Tag Archive for: featured-2

Alison Krauss + Union Station Set April Release

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Alison Krauss and Union Station members Jerry Douglas, Barry Bales, Ron Block, and Dan Tyminski


Rounder Records has set an April 12 release date for the latest from Alison Krauss and Union Station, Paper Airplane.
This will be the first new music from Krauss since her highly acclaimed 2007 collaboration with Robert Plant. It will be her first album with longtime band Union Station since 2004’s Lonely Runs Both Ways.
The Plant/Krauss project was honored with six Grammys, adding to her career tally of 26, the most for any female in history.
American Songwriter is reporting the following track list:
1. Paper Airplane
2. Dustbowl Children
3. Lie Awake
4. Lay My Burden Down
5. My Love Follows You Where You Go
6. Dimming Of The Day
7. On The Outside Looking In
8. Miles To Go
9. Sinking Stone
10. Bonita and Bill Butler
11. Opening Farewell

Bobby Karl Works The Grammy Nominee Party

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Pictured (l-r:) George Flanigen, chair of the board of trustees, The Recording Academy; Susan Stewart, south regional director, The Recording Academy; nominee Chris Young and Gary Overton, Sony Music Nashville chairman.


All photos courtesy of The Recording Academy® /Wireimage.com © 2011. Photographed by: Frederick Breedon
Chapter 356
Talk about your star gazing—this year’s Grammy nominee party was the place to be.
And what a triumph for Nashville’s music community: “I’m proud to say that this year there were more Grammy entries than ever before,” said Recording Academy chapter board president Dan Hill. “We are extremely diverse,” added South Regional Director Susan Stewart. “We have more nominees in more categories than I can name. We have six Nashville songwriters up for Song of the Year, alone.”
“Our national Chairman of the Board didn’t have to fly in, because he lives right here,” Dan continued. “Welcome George Flanigen.” George pointed out that the number of Nashville nominees spans 35 different categories. In addition to country, bluegrass and gospel, they include folk, pop, world music, rock, historical, liner notes, Americana, movie music and classical.
“The Nashville Symphony, with one record, is nominated for five awards,” boasted George. “From now on, all of you will have attached to your name, ‘Grammy nominated,’ like ‘Grammy nominated Rivers Rutherford’ or ‘Grammy nominated Chris Young.’”

Nashville Symphony Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. The Symphony garnered five Grammy nominations.


