The Dirt Drifters

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Words like “gritty” come to mind when The Dirt Drifters take to the stage. Of course, there’s no shortage of grit out there, but something in the sound of this five-piece separates it from the pack.

Maybe it’s the vivid images on these 11 tracks performed by band members: drummer Nick Diamond, lead singer/guitarist Matt Fleener, singer/guitarist Ryan Fleener, bassist Jeremy Little and singer/guitarist Jeff Middleton. The images — cigarettes and beer cans on “Sun Goes Down” (written by Matt Fleener, Middleton and Rivers Rutherford), the bullet holes, blue lights and traces of cheap perfume on “Married Men and Motel Rooms” (Middleton, Mark Irwin and Josh Kear) — seem to have been scraped up from a cellar of hard-time memories. (The group wrote or co-wrote all but one track on the album.)

Then there’s the performance, the power chords, the galloping groove that feels like you’re taking corners a little too fast on “Something Better” (Diamond, Matt Fleener, Ryan Fleener and Middleton), the blue-collar epic that John Mellencamp might have conceived had he grown up in a Southern factory town (“Always a Reason,” Ryan Fleener, Middleton and Justin Wilson), the way that lyrics come to life in the union of Matt Fleener’s whiskey-rough lead vocals and pristine backup harmonies.

5 Things You Don’t Know About The Dirt Drifters >>

Drawn from New Jersey, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee, The Dirt Drifters found each other in Nashville. Warner Bros. signed them and producer Justin Niebank captured their spirit on This Is My Blood. And they’re not waiting for success to come to them; on tour dates beginning in August, they’ve giving two copies of their debut CD to audience members, one to keep and the other to pass along. They call it “Give Blood”; we call it building a base one fan at a time.

IN HIS OWN WORDS
(ALL ANSWERS BY MATT FLEENER)

MUSICAL HERO
“Steve Earle because of his lack of boundaries. I like Johnny Cash for the same reason.”

CD IN YOUR STEREO
“Guy Clark’s Somedays the Song Writes You.”

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
“Anything but an RV.”

LUCKY CHARM
“When I was a kid, I would sit on my grandma’s kitchen floor and play with the magnets on her fridge while she cooked and listened to music. I keep one of those magnets with me on the road.”

SONG YOU’D LOVE TO COVER
“‘Wild Horses,’ by the Rolling Stones.

FIRST GIG
“Me and my brother singing ‘Modern Day Romance’ and ‘Pancho and Lefty’ back in OKC. We butchered ‘Pancho and Lefty’ pretty bad.”

TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
“Day Dreamer.”

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Ronnie Dunn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

By Deborah Evans Price
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

With the release of his self-titled solo debut album, Ronnie Dunn just might be the best-known newcomer in country music history. For 20 years he was half of the phenomenally successful duo Brooks & Dunn, which won 19 CMA Awards and dominated the country duo scene. Now the veteran singer/songwriter is starting over as a solo act, though he admits this transition hasn’t exactly been easy.

“I just panicked,” he said. “I just pushed the panic button and took off running in circles and recorded 34 songs before it was all over. I finally had to bring it down to 11 and went back in and negotiated to get it up to 12. But I was all over the map.”

At the same time, lots of well-meaning folks were offering advice. For example, in suggesting a way to establish an individual identity after his long partnership with Kix Brooks, “I had one guy at the label tell me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t say “honky-tonk”’,” Dunn said. “There were people in my own camp who said, ‘Hey, you just left a really good paying job, dude. What was that about? Did you think about this before you said “I’m going off on my own”?’

“I was certainly helped by a lot of good people, but I’d never felt so alone in my life,” he remembered. “All of a sudden, everyone just went, ‘OK, well, go do what you’ve got to do and I hope it works out for you.’”

In the process of defining himself as a solo artist, Dunn acknowledges that he began to overthink and overanalyze. He credits his wife Janine with helping him regain his focus by encouraging him to take some time alone and evaluate who he had become as an artist. “She said, ‘You came home off your tour, you got ‘COWBOY’ tattooed from your elbow to your wrist. Are you off to be David Allan Coe? Or are you on a quest to become Willie [Nelson]? You need to figure that out and put it down on a record.’”

