Tag Archives | Country music

CMT Music Awards Nominations

By on May 7, 2013 in In The Press, Special Events

CMT Awards

Luke Bryan, Eric Church and Miranda Lambert lead the list with four nominations each.

Video Of The Year

Brad Paisley – “Southern Comfort Zone”
Carrie Underwood – “Blown Away”
Eric Church – “Springsteen”
Florida Georgia Line – “Cruise”
Hunter Hayes – “Wanted”
Jason Aldean – “1994”
Kenny Chesney – “Come Over”
Little Big Town – “Tornado”
Luke Bryan – “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”
Miranda Lambert – “Mama’s Broken Heart”
Taylor Swift – “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
Tim McGraw – “One of Those Nights”

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Release Of Official 2013 Academy Of Country Music ‘ZinePak, Interview With Co-Founders

By on April 5, 2013 in In The Press, The Latest

Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift & More Featured in Official 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards ‘ZinePak

What’s a ‘ZinePak, pronounced ZEEN-pack, you might ask? Only the coolest compilation set of music I’ve seen out yet!

For only $10, you get a full 120-page magazine, 35 songs on 2 CDs from the biggest country artists out there and rising stars, plus bumper sticker and ACM ballot.  What a great deal!

I recently spoke with Brittany Hodak and Kim Kaupe, the co-founders of ‘ZinePak to get a little more insight into this company.  Check it out below! Continue Reading →

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Country Music Blog Rodeo: “Mainstream” Hasn’t Fallen In Love With Country Music… Just The Opposite

By on March 25, 2013 in Special Events, The Latest

Country Music Blog RodeoIf you listen to pop radio you’ve noticed country stars showing up on the playlists more and more. If you watch awards shows, country artists and country music categories are featured more and more. ABC’s Nashville is a huge television success. And country seems to be taking over singing reality competitions (Tate Stevens won The X Factor, and let us not forget Blake Shelton is The Voice’s reigning champ two seasons in a row… and by the way, Cassadee Pope, last season’s winner, has just signed with country label Big Machine). So why has “mainstream” fallen in love with country music?

It’s simple: “Mainstream” isn’t coming around to country. Country is going to it. Not in a conformist way, but a revolutionary way.

“What is country music, really?” is a topic debated ad nauseum, and I won’t touch it. I’m far from knowing where the exact line is that separates country music from not country music; however, there is certainly no need to hold the country music genre captive in a box anymore. Those boxes are obsolete.

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Country Music Blog Rodeo: Remember When Country Wasn’t So Cool?

By on March 25, 2013 in The Latest

Country Music Blog RodeoI remember when country wasn’t considered so cool. In fact, I was one of them that couldn’t listen to “that twangy stuff”. Obviously, I’ve come to love the genre now, but even I didn’t always think it was so cool.

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Craig Morgan’s 6th Annual Charity Weekend Is A Huge Success

By on August 17, 2012 in In The Press

Nashville, TN…(August 15, 2012)…Country Music superstar and award winning television host Craig Morgan is thrilled with the results of his 6th annual Charity Motocross Ride, Concert and Sporting Clay Shoot.  The two-day’s events and auction raised more than $73,000, bringing the four-year total to $250,000.

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CMA Music Fest 2012 Recap

By on June 13, 2012 in Special Events

We just finished up a week of the biggest country music party in the world. CMA Music Fest took over Nashville and broke records. That’s right; over 71,000 fans came to see over 450 artists perform more than 200 hours of concerts. And FOCUS was right in the middle of it!

It would truly be a novel to walk you through the week from my point of view, so I’ll give you some highlights:

 

Monday

Billboard Country Music Summit and CAA New Office Party

Luke Bryan at the 2012 Country Music Summit

Luke Bryan at the 2012 Country Music Summit

I could only make the first day of CMS, but it was still packed with information and fun. We got great insight from industry professionals on everything from touring to radio. We also got an insight into Luke Bryan’s career and examined his rise to stardom, straight from the man himself and his team.

That night we attended the Creative Artist Agency’s new office party in the penthouse of the Suntrust building downtown. Aside from the breathtaking views (from just about EVERY office), the cool technology they installed and the free drinks, we also ran into our friends Jesse Lee, Jana Kramer and Kip Moore. And apparently I met Hot Chelle Rae, but am embarrassed to admit that I had no clue what they looked like.

