All posts tagged "Randy Houser"

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

What to wear. What to do in Las Vegas. When to travel. What to say if you win.

Tuesday’s nominations for the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards presented a whole host of issues and questions for the likes of Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert and Darius Rucker.

Not that any of them are complaining. An ACM nod represents recognition from their peers and the possibility of getting valuable television exposure. Plus, there’s always the possibility of bringing home some hardware for the trophy case.

Here’s what some of this year’s finalists are saying:

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Randy Houser photo courtesy of Universal Records South.

If you want an update on where country music’s been and where it’s going, you only need to put two events from the past week into perspective: Tuesday’s announcement of the 2010 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees and Friday’s New Faces Show at Nashville’s Country Radio Seminar.

Don Williams, the most recent hitmaker among the four Hall of Fame additions, was often noted for a quiet stage show. He simply stood at the microphone and sang, and his success relied exclusively on the warmth of his gentle demeanor and the thoughtful messages that dominated his understated songs.

The New Faces Show demonstrated the bigger-is-better philosophy that’s dominated concerts ever since Garth Brooks turned up in arenas two decades ago. From the outset, Love And Theft and Randy Houser — the first two acts in a five-artist lineup — cranked the volume and the tempo in a slickly produced show meant to confirm for radio programmers that they are indeed playing the right new performers as they compete for listeners’ ears.

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Miranda Lambert will headline her own "Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars" Tour in 2010. Photo credit James Minchin

Nashville, Tenn. (February 10, 2010) – Platinum recording artist Miranda Lambert brings her “Roadside Bars And Pink Guitars” Tour to her fans this Spring.  Gearing up on March 18^th in Beckley, WV, the tour will make stops in at least 22 cities and more to be announced.  This is Lambert’s first official headlining tour.  She will be joined by David Nail, James Otto, Randy Houser and Wade Bowen among others.

In addition to her own headlining tour, Lambert will take part in the prestigious Lilith Fair Tour and joins an A-list lineup including Kings of Leon, Jay-Z, Dave Matthews Band and Norah Jones, performing at this year’s Bonnaroo Music Festival in June. Continue Reading

Randy Houser photo courtesy of Universal Records South.

Last month, Randy Houser joined a long list of country stars who’ve toured the Middle East with the USO, and if you thought that celebrities got soft treatment, he insists that’s not the case.

“There was a lot of stuff they left out of the brochure,” he told The San Antonio Express-News. “It was pretty scary, pretty dangerous. I thought we were going to a pretty safe area.”

Randy spent about 10 days in Iraq and Kuwait with Kellie Pickler and Jamey Johnson, a trip that’s also been made by the likes of Mark Wills, Craig Morgan, the Zac Brown Band, Trace Adkins, Toby Keith, Neal McCoy and Kix Brooks.

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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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Zac Brown Band photo courtesy of Atlantic Records.

Week in and week out fans are peppered with charts of every kind for country music.   The most played songs on the radio. The top selling digital singles and albums.  The most downloaded ringtones.  The most popular videos and on and on.  But this chart really got my attention because it represents the songs that are getting the most action in dancehalls and honky tonks across the U.S.  In other words, the songs that are moving more butts out of seats and on to the hardwood!

Thanks to our friends at Marco Club Connection, here is the list of the Top 10 Country Dance Club Hits of 2009: Continue Reading

The last time we headed into a new decade, it was the beginning of a completely new millennium, and it kicked off with a bang: The Judds reunited in Phoenix; Trisha Yearwood and Kenny Rogers performed for President Clinton in Washington, D.C.; Kenny Chesney opened for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill at the arena in Nashville; and Grand Ole Opry stars Marty Stuart and Connie Smith went to church in Mississippi.

As we enter 2010, country stars are once again a big part of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Martina McBride and Diamond Rio will be on TV; Shania Twain carries the torch for the Winter Olympics; Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw will appear at college bowl games; and Garth Brooks, Rodney Atkins and the Eli Young Band will help transition into January on stage.

Here’s how some of country’s biggest stars will add to the turning of the calendar on Thursday and Friday:
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Randy Houser photo courtesy of Universal Records South.

#6 on GAC’s Top Stories of 2009 |  View all »

When Randy Houser played a show in Nashville last January, he introduced his Top 20 release “Anything Goes” with a sarcastic tone that’s familiar to just about every new act in country music: “Seems like 87 weeks [it’s been on the singles chart], and I have to say, I’m happy to be movin’ on to another one.”

Most new artists can assume that if they get a hit — and that “if” is a very key word — it’s going to take 30 weeks or more for the song to reach its full peak. As an illustration, consider these six acts, all of whom earned their first Top 10 hits in 2009: David Nail, Chris Young, Gloriana, Love And Theft, Justin Moore and the sarcastic Randy Houser. Every one of their first-time Top 10 singles was released in January or February of 2009, and every one of them had to wait until about September for the single to finally reach its peak. That’s eight months of waiting and working and losing sleep just to call attention to one song that may, or may not, motivate fans to go out and buy a whole album or a concert ticket.

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Keith Urban photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Country music festival, Country Thunder USA, will be back in 2010 with three big headliners — Keith Urban, Willie Nelson and Kid Rock.

The outdoor festival (sponsored by GAC) will be held at the Canyon Moon Ranch, in Florence, Arizona. A full 4-day general admission pass is $99.00 –and passes are now on sale.  One day event tickets will also be available closer to the event. VIP and sponsorship packages are also available with added perks of hospitality tent access, preferred parking, and premium concert seating. Organizers encourage early bird tickets as the event is expected to sell-out.

The announced line-up includes: Continue Reading

Jake Owen photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Jake Owen’s “Eight Second Ride” uses a rodeo phrase for a sexy come-on that has his latest video at No. 18 on GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, but some real rodeo pros join Suzanne Alexander from this week’s CBR (Championship Bull Riding) finale in Kansas City.

Suzanne checks in with a bunch of bull-riding cowboys — including Jarrod Craig, Ardie Maier, retired champ Gary Leffew and the Kansas City winner, Hugo Pedrero — as she works through the biggest videos in country music.

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