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2012 Americana Honors & Awards Winners

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Lifetime Achievement honorees Bonnie Raitt and Richard Thompson. Photo: Stacie Huckeba

The best and brightest in roots music gathered at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium last night (9/13) for the Americana Music Association’s 11th annual Americana Honors & Awards, presented by Nissan. Gillian Welch and her musical partner Dave Rawlings, who were unable to attend, picked up two of the evening’s biggest honors. Relative newcomers The Civil Wars (who won New/Emerging Artist in 2011) and the Alabama Shakes each went home with new awards, and the Guy Clark tribute album This One’s For Him (produced by Tamara Saviano and Shawn Camp) took Album of the Year. A full list of winners and honorees appears below.

Performers included Lifetime Achievement honorees Richard Thompson, Bonnie Raitt, and Booker T. Jones, as well as Jason Isbell, Alabama Shakes, Deep Dark Woods, The Punch Brothers and more. Don’t forget to check out Bobby Karl’s coverage of the event on musicrow.com.

The Americana Honors & Awards also aired live on AXS TV, NPR.org, Sirius XM and WSM. On November 10, Austin City Limits on PBS will broadcast an edited version of the program.

Americana Music Awards and Honors 2012 Award Winners:
Instrumentalist of the Year: Dave Rawlings

Album of the Year: This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark; produced by Tamara Saviano and Shawn Camp

Song Of The Year:  “Alabama Pines;” Written by Jason Isbell and performed by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Emerging Artist of the Year:  Alabama Shakes

Artist of the Year: Gillian Welch

Duo/group of the Year: The Civil Wars

Lifetime Achievement for Performance: Bonnie Raitt

Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist: Booker T. Jones

Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting:  Richard Thompson

Lifetime Achievement Award for Executive: Dennis Lord

(L-R): Mike Mills, The Civil Wars (Joy Williams, John Paul White), Jody Stephens. Photo: Stacie Huckeba

The Alabama Shakes. Photo: Stacie Huckeba

rpmentertainment, Sony Music Nashville Enter Exclusive Agreement

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Scott Siman, President of rpmentertainment, and Gary Overton,  Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Nashville, today (9/12) announced an exclusive worldwide distribution and licensing agreement between the two companies.

Under this new relationship, Sony Music Nashville will exclusively distribute RPMe singles and albums to digital and physical outlets. Together with RPMe SVP April Rider, Siman will continue to oversee artist development, management, marketing and radio promotion for its roster, as well as business development. Maggie Rose’s “I Ain’t Your Mama” will be the first single under the arrangement, with a debut album to follow in February 2013.

“Sony gives us access to the world’s best record distribution system and we are honored that they believed in our new business model and musical vision,” said Siman. “We are on track and poised for an exciting future starting with Maggie Rose, and continuing with all of our future projects at rpme.”

RPMe is comprised of rpme records, rpme publishing and rpme management, with a roster including Rose, Yarn and Humming House, The Command Sisters, and Matt Ramsey.

Weekly Register: Country Fans Further Embrace The Digital Shift

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The 2011 full year TEA Index was 25% country and 27.7% all-genre.

(TEA) Taylor Equivalent Albums
With all the Taylor Swift tracks that fans are downloading we might consider renaming the Index to the above headline. Swift’s “…Never Ever…” single has scanned 1.46 million in 4 weeks and “Ronan” debuted this week with over 211k sales. Sales numbers are strongly influenced by release schedules, and Taylor’s track offerings are affecting the TEA balance. In fact, compared to last year the country index is up 5.56% while all-genre is only up 4.05%.

The numbers show that the shift to tracks is more pronounced this year among country consumers than overall fans, who likely shifted earlier as evidenced by country track sales being up 11.5% compared to all genre increase of only 6%. Further supporting this idea, digital country album sales are growing, but still only 27% of total albums, while all genre album sales are almost 39% digital. And finally, tracks and TEA are playing a larger role in Music City sales because country album sales have fallen from a high of 8.4% (5/13/12) to this week’s rather flat tally of .2% giving track sales more weight.

