Capitol Nashville artist Dierks Bentley is heading to Minneapolis to do his part for safe, clean drinking water. The singer will join forces with Live Earth and Life Time Fitness and take part in the Minneapolis leg of the Dow Live Earth Run for Water, the largest global water initiative in history aimed at helping solve the world water crisis. Bentley will perform at the event, which takes place at Lake Nokomis.
The largest worldwide water initiative on record to help combat the global water crisis, the Dow Live Earth Run for Water is a series of 6km run/walks (the average distance many women and children walk every day to get water), culminating with water education villages and live musical performances.
“I’m looking forward to this event and helping bring attention to the global water crisis,” says Bentley. “The run/walks that are happening on the same day across the world are a great reminder that we are all connected and that we are all responsible for helping each other. I’ve always loved playing in Minneapolis…lots of country music fans there, and I’m excited to be part of this historic event.”
On April 18, the events will take place in 100 cities across 50 countries around the world to raise awareness and funds. Rob Thomas, Melissa Etheridge, Pete Wentz, Angelique Kidjo, environmental advocate Alexandra Cousteau, track stars Carl Lewis and Kara Goucher and tri-athlete Jenny Fletcher are among the celebrities who will support the events. Additional artist announcements for events taking place in Chicago and New York are coming soon.
Funds raised from the events will benefit Global Water Challenge, a coalition of non profit organizations working to bring clean, safe drinking water to millions of people worldwide. This includes innovative projects that provide clean drinking water to communities in Haiti, Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.
“The money raised from these events will help thousands of people in the developing world get access to clean drinking water. We look forward to investing these funds and impacting lives.” said Paul Faeth, President of Global Water Challenge.
You can find more information about the Dow Live Earth Run for Water here.
Dierks Bentley Sings For Clean Water
/by contributorThe largest worldwide water initiative on record to help combat the global water crisis, the Dow Live Earth Run for Water is a series of 6km run/walks (the average distance many women and children walk every day to get water), culminating with water education villages and live musical performances.
On April 18, the events will take place in 100 cities across 50 countries around the world to raise awareness and funds. Rob Thomas, Melissa Etheridge, Pete Wentz, Angelique Kidjo, environmental advocate Alexandra Cousteau, track stars Carl Lewis and Kara Goucher and tri-athlete Jenny Fletcher are among the celebrities who will support the events. Additional artist announcements for events taking place in Chicago and New York are coming soon.
Funds raised from the events will benefit Global Water Challenge, a coalition of non profit organizations working to bring clean, safe drinking water to millions of people worldwide. This includes innovative projects that provide clean drinking water to communities in Haiti, Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.
“The money raised from these events will help thousands of people in the developing world get access to clean drinking water. We look forward to investing these funds and impacting lives.” said Paul Faeth, President of Global Water Challenge.
You can find more information about the Dow Live Earth Run for Water here.
Mark Weiss Joins Ten Ten
/by contributorMark Weiss
Ten Ten Music Group has announced the appointment of Mark Weiss as the company’s Director of Business Affairs. A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, Weiss’ previous industry experience includes stints at 615 Music, Scarlet Moon Music, Harlan Howard Songs, and the RCA Label Group.
“Mark’s wide range of experience in Nashville, International Publishing, and the Film & TV industry makes him a great addition to maximize business with our very active catalog,” says Ten Ten Music Co-President Barry Coburn.
“I’m so glad we now have the opportunity of having Mark’s expertise at Ten Ten,” added Jewel Coburn, Ten Ten Music Co-President.
“Country Boys” Donate a Blessing
/by contributor“We are proud to host the kick-off of this concert series,” says Kendall Wall, General Manager of the Florence Civic Center. The generosity of these country artists donating their time and talent for such a worthy cause is inspirational. We are looking forward to a great night of country music.”
The Country Boys include John Michael Montgomery, Bucky Covington, Flynnville Train, Dustin Wilkes and additional artists at various cities.
“We are encouraging other recording artists to join in our effort,” says Thomas Hammond Sr., founder of The Donate a Blessing Foundation. “We feel passionate about raising as much money for this relief effort as possible and have an electric concert series, too.”
People can support the cause by attending the live shows or by texting BLESS to 85944 to give a $5 donation which is automatically billed to the cell phone bill.
Reba Keeps On Going Gold
/by contributor“It is always a thrill to get a Gold record,” says the singer. “I have been blessed to get to record some great songs from great songwriters and then go into the studio and work with great producers and musicians. My Valory team, led by Scott Borchetta, have played a huge role in the success of this CD.”
All eyes were on Reba when she made the move to an independent label,” says Valory Music Co. President & CEO Borchetta. “It’s very gratifying that Reba and the Valory team have not only hit the initial goals but we have exceeded them with her first-ever #1 Billboard Top 200 album debut and her longest-to-date #1 single, ‘Consider Me Gone.'”
With the success of “Consider Me Gone,” Reba, who is currently celebrating her 14th ACM Top Female Vocalist nomination, joins Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and Gretchen Wilson as the only female country artists to log more than three weeks at No. 1 in the past 10 years. Filmed recently in Los Angeles, the music video for “I Keep On Loving You” features generations of Reba and her husband’s families and friends as well as The Young & The Restless stars Tracey Bregman Recht and Christian LeBlanc. You can check the video below.
Gretchen Wilson Prominent on iTunes
/by contributorGretchen Wilson’s fourth studio album, I Got Your Country Right Here, is set to hit stores on Tuesday, March 30, but fans of the Redneck Woman can pre-order the 11-cut album from iTunes now (for a nice $10 price).
i-Tunes is giving the album some premium billing, featuring it on its Music Main Page and on the Country Page. The CD is also being featured in the pre-order section on both pages of the popular digital music site.
