This stack of platters is a nice mix of veterans and baby acts. In the former column are Marty Raybon and Brady Seals, both of whom have splendid CD’s coming your way. Somewhere in between vet and baby are Trey Hensley, The Coal Men, Emma Jacob, Mica Roberts and Lee Brice, all of whom competed […]
Darius Rucker’s debut country album Learn To Live on Capitol Records Nashville has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. His third single from the album, “Alright,” helped push shipments over the 1 million mark. The song spent one week at the top of MusicRow’s Country Breakout chart and also landed at No. 1 on other […]
821 Entertainment, the Music City company headed by Pres. Anastasia Brown and CEO Eric Geadelmann, has optioned the film rights to one of John Grisham’s biggest bestsellers. That project, along with the company’s upcoming Roy Rogers trilogy, will offer many possibilities for the use of Nashville music, says 821 COO Graham Chalfant. Grisham has been […]
Early estimates project that 75,000 people attended Bonnaroo last weekend in Manchester, Tenn. This is an increase from 70,000 in 2008, and just shy of the 80,000 tickets that would sell out the festival. Producers Ashley Capps of A.C. Entertainment, and Jonathan Mayers of Superfly Presents, arranged for about 125 acts this year, and are […]
It’s a left-field kinda day. Despite the presence of a number of marquee names in this week’s reviewing stack, the award winners are the lesser knowns. Up-and-comer Holly Williams lands her first Disc of the Day honor. By the way, her excellent last single (”Keep the Change”) was not co-written by her sister, but rather […]
Birds of a feather, flock together. It wasn’t until we had them all in the same room for the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony (5/17) that I realized how much this year’s inductees have in common. Receiving their industry’s highest honor were Charlie McCoy, Roy Clark and Barbara Mandrell. All three began their […]
This week, I’m tidying up a few loose ends in my Americana listening stack. This truly is a genre of great singer-songwriters, and three of them have current albums that you absolutely must own. They are John Hiatt’s Same Old Man, James McMurtry’s Just Us Kids and Bruce Robison’s His Greatest, which earns our Disc […]
[Update 2/16; 9 pm] Gaylord has now announced it will reduce 3.5% of its workforce nationwide, cutting about 350 jobs. 180 positions will be eliminated in Nashville. According to the Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram, Gaylord Entertainment laid off 30 full-time people today (2/16) from its resort in Grapevine, Texas. The property has a workforce of […]
Longtime Music Row copyright attorney Bob Thompson died on January 7 at age 77. He was the former president of the Nashville SESAC office and former chairman of the Tennessee State Film, Music & Entertainment Commission. Jon Hager of The Hager Twins has died at age 67. He was found dead at his Nashville home […]
The country music record business was especially hard hit as the previous year’s drop of 16.3% rose to 24% in 2008. Actual country album sales (physical and digital) toppled from 62.7 to 47.6 million, a new all time low under the SoundScan era. Country 2008: A Year End Report asks questions and presents much of […]