Heidi Newfield & Bridgette Tatum

Heidi Newfield and Bridgette Tatum, along with special guests, are hitting the road on an all-girl country tour. The She’s Country Tour, presented by Pendleton Whisky, will kick off in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 2.

“I have partnered up with a few good friends, Pendleton Whisky, and my crazy talented girl, Miss Bridgette Tatum,” Heidi said. “Together we’re throwing a party in your town. We want every one of our club tour shows to be overflowing with people who are rowdy, whiskey drinking, country music lovin’, not scared to have a damn good time kind of people. We want to show you that she’s country and and ‘she’ can rock the house as hard as any dude out there!”

“Paradigm Nashville is proud to help launch this unique all-female tour,” said She’s Country Tour co-producer and Paradigm Nashville co-head, Mike Snider. ”Heidi and Bridgette both bring high-energy performances and a ‘let’s party’ attitude that are perfectly suited for these venues.” Continue Reading

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Gary Allan photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Gary Allan will kick off the Daily Concerts on the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage during this year’s CMA Music Festival with a 10:00 a.m. CT show on June 9. Reflecting 40 years of country music, the stage’s daily lineup will feature past, current, and future superstar artists. The Riverfront Stage concerts are free and open to the public.

“Gary Allan will provide a dynamic start to 2011 CMA Music Festival at the Daily Concerts on the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “This stage is packed with great hit-makers from the ’70s through today, spotlighting all the decades of CMA Music Festival’s existence. And it’s free! We invite everyone to come and enjoy the great music on the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage.”

Darryl Worley will close the Daily Concerts on Friday, June 10, Billy Ray Cyrus on Saturday, June 11 and Terri Clark on Sunday, June 12. Terri last performed at CMA Music Festival in 2007, Billy Ray in 2008 and Darryl in 2010.

The current daily artist lineups in alphabetical order:

Thursday, June 9: Gary Allan, Emerson Drive, Colt Ford, Jack Ingram, Sammy Kershaw, Craig Morgan, James Otto, Jake Owen, Randy Rogers Band, and Steel Magnolia.

Friday, June 10: Frankie Ballard, Bucky Covington, Brett Eldredge, Jo Dee Messina, Randy Montana, Heidi Newfield, Sawyer Brown, Phil Vassar, James Wesley, and  Darryl Worley.

Saturday, June 11: Crystal Bowersox, Jason Michael Carroll, Billy Ray Cyrus, Steve Holy, Lonestar, David Nail, Corey Smith,  Mel Tillis, and Chuck Wicks.

Sunday, June 12: The Bellamy Brothers, Terri Clark, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Josh Kelley, LoCash Cowboys, Jerrod Niemann, Troy Olsen, and Sunny Sweeney.

Performance order will be listed on CMAfest.com, the official website of CMA Music Festival, closer to the event. Additional artists will be announced. Artists and dates subject to change.

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Charlie Daniels trades in his cowboy boots. Photo courtesy of Webster & Associates.

Country stars are trading in their cowboy boots for army boots to show their support for our nation’s troops. George Jones, the Oak Ridge Boys, Charlie Daniels, Randy Houser, Chuck Wicks and more are taking part in the Boot Campaign, which encourages Americans to buy and wear a pair of army combat boots in support of our troops.  Inspired by retired US Navy SEAL and author of the book Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell, proceeds from the boot sales are donated to partner charities. Continue Reading

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Eddie Montgomery (center) & Heidi Newfield (right) jam during some downtime on the Country Throwdown Tour. Photo by Beth Brinker.

As The Country Throwdown tour makes its way up the east coast, each stop continues to serve up memorable performances and behind the scenes action with country’s hottest stars.

North Carolina stops included Charlotte and Raleigh, where I got to hang with Little Big Town and hear all about how much fun they are having with their “Little White Church” Country Throwdown weddings. Getting to know these four and their adorable families, who are out on the road with them, has been a tour highlight!

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was a hot one! In between sets, artists could be found hitting golf balls into a lake behind the amphitheater. Nice swing, Little Big Towners!

My favorite stop of the week was Saratoga Springs, New York. Not only was the venue beautiful, the musical collaborations were epic. That’s a fancy word, but it was a fancy day at The Country Throwdown, people. Continue Reading

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Jamey Johnson on stage jammin' with Heidi Newfield, Emily West and more!

