Mac McAnally photo credit: Stan Kellam.

Singer-songwriter Mac McAnally will release his first live album, Live in Muscle Shoals, on October 11. Recorded during his show at Norton Auditorium at the University of North Alabama during the W.C. Handy Music Festival, the album will include hit songs Mac penned such as Kenny Chesney’s “Back Where I Come From” and “Down The Road” and Sawyer Brown’s “All These Years.”

Without the help of advanced equipment and the opportunity to sing a song over and over that recording in a studio offers, Mac embraces the flaws heard in his live recordings, taking his cue from W.C. Handy himself. Continue Reading

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Clockwise from top left: Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley & Taylor Swift.

Topping the list of final nominees with five nominations each for The 45^th Annual CMA Awards are Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, and Taylor Swift. Right on their heels are The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band, who each received four nominations as a group, while individual members Kimberly Perry (of The Band Perry), Coy Bowles and Zac Brown (of Zac Brown Band) each earned a solo nod as a songwriter.

“‘Country Music’s Biggest Night(tm)’ is shaping up to be a tight race with an outstanding group of new and established nominees topping the list,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “With no clear frontrunner there will be a heightened level of excitement and anticipation for the CMA Awards in November.”

The 45^th Annual CMA Awards will be hosted for the fourth time by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and broadcast live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 8-11 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

For the sixth year, the announcement of the final nominees in five of the 12 CMA Awards categories was made live on ABC News’ Good Morning America with The Band Perry and Jake Owen delivering the news from the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Finalists in the other seven categories were announced by Jerrod Niemann and CMA Vocal Duo and New Artist of the Year nominees Thompson Square from the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which was home to the first broadcast of the CMA Awards in 1968.

Jason Aldean received first-time nominations in five categories in 2011 including Entertainer; Male Vocalist; Album for My Kinda Party, produced by Michael Knox; and Single and Musical Event of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, also produced by Knox. Jason has two prior nominations including the Horizon Award in 2007 and in 2008 when the category changed names to CMA New Artist of the Year. Kelly was last nominated in 2007 for Musical Event of the Year with Reba McEntire for “Because of You.”

Jason’s golden touch in 2011 extended to songwriters Brantley Gilbert and Colt Ford, who penned his “Dirt Road Anthem,” nominated for Song of the Year.

CMA’s reigning Entertainer of the Year, Brad Paisley, received five nominations for Continue Reading

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Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley will host the 2011 CMA Awards. Photo courtesy of the CMA.

Nominations were announced this morning for the 45th Annual CMA Awards, to be held Wednesday, November 9 at 8/7c on ABC. What do you think of the list? Leave us a comment below!

Entertainer of the Year
Jason Aldean
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift
Keith Urban

Male Vocalist of the Year
Jason Aldean
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban

Female Vocalist of the Year
Sara Evans
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Vocal Group of the Year
The Band Perry
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band

New Artist of the Year
The Band Perry
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Thompson Square
Chris Young

Vocal Duo of the Year
The Civil Wars
Montgomery Gentry
Steel Magnolia
Sugarland
Thompson Square

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Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

When Dierks Bentley booked his Miles & Music For Kids charity motorcycle ride for rainy Seattle, he had to know it was a possibility that the event would get drenched.

That possibility became reality. The city was hit with a heavy downpour last Saturday, but the good folks of Washington State still came out in full force. They raised $50,000 for Seattle Children’s Hospital, as Dierks continues his work for kids charities. Since he established the Music & Miles program in 2006, he’s raised a whopping $1.3 million in all.

“Rainy days aren’t typically when most people are itching to get out the motorcycle for a leisurely afternoon ride,” Dierks says. “But we’ve come to learn over the last few years of putting these rides on that motorcycle riders may look big and bad, but they have a heart of gold, and it would take a lot more than a little rain to deter them.”

Dierks has another Miles & Music date on the horizon, but it’s just one of numerous charity events that country stars are undertaking in the near future. They include:

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Rodney Atkins photo courtesy of Curb Nashville.

