Kelsea Ballerini To Help Kings of Leon Ring In The New Year

Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Ballerini is among the latest additions to Nashville’s New Year’s Eve celebration, to be headlined by rockers Kings of Leon.

Rising country star Ballerini joins a slew of Nashville based performers at the event, including pop singer-songwriter duo Sugar + The Hi-Lows, rock trio The Whigs, and indie rockers Wild Cub.

This will be Music City’s seventh annual New Year’s Eve free concert and street party. Revelers will count down to 2016 with the “Music Note Drop®,” triggering a fireworks display and confetti cannons at midnight.

Jack Daniel’s Bash on Broadway: New Year’s Eve in Music City is produced by the NCVC for the city of Nashville and presented by Jack Daniel’s.

More talent announcements are forthcoming. For the latest details about talent and events, visit www.visitmusiccity.com/newyearseve.

Alabama Has More to Say With New ‘Southern Drawl’

Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook, and Randy Owen

Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook, and Randy Owen

After a 15-year hiatus, Alabama has returned to the studio with refreshed hearts and minds and recorded new project, Southern Drawl. The new BMG CD will hit retailers Sept. 18, and includes their latest single, “Wasn’t Through Lovin’ You Yet,” along with many more songs in their revamped Alabama style. “Country music when we took our ‘vacation’ is not the same country it is today,” says guitarist Jeff Cook. “For people who knew the original ALABAMA, it’s going to be a little different to their ears.”

Among the tracks on the new collection are the raucous “Hillbilly Wins The Lotto Money,” “Come Find Me,” featuring vocals by Alison Krauss, the anthemic “American Farmer,” and the tear-jerking “I Wanna Be There.”

Alabama members Cook, Randy Owen, and Teddy Gentry co-produced the project, and found a renewed love of the process of music-making after being away for such a long time. “I gave more of my heart and soul to this one than anything I’ve been a part of in my life,” said Owen. “I approached this album as if it could be my best, my first or my last. We were so glad to be back in the studio, we didn’t take a moment of it for granted.”

“I have never been more proud to represent a band and a record than I am with Alabama and Southern Drawl,” said Kos Weaver, Executive Vice President, BMG. “We at BMG are very fortunate to get the opportunity to work with Jeff, Teddy and Randy on this highly anticipated album. These guys are icons and true artists, we are all very excited about sharing new Alabama music with the world.”

Little Big Town Cancels Additional ‘Pain Killer Tour’ Dates

Little Big Town backstage at LP Field following their performance at CMA Music Festival last weekend. Photo: Bev Moser

Little Big Town backstage at LP Field following their performance at CMA Music Festival last weekend. Photo: Bev Moser

Little Big Town has canceled an additional three weeks of shows in August. Doctors orders require more time for member Jimi Westbrook to recuperate from his June vocal cord surgery, which forced the abrupt cancellation of the Pain Killer Tour dates through July.

“We want to come back on the road to you guys at 110 percent and this additional time will make sure that happens!” the band said in a statement on social media. “Thanks again for all of your support during this time, and for your love, patience, and excitement for us to come back! We can’t wait to see all of you.

The foursome is on the books to resume the tour in Canada, Aug. 22.

Watch a video of the band offering regrets for the additional cancellations below.

[Please Watch] #PainKillerTourStay tuned for more info…

Posted by Little Big Town on Sunday, July 26, 2015

Eric Church Offers Glimpse “Inside The Outsider” in Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit

Eric Church

Eric Church

Eric Church will have his own cameo exhibition, “Eric Church: Inside The Outsider,” at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opening Sept. 18. The new exhibit will spotlight Church’s path to stardom and include guitars, stage wear, pics, song manuscripts, and more from his personal collection, and will run through February 2016.

Prior to Church’s two-night acoustic run at Nashville’s new outdoor Ascend Amphitheater July 30-31, the singer will also offer unique Church memorabilia at the Outsider’s Joint, his pop-up store benefiting the Chief Cares Fund, a non-profit founded by Church and his wife that serves over two million people globally. Fans can purchase These Boots by Lucchese, Church’s custom boot line normally reserved for his VIP ticketholders, along with a limited number of special edition posters commemorating the inaugural Ascend Amphitheater show, and other Church merchandise. The first Outsider’s Joint pop-up during CMA Music Fest raised more than $20,000 for the Chief Cares Fund.

The Outsiders Joint pop-up around the Ascend show will be located at 218 S. 11th St. in the 5 Points area of East Nashville across from the Bill Martin Grocery Store.

Lifenotes: Joanna Montgomery, Wife of Mark Montgomery

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Joanna Stanfield Montgomery

Joanna Montgomery, wife of tech entrepreneur Mark Montgomery, passed away on Tuesday, July 28 following a long battle with cancer. She was 47.

She bravely documented her journey on her blog, sharing her story of balancing motherhood and cancer. She was the focus of a documentary series, appeared on Katie Couric’s talk show, and in two front-page stories in The Tennessean.

Joanna was born Aug. 23, 1967 in St. Joe, Missouri and her family moved to the Nashville area when she was in fifth grade. As an adult, she worked as a paralegal, and was passionate about family law.

She and Mark married in 2011 and their daughter, Magnolia Grace, was born the same year. The doctors discovered Joanna’s cancer during her c-section.