Beth Brinker here, your GAC Road Reports correspondent and your source for all things Country Throwdown!  Stay tuned for my on the road adventures and behind the scenes exclusives with the talented artists and singer/songwriters on one of this summer’s hottest tours! I finally get to be a gypsy with a traveling music circus and all my friends and favorites.  First stop – Florida!

If the first day of The Country Throwdown tour is any indicator of what lies ahead, I can only expect the unexpected. I knew collaborations were inevitable, but I was surprised to see so many so soon! Continue Reading

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Emily West photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Emily West, Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson and Jack Ingram are among the stars on the multi-act Country Throwdown Tour, and GAC’s Suzanne Alexander checks in with the crew from the tour launch in Tampa on this weekend’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

The central theme of the Throwdown is a sort of gritty, edgy, left-of-center brand of country that might seem a little out of character for Emily, who seems a bit sweeter than the Throwdown might imply. But her recent appearance on “The Celebrity Apprentice” might provide a clue about why Emily fits in with the outside-the-box lineup.

Emily and Luke Bryan were the subjects of image makeovers for the series’ two competing teams on that episode, which also featured “Apprentice” album Trace Adkins. Emily was thrilled when one of her childhood icons, Cyndi Lauper, was part of the celebrity team that attended to her, in great part because Cyndi’s quirkiness was always appealing to Emily.

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Montgomery Gentry photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

In light of the recent devastation in Nashville, the Country Throwdown Tour and its artists are lending a hand to the local residents in need.

Country Throwdown artists are coming forward to help in a collective way. As of today, main stage headliners Montgomery Gentry, Jack Ingram, Eric Church, Eli Young Band and Bluebird Café Tent singer-songwriters Sarah Buxton, Heather Morgan, Jedd Hughes, Ashley Ray, Troy Olsen, Brad Tursi, Cory Branan and Dave Pahanish will be donating the net proceeds from the sale of their merchandise at select shows throughout the U.S.

“We’re excited to be a part of the Throwdown Tour and through the course of the tour the artists get to participate in generating a lot of revenue for Nashville,” explains Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry. “Donating in one lump sum at the end of the tour gives us the opportunity to help any folks who may have fallen through the cracks, either through not having insurance or not being eligible for FEMA coverage. We’ll be able to place the money directly with the people who need it the most to rebuild.” Continue Reading

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Heidi Newfield photo by Erick Anderson, courtesy of Curb/Asylum Records.

The 11th annual Country Music Marathon and Half-Marathon will have 30,000 runners clogging the streets of Music Row and downtown Nashville on Saturday, and Heidi Newfield has a strong connection to the event.

She appears that night, along with John Rich and Cowboy Troy, in the post-race concert at the Bridgestone Arena. Heidi’s not expected to actually participate in the run — it’d be asking a lot for her to belt out “Johnny And June” after running 13 or 26 miles — but she does include running in her own workout regimen, and she put together a playlist for runners who might be carrying an iPod with them during Saturday’s event.

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Jerrod Niemann photo by Jeremy Cowart, courtesy of myspace.com/jerrodniemann.

If you want to be a success, the best way to do it is develop your talents and then make some connections with the right people. Jerrod Niemann’s been following that path, and it’s starting to look like he knew what he was doing all along.

Hailing from Liberal, Kan. — just across the border from the Oklahoma Panhandle — Jerrod got his first hit as a songwriter when Okie Garth Brooks recorded his Chris LeDoux tribute “Good Ride Cowboy.” Just this last year, Brad Paisley opened his new Sea Gayle label and signed Jerrod as the first artist. And now Jerrod’s played the same legendary stage where Garth and Brad — not to mention Roy Acuff and Porter Wagoner — all made a huge impact: the Grand Ole Opry House.

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Jamey Johnson photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Jamey Johnson’s 2008 album That Lonesome Song was a winner, earning nominations for Album of the Year in both the CMA Awards and the Grammys.

The track that drew the most attention from the album, “In Color,” owed its storyline to a black-and-white photograph, and Jamey’s next album will likely carry that theme forward, though it’s unclear if Jamey intended to link the two projects. He told Alabama outlet Our Prattville that the new album, titled The Guitar Song, should be out in June or July. And it’s taken on an interesting shape.

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