TEA methodology: Once again, let’s briefly review MusicRow’s TEA Index criteria. The Index measures physical, digital and TEA albums (track equivalent albums; 10 tracks=1 album) then calculates the percentage of total album sales that come from the TEA category. The idea is to measure TEA sales against the combination of physical and digital album sales. (Our numbers are gathered by industry sources from Nielsen SoundScan.)

Weekly Register
As we slide into mid-September, we are experiencing the calm before the storm. This week Top 75 Current Country plummeted to slightly below 234k, one of the lowest weeks of 2012. Carrie Underwood (No. 1; 29k) and Luke Bryan (No. 2; 15k) led the charge with slight increases, but most every other album fell off. A rash of album product will be hitting physical and digital shelves soon from Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Toby Keith and others plus holiday sets from Lady Antebellum and Blake Shelton. How strong will the cash register winds blow? Well, Little Big Town released a Tornado this week…

The tracks department featured Ms. Swift in positions No. 1 and 2 as mentioned above followed by Carrie Underwood (No. 3; 74k), Little Big Town (No. 4; 71k) and Hunter Hayes (No. 5; 69k). Newcomers Florida Georgia Line are making inroads with their track “Cruise” (No. 7; 46k).

Stay tuned…

DISClaimer Single Reviews (9/12/12)

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Shawn Colvin, Drew Womack, the World Famous Headliners

Welcome, Americana conventioneers.

This week’s edition of “DisClaimer” is full of your favorites as well as some folks who want to be. As you might expect, there’s an awful lot to like.

The Disc of the Day award is being divvied up. Our Female winner is Shawn Colvin. The Male prize goes to the comeback-bound Drew Womack. And ya gotta love the Group awardee, the completely charming World Famous Headliners.

Shel

Our newcomers include troubadours Sam Lewis, Jesse Terry and Eric Silver, plus the winners of this week’s DisCovery Award, Sarah, Hannah, Eva and Liza Holbrook, collectively known as Shel. Not since the heydays of the McGarrigles and Roches have I been so captivated.

CHRIS KNIGHT/Little Victories
Writer: none listed; Producer: Ray Kennedy; Publisher: none listed; Drifter’s Church/Thirty Tigers (track) (www.chrisknight.net)
—It has been four years since we’ve had an album from this gritty Kentucky song poet. The title tune to Knight’s newest remains true to his dedication to telling the stories of the “other” America. That’s a place of small-town desperation, working-class blues, hard times and resilience. The guy in this song has some firewood, a half a deer in the freezer and enough to survive on, so he thinks he’s doing pretty okay. John Prine joins in on the last chorus, by the way.

MINDY SMITH/Don’t Mind Me
Writer: Mindy Smith; Producer: Jason Lehning & Mindy Smith; Publisher: Sony-ATV Tree/Big Yellow Dog/In the Tin Can, BMI; Giant Leap/TVX (track) ()
—This downbeat track from her self-titled current collection finds our heroine drinking, blue and lonely amid grinding electric guitars. Pairing her lilting, countryfied soprano with this thudding, echoey backing track is somewhat jarring at first listen, but I’ve always maintained that different is good. Elsewhere on the CD, she’s in her more familiar, folkish mode.

SAM LEWIS/I’m a River
Writer: Sam Lewis; Producer: Sam Lewis & Matt Urmy; Publisher: Sammy Sings, BMI; SL (track) (www.samlewistunes.com)
—Lewis has enlisted some stellar cast member for his CD, including guitarist Kenny Vaughan. On this r&b and gospel flavored ballad, he’s joined by Jonell Mosser on harmony vocals. Clearly, this is a blue-eyed soulman worth a listen. Or two or three.

WORLD FAMOUS HEADLINERS/Give Your Love to Me
Writer: Al Anderson/Shawn Camp/Pat McLaughlin; Producer: Justin Niebank & The World Famous Headliners; Publisher: International Dog/Bucked Up/Scamporee/Hammer Arm, BMI; Big Yellow Dog (track) (www.worldfamousheadliners.com)
—For lovers of Nashville music, the name of this group is no idle boast. The World Famous Headliners are Pat McLaughlin, Big Al Anderson, Shawn Camp, Michael Rhodes and Greg Morrow. The group’s CD kicks off with this rumbling rocker where everybody’s singing with hearty gusto. This train is moving with a steady roll. Get on board for the ride of your life.