Fans in the U.S. and Canada can access the CD directly at:
U.S. http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/i-got-your-country-right-here/id361326735
Canada: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/preorder/i-got-your-country-right-here/id361326735
Wilson’s “Work Hard, Play Harder” single has already gone Top 30 on the national country charts, and the corresponding music video is in rotation at CMT Pure, CMT, GAC and a host of other regional and local video shows and video pools. Check out the “Work Hard, Play Harder” below.
Martina’s Fan Base Gets Involved
/by contributorMyspace.com and McBride recently teamed up to give fans the chance to karaoke for the singer. The competition allows fans to belt out songs from Shine, including her current Top 20 single, “Wrong, Baby, Wrong,” as well as familiar classics, including “This One’s For The Girls.” Myspace.com will narrow down the entries to 20 and McBride will pick the winner, who gets travel and accommodations to check out the Shine All Night tour stop in Altanta, GA on May 1. Fans can log on to http://ksolo.myspace.com/music/Martina-McBride to give it their best shot.
Non-singing fans can follow the singer on Twitter for more ticket giveaways. McBride gives fans the chance to win tickets for each show via a Twitter scavenger hunt. She personally hides the tickets with a hand-written note on the day of the show and the hunt begins. McBride tweets clues for the location of the tickets until they are found. Winners are encouraged to tweet a photo of themselves with the tickets.
“The Twitter ticket hunt is a really fun way to connect with the fans in each city and we have a blast doing it,” says McBride. “I tweet the clues myself so it’s really cool to see the winners in the front row. Sometimes they even bring the envelope and wave and say thanks!”
“Martina Moments” have been taking fans “behind the curtain” since May 2009 and the fun continues this week as fans get a backstage look at how McBride prepares for her show with the “Dance Party” episode. It becomes available today (3/25) at www.MartinaMcBride.com. Other moments, including a visit to McBride’s hometown, McBride onstage with Kid Rock and behind the scenes at the video shoot for “Wrong, Baby, Wrong” can be found on her site as well, with new moments being added weekly.
The Book Wars—Chapter One Reading Between The Lines
/by adminAmazon’s latest move has been to make its book content readable on devices in addition to the kindle. Just this week they released software that makes Kindle books readable on Mac computers. Other hardware that already had software to read Kindle books inclues the iPhone, Blackberry and many PCs.
To date, research shows baby boomers and middle aged women appear to be the most fervent adopters of the new digital book reading formats. Additional players in the digital book space include Sony, Barnes & Noble, Plastic Logic, Microsoft and Google. Apple’s iBookstore platform has the advantage of being part of its iTunes store which consumers understand and enjoy using. However, the iPad’s book-reading experience is still an unknown, leaving the book market balance of power a mystery novel yet to be written.
Fans To Decide Brooks & Dunn’s ACM Song
/by contributorBeginning today (3/24), viewers can log onto www.cbs.com/brooksdunn to vote in two phases for one of six favorite Brooks & Dunn songs:
My Maria
Brand New Man
Red Dirt Road
Neon Moon
You’re Gonna Miss Me
Boot Scootin’ Boogie
There is no registration to vote, and fans may vote one time per day. Additionally, a 30-second clip of each song is available for listening. The second phase of voting begins on Wednesday, April 14 when the list narrows down to the top three songs. Fans may again vote to decide which hit song the duo will perform on the broadcast. Voting will continue up until Brooks & Dunn’s final ACM performance on Sunday, April 18.
At this year’s ACM Awards, Brooks & Dunn are nominated for Top Vocal Duo of the Year. As part of the previously announced May 23 tribute concert special, ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn – The Last Rodeo, the duo will receive the Academy’s Milestone Award in recognition of their 20-year record-breaking career. They will be honored for holding the record for the most wins of any artist in the Academy’s history with 26 awards in total, including three Entertainer of the Year awards. They will also be honored for holding the record for most Top Vocal Duo wins, with 15 awards, eight of which are consecutive from 2000-2007.
Trailer Choir
/by ProgrammerPlaylistShow Dog – Universal Music
Are you sick of this long, cold winter? Are you eagerly awaiting summer’s arrival and the time when you can open the car window to let your hair blow around? So are we. And Trailer Choir is here to help us all into the warmer seasons with “Rollin’ Through The Sunshine,” a little slice of joy that’s impacting radio right now.
“This song is pure Trailer Choir,” says TC member Crystal. “Sometimes you need an escape and that’s what Trailer Choir is all about.” And helping to aid this escape are the natural benefits of hand surfing, Tom Petty, and a rum and coke.
The Show Dog – Universal trio–named About.com’s Best New Country Duo/Group in 2009–originally started as a loose association of musicians and singers, usually including Butter and Big Vinny, traveling the Southeast playing private parties and frat houses. As their fan base began to grow and Crystal was added to the group, the gang realized they might be on to something big. That feeling was validated when Toby Keith introduced himself to them after a show and brought them on tour. All their hard work culminated in the release of their Off The Hillbilly Hook EP, which contains the hit “Rockin’ The Beer Gut” as well as “Rollin’ Through The Sunshine” and “Off The Hillbilly Hook.”
http://www.trailerchoir.com/
http://twitter.com/trailerchoir
Trailer Choir on Facebook
Meltesen Becomes Country Weekly Assoc. Publisher
/by contributorMeltesen will continue his role in creating marketing partnership programs with brands to drive the magazine’s advertising revenue, such as the “Wipe It Out” campaign presented by Clorox Disinfecting Wipes which, to date, has featured over 20 country artists and their charities of choice. Meltesen joined Country Weekly as Marketing Manager in 2004. He can be reached at (615) 743-0222 or jmeltesen@countryweekly.com.