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Tim McGraw Channels Inner Shel Silverstein for New Children’s Book
- A new children’s book, My Little Girl, penned by Tim McGraw and singer-songwriter Tom Douglas will hit bookshelves in October, with a
forwardforeword from Faith Hill. - Hal Bogerd gushes over Peter Cooper’s newest album, Mission Door, claiming “if the year keeps going like this my 2008 top ten list is going to get pretty crowded.”
- Trisha Yearwood shared her recipe for making chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
- Whether you enjoyed the CMT Music Awards or not, I think we can all agree that the $5,000 donated to each of the winner’s charities by CMT is worth commending.
The AARP Foundation Grandparenting Program received $15,000 on behalf of three-time winner Kellie Pickler. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital received $10,000 on behalf of Taylor Swift, who took home two trophies.
- Tom over at Twangville says the Driver-by Truckers‘ 19-song, 75-minute Brighter Than Creation’s Dark album was a statement made in the wake of Jason Isbell’s departure, but also says the length and breadth of material on the album could have easily been split into two distinct albums — a rock album and a “pretty damn good country record.” Then he conveniently split the songs into two playlists and is also giving away five copies of the full album and one Drive-by Trucker vinyl reissue. Very nice.
- Still Is Still Moving posted a coupe of pictures from the inaugural Texas Musicians’ Hall of Fame Induction Gala in Clifton, Texas last week. The first class of inductees included Willie Nelson, Steve Fromholz, Hank Thompson, Smokey Montgomery of the Light Crust Doughboys, Janis Joplin and Buddy Holly.
- Rodney Atkins, Carrie Underwood, and Dolly Parton are three of the performers lined up for this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards.
- The Dixie Bee-Liners put out a fantastic, rootsy-bluegrass album yesterday titled Ripe and you can hear six of the twelve songs on their MySpace.
- Amber Waves of Twang author Chip Frazier’s favorite Jim Lauderdale album is The Other Sessions from 2001, but he concedes that Lauderdale’s newest project, Honey Songs, is on par with his favorite.
- Sean H. wrote in with news from Bruce Springsteen’s concert in Houston a couple of nights ago claiming an alt-country showcase broke out, albeit on a small scale.
For the first song of the encore, Springsteen brought out Alejandro Escovedo, who recently signed with Springsteen’s long-time management company. The E Street Band had learned Escovedo’s new single, “Always a Friend,” off the forth coming CD, “Real Animal” and they tore into it, with Alejandro and Bruce trading verses. Terrific cut.
After Al left the stage, the Boss called up old friend Joe Ely and the two launched into “All Just to Get to You” from Ely’s “Letter to Laredo” CD, on which Springsteen had played. Two killer performances made for a special night in Houston.
You can check out the Escovedo/Springsteen performance on YouTube.
- The way Vince Bates understands country music it never has been clearly separated from other popular musics and has always been evolving. So how do you define “country” music?
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In Memory of Don Helms (1927 - 2008) Helms dated back to a time when an excellent four or five piece band and a good singer were all that were needed to make great country music. No drums, no light shows, no production tricks in the recording studio–just good music.
Don’t look now, but Darius Rucker, lead singer of 90s rock group Hootie & The Blowfish, has a country hit on his hands. What you probably haven’t heard is that Rucker is the first black artist to chart a single in the country top 20 since Charley Pride last did it in 1988.
News that former Sugarland member and co-founder Kristen Hall is suing her ex-mates, to the tune of $1.5 million, goes a long way towards providing a bit of context regarding the Atlanta singer/songwriter’s sudden departure from the group.
Josh Gracin - “Unbelievable (Ann Marie)” Despite initial marketing that touted the album as deep and personal, “Unbelievable (Ann Marie)” is anything but deep or personal.
Josh Turner - "Everything Is Fine" Turner is the rare example of an artist who records material that’s both quality and trademark.
Darryl Worley - "Tequila On Ice" A groovy mid-tempo that sways, a refreshing reprieve from the exhausting pace of a format that clamors for loud music and swelling choruses.
Blake Shelton - "She Wouldn't Be Gone" It’s all about nailing the melody rather than providing a legitimate interpretation that accentuates the lyrical content, although Shelton does do a pretty good job of injecting what limited emotion he can.
Forgotten Artist: David Rogers David Rogers (1936-1993) is proof of the adage that it’s great to be on a major label, but only if the label is truly behind you.
Forgotten Artist: Charley Pride For the ’70s, Billboard has Charley listed as its third ranking singles artist behind only Conway Twitty and Merle Haggard. 
In this exclusive interview with The 9513, the Show Dog Records trio talks about growing up around Waylon and Jessi Colter, and about how those experiences have helped shaped their music as they set off on their own country music journey.
One of an emerging wave of artists empowered by decreasing production costs and a rapidly changing distribution landscape, Kelleigh Bannen has taken a do-it-yourself approach to her debut album, Radio Skies.Tagged In This Article
Academy of Country Music Awards // Alejandro Escovedo // Buddy Holly // Carrie Underwood // CMT Music Awards // Dixie Bee-Liners // Dolly Parton // Drive By Truckers // Faith Hill // Hank Thompson // Jason Isbell // Jim Lauderdale // Joe Ely // Kellie Pickler // Rodney Atkins // Taylor Swift // Tim McGraw // Trisha Yearwood // Willie Nelson
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April 16, 2008 at 2:16 pm Permalink
It is a FOREWORD not a forward in a book……………
A new children’s book, My Little Girl, penned by Tim McGraw and singer-songwriter Tom Douglas will hit bookshelves in October, with a forward from Faith Hill.