That process of making a solo statement proved very different from how Brooks & Dunn had worked together. “The song selection was different,” Dunn pointed out. “I didn’t have to keep in mind as I was picking songs that, ‘Hey, there are two guys here, two guys onstage, two guys performing’ and deal with that. This is much more personal and subjective; it gave an entirely different slant, obviously. I’d cut three or four demos sometimes and the players were great about working with me. They said, ‘We’ll do a demo first, and then if it makes the record, we’ll come in and bump it up.’ They were really, really good. I’ve got to hand it to them. It allowed me to find myself.”

And what exactly did he find in the process of writing or co-writing nine of the album’s 12 tracks, producing the sessions himself and working on his own? “A great epiphany: I found out that I’m totally confused and I’m good with that,” he responded, with a laugh. “I’m consistently inconsistent. I’m all of the above. I’m OK. I’m a work in progress. That’s my next tattoo somewhere.”

He also found that, for all the freedom he enjoyed on this project, echoes of Brooks & Dunn linger in the final results. “That’s not going away,” he said. “It’s on this record. It’s there. That’s a part of my DNA that I can’t wash off.”

“Ronnie Dunn’s voice is Ronnie Dunn’s voice,” said his manager Clarence Spalding, President, Spalding Entertainment. “You’re not going to be able to hide that, whether he’s the lead singer of Brooks & Dunn or whether he’s moving forward in his solo career. From a song standpoint, there are some that are going to remind people of things Brooks & Dunn have done in the past. But there are others that Kix and Ronnie wouldn’t have done, ‘Bleed Red’ (written by Andrew Dorff and Tommy Lee James) being one of them and ‘Cost of Livin’’ (Phillip Coleman and Dunn). Ronnie worked really hard on this record and it shows.”

“Clarence and I were committed to allowing Ronnie the freedom to craft a truly extraordinary album,” added Gary Overton, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Nashville. “And whether you trust your own ears, those of the fans or those of the critics who have raved about this record, Ronnie accomplished that goal. I would put this album up against the greatest records in country music.”

Dunn’s first solo performance was a promotional set in Las Vegas, but he considers his first “official” show to have been April 16 at the Belterra Casino Resort in Florence, Ind. “The show in Indiana was the real telltale thing because I’m thinking, ‘You know what? They are either doing one of two things: They’re coming in to watch it explode or they are here to get onboard,’” he recalled. “After the first two songs into it, they were dancing in the aisles and we were having a good time.”

Dunn says that he invested more time in rehearsal with his new band than he’d ever done before. One question presented itself immediately: What should the balance be between new songs and Brooks & Dunn classics in the live show? “It’s that same old quandary that a lot of people face: ‘Hey, do I do Eagles songs too or do I do Creedence songs?’” he said, alluding to the situation faced by Don Henley of the Eagles and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival when they stepped out solo.

In the end, Dunn decided to feature six or seven tracks from his solo disc, mingled with Brooks & Dunn hits. His set now includes “Let the Cowboy Rock” (Dunn and Dallas Davidson), “Singer in a Cowboy Band” (Dunn and Craig Wiseman) and “Your Kind of Love” (Maile Misajon and Jeremy Stover), along with the album’s first single, “Bleed Red,” and “Cost of Livin’.”

“It’s crazy,” Dunn said, describing the response especially to “Cost of Livin’,” the album’s second single. “People are standing up and throwing their fists in the air on that one. And during the Country Radio Seminar (CRS), we had 30 or 40 radio people in a Sony suite at the hotel, and they were going at it, wanting that record as soon as they heard it. They were like, ‘We can’t get it fast enough,’ so it’s going to be interesting to see how that does.”

The poignant lyric paints a portrait of a proud man desperately seeking a job in this tough economic climate. “I had one guy tell me that I was too rich to do that,” Dunn said. “I said, ‘Let me send you the picture of me standing in front of that trailer house in New Mexico when my dad was working on the Navajo Dam.’ I didn’t grow up middle class. I grew up poor. That song hits home. I get it. I feel every note.”

Dunn describes this time in his life as both “exciting and frightening,” with more reason for excitement than fright. On its release in June, Ronnie Dunn sold more than 45,000 copies and debuted at No. 1 on the Country charts and No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200. Still, as he plunges ahead as a solo act, he has renewed his appreciation for what new artists have to do as they lay groundwork for their debuts.

