Sarah Buxton opened for Luke Bryan last month at the WGKX Kix on Beale show in Memphis. Buxton later joined Bryan onstage to sing the last two songs with him.
Capitol Nashville recording artist Luke Bryan and zooppa.com have joined forces to host a fan generated online video contest for Bryan’s latest single “Do I,” launching on Aug. 17 and continuing through Oct. 11. Zoopa.com is a social network focused on user-generated advertising. Fans can win autographed copies of Bryan’s soon to be released album Doin’ My Thing, due in stores Oct. 6, and cash prizes by clicking here.
——————————
New country trio Due West now has their own iPhone application which allows fans to watch videos, browse photos, sample music, read blog posts and latest news, and more. The group is gearing up for the release of their debut album later this year. They recently shot their first video for “I Get That All The Time” which has just been added to GAC.
——————————
Nashville country band KingBilly performed Thurs., July 30 at Chicago’s hot spot Joe’s Bar, rocking the crow with songs like “I Wanna Come Back As Her Beer.” Richard Marx took the stage, joining KingBilly on performances of “You Never Take Me Dancing” (recorded by Travis Tritt) and Keith Urban’s hit “Better Life.” Then actor Hugh Jackman made a surprise appearance, leading to Marx, Jackman and KingBilly performing one of Marx’ biggest hits, “Right Here Waiting."
——————————
Wrangler and The Parks are partnering to give fans the chance to register to win one of twenty autographed advance CDs or a grand prize consisting of a Wrangler gift certificate, autographed guitar and autographed copy of the father/son duo’s CD, Born Into It. In addition, fans can preview the record and download free Wrangler/The Parks desktop wallpaper here.
——————————
American Roots Records group TelluRide wrapped up their west coast radio and concert tour on Sunday. A two-night stint headlining the Tenino Wine and Music Festival raised $24,000 for the local Veterans of Foreign Wars organization. The group is now trekking back across the country for several dates throughout New York this week. The four-man-band wrap up the week at the Watkins Glen race track on Saturday and singing the national anthem live on ESPN prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup road race. The band’s Ricky Schroder-directed music video for the debut single, “Pencil Marks,” was completed last week and will begin hitting television and internet airwaves in the next couple of weeks.
——————————
Country/hip-hop singer Colt Ford is teaming up with NASCAR for the release of a new single, “Racin’ The Way It Ought’a Be,” which is part of the racing-themed CD, Bristol Nights: The Official Music of Bristol Motor Speedway. The 12-song compilation is available on iTunes and Amazon. Bristol Motor Speedway hosts its next NASCAR weekend on Aug. 21-22 where more than 160,000 fans will flock to Thunder Valley.
Rascal Flatts Sell Out Second Stadium
/by Sarah SkatesRascal Flatts at Wrigley Field
Rascal Flatts will perform their second sold-out stadium show of the summer Sunday (8/9) at Columbus’ Crew Stadium. This weekend a total of 65,000 fans are expected at the Rascal Flatts American Living Unstoppable Tour’s three stops, including Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.
Last weekend the band played a sold-out show last month in front of 37,000 screaming fans at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and became the first country act to perform a concert in the historic ballpark.
Rascal Flatts is also announcing the continuation of the tour with more dates through October. Darius Rucker will stay on board as opening act.
Rascal Flatts recently placed their fourth consecutive studio album atop the Top 200 chart with the release of Unstoppable with first week sales of 351,000 albums. It became the biggest country release of 2009 to date, and the best in country first week sales since November 2008. Since they launched their career in 2000, they have sold 20 million albums.
Artist News: Luke Bryan, Due West, Kingbilly, More
/by Sarah SkatesSarah Buxton opened for Luke Bryan last month at the WGKX Kix on Beale show in Memphis. Buxton later joined Bryan onstage to sing the last two songs with him.
Capitol Nashville recording artist Luke Bryan and zooppa.com have joined forces to host a fan generated online video contest for Bryan’s latest single “Do I,” launching on Aug. 17 and continuing through Oct. 11. Zoopa.com is a social network focused on user-generated advertising. Fans can win autographed copies of Bryan’s soon to be released album Doin’ My Thing, due in stores Oct. 6, and cash prizes by clicking here.
——————————
New country trio Due West now has their own iPhone application which allows fans to watch videos, browse photos, sample music, read blog posts and latest news, and more. The group is gearing up for the release of their debut album later this year. They recently shot their first video for “I Get That All The Time” which has just been added to GAC.