April 16, 2008 at 2:21 pm Permalink
Sorry Elisa, I won’t let it happen again.
April 16, 2008 at 2:28 pm Permalink
Are forewords in children’s books standard practice? Do children even care? And does Tim McGraw do anything on his own?
April 16, 2008 at 2:33 pm Permalink
You’re lucky you used the correct form of “foreword” there, Brady, or else I would’ve been all over your ass.
April 16, 2008 at 2:44 pm Permalink
There’s nothing more exciting than a forward foreword!
I know most of you here don’t appreciate Taylor Swift. But Pickler winning more awards than her? That’s hard for me to swallow.
April 16, 2008 at 2:59 pm Permalink
When you factor in that the awards are basically a popularity contest, none of the categories are a reflection of artistic viability, and that they didn’t go head to head in any categories, it’s not that difficult to understand. Especially considering the rinky-dink awards Pickler won (Tearjerk video?).
What’s tougher to swallow is Pickler beating out McGraw for Performance of the Year. That doesn’t happen in any sane awards show.
April 16, 2008 at 3:21 pm Permalink
It’s definitely a joke of an award show. Does anyone know how the entertainer of the year is going to be handled for the ACMs? I know it’s supposed to be fan voted, but will it be fair or will the people who are willing to vote a million times make their guy win?
April 16, 2008 at 3:27 pm Permalink
I wonder if McGraw really wrote much of the book at all, or if Tom Douglas wrote the book and Tim McGraw’s name is put on it to sell more copies. If Douglas wrote the whole book, but got 100% of the royalties, he would probably wind up with less money than he would if puts McGraw’s name on the cover and accepts only 50% of the royalties, because sales will be much higher.
Ghostwriting is a very prevalent practice, and few celebrities or politicians write their own books. Id be curious as to what McGraw really contributed.
As for the Faith Hill foreword, that’s not for 3 and 4 and 5 year olds who couldn’t care less about Faith Hill or a foreword. That’s just there to sell some copies to Faith fans.
April 16, 2008 at 3:31 pm Permalink
hairandtoenails, I figured as much, I just wanted to comment on how shameless it is. Is ghostwriting prevalent when it comes to works of fiction?
April 16, 2008 at 4:17 pm Permalink
“What’s tougher to swallow is Pickler beating out McGraw for Performance of the Year. That doesn’t happen in any sane awards show.”
I’ll play devil’s advocate here and suggest that Kellie’s CMA performance was the most authentically emotional moment I’ve seen on any of these shows in a long damn time.
That said, I’d imagine that in any show whose results are reliant on online voting, an artist whose fans are Internet-savvy would have an advantage. It’s no accident that Taylor Swift offered what I believe was the first award-show “thank you” I’ve ever heard offered to the people who build fan websites.
April 16, 2008 at 4:18 pm Permalink
I’m sure I’m being too harsh, but this is what I think about Tim McGraw when it comes to him writing songs. I suspect, fair or not, that the Warren Brothers really write the songs, but put Tim’s name on it so that he will be bound to record it. Thus, Tim can songwriter to his resume and the Warren Brothers can get an album cut by a big artist. I’m thinking that the Warren Brothers have done this with other artists, but I can’t think of who right now.
April 16, 2008 at 4:36 pm Permalink
When I say that the Warren Brothers have probably done it with other artists, I mean artists who normally don’t write songs. Then again, I admit that I could be completely wrong, because I almost think that I read that McGraw came to Nashville with a songwriting publishing deal. So, I think that I regret my previous post altogether.
April 16, 2008 at 6:14 pm Permalink
As to Kellie winning — she won for an amazing performance and a reasonably good video — which is about something personal to her. I happen to like her better than Taylor.
My favorite part of the entire awards show — is that Carrie Underwood did not win any — she has been dominating awards shows for so long, that I appreciate when other artists get a chance to win —
We have to remember that this is fan voted show, and not everyone likes the same kind of country — some people like the poppy country and this is more of a show to watch for the performances than to watch for the awards….
April 16, 2008 at 6:21 pm Permalink
I have no problem with Kellie winning the breakthrough video award and wouldn’t have a problem with her winning the performance award, but I’m not convinced that the tears were entirely authentic.
April 16, 2008 at 6:50 pm Permalink
Brady, I was going to suggest the same thing. I hate to question the authenticity of someone’s emotions. However, I can’t help but wonder how authentic Kellie’s tears really were. What makes think this forbidden thought is the fact that so many concert reviews of her shows mention how she teared up during “I Wonder.” I realize and do not doubt that she really has strong emotions in connection with that song, but it’s hard for me to believe that she can’t hold back the tears after hundreds of performances of it.
April 16, 2008 at 6:55 pm Permalink
For the record, “hundreds” is just a hyperbolic number. I have no idea how many times she’s actually performed the song.
April 16, 2008 at 7:07 pm Permalink
Leeann, that’s the same reason I hesitate to believe they were authentic. There are videos of her on YouTube making it through the performance just fine and other times where she tears up (usually on a bigger stage; Opry, The View). She’d been performing the song for over a year and if it was really so painful, why relive it night in and night out, or wouldn’t she have her emotions in check by then? I still thought it was a touching performance, but was it real?
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