Photo Friday (7/6/12)

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The Academy of Country Music recently welcomed Sea Gayle/Arista Nashville recording artist Jerrod Niemann to its offices while he was in Los Angeles. He is gearing up for the October 2 release of his sophomore album, Free The Music. While at the Academy he performed his current single “Shinin’ On Me,” and previewed songs from Free The Music for the staff.

(L-R): Paul Barnabee, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Sony Music Nashville; Jerrod Niemann; Tiffany Moon, ACM Executive Vice President/Managing Director; Steve Emley, Fitzgerald Hartley Photo: Michel Bourquard/Courtesy of the Academy of Country Music

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Grammy award-winning guitarist Earl Klugh performed at the Country Music Hall of Fame ® and Museum on Saturday (6/30). Klugh performed and shared memories of his friend and mentor, Chet Atkins. The exhibit Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player, will close on July 15.

(L-R): Curatorial Director Mick Buck, Steve Wariner, c.g.p., Earl Klugh, John Knowles, c.g.p., and Mark Pritcher, president of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. Photo: Donn Jones

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Steel Magnolia recently played to a near capacity crowd at the Mable House Barnes Amphitheater near Atlanta. Despite the high temperatures, former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes and his daughter stayed for their entire 90-minute set. The duo also performed “God Bless America ” during the 7th Inning Stretch at Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves/Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game.

Steel Magnolia's Joshua Scott Jones, Governor Roy Barnes and Steel Magnolia's Meghan Linsey Photo: Dan Harr/MusicNewsNashville.com

 

 

Creative Nation and Preston Taylor Ministries Partner For Benefit

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Recently announced publishing entity of Luke and Beth Laird, Creative Nation, will join forces with Preston Taylor Ministries on Tues., July 10 at 3rd and Lindsley to benefit Nashville inner-city ministry youth programs.

The evening will begin at 6 pm with performances by songwriters Luke Laird, Rhett Akins, Dave Berg, Ashley Gorley, Ann Marie, Danny Myrick and a special performance from The Little Preston Taylor Ministries Rockers.

Tickets are $5 and support Preston Taylor Ministries mission to provide hope for children and families living in environments of drug use, gang involvement, teenage pregnancy, illiteracy, poor school performance and crime through mentoring programs, after school activities and Bible studies.

For additional information on Preston Taylor Ministries, visit www.ptmweb.ik.org

CountryBreakout No. 1 Song

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According to the California Welfare and Institutions Code, Section 5150 allows a qualified officer to involuntarily confine a person who is deemed to be a danger to himself or others. Which means Dierks Bentley could be wading through some serious Fatal Attraction territory over some girl in his latest single “5-1-5-0.”

And yet, the song (written by Bentley with Brett and Jim Beavers) sounds like concentrated summertime, riding a twangy, uptempo groove that screams “Party!” Which is one good reason it’s the CountryBreakout Chart No. 1 song for the third consecutive week. Extending this theme, the Wes Edwards-directed video clip features copious amounts of ATVs, jacked up trucks, mud, scantily clad women, dust clouds and a high speed police chase. So this particular state of mental distress actually seems like a pretty happenin’ way to be, all things considered.

“I have never had so much fun…or gotten so dirty…at a video shoot,” said Bentley. “It’s hard to call it ‘work’ when you get to drive trucks and four wheelers through the mud all day. The fans who came out to this shoot were ready to get 5-1-5-0, so we basically just pulled up a bunch of trucks, threw some gear in the back, turned up the speakers and then let them do their thing. It was pretty wild!”

Bentley also recently played CMT’s Unplugged series, where he unveiled his new signature HD Dierks Bentley Martin guitar, which will be available in stores fall. For tour dates, check www.dierks.com.

Weekly Chart Report (7/5/2012)

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Joanna Smith visited with WDKN recently to promote her new single, “We Can’t Be Friends.” The song lands at No. 26 on this week’s CountryBreakout Chart. Pictured (L-R): Dale Turner (WDKN), Smith, RG Jones (Sony Music Nashville)

SPIN ZONE
This summer’s heat wave continues its grip on us just as Dierks Bentley’s “5-1-5-0″ continues holding CountryBreakout Chart’s No. 1 spot for the third consecutive week. The Band Perry’s “Postcard From Paris” maintains the No. 2 spot while Keith Urban’s “For You” jumps another step to No. 3. In its 8th week on the chart, Kenny Chesney’s “Come Over” skips up one to No. 4 followed by Gloriana‘s “Kissed You” at No. 5.