——————————
Nashville country band KingBilly performed Thurs., July 30 at Chicago’s hot spot Joe’s Bar, rocking the crow with songs like “I Wanna Come Back As Her Beer.” Richard Marx took the stage, joining KingBilly on performances of “You Never Take Me Dancing” (recorded by Travis Tritt) and Keith Urban’s hit “Better Life.” Then actor Hugh Jackman made a surprise appearance, leading to Marx, Jackman and KingBilly performing one of Marx’ biggest hits, “Right Here Waiting."
——————————
Wrangler and The Parks are partnering to give fans the chance to register to win one of twenty autographed advance CDs or a grand prize consisting of a Wrangler gift certificate, autographed guitar and autographed copy of the father/son duo’s CD, Born Into It. In addition, fans can preview the record and download free Wrangler/The Parks desktop wallpaper here.
——————————
American Roots Records group TelluRide wrapped up their west coast radio and concert tour on Sunday. A two-night stint headlining the Tenino Wine and Music Festival raised $24,000 for the local Veterans of Foreign Wars organization. The group is now trekking back across the country for several dates throughout New York this week. The four-man-band wrap up the week at the Watkins Glen race track on Saturday and singing the national anthem live on ESPN prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup road race. The band’s Ricky Schroder-directed music video for the debut single, “Pencil Marks,” was completed last week and will begin hitting television and internet airwaves in the next couple of weeks.
——————————
Country/hip-hop singer Colt Ford is teaming up with NASCAR for the release of a new single, “Racin’ The Way It Ought’a Be,” which is part of the racing-themed CD, Bristol Nights: The Official Music of Bristol Motor Speedway. The 12-song compilation is available on iTunes and Amazon. Bristol Motor Speedway hosts its next NASCAR weekend on Aug. 21-22 where more than 160,000 fans will flock to Thunder Valley.
Industry Items: Otto, Fletcher, More
/by Sarah Skates————————————-
An interview with Universal Records South’s Fletcher Foster is posted at This week In The Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc.
————————————-
The NashvillePost reports: Gospel legend BeBe Winans last week won a three-year old copyright case in which he had been named the defendant. The case centered on Winans’ albums My Christmas Prayer, which was recorded in 2003, and Dream, recorded a year later. Read it here.
————————————-
Effective Sept. 30, Citadel Media will discontinue syndication of GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. The radio show co-hosted by Buzz Brainard and Suzanne Alexander debuted in January 2008.
————————————-
Carrie Smith is the new host of Nashville At Nite. Recently, she has been seen hosting a variety of Internet and television programming including the popular HGTV Solutions. Her resume also includes voiceover work, such as the series voice host of CMT’s Dedicated. The second season of Nashville At Nite begins in September and is available exclusively online at www.NashvilleAtNite.com.
Is Gloriana Splitting? [not]
/by bossrossVocal quartet Gloriana is actively promoting its debut CD release this week which stayed at No. 1 on iTunes on release day. Warner Bros. hosted a casual get together for the group last Tuesday to celebrate the event during which Promo Captain Gator Michaels audio conferenced live with the act who was in N.Y. doing interviews. Most of the Gloriana team, however, were absent from the WB conference room event, since they are on the road attending to launch week details.
Gloriana’s first single “Wild At Heart” was Top 10 on MusicRow’s Country Breakout chart.
And in case you’re wondering what the Gloriana guys have been up to…click here.
Lambert Planning A “Revolution At The Ryman”
/by Sarah SkatesLambert, a two-time Grammy nominee has seen her previous albums debut at No. 1 on the Country Album Chart. Her third Sony album, Revolution, was produced by Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke, and Lambert wrote or co-wrote all but three of the 15 cuts. She worked with a cross-section of writers including Blake Shelton, Ashley Monroe, Natalie Hemby and Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley, who lends background vocals on “Love Song.” Of the three songs Lambert did not write, she pulled from her talented favorites—John Prine, Julie Miller, Allen Shamblin and Tom Douglas to complete the album.
Miranda continues to tour the country with superstar Kenny Chesney and has plans to headline dates this fall and winter in support of Revolution.
Artist Photos: O’Neal, Young, Wilson, and Mark Schultz
/by Sarah SkatesBackstage at the Grand Ole Opry last Friday (July 31): Jamie O'Neal and Chris Young.
Platinum-selling, Dove Award winning singer/songwriter, Mark Schultz, received multiple standing ovations as the featured recording artist at this month’s Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Saturday Morning Meeting in Bentonville, AR. An honor reserved for only a select few recording artists, last month’s featured artist was Trace Adkins. Schultz was invited to appear at the executive gathering July 18 in preparation for the release of his fifth studio album, "Come Alive," due Aug. 25 on Word Records.