“The label took me around and we’d bring in around 30 or 40 people in each of the different regions,” he said. “We started in San Francisco and invited representatives from iTunes and radio PDs and DJs out there. Then I went to Dallas for two days and met with Clear Channel. In Florida, we had a house on the beach and a listening party. And then I went to South Carolina. I made the rounds. It’s been from the ground up. I remember doing this years and years ago and working it hard.”

“We went out to radio with Ronnie Dunn as a new act,” confirmed Spalding. “He visited radio and we held events for radio. We wanted them to touch and feel Ronnie Dunn. Being part of the duo, they knew who Ronnie was. But they didn’t really know Ronnie, so we made sure program directors spent time with him and he got to talk about his record.”

From a record label perspective, Overton remarks that while there are challenges in re-launching an established star, Dunn’s passion goes a long way. “Ronnie still has the fire to make new great music,” he noted. “So we consider his past successes a tremendous starting point for this next chapter in his career. I can’t imagine what country music would be without Ronnie Dunn’s voice.”

On the road this summer, Dunn confronts a different scenario than he experienced with Brooks & Dunn. “There are some festivals that are booked that I heard we are going on at 4 in the afternoon,” he said. “I’m used to headlining, but that’s fine. We’ll play at 4 and do what we have to do. It’s time to back up and instead of having eight buses out there, I’m pushing to get just two — one little truck and horse trailer to pull our amps and stuff behind us. It’s just a growing experience.”

Will he miss having his old partner on the road? “Hell, no! And that’s exactly how he would answer that question,” Dunn said, with a laugh. “Do I miss him? We’re still good friends. I hear from him every few weeks or so. Kix and I were able to work it smoothly as I think it can be done in a partnership, and I’m proud of that. I’ll be forever proud of that. That is something that I can look back on and go, ‘Man, what a feat for two ne’er-do-wells to accomplish!’ And I’m happy that both of us can walk away in great shape and good spirits and tackle things that we like and look forward to doing.”

Dunn’s goals at this point are simple yet ambitious: “To keep moving forward in a business that is tremendously hard to do that in and derive satisfaction from the music I make — that’s it,” he said. “I didn’t do this to get rich or make money. I didn’t do it to become famous. I did it because I was a shy kid and it was about the only thing that I could do. I gravitated early on in life to something that I love and chose as a way of life. I don’t think I could change that if I wanted to.”

On the Web: www.RonnieDunn.com

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Aaron Lewis, lead singer of Staind.

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Not every newcomer can persuade Charlie Daniels, George Jones and Chris Young to join in on his debut single. Then again, Aaron Lewis isn’t your typical newcomer. He’d already built a massive following as frontman for Staind when he came down to Nashville to explore a side to his music seldom exposed on the alt-metal circuit.

Town Line, produced by Lewis and James Stroud and released on R&J Records, brings that side to life. These five songs and two bonus tracks, all written solely by Lewis, combine sensitivity and introspection, poetic soul and fierce pride in his roots. Lewis is in fact a product of rural America, raised in Vermont and exposed by his grandfather to Merle Haggard, Hank Williams (Senior and Junior), fishing, hunting and communion with nature.

This background inspired his autobiographical first single, “Country Boy.” His voice here is worn but tough; a Dobro and raw electric guitar cast haunted shadows, and his three stellar guests join the autobiographical narrative. “I grew up down an old dirt road in a town you wouldn’t know” he begins — an exquisitely crafted line, spare, evocative and defiant. That mood sustains to the end, qualifying “Country Boy” as a genuine anthem for country and the lifestyle it represents. Fans responded too, boosting sales to near Gold status and viewing the “Country Boy” video more than 7 million times by late June.

Lewis still lives in the Northeast, and true to the spirit of writing from what one knows first-hand, he offers “Massachusetts” to celebrate his state as a patriotic icon as well as an ideal place for his family — yet he does so with a spirit that’s right at home with Music Row. It takes talent to paint pictures from disparate elements — the kind of talent heard on Town Line.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

MUSICAL HERO
“My father.”

SONG YOU’D LOVE TO COVER
“Man, I think I’ve covered them all!”

PET PEEVE
“People who think they deserve something without earning it.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD
“There’s nothing better than a good steakhouse.”

