Chesney to Appear on ESPY Awards, Leno

/by

Photo: Jill Trunnell

Kenny Chesney is still riding a wave of sales success with his new album Welcome to the Fishbowl in the No. 1 spot of Billboard’s Country Album Chart for the third week, and he will head to California for a string of appearances this week.

Tonight (7/11), Chesney will appear as a presenter on ESPN’s ESPY Awards. Chesney has long had a close relationship with the sports network, which aired his films Boys of Fall and The Color Orange: The Condredge Holloway Story. Chesney also appears in the latest “This Is SportsCenter” ad. The Awards, hosted by comedian Rob Riggle, air tonight at 8 pm/CT.

On Thursday (7/12), Chesney will perform his current hit single “Come Over” on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

Over the weekend, The Brothers of the Sun Tour with Tim McGraw will play a sold-out Angels Stadium in Anaheim for the first of its two California shows. On Sunday, the stadium tour will move north to O.co Coliseum in Oakland.

Industry Updates (7/11/12)

/by

RCA Nashville’s Love and Theft recently stopped by CMT to visit with CMT Radio Live host Cody Alan and discuss the duo’s hit single “Angel Eyes.” LNT’s upcoming self-titled album hits stores July 24.

(L-R): LNT’s Stephen Barker Liles, Cody Alan, LNT’s Eric Gunderson Photo: Dingo O’Brien

• • • • •

(L-R): EYB’s Jon Jones, Mike Eli, CMT Canada’s Casey Clarke, EYB’s James Young and Chris Thompson. Photo: Republic Nashville

Eli Young Band just notched its first ever Canadian No. 1 with the red-hot single “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” which topped both Billboard and Mediabase Canada Country Charts as well as CMT Canada’s Top 20. The group is still celebrating the recent news that its breakout hit “Crazy Girl” was certified Gold.

• • • • •

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum recently paid tribute to Chet Atkins’ thumbpicking inspiration, Merle Travis, by hosting the “Muhlenburg County Thumbpickers” concert. Named for Travis’ birthplace in Kentucky, the show featured award-winning Muhlenburg Country guitarists. The program was presented as part of the exhibit Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player, Made Possible by the Gretsch Company, which closes July 15.

(L-R): Joe Hudson, Freddie Russell, Eddie Pennington, Paul Moseley, and Vice President of Museum Programs Jay Orr. Photo: Donn Jones

• • • • •

One Night Rodeo

Country duo One Night Rodeo, which won Next GAC Star in 2008, has been tapped to headline the Hooters Summer on Ice Tour in Florida during July and August. The group and its label Fox Hill Records have partnered with Abaco Beach Resort in the Bahamas for the big tour finale. Dates here.

 

Jana Kramer To Perform on The Tonight Show

/by

Jana Kramer will perform her lead single, “Why Ya Wanna,” on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this evening (7/11) at 11:35/10:35 pm CT. The single appears on Kramer’s self-titled debut album, which was released June 5 on Elektra Nashville.

Kramer is currently on Brad Paisley’s Virtual Reality Tour performing on the Virtual Opry Stage – dates run through the Fall and can be found on her website.

Weekly Register: Is The Mighty MP3 Rebalancing Radio Power?

/by

LBT sets a "crunchy groove" on CMT Video Awards with "Pontoon."

Country music’s marketing and sales universe is rapidly evolving. Fast-moving digital influences are sending shock waves across tried and true exposure methods—sometimes causing surprises, and sometimes confirming ultimate truths. Floating into focus this week is Little Big Town’s latest track, “Pontoon” which completes a stunning seven week climb to the No. 1 position on the country tracks chart adding almost 86k downloads this week and looking like it will pass Gold status (500k) next week.

