Dwight Yoakam Slated to Make 24th Appearance on The Tonight Show
- When Dwight Yoakam appears on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” tomorrow he’ll break the record for most musical appearances on the show by any artist. He’s currently tied with Lyle Lovett at 23. One of the tunes he plans to play is “Act Naturally,” from the catalog of his late mentor, Buck Owens.
“Jay and I always joked about it,” Yoakam said Monday from his home in Los Angeles. “I guess Lyle and I have made a career of doing Jay’s show.”
Sometimes he was there to promote a record, sometimes a movie. Whichever, he always brought his guitar. “I figured since I was there I might as well sing.”
- Brian Mansfield says the romance between country and pop music is beginning to heat up.
- After returning from his trip/tour of Europe, Rodney Hayden will be heading into the studio with his band on June 3rd to cut a new album. Plus, he’ll be holding the inaugural Rodney Hayden Music Festival on July 26th in McCoy, TX.
- A Guitar and a Pen is a new book that collects short stories from the pen of two dozen songwriters, including Bobby Braddock, Tom T. Hall and Kris Kristofferson. However, the book has raised concerns over its accuracy. One of the stories–presented as a real-life, first-person narrative–was attributed to Hazel Smith, but she says she did not write the story. Robert Hicks, one of the book’s co-editors, acknowledged writing the story, and in the process relayed some inaccurate information. None of the other stories have raised concerns since most are presented as works of fiction.
- Carter’s Chord will digitally release their self-titled debut album on June 17. A physical release is expected later this year.
- Mens Fitness magazine named Dierks Bentley as one of the “The 25 Fittest Guys In America.”
- Taylor Swift’s love affair with prom continued on Monday night when she attended the party for her first No. 1 hit, “Our Song,” and the multi-platinum success of her debut album wearing a prom dress. She specifically asked for a prom theme for the party and wore the same dress that she donned in the video for “Our Song.” According to CMT’s Edward Morris, Swift said her sophomore album is almost completed and that she would like to start getting cuts on other people’s albums. She was also hushed by her publicist when she began to reveal a jeans endorsement deal.
- NASCAR driver Elliot Sadler says don’t surprised if you hear him singing on country radio one day.
- The current issue of American Songwriter features Alan Jackson on the cover and articles on Eric Church, Hayes Carll, Rivers Rutherford and Sarah Buxton. Plus the free CD includes music from Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine and more.
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Lee Ann Womack - “Last Call” It’s not her strongest song, but it’s well written with a good performance, and despite the dull internal conflict, it’s rife with emotional depth.
Brad Paisley - “Waitin’ On a Woman” Bizarrely, it took a song written by someone other than Brad Paisley for radio to hear what the Paisley style can truly accomplish.
Merle Haggard at the Ryman Auditorium: Of the Haggard classics, “Silver Wings,” “The Way I Am” and crowd-favorite “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” were performed with confident ease while “Kern River” was sung with inspired tenderness and “Back to Earth,” from 2007’s Last of the Breed, contained more than a trace of Willie’s nasally twang. 
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Alan Jackson // Bobby Braddock // Buck Owens // Carter's Chord // Dierks Bentley // Dwight Yoakam // Eric Church // Hayes Carll // Jerry Jeff Walker // John Prine // Kris Kristofferson // Lyle Lovett // Rodney Hayden // Sarah Buxton // Taylor Swift // Tom T. Hall // Willie Nelson
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May 14, 2008 at 10:45 am Permalink
Wow, thanks to that link of the American Songwriter joint interview with Sarah Buxton and Rivers Rutherford. That was a really interesting read. I love the fact Sarah just bought 2,000 vinyl records and is sorting through them looking for singer/songwriter types, and her musical tastes head in the retro direction. I’m surprised she thinks the country radio audience is mostly men who don’t want to hear anything new. Sarah, its WOMEN who comprise the vast majority of the Top 40 country radio audience who don’t seem to be adventurous when it comes to new artists and music. Its nice Sarah has been back in the spotlight due to her ACM nomination, but what happens next when that is over….
(PS - She’ll be performing with Dierks Bentley on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night May 15th.)
I have a four song EP from Carter’s Chord and they are pretty good. This concept of a digital album release followed by a physical CD later is a potential career sinkhole when the label decides not to release a physical CD after download sales fall below expectations. The talented and lovely Susan Haynes was one of the first country artists to fall into this hole back in 2006. Recently Jypsi’s debut physical CD was announced as being postponed indefinitely and I expect the same thing to befall Carter’s Chord. If both the downloadable and CD versions are not released on the same day, the odds of the CD ever being released have been slim thus far……
May 14, 2008 at 10:52 am Permalink
Rick, I think you might have misunderstood, Buxton is saying it is mainly men in the Program Manager position at radio who are trying to guess what the women audience wants to hear.
May 14, 2008 at 3:54 pm Permalink
I loved that interview, and the song that Sarah just wrote sounds interesting, knowing her writing style.
Rick: I also noticed that recent trend of releasing the digital but not the physical. I had to buy Susan Haynes’s album as a digital after I couldn’t find the physical. Another you forgot to mention was Jennifer Hanson who’s new album will be released as a digital only. I don’t like this trend, I can’t buy Jypsi’s album because none of the digital retailers in canada are selling it.
May 14, 2008 at 4:43 pm Permalink
Get used to it–before you know it, almost everything will be digital only.
May 15, 2008 at 3:08 pm Permalink
For now, though, “digital only” seems to be a Nashville label’s way of saying, “We already paid for an album’s worth of material, but the singles aren’t working, so we’ll put it out for little cost on the web, drop the promotion plan, cut our losses, and better luck next time.” It can’t be promising news for an artist.
May 16, 2008 at 8:23 am Permalink
I don’t know, M.C., on one hand you are right, it is a way for a label to minimize losses. But on the other hand it is better than the “old” system of shelving an album never to be heard. At least this way fans can hear the music, the artist can still promote the music at their shows, in interviews, on their facebook and myspace pages (things all artists should be doing anyway).
You could also look at someone like Jamey Johnson who was dropped from one label, released his own digital album and was picked up by another label due to the interest drummed up.
May 16, 2008 at 10:00 am Permalink
Please give proper credit to Edward Morris. Ed was the original source for your item on “A Guitar and a Pen.”
I gather that Robert Hicks’ source was a TENNESSEAN Sunday Showcase feature on Hazel Smith in which Smith discussed her affair with Bill Monroe.
Stacy Harris
Publisher/Executive Editor
Stacy’s Music Row Report
http://www.countrymusicreport.com/Stacyharris.htm
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