Pictured L-R: Jamey Johnson, Ken Levitan, Hank Williams Jr., Jessi Colter, Shooter Jennings, Carolyn Tate, Michael McCall, Pamela Johnson, Hilary Williams, Holly Williams and Kirt Webster. Photo courtesy of Webster & Assoc.

Hank Williams Jr. helped bring the four-year run of the exhibit Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy to a close with a powerful solo acoustic performance at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The sold-out December 6th concert raised $75,000 for the Museum. The exhibit will officially close on December 31, but Hank plans to leave several of the artifacts in the Museum’s archives. “I’m going to work with them and leave quite a few of these items here—where they should be,” he said.

Hank performed for 90 minutes and played hits like “A Country Boy Can Survive,” “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound” and was joined by his son Sam on “The Blues Man.” He also played some of his father’s material and songs by his heroes, notably Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Special guests in the audience included Jessi Colter, her son Shooter Jennings and Jamey Johnson. Hank’s wife, Mary Jane,  and daughters Hilary and Holly as well as son Sam were also in the audience. Continue Reading

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Opry member Charley Pride photo by Chris Hollo, courtesy of Schmidt Relations.

Opry Country Classics returns to the Ryman Auditorium for a four-week run beginning October 6. Each show will feature a Spotlight Artist performing several of their biggest hits plus more favorite artists. The fall’s season Spotlight Artists together have 100 Top 10 hits, have won more than 100 industry awards and sold millions of albums.

Charley Pride will take the spotlight for the October 6 show. Lorrie Morgan is scheduled as the spotlight artist on October 13, Ray Price on October 20 and Ricky Skaggs on October 27. Of note, the October 13 show will move from the Ryman to the Grand Ole Opry. Continue Reading

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Alan Jackson at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum on Thursday, July 28, 2011.

Bob Dylan’s label imprint, Egyptian Records, in partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame  and Museum’s CMF Records and Columbia Records, will release The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams on October 4, 2011. The album is collection of previously unrecorded Hank Williams lyrics now put to music and performed by artists with ties to Hank Sr.

The album serves as an audio companion to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museums Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy. The exhibition presents a behind the scenes look of one of America’s most famous musical families and is the largest and most popular temporary exhibit in the museum’s history. Family photographs and memorabilia from the Williams’ home such as a television and a liquor cabinet are on display. Opened in March of 2008, the exhibit will close on December 31, 2011.

The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams began with the idea of finding a well-known artist who was inspired and influenced by Hank. Bob Dylan was approached initially and from there, the album evolved to include several artists. Alan Jackson is featured on the album and he was on hand at the Country Music Hall of Fame last week to help announce the Museum’s expansion plans. He performed the song “You’ve Been Lonesome, Too” which was partially written by Hank Sr. and finished by Alan.

“One of the coolest things in my career was to get to write a song with Hank Williams, Sr.,” said Alan. “I never thought that would happen! We cut the track like Hank – we didn’t do drums and piano, just the basic stuff. We did it just like Hank [would’ve] done it back in 1949 – sparse, but cool.”

Other artists included on the album include Hank Sr.’s granddaughter, Holly Williams, Sheryl Crow, Merle Haggard, Patty Loveless and Vince Gill.

The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams – tracklisting: Continue Reading

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Lady Antebellum on stage at the Ryman Auditorium during the Music City Keep On Playin' benefit concert. Photo credit: Photo by Ed Rode/edrode.biz.

The stars came out in a big way, as did a number of companies and the American people when GAC presented Music City Keep On Playin’ — A Benefit For Flood Relief.

Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Dierks Bentley were among the artists who delivered nearly 20 songs during Sunday’s three-hour live special from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The event raised more than $1.7 million as of midnight CT and counting.

Music City Keep On Playin’ was the first national fundraiser organized to aid victims of a devastating flood that engulfed much of Nashville two weeks ago. In a scant 48 hours, the city took in over 13 inches of rain, more than the Middle Tennessee ground could absorb. The Cumberland River swelled over its banks, damaging some of the city’s landmarks, including the Grand Ole Opry House, LP Field, Bridgestone Arena and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill. Photo courtesy of Curb Nashville and Warner Bros. Nashville.

In response to last week’s devastating Tennessee floods, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have assembled a jaw-dropping lineup of talent for a June 22 benefit concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, one of the downtown venues that took in water when the Cumberland River overflowed its bank.

“Nashville Rising: A Benefit Concert For Flood Recovery” will also feature Brooks & Dunn, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, LeAnn Rimes, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Martina McBride. Even more acts are expected to be announced at a future date.

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Ray Stevens photo courtesy of myspace.com/raystevensmusic.

He sings songs that rhyme “Pascagoula” with “hallelujah,” changes voices in his novelty titles and had one of his biggest-selling hits by celebrating a naked man streaking through the fruits-and-vegetables section at the local supermarket.

You can’t really fight the notion of Ray Stevens making an April Fools Day appearance on the Grand Ole Opry’s Country Classics. Ray was, in fact, just a part of the tomfoolery at the Ryman Auditorium Thursday from host Larry Gatlin, Jeff Bates, Jack Greene and comedian Mike Snider, among others.

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Holly Williams photo courtesy of Mercury Nashville. Photo credit: Autumn de Wilde.

By Tim Ghianni
© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

The blonde with the face that carries the delicate features of her grandfather likes to drop in to check out the goods in her upscale Nashville boutique, where boots that were dragged by a truck through Italian dirt go for $1,200-plus.

“I love it,” said Holly Williams, granddaughter of Hank, daughter of Hank Jr., talking about her Nashville store H. Audrey, whose stock of contemporary clothing and accessories ranges from those Golden Goose boots at the higher end to some $198 jeans on sale for $50. Audrey is her middle name as well as the name of her dad’s mother, the woman who inspired Hank Williams to compose some of Country’s greatest songs of heartbreak and love. Continue Reading

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