Miranda Lambert Joins Cotton Ad Campaign

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mirandaWe always knew that, underneath that tough exterior, Miranda Lambert was a softie. And now the hit Columbia artist is a softie on the outside as well. Lambert is one of three artists (R&B songstress Jazmine Sullivan and indie rocker/actress Zooey Deschanel are the others) who will offer their interpretations of the familiar “the touch, the feel of cotton” music in a new advertising campaign for Cotton Incorporated, the research and promotion company for U.S. cotton growers. The melody for the well-known jingle, which was retired in 2001, was revived because “It’s the right message at the right time,” says Glenn Sciachitano, Director of Consumer Advertising at Cotton Incorporated. The television commercials, created by DDB New York, began airing on April 5 as part of a The Fabric of My Life advertising campaign that also includes print and Internet components. The print campaign shows stills from the commercial shoot and highlights cotton wardrobe worn by the vocalists, along with notes from the singers about what that garment means to them. Internet components are slated to roll out in late May and will include an interactive look inside Lambert’s closet. “My style in three words is comfortable, funky, my own,” Lambert said. “Cotton is a big part of that style so I was very excited to be part of this campaign.”

Amazon & WalMart Adopt Multi-Tier Pricing

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The jury is still out on how pricing changes at iTunes will affect digital track sales. However, one development has been the adoption of the new multi-tier pricing by Amazon.com which includes an 89¢ price point in addition to the three prices available on iTunes; $1.29, 99¢ and 69¢. Wal-Mart also seems to have raised some of its online track prices changing them to $1.24, 94¢ and 64¢.

According to the L.A. Times, “Far fewer of their [Amazon] top-100 tracks made the jump to $1.29.” Because it is so easy for consumers to surf to whatever site has the best price, labels may be hoping to further erode iTune’s dominance which has been estimated to be about 80% of marketshare. However, a quick tour of the three sites shows iTunes to be light years ahead of the others in terms of organization and ability to instantly find everything.

Some quick comparison shopping found that  iTunes’ top 10 country tracks were all priced at 99¢ with the exception of the following at $1.29—”Unstoppable,” Rascal Flatts; “Then,” Brad Paisley; and “It Happens,” Sugarland. A quick check showed that Amazon offered the Flatts and Sugarland tracks for 99¢, but the Paisley song was also $1.29. Wal-Mart had “Then” for $1.24 and Sugarland for 94¢. [This writer was never able to find the Rascal Flatts track “Unstoppable” on Amazon.]

Katie Armiger and Love & Theft Unveil Winning Song

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Cold River Artist Katie Armiger and Carolwood Records trio Love and Theft recently got together at Sound Kitchen Studios in Franklin to cowrite a song with Charleston, West Virginia’s Steve Schumacher, the grand prize winner in GAC’s Kapturing A Love Song with Katie Armiger contest. Schumacher, who was chosen from 50,000 entries, was flown to Nashville to write and record with cowriters Armiger and Love and Theft, who also co-produced the track. The resulting song, “I Guess That’s Love,” is available now exclusively at iTunes.

In other Armiger news, the singer headed back to her hometown in February, teaming up with CMT.com to cover The World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Armiger gives fans the inside scoop on what makes for a good Texas Bar-B-Que in the CMT.com exclusive web coverage available today (4/8). The young singer offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Bar-B-Que Contest,  interviewing contestants as they compete to win trophies in the best dish categories with brisket, chicken, and spare ribs. The cameras captured Armiger as she tried to get the secrets behind some of the best recipes Texas has to offer. Fans can check out Armiger’s March 21 performance of her latest single “Trail Of Lies” on the CBS Early Show by clicking here.

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(l-r) Kapturing A Love Song with Katie Armiger contest winner Steve Schumacher, Katie Armiger, and Love and Theft’s Stephen Barker Liles, Eric Gunderson, and Brian Bandas.

