Bluebird Cafe To Be Bought By Nashville Songwriters Association
- The big news last Friday was that Big Machine launched a sister label, Valory Music Co., and signed Jewel, Jimmy Wayne, and newcomer Justin Moore to their roster. Scott Borchetta operates both labels, and says that the company was named after June Carter Cash, whose real name was Valerie and means bravery.
- Country music’s women don’t feel like they’re getting their due.
- Josh Turner was dubbed mainstream artist of the year at the Inspirational County Music awards while Alan Jackson won inspirational country album of the year for Precious Memories and Emerson Drive earned video of the year for “Moments”.
- CMT wants to find the next Johnny Cash and June Carter with “Can You Duet?”.
- The release of Garth Brooks The Ultimate Hits is fast approaching, and some in the country music and retailer industries question whether or not fans are growing tired of purchasing the same material over and over just to get a few new songs, even at a bargain price.
- Buddy Cannon, one of the writers behind the George Strait song “Give It Away”, tells the story about how he became a songwriter and where the idea for “Give It Away” came from.
Bill [Anderson] and I and Jamey [Johnson] got together at my office to write, in the middle of Jamey’s divorce stuff. He was depressed, so he’s the one that had the idea. Her telling him she didn’t want all that stuff — those material belongings — anymore was kind of how it started.
- John Goodspeed wrote a touching story about John Arthur Martinez’s promise to build his wife a home made of stone on the TV show Nashville Star in 2003. Martinez went on the win second place and landed a recording contract, although Goodspeed says that his career failed to ignite due to the lack of a pop country song on his album. Martinez however was able to tour in Europe and befriend many, which eventually led to his house.
- Taylor Swift was Chewbacca for Halloween.
- In a Q&A with American Way Magazine Dwight Yoakam expresses his desire that people know he covered Owens’ songs with tremendous love and respect.
How important do you think Owens was? In maintaining a bridge between country and rock, he played a pivotal role in causing the genre of country-rock to occur. Without Buck Owens, the Byrds wouldn’t have done a Sweetheart of the Rodeo, people like Gram Parsons and Clarence White wouldn’t have been introduced to the public, and I don’t know if there would’ve been an Eagles or a Linda Ronstadt either.
- The Nashville Songwriters Association is set to buy the famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Details are supposed to emerge this week.
- The story behind how Willie Nelson wrote “Hello Walls”, his first taste of success as a songwriter.
- Faith Hill kind of gets ripped in this review of her hits album.
- After being signed to Lost Highway Records for several years Hayes Carll will finally (hopefully) put out an album in March of 2008. Carll says part of the reason for the delay is he didn’t have all of the songs together.
- An album titled The Carter Family: Together Again was recorded by Helen Carter, Anita Carter, and June Carter Cash (Maybelle’s daughters) in 1991, but only released a year ago to the bluegrass market. However, there are plans to repackage the material and market it to the Classic Country and Americana markets next.
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11 Comments
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November 5, 2007 at 11:16 am Permalink
The news about The Bluebird is some of the saddest I’ve heard in a very long time. We all knew that Amy would eventually sell, but I can’t imagine anything positive coming from NSAI ownership.
November 5, 2007 at 11:34 am Permalink
In the light of recent events I can’t say it’s some of the saddest I’ve heard, but then again I’ve never been to the Bluebird. I’m curious as to what the details of the arrangement and future plans will be. Being owned by an organization doesn’t seem like it could be very healthy to the current environment, though.
November 5, 2007 at 11:49 am Permalink
I guess to some of us the institution of The Bluebird is almost as personal as some of our human icons.
November 5, 2007 at 12:33 pm Permalink
“…I can’t imagine anything positive coming from NSAI ownership.”
Jim, why would NSAI owning the Bluebird be bad?
November 5, 2007 at 12:52 pm Permalink
That Faith Hill review should’ve been assigned to someone else at Pop Matters. If you have contempt for the artist going in, there’s no point in evaluating a hits package of that artist. (Which is why I haven’t reviewed the Rascal Flatts album on my site, though that’s a studio album.)
The article on females struggling again is depressing. Country radio was far more interesting when it was populated by Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Wynonna, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks and Suzy Bogguss. Funny how so many of the men from the same period can still get play, even if they’re on an indie label, but the women have been shown the door.
November 5, 2007 at 12:55 pm Permalink
Kenny–
I worry that The Bluebird will lose its personality. NSAI has a tendency, in my opinion, to over-sanitize much of what it touches, and I would hate to see one of the community’s most important and well-loved venues turned into a bland and faceless performance space.
If the focus of the venue becomes the Association rather than the writers, that will be bad thing. If the venue becomes a tool for Association outreach or promotion, that, I think, will be bad thing.
Maybe none of that will happen. Maybe NSAI will be responsible and respectful stewards. I certainly hope that turns out to be true.
November 5, 2007 at 4:08 pm Permalink
I’ve attended several of the Bluebird shows during the NSAI convention in which NSAI basically handpicks a superstar lineup, charges an extraordinary cover and spends some time plugging their legislative agenda. the shows were always very enjoyable and it didn’t seem like the Bluebird lost any of its charm. Of course, I haven’t spent too much time hanging around on open mic night.
November 5, 2007 at 4:21 pm Permalink
Oh lord. Open night is something you need to do once in your life. And I stress once.
November 5, 2007 at 5:12 pm Permalink
I agree with Kevin about the Faith Hill review. Some of the things that were said in the review were just uncalled for, such as calling Faith’s body “the property of Tim McGraw.” LMAO Is this an album review, or an assessment of someone’s sex life?
The article about females in country is also quite depressing. Some of my favorite artists are females, two being Miranda Lambert and Emmylou Harris. I think the success of country females is on the eve of a comeback surge, but the artists responsible for doing it will do it with far less country flare than the female artists of the 90s that Kevin mentioned.
November 5, 2007 at 5:50 pm Permalink
There are some artists that become too celebrity for most critics to take seriously, and Faith is one of those artists. I have said this before, but I think Fireflies is the best or second-best contemporary country album of the decade so far–it’s just a phenomenal record–yet what do critics consistently go after her for? A less than successful crossover bid.
I do agree with the review about the content of the Hits package, though, and I agree with you, Dave S, that the review ventured too far into the realm of the personal.
November 6, 2007 at 11:19 am Permalink
I have to agree with Dave S – I am a great fan of female country music. And I do not believe that they are getting their due. And I have been listening to country music off and on for most of my life (forced on me by my parents in childhood and then by choice in adulthood)and there are some very wonderful women who have had long careers, Terri Clark (to name one of my favorites) without a lot of radio play, etc.
This is why I love satellite radio, because they do not rely so much on the charts but on what people want to hear, I hear things on there that I never hear anywhere else and then I begin to like new artists.
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