Country music has a whole new beat thanks to the release of Reggae’s Gone Country by VP Records and Warner Music Nashville. The compilation album features classic country hits covered by Jamaica’s top musicians such as Beres Hammond, Tarrus Riley, Tessanne Chin, Etana, Luciano and Sly & Robbie as well as supporting vocals by Larry Gatlin of The Gatlin Brothers and production by John Rich.

Cristy Barber, Vice President of Marketing and Promotions at VP Records and a Grammy nominated producer for the 2003 compilation album Def Jamaica had the idea for the album. She teamed up with John Rich and acclaimed Jamaican saxophonist and top reggae producer Dean Fraser to bring the album to  life. Continue Reading

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Joe Nichols photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Joe Nichols will host the 5^th Annual ACM Honors at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on September 19. The evening is dedicated to recognizing special honorees and off-camera winners from the 46^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. This is the first time Joe has hosted the event and the second time it will be held at the Ryman, which will be recognized as ACM Venue of the Year.

“Joe has the admiration of music fans worldwide because of his own straightforward, tradition respect for country music,” said Michelle Goble, Senior Vice President, Membership & Events with the ACM. “His appreciation for the genre makes him a great fit for an evening paying tribute to those who have paved way—and those who work behind the scenes.”

“Hosting the ACM Honors is definitely a high point in my career,” Joe said. “To share the stage with such an incredible array of talent is a distinction I don’t take lightly, and I am honored that the Academy of Country Music asked me to host the event.”

Garth Brooks, John Dorris, Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers, Tom T. Hall, Reba, Taylor Swift and the film Country Strong are some of the night’s honorees. Hank Cochran will also be honored posthumously.  Winners of the MBI (musician, bandleader, instrumentalist) and Industry categories, which are not presented during the live telecast of the Academy of Country Music Awards will also be awarded. Continue Reading

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Opry member Little Jimmy Dickens invites the Oak Ridge Boys to join the Grand Ole Opry. Photo courtesy of Schmidt Relations.

A show at the Grand Ole Opry can be full of surprises — and tonight was no exception. Congratulations to the legendary Oak Ridge Boys, who were invited to join the Grand Ole Opry! The quartet, made up of William Lee Golden, Joe Bonsall, Richard Sterban, and Duane Allen, will be formally inducted into the Opry family on Saturday, August 6.

After the Oaks performed their hit “Y’All Come Back Saloon,” 62-year Opry member Jimmy Dickens surprised the group by walking onstage dressed as a 4’11” William Lee Golden, including long beard and sunglasses. “All my life I’ve wanted to be a little bitty Oak Ridge Boy,” Dickens announced to raucous laughter in the Opry House. “On August 6th, I will become the newest member of the Oak Ridge Boys, and at that time, you will become the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry!”

Joe Bonsall responded for the group, saying, “Jimmy, that’s the funniest thing we’ve ever seen, first of all. This is a brotherhood and sisterhood unlike any other. We have been friends Continue Reading

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Larry Gatlin (center) and the Gatlin Brothers, photo courtesy of Absolute Publicity.

The death of Osama bin Laden was just the moment Larry Gatlin and and the Gatlin Brothers have been waiting for to release their latest song, “Americans, That’s Who.” “Plain and simple, we’ve been sitting on this thing for awhile,” Larry Gatlin said.  “We’ve known for some time that it would take a groundbreaking, monumental event for us to release this single to radio.  The death of Osama bin Laden meets those qualifications.” 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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Mel Tillis at the ACM Honors on September 20, 2010. Getty Images/Courtesy of the Academy of Country Music.

Martina McBride, Randy Travis, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Kenny Rogers were among the artists who showed up to perform on their behalf.

Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Toby Keith and Barbara Mandrell were among the acts who sent their support via video.

But even more can be said by taking an inventory of the artists who were not on hand that were affected by the people who graced the stage Monday at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium: George Strait, Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker, Josh Turner, Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson, George Jones, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain… The real task would be to find artists who did not benefit from the raft of people — musicians, producers, concert executives, songwriters and pioneering artists who were honored at the fourth annual ACM Honors.

The event allowed the Academy of Country Music to give a more detailed account of the behind-the-scenes people and the pioneers of the genre than it could provide during its fast-moving televised awards.

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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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Johnny Cash

Saturday marks three years since the tragic fire that destroyed the former Tennessee home of Johnny Cash and June Carter, a moment that had a huge impact on Nashville’s music community.

A number of country artists — Marty Stuart, T.G. Sheppard and several Oak Ridge Boys, among them — could only watch helplessly as flames engulfed the structure, which had been purchased from the Cash family by the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb. A couple of songwriters, Monty Holmes and Leslie Satcher, were inspired by the blaze to write “House Of Cash,” a Patty Loveless duet that appeared on George Strait’s award-winning Troubadour album. And Larry Gatlin turned the disaster into a statement about the changing nature of country music, “Johnny Cash Is Dead (And His House Burned Down).”

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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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Larry Gatlin (center) and the Gatlin Brothers, photo courtesy of Absolute Publicity.

In the early 1990s, Larry Gatlin got fed up with Nashville and moved back to Texas. He’d lived in Music City for almost 20 years, and during that time, he’d had a nice string of hits tinged with the harmonies of his brothers Steve and Rudy. But as the public moved on to other sounds, the hits stopped coming. Larry felt unwanted in Tennessee and split.

Now he’s dividing his time between the Lone Star State and Nashville, and beginning Thursday, he’ll be a frequent host for the Grand Ole Opry’s Thursday night Opry Country Classics shows at the historic Ryman Auditorium. It’s an appropriate association. The Gatlins have been Opry members since Christmas Day 1976, and Larry came up in the midst of some classic country sounds, befriended by such country icons as Dottie West and Johnny Cash.

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