Brad Paisley photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.
Dating back to the “Celebrity” video, Brad Paisley’s developed a running friendship with former “Star Trek” actor William Shatner, which created a weird moment in Brad’s household a year ago.
Shatner had a movie in the Nashville Film Festival, and when he went to Music City, Brad invited him out to visit at the farm. And William apparently had a pretty good time.
Blake Shelton photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.
Blake Shelton made a nice showing in the first week of his new album’s release, and he’ll have something to say about it this weekend when he joins host Nan Kelley on the latest edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.
Buoyed by his duet with Trace Adkins on the title track, Blake’s six-pack Hillbilly Bone sold 71,000 copies, landing him at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200, trailing only Lady Antebellum and Sade. Blake’s been reminding fans daily via Twitter that he’s got an album for sale, and even Thursday he was still encouraging people to go down to Wal-mart for a copy.
Lady Antebellum on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Photo courtesy of The Greenroom.
With the No. 1 album in the nation and the most nominations for this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards, Lady Antebellum picked a perfect time to have its personal history intersect with country’s bigger history. The band headlined Wednesday for the first time at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and left little doubt that it will soon be headlining everywhere.
In the first of two sold-out shows, the trio deftly tied together its pop-sprinkled sound and the venue’s traditional-country background, getting a standing ovation for its encore and demonstrating a flexibility that should serve the group well.
Lady Antebellum on the Orange Carpet at the 44th Annual ACM Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 5, 2009. Photo © Sara de Boer / Retna Ltd.
This was quite a week for Lady Antebellum’s recent monster hit “Need You Now.” The title was announced as a finalist for Single Record, Song and Video of the Year in the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, leading Lady A to the head of the pack with seven nominations total.
In addition, “Need You Now” has been tabbed for the next edition of a major pop CD series. It’s being included among 21 songs on Now That’s What I Call Music! 33, which comes out March 23.
Tammy Wynette photo courtesy of tammywynette.com.
Albums. Concerts. Books. Movies.
Creating entertainment in all its forms is/was the central tenet of such major stars as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, and numerous members of the Country Music Hall of Fame have had their names in the headlines in recent days for essentially doing what they do. Or for contemplating what they do and how they do it.
You can add Willie Nelson, Vince Gill and Merle Haggard to that list. Here’s what country’s Hall of Famers have had on tap:
Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.
What to wear. What to do in Las Vegas. When to travel. What to say if you win.
Tuesday’s nominations for the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards presented a whole host of issues and questions for the likes of Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert and Darius Rucker.
Not that any of them are complaining. An ACM nod represents recognition from their peers and the possibility of getting valuable television exposure. Plus, there’s always the possibility of bringing home some hardware for the trophy case.
Here’s what some of this year’s finalists are saying:
Lady Antebellum on the Orange Carpet at the 44th Annual ACM Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 5, 2009. Photo © Sara de Boer / Retna Ltd.
Lady Antebellum heard their name called a whopping seven times this morning as Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire announced the nominees for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on the CBS program, The Early Show. The ACM Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 8 at p.m. ET (delayed PT) on CBS and will be hosted by Reba for the 12th time.
For the third year, fans will select the winner of the Academy’s most prestigious honor, Entertainer of the Year and for the second year, the three newcomer categories for the annual Academy of Country Music Awards —Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo — will also be opened up to fan voting. The winner in each Top New category will then move on to compete for Top New Artist which is also a fan voted category. Online voting for all fan voted categories will be available at http://www.voteacm.com/. The winners of Entertainer of the Year and Top New Artist will be announced live during the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
Lady A’s seven nominations include Album of the Year for Lady Antebellum and Top Vocal Group. In addition, the trio was nominated for Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for “Need You Now.” They were also nominated as a producer for Single Record of the Year and as a composer for Song of the Year. Continue Reading
Josh Turner photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.
“I never had so many people open for me!” Josh Turner exclaimed Wednesday at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. “Wow!”
Indeed, 14 artists preceded him in that legendary venue, though another three sang after him as well as the Universal Music Group Nashville showcased its talent for Country Radio Seminar registrants in a unique format that provided a microcosm of the wide net that contemporary country represents.
Sugarland, David Nail, Jamey Johnson and Vince Gill were particular standouts as the acts performed just one song apiece. Collectively, the music ranged from bluegrass influences to blue-eyed soul; the acts stretched from brand new artists who haven’t yet released a single to one member of the Country Music Hall of Fame; and their backgrounds ran the gamut from Broadway to TV performer to Texas troubadours.
Keith Urban photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.
Keith Urban, the Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley and Martina McBride are among the first round of acts who’ve been revealed for the annual CMA Music Festival June 10-13, a weekend that promises to bring plenty of tourism to Tennessee.
The Nashville-centered festival — which also promises Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker — occurs the same weekend as the ninth annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 65 miles away in Manchester. That event is a multi-genre draw, though country music plays a role, too. The Zac Brown Band is booked, as it was last year, for both festivals. Bonnaroo also lists Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson, Kris Kristofferson and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band among this year’s attractions.
The CMA Festival is particularly beneficial to country artists. Some of the money raised by the event is donated to Nashville music education programs — last year’s festival generated more than $1 million for schools. In addition, highlights from the festival’s stadium concerts have for several years formed the backbone for an ABC special in the late summer or early fall.
Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.
Lady Antebellum wasn’t sure when it wrote “Need You Now” how Capitol Records would react to it. Likewise, the band wasn’t entirely convinced that radio stations would like it or that the general public would warm to it.
They certainly weren’t expecting the song to become a major pop record, but that’s exactly what’s happened. “Need You Now” reached No. 9 this week on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and it’s likewise at No. 22 on the magazine’s Top Pop Songs list.
It’s not a development the band tried to create. A handful of pop stations started playing the song in November or December. Once the label figured out what was happening, it got proactive in promoting the song to the pop market. In the meantime, Lady A wants to reassure its core country fans that the band won’t suddenly start chasing the other genre.
Take a trip inside the world of country music with host Storme Warren! Watch full episodes of Headline Country now.
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