SHEL/Freckles
Writer: Shel; Producer: Brent Maher & Shel; Publisher: Songs of Moraine, BMI; Moraine/Mad King(track) (www.shelmusic.com)
—Shel is comprised of the four Holbrook sisters on violin, mandolin, drums and piano, plus wafting vocals. Their cool, quirky sound is equal parts jaunty pop, sideways folk and sly humor, especially on this ear-tickling track. Delightful.

SHAWN COLVIN/All Fall Down
Writer: Shawn Colvin/John Leventhal; Producer: Buddy Miller; Publisher: Colvinsongs/Lev-A-Tunes, ASCAP; Nonesuch (track) (www.shawncolvin.com)
—Now 15 years on since her Grammy awarded “Sunny Came Home,” Colvin continues to make compelling records. She came to Nashville’s Buddy Miller to help her craft her latest. The title tune has a rambling, careening, jumbling and utterly fascinating audio texture and a gripping lyric of failure and redemption. Essential listening.

JESSE TERRY/Let the Blue Skies Go to Your Head
Writer: Jesse Terry; Producer: Neilson Hubbard; Publisher: Jackson Beach, SESAC; JT (track) (www.jesseterrymusic.com)
—He sings in a relaxed, easy-going tenor, and his songs are highly pleasing folk constructions. The cello-and-viola backing on this emphasis track are extra cool touches. The CD is titled Empty Seat on a Plane. It’s the kind of listening that makes a Sunday afternoon glide by.

TIM O’BRIEN & DARRELL SCOTT/Long Time Gone
Writer: Darrell Scott; Producer: none listed; Publisher: Famous/Chuck Wagon Gourmet, ASCAP; Full Light (track) (www.darrellscott.com)
—Separately, these two troubadours are both mighty forces to be reckoned with. Together on the live CD We’re Usually a Lot Better Than This, they are double dynamite. O’Brien’s mandolin provides the propulsion on this track while Scott’s expressive lead vocal makes you listen to this Dixie Chicks hit in a whole new way. Dazzling.

ERIC SILVER /When You’re Here
Writer: Eric Silver; Producer: Eric Silver; Publisher: none listed; Midas (track) (www.ericsilvermusic.com)
—Silver is a Nashville session musician who has written tunes for Diamond Rio, Reba, the Dixie Chicks, Toby Keith, Donna Summer, Neal McCoy and others. This title ballad from his own CD shows he’s been saving some choice songs for himself. It unveils a lush, luxurious and lovely texture as he spins its soft yarn of spending time alone with his guitar, cabernet and moonlight. The disc is being released in Brazil, where Silver has a side solo career.

DREW WOMACK/Sunshine to Rain
Writer: Drew Womack; Producer: Clayton Corn; Publisher: Native Stone, ASCAP; Blue Lightning (track) (www.drewwomack.net)
—The former Sons of the Desert leader has shifted into the Americana field for his comeback solo CD. Forced by spinal surgery to take a nine-year career hiatus, he took a clutch of well-polished songwriting gems into an Austin studio and emerged with a collection that will really grab you by the ears. The title tune is the tale of an alcoholic who returns to the poison that has already ruined a life. Womack has always had one of my favorite singing voices, and something as potent as this really lets him soar.

CCMA 2012: Saskatoon Highlights And Canadian Musical Memories

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Pistol Annies on the CCMA Awards.

