Vassar To Headline Nashville New Year’s Eve

Phil Vassar will headline Nashville’s Bash On Broadway New Year’s Eve party. The free block party starts at 7:30 PM with performances by Will Hoge, Heidi Newfield and Damien Horne. GAC and Sirius/XM host Storme Warren will emcee the event on Lower Broadway leading up to the midnight Guitar Drop and fireworks. Also on the […]

American Country Award Winners

Carrie Underwood and Lady Antebellum were big winners at the first American Country Awards last night (12/6) in Las Vegas. Underwood took home six awards, including Artist of the Year, Album of the Year (for Play On), and Touring Package of the Year. Lady Antebellum earned honors for Single of the Year (“Need You Now”) […]

Photos: Brett Eldredge; Eric Lee Beddingfield

Atlantic Records’ rising star Brett Eldredge made his debut television appearance Dec. 4 on the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s “Together for Care” telethon. Eldredge performed his single “Raymond,” which he wrote after being inspired by his grandmother’s battle with the disease. Among the other stars on the telethon were Al Roker from NBC’s Today Show. ••••••••••• Eric Lee […]

EMI Celebrates Holiday Kick-Off

EMI Music helped start the holiday’s for writers, staff and friends at its 2010 Holiday Casino Party. The “in the chips” festivities included dinner and  Casino play plus a raffle.

Bell Joins 13 Mgmt; Swift Tour Dates Sell Out

13 Management, Taylor Swift’s wholly owned management company, has appointed Frank Bell to the newly created post of Director of Radio and Research. “Frank brings solid relationships and strong tactical radio expertise and insight to 13 Management,” stated 13’s Robert Allen. “As we ramp up for the Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour in 2011, […]

BMI Promotes Cheryl O’Quinn

Cheryl O’Quinn has been promoted to the position of Sr. Director, Per Program Services  in BMI’s Media Licensing department. O’Quinn is based in the company’s Nashville office and previously serviced as Director of Per Program Services. She will report directly to VP Business Affairs, Media Licensing Mike Steinberg. “Handling the task of administrating our licensing […]

American Country Awards Air Tonight

The inaugural fan-voted American Country Awards will air live 8-10 pm ET on Fox tonight from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with Trace Adkins serving as the evening’s host. Show performers include Jason Aldean, Adkins, Luke Bryan, The Band Perry, Easton Corbin, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Blake Shelton, Steel Magnolia, Josh […]

Nettles Helps VH1 Divas Salute The Troops

Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles helped VH1 Divas Salute The Troops in last night’s (12/5) television special. She joined pop, rock and hip-hop stars Katy Perry, Keri Hilson, Nicki Minaj, Paramore and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals for the show taped primarily last week at San Diego’s Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The stars donned military-inspired wardrobe […]

The Grascals & Friends Cracker Barrel Exclusive

The Grascals are the latest band to release music through Cracker Barrel Old Country Store’s exclusive program. The Grascals & Friends – Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin will be available Jan. 10, 2011, offering 13 tracks featuring guests Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels and Dolly Parton. The bonus track “I Am Strong” was […]

Bill Anderson Planning Box Set

Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Anderson will release his first box set next year. It will be a 5-CD compilation encompassing Anderson’s recording career from 1958 through 1966. The set will also offer demos of songs that he wrote, which became hits for other artists. It is expected from Bear Family Records in […]

Music City Memorial for Will Tennyson

Will Tennyson, a longtime member of the Nashville music industry who passed away recently, will be celebrated with a memorial service on Wed., Dec. 8, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM, at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Ford Theater. The service will include performances by Tennyson’s friends Mandy Barnett and Brennin Hunt. There will also be a […]

Chesney Stadium Stop At NY/NJ Meadowlands

Kenny Chesney’s Goin’ Coastal Tour is set to play the New York area on Aug. 13, 2011. Also starring will be Zac Brown Band with special guests Billy Currington and Uncle Kracker. Tickets for the mega show go on sale Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. “This lineup represents the very best that country music has […]

Owen, Messina Offering Live Concerts Online

RCA’s Jake Owen will offer fans a chance to view his live show online with is first-ever streaming concert tonight (12/3). Owen is set to play a sold-out show at Joe’s Bar in Chicago, and will stream the entire 90 minute event live for free. Sponsored by LongHorn Steakhouse and Chicago’s US99, the concert starts […]

Holiday Releases Roundup

Word/Warner Bros. trio Point of Grace has released a Christmas CD called Home For The Holidays, and just announced its Home For The Holidays Tour in December to support the recording. The tour launches today in Eden Prairie, MN and wraps Dec. 19 in Greenwoods, SC. Fervent Records artist Chris August will support. •  •  […]