One dependable marketing pillar that remains trustworthy is musical quality. When “Pontoon” was released last May, Robert K. Oermann wrote in MusicRow, “The crunchy groove and relaxed party atmosphere are right on the money for summertime. It goes without saying that the singing and harmonies are pluperfect bliss.” (Producer Jay Joyce and writers Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird and Barry Dean were no doubt equally thrilled when they heard this track emerge from the studio.) Capitol Records wisely realized the record’s value and leveraged it into a high visibility moment on the June 6 CMT Awards TV show.

LBT’s core fans discovered the song in large enough numbers for it to debut on the  May 27 country tracks list at No. 11 (32k downloads). June 3 the song ebbed slightly to No. 13 (26k). Then came the well-conceived CMT Awards performance and “Pontoon” sailed to No. 2 (June 10) with dramatic sales in excess of 81k. Four weeks later and the song has crested at No. 1.

But where is country radio? Isn’t it absolutely imperative to have a Top 5 song in order to open the sales faucet? Perhaps not, because “Pontoon” is still sitting at No. 20 on the Billboard country radio airplay chart (7/9/12). And while 20 is better than No. 40, it’s no secret that songs outside the Top 10 are largely invisible on the country airwaves. Astute observers just saw the same track sales-then-radio effect happen with Brantley Gilbert. Gilbert’s single “You Don’t Know Her…” is No. 1 this week at radio, but has fallen to No. 25 on the tracks sales list after successfully downloading almost 650k tracks RTD over 43 weeks.

The take away is that track sales are becoming a leading indicator and revenue generator out in front of radio airplay. To be fair, radio’s role remains significant. Don’t forget that 500k in track sales is only the TEA equivalent of about 50k album sales. And track sales are not total sales, they are merely sales from a particular consumer group that engages online.

A larger country consumer group is still more comfortable buying plastic discs. In fact, as of this week about 74% of all country music album sales are sold in physical format. This would explain why Capitol has yet to announce a release date for the LBT album. Presumably, they are waiting for the single to gain altitude on the radio charts. As the digital shift continues and streaming/access outlets become more popular, the rebalancing we are starting to see of marketing leverage will become more pronounced. For example, Pandora announced (7-10-12) that it now claims a nearly 6% share of total U.S. radio listening with 54.5 million active listeners at the end of June 2012, a massive increase from last year.

The writing is on the wall. The balance of power between the mighty MP3 (served streaming or downloaded) and terrestrial analog radio, is shifting…. rapidly.

Quick Look
Kenny Chesney stays atop the country album list adding an additional 43k units to his three-week total which is now almost 300k. Our grid snapshots tell the current tale as we anxiously await and watch to find out many Zac Brown Band fans scrambled to get the group’s just released debut.

PS: Be sure to follow @MusicRow and me @davidmross on Twitter for breaking news and more…

Spotify Streams ZBB’s “Uncaged,” Offers Exclusive Content

/by

Zac Brown Band released its new album Uncaged yesterday (7/10) via Atlantic/Southern Ground.

The eleven-track album, featuring current single “The Wind,” is available both in stores and through digital retailers. Fans also have the opportunity to stream Uncaged in its entirety on Spotify, which is offering an abundance of ZBB-related bonus content to promote the release. Spotify has exclusive behind-the-scenes videos, playlists from ZBB and other Southern Ground artists, recipes, and more. Click here to listen.

ZBB is scheduled to perform on Today’s Toyota’s Concert series on Friday, July 13. A full list of upcoming tour dates can be found here.

Sony/ATV Acquisition of EMI Music Publishing Leads To Reorganization

/by

Sony/ATV Music Publishing’s recent purchase of EMI Music Publishing has resulted in company-wide restructuring. Troy Tomlinson, who heads Sony/ATV’s Nashville operations as Pres./CEO, will lead the newly combined local team.

Unofficially, MusicRow has learned that Tom Luteran will be among the staffers continuing on with the company. He has been with EMI for a decade and serves as EMI’s Vice President of A&R.