SOMETHING WE’D NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU
“I’m a trained goldsmith. I can take a piece of wax, carve it up, cast it, turn it into metal, polish it, set stones in it and hand you a finished piece of jewelry.”

On The Web: www.AaronLewisMusic.com

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Photo by Mark DeLong, courtesy of the CMA.

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Before getting into the often raucous heart of The House Rules, jump ahead to the last track, one of only two not written or co-written by Christian Kane. If his cover of Tracy Chapman’s heartbreaking masterpiece “Fast Car” is all you heard from this album released on Outlaw Saints in partnership with Bigger Picture Group, you’d know that Kane possesses depth as a lyric interpreter that stands him apart from many of his peers.

It’s important to understand that from the top, because it lets us hear more clearly that on the riff-slamming single and title track (written by Kane and Blair Daly), the banjo-studded swagger of “Callin’ All Country Women” (Kane, Jerrod Niemann and Jimmie Lee Sloas), and the steel sweetened rocker “American Made” (Kane, Wayd Battle and Steven Carlson), his connection to the material is unusually insightful. As a singer, Kane knows how to bring each of these songs to life, whether an intimate narrative or a call to party fast and hard.

Produced by Kane, Bob Ezrin and Sloas, The House Rules combines the rough, raw edge that comes from being born in Dallas and raised in Oklahoma, with the sophistication Kane picked up after moving to Los Angeles and landing the lead role of Ryan “Flyboy” Legget in the MGM syndicated television series “Fame L.A.” He appeared in other TV productions as well and stars today in his fourth season as tough guy Eliot Spencer on TNT’s “Leverage.” But over time more of his energy went to KANE, a band he founded with Carlson. After they’d built a following in Hollywood clubs and a spot on local Country radio playlists, Kane and Carlson cast their lot entirely with music and moved to L.A.

With his good looks, stage and camera charisma and genuine Country feel, Kane has already gone far and is well positioned to go much further still.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

SONG YOU’D LOVE TO COVER
“‘The Rooster,’ by Alice in Chains.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER
“Pink.”

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
“My ’67 Bronco.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD
“I’m a sucker for Taco Bell.”

LUCKY CHARM
“My momma.”

PET PEEVE
“People that abuse authority ’cause they got beat up in high school.”

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Photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of the CMA.

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Some people were born Country. Brett Eldredge came to it a little late — but once he got there, he dug in deep and made it his home.

Growing up in Paris, Ill., Eldredge spent a lot of time hanging out at the local lake. He played baseball, basketball and football in high school. He enjoyed all music, especially big-band swing. Hearing Brooks & Dunn when he was 16 put Country in the center of his map, but the full-blown conversion didn’t occur until his sophomore year at Chicago’s Elmhurst College, when he visited Nashville for the first time.

Eldredge went to the Station Inn to hear his cousin Terry Eldridge, now a member of The Grascals, with The Sidemen. Called to sit in, he sang “Amarillo by Morning”; when he stepped down from the stage, his dreams, his passion and his future had all transformed.

Transferring to Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Eldredge spent his spare time going to songwriter circles and hooking up with other writers. Two years after graduation, he found his break when Byron Gallimore caught a performance. Soon afterwards, he became the first artist signed to the newly revived Atlantic Records Nashville imprint.

Eldredge’s self-titled debut, produced by Gallimore, connects a wide range of moods through the excellence of his co-writing on 10 of 12 tracks as well as his extraordinarily communicative vocals. His first single, “Raymond,” exemplifies all that’s right in modern Country: Written by Eldredge and Brad Crisler, it shares a deeply emotional narrative with sensitivity and power. This quality persists in the evocative small-town imagery of “Signs” (Eldredge, Bill Anderson and Crisler) and every other moment created and captured here.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

MUSICAL HERO
“Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra.”

PHRASE YOU SAY OVER AND OVER
“That’s just one of them deals.”

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
“Nikes — I love to run.”

LUCKY CHARM
“Socks that don’t match — it’s a weird new lucky charm I discovered after playing my first Grand Ole Opry show in mismatched socks. It went great.”

TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
“I’m Just as Surprised as You Are.”

Visit Brett’s official artist section for more and watch a special video clip
to find out “5 Things You Might Not Know” about him!