Opry Events Manager Exits; Obedia Opens Nash Offices

Grand Ole Opry Events Manager Sara Winne Foster has exited her post with the company. Foster joined Gaylord Entertainment and the Grand Ole Opry in 2007, where she oversaw all private events at the Opry Entertainment Complex. Prior to the Opry, she worked for The Promotional Edge in Los Angeles, where she managed client events […]

People Magazine Auction Features Reba, Lady A

People magazine and charitybuzz present an exclusive auction for country music fans that will benefit flood relief in Nashville and the middle Tennessee area. Exclusive photos of country stars including Reba, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley in their favorite Nashville places are currently on display at the Hutton Hotel in downtown Nashville. These […]

2010: A Good Year for The Grascals

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 […]

Weekly Chart Report (12/03/10)

RADIO NEWS Citadel’s WOGT/Chattanooga has flipped to a Classic Hits format. As of this week, it will no longer be a part of the CountryBreakout Reporting panel. SPIN ZONE Reba’s on a roll. “Turn On The Radio” is very likely causing people to do just that, and it sits at No. 1 for a second […]

Exclusive Strait Album Available; Kelley EP Out This Week

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 […]

CMT Artist Of Year Premieres Tonight

CMT’s first Artists of the Year presentation will feature Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift and the Zac Brown Band. Hosted by Kevin Costner the show will premiere Dec. 3. Taped in Franklin, TN at The Factory, the 90-minute special also features presenters such as Celebrity Chef Cat Cora, Hayley Williams of Paramore, […]

Billboard Launches Social 50 Chart

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 […]

Swift Named “Entertainer” by Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly magazine announced today that Taylor Swift is their 2010 “Entertainer of the Year.” Swift will be featured on the cover of the December 10th issue, which hits newsstands today. Swift is the youngest celebrity to receive this honor. Entertainment Weekly stated that Swift was chosen due to the fact that she earned “a […]

McBride at NASCAR and Urban Supports St. Jude

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 […]

Country Sales Thunder Toward Holiday Finish

With the warm buzz of family and friends gathered round the holiday table still in our hearts, it gives us added joy to note that country sales also had a robust holiday, resounding in the sweet sound of registers ringing. According to Nielsen SoundScan, country album sales for the period ending 11/28/2010 were up 12% compared with the previous week.

Roxstarz Launches in Nashville; AirPlay Direct Joins Forces With CD Baby

Roxstarz Launches in Nashville Matchless Management’s Shawn Pennington and business partner Andrew Fishbone announced the launch of Roxstarz, a private air charter brokerage firm headquartered in Nashville. Roxstarz, which caters to the needs of the music, movie and sports industries, will offer various luxurious yet affordable air charter options to clients. Among the services that […]

Jimmy Wayne Featured in Upcoming CBS Special

Valory Music artist Jimmy Wayne will be featured in the entertainment special, “The 12th Annual A Home for the Holidays,” to be broadcast on Wednesday, December 22 at 8:00 pm ET/PT on CBS. This program celebrates the joys of adoption, sharing inspirational stories about foster care and adoption. Performances by artists including Katy Perry, Maroon […]

NEEDTOBREATHE To Join Taylor Swift on Tour

Taylor Swift announced that NEEDTOBREATHE will be a featured artist for the North American dates of her Speak Now World Tour 2011. NEEDTOBREATHE, who released their debut album on Atlantic Records in 2006, have had multiple hits across the rock, Christian and Triple A radio formats with “Something Beautiful,” “More Time,” and the various cuts […]

Lady A Gets Six Grammy Nods

Nominations for the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards® were announced tonight (12/1) by The Recording Academy®. Eminem tops the nominations with 10; Bruno Mars garners seven; and Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum, and Lady Gaga each earn six nods. Jeff Beck, B.o.B, David Frost, Philip Lawrence, and John Legend receive five each; and Alex Da Kid, the Black Keys, […]

Aldean, Bryan, Band Perry Join ACA Line-up

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 […]

Grammy Noms Special Tonight; Artist TV Appearances

Nominations in several categories for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards will be revealed tonight (12/1) when “The Grammy Nominations Concert Live! — Countdown To Music’s Biggest Night” airs at 9 pm CT on CBS. The one hour special will be hosted by LL Cool J at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Grammy-winning band Train (“Hey, […]

Benefits/Lifenotes: Tim Johnson Fund; Norbert Nix’s Father

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. […]

CMT Salutes Artists of The Year

CMT taped its Artists of the Year special last night (11/30) at the Factory at Franklin honoring Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift and Zac Brown Band.

Baldrica Named President of Average Joes

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 […]

DISClaimer Single Reviews (12/1/10)

This week the newsmakers come not from the ranks of our country stars, but from the members of Nashville’s ever expanding pop/rock community.

