Freddy Fender

The Recording Academy has announced the newest additions to the GRAMMY Hall of Fame collection. The 2012 class highlights diversity and musical excellence and includes both singles and albums. Among the  new inductees are Gene Autry’s “Deep In The Heart of Texas,” Freddy Fender’s “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” and Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Jamboree.

To be inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, recordings must be at least 25 years hold and exhibit qualitative or historical significance. Recordings are reviewed by a committee comprised of professionals from all branches of the music industry before final approval is granted by The Recording Academy’s National Board of Trustees. With the latest addition of new titles, there are now 906 recordings in the Hall of Fame, which is displayed at the GRAMMY Museum.

“The Recording Academy is dedicated to celebrating a wide variety of great music and sound through the decades,” Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy, said. “We are especially honored to welcome this year’s selection of some of the most influential recordings of the last century. Marked by both cultural and historical significance, these works truly have influenced and inspired audiences for generations, and we are thrilled to induct them into our growing catalog of outstanding recordings.”

Other 2012 GRAMMY Hall of Fame inductees include Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The U.S.A., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” the Rolling Stones‘ Exile On Main St., Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s “The Message,” Bill Cosby’s I Started Out As A Child, the Original Broadway Cast recording of “St. Louis Woman,” and Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

Others inductees include the entire Anthology Of American Folk Music and works by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Doris Day, the Serge Koussevitzky-conducted Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Panchos, Santana, Bukka White, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66,  Leroy Carr, and Paul Simon among others.

ShareThis

Blake Shelton on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

Fans touring the Grand Ole Opry will now have Opry member Blake Shelton along as a video guide. While a tour guide will be accompanying visitors during their look behind the scenes of the Opry, Blake will join the group via video at the Opry’s backstage entrance, in Studio A and in the Opry Green Room. He will be providing fans with both historic information and personal stories of his Opry experiences.

In the backstage check-in area and Opry Member Gallery, Blake will appear to recall the night he was asked to join the Opry family. There will also be highlights of Opry invitations and inductions featuring Trace Adkins, Craig Morgan, Josh Turner, and Carrie Underwood. “Opry membership is a thrill that never gets old,” Blake says during the video.

As the tour arrives in Studio A, Blake will share clips from the TV series and specials that have been filmed in Studio A, including the famous Hee Haw. Some of the clips Blake will share include performances from Roy Acuff, Bill Anderson, Roy Clark, and Earl Scruggs plus a young Marty Stuart. Carrie Underwood will join the tour in the Opry’s Green Room to discuss what goes on in the room known as the Opry Family Room, as well as to share her personal perspective on the photos lining the room’s walls.

Also new to the Opry’s tour is the sampling of 18 artist dressing rooms, newly refurbished following the Nashville flood of 2010. Each dressing room is decorated with a theme such as “Cousin Minnie” in honor of Minnie Pearl and “Little Jimmy” for Jimmy Dickens. The tour ends with a visit to the Opry stage where fans may take their photo on the famed circle of wood moved to the Opry House from the historic Ryman Auditorium.

To get a taste of Blake’s video tour or to book your visit to the Opry, visit opry.com.

ShareThis

Connie Smith photo courtesy of conniesmithmusic.com.

Connie Smith has been selected as this year’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Artist-in-Residence. Connie will serve as host and curator for intimate performances by herself and her favorite collaborators on August 22, August 29 and September 12. Created in 2003, the Museum’s residency program honors an artist that has contributed a large and significant body of work to American popular music. Cowboy Jack Clement, Earl Scruggs,  Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill and Buddy Miller are some of the past honorees.

“Connie Smith possesses one of the most powerful and recognizable voices in country music,” said Museum Director Kyle Young.  “Her body of work includes more than 50 albums, and her signature song, ‘Once a Day,’ remains one of country music’s most popular classics. When Connie sings, she takes us on an emotional journey, wringing every teardrop and ounce of feeling from her lyrics. We are thrilled that she will be bringing those talents to the Ford Theater for three one-of-a-kind shows. ”

Connie is known for her hits “Once a Day” and “Then And Only Then.” On August 23, she will release her first album in 13 years, Long Line of Heartaches. The album will include five songs co-written by Connie as well as the hymn “Take My Hand” on which her daughters Julie, Jeannie and Jodi contribute harmonies.

Tickets can be purchased by Museum members for $35 per show beginning Tuesday, August 2, at 10 a.m. by visiting www.countrymusichalloffame.org or the Museum box office.   Tickets will go on sale for $45 per show to the general public at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 5. There will also be special reception/ticket packages for each show, details to be announced soon.

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.