Highlight: Jana Kramer. Obviously.

 

Tuesday

Chevy Volt Country Music Tour and Country Music Gives Back

Tuesday was my big Chevy Volt excursion that I told everyone about. Don’t worry, the full article and (more importantly) the footage are coming! My friend Hannah and I had a lot of fun… and the footage will probably end up being PG-13, especially with me driving in Nashville traffic.

Then it was off to the Country Music Gives Back VIP Party sponsored by Muve Music. There we ran into Jana again, Rodney Atkins, Lee Brice, Josh Thompson, and got an interview with Thompson Square! Wonderful people; sickeningly adorable; and fun to interview, so watch out for that as well!

Highlight: An interview with country’s hottest duo… one of the highlights of the entire year, let alone Tuesday.

Thompson Square at Country Music Gives Back 2012

Thompson Square with Matt Williams at Country Music Gives Back

 

Wednesday

CMT Music Awards

If you watched the awards, you don’t need a recap. If you missed them, don’t worry; CMT will re-air them 32,598 times this month. I regret that I wasn’t doing my normal live tweeting, but hey, it’s hard to do while you’re there watching. CMT did it right with the two collaborations: Lady A and Hot Chelle Rae opened the show, and Journey joined Rascal Flatts to sing “Don’t Stop Believing.” Epic. We then went to the Warner Music after party where Gloriana performed. Love those guys!

Highlight: Lady A/Hot Chelle Rae killed it!

 

Thursday

CMA Music Fest Day 1 and Jana Kramer Album Release Party

Jana Kramer

Jana Kramer at her album release party!

Now on to the main event. I spent most of my time at the Chevy Riverfront stage. Today I saw Josh Thompson, Jerrod Neimann and Lee Brice. Great performances by all, and Jerrod even ran into the crowd.

After that, we had to go to aVenue for Jana Kramer’s album release party. The One Tree Hill fan base was prevalent, and Jana sang most of the songs off her debut self-titled album. If you haven’t yet, go pick up the album!

Then it was time for the nightly LP Field show. In case you don’t know, these shows feature SIX big-name acts performing each night, as well as the National Anthem and two acoustic performances. It all gets compiled into an ABC special sometime in the fall. Which means, every once in a while, a performance needs to be re-done, and it’s not uncommon for one of the hosts (this year Luke Bryan and Kimberly Perry) to get the crowd excited and make a throw to a band who played yesterday… just for TV.

Anyway, I’ll just run down the list of performances for Thursday: David Nail, legend Glen Campbell, Miranda Lambert, Lauren Alaina, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebelum, Zac Brown Band, Kellie Pickler and Brad Paisley. Not a bad night of concerts. And that was night ONE!

Highlight: Rhinestone Cowboy live.

 

Friday

CMA Music Fest Day 2

David Nail at CMA Music Fest

David Nail

Back to Riverfront to see Thomas Rhett, Jo Dee Messina, Gloriana, David Nail, Craig Campbell and The Farm. Jo Dee Messina performed “Don’t Stop Believing” (second time I heard that song live at CMA Fest… weird) and Brought. The. House. Down. When I say not a single person was sitting or silent, I mean it. It didn’t become one of the best karaoke and party songs in history for nothing, folks.

I’ve also never seen The Farm do a full set. I’ll just say it: Holy shit, these guys bring it! Maybe it’s because they are all crazy talented and seasoned veterans of performing, or maybe it’s their refreshingly eclectic sound (Damien Horne even broke into a beat box during one song), but I would pay serious money to see these guys in concert. I don’t want to say you heard it here first, but watch out for them!

The LP show featured Ronnie Milsap, Brantley Gilbert, Jake Owen, The Band Perry, Gwen Sebastian, Blake Shelton, Randy Houser and Carrie Underwood. I always liked “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” but I never thought about how much of a stadium anthem it could be. How about 65,000 people ALL singing along, waving their hands and waving lighters (and by lighters I mean cell phones). I was actually thrilled to have nosebleed tickets to be able to watch the entire thing unfold.