CRS New Faces Performers Announced

Country Radio Broadcasters has announced the performers for the 2011 New Faces of Country Music Show, to be held Friday, March 4 during Country Radio Seminar at the Nashville Convention Center. Performers selected for the show include The Band Perry (Republic Nashville), Lee Brice (Curb Records), Easton Corbin (Mercury Nashville), Jerrod Niemann (Sea Gayle/Arista), and […]

Americana Music Association Names New Board

The Americana Music Association recently held annual elections for its Board of Directors. The 2011 executive committee will be elected by the new board in January. Ten incoming directors have been elected to serve two-year terms beginning January 1, 2011. Incoming or re-elected Americana Board Members: Tim Fink; VP, Writer/Publisher Relations, SESAC Todd Ohlhauser; Co-owner, Mercy […]

Maurice Miner To Leave Sony

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 […]

Staind’s Aaron Lewis Teams With Stroudavarious For Country Debut

Staind frontman Aaron Lewis is releasing a country project via Stroudavarious Records, with the first music from set to debut tomorrow. Lead single “Country Boy” features guests George Jones, Charlie Daniels and Chris Young. They also appear in the video, set to premiere tomorrow (12/1) at CMT.com, and Monday (12/6) on CMT-TV. The “Country Boy” single […]

Buddy Lee Acquires Metro Talent Group

Buddy Lee Attractions has acquired the independent agency Metro Talent Group (MTG), and MTG founder/owner Cass Scripps will join the company for artist representation. “Our company is very excited about Cass and his roster coming on board at BLA,” says BLA President Kevin Neal. “Cass is one of the most respected agents in the world, and […]

UMGN Promotes Brunett, Fabiani

Universal Music Group Nashville has announced the promotion of Jill Brunett to Manager, Southwest Regional Promotion for Mercury Records. A Nashville native, Brunett graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Advertising. She joined UMGN in 2007 as Promotion Manager and prior to that served as Promotion Coordinator for Capitol Records Nashville. “We […]

Country Christmas Special Is Fun, Festive

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 […]

Hummon Inks With Warner/Chappell

Warner/Chappell Music has signed a worldwide co-publishing agreement with hit songwriter Marcus Hummon. He is behind hits and cuts for Rascal Flatts, Garth Brooks, Dixie Chicks, Brooks & Dunn, Tim McGraw, Wynonna Judd, Sara Evans, Alabama, Lee Ann Womack and more. His co-write “Bless the Broken Road” (Rascal Flatts) won the 2006 Grammy for Best […]

On-set With Charlie Louvin, Daisy Mallory, Jason Sturgeon

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 […]

Extreme/Watsky Debut Country Music Production Library

Extreme Music has partnered with Watsky Music to form Stampede, a country music production library geared toward film and television licensing. Watsky is headed by Jonathan Watkins and Dennis Matkosky. Among the songwriters on board with Stampede are Matksoky, Travis Howard, and Ty Lacy. Lacy and Matkosy are co-writers of hits for Keith Urban (“You’ll […]

SOLID Flag Football; ACM Stage At National Finals Rodeo

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 – […]

Keith Urban, Garth Brooks Visit Oprah

Keith Urban’s debut on the Oprah Winfrey show airs today (11/29). He and wife Nicole Kidman sit down with the daytime diva and he performs latest single, “Put You In A Song,” from his new album Get Closer. See the video of the performance here. Urban spent Thanksgiving Day playing the half-time show of the […]

CRB To Honor Judds and Galante

Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.® will honor The Judds and Joe Galante at the Country Radio Hall of Fame Dinner and Awards ceremony on March 1 in the Nashville Convention Center Ballroom. The Judds will receive the 2011 CRB Career Achievement Award and industry executive Joe Galante will receive the CRB President’s Award. The event starts […]

John Esposito’s Sister Janis Hitchings Passes

Condolences to Warner Music Nashville Pres. and CEO John Esposito and his family on the passing of his sister Janis Hitchings last week. She had been battling cancer. Funeral services were held today, Nov. 29, at Church Of The Annunciation in Paris, Kentucky. Memorial donations can sent to: St Mary’s School Scholarship Fund St Mary’s […]

Photos: Shaffer and Cannon, Paisley and Clark, Songwriters In Florida

Late Night With David Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer stopped by Vibe 56 Recording Studio last week to add keyboard overdubs to a new Willie Nelson project being produced by Buddy Cannon. Shaffer also performed with Marty Stuart on the Grand Ole Opry the following night. •  •  •  •  • Brad Paisley’s H2O World Tour […]

“CMA Country Christmas” Airs Tonight

CMA is using funny viral videos to promote tonight’s (11/29) Christmas special on ABC. Marketers visited JibJab.com and dropped in the faces of show performers Martina McBride, Darius Rucker and members of Rascal Flatts. See the clips here and here. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland hosts CMA Country Christmas, with performances by Sheryl Crow, Little Big […]