The Statlers “were really, really great singers and great entertainers,” said Jamie Dailey, who called the project his “dream album.”

Inspired by the Statlers and a raft of bluegrass predecessors, Dailey & Vincent take the entertainment component of their gig seriously. They are regularly reminded, Dailey said, that many members of their audience on any given night are going through difficult times with the economy, health or family.

“It’s our job,” Dailey said, to “entertain those people and to make their cares go away for an hour and a half.”

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper figured in three awards. The band walked off with Instrumental Group of the Year, and two members were recognized among the IBMA’s musician winners: Michael Cleveland took the fiddle trophy and Marshall Wilborn claimed bass. Josh Williams, the Gibson Brothers, “Ring The Bell” songwriter Chet O’Keefe and former Union Station mandolin player Adam Steffey were all double winners.

Hosted by Jerry Douglas with Sharon and Cheryl White, the awards included plenty of praise for the Ryman, which provided a historic link on several occasions. The Sam Bush Band played its nominated song “The Ballad Of Stringbean And Estelle,” which recounted the night comedian Stringbean and his wife were ambushed and killed by robbers in November 1973. The crime took place when they returned home after his performance on the Grand Ole Opry, then held at the Ryman.

The Whites and Alison Krauss + Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas played a trio of songs from the 10-year-old O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, much of which was performed live at the Ryman for the first time in May 2000.

And Earl, Randy and Gary Scruggs performed “You Are My Flower” after the late Louise Scruggs was inducted in the IBMA Hall of Fame. Earl’s first performance with Lester Flatt in Bill Monroe’s band, at the Ryman in 1945, is a seminal moment in bluegrass history. It was also at the Ryman that Earl and Louise met.

Also installed in the Hall of Fame was John Hartford, who was hailed as a forerunner of the newgrass movement and as a gregarious musician with a load of wit and wisdom.

“Do what you love,” presenter Tim O’Brien remembered him saying. “That way, if it doesn’t work out, you didn’t waste your time.”

Appropriately, the John Hartford String Band led the night’s final performance, joined by Jamie Hartford, Dobro players Tut Taylor and Jerry Douglas, banjo player Allison Brown, mandolinists Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien and vocalist Peter Rowan. They collectively turned in a joyfully reverent version of “Gentle On My Mind,” the Grammy-winning standard John wrote for Glen Campbell.

Winners of the 21st annual IBMA Awards include:

• ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR: Dailey & Vincent
• VOCAL GROUP: Dailey & Vincent
• INSTRUMENTAL GROUP: Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
• MALE VOCALIST: Russell Moore
• FEMALE VOCALIST: Claire Lynch
• SONG: “Ring The Bell”, The Gibson Brothers (artists); Chet O’Keefe (songwriter)
• ALBUM: Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers, Dailey & Vincent (artists & producers)
• RECORDED EVENT: “Give This Message To Your Heart”, Larry Stephenson featuring Dailey & Vincent (artists), Ben Surratt & Larry Stephenson (producers)
• INSTRUMENTAL RECORDED PERFORMANCE: “Durang’s Hornpipe,” Adam Steffey (artist), Barry Bales & Gary Paczosa (producers)
• GOSPEL RECORDED PERFORMANCE: “Ring The Bell”, The Gibson Brothers (artists & producers), Chet O’Keefe (songwriter)
• EMERGING ARTIST: Josh Williams Band
• BANJO: Kristin Scott Benson
• BASS: Marshall Wilborn
• FIDDLE: Michael Cleveland
• DOBRO: Rob Ickes
• GUITAR: Josh Williams
• MANDOLIN: Adam Steffey
• DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Benjamin “Tex” Logan, Sherry Boyd, Lynn Morris, Richard Weize, Pete Wernick
• BLUEGRASS BROADCASTER: Kyle Cantrell, Sirius XM Satellite Radio
• PRINT MEDIA PERSON: Eddie Dean, Dr. Ralph Stanley, authors of Man Of Constant Sorrow: My Life And Times
• LINER NOTES FOR A RECORDED PROJECT: Dr. Ted Olson (writer), Appalachia Music from Home, Various Artists
• BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR A RECORDED PROJECT: Julie Craig, Cracker Barrel (designer); Dailey & Vincent; Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers
• BLUEGRASS EVENT: 14th Annual Podunk Bluegrass Music Festival, East Hartford, Ct.

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.

Callie Khouri, who won an Oscar for writing “Thelma And Louise,” is currently rewriting the original script for the project, described as a “low-budget, ‘Walk The Line’-type project.” It’s a creative match that seems particularly appropriate. Callie’s husband is T Bone Burnett, the musical director for both “Walk The Line” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” which relied heavily on bluegrass and roots music to tell its story.

