Jimmy Wayne

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will celebrate the holiday season with an assortment of programs and events for the entire family. They will also have limited edition holiday posters from the Hatch Show Print and special offers from the Museum Store, just in time for holiday shopping.

Jimmy Wayne will help kick off festivities on Friday, November 25 at 4 p.m. Central with the lighting of the Museum’s Christmas tree. He will also perform and sign copies of his new book, Paper Angels. The next day, November 26, Ricky Skaggs and The Whites will be in the Museum Store at 2 p.m. to sign copies of A Skaggs Family Christmas Volume 2.

For those who like to start their morning off with country music, the Museum will host a special breakfast with Bill Cody on Friday, December 2 as he broadcasts live from the Museum’s Curb Conservatory. Admission is $6.50 and includes breakfast, performances by Ronnie Milsap, Julie Roberts, Victoria Shaw and more and the chance to win a museum prize pack.

Saturday, December 3 is a busy day at the Museum. The day starts off with a cookie decorating class at 10:30 followed by a songwriter session with Deborah Allen at 11:30 p.m. She will sign copies of her new children’s book, The Loneliest Christmas Tree, following her performance. From 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. the Museum will hold the family program Make Letterpress Art with Hatch Show Print, where attendees will learn about letterpress printing straight from the staff of Hatch Print Show. The day will wrap with Phil Vassar signing copies of his Noel and Live on Broadway album at 3:00 p.m.   Continue Reading

ShareThis

Dolly Parton on the set of GAC's The Collection with host Bill Cody. Photo credit GAC staff.

It’s not often you get spend an hour swapping stories with a country legend like Dolly Parton.  But that’s exactly what host Bill Cody got to do when he recently taped the latest episode of GAC’s The Collection with Dolly. The show is built on the idea of having the artist take fans on a guided tour through a collection of their music videos. And when Dolly’s involved, you know it’s gonna be a good time. Watch the premiere of Dolly’s episode of The Collection tonight at 8/7c exclusively on GAC. Click here for the full schedule of airings »

Bill kicks the show off by taking Dolly all the way back to 1985 for a live performance video, featuring her onstage with good pal Kenny Rogers doing “Real Love.” As it turns out, Dolly had never seen the final cut of this video before and had a good laugh with Bill reminiscing about her many musical adventures with Kenny. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman at the 2011 Music City Walk of Fame Induction Ceremony on Sunday, May 15. Photo by Ricky Moson/GAC Staff.

Yesterday may have been a gray day in Nashville, but you wouldn’t have known it, based on the smiles of Keith Urban and Bill Anderson. The two accomplished artists were inducted into the Music City Walk of Fame downtown and were joined by GAC host Bill Cody and 2006 inductee, Ronnie Milsap. GAC was a proud sponsor of the event and we have a must-see photo gallery from the event Continue Reading

ShareThis

Eric Church photo by Jim Wright, courtesy of Capitol Nashville; The Band Perry photo by Joseph Anthony Baker, courtesy of Republic Nashville.

Sugarland will have some company when they headline the first-ever ACM Fan Jam and After Jam Party, which will take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center during the ACM Awards on April 3. New Solo Vocalist winner Eric Church and New Duo or Group winner The Band Perry, as well as Randy Houser, Little Big Town, Steel Magnolia, Laura Bell Bundy, Sarah Darling, Bradley Gaskins and Casey James will all perform during Fan Jam, which gives fans the ultimate opportunity to be part of the ACM telecast.

It’s not just the concert that will be taking place at Fan Jam, though. After winning their respective categories, Eric and The Band Perry are now the finalists in the fan-voted New Artist of the Year category. The winner will be announced live during Fan Jam during the ACM Awards telecast. You can vote for this category at www.VoteACM.com until 5p.m. PST on April 3. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

The members of Rascal Flatts got the biggest cheers from the thousand or so people on hand, but they did not get the only applause during a Music City Walk of Fame installation event Sunday in downtown Nashville that knitted together several generations of performers.

Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney were joined by Kris Kristofferson, Mel Tillis, Little Jimmy Dickens and late singers Bobby Hebb and Eddy Arnold in receiving their sidewalk plaques, extending a row of markers that included Michael McDonald, Elvis Presley and Trace Adkins.

Emceed by GAC’s Bill Cody, the class of performers represented a swatch of Nashville music history. Beyond the contemporary Flatts crew, Kris and Mel hit their strides in the 1970s as artists, songwriters and actors. Bobby accrued a landmark 1960s pop hit with the effervescent “Sunny,” and Eddy and Little Jimmy were among the first artists to have hits with songs recorded in Nashville during the 1940s, when the town hadn’t yet earned its Music City moniker.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Miranda Lambert at the No. 1 party for her song, "The House That Built Me," on Tuesday, August 3, 2010, in Nashville.

