Tag Archive for: featured-2

The Grascals Raise Awareness For Childhood Cancer

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The Grascals


Nashville’s music community is gathering in support of “I Am Strong,” a song raising awareness about childhood cancer. The song was written by The Grascals band member Jamie Johnson and his wife Susanne Mumpower-Johnson along with Jenee Fleenor after the group visited the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. One version of the song was recorded by The Grascals, with special guest Dolly Parton. Another version includes The Grascals, Parton, Randy Owen, Joe Nichols, Darryl Worley, Terri Clark, Charlie Daniels, Tom T. Hall, The Oak Ridge Boys and Steven Seagal.
A music video was directed by cancer survivor David Corlew of d. corlew films and is available below and at several online outlets. Clear Channel Digital and Citadel Digital are hosting the video on the homepage of all their country radio station websites.
Cracker Barrel is donating a percentage of the proceeds from The Grascals & Friends—Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Top Country Tours of 2010

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George Strait and Reba headlined one of the year's biggest country tours.


The biggest grossing tours in 2010 belonged to George Strait/Reba/Lee Ann Womack, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.
The Strait tour was the highest grossing North American country tour in 2010, according to Pollstar’s year-end chart. Grossing $41.6 million in box office receipts, the outing placed 14th on the all-genre Top 50 North American tours list (see full list containing agencies, ticket sales, number of dates).
Brad Paisley came in right behind the Strait package with $40.7 million, followed closely by Tim McGraw with $39 million, and Carrie Underwood with $38.8 million.
Other country stars on the top 50 include Taylor Swift ($34.2mm), Rascal Flatts ($28.4mm), Brooks & Dunn ($25.7mm), Toby Keith ($25.5mm) and Sugarland ($19mm).
Bon Jovi secured the No. 1 spot with $108 million.
Here are some of the Worldwide tour rankings: McGraw ($42.9mm), Paisley ($42.4mm), Strait/Reba ($41.6mm), and Swift ($40.4mm).
The magazine says box office grosses and ticket sales were down from 2009. The combined gross for the Top 50 North American tours in 2010 was $1.69 billion, down about 15% from last year. Total tickets sold was 26.2 million, a 12% decrease from 2009.

Recording Academy To Honor T Bone Burnett

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Producer T Bone Burnett will receive a salute from the Producers & Engineers Wing of The Recording Academy during Grammy Week. Titled “Shaken Rattled & Rolled,” the special event is part of the 10th Anniversary celebration of the P&E Wing. Grammy winners Elton John and Leon Russell (whose duet album The Union was produced by Burnett) will serve as honorary co-chairs of the gala, which will be held Wednesday, February 9 at The Village Recording Studios in Los Angeles.
“When the Producers & Engineers Wing was established, an essential voice was created for music makers: the voice of those ‘behind the glass’ that work so diligently to ensure that the quality and integrity of recorded music is captured and preserved,” says Recording Academy CEO/President Neil Portnow. “As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, it is only fitting that we pay tribute to one of our industry’s finest, T Bone Burnett, whose visionary talent and masterful skills have greatly impacted the landscape of audio production.”
Grammy Week ends with the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 13, airing live on CBS at 8/7 pm ET.

Toyota Adds Pandora

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Toyota's Entune telematics service integrates apps with the car's infotainment system. (Credit: CNET)


The Pandora “pandemic” may soon be rolling into a car near you!
Ford previously announced it would offer Pandora in connection with its SYNC platform.
Today, at CES in Las Vegas, Toyota revealed it will also roll with Pandora using its Entune multimedia system. The Toyota system will also reportedly engage users with other apps such as Bing, OpenTable, iheartradio and movietickets.com. Users only need to download an Entune app to their iPhone, Android or Blackberry and pair the phone via bluetooth with the car’s system. The individual apps are actually run by the Entune server.
Toyota plans to unveil the new functionality later this year.

