Robbins Closes Nashville Offices; Stark Departs

[updated 4/13/2009] Robbins Entertainment president Cory Robbins has issued the following statement clarifying information released last Thursday: “Robbins Nashville is not closing. It is correct that we are closing our Nashville office, but we are continuing in the country format with the same commitment.”We will be partnering with an outside promotion firm to work our records. “Details about […]

Darryl Worley To Headline Benefit Concert

Headliner Darryl Worley will be joined by fellow country artists Marty Raybon, Billy Yates, Ken Mellons, Randy Kohrs and Billy Ryan at 6 PM on Friday, April 24 for the Erica Carmen Droze Memorial Benefit Concert at the Boaz VFW Fairgrounds in Boaz, Alabama. For up-and-coming country artist Ryan, the benefit concert has a very […]

Jack Ingram Conquers Cuba

Big Machine artist Jack Ingram has returned from a four-day, three-show USO tour of Cuba. The tall Texan chose to visit the isolated island nation to spend time with soldiers stationed at Guantanamo Bay, because, he said, he wanted to sing for the soldiers serving our country that maybe nobody notices. The singer/songwriter spent hours […]

Opry To Open “Shop On Broadway”

Opry Originals: The Shop On Broadway, a Grand Ole Opry-themed retail store, is set to open on Nashville’s Lower Broadway area at 300 Broadway on Thursday, April 16. A rhinestone-studded ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Monday, April 20 followed by a week of grand opening events. With a design sensibility dubbed “Country Archeology,” the free-standing, […]

Kate and Kacey

“Dreaming Love” Big Machine “Dreaming Love” is the debut single for Big Machine’s twin sisters Kate and Kacey, who combine country music’s best traditions with its future. Family harmony has always been an integral part of country music and it is clear the sisters have that special vocal magic that runs in the blood. Prior […]

Music City Walk Of Fame Names Inductees

A new class of inductees to the Music City Walk of Fame has been announced. The new inductees include National Baptist Publishing Board founder Dr. Richard Henry (R.H.) Boyd, pioneering producer/songwriter/performer “Cowboy” Jack Clement, record executive and songwriter Mike Curb, and performers Marty Stuart, Josh Turner and CeCe Winans. The inductees, the sixth class to […]

CISAC Announces World Copyright Summit

CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) has announced the second World Copyright Summit for June 9 and 10 in Washington, DC. The Summit will provide a forum for influential creators, rights organizations and guilds, content service providers, broadcasters, telecommunications operators, hardware manufacturers, legal experts and policy-makers to exchange ideas and discuss […]

Universal and Google To Launch Video Service

The Washington Post is reporting that Universal Music Group and Google have finalized a deal to create a new music video service called Vevo, a site billed as a “premium online music hub built for consumers, advertisers, and content owners,” which is expected to launch before the end of the year. The two companies will […]

Miranda Lambert Joins Cotton Ad Campaign

We 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, […]

Amazon & WalMart Adopt Multi-Tier Pricing

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 […]

Katie Armiger and Love & Theft Unveil Winning Song

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 […]

Int’l Country Music Conference Coming To Belmont

The 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 […]

Hall Of Fame Salutes Brenda Lee

The 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 […]

Digital Rodeo Sponsors Andy Griggs Celebrity Poker

Country 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, […]

Edison Research Country Study Now Online

Country 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, […]

Nashville Film Festival Ready To Roll

The 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 […]

GAC To Re-Air ACM Awards

Great 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 […]

Flatts, Aldean Set To Boost Country Sales

Two 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 […]

Stars On Deck For City Of Hope

Country stars Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill, Montgomery Gentry and Josh Turner are among the celebrities who will be participating in the 19th Annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge on Wednesday, June 10 at 7 p.m. at Nashville’s Greer Stadium. Billed as the unofficial kickoff to CMA Music Festival, this year’s game will be held […]

BamaJam Join Forces With Talladega

Ronnie Gilley Entertainment’s BamaJam Music & Arts Festival has announced a cross-promotional partnership with Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway. The partnership is designed to cross-promote the spring 2009 Talladega Superspeedway races and the BamaJam Music & Arts Festival, scheduled for June 4-6 in Enterprise, Ala. BamaJam Music & Arts Festival will have a prominent presence at the […]

Industry Vets Open Herrington/Fox Management

Industry veterans Dan Herrington and Mitchell Fox have announced the formation of Herrington/Fox Management, a full-service, artist and project management company headquartered in Nashville. Herrington, who recently sold his Dualtone Records label to Cal Turner IV, brings more than 20 years of record company and music publishing management experience to the company. Fox got his […]

Storme Warren Tweets For GAC at ACMs

GAC’s Headline Country added a new component to coverage of Sunday’s ACM Awards. Show host Storme Warren was on the orange carpet providing live updates via the online social network, Twitter. Additionally, Warren plucked a fan from the bleachers to the orange carpet to file the Twitter updates visible at www.twitter.com/headlinecountry.

