Tom T Hall

Tom T. Hall, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, Country Music Highway committee members, and TourSEKY announced two new initiatives surrounding famed highway U.S. Route 23. Known as the ‘Country Music Highway,’ the stretch of road winding along the eastern corridor of Kentucky, has given rise to several country stars including The Judds, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn, Rebecca Lynn Howard and more.

The new initiatives will include a talent competition to discover the next generation of artists from the area, as well as the development of a charitable organization, the ‘Country Music Highway Arts Education Fund,’ which will support music programs in Kentucky schools and aid children in discovering their passion for music. The initiatives are aimed to bring awareness of the highway’s significance to the next generation.

“I am certain that Governor Beshear will agree with me when I say how proud we are to honor the rich musical heritage springing from the State of Kentucky,” Jeff Crowe, President and CEO of Tour SEKY, said. “Our youth is teeming with musical talent and I am excited to see the impact the program will have upon them.”

The Country Music Highway Road to Fame competition will begin in mid-March. The winner will receive a scholarship to participate in career development and coaching under the direction of PCG Nashville, an acoustic guitar, and a plaque recognizing their achievement. The contest is open to artists 13-35 years old from the 15 counties that border the highway. More information can be found at www.cmhroadtofame.com.

“I’m really excited about the competition because it will show that some of the best talent can be found in the hills of Eastern Kentucky,” Tom T. Hall, a native of the area, said. Continue Reading

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Chris Young Photo courtesy of Amy Willis PR/Grand Ole Opry.

When Chris Young played the Grand Ole Opry recently, he did so with a very special guitar that was once owned by Keith Whitley. Chris acquired the Sigma by Martin guitar, one of Keith’s three primary guitars, from Music City Pickers, a company that buys and sells vintage musical instruments. The guitar was discovered by the company’s founders, songwriter Brady Seals and former Gibson Guitars web editor Gabriel Hernandez, on a buying trip to Lexington, Kentucky in August.

“Keith Whitley has always been one of my musical heroes, so to get the chance to hold a piece of history in my hands and play his guitar on the Opry stage was beyond awesome,” Chris said.

While the Martin acoustic and Fender Telecaster guitars Keith played are now owned by private collectors, The Sigma by Martin guitar remained in the hands of family friend and musician, Earl Watkins. Earl and Keith became close friends and played together at Earl’s famed Circle H Saloon just south of Lexington every time Keith passed through. Continue Reading

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Bradley Gaskin photo courtesy of Columbia Nashville.

It wasn’t long ago that singer and songwriter Bradley Gaskin of Duck Springs, AL, was hanging drywall. He would spend his lunch break writing songs on pieces of sheetrock paper. At the urging of his wife, Bradley uploaded some of his songs to MySpace, where they were heard by country singer and Celebrity Apprentice contestant John Rich’s development company. Bradley was invited to perform at the “Get Rich Talent Search” and he won the competition! John later brought him to Sony’s Columbia Nashville label, where he signed a record deal last February.

“Mr. Bartender,” his self-penned debut single, sounds like a timeless country classic. In the song, Bradley asks the bartender for a shot to relieve his heartache. With a strong baritone, this singer to watch crafts his own brand of new classic country, distilled through his honky-tonk heroes like Keith Whitley, Merle Haggard and George Jones, to name a few.

Bradley’s video for “Mr. Bartender” just made its debut on VEVO and we have it here for you to watch now. Keep your eye out for the “celebrity” bartender at the end!

Leave a comment below and tell us what you think of Bradley!

For more about Bradley Gaskin visit his official website »

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Taylor Swift photo by Joseph Anthony Baker, courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Taylor Swift has dated – and written songs about – some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Joe Jonas, John Mayer, and Taylor Lautner are all former flames and the rumored inspiration behind some of Taylor’s songs. Now, it seems Taylor has a new beau – fellow Nashvillian and Glee star Chord Overstreet – reports US Weekly.

Taylor and Chord were spotted together at a LA Kings hockey game Thursday night and then grabbed dinner afterwards. Chord reportedly called Taylor for a co-writing session the day before and the pair went out the next night. They have met a few times previously. Chord is no stranger to the songwriting process. His father, Paul Overstreet, has written and/or co-written 27 Top 10 country hits, including The Judds’ “Love Can Build A Bridge,” Kenny Chesney’s “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” and “When You Say Nothing At All,” which was a hit for both Keith Whitley and Alison Krauss. Continue Reading

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Jamey Johnson photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

By Robert K. Oermann
© 2011 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Jamey Johnson has a way of defying our expectations. At a time when it is harder than ever to sell full-length albums relative to single digital tracks, he has followed his Mercury Nashville Gold-certified That Lonesome Song with a double album. The Guitar Song contains 25 songs and demands more than an hour of a listener’s attention – yet in September it debuted at the top of the Country chart and at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200.