Cameron Strang Named CEO Warner/Chappell

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Cameron Strang


Warner Music Group Corp. announced today the appointment of veteran music industry entrepreneur, Cameron Strang, as CEO of Warner/Chappell Music. The appointment was announced jointly by Warner Music Group’s Chairman & CEO, Edgar Bronfman, Jr., and Warner/Chappell’s Chairman & CEO, David H. Johnson.
Strang, the founder of New West Records and Southside Independent Music Publishing, will serve as Warner/Chappell’s CEO effective January 1, 2011 and will be based in Los Angeles. Johnson will continue as Warner/Chappell’s Chairman until July 1, 2011, at which point Strang will assume the additional role of Warner/Chappell’s Chairman. Johnson, who had served as WMG’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel since 1999, was initially elevated to serve as interim CEO of Warner/Chappell in 2006, and was subsequently promoted to Warner/Chappell’s Chairman & CEO in 2007.
Warner/Chappell has also acquired Strang’s Southside Independent Music Publishing, a leading independent music publishing company that was behind some of the biggest hits of 2010 including two of the songs nominated for the 2011 “Record of the Year” Grammy Award—B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ on You” and Cee Lo Green’s “F*** You.” Other recent hit songs on Southside include Brad Paisley’s No. 1 “American Saturday Night” and Uncle Kracker’s hit “Smile.”
Strang is the founder of both Southside Independent Music Publishing and New West Records, and co-founder of DMZ Records, a joint venture record label he launched with producer T-Bone Burnett, and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen.
With the acquisition of Southside, Warner/Chappell gains a roster including Nashvillians Ashley Gorley, Blair Daly and Matthew West, as well as Bruno Mars, and producer Brody Brown. In 2009, Southside acquired Nashville publisher Combustion Music, and the catalog of multi-Platinum rock act Kings of Leon.
Other top Southside songs include Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” “All American Girl” and “Just A Dream;” Trace Adkins’ “You’re Gonna Miss This;” Brad Paisley’s “Then” and “American Saturday Night;” Kenny Chesney’s “Where I Grew Up;” Darius Rucker’s “It Won’t Be Like This For Long;” Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” and “Sex on Fire;” and Flo Rida’s “Right Round.”
Strang launched New West Records in 1995 with the signing of singer/songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. In 1998, he moved the label’s home to Los Angeles. During the last decade, Strang and New West have released numerous award-winning albums and built an impressive roster including Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, Kris Kristofferson, Rickie Lee Jones, Drive By Truckers, Ben Lee, Old 97’s, and Buddy and Julie Miller. Recently New West acquired the Texas Music Group, and released the award-winning soundtrack to the film Crazy Heart.
Read about changes at New West following Strang’s exit here.

Solid Reviews For "Country Strong"

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Solid reviews are coming in for Country Strong, which is already showing at the Carmike 20 in Franklin, Tenn. and is slated for a wide release on Friday, Jan. 7. Many critics are saying the movie is carried by strong performances by Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw.
The LA Times finds “down-home comfort” in the film despite its predictable “music-drenched melodrama” centered around the “roughhouse country music industry.” According to the review:

When the starting point is a world in which even the toughest guys wear their hearts on their sleeves, the trick for filmmakers is how to walk the line without getting stuck in the muck, and that is a problem the filmmaker hasn’t yet figured out
What helps elevate “Country Strong” when the music stops is the strength of the performances. It’s not easy to play opposite [Oscar winner Paltrow] but McGraw does a credible job. He is such an appealing guy on-screen, working an easy charm in a way that seems so effortless it’s turning him into Hollywood’s good old boy of choice (see “The Blind Side”). But the scene stealer is the Minnesota farmboy, Garrett Hedlund, who took up the guitar for the film and, despite an acting hot streak that includes “Tron: Legacy,” actually could quit his day job. His scruffy Trace Adkins-style baritone and kickback charisma on-stage makes Beau irresistible to more than just [Paltrow’s character] Kelly.

The Huffington Post says:

Paltrow easily delivers the best performance of her adult life, playing a woman who has many demons to battle. The strength to keep it together threatens to fall apart constantly, yet it never once veers into melodrama.
The acting performance aside, the surprising part is seeing Paltrow belt out tunes, play the guitar and strut on stage as if she was born and raised in the heartland.

McGraw will discuss the film on upcoming television appearances including the Late Show with David Letterman (1/4), Good Morning America (1/5), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (1/5), Chelsea Lately (1/6) and The Martha Stewart Show (1/7). He returns to the road this spring on the Emotional Traffic Tour with special guests Luke Bryan and The Band Perry.
MORE
• See the L.A. Times picks for the best country music movies.
• Music videos below from the motion picture soundtrack:
McGraw and Paltrow perform “Me and Tennessee,” written by Paltrow’s husband Chris Martin of Coldplay.
Paltrow’s Yahoo exclusive performance of “Coming Home.” The song by Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, and Troy Verges is nominated for Best Original Song–Motion Picture at the Golden Globe® Awards, taking place on Sunday, January 16, 2011, airing on NBC from 8:00-11:00 p.m. (EST).

