The JaneDear girls photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s latest spotlight exhibit will be in support of the American Heart Association and Go Red For Women. The Exhibit, Something in Red, will feature red ensembles from several country stars including Sara Evans, Naomi Judd, and Lorrie Morgan. The exhibit opens on February 3, National Wear Red Day, and runs through April 2012.

The red dress symbolizes the fight against heart disease in women. Several country artists have parented with the American Heart Association and the museum to raise awareness for the disease, which is the number one killer in women.

Some of the dresses featured in Something in Red include Sara Evans’ dress from the1999 Academy of Country Music Awards, Naomi Judd’s leather-like jacket and skirt she wore at the 1987 Country Music Association Awards, the dress worn by the JaneDear girls’ Danelle Leverett on the cover of the duo’s debut album (photo above) and Susie Brown’s dress from the 2011 ACM Awards, and gowns worn by Lorrie Morgan and Julie Roberts on the Grand Ole Opry. Continue Reading

ShareThis

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened a new spotlight exhibit dedicated to legendary fashion designer Nudie Cohn on October 28. The “Silver Threads and Golden Needles: Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors” exhibit will run through November 2012. The exhibit traces Nudie’s journey across America from designing burlesque costumes in New York to opening his shop in North Hollywood. Gene Autry, Elton John, Gram Parsons, Elvis Presley, Roy Rogers and Hank Williams are among the  artists who wore Nudie’s designs.

Born Nutya Kotlyrenko in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1902, Nudie immigrated to the United States when he was 11. He became ‘Nudie’ when immigration officials mistranslated his first name. His first job was shining shoes in Brooklyn and in 1918, he headed to California where he worked as a movie extra and film cutter before returning east. On his way back, he met Bobbie Kruger, whom he would later marry. The couple moved to New York, where Nudie found work designing burlesque costumes with his brother.

The Cohns returned to the west coast in the 1940s where they ran a small tailoring shop out of their Los Angeles-area garage for seven years. In 1947, Tex Williams commissioned ten outfits for his band from Nudie. With Tex’s endorsement, business started rolling in and Nudie opened his famous Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors. His slogan was ‘Everything for the Horse and Rider,’ though he began to cater to country artists and stars of western movies.

Nudie found his niche in the industry with the creation of a rhinestone-accented suit for Lefty Frizzell and began creating custom outfits for performers. He designed wagon-wheel suits for Porter Wagoner, Native-American motifs for Ray Price and a railroad-themed suit for Hank Snow inspired by Hank’s hit “The Golden Rocket.”

Working with embroidery specialist Rose Clements and fashion designer and one-time son-in-law Manuel, Nudie also designed instruments, cars, rugs and other items. Nudie was as much a celebrity as any of his clients and was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1969. He passed away of kidney failure in 1984. Continue Reading

ShareThis

The last day of October is more than just an excuse to put on a funny costume. As it turns out, the date has been quite an important one for country music. Here’s a list of some notable events that happened on Halloween, courtesy of RolandNote.com, the ultimate country music database! For more country music and Halloween, check out our Halloween section with pumpkin carving templates, fright night memories from the stars and more!

Oct 31, 1912 – Dale Evans born in Uvalde, Texas. In December 1947, she marries Roy Rogers, with whom she stars on radio and TV. She also writes their classic closing theme “Happy Trails”

Oct 31, 1921—Malissa Monroe dies at the family home near Rosine, Kentucky. No one bothers to tell her son, 10-year-old Bill Monroe, that she’s dead until after she’s already been buried

Oct 31, 1931 – Lester Flatt marries Gladys Stacy at the courthouse in Cookeville, Tennessee

Oct 31, 1934 – At a Halloween party in Halifax, Hank Snow meets his future wife, Minnie Aalders

Oct 31, 1947 — Promoter Connie B. Gay books Eddy Arnold for the first-ever country show at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall. Also on the bill are comedians Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield

Oct 31, 1952 – Hank Williams checks into a Shreveport hospital with acute intoxication

Oct 31, 1954 – When Eddy Arnold plays Memphis’ Ellis Auditorium, a young Elvis Presley finds his way backstage. Presley meets Arnold and The Jordanaires, and spots–though he does not talk to–Colonel Tom Parker

Oct 31, 1960 – Elvis Presley records “Crying In The Chapel” at Nashville’s RCA Studio B. The single goes unreleased, however, for more than four years

Oct 31, 1964 – Darryl Worley born in Savannah, Tennessee. Noted for the strong traditional influence on his music, the lanky singer builds a solid career after his 2000 debut, striking a major chord for patriotism with his 2003 release “Have You Forgotten?”

