Emmylou Harris photo by Rocky Schenck, courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

Since the beginning of May, Nashville has been digging out from the devastating affects of an unexpected flood. The community has pulled together, and outsiders have been amazed at the extent of humanity and neighborly goodwill Music City has expressed.

The flood was an example of Mother Nature wreaking havoc on humanity. But people have been messing with Mother Nature, Emmylou Harris observes, in a way that is destroying another part of Tennessee. Emmylou wrote a guest editorial in Sunday’s edition of The Tennessean explaining why she and some of her fellow musicians — Kathy Mattea, Big Kenny and Dave Matthews, among them — are performing a Music Saves Mountains concert Wednesday at the Ryman Auditorium.

The concert calls attention to mountaintop removal, a form of mining in which explosives are used to blast the tops off of mountains so that coal companies can access strips of coal, which eventually gets converted into energy for everyone’s households. Mountaintop removal is employed in the hills of Kentucky, West Virginia and east Tennessee. It permanently destroys the landscape, and it pollutes the environment, including the drinking water for the local residents.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

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.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Zac Brown Band photo courtesy of Atlantic Records.

One of the biggest strengths of country music is its ability to connect with the real-world issues of typical, working-class people in Middle America, and the Zac Brown Band is entrenched at No. 1 on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown with a song and a video that do exactly that. The four-minute clip for “Highway 20 Ride” is in the top position for a second week on this weekend’s edition of the countdown, hosted by Nan Kelley.

The video brings appropriate visuals to the song’s storyline about a Georgia-based truck driver struggling to maintain a good relationship with his kid, despite the fact that he’s divorced the child’s mom and has to leave the state to earn his paycheck. The band plays it well, and Zac sings it like he means it.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Sugarland photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

For the 16th straight year, the Recording Academy is celebrating its awards show with the 2010 Grammy Nominees CD, with five of the 20 tracks on the latest edition coming from country acts: Taylor Swift, the Zac Brown Band, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts.

It marks the most country releases ever featured on the multi-genre compilation, which has previously never had more than two from Nashville’s best-selling idiom in a single year. In fact, during four of the previous 15 years, no country artists made the nominees CD at all.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

#8 on GAC’s Top Stories of 2009 |  View all »

In the midst of a depressin’ recession, it’s a huge gamble to put on a stadium concert, and very few acts are willing to roll the dice on the up-front expenses for that kind of a gig. Of those that do, it seems nearly all of them were country acts in 2009 — and usually that act was Kenny Chesney.

Kenny played a dozen stadiums during his Sun City Carnival Tour, joined for most of the schedule by Sugarland, Montgomery Gentry, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum. Kenny created a party atmosphere, often bringing up hometown athletes — including members of the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots, for example — to connect with the city. By the time Sun City ground to a halt in Indianapolis in September, the Zac Brown Band had replaced Lady A and Kenny had topped every other act in any genre as the top touring artist, according to USA Today.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Tim McGraw photo courtesy of Curb Nashville.

When Gregg Allman showed up Tuesday with Tim McGraw on “The Jay Leno Show,” it was a bit of an event, though maybe not quite as unusual an event as it would have been in years gone by.

Gregg was an appropriate musical partner — after all, Tim’s current single “Southern Voice,” which he performed on “Leno,” namechecks the Allman Brothers along with Tom Petty and Chuck Berry.

But Gregg’s hardly the only pop star or rocker with an attachment to country these days. The Zac Brown Band’s “Toes” is co-written with singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins, who referred to Los Angeles as “Nashville with a tan” in his 1998 pop hit “Lullaby.” Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova” counts Mike Elizondo, who’s worked with Maroon 5 and Snoop Dogg, among its writers. Brooks & Dunn’s “Honky Tonk Stomp” gets a signature vocal stamp from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. Jimmy Wayne enlisted Daryl Hall & John Oates to back him on his remake of “Sara Smile.” And Darius Rucker came to country music after first establishing himself in Hootie + The Blowfish.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Dale Earnhardt Jr. photo courtesy of Wortman Works.

The Country Music Association has announced the first group of presenters for The 43rd Annual CMA Awards,” hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, and airing live from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

The first celebrities announced as Awards presenters during “Country Music’s Biggest Night” are NASCAR superstar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.; stars of ABC’s “The Middle,” Neil Flynn and Patricia Heaton; Julianne Hough; nominee Randy Houser (for both New Artist and Music Video of the Year for “Boots On”); nominee Jake Owen (New Artist of the Year); Kellie Pickler; CMA Award winner LeAnn Rimes; and ABC News’s Robin Roberts, co-anchor of “Good Morning America” and host of the upcoming “Robin Roberts: Bright Lights. Big Stars. All Access Nashville” ABC television special (airing Nov. 10). Continue Reading

ShareThis

Kenny Chesney performs at the VAULT Concert Stage at LP Field in Downtown Nashville Sunday, June 14 during the 2009 CMA Music Festival. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Association.

Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift are making big news by quickly selling out their upcoming tours — but Kenny Chesney‘s still at the top of the list for now.

USA Today reported on the strongest tours in the country and found that Kenny is No. 1 in all genres.

“You know,” says Kenny of the honor, “to me, it’s about rocking the fans… and I never want to have a ticket price that keeps the people who buy my records or listen to my songs in their truck from coming out and partying with us. If I can make sure there are always seats people can afford – and even try to keep the best seats where they’re reasonable for what they are – then I feel like I can keep having the party of the summer when I go out. Again, to me, it’s about that moment and having fun with your buddies.  Continue Reading

ShareThis

Kenny Chesney (l) photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville; Dave Matthews photo courtesy of Red Light Management.

When Kenny Chesney performs at The 43rd Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 11, he’ll share the mic with rock artist Dave Matthews on their new duet, “I’m Alive.”  Kenny and Dave recorded the song for Kenny’s Lucky Old Sun album and it’s also the current single from Kenny’s  Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 CD.

“I’m Alive” was originally recorded by Willie Nelson for Willie’s 2008 album, Moment Of Forever (which was produced by Kenny).

Other performers already announced include Jason Aldean, Brooks & Dunn, Billy Currington, Vince Gill and Daughtry, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, George Strait, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Zac Brown Band. Continue Reading

ShareThis

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Kenny Chesney’s collaboration with Dave Matthews, “I’m Alive,” hit No. 12 last week on the Country Aircheck singles chart. It’s an achievement that’s four years in the making, going back to the first time they met at Farm Aid in 2005.

“I had already written ‘I’m Alive,’ and Dave told me he loved that ‘I’m Alive’ song and that he felt like that would be something that would fit on one of his records to stand alone,” Kenny recalls. “I said ‘Well, why don’t we try doin’ it?’ Continue Reading

ShareThis