Judging by the high number of frozen reports below, many radio people are vacationing or just enjoying some Independence Day time off. Nevertheless, Little Big Town’s “Pontoon” paddles up another 3 spots entering the Top 10 at No. 9 with a 245 spin gain this week. Zac Brown Band‘s “The Wind” blows by another 3 spots to No. 20 while Carrie Underwood‘s “Blown Away” leaps from No. 73 to No. 44 in its 2nd week on the chart with 362 additional spins.

Tim McGraw’s “Truck Yeah” at No. 60 is both the highest chart debut and the largest increase in spins this week. Other debuts include Andy Gibson‘s “Summer Back” at No. 63, Candy Coburn‘s “That Thing You Do” at No. 77, Eric Church‘s “Creepin'” at No. 78, Glen Templeton‘s “That’s My Job” at No. 79, and Randy Travis‘ “More Life” at No. 80.

Frozen Reports: KCJC, KFTX, KGMN, KICR, KMKS, KTTI, KVOM, KVVP, KXBZ, KYEZ, KYYK, KYTN, KZTL, WDHR, WEIO, WKDZ, WLJE, WOWF, WQNZ, WRHT, WTCM, WTHO

RADIO NEWS
KBXB/Sikeston, MO PD C.J. Cruze has announced he is exiting his position with the station, effective July 13. Taking up his duties will be Brian Taylor, who will take music calls Tuesdays 11 am – 12 pm. Reach him at btaylor@withersradio.net.


Upcoming Singles
July 9
Carrie Underwood/Blown Away/19-Arista Nashville
The Lost Trailers/American Beauty/Stokes-HRT-New Revolution
Lisa Torres/Car That Runs/Render Records
Miss Willie Brown/You’re All That Matters To Me/A&M Octone-Rodeowave
Parmalee/Musta Had A Good Time/Stoney Creek
Kip Moore/Beer Money/MCA
Steve Richard/Toothbrush/Force MP-GrassRoots
Marty Stuart with Buck Trent/Tear The Woodpile Down/Sugar Hill
Joanna Mosca/Dream On Savannah/Dolce Diva

July 16
Lauren Alaina/Eighteen Inches/Mercury Nashville-19 Recordings-Interscope
Kelleigh Bannen/Sorry on the Rocks/EMI Nashville
Levi Riggs/There’s Still A Place For That/Flying Island
Lonestar/The Countdown/4 Star Records
Shooter Jennings/The Real Me/eOne
Levi Riggs/There’s Still A Place For That/Windridge
John Karl/Redneck Rich (Hillbilly Happy)/Pour Boy
Don Williams feat. Alison Krauss/I Just Come Here For The Music/Sugar Hill

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New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Tim McGraw/Truck Yeah/Big Machine – 60
Andy Gibson/Summer Back/Curb – 63
Candy Coburn/That Thing You Do/LomaJean – 77
Eric Church/Creepin’/EMI Nashville – 78
Glen Templeton/That’s My Job/Black River Entertainment – 79
Randy Travis/More Life/Warner Bros. – 80

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Tim McGraw/Truck Yeah/Big Machine – 364
Carrie Underwood/Blown Away/19-Arista Nashville – 362
Little Big Town/Pontoon/Capitol – 245
Zac Brown Band/The Wind/Southern Ground-Atlantic – 207
Lady Antebellum/Wanted You More/Capitol – 198

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Carrie Underwood/Blown Away/19-Arista Nashville – 16
Miranda Lambert/Fastest Girl In Town/RCA Nashville – 16
Tim McGraw/Right Back Atcha Babe/Curb – 12
Aaron Lewis/Endless Summer/Blaster Records – 12
Trace Adkins/Them Lips (On Mine)/Show Dog-Universal – 10
Casey James/Crying On A Suitcase/19-Columbia Nashville – 9
Heidi Newfield/Why’d You Have To Be So Good/Sidewalk Records – 8

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
Bill Gentry/That Kind of Life/Tenacity Records – 184
Brandon Holland/Man In The Moon – 167
Britt & Blaire/Young Summer/Mt. Juliet Records – 165
Bobby Dean/Me and George Strait/Lamon – 165
Sawyer Brown/Ain’t Goin’ Out That Way/Beach Street Records – 161

Trace Adkins made a stop in Bakersfield as part of his "Songs and Stories Tour" Pictured (L-R): KUZZ/Bakersfield PD Tom Jordan, Jordan's wife Lori Giamanco, Adkins and Show Dog-Universal’s Lisa Owen

Scotty McCreery and Jana Kramer played WKLB/Boston’s Rockin’ Country Music Series on Monday night (7/2). Pictured (L-R) W.A.R. MW/NE regionals Lindsay Walleman, WKLB’s Dawn Santolucito, Kramer, McCreery, WKLB’s Ginny Rogers, and Mercury’s Sally Green

Two Old Hippies Fundraiser Features John Oates, Drake White and More

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Two Old Hippies, Bedell Guitars and Little Kids Rock will host the inaugural “Celebration of Music” fundraiser on Wednesday, July 11, at Events on 3rd in Printers Alley. The benefit event kicks off the National Association of Music Merchandisers (NAMM) conference which runs July 12-14.