Chris and Rivers were most definitely in the house. The gala, staged yesterday evening at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza (1/18), also featured appearances by triple nominee Dierks Bentley, jazz great Larry Carlton and rockers Paramore, plus Sam Bush, Cherryholmes, Tom Douglas, Ty Herndon, Ricky Skaggs, Gordon Kennedy, Karen Peck, Dailey & Vincent, David Nail, The Band Perry, The SteelDrivers, Gretchen Wilson, Little Big Town, Allen Shamblin, Jeff & Sheri Easter, FireFight, Austin’s Bridge and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero.
“What a great turnout,” editorialized Wes Vause.
“When they called me [to attend], I said, ‘You want me to park cars?’” quipped Sam Tate, who is nominated alongside Rivers and Annie Tate for writing “I’d Love to Be Your Last” for Gretchen. “The song wasn’t even a single!” he exclaimed. “But that’s what’s great about the country Grammys,” I replied. “They’re weird, and in this case, weird in a good way.”
“After all I’ve been through, I finally get to show, ‘This is what I can do,’” said Jett Williams. “I’m moving the legacy forward,” with a massive reissue set of daddy Hank’s works.
“I’ve been nominated 11 times, but never won,” said Connie Smith. “I don’t care. I’m just glad to be nominated….again.” Hubbie and vocal collaborator Marty Stuart defended fellow nominee Skaggs’ much maligned long locks. “I think it’s cool,” said Marty. “He looks like Benjamin Franklin.”
The most nominated Nashville act is Lady Antebellum. “It’s a pretty awesome feeling, especially to be honored in the all-genre categories,” said Lady A’s Charles Kelley. The group is in the studio, but still felt the responsibility to drop by the party. I love those kids.
Seeing conductor Guerrero, Del McCoury was reminded of a gig his band played at the Schermerhorn with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band last year. Afterward, the McCourys took the New Orleans legends with them to appear on the Opry. According to Pete Fisher, this is the first time a tuba has been on the show. The collaboration will result in a joint album, out in April. It looks like the Grammys might need yet another category – Bluegrass/Dixieland or Dixieland/Bluegrass.
The crowd of hundreds was packed with industry fabulons. Among those working the room were Gary Overton, Gary Paczosa, Ben Vaughn, Ben Fowler, Mary Ann McCready, Mary Hilliard Harrington, Mary Martin, Alan Valentine, Allen Brown, Tony Brown, Tom Lord, Tim DuBois, Tracy Gershon, Tree Paine, Tamara Saviano, Hunter Davis, Hunter Kelly, Scott & Sandi Borchetta, Scott Robinson, Sherod Robertson, Jeff Walker, Jeff Hanna & Matraca Berg, Jimmy Carter, Joe Palmaccio, Jon Freeman and Jon Randall Stewart & Jessi Alexander. Jon and Jessi spent the holidays, by the way, having a seven-day blast on Delbert’s Blues Cruise.
Meanwhile, back at the Grammy schmoozathon, we noshed on roast beef sandwiches, tiny rock shrimp on toast points, roasted and glazed veggies on flat breads, crab cake sandwiches, Mediterranean dips, filo dessert rolls and more. We said, “Happy New Year” to Gilles Godard, Fletcher Foster, Ronna Rubin, Luke Lewis, Chris Keaton, Ron & Regina Stuve, Rod Essig, Ree Guyer Buchanan, Jackie Marushka Luttrell, Janet Bozeman, Paul Barnabee, Pat Higdon, Peter Cooper, Karen Byrd, Ken Robold, Kira Florita, Kay West, Andrew Kintz, Shelby Kennedy, Beverly Keel, Denise Stiff, Dan Harrell, David Preston, Don Light, Bob Doyle and Frank Myers, not to mention Mayor Karl Dean and Nashville first lady Anne Davis.
“That’s Karl with a ‘K,’” said hizzhonor. “Of course,” sez I. “Bobby Karl is always with a ‘K,’ as all correct Karl spellers are.”
The awards show airs Sunday, February 13, 8:00 p.m./Eastern on CBS.

Nashville mayor Karl Dean, Nashville first lady, Anne Davis and GRAMMY nominees Marty Stuart and Connie Smith.

Country Sales Brace For Roller Coaster Ride

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Think of this week’s Nielsen SoundScan results as a giant coaster ride. The cold steel restraint has pushed you against the seat back and as the car slowly “click clicks” up the steep first curve you calm your stomach saying, “Hey, I’m going to be fine.”
Country music album sales are up a healthy 14.9% YTD for the week ended 1/16/2011. But in two weeks our coaster car will summit the climb and then…. all hell breaks loose.
Yes, it was the week of 1/31/2010 when Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now debuted with 481,000 units. And by 2/28/10 it had scanned about 1.16 million! But where is our half million unit debut for this year? Answer: it already debuted fourth quarter last year when we threw every artist that could get shelf space into the sales mix. And hence the roller coaster analogy, because starting the last week of January, that nice 14.9% increase is going to head downhill like a speeding Coney Island coaster about to fly off the track!
In the meantime, Country Strong is sweetening the opening weeks of 2011.The official cinematic soundtrack sold over 28k units this week landing in the No. 2 spot on the Top Current Country album chart (total sales after 12 weeks is 100,000). Also related to the film is Country Strong (More Music From the Motion Picture) which moved over 15k units for a No. 5 chart position.
Steel Magnolia’s digital-only album debut also performed nicely, lagging the Paltrow/McGraw epic by only a few hundred units and earning it a No. 3 place.