The family requests charitable donations in lieu of flowers. Donations can also be made to the Magnolia Foundation, a nonprofit organization for research about gynecologic cancers. Magnolia Foundation C/O Rashford Kruse P.O. Box 121228 Nashville, TN 37212.

The Tennessean has a beautifully written tribute to Joanna here.

The Band Perry To Headline Vanderbilt’s Commodore Quake

Commodore_Quake_2015Vanderbilt University has announced the performers for its 15th annual Commodore Quake. The Band Perry and Third Eye Blind will take the stage on Friday, Oct. 23, at 8 p.m. in Memorial Gym.

The Band Perry is touring through the summer and fall, playing fairs, festivals and casinos. This week they are performing on a Carnival cruise ships.

Tickets for the Vanderbilt concert will go on sale Monday, Aug. 3, at 10 a.m. Weekend passes for the general public are $40 in advance and $50 the week of the show. Students and staff can purchase discounted tickets.

Tickets will be available at all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets also can be purchased with no service fees at the Sarratt Student Center Box Office on the Vanderbilt campus.

Lambert Creates Belmont Scholarship for Women, Hits Stage With Three Alumna

Miranda-Lambert-club-3rd-&-Lindsley-nashvilleMiranda Lambert has established a scholarship for outstanding women at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.

The Miranda Lambert Women Creators Fund will provide over $40,000 in scholarship funds to a female student majoring in music business, songwriting or entertainment industry studies enrolled for the 2016/2017 academic year.

As previously reported, tonight (July 28), Lambert will perform a sold out, one-off acoustic club show–aside from her Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars Tour–in support of the fund at Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley. Writer pals Natalie Hemby (Belmont grad) and Jessi Alexander will join Lambert when she hits the stage with current tourmates RaeLynn and additional Belmont grads Clare Dunn and Courtney Cole.

“I am so excited to establish this scholarship fund,” said Lambert. “To encourage and empower women to achieve their goals is why I am supporting outstanding women who want to pursue their dreams in the music industry.”

“Throughout her career Miranda Lambert has been a faithful and loyal supporter of women songwriters and artists, and her music has served to inspire and to empower,” said Doug Howard, dean of Belmont’s Curb College. “And now, with the creation of her scholarship fund, Miranda will directly impact the education and opportunities of young women creators as they prepare for a career in the music industry. We are truly grateful for this generous gift and for the vision of its wonderful purpose.”

Ninth Annual ACM Honors Prep Jake Owen As Host

Jake Owen.

Jake Owen.

Jake Owen will host the 9th Annual ACM Honors celebration, an evening dedicated to recognizing the special honorees and off-camera winners from the 50th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, on September 1 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

Performers will include Jason Aldean, Roy Clark, Randy Houser, Miranda Lambert, Owen and Restless Heart. Presenters for the evening include Kelsea Ballerini, RAC Clark and The Swon Brothers.

Honorees include Special Awards recipients Barry Adelman, Luke Bryan, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (awarded posthumously), Eric Church, Tim DuBois, Loretta Lynn, Bob McDill and Alabama.

Luke Laird will be honored as Songwriter of the Year.

Studio Recording Awards (formerly MBI Awards) recipients include Chuck Ainlay, Tom Bukovac, Dan Dugmore, Jay Joyce, Greg Morrow, Michael Rojas, Ilya Toshinsky and Glenn Worf.

Industry Award winners include Ed Warm of Joe’s Live, Sally Williams of Ryman Auditorium, Country Thunder USA: East in Twin Lakes, WI, Hard Rock Live in Biloxi, MS, Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, CA, Joe’s Bar in Chicago, IL, MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, NV, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN.

This marks Owen’s second time hosting the event and the sixth time the ceremony will be held at the Ryman. Tickets are $42.00 and will go on sale to the general public at Ticketmaster.com and the Ryman box office, Friday (July 31).

Jewel Duets With Dolly on New Sugar Hill Project

JewelJewel will release her first collection of new songs in five years with Sugar Hill Records, titled Picking Up The Pieces. The self-produced, 14-track album will be available September 11 and available for pre-order immediately.

“This is just me. These are my thoughts. These are my feelings,” Jewel said. “This is my poetry. It really felt like returning to a part of me that I didn’t mean to lose, but with time and relationships and life and surviving and dealing, you take on new things and not all of them are great. I was trying to keep my mind quiet and honestly get back to something I feel like I’d lost touch with in my life. It was really an exercise in shutting out fear.”

Among the tracks on the new project are “My Father’s Daughter,” an autobiographical duet with Dolly Parton about Jewel’s father and grandmother. Relationship remnants are explored on tunes like “Love Used To Be,” and “Mercy,” and previously unrecorded live favorites “Carnivore” and “Boy Needs A Bike” also appear on the new collection.

Jewel is also releasing her memoir, Never Broken, on September 15.

Dierks Bentley Lists Nashville Home For $1.7m

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Photos: Village Real Estate

Dierks Bentley has listed his Nashville-area home for $1.7 million. The four bedroom, four bath home sits on .6 acres near Lipscomb University, on Granny White Pike.

Built in 1930, the remodeled home features a two-car garage, landscaped pool area, covered walkway to main house, play area and clay tiled roof.

Village Real Estate has the full listing.

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