The special event begins at 6:30 pm, is open to the public and features a free buffet dinner, cash bar, and silent auction. Performers for the evening include Little Kids Rock Band, John Oates, Gary Morris, Drake White, Danielle Peck, and The Nashville Alternators.

The silent auction features items such as signed lyrics from Vince Gill and Amy Grant, an autographed Peter Frampton Hatch Show Print, an autographed Monday Night Football from Faith Hill, backstage passes to an Alabama show, and more. Proceeds will benefit the Two Old Hippies Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to support Nashville schools and students.

Check here for more info.

Weekly Register: Mid-Year Country Stats Shine

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Sales from January to June are behind us, so it’s time to study. Six months does not make a year, and so we’re looking here for trends and big picture results. In that spirit we have created our Top Country Label Groups and Top Country by Distribution Groups pie charts based solely upon the Top 20 highest selling YTD country albums according to Nielsen Soundscan and industry sources. Using a top 20 snapshot excludes catalog sales, but gives an ideal picture of the hottest current artists, their product and the labels and label groups that market them. (For reference, included at the bottom of the page is total distribution by groups, including catalog and all album country sales.)

Distribution Groups
UMG is the big story here, owning a full 37% of country product in our Top 20 mid-year group. (Note that if the EMI merger was already completed, the new entity would have 64%.) Counted in UMG’s distribution share is Mercury, MCA, ShowDog and Big Machine. Sony distributes BNA, RCA, Arista and Broken Bow (RED) while Warner includes Curb and Atlantic. The Top 20 Country titles sold 6.298 million units or about 33% of the total YTD album sales of 19.467 units.

The Albums
Mid-year YTD sales of the top country albums ranges from Lionel Richie (No. 1; 900k) to Alan Jackson (No. 20; 149k). In between we find new names such Luke Bryan (No. 3; 575k), Eric Church (No. 6; 363k), The Band Perry (No. 8; 262k), Scott McCreery (No. 11; 224k), Brantley Gilbert (No. 12; 219k) and Lee Brice (No. 19; 149k). Stalwarts who scanned highly include Carrie Underwood (No. 2; 602k), Lady Antebellum (No. 4; 465k), Jason Aldean (No. 5;399k), Rascal Flatts (No. 7; 303k), Kenny Chesney (No. 9; 255k), Tim McGraw (No. 10; 249k), Blake Shelton (No. 13; 217k), Miranda Lambert (No. 14; 210k) and Toby Keith (No. 15; 209k).

The above rankings will likely change quite a bit by year end as new product is released. For example Chesney’s album at No. 9 YTD is only two weeks old. And Taylor Swift currently at No. 16 will likely climb much higher on our list if she releases a new album before year end. Zac Brown (No. 19; 149k) has new product coming out next week.

 

By Label Groups
The Top 20 wheel of fortune shows a tale of three basic groupings. At the top we have Capitol Records proudly showing a healthy margin with 27% of our Top 20 sales. Universal, Sony and Big Machine follow respectfully about 10 points behind and the remaining labels trail behind another 10 percentage points.

Summary
Country was the best performing album sales genre for the first six months of 2012 climbing 5.6%. Metal jumped 3.2%, Jazz increased 2.6% and Rock edged up .2%, but all other formats fell. Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan made the Mid-Year Top 10 Album Sales All Genre list at numbers 2, 6 and 7 respectively. According to Nielsen Soundscan, SME has the largest overall album sales market share with 30.41% this year. UMG follows with 28.98%. WMG captured 18.26% and unlike in the country format EMI is at the bottom of the list with 10.08%. (Others gets the remaining 12.26%). The pie graph to the right shows Total Country Album Distribution. Note that EMI’s country division at 16.34% is a lot stronger than the company’s all genre showing (10.08%).

David Nail Suits Up For MLB All-Star Celeb Softball

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David Nail will take the field in Kansas City as part of the Taco Bell All Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game on Sun., July 8.