The media savvy Bellamy Brothers immediately tried to connect Spear's latest to their classic, "If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me." However, even the most rabid Bellamy fans will have to admit that the production trio of Shellback, Dr. Luke and Max Martin have created a highly original swirling pop pastry.


As 2010 closed we saw powerhouse sales from Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Lady A, Rascal Flatts, ZBB and a few others, but now in the stark January chill, sales have slowed. A few weeks ago at the end of the holidays (12/26/2010) the Top Current Country 75 chart saw sales of 1.467 million units. But this week’s post holiday chart shifted only about 351k. Filling out the Top 5 positions this week are Taylor Swift at No. 1 with sales of over 35k and Jason Aldean sliding slightly to No. 4 with about 25k units.
Digital Track Sales & FACToids
Taylor Swift tops the country tracks list with “Back To December” downloading over 60k times. But over on the all genre Digital Tracks chart Britney Spears vaults to the top with a 411k debut of her new single, “Hold It Against Me.” The media savvy Bellamy Brothers immediately tried to connect the song’s hook to their classic, “If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me.” However, even the most rabid Bellamy fans will have to admit that the production trio of Shellback, Dr. Luke and Max Martin have created a highly original swirling pop pastry.

DISClaimer Single Reviews (1/19/11)

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Let’s do a little Grammy gazing, shall we?

