Recording Workshop Set For Musicians Hall

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The Nashville Recording Workshop and Expo, hosted by the local section of the Audio Engineering society, is set for Feb. 20-21 at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. The two-day audio production conference will boast exhibits from top audio equipment manufacturers and a full schedule of presentations, starting with a keynote address from artist and studio owner Ricky Skaggs. The program is designed to aid home studio owners in getting the most of their recordings, and a selection of top audio engineers has been enlisted to guide attendees through the recording process. To register online, visit www.nashvillerecordingworkshop.com.

KCRS Live! During CRS-40

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Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® has announced that this year’s KCRS Live! lineup at CRS-40 will include artists and songwriters Jimmy Wayne, Kelley Lovelace, Ashley Gorley and Jonathan Singleton. The annual ASCAP sponsored event will take place Wed., March 4, at 5 p.m. as part of CRS-40, which runs March 4-6 at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville. Connie Bradley, ASCAP Sr. VP commented, “We look forward to KCRS Live! every year. It gives ASCAP an opportunity to showcase some of our best songwriter/artists to radio in a more intimate setting.” Also during CRS-40 is the BMI and Country Aircheck sponsored WCRS Live!, set for Thurs., March 5 at 4:10 p.m. As previously announced, the program will include acoustic performances by Bobby Pinson, Paul Overstreet, Josh Turner and Jamey Johnson. 

Country Sales Increase (A Little)

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Happily, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the Top 75 Current Country albums for the week ending 1/25/09 bounced upward 8% over the previous week, without relying on new debut releases. Big Machine continued to control about 27% of that market share based mostly upon sales from its flagship femme, Taylor Swift. Despite the increase this week, however, Top 75 Country’s physical and digital album sales still remained under the 300k level hitting a tepid 294,065 units. Country’s Top 5 and the only CDs to sell above 10k each were Taylor Swift Fearless (62,575) and Taylor Swift (14,407); Sugarland (14,156); Zac Brown Band (13,256) and Darius Rucker (11,137). Sugar Hill newcomers Joey & Rory moved up to No. 15 adding 4,616 units this week to their RTD (release to date) total of 77,030.

Overall industry sales also grew week over week by about 9.1% and Taylor Swift added a ninth consecutive week to her well deserved No. 1 Top 200 reign. Year to date, digital albums and tracks are up 28.9% and 22.6% respectively, although the struggling CD is down 19.7% vs. last year. The demise of the CD is accelerating, likely due to a number of factors including shrinking shelf space. Some might say that the sharp drop is fueled by a self-fulfilling, but questionable, prophecy that consumers no longer want to purchase their music in the shiny disc format. Based upon the numbers country consumers are still only downloading about 7.5% of their country album purchases compared with about 17% for overall music.

New CMA VP Starting Monday

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Dan Bowen will join the Country Music Association as Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Communications on Mon., Feb. 2, overseeing advertising, promotions, new media, research, and media/PR initiatives and staff. With more than 20 years of broadcast media experience, Bowen most recently spent 11 years with WSTR-FM (Star 94) in Atlanta.

He has served in a variety of leadership roles handling marketing strategies. According to the CMA, Bowen has a proven track record of establishing partnerships that generate ratings and increasing revenues through media and advertising campaigns.

T.J. Martell Selects 2009 Board

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The T.J. Martell Foundation announced its 2009 Nashville Board of Directors and Officers at its annual kick off meeting, held last week at the Frances Williams Preston Building of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. The music industry has long supported the charity’s fight against cancer and AIDS, with many familiar names among those who are involved for the coming year.

The 2009 Officers are President Tony Conway (Pres./CEO, Buddy Lee Attractions); Vice President Derek Crownover (Partner, Crownover/Tisinger, PLC); Secretary Rick Murray (Pres., Greylocke Entertainment); and Treasurer Karen Clark (Financial Specialist).

The 2009 Board of Directors includes Tom Annastas, Renee Bell, Dave Berryman, Danielle Lares-Bouharoun, Anastasia Brown, Lisa Chader, Gary Chapman, David Corlew, Whitney Daane, John Dennis, Scott Durand, Fletcher Foster, Cindy Francis Lovelace, Blair Garner, Rusty Gaston, Ray Gonzalez, Lisa Harless, Steve Hauser, Terry Hemmings, Bill Hearn, Tori Hughes, John Huie, Ben Kline, Mike Kraski, Michelle Owens, Derek Simon, Jules Wortman Pomeroy, Sheri Warnke and Kirt Webster.

Many others have signed on as Celebrity Ambassadors to help with fundraising. Among those are Blue County, Brooks & Dunn, Charlie Daniels, Steve Cropper, Diana DeGarmo, Gerry House, Little Big Town, Montgomery Gentry, Storme Warren, Jimmy Wayne, Darryl Worley, Chely Wright and Frank Wycheck.

