AMA Honors Baez, Hosts Helm

Sarah Skates – 07/16/2008

Joan Baez, click to visit americanamusic.org.

The Americana Music Association will bestow the "Spirit of Americana" Free Speech Award on Joan Baez during the organization’s 7th Annual Honors and Awards ceremony on Thurs., Sept. 18 at the Ryman Auditorium. Artist of the Year nominee and previous “Spirit of Americana” recipient Steve Earle will present the honor, which through the years has gone to notables including Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Mavis Staples, Judy Collins, and Charlie Daniels.

Since her career began fifty years ago, Baez has marched with Martin Luther King, toured for Amnesty International, and, most recently, helped Nelson Mandela celebrate his 90th birthday. In 2007, Baez received the Grammy's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Her first studio album in five years, Day After Tomorrow, produced by Earle, is slated for release Sept. 9.

The AMA’s Honors and Awards is part of the Americana Music Festival and Conference, running Sept. 17-20 in Nashville. Opening this year’s event on the evening of Sept. 17 is another Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award winner, Levon Helm, bringing his heralded Ramble on the Road. This is the conference’s first separately ticketed event, and tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, July 18. Some pre-sale tickets are available now. The concert will be filmed in High Definition, possibly for television or a documentary. Many guests are expected to join Helm, just as they did for his 2007 Ramble at the Ryman, when Sam Bush, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Buddy Miller, Ricky Skaggs and many others gave surprise performances.

Bonnie Bishop Joins Montage Music Group Publishing

07/16/2008

Texas songwriter Bonnie Bishop has signed with Montage Music Group Publishing. Bishop spent years performing in her home state, sharing bills with artists Jack Ingram, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Randy Rogers. In 2004, her singles “Send Me A Cowboy” and “Sweet On The Down Low” remained on the Texas Music Chart's Top 30 throughout the year. In 2007, she opened shows across Texas and the East Coast for Robert Earl Keen. Bishop recently made the move to Music City.

(L-R): Allen Butler, Pres./CEO Montage Music Group; Bishop; and Bobby Rymer, Montage Head of Publishing.

Music City Madness Returns

Sarah Skates – 07/15/2008

CMT.com’s third annual Music City Madness talent competition launched today (7/15). The grand prize winner will receive a trip to Nashville to record an episode of CMT’s online series Unplugged At Studio 330, an audition with Warner Bros. Records and a mentoring session with Randy Travis. The online contest will again be featured in a half-hour CMT television special.

CMT and Comcast are hosting live auditions next month in Nashville, Knoxville, Pittsburgh and Atlanta, where contestants can record and enter video submissions. The events, available for on-demand viewing, will also include a competition element and one local entrant from each audition will automatically be entered into the top 64 finalists and receive a Comcast/CMT-sponsored showcase in their hometown.

Submissions, open to all styles of country, will be accepted through Oct. 6. The top 64 finalists will be chosen by CMT and revealed Oct. 21 and fans will vote over a period of eight weeks. The grand prize winner will be revealed Dec. 16. Last year, more than four million votes were cast at CMT.com to name 13-year-old Utah native Katelynn Jolley the winner. Details at madness.CMT.com.

Nashville Star Narrows To Five Contestants

While Nashville Star contestants were tackling love songs on last night’s (7/14) episode, mentor John Rich was tackling contestants and even the show’s network, NBC. Regarding the talent selection process, Rich pointed out that some...

Santa Stroud Bringing Christmas Joy

Sarah Skates – 07/15/2008

James Stroud

James Stroud helmed production of a new Christmas album by the Stroudavarious Orchestra specifically for QVC. The instrumental collection of 10 seasonal favorites includes “Joy To The World,” “O Christmas Tree,” “Jingle Bells,” “The First Noel,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Deck The Halls,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night” and “What Child Is This?.” The album is scheduled to play throughout QVC's 24-hour Christmas in July broadcast on Friday, July 25 and will be available through QVC at 800-345-1515 or www.QVC.com.