Smartphones Becoming Dominant

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According to market research company Nielsen (1/3/11), the Apple iPhone operating system remains the top mobile OS in the US enjoying a 28.6% market share. Closely following the Cupertino giant is Google’s Android system with 25.8%. Blackberry, once the top dog in the mobile platform race, slides from 33% in June 2010 to 26.1% in the current study.
According to Nielsen, 45% of customers ready to purchase a mobile phone opted for a smartphone instead of a feature phone. Also notable is a finding that among recent smartphone acquirers, 40% chose Android over the last six months, making it the leading choice.
Strong smartphone demand benefits the music industry since the handheld devices encourage and facilitate consumption of music, video and social network engagement.

Little Jimmy Celebrates 90

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On December 18, the Grand Ole Opry celebrated the 90th birthday of Little Jimmy Dickens, a 62-year Opry veteran.  Opry member and Dickens’ good friend Brad Paisley led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” as Opry members Jeannie Seely, Bill Anderson and Jim Ed Brown rolled out his birthday cake.


Earlier in the evening, Paisley had tweeted a photo of the cake with the message:  “Celebrating the 90th B Day of Little Jimmy tonight.  Here’s the cake, and he’s in there waiting to jump out actually.”

Throughout the show, Twitter and Facebook greetings from some of Dickens’ fellow country stars and fans from around the world poured in.  A sampling of other tweets and posts from friends:

Kix Brooks: “90?  He’s been telling all the ladies he’s 76!  Happy Birthday, Little Jimmy!  Hope it’s the best yet!”

Sara Evans: “Little Jimmy, today you are about 32,986 & ½ days old.  90 doesn’t sound too bad after hearing that, does it?  Happy Birthday, we love you!”
Marty Stuart: “Wishing Little Jimmy Dickens a very happy 90th birthday on Sunday – my sincere thanks for bringing country music to new heights.”
Fellow Opry member Trace Adkins visited Jimmy over his birthday weekend, below is a video of their conversation. During the visit, Dickens shares stories of Christmases and birthdays past growing up in West Virginia.

Toby Keith New Year's Eve; Bobby Bare at Fontanel

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Photo: Jeff Gleason


Toby Keith made a surprise visit to his I Love This Bar & Grill at Mesa Riverview in Arizona for New Years Eve where he performed a handful of songs to ring in the New Year including “Whiskey Girl,”  “I Love This Bar,” “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)” as well as “Cocaine” (Eric Clapton, JJ Cale cover).  Toby was in town to attend the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ the next day.

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(L-R): Marc Oswald, Fontanel co-owner; Bobby Bare; Dale Morris, Fontanel co-owner; and Gary Shiebler.


On Thursday Dec. 16, fishing, food and music fans packed the Farm House Restaurant at Fontanel for the kick-off of the inaugural Thursday Night Fishing Club Music Series. Organizer and leader Gary Shiebler mixed his original fishing songs in with a variety of rock and country classics. Between songs, lucky audience members won free fishing rods, reels, baits and tackle and passes to tour the Fontanel Mansion. Country music legend Bobby Bare made a rare Nashville appearance at the event taking requests for some of his biggest hits. The Thursday Night Fishing Club Music Series will resume as a bi-weekly event at the Farm House Restaurant at Fontanel in mid-January, and announcements will be made soon regarding special guests.

Facebook Worth $50 Billion

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Facebook has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies in a deal which values the social networking company at $50 billion. According to this latest figure, Facebook is worth more than eBay, Yahoo and Time Warner.
With rumors circulating about a 2012 public offering for Facebook, Goldman Sachs is expected to raise $1.5 billion from investors for the company. The New York Times reports that the minimum investment per person would be $2 million.
The cash infusion could be used to hire employees, develop new products, or pursue acquisitions, before Facebook goes public.
The Wall Street Journal compares Facebook’s value to other internet properties in a series of graphs that show Facebook’s position relative to valuation, revenue, users and more. Some additional insights can be found in a store on Mashable.com.