Robert L. Doerschuk
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Articles by Robert L. Doerschuk
October 27, 2009
Nathan Lee Jackson nourished his talent with a regimen of piano lessons, church choirs, talent contests and opening slots at shows around Winchester, Ky. Moving to Nashville after high school graduation, he followed the well-trod path into the music business, though with two unusual advantages. Th...
October 27, 2009
Produced by J. R. Rodriguez and Phil O´Donnell, Arrivals & Departures, Darren Kozelsky´s debut on Major Seventh Entertainment, conveys a restless, rough-edged energy. Backed by the band he´s fronted in clubs all along the Lone Star circuit, Kozelsky sounds right at home with steel-...
October 27, 2009
Even if they never sang a note, Trailer Choir would turn heads just by walking out onstage. There´s Butter, the front man with the smooth delivery and sharp comic timing; Crystal, whose smile and soulful singing can light up any venue; and Big Vinny, whose determination to entertain would win ...
September 20, 2009
Music found its way early to 18-year-old Sarah Jarosz, beginning with solfège and ear training in kindergarten and culminating with her participation for seven consecutive years in the Organization of American Kodaly Educators National Honor Choir.
But her true muse came in the form ...
September 08, 2009
Established through club gigs in North Carolina as a duo, brothers Mike and Tom Gossin moved to Nashville in 2007 and soon after hooked up with Rachel Reinert. Working now as a trio, they connected with Cheyenne Kimball, a member of the audience during one of their gigs at Nashville club 3rd & Linds...
August 03, 2009
There were plenty of reasons why it made sense that Craig Morgan and Bush's Baked Beans could form an ideal partnership of artist and product, each enhancing and benefiting from what the other had to offer. But for Morgan himself, none of it mattered if not for one essential truth.
"I love to ...
August 03, 2009
Several years ago, seeking a better insight into their customer base, Red Roof Inn assigned its public relations and marketing partner, Florida-based Hill & Knowlton/SAMCOR, to look into the subject.
The results of the investigation were clear. "The Red Roof Inn customer is 'gray-collar,' not ...
July 11, 2009
As technologies accelerate, channels of commerce proliferate and issues undreamed of even a few years ago demand attention, the lessons of the fifth annual Leadership Music Digital Summit (LMDS) can be pared down to one simple but essential truth.
That would be that the music industry's prime mi...
July 11, 2009
Music was intrinsic to film even before Al Jolson ended the silent era with "The Jazz Singer" in 1927. But that relationship is growing more mutually beneficial as Hollywood and Nashville's songwriting community explore what each can offer to the other.
This point was illustrated in several of t...
July 11, 2009
Head in the clouds and dirt in her hair" - that's how Megan Munroe describes herself as a child growing up in Sultan, Wash. She might have added "with a song in her heart," as her father's Country albums provided a soundtrack to her horseback rides with the Cascade Mountains as a backdrop. After add...
July 06, 2009
For much of the music world, Call Me Crazy is a welcome reunion with the voice and interpretive gifts of Lee Ann Womack after her three-year hiatus from recording.
But for Tony Brown, this album represents fulfillment of a dream that dates back to a fateful day in his office at MCA Nashville, wh...
July 06, 2009
Mother's Day brought a special prize to two lucky women: a bouquet of European tulips, Peruvian lilies, deep pink petite spray roses and traditional white and lavender daisies; an autographed copy of Jewel's Lullaby, the first album to be released in the Fisher-Price music series; and a personal cal...
July 06, 2009
Most kids can't wait to get out of high school, but Taylor Swift seemed even more excited about going back.
Her visit lasted just one day in April, though for many who crowded into the Garwood Whaley Auditorium at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Va., it would be a day to always rememb...
June 27, 2009
CMA Board members attended a special presentation at the Hilton Nashville Downtown on April 29. The topic on the table was the state S.379, the Performance Rights Act, introduced into the United States Senate by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and under review at the time of this meeting by the Sena...
June 27, 2009
It was the kind of day that invites lingering outside: abundant sun, just enough breeze to keep the air fresh. But on this late afternoon of May 17, the place to be was past the red carpet that stretched from Demonbreun Street up the steps and inside its destination: the lobby of Country Music Hal...
June 27, 2009
Threatening weather couldn't keep the crowds away from the Mercy Lounge on April 2, as CMA hosted a songwriter summit during Tin Pan South, NSAI's 17th Annual Songwriters Festival.