Oct 31, 1966 – Decca releases Loretta Lynn‘s “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)”

Oct 31, 1974 – Emmylou Harris records “If I Could Only Win Your Love” and her first single, “Too Far Gone”

Oct 31, 1983 – Lee Greenwood tapes the syndicated “Solid Gold” in Los Angeles, then visits the home of MCA chairman Irving Azoff to present him a tape of “God Bless The U.S.A.”

Oct 31, 1987 – Dolly Parton opens a restaurant in Honolulu, the Dockside Plantation

Oct 31, 1991 – Randy Travis accepts a unique Halloween treat: a gold album for “High Lonesome”

Oct 31, 1993 – Actor River Phoenix dies of a drug overdose outside the Viper Room in Los Angeles. His final picture was “The Thing Called Love,” based on Nashville’s famed listening room, The Bluebird Café

Oct 31, 1995 – Bryan White, Derek George and John Tirro write “So Much For Pretending” on Halloween, distracted periodically by trick-or-treaters

Oct 31, 1998 – Lari White blows out the speakers when she sings the national anthem before the Miami Hurricanes’ football game against Boston College

Oct 31, 2000 – “I Hope You Dance” becomes Lee Ann Womack‘s second platinum album

Oct 31, 2005 – “Inside TV” lists the Top 10 TV witches of all-time, ranking Lisa Hartman Black at #9 for her portrayal of Samantha Stevens’ grown-up daughter in the late-’70s series “Tabitha”

Oct 31, 2006 – During a Tuesday edition of the Grand Ole Opry, Jeff Bates gets down on one knee at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to propose to Kelly Vaughn. She nods yes

Oct 31, 2007 – Taylor Swift goes trick-or-treating in Hendersonville, Tennessee, disguised as the hairy “Star Wars” character Chewbacca

Oct 31, 2010 – Trace Adkins performs for U.S. soldiers in Basra, Iraq, near the outset of a USO tour

ShareThis

Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers. Photo by Alane Anno, courtesy of JEMMedia.

On the strength of a busy touring schedule, a string of national television appearances and the release of a new album, Rare Bird Alert (read our review HERE) on Rounder Records, Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers took home the Entertainer of the Year award at the 22^nd annual International Bluegrass Music Awards Thursday night, September 29 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Steve, who always included banjo picking in his early stand-up comedy routines, has become more serious about recording and performing bluegrass music during the past two years, with the release of two albums of original music.

Steve appeared at the microphone to receive the bluegrass music industry’s highest music award, leapt a few times into the air, congratulated the other Entertainer of the Year nominees and jokingly thanked them for losing. He went on to thank producers John McEuen and Tony Trischka as well as his band mates, and then he talked about how hard they’ve been working on their music, as well as the humor and entertainment aspects of their show, while never denigrating the music. Martin said that while half of their audience usually comes to see him not knowing anything about bluegrass, “they all leave loving it, and maybe they seek out other musicians. We’re really, really honored to win this award tonight.”

Steep Canyon Rangers lead singer, Woody Platt quipped, “Working with Steve, we might be the most entertained of all. Most of all we thank Steve for giving us this most amazing ride.”

Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers, a young group based in North Carolina named IBMA’s Emerging Artist of the Year in 2007, played “Me and Paul Revere” during the Awards Show—a song Steve wrote from the perspective of Revere’s horse and performed on national television at the Capitol 4^th Concert in Washington, D.C. July 4.