Through his hits “Watching You” and “Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy),” Rodney Atkins has established an affinity for songs about fatherhood. Now he’s partnering with a food in a box that’s become a friend to many parents trying to make a quick meal for the kids.

Rodney has joined hands (clean hands, we presume) with Kraft to aid its summer advertising campaign for Velveeta Shells & Cheese. Rodney penned a song, “Get Together,” for its commercials, which start running in May. Velveeta will also set itself up as a side dish at Rodney’s shows, sponsoring a Side Shack that allows people to sing alongside Rodney on an interactive screen.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Interscope Records.

More than 100 trophies will be handed out on Sunday at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards to honor the best in music in 2009. Overlooked, but maybe just as important, are a few honors that recognize artists and musicians — including Loretta Lynn, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and guitarist Harold Bradley — for efforts that span a much broader scope of time.

The Dirt Band’s “Mr. Bojangles” has been added to the Grammy Hall of Fame, certifying it as a recording of long-term influence. Loretta and the late Roy Orbison are among the artists who will be hailed Saturday in Los Angeles with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards. That same night, Harold will receive a Trustee’s Award for his work as a session musician, studio owner and former president of the Nashville chapters of the Recording Academy and the Musicians Union.

As if that’s not enough, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame have both been featured in the news in the last week.

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Toby Keith photo courtesy of Show Dog Nashville.

A little over three years since he launched his own Show Dog Nashville label, Toby Keith unleashed his newly merged Show Dog-Universal Music Wednesday during a press conference at BMI in Nashville in which his appreciation for risk underscored much of the discussion.

The music business is in a strange transition in which the album, which previously funded the business, is selling in smaller numbers each year while single tracks are increasingly becoming the way the public buys pre-recorded sound. Companies are required to pay the same amount to market their material as in the past, but with less than a tenth the per-unit income they previously received.

A number of people lost jobs in the merger, though the new company is larger than the previous version of Show Dog. And Toby — whose income stream includes songwriting royalties, concert fees and income from film work, a fashion line, horse racing and his I Love This Bar & Grille chain — is in a position to roll the dice on a label.

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Dolly Parton photo courtesy of Dolly Parton Management.

The list is out, the tickets to Los Angeles are being bought, and the country stars in the running for 2010 Grammy Awards are all coming to grips with the reality that their work is being recognized by their peers among the year’s best.

Kenny Chesney’s duet with Mac McAnally, Dolly Parton’s Broadway cast album and Lady Antebellum’s pair of nominations have all spurred gratitude and joy. Tracy Lawrence scored his first-ever Grammy nomination, Jim Lauderdale is a bluegrass finalist — and also had a hand in a couple of other nominated projects: He wrote two songs on George Strait’s Twang album, and he was a member of Elvis Costello’s supporting band on Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. Keith Urban collected four nods, and Taylor Swift appeared eight times on the list.

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Kenny Chesney performs at the VAULT Concert Stage at LP Field in Downtown Nashville Sunday, June 14 during the 2009 CMA Music Festival. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Association.

Kenny Chesney’s made a lot of friends in the music industry, and several of them have joined him on a variety of recordings.

He shared the mic with George Strait on “Shiftwork,” duetted with Reba McEntire on “Every Other Weekend,” collaborated with Mac McAnally on “Down The Road,” worked with Willie Nelson on “Lucky Old Sun” and even did a track with NFL quarterback Peyton Manning on an NFL Country album.

Kenny’s now found a way to make Dave Matthews a hit on the country charts. Continue Reading

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Brad Paisley photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Brad Paisley is a happy man with Wednesday’s unveiling of the finalists for “The 43rd Annual CMA Awards”. Announced on Sept. 9 — 9/9/09 — Brad showed up 7 times on the list. His haul included his fifth straight nomination for Entertainer of the Year and his ninth in 10 years for Male Vocalist.

Set to co-host the awards on ABC with Carrie Underwood on Nov. 11, Brad also secured a spot in the finalists for Single and Song with his ballad, “Then”; earned an Album nomination with American Saturday Night; and shared a Vocal Event slot with Keith Urban for “Start A Band.”

Brad might be at the head of the class, but he was hardly the only one to receive good grades. Continue Reading

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