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Jamey Johnson photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

By Robert K. Oermann
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Jamey Johnson has a way of defying our expectations. At a time when it is harder than ever to sell full-length albums relative to single digital tracks, he has followed his Mercury Nashville Gold-certified That Lonesome Song with a double album. The Guitar Song contains 25 songs and demands more than an hour of a listener’s attention – yet in September it debuted at the top of the Country chart and at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200.

The music video for his anti-Hollywood song “Playing the Part,” written by Johnson and Shane Minor, was filmed in Hollywood and directed by actor Matthew McConaughey. And though at the top of his game as a Country songwriter and record producer, Johnson has also taken a left turn to produce a gospel album for the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama.

“The first time we met was onstage when we went to do a show for the Alabama Hall of Fame down in Montgomery,” Johnson recalled. “We were going to sing ‘Down by the Riverside’ together that night, so we came for a sound check. I met them onstage, singing with them. “I don’t know exactly what the right words would be to describe the experience,” he continued. “But it gave me an incredible awareness of self. I don’t feel like I had the right perspective before. People like that, the only way they can respond to you is through music. It was so moving.”

Interested initially in providing material to the group, Johnson learned from their manager that they were more concerned at that point with finding a producer for the album. In short order, the two-time CMA Song of the Year winner (“In Color,” “Give It Away”) was onboard and involved in an experience that would broaden the experiences of his first contact with the Blind Boys, from teaching them lyrics by speaking each line, preacher-style, for them to sing back in harmony, to going out for a night on the town with Jimmy Carter, a member of the group.

“I took him over to ‘see’ Tootsies and even got him up onstage, where he did a couple of songs,” Johnson said. “Then we went over to see Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers over at The Station Inn. They had Jimmy get up and do a couple of Country songs with them.” Gill, along with George Jones, The Oak Ridge Boys and Lee Ann Womack, is among the Country luminaries Johnson recruited to guest on the Blind Boys album.

Johnson is also working in the studio with Erin Enderlin, who co-wrote Alan Jackson’s “Monday Morning Church” and Lee Ann Womack’s “Last Call.” And he continues to produce his own work with his band, The Kent Hardly Playboys, adhering to the “old-school” approach he applies to much of his music, even including the vinyl medium he prefers for listening — and, in the case of both That Lonesome Song and The Guitar Song, recording as well. The three-LP vinyl set contains a deluxe lyric and picture booklet.

“My favorite way to listen to music is on vinyl LPs,” he said. “The jacket of The Guitar Song album tells the story of how a vinyl record is made, in pictures. You see the pellets that they turn into liquid form. You see the liquid vinyl that then goes over and gets stamped on the machine press. Even the CD version of the album tells the vinyl story.”

Johnson’s story begins outside of Montgomery, Ala., near the tiny community of Enterprise. Everybody in his family played Country and gospel music. He picked up the guitar at 10 and learned how to pick Alabama’s “My Home’s in Alabama.” His mother owned every Alabama album, and a concert by the group was the first show he ever attended.

Fellow Alabamans Vern Gosdin and Hank Williams were other family favorites. Johnson’s new album contains his version of “Set ’Em Up Joe,” written by Gosdin, Buddy Cannon, Hank Cochran and Dean Dillon and recorded by Johnson as a tribute the day after the singer’s death in 2009.

As a youngster, he and his friends visited Williams’ grave on a hill above Montgomery to sing the legend’s songs. One night, he dropped his guitar on the tombstone and splintered its bottom. The instrument, dubbed “Ol’ Maple,” bears that scar to this day, as well as the autographs of many of its owner’s heroes, including Bill Anderson, John Anderson, Bobby Bare, Cannon, Cochran, Jessi Colter, Teddy Gentry, Merle Haggard, Jones, George Strait, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt and Womack.

“It’s meant a lot to me over the years,” Johnson said. “It’s the guitar I’ve written most of my songs on and done most of my shows on. The first signature I got on it was in 1998. It was Willie Nelson. But the years of pulling it in and out of the case rubbed that off. I just knew I was never going to see Willie Nelson again. I was distraught about it. Well, I got to do Farm Aid a couple of years ago. I took the guitar over to Willie’s bus to go meet Willie again. When we sat down, I told him that he was the first one that ever signed this guitar and it was gone and explained why. So instead of signing it on the top, he signed it down low. He wrote ‘Willie Nelson 2008’ right there.”