Five EMI staffers exited yesterday (7/10). Among the lay-offs is A&R Manager Laura Wright who joined the company in 2010. Her prior stops include The Writer’s Den. She can be reached at wrightla21@gmail.com.

Also exiting is Sarah Pearson, Executive Assistant, who had been with EMI almost 11 years. She can be reached at sarahp@me.com.

Catalog Manager Chris Gillis has left the company after five years. He can be reached at cbgillis@me.com.

Receptionist Sarah Babish exited and can be reached at babishs@gmail.com.

As previously reported, Ben Vaughn, Exec. VP/GM of the Nashville office, exited last week after a decade with the publishing company, including leading it since 2010. He can be contacted at nashvaughn@yahoo.com.

Billboard.biz reports that a total of 30-40 people have been let go from the company’s various offices.

On the national level, Martin Bandier leads Sony/ATV Music Publishing as Chairman & CEO. Tomlinson reports to co-president Danny Strick, who ovesees Nashville operations, East Coast creative operations, and US Latin operations.

Prior to the merger, EMI Music Publishing’s songwriter roster included Rhett Akins, Stephen Barker-Liles, Eric Gunderson, Angaleena Presley (with Ten Ten), Thomas Rhett, Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Randy Houser, Dallas Davidson, Chris Young, Hillary Scott, Natalie Hemby, Erin Enderlin, Drake White, Kelley Lovelace,  J.J. Lawhorn, Channing Wilson and more. There is no word on what writers will be affected by the changes.

There is also no information available at this time about EMI staffers Josh Van Valkenburg and Missy Wilson.

Company execs were unable to comment.

Miranda Lambert’s Vocal Rest Extended

/by

Miranda Lambert’s physician is keeping her on vocal rest for another week, extending appearance cancellations to Orange Beach, AL; Atlanta, GA; and Pelham, AL.

Lambert has been recuperating for the last week, when she was forced to postpone appearances at the Jam in the Valley festival in Varysburg, NY on July 6 and Scranton, PA on July 7. No announcement has been made regarding a rescheduled Scranton date.

Lambert’s show in Orange Beach, originally planned for Thurs., July 12, has been moved to October 4
; Atlanta’s July 13 date has been rescheduled for October 5
; and Pelham’s July 14 date will move to October 6.

“I’m so sorry to disappoint the fans that have already bought tickets to see me,” Lambert wrote in a statement. “I’m taking care of my voice and I can’t wait to get on the road again and bring you a hell of a show.”

ACM Pledges $2.5 Million to HoF Capital Campaign

/by

Country artists help ACM officers present the Hall of Fame with a check for $2.5 million. (L-R front row): ACM President Butch Waugh, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, ACM Chairman Sarah Trahern, Darius Rucker, CMHOFM’s VP of Development Pamela Johnson, Kenny Rogers, Nicole Richie, Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, ACM CEO Bob Romeo, Jennifer Nettles, Marc Anthony; (L-R middle row): Jay DeMarcus, Joe Don Rooney, Gary LeVox, John Rich, Big Kenny, Sara Evans, Jason Aldean, ACM Vice President Ken Robold, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood. (L-R back row): Neil Perry, Kimberly Perry, Reid Perry. Copyright Chris Kolk for People Country Magazine.

The Academy of Country Music has pledged $2.5 million to Working on a Building: Country Music Lives Here, the capital campaign that will finance the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s expansion to over 350,000 square feet. Included in the Hall of Fame’s expansion will be the ACM Contemporary Gallery, which will investigate modern trends in country music.

The Academy previously donated a $300,000 gift to the HoF to assist in the acquisition of four instruments that played a role in the legacies of Maybelle Carter, Johnny Cash, and Bill Monroe. The Academy also provides support for the HoF’s All For The Hall Los Angeles benefits, and is a sponsor of the new exhibition The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country.

“It is the Academy’s honor to help ensure that the history of country music can be told for generations to come,” said Bob Romeo, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “We are able to make this kind of contribution only because of the incredible country music artists who give of their time for Academy charitable endeavors; we can’t thank them enough for the impact they have on our industry.”