All photos except where noted: Grant W. Martin,
http://orderphotos.ca

It was the Canadian Country Music Association’s 36th Anniversary and the organization chose Saskatoon to host its four-day celebration, Sept. 6-9, 2012. It was also CCMA Executive Director Don Green’s second year of running this event and he received high praise for the many improvements his leadership has produced. The CCMA’s General Membership Meeting was like a love fest as people stood up to salute Green’s work. Opening remarks from CCMA Board of Directors Chairman Ted Ellis, and VP Head of Programming for Corus Entertainment which includes CMT Canada and Nickelodeon Canada, showed how the organization has re-established it priorities and energized its marketing campaigns. For example, the Awards event will stay in Edmonton for the next two years (Sept. 5-8, 2013) to enable bigger and longer lasting sponsorships. They also have a multi-year TV show contract for the first time.

Taylor Swift meets Canadian singer/songwriter Ryan Laird at the CCMA Awards show. Swift was Awarded the Generation Award.

The Saskatoon event includes industry seminars, awards and showcases, but also hosts music events that are open to the public. This year the nationally televised CCMA Awards set records selling over 11,000 tickets to Saskatoon residents, happy to see some of their favorite Canadian artists plus U.S. stars like Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies and Eric Church.

Thursday evening’s opening reception was held inside Saskatchewan’s Western Development Museum on what looked like a small town set from a John Wayne cowboy movie. Later that evening the New Artist Showcase began, hosted by Michelle Wright, who was also nominated for Female Vocalist this year. There were lots of interesting talents that took the stage, but the one that caught my ears with stage presence, voice and interesting original songs was Declan McGarry. McGarry is a young Brad Paisley meets Jason Aldean mashup. (He’s signed to Ron Kitchener’s RGK Entertainment.)

A number of Nashvillians made the trek to western Canada this year including After Midnite’s Blair Garner, Rick Murray, Mike Sebastian, Byron Hill, AristoMedia’s Jeff Walker and Aircheck’s Lon Helton. John Ettinger was there with clients Emerson Drive, Mike Wilson with Streamsound artist Jaida Dreyer, and Stoney River new signee Lindsay Ell with manager Steven Linn. It was an especially exciting year for Ralph Murphy who was inducted into the CCMA Hall Of Fame, but more about that later. Also making the rounds were Canadians with Nashville ties such as ole’s Giles Goddard, Denny Carr, Ron Kitchener, Ron Sakamoto, Canadian Hall of Famer Brian Ferriman, plus songwriter/artists Deric Ruttan and Victoria Banks.

Friday’s Industry Brunch and Awards (9/7) winners can be found here. Among the winners were RGK Entertainment for Management Company of the Year, and Byron Hill sharing Producer of the Year honors with artist Gord Bamford for Bamford’s release.

The afternoon’s industry panels attracted large crowds. “Tips To Get Noticed” was moderated by Rick Murray with panelists Jeff Walker, Jill Snell and this writer who was also drafted to sit on “From Rags To Hashtags” with moderator Ted Ellis and panelists Quentin Burgess and Harley Rivet. Later that afternoon Blair Garner and Lon Helton paired to instruct attendees on how to create, “The Perfect Interview.”

(L-R) Promoter Ron Sakamoto, Gord Bamford and Producer of the Year Byron Hill backstage at the Brandt Center in Regina, Canada. Photo: Ray Bradley, snapintime.ca

I took a sidetrip with Byron Hill and CCMA Board member/manager Kelly Resler that evening to see Gord Bamford in action opening for Miranda Lambert at the Brandt Center in Regina. Promoter Ron Sakamoto warmly invited us to dinner backstage in catering. It’s always fun to catch up with the affable Mr. Sakamoto who serves on the CMA Board in Nashville and has done so much for the Canadian music industry. “Sak” handles most every top name U.S. act when they head north. The show started with a mostly packed house, impressive for an opening act. Bamford is a musical traditionalist and a product of the Saskatchewan farmlands. His secret is a great bunch of songs many of which he co-wrote with his producer, Hill. Some were party anthems like “Drinkin’ Buddy” and “Farm Girl Strong,” while others had serious themes like “My Daughter’s Father.” Later in the weekend Bamford performed on the TV show and accepted the Songwriter of the Year award for a co-write with Hill and Roger Brown, “Is It Friday Yet?”

New Hall of Fame inductee Ralph Murphy.

