Producer Gail Davies and AristoMedia Group President Jeff Walker have been honored as 2009 International Country Music Ambassadors by the Spain-based non-profit organization, International Country Music Day.

Andoni Urkiaga, Coordinator of ICMDAY commented, “These awards honor not only a model career in international country music but also a visionary way of promoting country music, opening new markets, setting new paths and predicting future tendencies for the rest of the industry. Everyone would have to stop and listen to what these people have to say about international country music.”

Interviews with the winners will be published later this week on www.icmday.org. International Country Music day is held on Sept. 17 every year to commemorate the birth of Hank Williams.

Davies career has included success as an artist, songwriter and producer. She was notified of her honor while on tour in Sweden. A grammy-nominated artist, her Top 10 singles include “Grandma’s Song” and “Someone is Looking For Someone Like You.”  Davies’ newest CD, The Songwriter Sessions, is a two-CD set featuring 45 of her original compositions.

Walker, has been a long-time supporter of growing country music globally. He was previously honored by the Canadian Country Music Association with its Leonard T. Rambeaux Award for International Achievement in 1998. Walker was also part of the CCMA TV committee which just received a 60% ratings boost on its live Awards show last week.

Emerson Drive band members returned home to Canada for the recent Canadian Country Music Awards and planned a big charity event to coincide with the trip. The two-day fundraiser in lead singer Brad Mates’ hometown of Grande Prairie, AB included a charity concert and celebrity golf tournament.

Proceeds from the concert go to the Grande Prairie Regional College, while the Brad Mates/E-Drive Celebrity Golf Tournament benefits the Parkinson’s Disease Research Program at the University of Alberta Hospital. The golf tourney, now in its third year, has raised over $165,000 for Parkinson’s research, so the band is well on its way to reaching the $500,000 goal.

Emerson Drive’s newest single, “I Love This Road,” just entered the Top 10 in Canada. Mates co-wrote the song with Tommy James. For the first time, the band produced its own music video. Fiddle player David Pichette edited hours of footage from the band’s life on the road along with some performance footage. It has been airing on CMT Canada and is available for fans outside of Canada to see on Emerson Drive’s Web site, and You Tube channel.

According to an eWeek.com report, the U.S. Senate under the leadership of Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is planning to study links between cell phone use and cancer. Previous studies have been mixed as to any possible links between the two. According to the Environmental Working Group some of the best phones (least radiation) are the Samsung Impression (SAR at ear—.35 W/kg) and the Motorola RAZR V8 (SAR at ear—.36 W/kg). The two worst are T-Mobile myTouch 3G (SAR at ear—1.55 W/kg) and the Blackberry Curve 8330 (SAR at ear—1.54 W/kg)
Read More…

Jajah@call is launching in beta form on Twitter this morning (9/17) according to cnet.com. The service allows Twitter users following each other to make voice calls via PCs and/or mobile devices without giving up actual phone numbers. Calls will be limited to two minutes, a restriction that the company sees as a verbal equivalent of a 140 character tweet. Facebook users also recently got the ability to communicate via voice using Vivox. Consumer reaction to the new apps is still unknown, but if reaction is strong it is likely the apps will become integrated into the respective networks.
Read More

Belmont alumna Trisha Yearwood has been named as the host for the 2009 “Christmas at Belmont” performance at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The show will be broadcast nationally on PBS December 23. “Christmas at Belmont,” produced by Nashville Public Television with funding from the Beaman Family Foundation, features popular carols, classical masterworks, world music and seasonal favorites. 400 students will join Yearwood, the Belmont School of Music Faculty and the Nashville Children’s Choir for the presentation. This is only the second time the performance has been held at the Schermerhorn.

“It was a great joy to welcome Trisha back ‘home’ for our special edition of the Grand Ole Opry in honor of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate,” said Belmont President Bob Fisher. “Her vocal talents leave every audience wanting more, and we are thrilled to partner with this amazing artist and friend for our annual ‘Christmas at Belmont’ production.”

Yearwood is a 1987 graduate of Belmont, who—in addition to a busy recording career—recently authored New York Times-bestselling cookbook Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen with her mother Gwen and sister Beth. “I loved my Belmont experience,” said Yearwood, “and I’m honored to be a part of this year’s ‘Christmas at Belmont!’”

Taylor Swift is among the celebrities named to People’s 10 Best Dressed of 2009 list, joining the ranks of fashionistas like First Lady Michelle Obama, Beyonce, and Nashville-born starlet Reese Witherspoon.

“Anything that glitters hypnotizes me,” she tells the magazine of her red carpet picks by designers Collette Dinnigan and KaufmanFranco. “It’s always an attention grabber.”

The Best Dressed Women of the year, according to People are:

Taylor Swift – Best Sparkle

Reese Witherspoon – Best Short Dresses

Kate Winslet – Best Red Carpet

Vanessa Hudgens –Best Hippie Chic

Cameron Diaz – Best Jeans

Michelle Obama – Best Accessible Glamour

Freida Pinto – Best Use of Color

Nicole Richie – Best Maternity

Beyoncé – Best Street Chic

Kim Kardashian – Best Bikinis