Int’l Country Music Conference Coming To Belmont

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belmontThe 26th Annual International Country Music Conference will be held May 21-23 at Belmont University. The event features appearances by some of the top historians and scholars in country music and includes presentations of The Belmont University Book Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award and The Charlie Lamb Awards. This year’s conference will also include special panels on legends Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, as well as address the topic of how to define country music. The panel “Defining Country Music: What It Is and Does It Matter” will be hosted by Dr. Don Cusic, author of Discovering Country Music, Ronnie Pugh, author of Ernest Tubb: Texas Troubadour, Dr. Jocelyn Neal, author of The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, as well as Dr. Erika Brady and Dr. Patrick Huber. Special papers on Hank Williams will be presented by Jim Murphy, Tom Wilmeth and Colin Escott. Additionally, Barry Mazor, Dr. Tim Wise, Dr. Anthony Lis, Dr. Jocelyn Neal, Dr. Nolan Porterfield and Dr. Catherine Davies will present papers on Jimmie Rodgers. The event will be co-chaired by James Akenson and Cusic.  Registration is $100 and checks should be sent to James Akenson, Box 5042, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN, 38505. The 2008 ICMC Program Schedule can be found here. For more information, visit www.internationalcountrymusic.org.

Hall Of Fame Salutes Brenda Lee

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brenda-leeThe Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is getting ready to pay tribute to “Little Miss Dynamite,” Brenda Lee, with the cameo exhibition Brenda Lee: Dynamite, Presented by Great American Country Television Network, which will open in the Museum’s East Gallery on August 7 and run through June 2010. Born Brenda Mae Tarpley on December 11, 1944, the Atlanta native sang from the time she could talk and won her first talent show at the age of four. With influences ranging from Judy Garland to Edith Piaf to Frank Sinatra, Lee’s explosive voice and bubbly personality made her incredibly popular at home and also overseas. Throughout the ‘60s Lee performed regularly in Europe, South America and Japan, at one point touring Germany with the Beatles as her opening act.

As her Owen Bradley-produced pop hits began to dwindle in the late 1960s, Lee recorded Kris Kristofferson’s “Nobody Wins” in 1973, and her country career was off and running. She scored eight more Top 10 country hits, including “Big Four Poster Bed” in 1974 and  “Broken Trust” in 1980. In 1997, Lee was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2002, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the only female ever to be inducted into both prestigious Halls of Fame. Also in 2002, Lee bowed her autobiography, Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee, co-written with MusicRow’s Robert K. Oermann and Lee’s daughter Julie Clay. In February 2009, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her creative contributions to the field of recording. Although she has scaled back her personal appearances and recordings in recent years to spend more time with her family, Lee continues to write and perform.

Digital Rodeo Sponsors Andy Griggs Celebrity Poker

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drCountry news, music and lifestyle website Digitalrodeo.com will sponsor Nashville’s first-ever Andy Griggs Celebrity Poker Tournament, to be held Thursday, June 11 at Cadillac Ranch. The winnings from the tournament will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other charities. Celebrity players from country music, sports, film and television, as well as professional poker players, are scheduled to participate. Confirmed attendees will be posted online at www.DigitalRodeo.com and www.AndyGriggs.com. Country artist and World Series of Poker participant, Andy Griggs, will host the event, beginning at 2 p.m. on Thursday (6/11). The event will also include an in-the-round jam session and a silent auction and door prizes. Griggs is the first country artist to receive sponsorship into the main event at the World Series of Poker. He outlasted every non-poker celebrity in the tournament, including his sponsor, WSOP champion Doyle Brunson. Griggs went on to register an impressive finish in the top 12 percent of the 2008 competition. Leading up to the tournament,  DigitalRodeo.com will feature a weekly poker tip from Griggs on his profile page at www.DigitalRodeo.com/AndyGriggs.