For starters, let’s look beyond the stunning and well-deserved six nominations for Lady Antebellum. What Nashville act has the second most? Surprise! It’s the quintuple nominated outing by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Which, by the way, wins our Disc of the Day.
I’d also like to give a shout-out to Darrell Scott, who not only has a Country Instrumental nomination, but is also a crucial component of Band of Joy, the twice nominated CD by Robert Plant.
Casting our eyes further down the 109 (!) category list, we find our town’s denizens scattered everywhere. As I predicted, Kings of Leon and Paramore are well represented in the pop/rock fields. Leon Russell picks up a nod for his collaboration with Elton John.
Over in Pop Instrumental, you’ll find our own Larry Carlton. Legendary Johnny Mathis came to Music City to make his nominated CD. BeBe & CeCe Winans picked up a pair of nominations in the gospel categories. So hooray for that. You’ll find The John Hartford String Band as a contender in the Traditional Folk race. Bela Fleck is a nominee in exotic Category 75 (Best Contemporary World Music Album).
Our own Doug Seroff has a liner-notes nomination for a Fisk Jubilee set. And Colin Escott is back with another Best Historical nomination for a Hank Williams package, co-produced by Jett Williams and Mike Jason and engineered by Joe Palmaccio.
The country categories contain, as usual, a few head scratchers. No to Kenny
Chesney, but yes to David Nail? No to Reba, but yes to Gretchen Wilson? But it is nice to see Dailey & Vincent sneaking in for a Group nomination.
Here are a few other Nashville notables “in the hunt.”
GUY CLARK/Hemingway’s Whiskey
Writer: Guy Clark/Joe Leathers/Ray Stephenson; Producer: Guy Clark, Verlon Thompson & Chris Latham; Publisher: EMI April/Curb/Ghermkyle, BMI/ASCAP; Dualtone (track)
—Let’s face it: This guy is proudly and steadfastly “folk” in all the best senses of the term. So it’s no wonder that his Somedays the Song Writes You album is up for a Best Contemporary Folk Grammy. And just to prove (again) that a great song knows no genre, this insightful, gentle, metaphoric, evocative track emerged from it to become the title tune of Kenny Chesney’s new blockbuster.
SAM BUSH/Circles Around Me
Writer: Jeff Black/Sam Bush; Producer: Sam Bush; Publisher: Lotos Nile/Samanda Lynn/Bug, BMI; Sugar Hill (www.sambush.com)
—If you don’t absolutely love Sam Bush, pack your bags and get out of town. This mandolin master, songwriting wunderkind, singer and personality-plus fellow is up for Best Bluegrass Album, Category 65. Its trilling, trippy title tune is just one of 14 reasons to love this music-packed set. Co-writer Jeff Black, by the way, is also responsible for the album’s standout track, “Gold Heart Locket.”
THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS/Magic #9
Writer: Jesse Cobb/Chris Pandolfi; Producer: The Infamous Stringdusters & Gary Paczosa; Publisher: Cobbstrumental/Deep Home, ASCAP; Sugar Hill (track) (www.thestringdusters.com)
—Where would the Country Instrumental Category be without bluegrass bands? Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner, Frankie Ballard, the Dixie Chicks, Diamond Rio and the rest of country’s hot pickers need to get on the job. As it is, “Magic #9” by The Infamous Stringdusters is a mandolin, banjo, fiddle, guitar and dobro plucked tune that is a worthy, lilting, breezy and merry sounding nominee.
STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN/Beauty Will Rise
Writer: none listed; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; Sparrow
—This singer-songwriter is a Nashville treasure. You’ll find him in Grammy Category 53: Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. Its title tune is a rocking, magnificently uplifting, aching-yet-hopeful ode. Rising from personal and spiritual pain, he sings of the endurance of our souls like no one else. I remain an awestruck fan.
TY HERNDON/The Rest Of My Life
Writer: Matthew S. Garringer/Ty Herndon; Producer: Ty Herndon & Wayne Haun; Publisher: Sunset Gallery/Journey On, no performance rights listed; Funl (track)
—Former country chart topper Herndon bounces back with a Grammy nomination in gospel Category 54 for his Journey On album. It kicks off with this densely scored pop pounder, complete with a quasi-choral backing. Rousing.
RICKY SKAGGS/Return To Sender
Writer: Gordon Kennedy; Producer: Ricky Skaggs & Gordon Kennedy; Publisher: Glennjoy, ASCAP; Skaggs Family (track)
—If you put on Ricky’s Mosaic collection expecting to hear a bluegrass record, you are in for a shock. Co-produced by Gordon Kennedy, it is a collage of pop sounds, united by spiritual lyrics. The whole CD has a nomination in Category 53: Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. This gorgeously melodic, Celtic-flavored, string-embellished thumper is up for Best Gospel Song. It is a beautiful sounding mini-masterpiece. Ricky’s third nomination is in the Traditional Folk list (Category 68), for his Songs My Dad Loved album.
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/Metropolis Symphony
Writer: Michael Daugherty; Producer: Blanton Alspaugh; Publisher: Peermusic Classical, BMI; Naxos
—This is a brilliant performance of a challenging composition. Daugherty’s work often demands that all instruments play at the top of their registers and incorporates such sounds as whistles, siren, brake drum, chimes and whip cracks. The fifth movement, “Red Cape Tango,” is the most melodic, dramatic and extended of the symphony. It’s not exactly dinner music, but this is the classical record to beat.
DARRELL SCOTT/Willow Creek
Writer: Darrell Scott; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; Full Light
—Darrell has often been celebrated as the Nashville tunesmith of “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive,” “Born to Fly,” “Longtime Gone,” “Heartbreak Town,” “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” and more. He has also been lauded for a series of seven great solo CDs. It’s about time someone noticed that he is also a first-call Music Row instrumentalist. This charming, jaunty ditty appears on his A Crooked Road CD and has a nomination in Category 40: Best Country Instrumental. From an indie-label album, no less. Mazel tov.
CHERRYHOLMES/Tattoo Of A Smudge
Writer: B.J. Cherryholmes/Molly Cherryholmes; Producer: Ben Isaacs, Jere Cherryholmes & B.J. Cherryholmes; Publisher: Hey, Knucklehead, ASCAP; Skaggs Family (track) (www.cherryholmes.com)
—This fiddle-and-mandolin dominated rapid romp landed Cherryholmes in the Best Country Instrumental category. Which makes this a strange time for the family band to be announcing that it’s calling it quits this spring.
THE STEELDRIVERS/Where Rainbows Never Die
Writer: Chris Stapleton/Mike Henderson; Producer: Luke Wooten & The SteelDrivers; Publisher: none listed; Rounder (track)
—The SteelDrivers are also in a time of transition. Lead singer Chris Stapleton left the band after recording the current Reckless CD. That’s him singing on this atmospheric meditation on aging. It’s such a terrific song and performance that it did my heart good to see it competing against the major-label biggies in Category 38: Best Country Group. Yes, Lady A will win. But this is still such a class nomination.
MARTY STUART & CONNIE SMITH/I Run To You
Writer: Marty Stuart/Connie Smith; Producer: Marty Stuart; Publisher: Marty Stuart/Connie Smith/Bug, BMI; Sugar Hill (track) (www.martystuart.net)
—Marty is up for two Grammy Awards. “Hummingbyrd” is in the running for Country Instrumental. And this steel-soaked duet with his gold-standard vocalist bride is competing in the Country Collaboration race. Is that cool or what? Both nominees can be found on his current Ghost Train album.
ROBERT PLANT/Silver Rider
Writer: Zachary Micheletti/Mimi Parker/George Sparhawk; Producer: Robert Plant & Buddy Miller; Publisher: 1238/Spinney/Domino, BMI/PRS; Rounder (track)
—Plant’s Nashville-recorded Band of Joy CD features an all-star cast of Nashvillians, including Buddy Miller, Darrell Scott, Bekka Bramlett and Byron House. It is justifiably a nominee in Category 64: Americana Album. And this track pops up competing in the Best Rock Vocal, Category 15. His spectral reading of the echoey throbber—shadowed by the hushed, haunted harmony of Patty Griffin—is simply mesmerizing.

