Anna Wilson's album, Countrypolitan Duets. Photo courtesy of Jim Havey PR.

Anna Wilson & Friends
Countrypolitan Duets

Drawing inspiration from “That Nashville Sound” of the late 1950s and 60s when country music began incorporating the sounds of mainstream pop, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Anna Wilson’s latest project blends classic country and jazz through duets with stars from both genres.

Ms. Wilson herself is uniquely positioned to take on such a genre-bending job. Though known from her own albums as a sultry jazz singer with a classic voice, she has written several hit contemporary country songs such as Chuck Wicks’ 2009 “All I Ever Wanted” and Lady Antebellum’s “If I Knew Then” from the trio’s 2010 album Need You Now. Countrypolitan, produced by Anna’s husband and current SESAC Songwriter of the Year, Monty Powell, features duets with some of country’s most recognizable names, including Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Ray Price and Kenny Rogers.

Set over mostly standard jazz arrangements and featuring clean electric guitars, smooth bass lines, horns, keyboards and percussion, Countrypolitan reinterprets classics like the album’s first single “You Don’t Know Me,” with American Idol finalist Matt Giraud. Anna also offers “Night Life” with jazz guitarist Larry Carlton and “For The Good Times” with Kenny Rogers. Anna’s voice is best on slow-burning songs, such as “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues” with Keith Urban. Here, her sad vocal melody truly conveys the blues as she sings “I’ve got my pills to ease the pain/ Can’t find a thing to ease the rain” before sweetly harmonizing with Keith to sing “Some gotta win/ Some gotta lose.” Continue Reading

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Randy Travis photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville.

Country music icon Randy Travis will celebrate his 25-year career with the help of some of country music’s biggest names. On June 7, Randy will release Anniversary Celebration, an album of duets that will include both new songs and re-makes of Randy’s hits. Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Don Henley, Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, George Jones, Tim McGraw and Willie Nelson are just some of the stars who will sing alongside Randy.

“Randy Travis changed the landscape of country music when he arrived on the scene 25 years ago,” said John Esposito, Warner Music Nashville President & CEO. “It is a testament to Randy’s impact in country music that his friends have joined him to celebrate his legacy and his future on Anniversary Celebration. We are incredibly proud that Warner Bros. Records has been his home since the beginning of his career.” Continue Reading

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Miranda Lambert photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville. Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

The 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards will take place in Los Angeles at the Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011, and will air live on CBS from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). This year, country music has a pretty big presence on the show. Here are our Top 5 reasons to watch:

Miranda Lambert will be making her first-ever performance on a GRAMMY® telecast. Also look for a performance from Album of the Year nominees, Lady Antebellum. Plus, although she won’t be singing a country song, Country Strong star and Academy Award® winner Gwyneth Paltrow will be singing with Cee Lo Green, whose song “Forget You” was sung by Gwyneth on an episode of the TV show Glee.

Current three-time GRAMMY® nominee Dierks Bentley and current nominee Blake Shelton will both present awards, as will winner and current four-time nominee Zac Brown and three-time winner and current nominee Keith Urban.

We’re really looking forward to the tribute to Aretha Franklin.What’s the country connection, you ask? Our own Martina McBride will be honoring the Queen of Soul with her powerful voice. Martina joins Yolanda Adams, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Florence Welch in the tribute.

In other related news, this Friday, Feb. 11, nominee LeAnn Rimes will take part in honoring Barbara Streisand, who’s getting the 2011 MUSICARES® Person of the Year Award. Legendary artist (and Barbara’s co-star in the movie A Star Is Born) Kris Kristofferson will present the award to her. Also, country/Americana producer T Bone Burnett was honored Feb. 8 by the The Producers & Engineers Wing® of The Recording Academy® for his commitment to excellence and ongoing support for the art and craft of recorded music.

Who’s gonna win? See the list of country nominees below and tell us your predictions! For a complete list of country, bluegrass and Americana nominees, visit Grammy.com.

We can’t wait to see what the stars will be wearing on the red carpet. Check back with us Monday morning (Feb. 14) to read our GRAMMY® wrap-up story and see photos from the big night! In the meantime, check out our red carpet photos from last year HERE.

2011 GRAMMY® AWARD NOMINEES:

Album of the Year
The Suburbs – Arcade Fire
Recovery – Eminem
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga
Teenage Dream – Katy Perry Continue Reading

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The Judds photo courtesy of Webster PR.

The Judds make a rare Grand Ole Opry appearance tonight when they flip a switch at the Opry House and turn the live radio show’s traditional red barn backdrop pink.  Grand Ole Opry_® is joining Women Rock For The Cure and Susan G. Komen for the Cure_® for this special event supporting the fight against breast cancer.

Naomi Judd talks to our friends at Dial Global about why this event is so important to her:

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And Wynonna shared her thoughts on how the healing power of music can make a big difference in peoples lives:

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Since Naomi’s retirement from touring 1991, she’s made only occasional trips back to the stage, but this Opry performance is — in some ways — a tune up for a whole series of shows. The Judds begin their Last Encore Tour in Green Bay on Nov. 26. And Naomi will probably end up in a trance-like state for part of the concert almost every night.

That’s how it was when Wynonna and Naomi played for more than 40,000 fans at the CMA Music Festival in 2009. And it’s a direct result of Naomi’s relationship with both the audience and her daughter.

