Todd Snider Scheduled To Chat with ESPN About His New Album
- Todd Snider will join ESPN tomorrow to chat and answer questions about his new album and his song “America’s Favorite Pastime” which is featured on The Homerun EP, a collection of baseball songs by Yep Roc Records artists. (via Twang Nation)
- Reba McEntire scored the highest solo chart debut of her career with her new single “Strange.” It’ll debut at #39 on the Billboard Top Country Songs chart this week. (via press release)
- Watch new videos for Raul Malo’s “Hello Again” and Holly Williams‘ “Keep the Change” at the CMT Blog.
- In an interview with The Washington Post’s J. Freedom du Lac, Raul Malo compares singing to Olympic high-diving, ponders the possibility of a Mavericks reunion (not going to happen), and says that his band now is more of a band than the Mavericks ever were.
Where and when did you learn that there’s something to restraint?
[Laughs.] I think I learned that from just watching everybody else. I kind of equate singing to Olympic high-diving. The less splash the better in that competition. But the way most people sing, certainly on “American Idol,” is everybody’s doing cannonballs into the pool. We’re not really supposed to be doing cannonballs all the time. -
New releases for the week of April 14, 2009 include:
- Performers for the 2009 CMA Music Festival, which will be held June 11-14 in Nashville, have been announced. They include: Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Julianne Hough, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Jason Aldean, Rodney Atkins, Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Jake Owen, Zac Brown Band, Trace Adkins, Jack Ingram, Jamey Johnson, Martina McBride, Lee Ann Womack, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry, John Rich and Taylor Swift.
- This Saturday (Apr. 18) marks the second annual Record Store Day in which various independent records stores and artists hook up for special vinyl and CD releases along with special appearances and performances. Check the website to see if a record store near you is participating.
- Congrats to Country Universe’s Dan Milliken. He’s one of the finalists in the Belmont Unplugged Song Challenge for his song “Goin’ Green,” which could end up as the University’s official “green” song. Very cool.
- Dolly Parton’s Backwoods Barbie – The Collector’s Edition, available exclusively at Cracker Barrel, debuted at #9 on Billboard’s Top Country Album chart.
“This achievement clearly demonstrates Cracker Barrel’s ability to reach a large audience of music buyers,” said Peter Keiser, Vice President of Marketing. “It shows the strength of the brand. With 588 retail outlets for our exclusive CDs, Cracker Barrel has a unique opportunity to sell quality music in great quantity.” he added. Cracker Barrel’s exclusive music program has grown to the point that participating in Nielson SoundScan, the system which gathers the data for the Billboard charts, makes good business sense. Keiser said, “Participating in SoundScan shows that we are serious about being in the music business and focused in the choices we make regarding artists and the labels that we work with.”
(via press release)
- Ninebullets.net declares the new Justin Townes Earle album, Midnight at the Movies, essential listening.
- In late March, Alison Bonaguro attended the taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show featuring country stars Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker and Sugarland. The actual show airs today, but you can read about it on CMT now.
- Country Radio Broadcasters and Edison Research posted a slideshow of the results from their study on trends in country music.
- Jessica Harp’s video for her song “Boy Like Me” is the free iTunes Music Video of the Week. (iTunes)
- Download and listen to Steve Earle’s cover of “To Live Is To Fly” from his tribute album Townes, which will be released May 12 on New West Records. (Free Download)
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Current Discussion
- Jon: I would suspect that while the tune would change the perception of the song... Dude, that's the whole freaking point! ...
- merlefan49: No offense taken
- sam (sam): Although it would be the copyright holder who would have to give permission, even if Dylan did give permission, it ...
- Steve M.: I would suspect that while the tune would change the perception of the song, the words of "Hard Rain" speak ...
- Jon: @Steve M. So, to begin with, if you're right, then it's Sony, not Dylan, who would have given permission ...
- Steve M.: A little hard digging Jon shows according to published reports that Sony/ATV Music Publishing own the rights to Dylan's older ...
- Jon: Telling me I’m not intelligent for just simply revealing my taste! Whoa, I don't think that's what I said, and ...
- Michelle: Jon, you don't worry about my comments. If ya don't find it informative then DON'T READ IT! And I'll simply ...
- Jon: @Michelle Sorry, you asked a question, I was trying to answer it. Post whatever you like, but you ...
- K: "Steve M., Stormy and their ilk demand that singers they don’t like adhere to some artificial standard of competence; singers ...
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April 14, 2009 at 11:21 am Permalink
I wonder if Oprah will ask any of those artists, “What is Country??”…that would make a few of the commenters on this site happy…
April 14, 2009 at 12:10 pm Permalink
Awesome first week numbers for Reba – I hope the trend continues.
That Edison Research presentation was very interesting – especially in noting how the majority of people said country music is either worse or the same as it was in past years – not getting any better.
What’s even more alarming is that only 2% of listeners said they are new listeners to country music. So where are all these so-called ‘new converts’ to the genre? There were some surprise choices in the top-rated artists overall too.
April 14, 2009 at 12:13 pm Permalink
I really appreciate the plug, fellas. Y’all the best.
April 14, 2009 at 12:32 pm Permalink
Holly Williams is very talented but by today’s standards she is suited for Americana stations and not Top 40 mainstream country. “Keep the Change” is a good song but the reason it was chosen as a single is that its a Hillary Lindsey co-write composition. The killer song on Holly’s new album is “Mama” and its too bad that song wasn’t selected as the radio single instead….
Wow, a “green song contest”! Hey how about “Al Gore is a global warming scam fool, who thinks global U.N. control is totally cool! He imagines warming due to greenhouse gas, as you’d expect for someone with their head up their #$%….”
April 14, 2009 at 12:35 pm Permalink
Rick,
Ya never fail to take a chance to take a dig at Hillary Lindsey or the democrats do ya? ;)
April 14, 2009 at 2:02 pm Permalink
All these post-Mavericks interviews by Raul Malo are definitely making me see the band in a different light these days. I never knew about any internal strife until these recent references to lawsuits and being lazy musicians. Too bad, because they were one of the top live bands, not to mention one of the most innovative studio bands.
April 14, 2009 at 3:09 pm Permalink
Yay Dan!
Harsh words from Malo about the Mavericks.
April 14, 2009 at 3:33 pm Permalink
Hmmmm….Malo wasn’t happy that MCA wanted to just re-record the old Maverick’s hits over and over again…..yet he seems to do just that with “Hello Again”….sounds an awful lot like recycled “Here Comes the Rain” again.
April 14, 2009 at 3:53 pm Permalink
I should send a note to Raul Malo thanking him for articulating exactly what it is I don’t like about Carrie Underwood’s singing.
April 14, 2009 at 5:07 pm Permalink
Ha! Spot on, Kelly.
April 14, 2009 at 8:36 pm Permalink
Rick: “Wow, a “green song contest”! Hey how about “Al Gore is a global warming scam fool, who thinks global U.N. control is totally cool! He imagines warming due to greenhouse gas, as you’d expect for someone with their head up their #$%….””
Ignorance is bliss.
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