Artist News Thursday (5/15/08)

Taylor Swift will perform on the CBS Early Show Saturday morning, May 17, live from the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, the site of the upcoming ACM Awards. The following night she is set...

Sierra Hull Releases New Album

05/14/2008

Sixteen-year-old Sierra Hull and band played a sampling of her new Rounder Records CD at an ASCAP's Roots Of The Row party in Nashville recently. Hull, who credits Alison Krauss as her mentor remarked that the release of her long anticipated debut project felt like “graduation from high school into the music business.”

Pictured (L-R): IBMA Exec. Dir. Dan Hays, ASCAP’s Earle Simmons, Rounder Records founder Ken Irwin, Hull and ASCAP VP Dan Keen. Photo: Suzanne Lee

Kellie Covers The Scene

David M. Ross – 05/14/2008

Lying on a sea of green and holding a fistful of Benjamins, Kellie Pickler creates a scene on this week’s wraparound Nashville Scene cover. The story, entitled Stimulate Your Summer, offers suggestions on how to spend your soon-to-arrive government tax rebate check.

One Flew South Visits Music Row

05/14/2008

One Flew South landed at the Music Row offices yesterday (5/14) to perform for the staff. The band’s single "My Kind of Beautiful" is out now and the debut album will be released May 27 on Decca Records.

Pictured (L-R): OFS’s Chris Roberts, MR News Editor Sarah Skates, RowFax Mgr. Michelle Ross, OFS’s Royal Reed and Eddie Bush, MR Chart Dir. Jon Freeman and MR Publisher David Ross.

Arrangements for Dottie Rambo

Sarah Skates – 05/13/2008

A public memorial celebration for gospel singer Dottie Rambo will be held Mon., May 19, at 1 PM at Christ Church (15354 Old Hickory Blvd., Nashville, TN 37211). The public is also welcome to visitation on Sat., May 17, 4-8 PM and Sun., May 18 from 2-4 PM at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home (660 Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN 37204).

A private service will precede the memorial celebration and private entombment will follow.

Donations may be made to the Dottie Rambo Memorial Fund, P. O. Box 50508, Nashville, TN 37205.

Artist News Tuesday (5/13/08)

Dwight Yoakam will make his 24th appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno May 15. Yoakam will kick off the show's seventh season of outdoor concerts with the Mercedes-Benz Summer Concert Series. He...

Radney Foster’s Father Dies in Texas

Sarah Skates – 05/12/2008

John Radney Foster, father of singer-songwriter and producer Radney Foster, died on May 9 after a battle with lung cancer. He was 77. Services will be held today (5/12) at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in San Antonio and tomorrow (5/13) at St. James Episcopal Church in Del Rio, followed by a Texas barbecue and celebration. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Sewanee Annual Fund, University of the South, Thompson Union, 735 University Ave., Sewanee, TN 37383.

Carrie Underwood Inducted As Newest Member of Grand Ole Opry

05/12/2008

Reigning Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Carrie Underwood became the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry Saturday night (5/10), inducted by fellow Oklahoman, Opry member Garth Brooks, before a sold-out Opry House audience.

Dottie Rambo Dies in Weekend Bus Crash

Sarah Skates – 05/12/2008

Gospel singer Dottie Rambo, 74, died early Sunday (5/11) morning in a tour bus accident near Springfield, Mo. According to reports, her bus driver Ronnie Meadows, manager Larry Ferguson, and Web master Chris Barnes were hospitalized, as were Ferguson’s wife, two children and assistant.

In addition to recording her own hits like “We Shall Behold Him,” “If That Isn’t Love,” “Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome” and “I Go to the Rock,” Rambo penned songs recorded by Barbara Mandrell, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and Whitney Houston. Mandrell was on hand to induct Rambo into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame last year.

Rambo had more than 2,500 published songs, many in modern hymnals. She is a two-time inductee into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame—once as a soloist and again as a member of the Rambo trio. She received the ASCAP Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and is a member of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.

Overnight storms and high winds may have contributed to the bus crash. The group was traveling from Springfield to a Mother’s Day show in Texas.

Fun In The Sun In Key West

05/12/2008

Pedestal/Nine North Records artists The Roys, GAC’s Storme Warren and Mercury Nashville artist Jamey Johnson at the BMI kick off party during the Key West Songwriter Festival.