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Little Jimmy Dickens and Brad Paisley at the Grand Ole Opry House on Tuesday, September 28, 2010. © 2010 Grand Ole Opry® Hollo Photographics

Five months after a flood left the hallowed stage of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House submerged under 46 inches of water, the venue reoped Tuesday as the Opry held a three-hour event — two hours airing as a GAC special, Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration.

The flood’s assault on the Opry House has been the biggest story in country music this year, so it’s only appropriate that the evening was heavy on music from 2010: Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party,” Blake Shelton’s “All About Tonight,” Brad Paisley’s “Anything Like Me” and Keith Urban’s “I’m In,” among them.

But the night also included performances that offered a smattering of country music history — of which, the Opry has been central. Dierks Bentley and Del McCoury injected bluegrass into the proceedings with a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Roll On, Buddy, Roll On.” Martina McBride and Connie Smith traded lines in the 1964 classic “Once A Day.” Charlie Daniels teamed with Montgomery Gentry on a sizzling version of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” And Josh Turner and Lorrie Morgan turned in a stunning version of the George Jones & Tammy Wynette hit “Golden Ring.” (Lorrie, incidentally, wore a leopard-patterned dress — not something in red…)

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Jason Aldean photo courtesy of Broken Bow Records.

The stage of the Grand Ole Opry House was buried under 46 inches of water when muddy waters overflowed the Cumberland River in Nashville in May during a horrendous flood.

The Opry House was immediately closed for reconstruction while the Grand Ole Opry radio show wandered from venue to venue in Music City — temporarily homeless but doggedly determined.

The Opry returns to the Opry House on Tuesday with an all-star lineup, including Trace Adkins, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride, Josh Turner and Montgomery Gentry, and you can catch the historic evening during a two-hour GAC special, Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration.

The floods were cruel to some people, kind to others. Dierks Bentley had water in his basement, Kenny Chesney’s home took water into the second floor, and a bevy of artists — including Vince Gill, Toby Keith and Keith Urban — lost instruments in the water. Then there were the folks like Jason Aldean, who didn’t sustain any damage whatsoever.

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Grand Ole Opry members Brad Paisley (l) and Little Jimmy Dickens (r) unveil the refurbished 6-foot circle of wood (taken from the historic Ryman Auditorium when the show moved to the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974) that was damaged in the May 2010 Nashville flood. Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

When Nashville was flooded in May, the tragedy was best symbolized for the world by the Grand Ole Opry House. Muddy water from the Cumberland River stood nearly four feet over the Opry stage, and the manager of the Opry literally surveyed the damage by kayaking through the venue.

The Opry House reopens Tuesday, September 28 with an all-star Opry edition that airs on GAC at 9/8c as Country Comes Home: An Opry Live Celebration. The lineup features a ton of artists, including Trace Adkins, Keith Urban, Josh Turner and the two men who helped put a famous wooden circle back in the restored Opry stage: Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens.

The wood is a six-foot section of oak taken from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium, the previous home of the Opry, when the Opry House originally opened in 1974. At the Ryman, that wood supported the likes of Patsy Cline, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. But the Opry has now been at the Opry House for 36 years — longer than any home it’s previously occupied.

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Craig Morgan photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

The Grand Ole Opry has plenty of tentacles in the Nashville community, and several of its members — including Craig Morgan, Lorrie Morgan and Charlie Louvin — are part of the headlines in Middle Tennessee.

In Lorrie’s case, it’s for a bit of charity work in a suburb. Craig and Charlie, meanwhile, are facing major milestones in their lives. Here’s the latest Opry-related news:

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Marty Stuart photo courtesy of The GreenRoom.

It’s a small, old-timey spot on Music Row, a boxy building that’s easily overlooked if you’re just driving by. But there’s a treasure trove of history at RCA Studio B in Nashville, and Marty Stuart used the joint on Wednesday to preview his Ghost Train album for a select group of media.

Studio B practically rings with history. The Everly Brothers, Skeeter Davis, Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley all recorded there. Marty’s first session, in October 1972, took place in the studio when he was a 13-year-old member of Lester Flatt’s band. And Marty’s wife, Connie Smith — who was among the guests Wednesday — recorded her first hit in the same place in 1964.

Marty stood in the back of the room — in the same general area where Elvis stood when he recorded “It’s Now Or Never” and “A Big Hunk O’ Love” — as he previewed the new CD, which required Marty to give a little extra effort to get the facility sounding right.

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Marty Stuart photo courtesy of the Greenroom PR.

Marty Stuart was barely 14 when he took part in a recording session for the first time, and he revisited his past rather appropriately in cutting the 14th studio album of his career, Ghost Train (The Studio B Sessions).

Due Aug. 24, the project combined Marty’s love for traditional country music with his appreciation of historic pieces of the genre’s past. He’s noted for his collection of old stage outfits and instruments, and RCA Studio B is one of the ultimate historic locations in Nashville. It was not only the site of Marty’s first session, with Country Music Hall of Famer Lester Flatt, but it also spawned such hits as Bobby Bare’s “Detroit City,” Dolly Parton’s “Coat Of Many Colors,” Skeeter Davis’ “The End Of The World” and Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome To-night?”

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