The music video for his anti-Hollywood song “Playing the Part,” written by Johnson and Shane Minor, was filmed in Hollywood and directed by actor Matthew McConaughey. And though at the top of his game as a Country songwriter and record producer, Johnson has also taken a left turn to produce a gospel album for the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama. Continue Reading

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BMI Icon Billy Sherrill and Taylor Swift with her awards for BMI Songwriter of the Year and Co Writer of BMI Song of the Year and BMI President Del Bryant at the 58th Annual BMI Country Music Awards at BMI on November 9, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BMI)

Through songs such as “Mine,” “White Horse” and “Fifteen,” Taylor Swift has shown a real appreciation for great drama and complex character development.

This week, she’s experienced drama firsthand. On Tuesday, she won BMI’s Country Songwriter of the Year award, becoming the youngest person ever to claim it. And she and co-writer Liz Rose shared Country Song of the Year for “You Belong With Me,” recognized as the most-played country title over a full year, according to the performing rights organization.

Just a day earlier, Taylor sang at a funeral for a friend.

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Jamey Johnson photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

When Jamey Johnson released his 2008 album That Lonesome Song, he was uniformly hailed for the quality of the songs and the honesty of the performances. The album tipped its hat to traditional country and was recognized in The Nashville Scene’s annual Country Music Critics Poll as the best CD of that year.

Now Jamey’s new double-disc project The Guitar Song is earning similar feedback. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and it’s getting early recognition as an Album of the Year candidate on the 2011 awards circuit.

All of that’s well and good, though Jamey himself seems less interested than anybody in what kind of accolades it earns. The sales? The marketing? He’s more than happy to let the record label take care of those issues.

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Jamey Johnson photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

In an era where many consumers buy their music one track at a time, Jamey Johnson has ramped up an old-fashioned idea. He’s not just releasing an album today — he’s putting out a two-disc CD. And for fans who want to go really retro, he’s also making it available as a three-disc vinyl album.

All of that’s appropriate, because Jamey’s drawing on some old ideas about country with The Guitar Song. It includes remakes of songs originated by Mel Tillis, Vern Gosdin, Kris Kristofferson and Keith Whitley. And Jamey did it with an old-fashioned attitude. It was recorded as live as possible in the studio. The recordings were informal, much like the way he sings his songs when he takes them on the road.

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Vince Gill performs with Albert Lee at Eric Clapton's 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Photo courtesy of Erin Morris.

Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Paul McCartney: several halls of fame are bursting with news about their programs or their members.

The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame have new inductees on the way, the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum has a couple of fundraisers on the docket in Nashville and Los Angeles, and one Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member invoked the names of two Country Hall of Famers when he played next door to Nashville’s best-known museum.

Here’s a bundle of Hall of Fame-related music news:

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Hank Cochran photo courtesy of So Much Moore Media.

Hank Cochran, a legendary songwriter who had hits in four decades, died Thursday after battling pancreatic cancer. A longtime member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, his words and melodies were significant in the careers of such signature artists as George Strait, Patsy Cline, Keith Whitley and Eddy Arnold.

Hank was part of the first generation of Nashville’s full-time songwriters. Born in Mississippi, he was living and performing in California when he signed his first songwriting contract in 1959 with Pamper Music, a publishing company owned in part by Ray Price. In January 1960, he moved to Music City, where he became a regular at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, a legendary music-business hangout. Tootsie’s provided an informal meeting room for country’s artists and writers, including Harlan Howard, Mel Tillis, Marty Robbins and Willie Nelson, who Hank first met there. He helped Willie get signed to Pamper and even gave up a raise to make sure the company could afford Willie.

Hank’s legend was practically cemented when he and Harlan co-wrote “I Fall To Pieces,” a landmark Patsy Cline song with a nicely contoured melody and deftly direct lyrics. It was not just a great calling card. The National Endowment for the Arts named it one of 365 culturally significant recordings in a new-millennium list of the Songs of the Century.

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