There’s one more signature that Johnson hopes to restore to the collection. “I had Kenny Rogers’ autograph going across the top, but that’s where my arm goes when I play, so I rubbed that off of there,” he said. “So I’ve got to go and find Kenny Rogers again at some point.”

After launching his career in the clubs of Montgomery, quitting college in the wake of his sophomore year and spending eight years in the Marine Corps Reserve, Johnson moved to Nashville on Jan. 1, 2000, the so-called “Y2K” day. “That was the day the planes were supposed to come crashing down and the computers were all going to be dead,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Well, if the world is going to Hell, I’m going to Nashville to sing about it.’”

The singing didn’t start right away. Johnson ran his own construction company from 2001 through 2004, specializing in restoring buildings after natural disasters. Eventually he did start singing at songwriter gatherings, which led to his becoming an in-demand demo singer. Producer Buddy Cannon began working with him. But it wasn’t until his discovery by EMI Music Publishing that his music career truly began.

“Every day I have this job, I thank the Lord that a guy named Arlis Albritton brought this guy named Jamey Johnson to me,” said Tom Luteran, VP, A&R, EMI Music Publishing. “Jamey just had that voice. After I heard him, I was bouncing off the wall. That was in the summer of 2004. We don’t usually make instant decisions, but in his case I knew I wanted to sign him right then and there.”

Thanks to that reference from EMI staff songwriter Albritton, Johnson followed a quick trajectory from his first album, The Dollar, released in 2006 and produced by Cannon, to the work that many now hail as his masterpiece. The Guitar Song comes on two discs, one labeled “Black” and filled with dark, somber material, and the other “White,” featuring what Johnson terms “redemptive” songs. Both convey a rebellious, “outsider” quality, yet two of their most striking songs are reminders of Johnson’s history of working with mainstream, even commercial writers: the chillingly aggressive “Heartache,” written with Rivers Rutherford, and the title tune, told from the viewpoint of two forgotten guitars hanging on a pawnshop wall, which Johnson wrote and recorded with Whisperin’ Bill Anderson.

The “Black” songs include the combative “Can’t Cash My Checks” (written by Johnson, Jason Cope, James Otto, Shannon Lawson), the sadly bluesy “Even the Skies Are Blue” (Johnson, Rivers Rutherford) and the threatening, Johnson self-penned “Poor Man Blues.” The lighter, “White” songs are highlighted with the lulling “Front Porch Swing Afternoon” (Johnson, Dean Miller), the rocking “Good Times Ain’t What They Used to Be” (Johnson, Dallas Davidson, Jim McCormick), the sexy “Macon” (Johnson, Kacey Coppola) and the highly autobiographical “That’s Why I Write Songs” (Johnson, Chris DuBois, Ashley Gorley).

Johnson is a lover of classic Country sounds, and he regularly performs oldies in his stage shows. The Guitar Song contains his versions of Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times,” Mel Tillis’ “Mental Revenge” and “Lonely at the Top,” a previously undiscovered gem co-written by the late Keith Whitley, with Don Cook and Chick Raines.

For all the acclaim stirred by The Guitar Song, Johnson’s recordings aren’t what matters most to him. “The records are almost a means to an end,” Luteran observed. “He’s all about playing for the people. From Day One, it has always been about the shows for Jamey. It doesn’t matter if it’s a stadium or a 50-seat club. He was meant to do this. It’s scary to have the amount of talent he has. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

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Photo credit: Jerrett Gaza

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2010 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Keith Burns built his chops through club gigs in his hometown of Atlanta before starting a six-year run on bass with Joe Diffie. He then stepped into the spotlight in 1996 as co-founder of Trick Pony, with whom he recorded and performed all the way to the group’s breakup.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, and raised in Plantation, Fla., Michelle Poe learned the ropes as bassist in the family band, with her father on guitar, her mother on piano and a drum machine providing the beat. After high school graduation, she moved to Nashville and picked up band gigs on bass and harmony vocals with Dierks Bentley, Steve Holy and Hank Williams Jr.