Seated on barstools before a red curtained backdrop, all four participants presented songs with the relaxed humor...
June 27, 2009
April 28 seemed like any other day at Nashville's McGavock High School - aside from the summons that drew 50 music students into the Choir Room. The risers where singers usually stood were lined this morning with chairs; shortly after these were filled, Principal Karl Lang stepped forward, welcome...
June 03, 2009
Raised in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies, Dean Brody grew up with an appreciation for rural life in British Columbia. After high school graduation, he continued to work at the local sawmill until the business slowdown forced him to take a new job as a miner.
Brody's musical gifts led him ba...
May 16, 2009
Matt Stillwell has figured it out. On his debut album, Shine, produced by Mickey Jack Cones and released by Still7 Records, he walks that line where the gritty and commercial sides of life intersect. These 10 tunes, half of them co-written by Stillwell, are suited equally for radio listening and dan...
May 16, 2009
What does it take for a musician to earn the respect of their peers? One would think the key lies in what you play. But, truth be told, plenty of players can nail a lick like sharpshooters pinging skeets from the sky.
Sometimes it's more what you don't play that counts. And in the case of guitar...
May 06, 2009
Colt Ford has written with Country hit maker Jamey Johnson, Jeremy Popoff from alt-rockers Lit and Southern rap-master Attitude. He has worked with Montgomery Gentry, No Doubt's Adrian Young and hip-hoppers Bonecrusher and Sunny Ledfurd. That may sound like this Georgia native and onetime PGA golf...
May 06, 2009
Fans of the Eagles, and especially those who gravitate toward Don Henley, will find plenty to like in the phrasing, songwriting and overall sound of Eric Durrance. This is evident from the first moments of "Someone I Can't Live Without," the opening cut on Angels Fly Away, one of Durrance's three co...
April 28, 2009
The doors to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville opened promptly at 9 AM Feb. 4. Visitors filed into the building, eager to take in the exhibits on display. Aside from the cold wind that whistled outside, this day was no different than most during these opening moments at the Mu...
April 02, 2009
The doors to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville opened promptly at 9 AM Feb. 4. Visitors filed into the building, eager to take in the exhibits on display. Aside from the cold wind that whistled outside, this day was no different than most during these opening moments at the Muse...
March 07, 2009
Four guys meet at their school - in this case, the University of North Texas in Denton. They hit it off and decide to form a band. They hustle local shows, tote their own gear and try to find time between their classes and part-time jobs to work out original material.
This tale usually ends shor...
March 02, 2009
The less you see of Dan Evans, the more of him there is to appreciate.
That notion inspired this young singer/ songwriter to take a break from his budding musical career in the Chicago area and sign up for the Spring 2008 season of NBC-TV's "The Biggest Loser." Eighteen million viewers follo...
March 02, 2009
It's tempting to say that the easy affinity displayed by The Roys can be explained by their history as brother and sister raised by French Canadian parents in Fitchburg, Mass., and in the tiny town of Coal Branch, New Brunswick, Canada.
That's only half the story, though. Plenty of siblings fall ...
March 02, 2009
Fame is elusive. Once found, it can be fleeting. And when lost, it's hard to get back to where you were before you had won the world's attention. For Jimmy Wayne, that's only part of the story. Before signing with DreamWorks Records in 2001, survival was a more pressing concern than daydreaming abou...
March 02, 2009
On one wall in the Zac Brown Band's rehearsal space, there's a whiteboard covered with details of their many upcoming gigs. On another, the group has scrawled the titles of their favorite songs between a Bob Marley banner and framed pictures of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
This décor mi...
March 02, 2009
On March 3, the evening before the 40th annual Country Radio Seminar officially opens, CMA joins a number of other table sponsors at a dinner and ceremony at the Nashville Convention Center to honor Chuck Collier, Music Director and afternoon Broadcast Personality, WGAR/Cleveland and Gerry House...
March 02, 2009
CMA will join with Radio & Records in co-sponsoring the "New Faces of Country Music Show" March 6 at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville during the 40th annual Country Radio Seminar. All five "New Faces" artists (Lady Antebellum, James Otto, Kellie Pickler, Chuck Wicks, Zac Brown Band) are ...
March 02, 2009
The young artists who comprise Lady Antebellum weren't the first ever to race onto the stage, their faces radiating thrilled disbelief, and tell the world that they truly did not expect to hear their names called as winners at the 2008 CMA Awards.
That doesn't change the fact that they really...