Strait Talks Twang
/by bossrossThe first single from “Living For the Night,” hit the Top 15 mark in just three weeks, making it one of the fastest rising singles of Strait’s career and the first radio single he has written. The song, written by Strait, his son Bubba Strait and legendary songwriter Dean Dillon, sits at No. 10 this week on MusicRow’s Country Breakout chart.
The legendary Texan, who has sold more than 67 million albums throughout his record-breaking career, co-produced the 13-track disc with long-time producer Tony Brown. Twang is Strait’s 38th album and was recorded at Shrimpboat Sound Studio in Key West, FL., the same studio where he recorded his last two award-winning albums.
The Oaks and Opryland
/by Sarah SkatesA VIP package upgrade is available for an additional $40, including a meet-and-greet with the Oak Ridge Boys prior to the Opry and an Oak Ridge Boys special gift item.
The Oaks have been adding cover songs into their set, which the younger fans love. “When we throw new songs at the audience, it’s fun to watch their reaction,” says Richard Sterban. “The cool thing is they’re loving it. We don’t give it any introduction; we just go straight into each song. We did [The White Stripes’] “Seven Nation Army” in Minnesota recently and got a standing ovation. The younger kids in the audience were freaking out.”
Anderson In The Studio, Ingram on TV, Griffith In France
/by Sarah SkatesBill Anderson and Rex Schnelle
Whisperin’ Bill Anderson teamed-up with his producer/engineer Rex Schnelle, this week to begin recording a new CD at studios in Nashville. Anderson notes that the album will contain songs he has written with such collaborators as Jamie Johnson of the Grascals, Brad Paisley, Jon Randall, Rivers Rutherford, Buddy Cannon, Tim Nichols, Barry Dean, and Casey Beathard. The project is expected to be available before Christmas in select stores and at billanderson.com
——————————
Jack Ingram will appear in an upcoming episode of Lifetime’s Army Wives, the network’s highest-rated television series to date. Sixty-second promos for the episode featuring Ingram and his current hit single “Barefoot and Crazy” are already running with the full episode set to air Sun., Aug. 16 at 10:00P ET/PT. Filmed during CMA Music Festival in June, Ingram gave cast members Wendy Davis and Sally Pressman a VIP tour of Nashville that included boot shopping, beer drinking at Roberts Western World, and a backstage pass to the country rocker’s stadium performance at LP Field. Ingram’s eleven track studio album is out Aug. 25.
——————————–
Jeff Griffith at Country Rendez-Vous in France
Texan Jeff Griffith was in Craponne-sur-Arzon, France recently for the 22nd Country Rendez-Vous Festival, which drew over 28,000 country music fans from Europe and beyond. Running July 24-26, Griffith headlined with Jo Dee Messina, Eric Church and The Flatlanders. He played to a crowd of over 9,000, offering music from his debut CD, If It Ain’t One Thing It’s Another, as well as five of his own newly-written songs. The crowd not only sang along, but line-danced to Jeff’s current hit, “Dip Me In Beer,” and cheered him on to three encores. Several of Jeff’s Festival performances, including “Dip Me in Beer,” can be enjoyed on YouTube, here.
Rising Artists: Thompson, Armiger, Carter’s Chord
/by Sarah SkatesThompson onstage with KATC PD Jim West.
Columbia Nashville artist Josh Thompson released his debut single, “Beer On The Table,” yesterday (8/4) via digital outlets. He has been on a radio tour and recently wrapped up a week in the southwest with a visit to Colorado Springs. During the stop, Thompson made a surprise appearance on stage with KATC PD Jim West’s band Latigo. The impact of the new song was obvious when the crowd went wild during his performance of “Beer On The Table.”
—————————————-
Katie Armiger has teamed up with CiCi’s Pizza for their Ultimate Pizza Party Blowout at 650 restaurants nationwide on Sat., Aug. 8. The anticipated 650,000 diners will receive a coupon book with over $100 in savings from major retailers and a discount to download her album Believe (Cold River Records). She has released her latest single, “Gone,” to radio. The ballad is one of the first songs that Katie wrote both lyrically and musically on her own, and has been winning her fans on the road during her first national tour on the Simon dTour – Country Music Tour sponsored by Great American Country, Simon Property Group, Inc., and F.Y.E.
—————————————-
Show Dog Nashville sister trio Carter’s Chord performed the national anthem this past Saturday, Aug. 1 at Atlanta’s Turner Field as the Atlanta Braves host the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game was nationally-televised on FOX. Becky, Emily and Joanna Robertson released their debut album last year on Show Dog and have recently been in the studio working on new material with producer, label proprietor and superstar Toby Keith.
(L-R): Carter’s Chord’s Emily, Becky and Joanna Robertson