• Anthony Allen is taking on APD, MD and afternoon drive duties at WSIX/Nashville. He fills the afternoon vacancy left by the departure of Big D & Bubba last month. Allen makes the move from KZSN/Wichita. At WSIX, Jon Anthony continues as PD.

• Sony/ATV CEO Marty Bandier gives some insight into his plans for EMI Music Publishing in a new interview with UK publication Music Week. He says EMI will keep its name and will operate mostly as a separate entity. He explains Sony/ATV will control 38% of EMI Publishing as “a separate company owned by a group of investors that Sony Corp is a minority shareholder in.” Bandier spent 17 years at EMI before joining Sony/ATV in 2007. More here.

• MusicRow Founder David Ross has launched a blog at SecretsOfTheList.com to chronicle the progress of his upcoming book by the same name. The site is also a platform for the exchange of ideas, including a new hot-button editorial by Jaron Lowenstein (aka Jaron And The Long Road To Love) titled “Nashville’s Beautiful Prison Makes Artists Expendable.”

• The new installment of “CMA Industry InSite” is entitled “Country Goes Global.” It includes interviews with artist/songwriter Jace Everett; Mark Hagen, Executive Director, BBC Radio; Rob Potts, CEO Managing Director, Rob Potts Entertainment Edge; Brad Turcotte, International Director of Marketing, Big Machine Label Group; and Jeff Walker, CEO, The AristoMedia Group.

• The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is celebrating the holiday season with a special spotlight exhibit of festive dresses from Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and Taylor Swift.

• Tickets to the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards go on sale to the public  Sat., Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. Members can purchase tickets through tomorrow (12/10) at 10 p.m. CST with a special pre-sale code. Tickets here. The 30th annual CCMA Awards will take place in Saskatoon, SK on Sept. 9. Nominees will be announced July 18, 2012. Details at www.ccma.org.

• Former Little Texas frontman Tim Rushlow has released a solo Christian EP, Unfinished Symphony, on Liquid Spins Records. The project was produced by award winner Ian Eskelin and includes single “Rain Down on Me.” It is available for digital download with a full length CD to follow in 2012.

• Publicist Joseph Conner has left his gig at Lotos Nile and joined the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation as Marketing & PR Coordinator. His previous stops include Kaleidoscope Media. Contact him at (615) 467-1936, x114 or JConner@minniepearl.org.

• Songwriter Dennis Morgan’s “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” is included in a European T-Mobile ad which recently won TV Commercial of the Year in the UK. The song was originally a hit duet for Aretha Franklin & George Michael.

• MD Records is open under the direction of President Kelli McGarraugh. The label is working a single from flagship artist Jason Thomas titled “I’m Your Radio.” The video has been added to GACTV.com. MD Records can be reached at (615) 283-7479 and info@mdrecordsofficial.com.

• KCA Artists has signed Boston-based bluegrass girl band Della Mae.

Rodney Atkins has inked new contracts with longtime homes Curb Records and Curb Publishing. Since 1996, the partnership has resulted in four studio albums and six multi-week No. 1 hits.

“Mike Curb encouraged me to learn about songwriting, how to write songs, how to go in and produce those songs,” says Atkins. “He allowed me to get in the studio and experiment and learn the process. Hats off to Mike for really sticking with artist development for a long time—for believing in that.”

Curb adds, “Rodney Atkins represents everything that we believe in. Rodney worked with us for almost 10 years before his first major hit, and since that time he has had the Billboard No. 1 Record of the Year twice with ‘If You’re Going Through Hell’ and ‘Watching You,’ and his recent multi-week No. 1 record ‘Take A Back Road’ is one of the top three country records of the year in 2011.”

Hank Williams Jr. performed an acoustic benefit concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Dec. 6, marking the close of a four-year run of Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy exhibit.

Hank Jr.’s performance infused personal memories and raised $75,000 to benefit the Hall. He also announced that many artifacts he loaned for the exhibition will stay in the museum and archives.

The 90-minute show included Williams’ own hits, youngest son Sam singing “The Blues Man,” new tunes from a forthcoming CD, and classics from Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.

Special guests in the audience included Jessi Colter, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Williams’ wife Mary Jane, and children.

After the concert, Williams greeted audience members and posed for pictures in the Ford Theater. A reception followed in the Hall of Fame Rotunda, and fans received a signed poster commemorating the exhibit.

Family Tradition opened on March 28, 2008. Originally scheduled to close on Dec. 31, 2009, the exhibit became the most popular and acclaimed exhibition in the museum’s history and was eventually extended through Dec. 31, 2011.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland announced its 2012 inductees today. The 27th Annual Rock Hall Induction Ceremony will take place April 14, 2012 in Cleveland and premiere on HBO in early May. The ceremony will be again be open to the public, as it was for the 2009 inductions.

Performers being inducted include some of the 1980s’ biggest rock stars, like early hip hop outfit Beastie Boys, L.A. funk rock troublemakers Red Hot Chili Peppers, and hard rock legends Guns N’ Roses (the remnants of whom just played Nashville last Sunday, Dec. 4). 1960s Scottish psychedelic folkie Donovan also made the cut, as did English rockers The Small Faces, and its later Rod Stewart-fronted incarnation known simply as Faces. The late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, responsible for penning hits such as “Wedding Bell Blues” and “Stoned Soul Picnic” for the 5th Dimension and many more, will also be honored. Blues legend Freddie King will be inducted posthumously as an Early Influence, thanks to the impact he had on Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Jeff Beck and countless other blues-based guitar players.

The Ahmet Ertegun nonperformer induction will be presented to veteran Don Kirshner, whose work as co-owner of Aldon Music published some of the Brill Building’s biggest songwriters including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, and more. He additionally served as producer for The Monkees, and collaborated with Bobby Darin on many jingles and songs. He passed away earlier in 2011, at the age of 76.

Inductions for Musical Excellence go to New Orleans engineer Cosimo Matassa, who engineered and recorded music by Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew, Professor Longhair and many of the city’s finest R&B performers at his studio; Tom Dowd, who engineered and produced albums for Atlantic Records including Ray Charles, LaVern Baker, and Aretha Franklin among others; Engineer and producer Glyn Johns, who produced the Who’s Who’s Next, Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers and Faces’ A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse, in addition to the Eagles’ first three albums.

2012 Inductees:

Performer Category:
Beastie Boys
Donovan
Guns N’ Roses
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Small Faces/The Faces

Early Influence:
Freddie King

Ahmet Ertegun (nonperformer) Award:
Don Kirshner

The Award for Musical Excellence:
Cosimo Matassa
Tom Dowd
Glyn Johns