Garth Brooks photo by Mark Tucker, courtesy of Pearl Records.

Garth Brooks turned 50 on Tuesday, but it wasn’t his milestone birthday he and a small group of famous friends and family celebrated on Music Row. Garth helped surprise his longtime producer Allen Reynolds by renaming a recording studio in his honor, reports The Tennessean. Formerly known as Jack’s Tracks, the studio in which Reynolds has produced all but one of Garth’s albums will now be known as Allentown Studios.

“It’s a really emotional day for me,” Garth said. “My wife (Trisha Yearwood) said, ‘It’s your 50th. Dream as big as you want.’ And I couldn’t find anything in my heart that I wanted to do more than to see this guy get a little bit of what’s due.”

Garth bought the studio two years ago from Reynolds, who purchased it from the original owner and namesake, Cowboy Jack Clement, in 1975. Clement was on hand for the renaming, as were Trisha, Kathy Mattea, Emmylou Harris, and Steve Wariner, among others. An engraved ‘Allentown Studios’ sign was unveiled in the studio lounge. Reynolds, now retired, was told he was going to the studio to celebrate Garth’s birthday.

“It feels great,” he said. “It feels better to see all of the people that were here today. It’ll be a hard habit for me to break to stop calling it ‘Jack’s Tracks.’ It’s a joy to me that he bought it and has kept it a musical place, because you never know, it could have been blown down like the place across the street, and turned into apartments or something going up.” Continue Reading

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Connie Smith is The Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum's Artist in Residence for 2011.

The Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum has a busy August on tap. Having just announced their plans to expand, the Museum will host live music, launch a new exhibit and allow fans to meet and greet artists.

Country Music Hall of Fame member Harold Bradley, David Briggs and Norbert Putnam will host Legends of RCA Studio B: Conversations with All the King’s Men on August 9. The event is an evening of music and storytelling with DJ Fontana, Scotty Moore, Ronnie McDowell, Millie Kirkham and Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires. Tickets are $100 for Museum Members and $150 for the public. All proceeds benefit the preservation of the Museum’s collection as well as funding for its school, family and public programs.

On August 12, a Museum curator will give an introduction to the new exhibit, Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player. The next day, the Museum will present Music and Memories of Chet Atkins, featuring Ray Stevens, Steve Wariner and Billy Edd Wheeler. The program will be a conversation and music with Chet’s close friends and can be streamed live at CountryMusicHallofFame.org. Continue Reading

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l-r: Jon Randall, Alison Krauss, Bill Anderson and Dan Tyminski. Photo by Joel Micah for the Grand Ole Opry.

The Grand Ole Opry honored Whisperin’ Bill Anderson for his 50th anniversary as an Opry member Saturday night. Bill made his Opry debut just a few weeks before turning 21 and became a member less than three years later. “I’m more nervous tonight than I was 50 years ago!” Bill said during his performance Saturday.

Video taped messages from Brad Paisley and Steve Wariner aired during the celebration and a #50 Ryman Martin guitar was presented to Bill by Opry Vice President and General Manager Pete Fisher. Alison Krauss made a surprise appearance, performing  “Whiskey Lullaby” with Jon Randall and Dan Tyminski. The song was written by Bill and Jon and was recorded by Brad Paisley and Alison. Continue Reading

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l-r: Josh Turner photo courtesy of UMG Nashville; Carrie Underwood photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville; Blake Shelton photo courtesy of WBR Nashville.

The Grand Ole Opry and Cracker Barrel have teamed up to release four new albums. The three-CD series Grand Ole Opry Classic Collection and the contemporary Our Kind of Country albums together feature more than 50 legendary and contemporary country music stars spanning six decades.

“The classic collection is truly ‘classic’ in every sense of the word,” said Julie Craig, marketing manager for Cracker Barrel.  “It’s as close to an Opry experience as you can get without actually being in the Opry House.  Listeners will enjoy high quality sound on every track, songs by historically renowned artists and enduring examples of some truly great performances. And Our Kind Of Country is an incredible showcase of the Opry’s current superstars and more recent additions—a dozen of the Opry’s best available on one CD for the first time.”

Trace Adkins, Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Josh Turner, Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Martina McBride and more are featured on the Our Kind of Country album. All artists are Grand Ole Opry members and have collectively won every major award presented by the Country Music Association. Continue Reading

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The perfect country song, according to David Allan Coe’s hilarious classic “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” requires that you refer to trains, trucks, prison, gettin’ drunk and – of course – mama. By those standards, none of these songs are perfect, but they’re all at least very good at paying homage to Mom as we slide into Mother’s Day.

It’s probably not the definitive list – you could argue that others, such as Merle Haggard’s “Mama’s Hungry Eyes” – belong here, but it’s good enough to give you a full-bodied picture of your mom, my mom, somebody’s mom.

