Craig Morgan photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

The Grand Ole Opry has plenty of tentacles in the Nashville community, and several of its members — including Craig Morgan, Lorrie Morgan and Charlie Louvin — are part of the headlines in Middle Tennessee.

In Lorrie’s case, it’s for a bit of charity work in a suburb. Craig and Charlie, meanwhile, are facing major milestones in their lives. Here’s the latest Opry-related news:

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Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic. Photo courtesy of willienelson.com.

Grills will be fired up, flags will be waving and fireworks will be booming across the country this weekend in honor of America’s 234^th birthday, but you can also catch some of your favorite country music artists in concert to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend.

** Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July picnic has become a staple of the holiday and this year, it will be held in Bee Cave, Texas, just outside of Austin. Along with Willie, Jamey Johnson, Jack Ingram, David Allan Coe and Kris Kristofferson are scheduled to perform along with many others.

** Carrie Underwood will close down Summerfest – the 11-day, 11-stage music festival held annually in Milwaukee – with a performance on the main stage. She will be joined by special guest Sons of Sylvia. Danny Gokey will also be in concert at Summerfest that night.

** Trace Adkins will headline Nashville’s Let Freedom Sing! concert along with Julianne Hough with a free show on the Riverfront stage. Julianne will also perform on Saturday and Chuck Wicks on Friday. All shows are free and open to the public. Continue Reading

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Michael Martin Murphey photo courtesy of LC Media.

“Good mornin’, America, how are ya?”

The words should be familiar — they kick off the chorus of the pop-and-country classic “City Of New Orleans” — and Michael Martin Murphey puts the train the song was named after to good use beginning this Fourth of July weekend. Starting Friday, Michael plays three straight days at the Fir Amphitheater, a mountain-top venue in Colorado that can only be accessed by riding the rails through La Veta Pass. And the train that fans take to reach the Fir is indeed the City of New Orleans, the same train Steve Goodman rode through Illinois when he was inspired to write his best-known song. “City Of New Orleans” became a pop hit in the early ‘70s for Arlo Guthrie and a No. 1 country hit for Willie Nelson in 1984.

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Trailer Choir & Pam Tillis backstage at the 4th Annual Country Weekly Fashion Show & Concert, at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville on June 8, 2010. Photo by Kendra Motycka, courtesy of Country Weekly.

They’re always fashionable, but on Monday, June 8, stars including Clay Walker, Pam Tillis and Bucky Covington amped up their style even more at the 4th Annual Country Weekly Fashion Show and Concert, raising more than $20,000 for Musicians On Call.

The event was hosted by Clay and emcee’d by GAC’s own Suzanne Alexander, and also featured Luke Bryan and Joe Nichols along with models including Pam, Bucky, Bo Bice, Aaron and Thea Tippin, Trailer Choir, Katie Armiger, Sarah Darling, Whitney Duncan, Danielle Peck and others. See photos here >>

“Country Weekly is thrilled to be able to support Musicians On Call and the amazing work they do,” said Lisa Konicki, editor in chief. “Our 4th fashion show and concert was a success due to the hard work of many people and we thank the artists, sponsors, staff and crew that brought it all together seamlessly.”

We caught up with the stars backstage just before they strutted the catwalk: Continue Reading

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Carrie Underwood at the 2009 City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge. Photo by Jason Mease, GACTV.com.

The rosters have been announced for the City of Hope’s 20^th annual Celebrity Softball Challenge on June 7 in Nashville. Rival teams Grand Ole Opry and “After MidNite with Blair Garner” will face off with star-studded lineups featuring country music artists, comedians, and professional athletes.

Playing for the “After MidNite with Blair Garner” team are Keith Anderson, MLB’s Ben Broussard, Chuck Wicks, David Nail, Joe Nichols, Josh Thompson, Luke Bryan, comedienne Melissa Peterman, JP Dumont of the Nashville Predators, Mike Gossin and Rachel Reinart of Gloriana, Randy Montana, Savannah Jack, The Oak Ridge Boys, Ken Amato and Donnie Nickey of the Titans, Vince Gill and Whitney Duncan. Continue Reading

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Toby Keith (l) signed Trace Adkins to his label, Show Dog-Universal Music, on Jan. 12, 2010. Photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Thanks to his song “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American),” Toby Keith was billed in some circles as a warmonger, but it turns out that one of the moments that bonded him to his new label president was a time when Toby took a peaceful stance during the Country Radio Seminar.

Toby’s Show Dog Nashville label has merged with Universal South to create Show Dog-Universal Music, with Toby as the principle and former Universal South chief Mark Wright as the president. The two actually go back a long way. Mark started out in the business as a songwriter, penning such hits as Mark Chesnutt’s “Your Love Is A Miracle,” George Strait’s “Today My World Slipped Away” and Alabama’s “Take A Little Trip.” He heard some of Toby’s songs before Toby ever released a single, and he was completely knocked out.

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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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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

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Jo Dee Messina photo courtesy of jodeemessina.com.

Behind on your holiday shopping already? You probably won’t get much sympathy from Jo Dee Messina. Despite the fact that she spent large chunks of November away from home on tour, she’s already got the decorations up at her house — and she’s been tending to a sick husband as she enjoys her first Christmas as a mom.

If that’s not enough, she’s packing even more into the first week of December as she does the season up big-time. Jo Dee’s part of a new round of talent announced for Wednesday’s annual NBC special “Christmas In Rockefeller Center,” which puts her in the company of Rod Stewart, Rob Thomas, Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, Michael Buble and Alicia Keys.

And topping off the week, Jo Dee’s got a pair of fundraising concerts on tap Saturday at the Brentwood United Methodist Church in Middle Tennessee. The shows are officially free, though she’s asking for donations, with all proceeds from the door — and from merchandise sales — earmarked for Harvest Hands, a community organization dedicated to an impoverished neighborhood in Nashville. She’s a firm believer in the program, particularly because its director is passionately involved 24/7.

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Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Taylor Swift has sold out the prestigious Madison Square Garden and performed in front of 50,000 fans at the CMA Music Festival. But neither of those shows represents her biggest audience.

She sang for a whopping 65,000 people in 2006 when she delivered “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a Pittsburgh Steelers game at Heinz Field. The home team lost that game to the Cincinnati Bengals, but it was a winning experience for Taylor, whose first video — “Tim McGraw” — had just debuted on GAC a mere two months prior.

“It was the first time I had ever been in front of that many people,” the Pennsylvania native told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, because I was so happy to be back in my home state. I was traveling for a really long time, and it was really cool to feel that energy again.” Continue Reading

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