence while visiting the Arlington grave of a buddy. His songwriting skill is outstanding, and his gently persuasive vocal is perfectly delivered. Elsewhere on the disc are such enticing titles as “Beer’s Good Food,” “I’d Be Screwed,” “Every Song Sounds the Same” and “Shit List.” Take my word for it, the guy can definitely write and sing.