Etix Acquires Rockhouse Partners

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Rockhouse founders L-R: Tawn Albright, Kevin Brown, and Joe Kustelski


Rockhouse Partners, the Nashville digital marketing company specializing in live events, has been acquired by ticketing service Etix.
Founded by former Echo executives Tawn Albright, Kevin Brown, and Joe Kustelski, Rockhouse had recently announced its expansion with Rockhouse Live, a division focused on helping live entertainment properties sell more tickets.
Kustelski and Brown will stay with the company and lead technology/product, and marketing integration, respectively. Albright will move on to a new opportunity helping Nashville-area start-ups.
Etix is an international, web-based ticketing service provider for the entertainment, travel, and sports industries. Etix operates in 40 countries and serves venues, arenas, festivals, fairs, performing arts centers, and multi-use facilities.
“Rockhouse allows us to expand in a direction that reflects the real needs of our clients,” explains Travis Janovich, CEO of Etix. “It’s becoming increasingly complicated for clients to manage and measure digital marketing in-house. And that’s what the team at Rockhouse does best.”

Aldean's "Party" Goes Platinum

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That’s right, it’s time for the My Kinda Party party. Less than three months since the release of Jason Aldean’s fourth album My Kinda Party, it has earned Platinum certification. This makes his third career Platinum album and brings his overall sales total to five million.
“I just can’t say enough about country music fans and the amount of loyalty they have for their favorite artists,” says Aldean. “To think that a million people already bought this record is hard for me to get my head around. And five million since I started? No way! I am so grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to play music every night.”
Aldean launches his My Kinda Party Tour this Friday (1/21) in Little Rock, AR. The trek currently has 30 dates scheduled and features guests Eric Church and the JaneDear girls.

