Jesse Ignjatovic
CMT has tapped Executive Producer Jesse Ignjatovic, (MTV Video Music Awards) and Director Hamish Hamilton (The 82nd Annual Academy Awards 2010) to produce and direct the 2010 CMT Music Awards, it was announced today (4/13) by John Hamlin, SVP Production, Development and Talent, CMT. When the CMT Music Awards are broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, June 9, on CMT and CMT.com, it will be the third collaboration between Ignjatovic and Hamilton. The duo previously worked together on the 2007 and 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Since 2007, when Jesse Ignjatovic founded Den of Thieves, he has Executive Produced the MTV Video Music Awards, drawing increased ratings each year, and capturing 27 million viewers last year alone. Ignjatovic also Executive Produced the 2010 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, which saw a 39% ratings increase, and is currently in production of Season 2 of The T.O. Show for VH1. Ignjatovic spent 14 years at MTV where he co-created, produced and developed such programming as Meet the Barkers, Diary, mtvICON, and Dancelife with Jennifer Lopez.
British creative director Hamish Hamilton is a globally respected, multi-camera award show and concert film director. Most recently he directed The 82nd Annual Academy Awards, with this year’s show garnering its highest ratings since 2005. Just one month earlier, Hamilton created the visually arresting Super Bowl halftime show featuring The Who. Other Hamilton credits include six years on the The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and live concert films by Madonna, U2, Rolling Stones, Christina Aguilera and Amy Winehouse.
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The 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards will take place at the Los Angeles STAPLES Center on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011, and will air live on CBS from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The date for the GRAMMY nominations announcement will be revealed soon.
As a result of last year’s earlier show and Awards process dates, this year the eligibility dates for the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards are Sept. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2010. (This year will mark a 13-month eligibility period.)
GRAMMY Week — a weeklong series of cultural events culminating in Music’s Biggest Night — will again feature celebrations of music, fashion, arts education and philanthropy, including the Salute To series, GRAMMY Style Studio, GRAMMY Career Day, Clive Davis and The Recording Academy’s Pre-GRAMMY Gala, the annual MusiCares® Person of the Year tribute, the GRAMMY Foundation’s Music Preservation Project, the Entertainment Law Initiative luncheon, a Producers & Engineers Wing event, and GRAMMY Museum programs, among others.
Colt Ford Concert Live In HD
/by Sarah SkatesFans can catch the show through Ford’s official website (www.ColtFord.com) and his social media sites, including Facebook, Myspace and iLike.
In order to view the concert online, fans must purchase an advance virtual ticket at TrueViewLive.com for $9.95. The price also includes bonus live backstage footage and a $10 merchandise coupon.
The True View Live/Colt Ford concert event is produced by 350 Ventures’ Paul Whitehead. Nashville-based marketing and consultancy firm, The Consortium, is directing the project’s marketing efforts.
CMT Awards Tap Top Producer and Director; GRAMMY Awards Date
/by Sarah SkatesJesse Ignjatovic
CMT has tapped Executive Producer Jesse Ignjatovic, (MTV Video Music Awards) and Director Hamish Hamilton (The 82nd Annual Academy Awards 2010) to produce and direct the 2010 CMT Music Awards, it was announced today (4/13) by John Hamlin, SVP Production, Development and Talent, CMT. When the CMT Music Awards are broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, June 9, on CMT and CMT.com, it will be the third collaboration between Ignjatovic and Hamilton. The duo previously worked together on the 2007 and 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Since 2007, when Jesse Ignjatovic founded Den of Thieves, he has Executive Produced the MTV Video Music Awards, drawing increased ratings each year, and capturing 27 million viewers last year alone. Ignjatovic also Executive Produced the 2010 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, which saw a 39% ratings increase, and is currently in production of Season 2 of The T.O. Show for VH1. Ignjatovic spent 14 years at MTV where he co-created, produced and developed such programming as Meet the Barkers, Diary, mtvICON, and Dancelife with Jennifer Lopez.
British creative director Hamish Hamilton is a globally respected, multi-camera award show and concert film director. Most recently he directed The 82nd Annual Academy Awards, with this year’s show garnering its highest ratings since 2005. Just one month earlier, Hamilton created the visually arresting Super Bowl halftime show featuring The Who. Other Hamilton credits include six years on the The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and live concert films by Madonna, U2, Rolling Stones, Christina Aguilera and Amy Winehouse.
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As a result of last year’s earlier show and Awards process dates, this year the eligibility dates for the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards are Sept. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2010. (This year will mark a 13-month eligibility period.)
GRAMMY Week — a weeklong series of cultural events culminating in Music’s Biggest Night — will again feature celebrations of music, fashion, arts education and philanthropy, including the Salute To series, GRAMMY Style Studio, GRAMMY Career Day, Clive Davis and The Recording Academy’s Pre-GRAMMY Gala, the annual MusiCares® Person of the Year tribute, the GRAMMY Foundation’s Music Preservation Project, the Entertainment Law Initiative luncheon, a Producers & Engineers Wing event, and GRAMMY Museum programs, among others.