Highlights: Krista Marie (from The Farm) blew me a kiss from stage then threw me her pick. Everyone else in the crowd, eat your hearts out.

 

Saturday

CMA Music Fest Day 3

Corey Smith at CMA Fest

Corey Smith

Riverfront again: Love and Theft, Kip Moore, Casey James, Heidi Newfield, James Otto and Corey Smith. Probably my favorite riverfront day as a whole. I’m calling it right now: watch out for Casey James. Next Keith Urban. You DID hear that one first. And many people don’t know who Corey Smith is, but the crowd sure did. That’s because Corey made a grassroots name for himself in the SEC circuit. A Georgia Bulldog alum, he has penned some of the greatest underground college anthems of all time. The crowd that was there all knew it, and was singing every word (as was I.) And we even got to see a proposal take place during Kip Moore’s “Hey Pretty Girl.” Congrats to Matt and Trish!

LP Field: Julie Roberts, Kenny Rogers, Hunter Hayes, Love and Theft (again), Little Big Town, Eric Church, Kip Moore (again), Faith Hill and Luke Bryan. Kenny is still orange, Hunter is still a child prodigy, Eric Church is one of the hottest names in country music right now and put on a show as such, Faith Hill was… there, and Luke Bryan is hilarious.

Highlight: Either singing along to “Drinkin’ Again” by Corey Smith or “Boyfriend” the Justin Bieber song Luke covered on piano.

 

Sunday

CMA Music Fest Day 4 and Exhaustion

Sunny Sweeney at CMA Fest

Sunny Sweeney

Quite honestly, after this entire week, I’m not sure I know what was going on on Sunday. Somehow I walked down to riverfront and got escorted backstage before Sunny Sweeney performed (I went with it), but I couldn’t hear or see, so I left and went back down front where I belonged. I love Sunny though. I also love Jana Kramer who performed later in the day (yeah, that’s no secret). In between though, was Lo Cash Cowboys, who I have never seen live. Talk about fun! At one point Preston Brust walked over to the truss (the big thing holding the stage up) which had a neon sign on it that said “Do NOT climb Truss!” Guess what happened next… he ended up re-taping that sign to the very very top of the truss. We cheered.

Last night at LP: A little subdued in comparison to the rest of the week. Sarah Darling, The Mavericks, Bill Anderson, Scotty McCreary, Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson, Steel Magnolia and Martina McBride. Through pure adrenaline I stayed and watched the entire thing, which ended with Martina bringing the house down.

Highlight: Martina singing “Broken Wing.” Flawless. And ending in a 5-minute standing ovation, complete with tears from the singer (and Matt).

So, what a week. I’m still recovering. Patrice I’m sure will have her own reflection on the week with her own highlights. If you were there what were yours? We’d love to know!

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Album Review: Looking For America by Mark Wills

By on January 9, 2012 in Album & Song Reviews

Mark Wills - Looking For AmericaMark Wills’ newest, Looking For America is… predictable. Not predictable in a “Mark Wills” kind of way – because frankly, I haven’t heard all that much of his stuff before. No, predictable as in a “country music beating a dead horse” kind of way. Every topic of each of Wills’ songs has been done before, over, and over… and over. The album as a whole is by no means bad, just… we get it.

Yes, Mark Wills is talented. Yes, there’s certainly a market for it. But how bout a little originality? Maybe it’s because I have been listening to country music forever, or maybe I just didn’t have my morning cup of coffee; but I found myself getting close to the end of many of the tracks and simply hitting next.

Before I explain myself further, I would like to point out that there is one original song that is an anomaly to my critique: Phantom of the Opry. I like the idea for that song.

But here’s what I mean: The first song on the album is Rockin’ The Country.  It featured such nauseatingly obvious lines as “Hey y’all, yee haw / Little bit of hillbilly, little bit of outlaw” and instrumentation that could be found in any old Jason Aldean, Craig Morgan or Rodney Adkins song.

I wasn’t optimistic going in to the title track, Looking For America. And sure enough, not only was it cliché with respects to America songs, it was cliché with respects to songs about the good ol’ days… the old one-two punch to the horse recently murdered by Rockin’ The Country. But just to make sure the “American” horse was truly dead, the next song is about a soldier! Ok, I actually really like the lyrics to this one; it would be an admiral song on a record with more diversity. However, given the circumstances, it didn’t reach it’s greatest potential. Not to mention, it’s on the album twice, the second time as an acoustic version.

