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

ShareThis

Ryan Bingham photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

The Golden Globe Awards are often hailed as the movie industry’s warm up for the Oscars, and it certainly worked that way for Ryan Bingham.

When “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in January, Ryan was off chatting at the bar, leaving co-writer T Bone Burnett to deliver a somewhat bewildered acceptance speech.

Ryan learned an important lesson for Oscar night: stay in your seat. And he did exactly that on Sunday, until “The Weary Kind” won again. Ryan and T Bone shared the podium at the Kodak Theatre, though Ryan did most of the talking, including a sweet dedication to his wife, Anna Axster.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Josh Turner photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

“I never had so many people open for me!” Josh Turner exclaimed Wednesday at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. “Wow!”

Indeed, 14 artists preceded him in that legendary venue, though another three sang after him as well as the Universal Music Group Nashville showcased its talent for Country Radio Seminar registrants in a unique format that provided a microcosm of the wide net that contemporary country represents.

Sugarland, David Nail, Jamey Johnson and Vince Gill were particular standouts as the acts performed just one song apiece. Collectively, the music ranged from bluegrass influences to blue-eyed soul; the acts stretched from brand new artists who haven’t yet released a single to one member of the Country Music Hall of Fame; and their backgrounds ran the gamut from Broadway to TV performer to Texas troubadours.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Ryan Bingham photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

If you watched the Golden Globe Awards this year, you likely recall a flustered T Bone Burnett stalling for time just a bit to let Ryan Bingham find his way to the podium when “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” swiped the honor for Best Original Song.

Eventually, T Bone made the speech himself, and the Golden Globes moved on with no sight nor sound on television from Ryan.

Ryan gets a second chance to get it right at the Oscar Awards. “The Weary Kind” was nominated Tuesday by the Motion Picture Academy for Best Original Song, and it’s doubtful anyone will have trouble locating him this time around.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Jeff Bridges visits with Nan Kelley on the set of Top 20 Country Countdown.

Jeff Bridges is getting huge Oscar buzz for his performance in the movie Crazy Heart, while Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett have a Golden Globe nomination for writing the picture’s theme song. All three of them will visit host Nan Kelley on this weekend’s edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown.

The film is about a former country star who’s down and out, playing small dives and drinking too much whiskey. Jeff’s character, Bad Blake, is a rough-edged singer built artistically around such iconic stars as Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, and Jeff’s acting drew a comparison from New York magazine to the alcohol-fueled guy Nicolas Cage played in the depressing Leaving Las Vegas. Nicolas apparently drank between takes so he could play the part as realistically as possible in that film, though Jeff declined to go that far to develop his role in Crazy Heart.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Billy Ray Cyrus photo courtesy of Walt Disney Records.

Billy Ray Cyrus’ next film just had its premiere, Kenny Chesney is in production on his upcoming 3-D picture, and Tim McGraw’s next movie starts shooting in Middle Tennessee this week.

Country artists have a hand in every part of Hollywood’s business these days, from the initial roll of the camera to the glitter of the post-release awards-show circuit.

Here’s what’s up for country’s stars on film:

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Tim McGraw photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of Curb Records.

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

You can count on seeing country music in certain places on television. It’s a 24/7 proposition on GAC. And the daily talk shows — including “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” and “The Late Show With David Letterman” — obviously need a good smattering of country acts to fill out the music slots on their programs.

But country artists did an excellent job in 2009 in grabbing a larger share of acting roles and musical moments on TV and in the movies. Led by Tim McGraw’s part as Sandra Bullock’s husband in The Blind Side, by Taylor Swift’s TV acting debut on “CSI” and by the bevy of country stars who appeared on the platinum soundtrack to Hannah Montana: The Movie, the genre was well represented in the visual media in the last 12 months.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

T Bone Burnett photo courtesy of tboneburnett.com.

One of the oddities of Hollywood’s awards process is that films that haven’t been released to the general public can still secure major nominations, which pretty much guarantees them getting attention from ticket buyers who might not have gone otherwise.

And that might be at work with Crazy Heart, a movie starring Jeff Bridges that opens on a limited basis Wednesday. Jeff, who sings in the film in his role as a washed-up country star, secured a Golden Globe nomination Tuesday for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture. The music that plays over the closing credits, “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart),” likewise snared a nod for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for songwriters Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

T Bone Burnett photo courtesy of tboneburnett.com.

Producer T Bone Burnett has had a hand in a slew of important albums this decade, including the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss project Raising Sand, Elvis Costello’s current Secret, Profane And Sugarcane, plus the soundtracks to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Cold Mountain and Walk The Line.

Now T Bone’s got his fingers on a picture that has pre-release Oscar buzz all over it, and the song that runs over the end credits should heighten the profile of Americana artist Ryan Bingham.

Jeff Bridges stars in the new picture, Crazy Heart, in which a formerly successful country singer grapples with life after his career has faded. Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for a similar role in the 1983 movie Tender Mercies, is a co-producer of the new release. In an unconventional move, T Bone wrote the music before shooting commenced with co-producer Stephen Bruton, a Kris Kristofferson band member who died this year after working on the project. Much as he did when he oversaw the vocal performances of actors Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix in Walk The Line, T Bone also produced Jeff’s performances as a has-been singer.

Continue Reading

ShareThis

Montgomery Gentry photo courtesy of Sony Nashville.

Country Throwdown 2010, a multi-act outdoor tour produced by the same company that created rock’s annual Vans Warped Tour, has enlisted Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson, Little Big Town and Jack Ingram among the initial acts for a five-week, GAC-sponsored series of concerts next spring. Specific markets and the entire lineup have yet to be revealed, though the Throwdown will feature 21 total acts on an itinerary from May 13-June 20.

“When Eddie [Montgomery] and I were approached about doing the Country Throwdown Tour we immediately said yes,” Montgomery Gentry’s Troy Gentry said. “We loved the idea of it being like a big festival, a big party. I mean, that’s what Montgomery Gentry is all about. We’re keeping the ticket prices low because we know it’s hard out there. Fans are going to get a lot of entertainment for their money. This tour is going to be a great experience for us, the other artists and especially the fans.”

Continue Reading

ShareThis