Bill, who died in 1996, remains an intensely important figure. A member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he helped launch the careers of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman and Del McCoury, among many others. His song “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” was a signature for him and one of the defining Sun Records recordings by Elvis Presley. Another of his songs, “Uncle Pen,” became the first bluegrass recording to top the country singles chart when Ricky Skaggs released a version in 1984.

Ricky recreated some of Bill’s earliest Blue Grass Boys successes with a 2008 album, Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass: Tribute To 1946 And 1947. Bill’s also been celebrated with several other tribute projects. Among them are the 2000 release Big Mon: The Songs Of Bill Monroe, featuring Dwight Yoakam, Dolly Parton, Travis Tritt and Steve Wariner. Another CD honoring Bill was the 2003 two-CD project Bill Monroe: The Legend Lives On, offering remakes by Marty Stuart, Charlie Daniels, Ralph Stanley and the Whites.

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.

“I set out to make an album that wasn’t defined by genre and did my best to break down what people’s preconceptions were about what ‘bluegrass’ music can sound like,” Dierks says. “It’s so awesome to see the single hit the Top 30 and climb up the country radio charts and to see fans get really excited about a fresh sound. I didn’t know what the reception would be; I just set out to make a great album. I couldn’t be prouder of the outcome. The whole process has been magical.”

Produced by Jon Randall Stewart, Up On The Ridge includes collaborations with Alison Krauss, Kris Kristofferson, Sam Bush, Vince Gill, Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson and Del McCoury.

Dierks plans an album release party Wednesday night at Limelight, a venue that’s literally across the street from Nashville’s LP Field, where the CMA Music Festival begins four nights of star-filled concerts on Thursday.

ShareThis

The 2010 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees, clockwise from upper right: Don Williams, Ferlin Husky, Billy Sherrill and Jimmy Dean. Photos courtesy of the CMA.

Some of music’s finest talents — Ronnie Milsap, Shelby Lynne, Craig Morgan, Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill — were among a bevy of significant artists and Music Row executives who witnessed Sunday’s induction of two new members to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum: Ferlin Husky and songwriter-producer Billy Sherrill.

In a here-today-gone-tomorrow culture, the names might not ring familiar to everyone. A girl in her 20s outside the Hall asked at the end of the night about Sunday’s soiree, then shrugged her shoulders in a “Who?” sort of manner when told the names of the inductees. But both men provided important building blocks to get the genre to the mainstream idiom it is today.

Husky used comedic talent and a strong vocal presence to fashion a series of hits in the 1950s and ‘60s. Two of them emerged as country standards. “Gone” has often been cited as the first example of the so-called Nashville Sound. It was made without the standard fiddle and steel guitar, and the harmonies — provided by the Jordanaires with Millie Kirkham soaring over the top — gave it a lush, middle-of-the-road pop aura. Ronnie McDowell got a standing ovation Sunday for his version of the song, replete with the Jordanaires and Millie, now a senior citizen, who hit those impossible notes as perfectly as she did in 1956.

“She was on so many of my records,” Charley Pride quipped. “I didn’t know she was still doin’ that. I would have had her on a whole lot more!”

Ricky Skaggs and the Whites teamed up during the ceremony for a version of Ferlin’s other standard, “Wings Of A Dove,” that had Hall of Fame member George Jones singing along in the audience. Monday marks 50 years since Ferlin recorded it.

Ferlin, who’s survived at least nine heart bypass operations during his lifetime and had a tube supplying oxygen into his nostrils, ambled out of his wheelchair long enough to have Charley drape the Hall of Fame medallion around his neck.

“God bless everybody that’s here and had anything to do with bringin’ me here,” the emotional Ferlin said, looking skyward as he spoke.

Billy was already a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame after crafting a resume that included co-writing credits on such hits as David Houston’s “Almost Persuaded,” Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” and George Jones’ “The Grand Tour.” He also produced such significant singles as Charlie Rich’s “Behind Closed Doors,” David Allan Coe’s “The Ride” and Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job And Shove It.”

Craig Morgan captured the hazy barroom setting of “Almost Persuaded” in tribute; Shelby Lynne turned in a feisty version of “Stand By Your Man”; Lee Ann Womack delivered a dramatic reading of “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” which Billy produced; and Ronnie Milsap played a smooth cover of Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl,” which Billy co-wrote.

It is, Hall of Fame member Frances Preston noted, “the work of a very shy man.”

“You gotta have a lotta help gettin’ here,” Billy said of the induction, “and I had it.”