This year’s Gala Awards (See winners HERE) had a new format. Dinner was served cocktail party style and then the awards and artist performances took place in a theater setting. During the evening beloved Ralph Murphy was formally inducted into Canada’s Hall of Fame. Apparently he had been asked to keep his remarks to three minutes and he jumped on that idea saying that as a songwriter he had been writing in that time frame his whole life. “Only a dumb ass takes more than three minutes to say something,” said Murphy quoting his friend, the late Harlan Howard. Murphy received congratulatory emails from Garth Brooks, ASCAP’s Paul Williams and artist Randy Bachman among others.

One performance in particular yanked me out of my seat at the Gala Awards from Group of the Year nominated band The Heartbroken, fronted by Damhnait Doyle. Their (perhaps inappropriate) performance featured a searing lyric about spousal abuse, a battered wife and resulting miscarriage. I believe it was titled “Mad.” When Doyle and her drummer stepped on the title word in a searing high noted scream, the anguish and pain was both compelling and upsetting. It was a moment of rare musical theater and altogether unforgettable.

The Heartbroken

Later that evening we moved to a Sony Music showcase at the Tequila Night Club hosted by promo maven Warren Copnick. I witnessed a star in the making, Stoney River’s Lindsay Ell (@lindsayell). A petite blonde, Ell writes and sings, but also holsters an electric guitar which she plays with serious intent. During her set Ell ran out into the audience with a Les Paul strapped on, jumped up onto a drum case in the middle of the crowd and began thrashing the six string fretboard like a pro… and tore it up!

Sunday evening’s TV show closed the proceedings. Sitting amongst 11,000 screaming fans watching the final awards being handed out I couldn’t help but reflect on the unique spirit of the Canadian music industry. There is an innocence here and a pride that carries the music high on everyone’s shoulders. FACTOR, the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent On Recordings provides over $14 million annually to support the Canadian Music industry and its developing artists. This has a profound effect on the strength of the independent industry, but it’s also the warm hospitality the Canadians extend to musicians and industry from other countries, like Nashville. People say it’s really cold up there, but I beg to differ, you’ll find the welcome just as warm and “Smooth as the hickory wind that blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola.”

SOLID September Marks 15 Years of Success

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The Society of Leaders In Development (SOLID) is celebrating its 15th anniversary during “SOLID September” with events highlighting its most important initiatives: education, outreach, and networking.

Networking
“SOLID has been growing leaps and bounds since it started in 1997,” explained SOLID Pres. Jon Romero during a recent interview. “It has evolved every year with different groups of members, but its goal has always been the same, to bring together young industry professionals.”

Founding member Chris Neese recalled the meetings that led to the organization. “A small group of friends gathered to discuss our future. We saw a need to bring aspiring music industry professionals together to create strong social networks, provide education training, promote leadership, and inspire community involvement. Our solution was SOLID.” The group debuted with a party at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Accordingly, the 15th Anniversary Reception will be held at the Hall of Fame on Tues., Sept. 25, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., where highlights will include interviews with SOLID alumni and an awards ceremony.

Most SOLID events combine networking with education or outreach, as is the case with tomorrow’s (Tues., Sept. 11) Food Truck Frenzy. Running from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. at the SESAC parking lot, 10% of the profits will benefit the charity Linda’s Hope, which fights pancreatic cancer.

Education
Anniversary events kicked off on Sept. 4 with a Conversation with Gene Simmons and Doc McGhee. “Every year we set the bar higher and higher,” said Romero, who works at Vector Management. “It was the biggest panel we’ve put together and it happened thanks to our members’ hard work and connections.”

Throughout the year, the group’s education initiatives include quarterly SOLID After-Work Shops. “We are always bringing in industry leaders for direct dialog with our members,” explained Romero of the panels. “We try to put them in a small setting so our members can ask questions and bounce ideas off of them.”

Outreach
Outreach opportunities focus on serving the community at large, as well as music business college students. To that end, this month SOLID is organizing a Job Shadow Day on Thurs., Sept. 20, and a Habitat For Humanity Build on Sat., Sept. 15.