Pop Shined in 2010, But All Formats Face Changes

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In its year-end wrap, Billboard (12/18/10) proclaims 2010 The Great Pop Boom noting that pop’s percentage of the Top 10 songs on the Hot 100 chart had soared to 74% compared with just 28% in 2005. Popsters such as Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber and Black Eyed Peas were headline grabbers. Nashville’s Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum also enjoyed high enough levels of sales, press, airplay and chart positions on the Hot 100 to qualify them as pop sensations, too. One thing the pop acts have in common is their highly evolved communication skills designed to keep them front and center in the public’s mind.
Besides the pop success, it was also a year in which some basic industry assumptions were trampled. The touring industry, thought to be bulletproof, was derailed by the weak economy and digital track sales growth, long touted as the savior of falling album sales, slowed to a crawl.
For example, Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged to become Live Nation Entertainment, but sagging ticket sales and tour cancellations caused its stock to drop 50% from April through mid-August. U.S. digital track sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan set an all time record at 1.172 billion sold, but only increased 1% over 2009. The tracks increase was particularly disappointing when contrasted with total album sales which dipped 12.7%.
Train frontman Pat Monahan told Billboard that radio’s role in exposing pop music is also changing. “My manager has a great baseball analogy,” Monahan says. “He said that radio used to be the starting pitcher, and now it’s the closer. You’d better have all your other stuff dialed in—your online fan base, your touring—if you think radio is going to come together.”
Billboard writer Monica Herrera cleverly offers several explanations for the pop-ularity of music-driven TV show, Glee. “A common explanation for the appeal of Glee is its constant championing of earnestness over cynicism,” she says, “coupled with the fact that the cast consists of diverse, relatively unknown faces. It’s no coincidence that some of the year’s most embraced talents, from Bieber to Susan Boyle to Greyson Chance, have equally wholesome back stories, as viral sensations who constantly stay on message about their remarkable rise to fame. Even the always-costumed Gaga talks often of her pre-fame days, and a quick Google search lets fans see her in full struggling artist glory. Horatio Algers for the YouTube age, these new pop stars are the realization of a dream that perhaps resonates more than ever for a logged-on, recession-addled public.”
Analysis: If pop exploded in 2010, what format will shine in 2011? One thing is sure, the challenges are already stacking up. All formats will face unresolved retail sales, radio and touring issues.
In 2010 radio groups got serious about extending their reach beyond the terrestrial towers and using online strategies such as mobile phone apps and streaming. But pure-play Internet radio alternatives such as Pandora were also stretching. Pandora now claims over 65 million users and during 2011 will interface with Toyota, BMW and Ford automobiles. Free and paid subscription services like Spotify, set to finally launch in the U.S. this year, are also likely to cut into time spent listening to traditional signals. Eventually all Internet channels will find a way to reach into the coveted auto dashboard, where so much of radio listening takes place and terrestrial radio will have to evolve to meet these challenges.
The outlook for retail sales is equally complex. Almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy, as physical sales continue to droop (48 million fewer albums in 2010), retailers respond by shrinking music shelf space. As Nashville marketers grapple with CD format extending ideas such as six or eight track albums, opportunities to enjoy streaming music are growing exponentially. Looming larger each year is the question—Do consumers really need to purchase music anymore? Combine a myriad of channels such as Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Last.FM, Yahoo and Rhapsody with improved 4G mobile wireless and one gets an on-demand, 24/7, instant-access media world where one is always on the grid.
Pop music may continue to rule in 2011, but all formats are finding that music revenue streams and the pathways along which those dollars flow, are rapidly changing.

Fan Jam Remote Will Coincide With ACM Awards Telecast

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As awards shows strive for more and more fan involvement, the Academy of Country Music has announced plans to add a Fan Jam concert, to be held in Las Vegas during and after the April 3 ACM Awards. This will let even more fans take part in the Awards show excitement.
Sugarland will headline the first-ever ACM Fan Jam at the Mandalay Bay Resort. The ACM Awards telecast on CBS will feature three live remotes, one per hour, from the simultaneous Fan Jam concert. Other ACM Fan Jam performers are yet to be announced.
“We sell out our Awards show tickets within minutes of going on sale, every year,” explains Bob Romeo, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “With Sugarland’s help, the Academy is answering the demand of more and better access to the Awards show with the Fan Jam, with a family-friendly ticket price ($35, $55) and a promise that this experience will be like no other in ACM Awards history.”
Tickets for the ACM Fan Jam, and all other ACM Awards-related events, will go on sale Wednesday (1/19) at Ticketmaster.com. This includes the ACM Awards, and the Girls’ Night Out: Superstar Women of Country taping on April 4, 2011.