January 12, 2009
Aside from a whisper of electric guitar on the title track and a bit of steel guitar now and then, the instrumentation is acoustic throughout Becky Schlegel's debut album, For All the World to See. Even on the faster bluegrass tracks, her songs are filled nearly as much with light as with sound.
...
January 12, 2009
For more than 20 years, Steve Moore has stood at the forefront of the live concert business in Nashville, whether holding high office with established companies or launching his own independent ventures.
For these past four years, Moore has served as Senior VP of AEG Live!, a subsidiary of Ansc...
January 12, 2009
In September during the CMA Board of Directors meetings in Nashville, CMA Board President Randy Goodman surprised Joe Galante, Chairman, Sony Music Entertainment, by presenting him with the CMA Board President's Award, a distinction given annually at the discretion of the CMA Board President.
G...
January 12, 2009
The International Entertainment Buyers Association has honored CMA Music Festival with its Fair/Festival of the Year Award. The organization, which represents talent buyers, promoters, agents, managers, media, artists, producers and other entertainment-industry professionals, presented the Award a...
January 12, 2009
Those who arrived for CMA's 50th Anniversary celebration on the evening of Sept. 24, were serenaded in the lobby of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum by a medley of sounds: the strains of a string trio, playing Country standards and other tunes with a classical air, and the bubbling of wat...
January 12, 2009
Even among the many memorable moments that filled CMA's 50th Anniversary celebration at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Sept. 24, one in particular stood out, as Country Music Hall of Fame member Jo Walker-Meador walked up to the podium and looked out toward the distinguished guests s...
January 12, 2009
As selected by members of the Billboard editorial staff, the list honors female television executives, record label heads and other leaders whose contributions have made a major impact and inspired generations of women in the music industry.
Their ability to green-light major projects, success ...
January 12, 2009
Not many songwriters in Nashville would see one of their songs hit No. 1 and another climb the Top 5 and respond with the words, "Oh, bummer."
Yet that was part of Jennifer Hanson's reaction to the news early in 2007 when Bucky Covington released "A Different World," her co-write with her husba...
January 12, 2009
In older times, ships at sea found their way home by triangulation. In today's music industry, artists can similarly chart their courses through the relationship of three points.
For Amber Rhodes, the first of these is Lexington, Ky., where she grew up with a love of Country Music. Point two is...
January 12, 2009
The title Meet Glen Campbell is a little puzzling, considering the album was released this year.
After all, it's hard to imagine anyone who hasn't heard the music of Glen Campbell. Certainly that's true of those who were around when "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" was drawing 50 million view...
December 01, 2008
Raised by his mother in Lake, Miss., Randy Houser learned about taking responsibility long before he neared adulthood. He and his sister picked up other lessons during summer visits to their dad, including how important music can be in negotiating the hurdles of life.
From age 13 through his yea...
December 01, 2008
Goddess, Shawna Russell's debut album on Way Out West Records, wraps mainstream pop, romantic balladry and high-impact rock 'n' roll into a pure Country package. The Oklahoma native's singing echoes Martina McBride, Stevie Nicks or Bonnie Raitt, depending on how hard the drums drive or the power cho...
December 01, 2008
On Aug. 5, Mary Kay, the Official Beauty Sponsor of "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards," kicked off the second annual round of "A Kiss for Country" campaign with Jewel.
Introduced jointly by Mary Kay and CMA last year to help combat domestic violence and increase awareness for the cause, the program fo...
October 29, 2008
Whether you're talking about your favorite music or your favorite ride, the look is an important part of the equation. Chevy, in collaboration with CMA, has made this clear throughout the five years it has issued its "Year in Country Music" calendar, and with its 2009 edition the point is made more ...
October 29, 2008
When Premiere Radio Networks, the largest radio network in the United States, comes to Nashville to set up coast-to-coast, local-market coverage of the CMA Awards, you can measure their dedication by one simple statistic.
From the moment they flick on the lights at their broadcast headquarters...
October 29, 2008
Many of the artists on the CMA Awards owe their "camera-ready" look to the hair and makeup wizards of Nashville's Trim Classic Barber and Legendary Beauty, who debuted last year as the event's backstage salon. While about half of those who appear on camera travel with their own entourage, the rest o...
October 29, 2008
Since 2002, David Wild has authored the copy read by hosts and presenters on the CMA Awards. From the top of the show to the sign-off, from heartfelt tributes to humorous one-liners, what's said at the Awards podium owes much of its eloquence to this Emmy-nominated television writer, Rolling Sto...
