Next Week’s ‘American Idol’ Will Feature Grand Ole Opry Theme
- For two days, March 17 and 18, American Idol will feature a Grand Ole Opry theme in which contestants will choose and perform songs popularized by Opry members. Carrie Underwood will also appear on the show to sing “I Told You So” with Randy Travis and Brad Paisley will debut his new single, “Then.”
- Kelleigh Bannen is more than two-thirds of the way into her goal of playing 90 gigs in 90 days to raise awareness about the power of addiction and hope of recovery. Her final show is scheduled for April 1 at Nashville’s Exit/In and she posted a promo video for the last 30 days on her blog.
- A rare guitar owned by Roy Rogers is hitting the auction block next month and is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $250,000. The guitar, one of only fifteen made, was manufactured in the 1930s and remains in the original, unrestored state.
- This year’s CMA Music Festival will be held Thursday through Sunday, June 11-14 in Nashville and the initial lineup of stars includes: Trace Adkins, Julianne Hough, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire.
- Clint Black named three songs fans would never forgive him for omitting from his set list, talked about his experience on Celebrity Apprentice and commented on the status of his music these days in an interview with The Houston Chronicle.
- Farce the Music took a stab at Sugarland’s “Settlin’” with a parody titled “Ritalin.”
- Todd Snider’s new album, titled The Excitement Plan, is due out June 9th and features a guest appearance from Loretta Lynn.
- California honky-tonker David Serby (MySpace) has a new album scheduled for May 11 titled Honky Tonk and Vine, which, according to a press release, comes well stocked with tears-in-my-beer weepers like “I Only Smoke When I’m Drinkin’” as well as roadhouse rave-ups like “Don’t Even Try.”
- Lisa Renee Davis, a model and actress who appeared in music videos for Keith Anderson’s “Pickin’ Wildflowers” and Jason Michael Carroll’s “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead,” was found murdered on Tuesday.
- When Mickey Raphael gained access to the master recordings to “unproduce” Naked Willie, an album of stripped-down Willie Nelson songs mostly from his RCA albums, he found that there was leakage from the strings and other instruments that prevented him from using some of the songs he wanted. He was however, able to salvage 17 tracks that will be on the album, which The Austin Chronicle’s Jim Caliguiri says sounds almost as if it was recorded yesterday, not 40 years ago.
- The Tin Pan South songwriters festival announced their March 31 to April 4 schedule and it includes a monster lineup. (via Country Weekly)
- Darius Rucker talked to Craig Shelburne about his early days working in a record store, reporting singles to Billboard and the payola he’d recieve.
I mean, the stories I could tell you of people calling and saying, ‘Hey man, do you think you could put so and so in the top 10?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, they’re not even in my top 50.’ And they’re like, ‘You like U2?’ ‘Yeah!’ And the next day here come four CD players and the whole U2 collection. You gotta love it!”
- Watch Eric Brace and Peter Cooper perform “First In Line,” a song that was originally recorded by The Everly Brothers and was later cut by Emmylou Harris and John Starling.
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March 12, 2009 at 11:25 am Permalink
Some shocking news for WSM fans:
” Keith Bilbrey Off The Air In Nashville After 34-Years! Mid-Day Host & Opry Announcer Budget-Cut From WSM-AM.
Nashville COUNTRY listeners are getting a real shock today as word begins to filer out that longtime 650 WSM/Nashville mid-day host Keith Bilbrey has left the station. AllAboutCountry hears that Bilbrey was given the news after his show yesterday (3/10) that the station would begin Voice-Tracking mid-days.
Keith Bilbrey had been on the air at WSM for 34 years. He had been an Opry announcer for many years, but according to AAC’s source in Nashville, that came to an end yesterday, too.”
Wow, that really sucks…
Does anyone else find it strange that the CMA list of Top Name performers includes Julianne Hough? Her single “That Song In My Head” didn’t do that great on the charts, did it? I guess they are trying to attract “Dancing With The Stars” fans to the CMA festival.