Edison Research Country Study Now Online

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edison-logo-hCountry Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® and Edison Research have posted the full results of their National Country Radio P1 Study online in the form of a video slideshow, complete with audio commentary. The presentation, which was originally given this year at CRS-40 in Nashville, may be viewed at either www.CRB.org or www.EdisonResearch.com. According to Tom Webster, Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for Edison Research, the study revealed particularly noteworthy trends regarding repetition in country radio playlists, how listeners are finding new music, syndicated versus local programming and the importance of social networks. This is the fourth year the National Country Radio P1 Study was conducted and presented at Country Radio Seminar®. The CRB/Edison Research survey is the largest ongoing Country Radio P1 study of its kind. Webster pointed to four actionable items, summarized below, that stations should consider as a means to help increase their listenership.

1) Leave Deeper Footprints. Marketing initiatives and promotions should be run through an additional “filter” to ensure that listeners are benefiting as much as possible from their local stations. Of those surveyed, 84 percent agreed that country music “makes a positive contribution to American life.”

2) Expand Your Presence on Social Networks. Nearly two out of three respondents indicated having a profile on at least one social networking website.  Webster encouraged stations to advocate a policy of hiring employees with “digital literacy.”

3) Take Repetition Seriously. Results of the study showed that 51 percent of those sampled agree that stations play certain songs to the point that it “becomes annoying.”  “Stations have to do more than just talk about variety, they have to find ways to build a deeper bench,” Webster warned.

4) Think Visual. Music video channels and network television appearances were the second and third most popular means of discovering new music, according to those surveyed. “Incorporate video elements of the artists wherever possible,” Webster said.

Nashville Film Festival Ready To Roll

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nashvillefilmThe 40th Annual Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) is ready to roll. The Festival is hosted by the Regal Green Hills Stadium 16 in the Green Hills area of Nashville. With over 22,000 people attending last year’s NaFF, it is one of the best-known arts events in Tennessee and is the biggest, most international film festival in the mid-South. The festival runs from April 16-April 23, and advance tickets for individual movie screenings go on sale April 7. The kick-off patron party, one of the festival’s big fundraising events for the year, is scheduled for Thursday, April 9 at Tennessee Bank & Trust at Grace’s Plaza in Green Hills from 6:00-9:30 PM.. Last year NaFF received over 1700 submissions from all over the world and 215 films from 38 countries were selected. NaFF provides the only opportunity to see many of these films in this region of the U.S. You can check out the full schedule of films here.

GAC To Re-Air ACM Awards

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logoGreat American Country (GAC) will present an encore presentation of the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday May 31 at 8 PM/CT. This year, GAC and GACTV.com expanded their longstanding partnership with the Academy of Country Music by hosting the first-ever fan vote for nominees in the Top New Artist categories.

In addition to the May 31 premiere, the ACM Awards will also re-air June 1 and at various other times throughout the year. “GAC historically devotes many hours of time both on-air and online to shine a spotlight on ACM-nominated artists and their music,” said Sarah Trahern, Senior Vice President of Programming at GAC. “This programming creates excitement and anticipation for the ACM awards, and makes GAC’s encore presentation much more robust for our viewers and fans.”

Flatts, Aldean Set To Boost Country Sales

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flatts1Two big releases due April 7 — from Lyric Street’s Rascal Flatts and Broken Bow’s Jason Aldean — could bring a welcome boost to 2009 country sales. Fresh from their seventh consecutive ACM Vocal Group of the Year win, Rascal Flatts will celebrate the release of their sixth album, Unstoppable, with a day-of-release appearance on NBC’s Today followed by guest spots on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 13 and The Late Show with David Letterman on April 16. “Here Comes Goodbye,” the debut single from Unstoppable, has already hit the top of the MusicRow CountryBreakout chart.

aldeanPlatinum-selling artist Aldean will release his third studio album, Wide Open. Already riding high on the momentum of the album’s debut single, “She’s Country,” the singer will visit eight cities in eight days. Highlights from his cross-country promotional trip include an April 10 appearance on NBC’s Today, followed by an appearance at the opening game of the Atlanta Braves home season, where Aldean will throw out the first pitch and sing the National Anthem. He will also be featured on a one-hour GAC special titled Jason Aldean: Wide Open, also premiering April 7. On May 1, Aldean will play Jimmy Kimmel Live’s outdoor concert series.