“We are deeply indebted to the ACM for this wonderful gift, which will help us continue to fulfill our educational mission and serve our worldwide audience,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “The genre we chronicle is a living thing, constantly evolving; country music history is being made every day. Great museums must remain relevant, and the ACM Contemporary Gallery will allow us to not only expand our examination and celebration of modern stars, important background players and new developments in the genre, but also to spotlight new artists, trends and issues as they break.”

The Working on a Building campaign started in July 2011 and has raised $70 million in cash and pledges to date. The Museum’s expansion is expected to be completed in early 2014.

DISClaimer Single Reviews (7/11/12)

/by

Disc of the Day winner Pistol Annies

Country music comes in all kinds of styles this week.

You connoisseurs of old-school, barroom story telling need go no farther than “I Just Come Here for the Music.” It’s as fine a country song as I’ve heard all year. And it sure doesn’t hurt that it’s in the throats of the masterful Don Williams and Alison Krauss.

Those of you of a forward-looking, cutting-edge persuasion owe yourselves a listen to “Truck Yeah.” You won’t find a more adventuresome single than this latest outing by Tim McGraw. The man definitely knows a hit when he hears one.

Gretchen Wilson is offering blue-eyed soul. Brian Milson is our balladeer du jour. Randy Rogers Band and Sarah Jarosz add two more, totally different, flavors to the mix.

DisCovery Award winner Her & Kings County

Our Disc of the Day prize goes to Pistol Annies for their left-field take on life as a touring musician, “Takin’ Pills.” I’m smitten with all three of these babes.

Speaking of “different,” do your ears a favor and spin “Family Tree” for them. The quirky audio charms of this platter earn Her & Kings County this week’s DisCovery Award.

RANDY ROGERS BAND/One More Sad Song
Writer: Randy Rogers/Sean McConnell; Producer: Jay Joyce; Publisher: Warner-Tamerlane/Lonely Model/Little Beluga, BMI; MCA Nashville (CDX) 
—Wonderfully melodic and marvelously atmospheric. The softly attractive, moody, cloud-shadowed and captivating verses draw you in inescapably, then give way to brightly brilliant sunbeams in the soaring choruses. Totally engaging.

SARAH JAROSZ/Annabelle Lee
Writer: Sarah Jarosz/Cameron Scoggins; Producer: Gary Paczosa; Publisher: SoRaw/Pounding Paw, BMI; Sugar Hill (CDX) 
—Based on the famed 1849 Edgar Allan Poe poem (published two days after his death), this is appropriately haunting and minor-key. But there is rhythm and drive here as well. Check it out.

COLT FORD & JAKE OWEN/Back
Writer: Colt Ford/Shannon Houchins/Noah Gordon/Mike Hartnett; Producer: Shannon Houchins, Noah Gordon & Mike Hartnett; Publisher: Average ZJS/Mike Harnett/ZJS, BMI/ASCAP; Average Joe’s (CDX) (615-733-9983)
—It was so pretty and nostalgic and tuneful, until he started to rap.

DON WILLIAMS & ALISON KRAUSS/I Just Came Here for the Music
Writer: John Ramey/Bobby Taylor/Doug Gill; Producer: Garth Fundis & Don Williams; Publisher: Sixteen Stars/Stella Dog/Peacehouse, BMI; Sugar Hill (track) (www.donwilliams.com)
—Wistful, poignant and loaded with emotion. From the aching lyric of two lost souls to the awesomely heart-tugging vocal work, this is country-music heaven.

BRIAN MILSON/Too Damn Young
Writer: Casey Kessel/Arlis Albritton; Producer: James Stroud; Publisher: Major Bob/EMI, ASCAP; Permian/Quarterback (www.brianmilson.com)
—Remembering a youthful romance with just the right amount of wisdom and lingering innocence. Well written, well sung and well produced.