Chesney Covers “People Country,” Gives Fans Film Preview
/by Sarah SkatesThis issue of PEOPLE Country also features Trisha Yearwood’s new food column, in which she shares recipes and personal anecdotes, and answers questions from readers. Readers can email country@peoplemag.com now with questions for Trisha and/or a food-related topic you’d like her to discuss in PEOPLE Country’s July issue.
Also in the May issue is a Summer Tours Preview, highlighting Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood and others. PEOPLE Country is also offering free downloads of songs from Colt Ford, Katie Armiger, Danny Gokey, Coldwater Jane and more at www.people.com/free.
This is the second of six PEOPLE Country issues to be published this year. These newsstand-only issues are available for four weeks, with a cover price of $3.99. PEOPLE Country’s frequency has steadily increased since first appearing on the newsstand in 2006.
Lambert Added To CMA Fest; Summer Tours Name Supporting Acts
/by Sarah SkatesMiranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is the latest addition to the performance line-up at the CMA Music Festival. Single-night tickets to the Festival’s Nightly Concerts at LP Field go on sale Sat., April 17, for the event running Thursday through Saturday, June 10-13, in downtown Nashville. Individual nightly concert tickets start at $30 and are available by calling 1-800-CMA-FEST (262-3378) or via www.ticketmaster.com.
Artists currently scheduled to appear at LP Field include (in alphabetical order):
Thursday, June 10: Jason Aldean, Danny Gokey, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Tim McGraw, and Carrie Underwood.
Friday, June 11: Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Josh Turner, Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band.
Saturday, June 12: Easton Corbin, Billy Currington, Randy Houser, Martina McBride, and Rascal Flatts.
Sunday, June 13: Trace Adkins, Justin Moore, Brad Paisley, Kellie Pickler, Darius Rucker, and Blake Shelton.
Artists and schedules are subject to change. Additional artists will be announced soon.
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Toby Keith’s American Ride Tour launches June 19 with James Otto on board for 16 dates across the U.S. Otto will join Keith, and special guest Trace Adkins, at select shows through August 22.
Chris Young hit the road with Alan Jackson last week (4/8) when the tour kicked-off in Estero, FL. Between dates on the Jackson outing, Young will join Platinum-selling headliner Miranda Lambert, opening a pair of dates May 7 and May 8 on her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour.
Radney Foster will join Jewel on her acoustic Star Light Café Tour in June. He will open the shows with a solo set in 14 cities beginning June 11 in Atlanta and ending June 27 in Seattle. Foster’s latest CD, Revival, was released in September 2009.
Genovese To Head New Country Video Network
/by Sarah SkatesThe Country Network is currently airing in HD on WIYC-DT Montgomery, AL and will begin national and international rollout during CMA Music Festival June 10, 2010.
TCN broadcast network will be programmed solely with country music videos, and original programs focusing on artists and fans. The fan-centric, interactive network will offer videos from current and rising stars, as well as heritage artists. Owned and operated by Artists and Fans Network, Inc., TCN is striving to blend local and national broadcasting, mobile devices, and the web, into a seamless music video experience.
Genovese, who was most recently CEO of the Country Music Association, replaces TCN Co-Founder, President and COO Warren Hansen. She will report directly to the executive committee. In this new position, Genovese will be responsible for all non-broadcast operations and will work laterally to the president of the TCN Stations Group. Reporting directly to Genovese will be Kim Bullard, EVP of production; Chad Brock, programming director; and Hansen.
Genovese says the network’s mission is to generate a fan/artist-centric interactive programming schedule with three primary goals: become a primary venue for helping establish successful careers for new artists; provide additional opportunities for country’s mainstream commercial artists to engage their fans; and pay respect to the legends who are still viable and working in the industry today.
Immediately prior to joining TCN she served as the CEO of the CMA, achieving unprecedented growth for the trade organization. She has many honors to her credit including Billboard’s Top Women in Music from 2006-2009, representing the 20 most influential female executives in the music industry, as well as Nashville’s Forward 50 List. She received the Canadian Country Music Association’s Leonard T. Rambeau International Award and the 2009 NAPE award for work on behalf of the CMA for music education in the Davidson Country Public Schools. She is currently serving on the TCN Board of Directors, The Nashville Sports Council, the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville and the Music Business Advisory Council, to name a few.
She can be reached at tgenovese@tcncountry.com.
NaFF Offers Music Panels, Films
/by Sarah SkatesPANELS/WORKSHOPS (all take place at Green Hills Cinema – Theater 5)
• Music Supervisors: The ABC’s of Song Placement and Licensing–Wednesday, Apr 21, 2010 2:15 PM
Randall Poster (Fantastic Mr. Fox), Maureen Crowe (The Young Victoria), Susan Jacobs (Little Miss Sunshine), and Greg Sill (In Plain Sight) discuss submitting songs, building relationships, and how technology is changing licensing. Jim Scherer (Whizbang, Inc) will moderate.