October 16, 2008
Sierra Hull has played on the Grand Ole Opry, won instrumental contests, performed at Carnegie Hall and shared the stage with Sam Bush, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs and other artists - not bad for a 16-year-old, though those who've known her for a while aren't surprised at the trajectory of her young...
October 10, 2008
"Go ahead," said Storme Warren, grinning broadly. "Guess which one."
He was rotating his arms, one at a time, in wide circles, forward and backward. It was impossible to identify that it was his left shoulder that sustained multiple major injuries just four months previously, when the popular hos...
October 10, 2008
Roger Murrah knows as much as anyone about writing songs. He has written or co-written 76 hit songs, according to Billboard. He served two terms as President of the Nashville Songwriters Association International and is currently serving a third term as Chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Hall o...
September 29, 2008
Early on the morning of Sept. 10, in the studios of ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Times Square in New York City and at the Sommet Center in Downtown Nashville, the nominees for the 2008 CMA Awards were made public to the world.
Welcomed by ABC News correspondents Sam Champion and Robin Robe...
September 29, 2008
Moments after wrapping up his roles as audio announcer of the CMA Awards nominees on Premiere Radio Networks and as co-announcer of some CMA Awards finalists for a special edition of "CMT Insider" at the Sommet Center in Nashville Sept. 10, James Otto - a nominee himself in the Best New Artist of th...
September 20, 2008
Recording a studio album is an exercise in artistry. Each detail can be shaped as closely as possible to the performer's vision, exactly as a painter transforms a blank canvas into a reflection of life.
Live albums differ almost to the point of being opposite in nature. They are essentially jo...
September 20, 2008
Some people are born to perform but they still need a little nudge toward the spotlight to fulfill that destiny. So it was with 8-year-old Jeremy McComb when his father, a full-time musician, pulled him onstage to sing a chorus of "On the Road Again." By age 17 he was on the road, and at 21 was mixi...
September 08, 2008
From the opening shot of LP Field, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans, its lights gleaming against the evening sky in Nashville and its seats and field jammed with cheering Country Music fans, to the last notes fading after two hours of celebration, "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock" is a...
September 08, 2008
Perfectly positioned to bring the summer to a spectacular close, "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock" airs 9-11 PM/ET Monday, Sept. 8, on the ABC Television Network with three of Country Music's hottest young ladies as hosts - Julianne Hough, Kellie Pickler and Taylor Swift.
"With the...
September 08, 2008
The Band of Heathens came together more or less by happenstance at Momo's, in the heart of Austin's Sixth Street entertainment district. As regulars at the venue's weekly songwriter night, Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist moved eventually from doing individual sets to getting together onstag...
August 25, 2008
Technically, Adam Gregory isn't Adam Gregory's first album. But seeing as how he cut The Way I'm Made when he was just 13 years old, for distribution only in his native Canada, it can be asserted that his self-titled Big Machine/NSA/Midas/ Records debut album brings a more seasoned 22-year-old artis...
August 25, 2008
Love, laughter and music filled the Ford Theater in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum June 29, as Tom T. Hall and the Statler Brothers were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
It was heard it in the remarks of Ralph Emery, minutes before he presented Hall with the Medallion tha...
August 25, 2008
Tim Hensley's debut album, Long Monday on Rural Rhythm/Blue Chair, promises that the future of traditional music is in safe hands. His renditions of 12 songs, three from public domain and one co-written by Hensley, conveys respect for those values, beyond the music itself, that make the foundation...
August 07, 2008
Alan Mayor is one of the best-liked photographers in Nashville, known for the extensive catalog of candid photographs of Country Music artists he accumulated since moving to Music City in the mid-1970s.
Yet not long ago, others noticed something that had slipped his attention - and nearly cost ...
August 07, 2008
Neal McCoy isn't easily impressed. But when he heard the Drew Davis Band doing sound check before opening for him one night, the celebrated entertainer decided instantly that they were "the best live act ever."
They impress nearly as much on paper as onstage, with a lineup that includes frontm...
July 15, 2008
It's not just the way Texas native Jeff Griffith sings that evokes the sight of a saloon's name in neon blazing against a night sky or the sweetness of beer puddled on a scuffed dance floor. Even if he was only talking, his boots propped up on a porch fence and a longneck in his hand, the down-hom...