SOLID is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with annual fundraisers including Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids’ Sake, and the SOLID Yard Sale held during CMA Music Festival. “This year we’ve given away $50,000 to different charities,” said Romero. “That’s leaps and bounds over last year’s $18,000. We want the industry to know we are doing a lot for the community with our sweat and action by our members. There are a lot of legs coming out of SOLID, such as Women Rock For The Cure, and Buds-N-Suds for Crohn’s and Colitis.” Both groups have roots among SOLID members and have since become stand alone charities.

“We set the bar and then reach over it,” summed Romero. “In the next 15 years I hope that we continue to build our reputation on Music Row and that the executives continue to seek our members and know the value of the organization.”

Visit SOLID online, on Facebook, or Twitter.

Johnny Reid, Dean Brody Big Winners At CCMA Awards

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Johnny Reid wins the Fans Choice Award. Photo: Liam Richards/The Canadian Press

The 2012 Canadian Country Music Association Awards took place at Saskatoon’s Credit Union Centre last night (9/9), where Johnny Reid won the evening’s top prize, the coveted Fan’s Choice Award. The previous night he was honored at the CCMA Gala Awards for Top Selling Canadian Album of the Year.

Dean Brody received CCMA Awards for Album of the Year and Male Artist of the Year. He set the stage for an outstanding night of performances with his opening number, “Canadian Girls.”

Other big name performers included Jason Aldean, Pistol Annies, Eric Church and Miranda Lambert. 

The 2012 CCMA Generation Award went to Taylor Swift. Carolyn Dawn Johnson was named Female Artist of the Year.

Presenters included Swift, Alan Doyle, Allan Hawco, Amber Marshall and Graham Wardle, and Theo Fleury.

The CCMA Awards were presented as part of PotashCorp Country Music Week, which took place in Saskatoon, SK Sept. 6 – 9.

Fans’ Choice Award Johnny Reid

Album of the Year Dirt, Dean Brody

Female Artist of the Year Carolyn Dawn Johnson

Male Artist of the Year Dean Brody

Group or Duo of the Year Hey Romeo

CMT Video of the Year In This House, The Stellas

Rising Star Kira Isabella

Single of the Year “They Don’t Make Em’ Like That Anymore,” Jason Blaine

CCMA Generation Award Taylor Swift

The 2013 Country Music Week will take place in Edmonton, AB from Sept. 5-8, culminating with the 2013 Canadian Country Music Association Awards on Sun., Sept. 8, 2013.

Gill Honored With Star on Walk of Fame

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Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Reba, Tony Brown

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honored Vince Gill with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday (9/6). Speakers at the event included Gill’s wife Amy Grant, Reba, and producer Tony Brown.

“Vince has always been a true friend,” said Reba, who told the audience about their long history together and how he had come to her aid during tough times.

Brown, who served as Gill’s longtime producer, extolled his many musical talents. “Three things: Vince is one of the greatest songwriters in the history of country music, one of the greatest singers in all genres of all music, and last but not least, one of the greatest guitar players in the entire world. And I will stand on Eric Clapton’s coffee table and say that,”  said Brown.

“That’s what I love about Vince. He will go where the music takes him,” said Grant, who discussed her husband’s generous spirit and eagerness to perform with others.

Gill was equal parts funny and poignant in his speech as he reflected on his journey. His daughter Jenny was born while he was living in southern California, he said, so it still feels like a home for him. He gave thanks to the individuals who helped him build his career, and noted that his and Grant’s stars would be near one another.

“When I was told this was gonna happen my first request was, I hope i can be near my wife Amy. And they graciously have put us right next to each another. I think there’s one star in between us. Whoever that is, I’ll have them hurt. Or moved.”

See the full presentation here.