In no particular order, here are 20 country songs – and one bonus title – for moms everywhere:

“Mama’s Song,” Carrie Underwood (2010) – A rolling music bed and Carrie’s own romantic storyline with hockey player Mike Fisher form the backdrop for a song that shows a mother just what a great job she’s done. She parented a daughter who picks the right kind of partner.

“The Hand That Rocks The Cradle,” Glen Campbell with Steve Wariner (1987) – “There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas.” Well, there’s not, but there is this nifty little duet built around the psychologies of birth, breast feeding and teaching life lessons.

“Mama Don’t Forget To Pray For Me,” Diamond Rio (1991) – In many families, Mom is the one who provides the strongest moral compass. In this case, she gets a phone call from her adult son, looking for advice from his best-loved guidance counselor.

“So Much Like My Dad,” George Strait (1992) – “Mom, can we talk?” George is as good at anyone at delivering a song that’s essentially a conversation set to music. In this case, it’s a mother/son chat as he tries to figure out exactly why his own household is falling apart.

“Mama Tried,” Merle Haggard (1968) – Perhaps the hardest part of the job for mothers: You can do everything right, and the kid insists on messing up anyway. In this mostly autobiographical account, the adult Merle takes responsibility for ignoring Flossie Haggard’s wisdom and ending up in prison by age 21. Continue Reading

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Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of artist.

It rained. And rained. And rained some more.

Nashville took in over 13 inches of water in a 48-hour period in May, and some areas of the region were swamped with as much as 20 inches. It was more than the rivers and streams could handle, and by May 3, the drainage system was overflowing. The stage and much of the floor seating at the Grand Ole Opry House was covered, water seeped into one room at the Country Music Hall of Fame, LP Field — the site of the CMA Music Festival — became a swamp, and an instrument storage unit was drowned, destroying guitars and equipment owned by Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Toby Keith and Vince Gill, among others.

It took a while for people to notice outside of Middle Tennessee. The focus of the major news organizations at the time was on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So Music City rolled up its sleeves and started digging out on its own.

The Nashville flood is No. 1 on the list as GAC concludes its countdown of the top country news stories of 2010.

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Garth Brooks photo by Mark Tucker, courtesy of Pearl Records.

For large portions of the 100 minutes he spent on stage, Garth Brooks stood at the edge of the flooring at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena Thursday with the toes of his boots literally hanging over the edge as front-row fans clutched at his cuffs.

It was a major show of trust — and of self-control — that Garth never wavered, never lost track of the lyrics or the chords while those strangers nabbed at just a touch of the superstar’s leg.

But that also made the encore of his set particularly surprising. Garth came barrelling up from a spot beneath the flooring and tripped at the top step, tumbling into view. The timing was amusing — his pratfall came during the ironically titled “Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til The Sun Comes Up).”

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

The members of Rascal Flatts got the biggest cheers from the thousand or so people on hand, but they did not get the only applause during a Music City Walk of Fame installation event Sunday in downtown Nashville that knitted together several generations of performers.

Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney were joined by Kris Kristofferson, Mel Tillis, Little Jimmy Dickens and late singers Bobby Hebb and Eddy Arnold in receiving their sidewalk plaques, extending a row of markers that included Michael McDonald, Elvis Presley and Trace Adkins.

Emceed by GAC’s Bill Cody, the class of performers represented a swatch of Nashville music history. Beyond the contemporary Flatts crew, Kris and Mel hit their strides in the 1970s as artists, songwriters and actors. Bobby accrued a landmark 1960s pop hit with the effervescent “Sunny,” and Eddy and Little Jimmy were among the first artists to have hits with songs recorded in Nashville during the 1940s, when the town hadn’t yet earned its Music City moniker.

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Rascal Flatts and four members of the Country Music Hall of Fame will all receive additional recognition next month when they’re embedded in the Music City Walk of Fame in downtown Nashville.

Little Jimmy Dickens, Kris Kristofferson, Mel Tillis and the late Eddy Arnold — all of whom have bronze plaques nearby in the Hall of Fame — will have their names etched in the pavement alongside Rascal Flatts Nov. 7. So will the late Bobby Hebb, a Nashville-based artist who earned a 1960s hit with “Sunny.”

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Darryl Worley photo courtesy of Stroudavarious Records.

After six years of effort, the Darryl Worley Cancer Center is set to open in Savannah, Tenn., next month.

Originally expected to open next year, the facility is located on the grounds at the Hardin Medical Center, allowing people in the area to have radiation and chemotherapy locally instead of driving long distances for their treatments. The cancer center cost $2 million to build, and Darryl has worked with a couple of Hardin County medical agencies to raise $1.7 million toward the project. They hope to have the remainder by the time construction is completed.

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