Once introduced, they clicked as writing partners, to the extent that one or both were involved as writers on all but one of the tracks on their debut album. Produced by Burns & Poe and Mark Oliverius, released by Blue Steel Records, Burns & Poe shoots for the stars with a strong single, “Don’t Get No Better Than That.” Within that song, written by Burns and Oliverius, there’s a stomping beat, a chiming guitar riff and a tongue-tripping rap from Burns on the verses and full harmonies, sung over a handclap groove reminiscent of John Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good,” on the choruses. All of it celebrates the exhilaration of rolling the top down, pointing your car down the highway and being free to drive toward whatever lies beyond the horizon for no particular reason at all.

But for a clear picture of how their talents intersect, check out “It’s Always a Woman.” Written by Burns, Poe and Don Goodman, this ballad features Burns on the verses, recounting the story of a man’s life lost to drink; his husky baritone is answered by Poe’s pure contralto on the chorus, ruminating on the role of a woman in his downfall as well as the promise of his redemption. Each sings thoughtfully, never overdoing the lyric. Unlike their sad protagonist, these two seem to have found their perfect artistic match.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS Q&A

DREAM DUET PARTNER
BURNS: “Don Henley.”
POE: “Steve Wariner.”

WORD OR PHRASE YOU SAY OVER AND OVER
BURNS: “Can’t say — it’s ‘R’ rated.”
POE: “Keith, watch your language!”

LUCKY CHARM
BURNS: “A cross.”
POE: “My two dogs.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD
BOTH: “Beef jerky.”

SOMETHING WE’D NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU
BURNS: “I eat and write with my left hand and throw a ball and play guitar right-handed.”
POE: “I’m a substitute elementary school teacher.”

On the Web: www.BurnsandPoe.com

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Easton Corbin photo by James Minchin, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2010 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Easton Corbin looks back warmly at Gilchrist County, Fla., where he spent his boyhood fishing in the Suwannee River, participating in FFA and 4-H activities and aspiring to a career in Country Music. As a child, he nurtured that dream through hours spent watching “Hee Haw” and “The Grand Ole Opry” with his grandparents and playing vintage Country albums he discovered there while exploring the collections his father and aunt had assembled in their early years. By his late teens, he had developed his guitar chops through lessons with former Nashville session player Pee Wee Melton and was opening for national acts as they passed through his area.

2006 was a milestone year, as Corbin graduated from the College of Agriculture at the University of Florida and, five weeks after marrying his sweetheart Brinn, moved with her to Nashville. Both found day jobs but Corbin also used his contacts to set up an audition with Joe Fisher, Senior Director of A&R, Universal Music Group Nashville. That led quickly to a recording contract, an introduction to producer Carson Chamberlain and work on his self-titled debut album, set for release March 2 on Mercury Nashville.

On these 11 tracks, four of them co-written by Corbin, the feeling is deep Country, from the twang of his guitar to the raw appeal of his vocals. His writing draws from that same well; when he baits his lady’s hook on “The Way Love Looks,” which he penned with Chamberlain and Mark D. Sanders, you know it’s a sign of his affection. But the message rings clearest in his first single: Written by Rory Feek, Don Poythress and Wynn Varble, “A Little More Country Than That” combines an easy-going beat with a melody woven around a catchy motif that lends itself to a litany of images both rustic and romantic. Add that to Corbin’s relaxed way with a tune and you’ve got more than a good song — you’ve got a vivid intro to this promising artist.

IN HIS OWN WORDS Q&A

CDS IN YOUR STEREO
“Keith Whitley and Merle Haggard.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER
“Merle Haggard.”

GREATEST PERFORMANCE TO DATE
“The Suwannee River Jam. It was just me and my guitar in front of thousands of people. It was an awesome feeling.”

JOB IF NOT AN ARTIST
“I would probably be doing something in the agricultural sector.”

WHAT YOU HOPE PEOPLE WILL SAY ABOUT YOU 50 YEARS FROM NOW
“That I was an artist that recorded music that was pure and timeless for all ages.”

On the Web: www.EastonCorbin.com

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Josh Thompson's 2010 CD, Way Out Here. Photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2010 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Josh Thompson’s future seemed written in concrete — specifically, in his father’s concrete business in Cedarburg, Wis., where he began working at 12. Years would pass before Thompson dared to dream about making music as a livelihood. In fact, he was 21 when he got his first guitar.

