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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Ryan Bingham photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Film makers want very much for the general public to buy in to the magic of movies. You can count Ryan Bingham among those who believe in celluloid’s power.

After sharing a Golden Globe and an Oscar Award for Best Song with T Bone Burnett for writing the “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart),” Ryan took home two trophies — Song and Artist of the Year — Thursday during the ninth annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards in Nashville.

The Americana nods only add to the lists in which Ryan finds himself. The Song of the Year Oscar put him in the company of such songwriters as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Henry Mancini and Irving Berlin — all of whom have won the Film Academy’s Best Song prize at least once. Ryan’s new album, Junky Star, made its chart debut this week, landing at No. 2 on the Billboard Country Albums list. And the Americana Artist of the Year trophy put him on yet another list among such previous winners as Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Neil Young and Jim Lauderdale, who hosted Thursday’s show.

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(l-r): Little Big Town's Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, Anne & Josh York, Statt with WUBE, and Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild & Jimi Westbrook.

We are now officially seven stops into The Country Throwdown Tour! As this traveling music circus makes its way across the country, everyone is finding their groove out here on the road and really get to know each other. This past week we hit Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Indianapolis – rain or shine, The Country Throwdown was a party all day. What you may not know is that the party continues all night.

After the lights go down on the main stage, the grill is cranked up backstage thanks to Tyler Reeve. Affectionately called “The BBQ Band,” Tyler and his crew cook up a feast every night after the show, and the music starts up again. You never know who’s going to play together, what they will sing, or how many shakers Sarah Buxton will pass out (and whether or not the recipients have rhythm.) In Cleveland, Cory Branan sang an Irish song that had Emily West, Sarah Buxton and Country Throwdown creator Kevin Lyman doing a jig that earned him the nickname “Crazy Legs.”

In Cincinnati, I spent most of the day soaking wet and my Texas hair was getting curlier by the minute.  Some fans were covered in brown slime from head to toe after going down the mudslide. You could even catch members of The Eli Young Band out there throwing down with fans. This was the day that Mike Eli told me I had “Wal-Mart feet.” I hate to admit that my flip-flop feet were dirty from the weather, but c’mon Mike! What do you expect “when it rains”?

Fans didn’t let rain get in the way of their good time, or even their wedding! Little Big Town’s latest single, “Little White Church,” has inspired weddings at various stops along the tour. Anne Zimmerman and Josh York were the first couple married on The Country Throwdown Tour. The members of LBT even served as their wedding party. The second wedding, held Sunday in Indianapolis, IN, was a renewal ceremony for Maggie and Adam Clark. Continue Reading

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Montgomery Gentry photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

In light of the recent devastation in Nashville, the Country Throwdown Tour and its artists are lending a hand to the local residents in need.

Country Throwdown artists are coming forward to help in a collective way. As of today, main stage headliners Montgomery Gentry, Jack Ingram, Eric Church, Eli Young Band and Bluebird Café Tent singer-songwriters Sarah Buxton, Heather Morgan, Jedd Hughes, Ashley Ray, Troy Olsen, Brad Tursi, Cory Branan and Dave Pahanish will be donating the net proceeds from the sale of their merchandise at select shows throughout the U.S.

“We’re excited to be a part of the Throwdown Tour and through the course of the tour the artists get to participate in generating a lot of revenue for Nashville,” explains Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry. “Donating in one lump sum at the end of the tour gives us the opportunity to help any folks who may have fallen through the cracks, either through not having insurance or not being eligible for FEMA coverage. We’ll be able to place the money directly with the people who need it the most to rebuild.” Continue Reading

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Emmylou Harris photo by Rocky Schenck, courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

Dave Rawlings grabbed four nominations to lead the rootsy field as Emmylou Harris and Todd Snider announced the nominees for the Americana Awards & Honors Wednesday at the W.O. Smith Music School in Nashville.

Dave’s nominations came for music he recorded at the historic RCA Studio B with a band shaped out of members from Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Bright Eyes and Old Crow Medicine Show. The Machine’s A Friend Of A Friend is a finalist for Album of the Year, and “Ruby” — co-written with Dave’s frequent collaborator Gillian Welch — is in the running for Song of the Year. Dave is up for Instrumentalist and the Machine is a finalist for Duo Group.

Ray Wylie Hubbard rode his cleverly titled album A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C) to a trio of nominations. Ryan Bingham, whose “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart” has already won a Golden Globe and an Oscar award, picked up three as well.

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Keith Urban photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

With the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards a dozen days away, the ACM dropped a long list of trophy recipients Tuesday that’s tattooed with a few publicly recognizable names — including Keith Urban and Mel Tillis — as well as a bunch of significant songwriters, musicians and executives. The off-camera winners, as they’re called, will be formally recognized when the West Coast-based Academy presents its annual ACM Honors in Nashville Sept. 21.

Keith is being honored with the Jim Reeves International Award for bringing global attention to country. Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, he’s done that somewhat naturally by connecting the dots between his homeland, the U.S. and Canada. Named for one of the first country stars to establish a strong presence overseas, the International Award has previously gone to such figures as Garth Brooks, Roy Clark, Dick Clark and Dolly Parton.

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Jamey Johnson photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Jamey Johnson’s 2008 album That Lonesome Song was a winner, earning nominations for Album of the Year in both the CMA Awards and the Grammys.

The track that drew the most attention from the album, “In Color,” owed its storyline to a black-and-white photograph, and Jamey’s next album will likely carry that theme forward, though it’s unclear if Jamey intended to link the two projects. He told Alabama outlet Our Prattville that the new album, titled The Guitar Song, should be out in June or July. And it’s taken on an interesting shape.

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Eric Church photo by Jim Wright, courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Eric Church released his debut album, Sinners Like Me, in 2006 to nearly unanimous critical praise. The disc launched three singles into country music’s Top 20, but Eric wasn’t quite able to find his way into the Top 10.

That changed late last year when Eric reached that hallowed chart ground with “Love Your Love The Most.” The song is a ballad, unlike many of Eric’s rough-around-the-edges tracks, but it’s still just a bit left of center. And he figures it’s a testament to staying with the artistic program.

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Montgomery Gentry photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

This morning, tickets went on sale for the 2010 Country Throwdown Tour, sponsored by GAC. The tour kicks off May 14 at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa, Fla. and goes through June 20 in Mountain View, Calif. at the Shoreline Amphitheater.

The tour features Montgomery Gentry, Jack Ingram, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town, Eric Church, Emily West, Eli Young Band, Heidi Newfield, The Lost Trailers, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses and Jonathan Singleton and the Grove.

In addition to the artists above on the main stage, there will be a Bluebird Cafe Stage Continue Reading

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