Stroud is responsible for nearly 100 No. 1 singles and albums that have collectively sold 52 million copies. "I love Christmas and I love these songs as much as anything I've ever produced," he explains. “Their melodies are truly timeless and deserve to be played and produced in a way that brings out all the wondrous musicality in these songs that we all know so well. I want listeners to hear them anew, in all their musical glory, as best as they can be performed and recorded. It's my way of using my talents and success to bring more joy to the world."

Sony BMG Nashville Owns Almost Half of Current Airplay

Sarah Skates – 07/15/2008

Collectively, Sony BMG Nashville’s four label imprints—Arista Nashville, BNA Records, Columbia Nashville, and RCA Nashville—are racking up an impressive summer on the country airwaves, averaging a nearly 45% airplay chart share over each of the past five weeks, based on Nielsen BDS-monitored audience impressions.

With recent No. 1 singles from Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and Montgomery Gentry, the label group has topped the BDS country chart for seven of the past nine weeks, continuing a run of smash singles that have camped out atop the chart for 15 of this year’s 28 chart weeks.

Similarly, on the Mediabase country chart, Sony BMG Nashville has been No. 1 for eight of the past nine weeks with all of the above artists, with the addition of this morning’s (7/15) chart-topper, Alan Jackson’s “Good Time.” In all, the label group has notched 50% of the year to date (14 of 28 chart weeks) at No. 1 on the Mediabase country airplay chart.

The Columbia Nashville imprint has three singles in the country Top 10 this week, a first for the label during the Nielsen BDS or Mediabase monitored era. The hits are Montgomery Gentry’s recent No. 1, “Back When I Knew It All;” “I Still Miss You” from Keith Anderson; and “Gunpowder & Lead,” by Miranda Lambert.

Murrah Music Group Signs Matt Dame

07/15/2008

Murrah Music Group has signed singer/songwriter Matt Dame to an exclusive songwriter agreement. A native of Batesville, Arkansas, Dame began singing, writing songs and learning to play the guitar at an early age. After high school, he attended Arkansas State University and Harding University. Dame moved to Nashville in 2005 and soon landed a development deal with RCA Records. He signed his first publishing deal with Famous Music in 2006.

(L-R): Murrah Music Chairman Roger Murrah, Dame's attorney Karl Braun, Dame, Murrah Music Sr. VP Paul Compton and Pres. Doug Colton. Photo: Drew Maynard

Kid Rock Hosts Fuse Grand Opening

07/15/2008

Kid Rock hosted and deejayed at the grand opening of the new Las Vegas style nightclub Fuse at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel on Saturday night (7/12). Described by the architect as a red-and-black "oasis of sensuality," the 14,000 sq. ft. club includes reactive imagery, go-go dancers, a misting vodka locker with more than five dozen top-shelf brands and "experience cocktails," restrooms with see-through panels and VIP coves with concierge service. Among the eclectic crowd of celebrities in attendance were Trent Tomlinson, Nick Carter, Kim Kardashian, Lady Antebellum, Danielle Peck, Jeffrey Steele, Lonestar’s Cody Collins, American Idol Finalist Diana Degarmo, American Idol songwriter Reggie Hamm, Ty Herndon, Holly Williams, several Tennessee Titans players including kicker Rob Bironas, and Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap.

(L-R): Stephanie LeVasseur, songwriter and Nashville Star judge Jeffrey Steele, Mediabase Natl. Dir. Music Initiatives Robin Rhodes, programming consultant Joe Patrick, C05 VP Promotion David Newmark and Kid Rock.

Benefits/LifeNotes (7/15/08)

Congratulations to Danielle Lares-Bouharoun, head of US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management's Music Row office, and her husband, Peter Bouharoun, on the birth of their son, Peter Shayeb (“Shay”) Bouharoun. Shay was...

Industry News Tuesday (7/15/08)

Dierks Bentley, Emerson Drive, Johnny Reid and Doc Walker will perform at the Canadian Country Music Awards in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Sept. 8. Nominees for the CCMA Awards will be announced July 30 at press...