Amy Grant, Vince Gill, and Jenny Gill Van Valkenburg

Weekly Chart Report (9/7/2012)

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Heidi Newfield visited KIXQ/Joplin's morning show to promote her single "Why'd You Have To Be So Good." (L-R): Randy Brooks (PD), Newfield, Kaylee Cole (morning co-host)

SPIN ZONE
It’s one of those weeks. You know, one with chart gridlock slowing the movement for a significant portion of artists. But as Little Big Town’s “Pontoon” floats off to calmer waters, it’s labelmate Lady Antebellum who takes the No. 1 spot with “Wanted You More.” Within striking distance is Miranda Lambert’s “Fastest Girl In Town” which has made it to No. 2 in a very, um, fast 13 weeks. Zac Brown Band’s “The Wind” holds at No. 3, followed by new top 5 entries, “Wanted” by Hunter Hayes at No. 4 and “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood at No. 5.

The biggest move inside the top 40 goes to Darius Rucker, whose “True Believers” moves 57-36 in its second week charting and nabs biggest spin increase honors in the process. Also navigating around the traffic jam are Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise,” moving into the top 20 at No. 17, and Luke Bryan’s “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,” which gets a nice boost to No. 14.

The second half of the chart seems equally slow, with a couple notable exceptions. Thomas Rhett’s “Beer With Jesus” has caught the ears of programmers as it moves to No. 57 in its second week. The biggest debut of this chart is Tyler Farr’s “Hello Goodbye,” which lands at No. 73 after an increase of 96 spins.

Frozen Playlists: KFAV, KIAI, KXBZ, KWWR, KYTN, WDHR, WRHT, WXXK

Upcoming Singles
September 10
High Valley/Love You For A Long Time/Eaglemont/Rodeowave
Phoenix Stone/100 Proof Moonshine/Stonehall/9North
Kacey Musgraves/Merry Go Round/Mercury
JT Hodges/Sleepy Little Town/SDU
Gloriana/Can’t Shake You/Emblem/WAR
Amy Rose/(Redneck Reunion) Party Like a Redneck/AR

September 17
Borrowed Blue/Porch People/Red Buck
Clay Walker/Jesse James/Sidewalk
The Farm/Be Grateful/All In/Elektra/New Revolution
LiveWire/Lies/Way Out West
Craig Campbell/Outta My Head/BPG
Gary Allan/Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain)/MCA
Joanna Smith/We Can’t Be Friends/RCA

New On The Chart—Debuting This Week
Artist/song/label — chart pos.
Tyler Farr/Hello Goodbye/Columbia Nashville – 73
Bucky Covington w/Shooter Jennings/Drinking Side of Country/eOne – 77
Tim Dugger/Tennessee/Curb – 80

Greatest Spin Increase
Artist/song/label — spin+
Darius Rucker/True Believers/Capitol – 523
Luke Bryan/Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye/Capitol – 275
Carrie Underwood/Blown Away/19-Arista Nashville – 213
Taylor Swift/We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together/Big Machine – 212
Miranda Lambert/Fastest Girl In Town/RCA Nashville – 203

Most Added
Artist/song/label — New Adds
Darius Rucker/True Believers/Capitol – 38
JT Hodges/Sleepy Little Town/Show Dog-Universal – 17
Thomas Rhett/Beer With Jesus/Valory – 12
Craig Morgan/More Trucks Than Cars/Black River – 11
Trace Adkins/Tough People Do/Show Dog-Universal – 10

On Deck—Soon To Be Charting
Artist/song/label — spins
JT Hodges/Sleepy Little Town/Show Dog-Universal – 214
Pat Green/All Just To Get To You/Sugar Hill – 203
Kevin Fowler/Here’s To Me And You/Average Joe’s – 191
Randy Rogers Band/One More Sad Song/MCA Nashville – 176
Jaida Dreyer/Confessions/Streamsound – 172

Kix Brooks recently visited with KJUG staffers at Exeter Park in California. Brooks will release his solo album New To This Town next Tuesday (9/11). His latest single "Bring It On Home” was released to radio this week. (L-R): Lauren Thomas (Arista Regional Promotion), Lisa Hamilton (KJUG MD), Brooks, Adam Jeffries (KJUG PD)

Josh Turner recently dropped by the Big D & Bubba show to chat about his Cracker Barrel album "Josh Turner—Live Across America"

Taylor Made recently visited with Bo Weevil and Kelly Green of WEIO in Huntingdon, TN to promote the group’s latest single "Some Things You Never Grow Out Of," which takes the MusicRow Chart’s No. 33 spot this week.