“I really just intended to play some of my favorite Merle Haggard songs around the campfire,” he explained. “But I began writing about six months later. Then it just got into my blood and controlled my life.”

By the time he got to Nashville in 2005, Thompson was nurturing a knack for capturing the nuances of life in a lyric and a tune. After landing a music publishing deal and making an initial impression by co-writing “Growing Up Is Getting Old,” the title track of Jason Michael Carroll’s latest album, with Jeremy Campbell, he built a reputation strong enough to earn a record deal with Columbia Nashville, which released a four-song, self-titled digital EP in November 2009.

On his album debut Way Out Here, in stores today, Thompson unveils a double-threat talent as a writer and performer. Produced by Michael Knox, the album features 10 tracks, nine co-written by Thompson. The last, “Sinner,” he wrote on his own as a profession of repentance tempered by a hint of stubborn pride. Articulated over an understated but dramatic backup, it rings with a quality of honesty that goes beyond craftsmanship.

Other sides of life emerge vividly on Thompson’s first single, “Beer on the Table,” which he wrote with Ken Johnson and Andi Zack. Using a technique familiar to Country composers, the song is built around a play on words that uncovers a new level of truth: Over a stomping, dance-floor beat prickled by bits of banjo, Thompson runs down his working-man credo, which adds up to “workin’ hard all week puts the beer on the table.” And you know from the grin in his voice that this artist writes and sings from first-hand experience.

IN HIS OWN WORDS Q&A

DREAM DUET PARTNER
“Lee Ann Womack or Norah Jones.”

CD INYOUR STEREO
“Satisfied by Ashley Monroe.”

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
“My Jeep.”

FIRST GIG
“A bar in Marinette, Wis. It was horrible … long story!”

SOMETHING WE’D NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU
“I love cantaloupe.”

MUSICAL HERO
“Merle Haggard.”

BOOK ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND
“Waylon Jennings’ autobiography and Lone Survivor.”

PET PEEVE
“Lazy people.”

On the web: www.JoshThompsonOfficial.com

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Nathan Lee Jackson photo courtesy of the CMA. Photo credit: Abigail Hadeed

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Nathan Lee Jackson nourished his talent with a regimen of piano lessons, church choirs, talent contests and opening slots at shows around Winchester, Ky. Moving to Nashville after high school graduation, he followed the well-trod path into the music business, though with two unusual advantages. The first was one of his roommates, Billy Strange’s former wife, who happily introduced the young newcomer to her industry friends.

The second was Jackson’s artistry. His expressive vocals and the dramatic poetry of his lyrics resonated on a recording he’d made of his ballad, “Powerful,” which caught the ear of Jeff Glixman. With deep roots in classic rock, the producer related to this intensity and, with Zak Rizvi co-producing, helmed Complicated Hearts, Jackson’s StarCity Recording Company debut, with Jackson’s wife Stephanie among the participants.

On 14 tracks, including 12 co-writes and the self-penned “Powerful.” This album weaves a complex tapestry of influences and unusual arrangements, from two a cappella tracks to the jazzy ballad “Kentucky Breeze,” written by Jackson and Jesse Lingo, and the tightly harmonized fiddles and screaming lead of “Sittin’ by the River,” written by Jackson and Jim Femino. There’s Country in the steel guitar on the new single, “Desperate Man,” by Jackson and Bud Tower. But here too there’s edginess in the power guitar driving home a story of finding God at a moment of final reckoning. Throughout Complicated Hearts, Jackson swings for the fences and connects every time.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS Q&A

MUSICAL HERO “Garth Brooks. Ropin’ the Wind was one of the first albums I owned, and ‘The River’ was the first solo I sang in church.”

SONG YOU’D LOVE TO COVER “‘Two Sparrows in a Hurricane’ by Tanya Tucker.  I loved that song as a kid and it applies to my life now more than ever.”

CD IN YOUR STEREO “Nichole Nordeman’s Wide Eyed.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD “Free food!”

DREAM DUET PARTNER “My wife Stephanie … however, if Stephanie was at home, sick with the flu, and LeAnn Rimes just happened to want to sing a duet with me on the CMAs, I guess, through my tears, I would enjoy that thoroughly.”

One the Web: www.NathanLeeJackson.com

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