Nail will join MLB greats Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, Rollie Fingers, Ozzie Smith and Mike Piazza as well as Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet, Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm, Glee’s Chord Overstreet and Kansas City Royals favorites George Brett, Bo Jackson and Mike Sweeney. Other celebrity participants include US National Soccer Team captain Carlos Bocanegra, US Softball Gold Medalist Jennie Finch and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel.

“They get on the field to play hard – and they do,” says Nail of his fellow players. “I know I’m honored to get out there with those folks and play softball… because they’re not joking around, and that’s the best kind of game.”

ESPN will broadcast the Softball Game immediately after the Home Run Derby on Mon., July 9 at approximately 10:30 pm ET. It will also be available through ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile and the Watch ESPN app. For more information visit www.allstargame.com.

Nail also recently announced the release of his digital EP later this month.

Charlie Cook On Air: Andy Griffith

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When I started in radio I worked 3 PM until 11 PM Monday through Saturday. I turned the radio station off at 11 PM and cleaned up the office (and related littler offices, if you know what I mean) before I left for home. Today my hours are different.

Most people start their careers as journeyman. I have read that some starting as newspaper journalists begin by writing obituaries.

I am one of those weird people who read obits and visits cemeteries from time to time. I know that this sounds morbid but visiting grave sites is like reading abbreviated biographies.

The week before Independence Day I visited Arlington National Cemetery and a local cemetery here in Morgantown, West Virginia.

There are 300,000 stories at Arlington and some of them we know. President Kennedy, the Challenger astronauts and more heroes than I could ever list here.

The cemetery here in Morgantown includes the grave of Zacquill Morgan, who founded this city. I ran across the grave of Thomas F. Brooks who was born in 1770. He died in 1836. I stood above the grave of Mr. Brooks realizing that he was born before the Revolutionary War and died before the Civil War.

That made me stop and think about our history and to appreciate what we have done for the world in those 236 years.

Then just three days ago someone who has been part of almost everyone’s history died. Andy Griffith.

We talk about six degrees of separation but it was much closer here in Morgantown. You see, Morgantown was the hometown of Don Knotts.

And then as a Country Music fan we all appreciated what Mr. Griffith contributed to another West Virginian’s body of work. “Waiting on a Woman” was a great song but a spectacular video for Brad Paisley and Andy Griffith was the reason.

Raise your hand if you have ever watched The Andy Griffith Show. Or Matlock. And don’t forget that Andy was associated with Gospel and Country Music during his early career.

I am not here to write an obituary for Andy Griffith. I could never do that and you can find one online if you want one.

But what I wanted to do is say thanks to Andy, to Jack Lameier, to Frances Preston and Donna Hilley and Rusty Walker.

It has been a tough couple of months for those of us in and around Country Music. It should make all of us think about how much of a family we all are.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MusicRow.)

Fleming to be Featured as Next “Poet & Prophet”

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Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Kye Fleming will be featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s next installment of “Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters” on July 28.

The 90 minute program will begin at 1:30 pm and will be hosted by Museum Editor Michael Gray with recordings, photos, and film clips from the museum’s archive. Following the program, Fleming will sign Hatch Show Print posters. The program is included with admission and free to museum members.

Fleming’s long list of hit songs includes “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” “Smoky Mountain Rain,” “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed,” “Roll On Mississippi” and more.  Her songs have been recorded by Crystal Gayle, Amy Grant, Bette Midler, Willie Nelson, Tina Turner, and others. She has won over 40 BMI Awards, including three Songwriter of the Year Honors, and she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009.

Brooks Sets Release Date For Solo Album

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Kix Brooks will release his solo Arista Nashville debut album, New To This Town on September 11. The 12-song collection, nine of which Brooks co-wrote, was produced by Brooks with Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus co-producing the title track.

“I made an album that really is close to my heart, and it’s a whole lot of fun,” shares Brooks. “For the most part, the music’s just…it’s kind of fun and games and hangin’ it out there and thinkin’ about gettin’ back in a lot of those clubs and festivals and gettin’ to play again. It’s like, you know, people come to enjoy themselves, and I think this album in a lot of ways is about that.”

The full track listing is below for New To This Town:
1. New To This Town (Featuring Joe Walsh)
2. Moonshine Road
3. Bring It On Home
4. There’s The Sun
5. Complete 360
6. My Baby
7. Tattoo
8. In The Right Place
9. Next To That Woman
10. Let’s Do This Thing
11. Closin’ Time At Home
12. She Knew I Was A Cowboy

Fans can pre-order New To This Town here.

On Tuesday, July, 10 Brooks will make his solo debut on the Grand Ole Opry.