July 15, 2008
From its opening outside a small wooden church on a dusty prairie to the hand-clapping, swaying, blue-robed choir whose harmonies soar through the final moments, the video for "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" summons powerful images from deep within America's cultural memory.
Yet this scene, th...
July 15, 2008
Even if you didn't know that Jypsi consists of three sisters and one brother, something in their look and performance suggests that they're washed in a river of experience that runs deeper than most band histories.
Ranging in age from 16 to 26, they started working together when the youngest s...
July 02, 2008
Jerry Kennedy has a favorite lunch spot near his home south of Music City. When he's scheduled a meeting there, particularly on a warm spring day, he might be seen relaxing on the bench near the front door, enjoying the sun and letting the minutes pass until his guest arrives.
On one such af...
July 02, 2008
The world already knows that Julianne Hough can dance. That secret was let out in her teens, when she became the youngest and only American to win both the International Latin Youth and Junior Blackpool World Latin Dance championships. After that she served as assistant choreographer on Gwen Ste...
July 02, 2008
One can't easily picture Ansel Brown in a suit, briefcase in hand, building a budding career as an advertising executive in Charlotte, N.C. What's easier to imagine, when listening to the rowdy up-tempo tracks, saloon weepers and professions of faith on his debut album, is the day enlightenment st...
June 25, 2008
One can't easily picture Ansel Brown in a suit, briefcase in hand, building a budding career as an advertising executive in Charlotte, N.C. What's easier to imagine, when listening to the rowdy up-tempo tracks, saloon weepers and professions of faith on his debut album, is the day enlightenment st...
June 18, 2008
Fiddler/singer/songwriter/actress Amanda Shaw's New Orleans roots display proudly throughout her Rounder Records debut album, Pretty Runs Out, in her street-strut pas de deux with Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews on "Brick Wall," the low-down jazzy blues of her solo on "What's Wrong with You?" and t...
May 26, 2008
It was a tough climb, not a fast track, that Phil Stacey followed on the way to his place among the Top 6 "American Idol" finalists in 2007. Diverging paths confronted him; by following his conscience and sense of responsibility, he sometimes took the tougher road - but those decisions invariably ...
May 09, 2008
Even a blizzard couldn't keep Chris Cagle fans from filing into the Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, Tenn., one Friday night in early March. After all, the timing was right: His new album for Capitol Records Nashville, My Life's Been a Country Song, had made a spectacular debut the week ...
May 09, 2008
Though Country is the foundation for Lady Antebellum's music, other echoes rise and play above that bedrock. Yet they all fit together in ways that testify to these artists' ability to inspire and complement each other.
Their story begins with the friendship of Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley,...
May 09, 2008
IN THE STUDIO: The Session Connection
Resources for Producers and Players
Producers may want to find players for their sessions. And these players want to make themselves known to those producers. So how can these two groups connect?
Generally, there are two ways to make this happen. Variou...
May 09, 2008
It's too easy to explain Justin Townes Earle's gifts as a musical legacy bequeathed by his father Steve Earle. The sound of The Good Life reflects a charisma and sensitivity that would distinguish anyone's debut album, regardless of pedigree.
Earle steeps these 10 original songs in traditional...
May 09, 2008
To fans, releases of classic Country Music television shows on DVD can be a thrill and a delight. To members of the American Federation of Musicians, they can be a headache.
Every musician who appears on a reissued program, from the high-profile instrumentalist to the obscure rhythm guitarist w...
May 09, 2008
In some ways, Cody McCarver's story isn't so different from those of other up-and-coming Country artists. He's a Southerner, born and raised in Dunlap, Tenn., near Chattanooga. He began playing piano in church at age 9 and by 17 had graduated to doing shows in honky tonks.
His path began to se...
May 07, 2008
Phil Vassar doesn't act like a star. Sure, nine songs that bear his credit as a writer have topped the Country charts. As a performer as well as writer, he lofted his first single, "Just Another Day in Paradise," to No. 1 in 2000 - a few weeks before Tim McGraw took its place at the top with anoth...
May 07, 2008
Each member in Nashville-based One Flew South has shaped his voice into a clarion instrument, capable of seamless blends and show-stopping solos. Royal Reed nurtured his in Los Angeles, gigging six nights a week with Country bands and singing session dates by day. Meanwhile, Chris Roberts pursued tw...
May 07, 2008
Texas roots feed the wide-open textures, swaggering beat and rugged baritone vocals of Zane Lewis' self-titled, nationally-released debut album. Though it sounds like he was born with a rowdy song in his heart, he didn't strum his first chord until he got to Texas Tech in Lubbock, while earning an...
