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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Vince Gill photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry®. Photo by Chris Hollo.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has announced that Vince Gill will serve as Grand Marshal for the 59^th Annual Nashville Christmas Parade on December 2. The parade officially kicks off the holiday season downtown with the lighting of the city Christmas tree where Vince will be joined by Mayor Dean and executives from Piedmont Natural Gas, which has sponsored the parade since its beginning.

The theme of this year’s parade is ‘Christmas Around the World.’ Following the lighting of the Christmas parade, Vince will lead parade floats through the heart of downtown Nashville. “I wanted to serve as grand marshal because I just like Mayor Dean,” Vince said. “It’s that simple. He has been beyond supportive of the music community.”

“Vince Gill’s community involvement and amazing talent as a singer, songwriter and musician have made a remarkable and lasting mark on Music City,” Mayor Dean said. “I am grateful that he will be taking part in this longtime Nashville tradition.” Continue Reading

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Connie Smith's 2011 CD, Long Line of Heartaches. Photo courtesy of Sugar Hill Records.

Though nominated for a Grammy in 2010 on a duet with husband Marty Stuart, Connie Smith’s new album, Long Line of Heartaches, is the first time the classic country singer can be heard on a full release of her own since 1998’s self-titled effort. Long Line of Heartaches, a collection of 12 burning tracks, is a poignant return to form as Connie delivers the heartbreak beautifully through her timeless voice.

Connie wrote five of the album’s songs with Marty, who serves as the project’s producer. Opening with a trademark “Connie Smith Sound” pedal steel guitar lick, the record’s title track issues a statement that followers of traditional country should stand on high alert. Oh, it does you no good, when those burning teardrops fall/ sayin’ everything’s gonna be alright to a heart that’s seen it all, Connie sings with a vintage honky tonk touch on “Long Line of Heartaches,” reminiscent of greats like Loretta Lynn. Many of the songs on the album tell stories with heart-wrenching clarity about trying to be as strong as possible in the face of lost love. Surrounded by reverb-heavy guitar on the dreamy “I’m Not Blue,” Connie sings, You may think I’m falling apart/ but I’m just missin’ all the love we knew, before admitting, The truth gets hard to say when pride stands in the way/ So just let me lie to you/ I’m not blue.

“Ain’t You Even Gonna Cry,” a slow, acoustic-based ballad and one of the album’s standouts, features Connie’s voice richly conveying the hurt and dumbfounded disbelief of a woman realizing she cares more than the man she’s leaving. 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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The Americana Music Association announced its year end Top 100 Albums of the Year.  The Top 100 albums are based on those records reported to the Americana Airplay Chart during the period of November 17, 2009 through November 15, 2010.  We’ll serve up the first half of the list and you can visit the Americana Music Association website to access the full list of all 100 albums…

The Top 50 most played albums, as charted on the Americana Airplay Chart are:

1.       Various Artists, Crazy Heart Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, New West

2.       Rosanne Cash, The List, Manhattan

3.       John Hiatt, The Open Road, New West

4.       Carolina Chocolate Drops, Genuine Negro Jig, Nonesuch

5.       Ray Wylie Hubbard, A Enlightenment B Endarkenment Hint There Is No C, Bordello/Thirty Tigers

6.       Robert Earl Keen, The Rose Hotel, Lost Highway

7.       Band Of Heathens, One Foot In The Ether, BOH Records

8.       Avett Brothers, I And Love And You, Columbia

9.       Patty Griffin, Downtown Church, Credential

10.   Reckless Kelly, Somewhere In Time, Yep Roc Continue Reading

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Gwyneth Paltrow & Tim McGraw from the upcoming movie, Country Strong, in theaters January 7, 2011. Photo by Scott Garfield, courtesy of Sony Pictures USA & Monarch Publicity.

From Crazy Heart to Country Strong, Hollywood and Nashville were tightly linked in 2010.

Tim McGraw, Julianne Hough, Trace Adkins and Carrie Underwood all went in front of the cameras. And artists as diverse as Ryan Bingham, Billy Currington, Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney got their music on the big screen in one way or another.

Country’s role in a large number of movies ranks No. 7 in GAC’s countdown of the dozen top stories of 2010.

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Chris Young photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

It’s been a big year for Chris Young, who got New Artist nominations from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association and is up for his first Grammy Award for “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song).”

But one other major moment came when he recorded “Love Don’t Let Me Down,” a duet with Patty Loveless that appears on the Country Strong soundtrack. The movie, which stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw, comes out nationally Jan. 7, and the duet is something of a milestone for Chris.

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Lady Antebellum photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Hello, world: Just in case anyone was left on the planet that hadn’t figured out how significant Lady Antebellum was this year, the Recording Academy slipped the band into three of the big-four, multi-genre categories on the prestigious Grammy Awards ballot. Finalists in the general-interest categories were unveiled Wednesday during a one-hour nominations special on CBS.

“Need You Now” and the album of the same name were tabbed as finalists for Record, Song and Album of the Year, pitting Lady A against such pop, rock and rap acts as Eminem, Katy Perry and Arcade Fire.

Miranda Lambert sang her snarky “Only Prettier” on the special, which also saw “The House That Built Me” gain a Song of the Year nomination for composers Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin. As a result, two country titles — “Need You Now” and “House” — are among the five Song of the Year finalists, something that’s only happened seven times in the Grammys’ previous 52 years.

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By now, most of you have heard about the upcoming release of a new movie called Country Strong, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw.    What you might not know is how involved Gwyneth Paltrow got in preparing for and playing the role of “Kelly Canter,” a just-out-of-rehab country singer trying to re-start her career.    She actually learned how to play the guitar and is really the one singing the title track from the film. Of course it’s not bad to have the likes of Patty Griffin and Vince Gill providing harmony vocals on the track.  Just a couple months ago we gave you a first listen to “Country Strong” and now the official music video is here.  The video features Gwyneth performing with a full band in a warehouse setting blended with scenes from the film.

Watch it here:

The original motion picture soundtrack for Country Strong is set for release on October 26 on RCA Nashville.   Gwyneth sings four songs on the soundtrack  including a duet with Tim.  Other artist features on the soundtrack include:  Chris Young, Patty Loveless, Trace Adkins, Lee Ann Womack, Faith Hill, Sara Evans and Ronnie Dunn.   You can see the movie in theatres beginning Dec. 22.

And, we just found out that Gwyneth and Vince will be performing “Country Strong” on the 44^th Annual CMA Awards Show on Nov. 10 at 8/7c on ABC.

Drop me comment below and let me know what you think of the video for “Country Strong.”

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Gwyneth Paltrow as "Kelly Canter," from the movie "Country Strong." Photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow becomes a country singer in the upcoming movie Country Strong, in which her manager is played by some guy named Tim McGraw.

Actors like to talk about researching their roles, and Gwyneth certainly did that. To understand her character, Kelly Canter, Gwyneth learned how to play the guitar.

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