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Scanning the Countryside: Country Radio—Your Way
If you want to start a heated discussion among a bunch of devoted country music fans or music makers, no matter what stripe, style, or era of country music they call their own, bring up the question of today’s mainstream country radio. You’re certain to hear some railing from somebody about a longstanding set of [...]
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Kenny Chesney – “Live a Little”
Songwriters: Shane Minor and David Lee Murphy If you’re even remotely interested in Kenny Chesney’s new single, “Live a Little,” you’re already miles ahead of the singer himself. At least that’s how the country superstar’s performance sounds on his latest offering to radio from Hemingway’s Whiskey. After a punchy instrumental intro builds momentum, the song’s [...]
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Trailer Choir Downgrades; Carrie Rodriguez Releases Country Duets Project; Amos Lee Tops Album Chart
From trio to duo: Crystal Hoyt is leaving Trailer Choir to pursue other interests. In my haste yesterday, I forgot to mention the release of Carrie Rodriguez‘ country duet record with Ben Kyle, We Still Love Our Country. Stream the songs on her website and if you like what you hear, choose a download price [...]
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Miranda Lambert Leads ACM Awards Nominees; New Album Release List; Free Downloads
ACM Award nominees were announced. Miranda Lambert leads all other artists with seven nominations. She’s followed by Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney, who scored five each, and The Band Perry and Taylor Swift, with four apiece. Country music is in trouble. New releases for the week of February 1, 2011 include: The Civil Wars [...]
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Faith Hill to Join the Pretenders for ‘Crossroads’; New Album Releases; Court Yard Hounds Schedule Live Web Chat
On Feb. 5, the night before the Super Bowl, Faith Hill and The Pretenders will team up for a live episode of CMT Crossroads. The success of “Somewhere With You” earned Kenny Chesney his 21st No. 1 single. Preview “Mountain Home,” the title track to Owen Temple‘s next album. Vote: The 2011 LoneStarMusic Awards In [...]
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The Automatic Add Club
“For the first time in my career I really feel like I have some real momentum going here,” Blake Shelton told me during an interview a couple of years back. “I’ve never had that. I’ve always been the guy that’s making a comeback every time.” What he meant was that at that time radio didn’t [...]
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UMG Donates 200,000 Songs to Library of Congress; Gurf Morlix Covers Blaze Foley; Country Music Sales Down In 2010
Universal Music Group is donating some 200,000 vintage master recordings to the Library of Congress for preservation and digitizing, the majority of which is out of print. UMG is holding on to the copyrights though, which will still allow the company to commercially release the best stuff once it’s cleaned up and sorted through. “Hopefully,” [...]
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Sara Evans and Brad Paisley Schedule New Albums; Billboard’s Year-End Lists; Ray Wylie Hubbard Dissatisfied with Finished Movie
Chet Flippo on respect in country music: When some kind of a strange variety show on a network TV channel opens with a song titled “Kiss My Country Ass,” any possible respect for the country music tradition [...] is absolutely thrown under the bus. You want trashy music? You got it. You want some respect [...]
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The C Word
There is country radio, and then there is Country Radio. When I first began covering the business a decade ago, I was at first annoyed to see the way that radio insiders insisted on referring to their milieu as “Country Radio” in every casual mention (see here)—but I eventually became grateful for the useful distinction. [...]
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Kix Brooks Bucks Trend and Loses the ‘Stache; Alan Jackson Celebrates 34 Number Ones with New Release
Kix Brooks sans ‘stache. The New York Times‘ Jon Caramanica on the new Keith Urban record, Get Closer: His lightly scuffed but comely voice, like his adept but unfussy guitar playing, presents a palatable blankness: beyond the odd glint of banjo or dollop of twang, these songs could be the work of someone like, well, [...]
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- Jack Hanford: For those who are interested, there is a new 90-minute documentary video about Tompall & the Glaser Brothers on DVD ...
- joe morris: how come nobody mentions his fan club which started 1950 and was called the " the penny pushers " which ...
- jane: I'm reading this article in 2013 and I've yet to hear anything from the album played on the radio.....
- Catwandy: I guess Matt C. is eating his well-deserved crow 'bout now. Critics....gotta love 'em , bless their little hearts.
- Ed McClendon: Saw the brothers in Greeley CO on the occasion of Tompall's 50th birthday. The show wasn't well promoted and there ...
- Roby Fox: I'm sure no one else will know, or even care about this little tidbit of trivia. "Keep Your Change" was ...
- kate wonders: Roni Stoneman is still on Hee Haw every Sunday night on RFD channel.
- Marsha Blades: Tommy, You were so kind to me during a tough time in my life and I don't think I ever ...
- Leona Jones: I seen Chris at the Grand Ole Opry last week.. First time I have heard of him.. He rocked the ...
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