The event came to a close with all the Hall of Fame members in attendance taking the stage for a mass celebration on the Carter Family classic “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.” Bill Anderson, Vince Gill, executive Jim Foglesong, Billy Sherrill, Frances Preston, Ferlin Husky, former CMA chief Jo Walker-Meador, the Jordanaires, Earl Scruggs, guitarist Harold Bradley, harmonica player Charlie McCoy, Barbara Mandrell and former Opry head E.W. “Bud” Wendell took part. Shelby Lynne kissed Ricky Skaggs’ cheek, grabbed the back of Mel Tillis’ neck and hugged George Jones as it all came to a rousing close.

The circle will expand again, though. Jimmy Dean and Don Williams will receive their medallions on Oct. 24.

ShareThis

Keith Urban photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

With the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards a dozen days away, the ACM dropped a long list of trophy recipients Tuesday that’s tattooed with a few publicly recognizable names — including Keith Urban and Mel Tillis — as well as a bunch of significant songwriters, musicians and executives. The off-camera winners, as they’re called, will be formally recognized when the West Coast-based Academy presents its annual ACM Honors in Nashville Sept. 21.

Keith is being honored with the Jim Reeves International Award for bringing global attention to country. Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, he’s done that somewhat naturally by connecting the dots between his homeland, the U.S. and Canada. Named for one of the first country stars to establish a strong presence overseas, the International Award has previously gone to such figures as Garth Brooks, Roy Clark, Dick Clark and Dolly Parton.

Mel and Marty Robbins are the latest acts to claim the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award, which recognizes a lifetime of artistic achievement. They follow in the footsteps of such trailblazers as Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.

Don Schlitz and the late Cindy Walker are being recognized with the Poet’s Award, a songwriter prize based on a career’s worth of work. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Cindy penned such classics as Eddy Arnold’s “You Don’t Know Me,” Ricky Skaggs’ “I Don’t Care” and Roy Orbison’s “Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream).” Don set himself up nicely by writing Kenny Rogers’ 1978 classic “The Gambler.” He would later become one of Nashville’s most in-demand composers, authoring Randy Travis’ “Forever And Ever, Amen” and “On The Other Hand,” Collin Raye’s “I Think About You” and Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All” among more than 50 hits.

Former ACM chairman Rod Essig, a Nashville-based booking agent, receives the Mae Boren Axton Award — named after the author of “Heartbreak Hotel” — for his service to the organization. And Crazy Heart, the movie that brought a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar to Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett, wins the Tex Ritter Award for motion pictures.

A bundle of session players, producers and engineers are also being recognized as the top figures in their particular craft. The winners, and some of their credits, follow:

• Top Guitarist: Brent Mason (credits: George Strait’s “Troubadour,” Lee Ann Womack’s “I May Hate Myself In The Morning”)
• Top Piano/Keyboard Player: Michael Rojas (credits: Jack Ingram’s “Barefoot And Crazy,” Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now”)
• Top Bass Player: Michael Rhodes (credits: Darius Rucker’s “It Won’t Be Like This For Long,” Toby Keith’s “Who’s Your Daddy”)
• Top Percussionist/Drummer: Shannon Forrest (credits: John Rich’s “Shuttin’ Detroit Down,” Josh Turner’s “Why Don’t We Just Dance”)
• Top Steel Guitar Player: Paul Franklin (credits: Chris Young’s “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song),” Jake Owen’s “Eight Second Ride”)
• Top Fiddle Player: Stuart Duncan (credits: Billy Currington’s “Good Directions,” Faith Hill’s “Breathe”)
• Top Specialty Instrument(s) Player: Randy Scruggs (credits: Sara Evans’ “Born To Fly,” Earl Scruggs’ The Ultimate Collection: Live At The Ryman)
• Audio Engineer: Justin Niebank (credits: Brad Paisley’s American Saturday Night, Blake Shelton’s Hillbilly Bone)
• Producer: Dann Huff (credits: Steel Magnolia’s “Keep On Lovin’ You,” Rascal Flatts’ “Unstoppable”)

ShareThis

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

According to the UPI, Emmylou Harris was presented with an honorary doctor of music at a bluegrass festival in San Francisco by the Berklee College of Music yesterday.

Berklee President Roger Brown made the presentation, along with Emmylou’s longtime friend Linda Ronstadt and bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs — both Berklee honorary doctorate recipients.

“Not only is Emmylou Harris a consummate musician, an inspired songwriter and a singer with a crystalline voice, she has also been a friend, mentor, collaborator and supporter of many wonderful musicians throughout her career,” Brown said in a statement. “She has a magnificent artistic vision and a magnificently generous spirit as well.”

ShareThis