TIM McGRAW/Truck Yeah
Writer: Chris Janson/Preston Brust/Chris Lucas/Danny Myrick; Producer: Ryron Gallimore & Tim McGraw; Publisher: Red Vinyl/Sony-ATV Tree/Root 49/DannyMyrick, BMI; Big Machine 
—It’s borderline offensive. Which is probably why I like it so. Also: It’s a decidedly different musical approach, and that’s always a welcome thing from a veteran superstar.

GRETCHEN WILSON/One Good Friend
Writer: Dennis Morgan/Billy Burnette/Bekka Bramlett; Producer: none listed; Publisher: Little Shop of Morgansongs/Still Working for the Man/Irving/Miss Ivy, BMI; Redneck 
—As usual, she is an immensely expressive vocalist. This time around, she’s delving into an r&b, soul-sister groove, to the accompaniment of a fuzz-tone guitar, a stately backbeat and a searing organ solo. The super-cool song deserves to be covered by every blues-leaning artist on the planet.

PISTOL ANNIES/Takin’ Pills
Writer: Miranda Lambert/Ashley Monroe/Angaleena Presley; Producer: Frank Liddell & Mike Wrucke; Publisher: Sony-ATV Tree/Pink Dog/Reynsong/Ayden/Ten Ten, BMI/ASCAP; Columbia (track) 
—“One’s drinkin,’ one’s smokin,’ one’s takin’ pills.” Now THAT’S a country lyric you don’t hear every day from a gang of gals on the honky-tonk trail. Mix the vocal attitude with a dose of raucous band noise, a dollop of feisty harmonies and a pinch of lively snare and you’ve got the perfect hillbilly cocktail recipe.

KELLY PARKES/All Cried Out
Writer: Ron Irving/Lynda McKillip/Kathleen Higgins; Producer: Darran Smith, Mark Lambert & Mike Borchetta; Publisher: SueCo/McKiller/Marydian, SOCAN; Edge (615-288-4234 ext. 101)
—Bopping and cheeky, if a little uncertain vocally in spots. It kinda sounds like if they’d taken a few more passes at it, she’d have locked into the band’s groove a mite more and nailed it. But make no mistake, there’s definite promise here.

HER & KINGS COUNTY/Family Tree
Writer: Caleb Sherman/Monique Staffile/Larry Florman/Justin Sherman/Alex Haddad/Frank Gagliardi; Producer: Caleb Sherman, Wayne Kirkpatrick & Josh Leo; Publisher: Warner-Tamerlane/ Therealcaleb/ Tweetleberry/ Brolo/ Shuggafree/ Alex Haddad/Katie Ro, BMI/ASCAP; Elektra Nashville/Warner Bros. 
—This mixes hearty group choral harmonies with crunchy beats, spoken-sung passages, superb production finesse and a ridiculously catchy song. Plus, it’s completely joyful. A delightful surprise.

Signing and Hiring News

/by

WAR Promotion VP Chris Palmer and WAR Promotion National Dir. Jordan Pettit are hiring a Nashville based Promotion Coordinator for the WAR Team. The ideal candidate will be a highly-organized self-starter with a strong attention to detail and the ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment. The candidate should also possess excellent writing skills and should be able to communicate with all levels of individuals including staff, artists, managers and fans. Up to two years of experience in the music/ marketing/sales fields and some college preferred. Artist roster includes Faith Hill, Big & Rich, Gloriana, Jana Kramer, Frankie Ballard, Brett Eldredge, and Charlie Worsham.

Visit www.wmg.com/jobsoverview for details. Submit resumes to Carolyn Drosey at carolyn.drosey@wmg.com.

• • • •

Kirt Webster, President of Webster & Associates Public Relations, proudly announces the addition of Danielle Peck to the publicity roster. Claire Cook will handle the day to day publicity services for Danielle. Contact her  at claire@websterpr.com.