April 26, 2008
Though Country is the foundation for Lady Antebellum's music, other echoes rise and play above that bedrock. Yet they all fit together in ways that testify to these artists' ability to inspire and complement each other.
Their story begins with the friendship of Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley,...
April 26, 2008
Even a blizzard couldn't keep Chris Cagle fans from filing into the Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, Tenn., one Friday night in early March. After all, the timing was right: His new album for Capitol Records Nashville, My Life's Been a Country Song, had made a spectacular debut the week ...
March 26, 2008
World-class barbecue is one of many attractions that bring visitors to Nashville throughout the year. But during the four-day CMA Music Festival June 5-8 in Nashville, for two days, Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8, lovers of this most American cuisine will be drawn irresistibly to one place in t...
March 26, 2008
Field & Stream, the world's leading outdoor magazine announced the dates (listed below) for the 2008 Field & Stream Total Outdoorsman Challenge. The event, the country's premier showcase for outdoorsmen, is a coast-to-coast competition to name the most competent and well-rounded sportsman in the nat...
March 26, 2008
Fans come to CMA Music Festival each year with a thirst for autographs, photo ops and great entertainment. But sometimes they're just plain thirsty, and that's where refreshing Tetley Iced Tea promises to come to their aid.
As a new Festival sponsor, the venerable tea company, which has been prod...
March 26, 2008
As a sponsor of CMA Music Festival, which takes place June 5-8 in Downtown Nashville, Repel Insect Repellant is showing its support for Country Music and its fans by launching its first "Repel CMA Music Festival Sweepstakes."
Registration is through May 15 for a grand prize that includes two tick...
March 04, 2008
The ascension of Gary Allan, back from a difficult period of emotional retrenchment and introspection, is welcome and familiar news throughout the Country Music world. But to the crowds gathered at Nashville's Sommet Center on the night of Nov. 30, 2007, it was an event to witness literally.
...
March 04, 2008
The first single from the new album by Ashton Shepherd tells us all we need to know about the soul of this 21-year-old singer and songwriter. On "Takin' Off This Pain," her voice is tough, tender and wise beyond its years and her gift for setting the stage for a song with simple eloquence is in ...
March 04, 2008
Country radio, like the music it champions, is in a state of transition, adjusting to changes in areas as fundamental as technology and whimsical as listener tastes. But unique advantages and opportunities come with this format too, particularly in the affection for this music that strengthens t...
March 04, 2008
Scheduled for 11 AM on Thursday, March 6, the CRS "Woman to Woman" panel packs an imposing lineup of participants. Chaired by Kelly Ford, co-host of "Kelly, Mudflap & JoJo" on KYGO/Denver, the discussion will include ASCAP Senior VP Connie Bradley; Laurie DeYoung, host of the CMA Broadcast Award...
January 30, 2008
Dan Colehour knows how to capture the essence of his corner of the world in verse and melody. He then manages the neat trick of translating that message into a more universal language, so that listeners might sense their corner of America in these songs as well.
A tangible sense of place and time...
January 30, 2008
Next time you pull up to a restaurant in Nashville, look carefully at the valet: That person who took your keys today might be signed to a major record label deal tomorrow. That's what happened with Chuck Wicks, who came to Nashville after growing up on a farm near Smyrna, Del., and attending Florid...
January 30, 2008
If Bob Wills was the Henry Ford of Western swing, then Country Music Hall of Fame member Hank Thompson was responsible for streamlining this vehicle before sending it out, over the airwaves, through international sales of more than 60 million recordings and in countless shows from coast to coast...
January 30, 2008
For more than 10 years, Country Music Hall of Fame member Merle Haggard has been thinking about recording a bluegrass album. Then on Oct. 2, 2007, McCoury Music released Haggard's The Bluegrass Sessions, showcasing somewhat surprising fruits of his ambition.
After all, these performances don...
January 30, 2008
While attending high school in nearby Mount Airy, Md., Laura Bryna performed in Washington, D.C., with the South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and took classes at the Kennedy Center's Summer Drama Workshop. As an undergrad at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, she considered ca...
January 30, 2008
That old saying about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts may or may not apply to The SteelDrivers. It sounds true, though, when you spin the band's self-titled debut album, a set of 11 originals that sound like they've been carved in wood and left in the hills to weather and age. ...