Hall Undertakes Million Dollar Fundraising Campaign

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The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has launched a $1.1 million fundraising campaign to defray costs associated with its acquisition of instruments which once belonging to Maybelle Carter, Johnny Cash and Bill Monroe. The Precious Jewel Fund opened with leadership gifts including a $150,000 donation from Scott Siman of RPM Management and a $300,000 gift from the Academy of Country Music. Siman and Museum Board President Steve Turner will co-chair the campaign geared toward the music and business communities, while Ricky Skaggs will lead the national appeal to music fans.

The fund will go toward making the four instruments a permanent part of the Museum’s collection. The priceless artifacts have been the subject of a drawn-out legal debate because, unbeknownst to the Hall, they were originally purchased with a donation obtained by allegedly fraudulent means.

Under terms of an agreement finalized last week in court, the Museum is required to pay a $750,000 settlement for the instruments by Feb. 22. Arrangements for a loan to supplement pledges not received before the settlement due date are in place with the Music Row branch of SunTrust Bank.

Tax-deductible contributions may be made by mail (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 222 Fifth Avenue South, Mail Drop DP, Nashville, TN 37203), telephone (615-416-2050), and will soon be available online. Checks should be made out to the Country Music Foundation—Precious Jewel Fund.

Jonathan Singleton & The Grove

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“Livin’ In Paradise”

Universal Records South

Since signing his breakthrough publishing and production deal two years ago with Crosstown Songs Nashville, singer/songwriter Jonathan Singleton has been caught up in a creative whirlwind. His song “Watching Airplanes” (co-written with Jim Beavers) was a No. 1 hit for Gary Allan, earning Singleton an ACM nomination as well as a nomination for Music Row’s Breakthrough Songwriter Award. Singleton also recently had another No. 1 with Billy Currington’s smash “Don’t.”

Singleton and his longtime band The Grove have partnered up with superproducer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts) to record his debut album for Universal Records South. Huff has long had the Midas touch for creating mainstream pop/country hits, but he is moving a bit left of center with Singleton, creating a more roots-rocking, bluegrass sound for the singer and his band.

“Being part of Dann’s publishing and production companies is the perfect place for someone who writes the way I do,” says Singleton, whose lyrics focus on the here-and-now simplicity of everyday life. “Dann’s very in tune with where I’m coming from as a writer and singer, and he’s never felt inclined to do the straight down the middle pop thing with me that he does so well with other artists. The new songs have more of an edgy old school country rock flavor that’s got both of us very excited. My main criterion for a good song is one that makes me want to pick up the guitar and play again and again. It’s never about what’s commercial or how it will reap a certain audience, but all about having that gut instinct that it just feels good.”

Catch Jonathan Singleton and the Grove live in 2009 when they join Eric Church as part of the Young & Wild tour.

www.myspace.com/jonathansingletonandthegrove

Gloriana Joins LeAnn Rimes Dates

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Newcomers Gloriana have been invited to open for LeAnn Rimes on six upcoming tour dates in Washington, California, and Nevada. The band made up of Tom Gossin (vocals, guitars), Mike Gossin (vocals, guitars), Rachel Reinert (vocals), and Cheyenne Kimball (vocals, mandolin) is already creating a buzz with debut single “Wild At Heart,” from its upcoming Emblem Music Group release.

Gloriana has been on a whirlwind radio tour across the country for weeks, getting several adds prior to the single’s official Feb. 9 release date. The song written by Matt Serletic, Josh Kear, and Stephanie Bentley, earned the band Robert K. Oermann’s Discovery Award in MusicRow. An accompanying music video was shot in Nashville recently with director Elliot Lester (Jessica Simpson, Jason Mraz, 30 Seconds to Mars) and executive producers Kathleen Sigmund and Tamera Brooks (Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn) through Stray Dog/17 Hands Productions.

Gloriana and the Eli Young Band are both set to perform at MusicRow’s CRS Meet & Greet on March 3, 2:30-5 PM, at Cadillac Ranch.

Paisley Plans 2009 Tour

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Reigning ACM and CMA Male Vocalist of the Year Brad Paisley today (1/26) revealed his 2009 touring plans. The outing, dubbed American Saturday Night, will run through 41 cities starting June 5 in Charlotte, NC. Special guests Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne will join him for the tour that has cross-country dates scheduled through Oct. 17.

His current Paisley Party Tour has sold over 750,000 tickets for its 59 dates and continues through February. Paisley’s recent hit “Start A Band,” a duet with Keith Urban, was his record-setting ninth consecutive No. 1. He is also the cover feature on the March issue of Guitar Player magazine.

Carolwood Adds To Promo Dept.

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Trudie Richardson-Daniell

Trudie Richardson-Daniell will join Carolwood Records on Feb. 9 as Manager, Regional Promotion. With 13 years of music business experience, she will be based out of Atlanta and will work the Southeast and Southwest regions. Prior to joining Carolwood Records, the Belmont graduate worked in the radio promotions department for CO5 Nashville. Lyric Street/Carolwood Records VP, Promotion Kevin Herring announced her hiring today (1/26/09).