Rich Pacts With Crown Royal

Warner Bros. artist John Rich and Crown Royal Canadian Whisky are teaming up to offer one winner a “special mentorship experience.” The For Every King, A Mentor contest includes a trip for two to Nashville for a behind-the-scenes look into Rich’s performing, producing and songwriting career; a tour of the mansion where his CMT show […]

NY Sen. Schumer Introduces Ticketing Legislation

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer has introduced legislation designed to crack down on ticket resellers and ensure that fans get the opportunity to obtain concert tickets at face price. The legislation would give fans two days to buy tickets before they became available to ticket resellers to sell on the secondary market. The legislation also […]

Country “Sidekick” Frank Oakley Passes

Frank Oakley, a well-liked music executive who worked with country artists including Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves, Faron Young and Willie Nelson, died on April 2. He was 83. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Oakley was a veteran of WWII and a former police officer. His country music career began in 1961, when he was hired […]

Craig Morgan’s Easter Surprise; Big Kenny’s Mountaintop Crusade; GAC’s Backstory

Big Kenny Alphin is joining forces with Sheryl Crow, Kathy Mattea and Emmylou Harris to launch a new campaign, Music Saves Mountains, to halt mountaintop removal coal mining in Tennessee and across Appalachia. The musicians are urging people to contact Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and encourage him to support the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act […]

CMT Camp Nashville Offers Discount

Founders of CMT Camp Nashville, the first-ever multi-artist fantasy camp for country music, have reduced the $7999 price of the camp by nearly 40% for anyone who registers before April 15. The $1000 spouse packages will be discounted by 50%. CMT Camp Nashville will provide campers with five days in the role of a country […]

Charley Pride Takes Stand Surprises Fan

Country Music Hall of Fame member Charley Pride showed up in the town of Leduc in Alberta, Canada on Thursday (4/2), to take a stand against online ticket scalping and surprise a dedicated fan in the process. Determined to catch Pride’s show at the Jubilee Auditorium in nearby Edmonton, longtime fan Jacqueline Sharp ended up […]

Arts & Business Council Sponsors Law Clinic

(Updated 4/6/09) The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville’s Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts and the Tennessee Bar Association Sports & Entertainment Law Section are hosting a Nashville Entertainment Law Clinic in the SunTrust Community Room at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum on Saturday April 18, 9:00 AM-1:00 PM. […]

AC Entertainment Acquires Great Big Shows

Knoxville-based AC Entertainment, co-creator of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, has announced that it has acquired Nashville-based concert promotion company Great Big Shows. The new partnership will strengthen AC Entertainment’s Nashville presence and expand its resources for event creation, management and production nationwide. The relationship between the two entertainment companies began when Rick Whetsel, […]

DISClaimer (3/27/09)

Pretty is as pretty does. Pert Emily West is a living doll. And now she has the single that has the potential to make her the star she deserves to be. Give the little lady a Disc of the Day prize. There’s a band in Texas called Spur 503. I have reviewed them once before, […]

Rascal Flatts’ Unstoppable Drops Next Week

Lyric Street kingpins Rascal Flatts will release their sixth studio album, Unstoppable on Tuesday (4/7), two days after their ACM Awards appearance, and they’re not stopping there. The hitmaking trio will appear on NBC’s Today Show on April 7, followed by guest spots on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 13 and The Late Show […]

Zac Brown Band Wants You at Bonnaroo

ACM Top New Artist nominees Zac Brown Band, along with Bonnaroo Music Festival and CMT have announced The Bonnaroo Music Festival Flyaway with Zac Brown Band Sweepstakes. The winner, along with a guest, will receive a prize package that includes a five-day/four-night Bonnaroo getaway, including flights, hotel, two tickets to the Festival and the opportunity […]

Urban’s Defying Gravity Rises to the Top

With first week sales being projected to total somewhere in the lofty neighborhood of 150,000, Keith Urban’s Defying Gravity does indeed seem to have wings. The album appears likely to top the country charts its first week out and if predictions based upon first day sales from chart watchers at Billboard and Hits magazines pan […]

Duane Jarvis Passes

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Duane Jarvis, known to music fans as a sideman for artists like Lucinda Williams and John Prine, as well as for his own critically acclaimed album releases, died of colon cancer this morning in his Los Angeles apartment. He was 51. Jarvis, who was a well-known and much-loved figure on the Nashville music scene […]

Aaron Tippin Keeps On Truckin’ With CB Contest

Blue collar country singer Aaron Tippin has announced an innovative contest that promotes and expands on the trucking theme of his latest release, In Overdrive. In conjunction with mobile communications equipment merchandiser Barjan, CB Radio manufacturer Cobra, and Petro Truck Stops, Tippin has created a contest that recalls the days when CB radio was king. […]