January 30, 2008
The road is long from Jelly Roll Morton to the Beach Boys, but Ken Nelson followed it and even steered it deep into the realm of Country Music, on a journey that ended with his death at home in Somis, Calif., on Jan. 6, less than two weeks before what would have been his 97th birthday.
As an ...
January 30, 2008
If Sherry Lynn had never been born, someone would have brought her to life in a Country lyric. In fact, that song has already been created - by Sherry Lynn herself.
On her Steal Heart Music debut album, It's a Woman Thing, this buoyant singer co-wrote two tracks but penned her most personal s...
December 18, 2007
The first annual CMA Close Up Award of Merit has been presented to Courtney Drake, a journalism major at Belmont University, in recognition of the creativity, dedication and potential she demonstrated while covering the 2007 CMA Music Festival as a volunteer student journalist.
Drake was sing...
December 12, 2007
In conjunction with the National Business Association and Vanderbilt Medical Center, CMA offers an opportunity to all domestic Regular and Sterling Individual CMA members to obtain comprehensive health insurance coverage at an affordable price.
The CMA healthcare plan, CMA Sound Healthcare, ...
December 12, 2007
As far as Marty Stuart knew, Oct. 3, 2007, would end on a pleasing though not epochal note.
With CMA Board meetings underway in Nashville, it made sense that CMA CEO Tammy Genovese would call and ask if he wouldn't mind leading Board members on a tour of "Sparkle & Twang: Marty Stuart's Ameri...
December 05, 2007
There are already plenty of Jason Isbell fans who have come to appreciate his writing, singing and playing within a three-guitar attack during his run with Southern rock mainstay Drive-By Truckers. These listeners will hear something different in his solo debut on New West Records, Sirens of the...
December 05, 2007
Like the sound of her music, the story of Sarah Johns is classic. Raised in a fly-speck Kentucky town, with a father so strict that she was punished when caught listening to a Faith Hill album, Johns learned to raise her head and sing in church before mastering the art of telling life's sad and ...
December 05, 2007
Battling to the top on this year's "Nashville Star," Alabama-born Angela Hacker emerged as a prototype for the modern Country chanteuse: Her voice was raw, switching from tenderness to gut-wrench passion on a dime. Onstage she radiated charisma yet resembled the girl next door. She seemed ready ...
December 05, 2007
When Rissi Palmer invites all the women in the house to "clap your hands . show the world you're a Country girl," she's doing more than delivering a show-stopping vocal over a stomping, fiddle-lashed groove. She's actually practicing what she preaches.
That's the main reason why the world di...
December 05, 2007
Long journeys start with a single step. For David Tolliver and Chad Warrix, the urge to explore began with the occasional short trip to Hazard, whose movie theater and fast-food stands beckoned to those from even smaller Kentucky towns not far away.
From there they made their ways to Nashvil...
November 29, 2007
The story behind Dale Watson's From the Cradle to the Grave on Hyena Records begins with an improbable transaction during the last months of Johnny Cash's life.
Two Johnnys were actually involved, both of them Tennessee legends in rather different ways. Cash, the seller, needs no introduction...
November 21, 2007
He'd grown up watching "The Porter Wagoner Show" in Mississippi; he even appeared on it, as a prodigy picker at age 13. The resurrection of these memories, one fateful day not long ago, was the first step toward the work that would lead this year to Wagoner's latest album, Wagonmaster, on Anti R...
November 21, 2007
When Porter Wagoner, known as "The Thin Man from West Plains" because of his lanky frame, succumbed to lung cancer, at 8:25 PM/CST on Oct. 28 in Nashville, a piece of Country Music history slipped into its rhinestone-studded jacket, stowed its guitar and headed toward the stage door.
Wagoner,...
November 15, 2007
As night falls in Nashville, the skyline as seen from the lobby of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum transforms slowly, its silhouette flecked by lights in the deepening dark.
So it was on Oct. 8, as the Museum welcomed guests to the annual Medallion Ceremony to witness the inductions of ...
October 11, 2007
In some ways, not winning "Nashville Star" may have been a good thing for Lance Miller. Born in Fairfield, Ill., he began building his voice at age 4, when he sang "That's the Way Love Goes" at a wedding reception. By 18, he was cutting demos for local artists in Central City, Ky., a discipline th...
October 10, 2007
Bring up the idea of a day job with the average musician and you're likely to elicit a hostile stare. But, with his new gig at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Bill Lloyd may have found himself the perfect musician's 9-to-5.