I am so ecited about the American Idol Opry themed shows that I may actually record the shows on my DVR, which would be a first for me. That way I can fast forward through Carrie Underwood…
The Sunday afternoon free LA country scene concerts at the Grand Ole Echo resume in mid April and David Serby is one of the performers in regular rotation. I’m looking forward to seeing him perform live again.
March 12, 2009 at 11:26 am Permalink
FYI–I’ll be liveblogging the AI show right here on The 9513.
March 12, 2009 at 11:58 am Permalink
Thanks for the update, I’m really looking forward to Naked Willie.
March 12, 2009 at 12:12 pm Permalink
That country theme should be entertaining… but I hope a good percentage of the artists actually pick some traditional country tunes, rather than sticking to the likes of Carrie Underwood or Brad Paisley.
March 12, 2009 at 12:25 pm Permalink
“That way I can fast forward through Carrie Underwood”
You’ll also miss Randy Travis too since they’re doing a duet.
“Carrie’s version of this 1988 #1 classic by Travis can be found on her Carnival Ride album, and fans will soon be hearing another version on the airwaves as a new studio recording pairing Carrie and Randy arrives at country radio next week. A digital single of that recording will be available for sale at online music providers everywhere to coincide with their American Idol performance.”
——————————————————————————–
So, I guess the duet will count as a spin for ITYS, much like when Reba was added to “Cowgirls don’t cry”.
March 12, 2009 at 12:25 pm Permalink
For anyone looking forward to Naked Willie…I just found it on the New Music/The Leak page on the CMT website, so you can listed to the whole album. It’s quite excellent (as I expected).
March 12, 2009 at 2:24 pm Permalink
Cool, a country week on American Idol! =)
March 12, 2009 at 2:52 pm Permalink
i’ve also listened to ‘naked willie’ in its entirety. it’s an astounding listen. he was ahead of his time during the rca years, and well…he sounds just like he did then. very simple and very incisive. the songwriting is awe-inspiring, but add his voice to it and you get a candidate for best cd of the year.
March 12, 2009 at 6:02 pm Permalink
Glad to see Reba back at the CMA Music Fest again this year. I’ll be there! I already planned on going anyway. But, for sure with Reba there.
March 12, 2009 at 8:04 pm Permalink
I find it funny that two of the most interesting country albums of the year comes from a 75 year old, which may say something about the current state of Nashville.
March 13, 2009 at 8:18 am Permalink
i agree, steve m. it’s…strange that two of the best country releases of the year (so far) are by a 75-year-old man. and don’t really have anything to do with nashville at all. in the case of ‘naked willie’, it’s a reevaluation of what nashville originally did to his rca recordings. in april of this year willie nelson will be 76 years old, God bless him. and not long after that, he will release his newest jazz album (on blue note records). he’s definitely on a roll. i’m willing to bet that jazz record will be great, too.
March 13, 2009 at 5:20 pm Permalink
How tragic to hear Bilbray has hit the dust as an announcer and radio personality! =(
March 13, 2009 at 5:21 pm Permalink
Bilbrey, rather. Apologize for the typo.
March 13, 2009 at 5:44 pm Permalink
There’s an online petition asking for a rehire of Keith Bilbrey at http://www.petitiononline.com/weeeds22/petition.html .
March 16, 2009 at 6:00 pm Permalink
I just heard a sneak preview of the Carrie Underwood-Randy Travis duet of “I Told YOu So” and it’s really good. I thought how could this work with Carrie’s big booming voice but she tones it down and they made it work. I’m buying it!
http://www.amazon.com/I-Told-You-So/dp/B001VW59IY/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1237176381&sr=1-18
March 20, 2009 at 6:51 am Permalink
Loved Carrie’s ITYS duet w/ Randy Travis on AI. Two thumbs up. Her appearance is sure helping her sales too :)
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