“The House That Built Me” touched a lot of people during its four-week stay at No. 1 this year. A bunch of people who were responsible for it — particularly Miranda Lambert and the song’s writers, Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin — were honored for the accomplishment during a No. 1 party Tuesday at the swanky Nashville restaurant Sambuca.

Miranda’s fiancee, Blake Shelton, was there with his producer, Scott Hendricks — fitting because they relinquished the song to Miranda after she heard the demo while riding home from the airport with Blake.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Sheryl Crow will perform at the Music City Keep On Playin' benefit concert presented by GAC on Sunday, May 16 at 8p ET.

Sheryl Crow has just been added to the incredible list of performers for GAC’s Music City Keep on Playin’ - A Benefit for Flood Relief, a live concert and telethon to aid middle Tennesseans affected by the recent flood disaster.  The concert and telethon will be aired live and commercial-free from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium this Sunday, May 16, 8:00 – 11:00 p.m. Eastern (live in all time zones) on GAC and will re-air at 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.  The concert will also be available online via a live stream at GACTV.com/help.  Plus, the event will be carried live on Sirius/XM satellite radio.

Artists previously announced to perform include Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Kellie Pickler, Rodney Atkins, CeCe Winans, Jaci Velasquez, Keb’ Mo’, Randy Montana and Will Hoge. Continue Reading

ShareThis

GAC presents Music City Keep On Playin' - A Benefit for Flood Relief

Keith Urban, Martina McBride and Keb’ Mo’ have been added to the list of performers for Music City Keep on Playin’ - A Benefit for Flood Relief, the first national live concert and telethon to aid middle Tennesseans affected by the recent flood disaster.  The concert and telethon will be aired live and commercial-free from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium this Sunday, May 16, 8:00 – 11:00 p.m. Eastern (live in all time zones) on Great American Country Television (GAC) and will re-air at 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.  You’ll also be able to watch the concert streaming live online at GACTV.com.  The event will also be carried live on Sirius/XM satellite radio.

Due to overwhelming support from the Nashville music community, a third hour has been added to the live telecast.

Artists previously announced to perform include Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Kellie Pickler, Rodney Atkins, CeCe Winans, Jaci Velasquez, Randy Montana and Will Hoge. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Alan Jackson visits with GAC's Bill Cody on the set of The Collection.

Alan Jackson shares intimate stories behind the making of many of the music videos in his two-decade-long career on a very special two-part The Collection: Alan Jackson premiering Saturday, April 10 at 8 p.m. Eastern (part one) and Sunday, April 11 at 8 p.m. Eastern (part 2) on GAC (additional air times here). The video clips roll as host Bill Cody chats with the Grammy-winning star about the stories behind each video.

Bill starts at the very beginning – 1990 to be exact – with “Here in the Real World,” the hit song and video that to this day remain an important part of Alan’s musical legacy. It was the early days of video-making as Alan recalls, “It was just one guy holding a handheld camera and it was just natural light. Bringing in old footage (archival clips were included in the clip) was considered high tech.”

A couple of hits later, along came “Chattahoochee” and it seems this is the clip that launched Alan’s signature ripped jeans look. “We wanted to shoot me water skiing with long blue jeans on and they’re so heavy I said, ‘I’ve got this pair I had when I was a teenager and there’s not much left of them and they’d be a lot better in the water.’” From that point on it became his look. “Man, it costs more to have those holes put in than it does to buy new ones,” he jokes.

Alan also talks about “Summertime Blues,” which he calls a “sequel” to “Chattahoochee,” “I Don’t Even Know Your Name,” the title of which came from his brother-in-law and “Who’s Cheatin’ Who,” a NASCAR-themed clip in which the star did all of his own stunt driving. 

“Drive (For Daddy Gene)” was written to honor the memory of his father and Alan says, “I wanted to write something that had good memories … a bunch of things that meant something to me.”

Videos for “Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Remember When,” and “Small Town Southern Man” are also included in the two-part series and although he recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of releasing his debut disc, Alan has no plans to slow down. His current video, “It’s Just That Way,” is from his just released album, Freight Train, and the concept for the clip was written by his college-age daughter, Mattie.

ShareThis

GAC host Suzanne Alexander.

Here at GAC, we have the greatest hosts — Suzanne Alexander, Nan Kelley, Bill Cody and Storme Warren. They all sincerely love and respect country music and love every opportunity to connect with the fans. We asked Suzanne to recap 2009 and highlight some of her favorite moments:

So another year over and a new one’s about to begin…

I have to say, I definitely feel lucky and blessed to have had the year I had, considering all that was going on in this world. There were many highlights the world over too, like the “Miracle on the Hudson,” for one. What I wouldn’t give to have Sully flying a plane I was on!

Closer to home, more specifically in our GAC studios – I had many little miracles of my own, including getting to spend time with two of my biggest heroes, personal favorites I have been listening to forever. Continue Reading

ShareThis