2010 was a good year for The Grascals. The group’s latest album, The Famous Lefty Flynn’s, topped the Bluegrass Unlimited chart for four months. Their current single, “Last Train To Clarksville,” claimed the No. 1 spot on the singles chart this month as well. This banner year was ushered in with several significant changes; the […]

Exclusive Strait Album at Wrangler Retailers George Strait’s exclusive album release with Wrangler is now available at select Wrangler Specialty Apparel retailers nationwide. The collector’s album, which is free with a $50 purchase of Wrangler apparel, is entitled George Strait Cowboy Love Songs and features hits such as “Check Yes Or No” and “You Look […]

Billboard is expanding its chart offerings to include a new chart, the Social 50. Presented by ZYNC from American Express, the Social 50 chart will track and rank the most active artists on the world’s leading social networking sites including MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and iLike. Data from these sites will be tracked by Next […]

Martina McBride To Perform at NASCAR Ceremony Multi-platinum and award-winning artist Martina McBride will perform “America the Beautiful” at NASCAR’s 2010 Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony. McBride joins a lineup that includes Rascal Flatts, Colbie Caillat, comedian Frank Caliendo and a special performance by Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva Elvis.” “I’m looking forward to singing for […]

Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and The Band Perry are the latest performers announced for the American Country Awards, airing live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Monday, Dec. 6 (8:00-10:00 PM/ET) on FOX. They join previously announced performers Trace Adkins, Easton Corbin, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Blake Shelton, Steel […]

Songwriter Tim Johnson has been diagnosed with both liver and colon cancer. Johnson has served on NSAI’s Song Camp faculty and served as a longtime board member of NSAI. He is presently undergoing chemotherapy and is preparing for further treatment. NSAI has established a fund to help him defray treatment costs, travel and other necessary expenses. […]

Average Joes Entertainment has hired industry veteran Tom Baldrica as President. The label is home to Colt Ford, Brantley Gilbert, Josh Gracin, and Corey Smith. Earlier this year Baldrica ended his role as VP, Marketing for Sony Music Nashville, after 17 years with the label group. “I am thrilled to be joining the team at […]

Maurice Miner, Director, Syndicated & Satellite Radio, has announced that he will be leaving Sony Music Nashville to pursue other endeavors. Miner, who joined the company in 2005 and reports to VP, Media & Corporate Communications Allen Brown, will continue with Sony until a to-be-determined date. Once the position is posted, inquiries, résumé submissions and follow-up conversations […]

Last night’s CMA Country Christmas special on ABC offered viewers a spirited show to ring in the holiday season. The 90-minute special drew a second place finish for ABC, according to overnight ratings from Zap2it.com. Beginning in the 9:30 PM/ET half-hour, the show attracted 7.2 million viewers, and increased to 7.4 million for the 10 […]

Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie Louvin recently filmed his first music video, and recruited bluegrass legend Del McCoury to appear in it. The song “Weapon Of Prayer” is from Louvin’s True North Records debut album The Battles Rage On. The video was directed by Christian Moriarty. •••••• FrontWater Records artist Daisy Mallory completed the […]

SOLID joined forces with the Nashville Sports Leagues and 12 music industry companies to collect more than 4,000 nonperishable food items for Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, and raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The one-day co-ed flag football tournament known as the Turkey Bowl was won by Show Dog – […]

Taylor Swift’s Speak Now television special aired on Thanksgiving night (11/25), drawing 4.4 million viewers to NBC during the 8 PM/ET block (according to Zap2it.com). It came in fourth place among the major networks, with first going to Fox’s NFL game, which ran-over into the 8 PM time slot. Swift’s hour-long special was built around […]

James Otto will spend Thanksgiving in New York City for a performance tomorrow night (11/25) on NBC’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Joining Otto on his song “Good Thing’s Gone Bad” will be country legend Ronnie Milsap, and critically acclaimed hip-hop group The Roots. The track, which Otto wrote with Jon Nicholson, James LeBlanc and Gary Nicholson, is from […]