Music City Tennis Invitational Set to Serve

The Music City Tennis Invitational committee announced today (4/1), that the annual charity tennis tournament will be held on Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26 at Vanderbilt University’s Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. Arista artist Brad Paisley will serve as this year’s celebrity spokesperson for the tournament, with Fox 17 Tennessee Mornings co-host […]

Shawna Russell

“Fire In The Desert” Way Out West Records “A scorcher” —Chris Neal, Country Weekly Shawna Russell has released her new Way Out West Records single “Fire In The Desert” to country radio. The follow-up release to her hit single and video, “Should’ve Been Born With Wheels,” “Fire In The Desert” is a hot summertime rocker […]

Steve Martin to Make Opry Debut

Emmy-winning actor/comedian/writer Steve Martin will make his Grand Ole Opry debut May 30 with a performance from his first music album, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo. Martin’s longtime friend John McEuen, who produced the album, will appear on the show along with Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Stuart Duncan, Tim OBrien, and more. […]

NY Times Profiles John Rich

Tuesday’s New York Times (3/31), includes a feature on Warner Bros. artist John Rich. In an article titled “Protest From the Right Side of Country,” Times writer Jon Caramanica interviews the singer about his latest single, “Shuttin’ Detroit Down,” describing the song as “shockingly topical” and indicative of Rich’s “acumen in gauging and channeling the […]

Hall of Fame Spotlights Kitty Wells

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will present a panel discussion featuring country music’s first female superstar, Hall of Fame member Kitty Wells. The program, scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at 1:30 PM, is titled Finding Her Voice: Kitty Wells and Her Country Sisters. Taking part in the panel will be singer/songwriters Carlene […]

ACM Names Video and Vocal Event Winners

With the awards show still a few days away, RCA’s Brad Paisley is already a double-ACM Award winner—Video of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year. His “Waitin’ On A Woman” clip, which co-starred TV icon Andy Griffith, is the 2009 winner of Video of the Year, and “Start A Band,” his guitar-slinging duet […]

Ringbacks Up, Downloads Down Among Consumers

Two research studies released today (3/31), reveal some interesting trends in how consumers are interacting with music. A study conducted by Port Washington, New York-based market researchers the NPD Group finds that U.S. teens are listening to more music in more formats, but buying and sharing significantly less music. According to NPD, teens acquired 19 […]

Ticketmaster President Sean Moriarty Resigns

With Ticketmaster Entertainment and Live Nation recently announcing plans to merge, Ticketmaster has announced that President/CEO Sean Moriarty has resigned, effective March 24. Moriarty has also resigned from the company’s board of directors. His role at the company has been uncertain since last November when Ticketmaster acquired a controlling interest in Irving Azoff’s Front Line […]

Corlew Music Group Staffs Up

Corlew Music Group has announced the signing of songwriter Jaron Boyer and the addition of veteran songplugger Penny Dionne to the CMG staff. A native of Ardmore, Oklahoma, Boyer moved to Nashville in 2003 and has been honing his songwriting skills ever since. Dionne is the owner of publishing company Little Vixen Music and serves […]

Music City Comes Together For Nashville4Africa

Big & Rich’s Big Kenny Alphin and Nashville singer/songwriter Damien Horne will host the inaugural Nashville4Africa benefit concert with the African Children’s Choir at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center on April 22. The event will also include performances by Faith Hill, Dierks Bentley, Martina McBride, Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down), Ashley Cleveland, The SteelDrivers, Michael Rhodes […]

“The Price Is Right” Salutes ACMs

CBS’s The Price Is Right and show host Drew Carey will celebrate the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards with a special country-themed edition of the venerable daytime game show this Friday (4/3) at 10 AM/CT. The episode will feature appearances by ACM host Reba McEntire, ACM Top Female Vocalist nominee Heidi Newfield and […]

Doc Walker Nabs Album Of The Year Juno

At ceremonies held on Saturday (3/28), in Vancouver, British Columbia, Open Road artist Doc Walker walked away with the 2009 Juno Award for Country Recording of the Year for their album, Beautiful Life. Doc Walker (Chris Thorsteinson, Dave Wasyliw and Murray Pulver) have four previous Juno nominations and the band also took home six 2008 […]

Jeffrey Steele Takes Manhattan

Nashville hit writer Jeffrey Steele performed at Joe’s Pub in New York City last Wednesday (3/25), and the New York Times was there. Times writer Jon Caramanica turned in a rave review of Steele’s hit-filled performance, praising the singer/songwriter’s storytelling skills and citing his “detail-rich and emotionally specific lyrics” and “brute skill rescuing even unappealing […]

Opry Mainstay Hal Durham Passes

Longtime Grand Ole Opry announcer and General Manager Hal Durham passed away last weekend at his home in Cape Coral, Florida. He was 77. A native of McMinnville, Tennessee, Durham started his career at Knoxville’s WROL while he was still attending the University of Tennessee. In 1964, he moved to Nashville to work at WSM […]