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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Reba McEntire photo courtesy of Valory Music Co. Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Artists, music industry elite and country music fans turned out for the Academy of Country Music’s 5th Annual ACM Honors, an evening dedicated to recognizing special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on September 19. Hosted by Joe Nichols, the event was held at the historic Ryman Auditorium which was awarded with the ACM for Venue of the Year.

The evening was a mix of live music, historical video retrospectives and current video tributes and interviews. Garth Brooks, the late Hank Cochran, John Dorris, Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers, Tom T. Hall, Reba, Taylor Swift and the film Country Strong were the Special Award recipients of the night. The winners of the Musician, Bandleader, Instrumentalist (MBI) categories and Industry Awards were also honored.

Several performances honored artists during the event. Rodney Atkins and Jerrod Niemann honored Garth by each performing a song of his each. Brett Eldredge performed his current single “It Ain’t Gotta Be Love” which is featured in Country Strong while The Isaacs honored Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers with a medley of their hits. Dean Dillon, Jamey Johnson and Joe Nichols paid tribute to Hank Cochran while Montgomery Gentry and The Whites honored John Dorris. Buddy Miller and Lee Ann Womack honored Tom T. Hall. Randy Houser, Thompson Square, Jack Ingram and Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers, with Romain Virgo, also performed.

Presenters included Ronnie Dunn, Ralph Emery, John Michael Montgomery, The Oak Ridge Boys and the Academy’s Bob Romeo. Robin Meade presented Industry awards while Laura Bell Bundy handed out MBI awards. Continue Reading

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Lee Ann Womack photo courtesy of MCA Nashville. Photo credit Danny Clinch.

Lee Ann Womack is heading into the studio to begin work on a new album and will kick off the process by honoring George Jones at the Grand Ole Opry tonight as the Opry celebrates George’s 80^th birthday. Then on September 19, she will participate in the Academy of Country Music’s ACM Honors event at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville where she will honor Tom T. Hall.

“What a great way to start work on a new record,” Lee Ann said. “When you want to get your horizon line, any time you can start with someone as great as George Jones – or be part of this year’s ACM Honors, singing for Tom T. Hall, it reminds you what it takes to make music that lasts.

“There are so few true country singers out there like Jones… not that anyone will ever sing like George Jones. But when you’re listening to Alan [Jackson], like when you’re listening to George Strait, that’s pure country. No matter what kind of song they’re singing. And the same thing goes when you’re singing a Tom T. Hall song: that’s country!”

Watch Lee Ann’s Fan Q&A! >>

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Ronnie Dunn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Ronnie Dunn, Rodney Atkins, Randy Houser, Jack Ingram, Jamey Johnson, Montgomery Gentry, Jerrod Niemann, Thompson Square and Lee Ann Womack are among the artists who have been added to the 5^th Annual ACM Honors lineup. Joe Nichols is set to host the event and will also perform. Other artists scheduled to perform include Dean Dillon, Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers, The Isaacs, and The Whites.

ACM Honors is an evening dedicated to recognizing special honorees and off-camera winners from the 46^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. This year’s event will be held at the Ryman Auditorum in Nashville on September 19. Laura Bell Bundy, Ralph Emery, John Michael Montgomery and Buddy Cannon are also scheduled to appear. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.com and are $37 each. Continue Reading

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Joe Nichols photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Joe Nichols will host the 5^th Annual ACM Honors at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on September 19. The evening is dedicated to recognizing special honorees and off-camera winners from the 46^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. This is the first time Joe has hosted the event and the second time it will be held at the Ryman, which will be recognized as ACM Venue of the Year.

“Joe has the admiration of music fans worldwide because of his own straightforward, tradition respect for country music,” said Michelle Goble, Senior Vice President, Membership & Events with the ACM. “His appreciation for the genre makes him a great fit for an evening paying tribute to those who have paved way—and those who work behind the scenes.”

“Hosting the ACM Honors is definitely a high point in my career,” Joe said. “To share the stage with such an incredible array of talent is a distinction I don’t take lightly, and I am honored that the Academy of Country Music asked me to host the event.”

Garth Brooks, John Dorris, Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers, Tom T. Hall, Reba, Taylor Swift and the film Country Strong are some of the night’s honorees. Hank Cochran will also be honored posthumously.  Winners of the MBI (musician, bandleader, instrumentalist) and Industry categories, which are not presented during the live telecast of the Academy of Country Music Awards will also be awarded. Continue Reading

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Keith Urban at the ACM Honors on September 20, 2010. Getty Images/Courtesy of the Academy of Country Music.

He hails from Australia and New Zealand, he conquered America and he’s found an audience in Europe. Keith Urban’s global assault was hailed Monday as the Academy of Country Music handed him its Jim Reeves International Award during the fourth annual ACM Honors at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

The award wasn’t just a nicety. While country music was born and bred in the U.S.A., it’s had a bit of a rocky road in building audiences beyond American borders. Keith’s made a point of taking his music to other territories, leading host Lee Ann Womack to hail “the world domination of Keith Urban.”

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Taylor Swift will be inducted into the International Bowling Hall of Fame. Photo courtesy of gobowling.com.

Taylor Swift is best known for her songwriting and her singing, but that’s not what has propelled her into a hall of fame.

Taylor has been added to the International Bowling Hall of Fame in a popularity vote that had her competing against pop singer Justin Bieber, sports star Dwight Howard and comedian Bill Murray, among others.

Jim “Moose” Brown, a songwriter known for “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” is also getting a place in the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame, and Buck Owens has been permanently installed in a sidewalk hall, the Bakersfield Walk of Stars.

Details on these Hall of Fame inductions:

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George Strait photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Memorabilia belonging to country music’s best — from Country Music Hall of Fame member George Strait to multi-platinum act Taylor Swift — is on display in a new exhibit at the Hall of Fame and Museum, where the genre’s vault neatly escaped the ravages of Nashville’s recent flooding.

The Hall’s caretakers held an invitation-only preview Thursday for its updated exhibit, Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Though Country Music, which features a bevy of memorabilia from acts that had their commercial peaks in the last three decades. Behind the glass are such pieces as the boots Reba McEntire wore her first night on the Grand Ole Opry, the Martin D-28 guitar Garth Brooks played on his recording of “The Dance” and Bill Anderson’s hand-written lyrics to “Whiskey Lullaby.”

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Steve Wariner at the Nashville Chapter of the Recording Academy® Grammy Nominee party. Photo courtesy of The Recording Academy® 2009 & Rubin Media. Photograph by Rick Diamond/WireImage.com.

Four country acts that launched a series of hits in the 1980s and ‘90s — Steve Wariner, Patty Loveless, John Michael Montgomery and the late Keith Whitley — are set to enter the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame when it holds its next induction ceremony in April 2011 in Lexington.

They’ll be joined as new members by bluegrass duo the Goins Brothers; gospel singer Larnelle Harris; and Molly O’Day, a country vocalist who left a critically acclaimed body of work in a short five-year recording period in the late 1940s.

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Country Music Hall of Fame member Tom T. Hall.

There’s a segment of older artists who resent the current crop of performers, who represent change for a genre that’s held in high regard by its previous crop of talent. Country Music Hall of Fame member Tom T. Hall is not one of those crabby old-guard dudes.

“Music is an art form,” he told a passel of programmers Thursday at the Country Radio Seminar. “It should not be done the way it used to be done. If we do it the way they used to do it, that’s copying.”

Not that T. is above getting crabby.

“I do resent,” he allowed, “the fact that they’re makin’ so much money!”

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