BMI Trailblazers; Keep The Music Playing Concert; USO Tour

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Commissioned and Shirley Caesar Honored at BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards • Sara Evans Visits Pearl-Cohn Choir Students In Preparation For Keep The Music Playing All-Stars Concert • Kix Brooks Visits The Troops

Commissioned and Shirley Caesar Honored at BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards

BMI honored gospel greats Commissioned and Pastor Shirley Caesar at the organization’s 12th Annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon. The event was held January 14 at Rocketown in Nashville and was hosted by Catherine Brewton, BMI VP Writer/Publisher Relations, and Del Bryant, BMI Pres./CEO. The ceremony will be telecast on the Gospel Music Channel Saturday, February 19 at 7 pm. BeBe and CeCe Winans’ “Close to You” was named BMI’s Most Performed Gospel Song of the Year. Written by BeBe Winans and published by Music of Everhits, the song also earned the 2010 Dove Award for Urban Recorded Song of the Year.

(L-R): BMI Pres./CEO Del Bryant; Commissioned’s Karl Reid, Maxx Frank and Fred Hammond; Pastor Shirley Caesar; Commissioned’s Michael Williams, Mitchell Jones, Keith Staten, Montrel Darrett, Michael Brooks and Marvin Sapp; BMI VP Writer/Publisher Relations Catherine Brewton; and BMI Sr. Dir. Writer Publisher Relations Wardell Malloy. Photo: Arnold Turner

Sara Evans Visits Pearl-Cohn Choir Students In Preparation For Keep The Music Playing All-Stars Concert

RCA Nashville recording artist Sara Evans visited Pearl-Cohn High School on Friday (1/14) to give choir students career advice and performance tips in anticipation of their appearance at the Keep the Music Playing All Stars Concert presented by SunTrust Bank at the Schermerhorn on February 1. The students performed and were accompanied by Pearl-Cohn High School Music Director, Llewellyn Peter, on a Baldwin Grand Piano which was donated to the school in 2008 through the Country Music Association’s “Keep the Music Playing” Program.

(L-R): Metro Nashville School District CFO Chris M. Henson; Exec. Dir. Nashville Alliance Pam Garrett Tidwell; Sara Evans; Pearl-Cohn Exec. Principal Marva Blanchard-Woods; and CMA VP Corporate Communications Wendy Pearl. Photo: John Russell

Kix Brooks Visits The Troops

As part of the USO’s annual holiday tour, American Country Countdown host Kix Brooks performed for members of the U.S. Military serving overseas. Brooks was joined by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, in travelling to Afghanistan and Iraq. Also joining to spread holiday cheer to the troops were seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong; comedians Robin Williams, Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan; and Country songwriter/performer Bob DiPiero.

(L-R): Lance Armstrong, Kix Brooks, Bob DiPiero, Robin Williams, Kathleen Madigan and Lewis Black.

Saporiti Joins Savannah Music Group

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(L-R) Bob Saporiti, General Manager of Savannah Music Group; Dean Unkefer, SPI President; and Dave Gibson, Chief Creative Officer of Savannah Music Group after the Texaco Country Showdown.


“It’s nice to be back among the living,” smiles Bob Saporiti new General Manager of Savannah Music Group. “We’re already having a blast.”
Saporiti was appointed to the new SMG position shortly before the holidays replacing Ed Salamon who joined the company Oct. 1. Savannah Music Group consists of three principals including SMG President Dave Gibson, Group Chairman Jeff Cohen and Creative Director Daisy Dern.

SMG Creative Director Daisy Dern.


Saporiti, a Nashville industry veteran had a career as a top independent radio promoter and then became key player at Warner Nashville, focusing especially on international marketing. In 2001 he retired from the record business as Warner’s then Sr. VP/GM.
“We’re going to focus on our core business which is music publishing,” says Saporitti. “In fact we are signing deals with writers that have six month reversion clauses. If we can’t get something done with a song in that time, then the writer ought to be able to get it back.”
SMG has three song pluggers and its staff writer roster includes Kevin Grant, the Mulch Brothers and Nolan Neal.