Hosted by legendary mandolin player and band leader Sam Bush, the 2011 IBMA Awards Show were a celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Bill Monroe, recognized as the Father of Bluegrass.

Sam Bush told a story about how a young musician once approached Bill Monroe and played a tune he’d written squarely in the Monroe style.  The older mandolinist listened carefully and said, “That’s real good. What can you do on your own now?”  The question was answered at the IBMA Awards, as band after talented band hit the stage.

As bluegrass music heads into the second hundred years after its founder’s birth, the genre is stronger than ever—as evidenced by a number of virtuoso level, high energy live performances from The Sam Bush Band, The Grascals, Balsam Range, The Del McCoury Band, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Sierra Hull & Highway 111, Lonesome River Band, The Boxcars, The Gibson Brothers, Dailey & Vincent, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver—later joined by J.D. Crowe and Paul Williams, George Shuffler, Hall of Famer Tom Gray and new Distinguished Award recipient Roland White.

The moment that probably would have made Bill Monroe smile was when White kicked into “Wheel Hoss,” with the next break played in twin harmony by Sam Bush and Ronnie McCoury on their mandolins. Dailey & Vincent thrilled the crowd with triple fiddles added to their usual line-up for “Close By,” and The Grascals brought two young girls from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital who are battling cancer onstage with them to sing “I Am Strong,” a song inspired by the band’s trip to St. Jude. 

Ronnie and Rob McCoury inducted their father into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, and guitarist James Alan Shelton inducted George Shuffler, the bass and cross-picked guitar stylist known as “the third Stanley Brother.”  The evening ended with a guitar rendition of “Life is Like a Mountain Railway” from Shuffler and Shelton, backed by Gray, and a medley of Del McCoury songs delivered in his trademark, scalding tenor range.

Congratulations to the following winners of 2011 International Bluegrass Awards:

Hall of Fame Inductees – Del McCoury, George Shuffler

Entertainer of the Year – Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers

Vocal Group of the Year – The Gibson Brothers

Instrumental Group of the Year – The Boxcars

Male Vocalist of the Year – Russell Moore

Female Vocalist of the Year – Dale Ann Bradley

Emerging Artist of the Year – The Boxcars

Album of the Year – Help My Brother by The Gibson Brothers (artists), Eric & Leigh Gibson and Mike Barber (producers), Compass (label)

Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year –  ”Goin’ Up Dry Branch,” Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper (artist), Buddy Spicher & Jimmy Martin (songwriters), Jeff White & Michael Cleveland (producers), Rounder (label)

Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year – “Prayer Bells of Heaven” by J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, & Paul Williams (artists), Ben Isaacs (producer), Mountain Home (label)

Song of the Year – “Trains I Missed;”  Balsam Range (artists); Walt Wilkins, Gilles Godard & Nicole Witt (songwriters)

Recorded Event of the Year – “Prayer Bells of Heaven” by J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson & Paul Williams (artists); Ben Isaacs (producer); Mountain Home (label)

Banjo Player of the Year – Kristin Scott Benson and Ron Stewart (tie)

Guitar Player of the Year – Bryan Sutton

Fiddle Player of the Year – Michael Cleveland

Bass Player of the Year – Marshall Wilborn

Mandolin Player of the Year – Adam Steffey

Dobro Player of the Year – Rob Ickes

Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients – Greg Cahill, Bill Knowlton, Lilly Pavlak, Geoff Stelling, Roland White

Broadcaster of the Year – Katy Daley, WAMU Bluegrass Country

Print Media Person of the Year – Juli Thanki, Engine145.com

Bluegrass Event of the Year – Silver Dollar City’s Bluegrass & BBQ Festival; Branson, Mo.

Best Graphic Design – Ricardo Alessio & Erica Harris (designer & artist), Abigail Washburn (artist), Rounder (label)

Best Liner Notes – Colin Escott (writer), A Mother’s Prayer, Ralph Stanley (artist), Rebel (label)

ShareThis

Hank Williams, Jr. photo courtesy of Curb Records.