Weekly Register: If Track Prices Rise Will Consumers Support Them?

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Taylor Swift’s recent record-setting debut week sales for her new single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” has spurred discussion that tracks will  become as important or more important than albums. Billboard’s Glenn Peoples compares Swift’s singles accomplishment in TEA form against Zac Brown’s album debut (July 29; 48k units) saying, “The album isn’t dead even in my exaggerated example, but it could be a few years away from parity with top 40 track sales. Single tracks also get massive awareness online in the form of on-demand audio and video streaming.”

How likely is this parity scenario and what are some of the dynamics that will affect it? First and foremost, let’s note that overall track sales are only up a modest 6% YTD for 2012 (including Taylor’s feat). In 2010 they barely budged, gaining only 1% and in 2011 they registered a more healthy 8.5% gain according to Nielsen SoundScan. So growth has hardly been overwhelming and although we have seen that it is possible for an artist to stimulate a massive track buy-in, the very fact that Swift set records indicates it is still a very special happening not to be confused with the title, “common occurrence.”

The next area to watch is pricing. As citizens of the SoundScan era we tend to talk about units, but pricing is the underlying measure that determines profits. Album pricing seems to be falling, especially downloads due to special sales and digital store-to store competition. This effect has caused Billboard to put a $3.49 pricing floor on units counted on the album chart sold during the first four weeks of release. However, tracks have actually enjoyed a price increase, with the introduction and stabilization of the $1.29 price level, making TEA album profits more competitive with regular albums. Will labels experiment soon with $1.39 and/or $1.49 levels? I believe we will see that trial balloon fly before long. Unlike the bricks and mortar days when labels completely controlled distribution and therefore pricing, the online world has introduced a new dynamic—free. Some consumers have moved to buying tracks because of the relatively low price and ease of purchase. If prices increase will they still feel that way? Or are they likely to move to an altogether new model—access?

Access or subscription as it is sometimes called brings forth a compelling value proposition—listen to what you want, when you want and wherever you want. This model has already made strong inroads onto desktop computers and mobile smartphones. The auto dashboard is next and that march has already started. We are talking about services such as Spotify, Rhapsody and rdio. Even Pandora, which features personalized programming and although not technically an on-demand variant, still offers access and a large degree of playlist control to the listener. Many of these services are free, or extremely low cost. Ultimately, and especially if faced with rising prices, fans may ask themselves, “Why do I need to carry around these files and copy them from device to device when all the music is available without worrying about that?”

Numbers Trending Lower
A quick week-to-week comparison shows album sales continuing to erode. As regular Weekly Register readers know, that usually has to do with release schedules. In fact, there were no country debuts that could muster even 9k in sales. Josh Turner delivered a live physical only album to Cracker Barrel (No. 9; 8k) and Thomas Rhett debuted at No. 24 with sales of 3.3k. Carrie Underwood rose to the top of the chart, benefitting from an iTunes $6.99 sale price with sales of almost 28k. We often talk about the 300k benchmark for Current Country Top 75 chart and this week the chart was well below that measure, registering a tepid 264k total.

Taylor Swift maintains a firm grip on the top of country tracks list with sales of almost 253k units this week. Her amazing three-week RTD (release to date) total is 1.183 million. Also floating on—well, a “Pontoon” boat—is Little Big Town celebrating the single’s voyage to platinum status in 14 weeks. This week the vocal quartet added another 78k units to its tally. Also in the million-plus club is Hunter Hayes who is becoming a regular on the Top 5 tracks list. “Wanted” added another 65k this week. Randy Rogers Band breaks Top 20 on tracks with week 1 for “One More Sad Song.”

Keep your eyes on the upcoming releases HERE. Stay tuned every Wed. for Weekly Register and thanks for reading!

PS: Congrats to EMI/Capitol Nashville with 80% of the CMA Album Of The Year Nominations!