The respected guitarist, songwriter and producer recently ...
September 25, 2007
The studios of CMT seemed like an island of tranquility on this late afternoon in Nashville. Here, with lights down low, with exposed brick walls and Oriental carpet encouraging an intimate coffeehouse ambience, The Wreckers - Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp perched on stools and harmonized, for ...
September 25, 2007
Kendel Carson, 22, began taking classical violin lessons at 3, started playing fiddle music at 9 and divided her childhood between those two worlds. Though she rose to perform as a soloist with the Victoria Symphony and had a steady gig with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, she felt drawn tow...
September 25, 2007
Few albums expressed less enthusiasm for the Big Apple than a 1971 release from Buck Owens: I Wouldn't Live in New York City (If They Gave Me the Whole Dang Town). If Owens were here to perform at a CMA Songwriters Series show at Joe's Pub, perhaps he'd change his mind.
Situated in Manhattan'...
September 25, 2007
Elana James' self-titled debut is swinging musical proof that, sometimes, a bump in the road can provide the perfect wakeup call. James spent eight successful and well-traveled years as fiddler/vocalist for acclaimed Austin, Texas-based western swing outfit, Hot Club of Cowtown. Hot Club was tou...
September 25, 2007
You might think that the T. J. Martell Foundation's greatest contribution to combating leukemia, cancer and AIDS is financial.
You would, however, be wrong, according to Tony Martell, the record industry veteran who launched this organization more than 30 years ago and is the Foundation's Cha...
September 06, 2007
There's a special kind of energy that comes from band projects, and Cole Deggs & The Lonesome have it.
The key seems to be in the way every part of their music fits together, as if hammered into place by the ambition that drove them to showcase successfully for Sony BMG less than two days aft...
August 22, 2007
To music insiders, Lori McKenna isn't an unknown quantity. Songwriters and performers have long lauded her knack for infusing an Americana feel with artful intelligence - a blend that places her somewhere between the intimacies of the Boston coffeehouses she once played and the more distant hori...
July 25, 2007
They seem like an odd couple: Ricky Skaggs, dressed to the nines, his tie knotted tightly over a matching charcoal-colored shirt, hair neatly trimmed, seated behind a table on his touring bus. And, to his left, here's Bruce Hornsby, relaxed in jeans and tour jacket, his hair tousled, his long legs...
June 20, 2007
Adam Harvey has the look. Handsome, 6' 3", rangy, a little sultry, he projects a rugged-yet-sensitive charisma, brightened now and then with a grin that suggests a sly sense of humor. It's a look that says Country all the way.
All the way, that is, back to Australia, home base to Harvey, winne...
June 11, 2007
There's a message buried within the lyrics on Rodney Atkins' If You're Going Through Hell album.
Actually, there are two. The more obvious one is suggested by the visual references that bring its stories to life. Thompson's Barn, Martin's Creek, that old gray fence: All of these places in his s...
May 24, 2007
The funny thing about John Anderson's voice is that even back in the late '70s and early '80s, when he came out of nowhere with his first smash hits, something about it seemed familiar.
It took a while to realize that Anderson sings with the voice that America hears in its imagination. It's rough...
March 21, 2007
Nashville and London have a lot in common - English is spoken fluently in both cities. And both towns are teeming with songwriters, though the treatment received by these sensitive souls can differ dramatically from one side of the pond to the other.
It comes down to this: In Nashville, it's ...
November 23, 2006
Mention Radney Foster at just about any venue in Texas and you'll get knowing smiles and nodding heads in response. But beyond the state line his name might earn a little less recognition. That's only natural, since the celebrated singer/songwriter paid his dues on the Lone Star circuit, and one c...
November 16, 2006
The first thing you notice about Neil Thrasher is his deadpan humor; he drops punch lines into his conversation, waiting for a beat or two to make sure they register. He uses that same timing when he's saying something he knows will make a different kind of impression.
"I learn something every ...
October 19, 2006
Part of it was the song - "Long Black Train," a tune that seemed to beckon from a hundred years ago, with a lyric that mixed intimations of eternity with images of rails stretching toward doom or redemption.
Part of it was the venue - the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, where every singer dreams ...
November 30, 1999
America got to know Jason Meadows as the young man with the chiseled good looks, self-deprecating charm and rugged but tuneful voice who made it all the way to second place in the third season of "Nashville Star." But though he looked and sounded right at home on a sleek stage set, bathed in a h...