Football, cooking and benefits are on the agenda for the month of September at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

On September 9, the new Hank Williams Jr. Monday Night Football Spotlight Exhibit opened. Each year, Hank Jr. records a new version of his Monday Night Football theme song and stars in the accompanying video shown on ESPN at the start of each weekly broadcast. The shirt and vest he wore in this year’s video, designed by Nashville-based designer Manuel, will both be on display in the Museum’s second floor gallery.

The Museum’s All for the Hall fundraiser returns to Los Angeles for a third year on September 13 with performances by Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Zac Brown and more. You can visit  http://countrymusichalloffame.org/afthla/ for more information and to purchase tickets. There is also an online auction of country music memorabilia and experiences to benefit All for the Hall. To view items up for auction and place your bids, visit www.biddingforgood.com/allforthehall. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Dailey & Vincent photo courtesy of Rounder Records.

Dailey & Vincent continued their winning ways during the 21st annual International Bluegrass Music Awards Thursday at the Ryman Auditorium. The act collected five trophies, including its third consecutive Entertainer of the Year honor.

Dailey & Vincent also won Vocal Group and Recorded Event of the Year, the latter shared with Larry Stephenson for “Give This Message To Your Heart.” Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers, recorded for Cracker Barrel, led the band to two additional victories: Album of the Year and Best Graphic Design for a Recorded Project.

Appropriately, they performed “Elizabeth” during the awards show with a guest appearance on the third verse by Jimmy Fortune, who wrote and sang lead on the Statlers’ original 1984 release.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Bill Monroe photo courtesy of www.myspace.com/williamsmithmonroe.

Bill Monroe, widely regarded as the father of bluegrass, may soon get the same sort of movie treatment that’s been given to Johnny Cash and Ray Charles.

Actor Peter Sarsgaard, known for his work in “Jarhead” and the new “Knight And Day,” is in the early stages of development in a film about the late mandolin player, according to The Wrap. Peter is apparently a big fan of Bill, who played a central role in creating and shaping the acoustic genre named after his band, the Blue Grass Boys.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Paying homage to his musical roots in a manner that’s atypical for a mainstream star, Dierks Bentley’s Up On The Ridge album hits the marketplace on Tuesday just as the title track reaches the Top 25 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Dierks already toured to give a preview of the project, appropriately ending the jaunt at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, where the bluegrass genre coalesced during the 1940s in the first Grand Ole Opry appearance of a Bill Monroe band that included Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. The Ryman is less than a mile from the Station Inn, a bluegrass club in Nashville that Dierks frequently attended before he ever got a recording contract. His experiences there gave him some background in the bluegrass genre that offset some of the hard-rock sounds he gravitated to as a kid, and Up On The Ridge pays homage to his education.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Laura Bell Bundy photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

When Laura Bell Bundy sings on the Grand Ole Opry for the first time on Saturday, the moment will blend a very odd series of events.

For starters, Laura Bell established herself first as a performer on Broadway. Shifting from the Great White Way to Music Row is a career path that’s only happened once or twice before.

Making the evening even more unique, the Tennessee floods have the Kentucky-born singer showing up on the Opry from a location she probably never heard of before moving to Nashville. Since 1974, the Opry’s been housed at the Grand Ole Opry House, but the Cumberland River covered that stage the first week of May, and it’s unclear when the venue will be able to reopen. The Ryman Auditorium was the Opry home for more than 30 years prior to the Opry House, and it still hosts a number of Opry performances over the course of the year.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Steve Wariner at the Nashville Chapter of the Recording Academy® Grammy Nominee party. Photo courtesy of The Recording Academy® 2009 & Rubin Media. Photograph by Rick Diamond/WireImage.com.

Four country acts that launched a series of hits in the 1980s and ‘90s — Steve Wariner, Patty Loveless, John Michael Montgomery and the late Keith Whitley — are set to enter the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame when it holds its next induction ceremony in April 2011 in Lexington.

They’ll be joined as new members by bluegrass duo the Goins Brothers; gospel singer Larnelle Harris; and Molly O’Day, a country vocalist who left a critically acclaimed body of work in a short five-year recording period in the late 1940s.

Continue Reading

ShareThis