• Music Licensing for Filmmakers: Avoiding the Pitfalls–Wednesday, Apr 21, 2010 4:30 PM
Panelists will be Aaron Mercer (Sony/ATV), Melissa Love (Songfinder), Randall Foster (Naxos Records), and Jim Scherer (Whizbang, Inc). Attorney Casey Del Casino will moderate.
• One on One with Carter Burwell–Monday, Apr 19, 2010 7:00 PM
The Mike Curb Career Achievement Award For Film Music will be presented to Carter Burwell. He was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for Where The Wild Things Are and is also the go-to composer for the Coen Brothers, creating classic scores such as Fargo and Miller’s Crossing.
• A Conversation with Shana Feste–Sunday, April18 at 2:00 PM
A chance to meet one of Variety’s “10 directors to watch” and a nominee for the Humanitas Prize for her first feature, The Greatest, which is screening at NaFF. Feste recently wrapped shooting on Love Don’t Let Me Down, filmed in Nashville and starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw.
• Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund–Monday, Apr 19, 2010 2:00 PM
Join local and international industry professionals at an open forum to discuss issues affecting film scoring such as finding work, understanding contracts, union issues, licensing, live scoring and soundtrack albums. Presented by the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund. Free Admission.
MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES AND FILMS
Country on Price Is Right, Celeb Apprentice, Idol
/by Sarah SkatesThe Price is Right will have a country themed episode on Fri., April 16 in celebration of the upcoming ACM Awards on Sun., April 18, both will air on CBS. At the long-running game show, 2010 ACM Award nominees Blake Shelton and Bomshel will be on hand to present prizes.
Trace Adkins, Luke Bryan and Emily West are headed to the Celebrity Apprentice for an episode airing Sun., April 18. Adkins, a runner-up on the 2008 season, will act as boardroom advisor to Donald Trump, overseeing the celebrity teams who are competing in a country music challenge.
Bucky Covington and fellow former American Idol finalists will be volunteering at Nashville’s Second Harvest Food Bank on Wed., April 14 as part of the “Idol Gives Back” episode. He will be joined by Melinda Doolittle, Bo Bice, Phil Stacey, and Mandissa. The program airs Wed., April 21 on FOX.
Shelton Tweets: Kiss My Country Ass!
/by contributorScreenwriters, Smith, Wynette and a Little Tennis
/by contributorNeil Landau
Attention Prospective Screenwriters
With more songwriters per capita than any other town in America, it stands to reason that there must some potentially successful screenwriters in the Nashville mix. Any tunesmith looking to expand his or her creative pallet would do well to hop over to Los Angeles film and entertainment industry website The Wrap (www.thewrap.com) and check out writer Neil Laundau’s timely and informative article, Make Your Movie Leap Off the Page.
Landau presents a point-by-point overview of what makes a great screenplay, unwittingly pointing up the many similarities in writing for the screen and composing a hit song. You can check out the article here.
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The Music City Tennis Invitational is right around the corner, and some of Nashville’s best songwriters will gather on April 15 at the Bluebird Cafe to celebrate. James Slater (Rascal Flatts’ “Unstoppable,” Jamey Johnson’s “High Cost Of Living”); Tom Douglas (Lady Antebellum’s “Run to You,” Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice”); Walt Aldridge (Ronnie Milsap’s “No Gettin’ Over Me” and Travis Tritt’s “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde”); and Marv Green (Reba McEntire’s “Consider Me Gone” and Lonestar’s “Amazed”) will perform.
Reservations are required. Tickets are $15 plus a $2 registration fee and are available online at www.bluebirdcafe.com or by phone at (615) 383-1461.
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The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will pay tribute to the legendary Tammy Wynette with the cameo exhibition Tammy Wynette: First Lady of Country Music. Presented by Great American Country Television Network (GAC), the exhibit will open in the Museum’s East Gallery on August 20 and run through June, 2011.
“Tammy Wynette was a true steel magnolia, a daughter of the South whose ladylike appearance and slight physical stature belied the magnitude of her grit, determination and talent,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “She helped redefine what it means to be a female country singer. Her death at age 55 came far too soon, but Tammy left behind a musical canon that is among the strongest and most influential in American music history.”
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Krankit Records artist Anthony Smith is set to release his new single, “Love Is Love Is Love,” from his upcoming album, Sunshine, to radio on April 26. The song marks Smith’s debut single from the album and the first since launching his own record label, Krankit Records, earlier this year.
“Love Is Love Is Love” is a feel-good, yet heart-felt tune that makes you want to enjoy life with a care-free attitude,” Smith says. “This song makes me smile. That is the bottom line. Actually, I decided that I wanted to shoot the video in the Bahamas and we did. Can’t wait for everyone to see it! It is fun, it is colorful, and it makes you want to feel good about life.”