Then we get into a song about forgetting your problems. Another good song lyrically, but it’s about dancing “like there’s no yesterday,” (just a tad corny) and nothing caught my ear about it. Following that were songs about heartbreak, being in love, heartbreak again, The Phantom of the Opry, and then heartbreak again. Actually all of these songs were well written, so for those who enjoy lyrics, this is a good album.

On that note, as you may know, an artist who writes his own music automatically jumps up several notches on my critiquing scale. Well, it’s no doubt this album has great lyrics; it features some of Nashville’s best… but Mark Wills isn’t one of them. He co-wrote one song, and it was the one I lost interest in. However, there are songs penned by Chris Tompkins (Before He Cheats, Voices), the Warren Brothers (Red Solo Cup, Anyway), Brett James (Jesus Take The Wheel, When The Sun Goes Down) and Lee Brice.

I would never turn anyone away from listening to this album, but it will quickly get lost in the shuffle.

Looking For America track listing:

1. Rockin’ The Country

2. Looking For America

3. Crazy Being Home

4. Like There’s No Yesterday

5. Rather Be

6. The Whole World

7. Smokin’ Gun

8. Phantom Of The Opry

9. Where Did I Lose You

10. Crazy Being Home (Acoustic Version)

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Album Review: Love Don’t Run By Steve Holy

By on January 8, 2012 in Album & Song Reviews

Steve Holy - Love Don't RunA review on Steve Holy’s newest, Love Don’t Run is a few months overdue, but it took him about five years to follow up his last album, Brand New Girlfriend with this one, so I guess we have time. A compilation of good ol’ country songs, Love Don’t Run is a solid listen, but I don’t see any track that will launch the country crooner’s career into the stratosphere.

Now, “good country songs” is vague and subjective, so let me tell you what I mean: Love Don’t Run has a versatile mix of tracks with predictable country subject matters: lessons learned, heroes, and love (obviously). The songs are well written, some with similes and descriptives (Like I’m Famous, Wonders), some with funny plays on words (Hauled Off And Kissed Me), and some with romantic emotion (Until The Rain Stops, Help Me Make It Through The Night).

The single Love Don’t Run was a hit, making the top 20, but nothing that will last as a wedding song like Good Morning Beautiful (although an acoustic version of that song is included as a bonus track on this album) or a karaoke song like Brand New Girlfriend. To be clear, it’s a good album! Just don’t expect Holy to be in the hunt for a CMA Award.

Now, since I am a fan of the songwriting, the one criterion that could propel my respect of this album upward is if Holy wrote or co-wrote the songs himself. And (Please wait, while I check the album insert)… he wrote four of them. Ok, not bad. And to his credit, many of those songs were the ones that caught my ear.

For those wondering, he did not write either of his aforementioned charting singles from previous albums. However, on this album, names such as Rodney Adkins, Kris Kristofferson and (wait for it…) Kelly Roland from Destiny’s Child show up in the songwriting credits.

Wrapping this rambling up: I liked the album. It won’t find a permanent home in my CD player, but it’s already loaded on my iPod for when the Steve Holy mood hits me.

Love Don’t Run Track Listing:

1. If It Gets You Where You Wanna Go

2. Love Don’t Run

3. Hauled Off And Kissed Me

4. Until The Rain Stops

5. Heart Of A Hero

6. Everyday Should En Like This

7. Wonders

8. Let The Sun Shine In

9. Like I’m Famous

10. Help Me Make It Through The Night

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Album Review: The Best Of Rascal Flatts LIVE

By on January 6, 2012 in Album & Song Reviews

The Best of Rascal Flatts LIVEYou know the songs… now you get to hear them live whenever you want! Rascal Flatts has compiled a “best of” album of live hits; and although I would have preferred an entire set list to a random 10-song (with two medleys, so 12 and a half songs?) compilation, the album doesn’t disappoint.

I’ve never seen the superstar group live – mainly because I am not big enough a fan to dish out their asking price for tickets – but I’m such a fan of live music, I was excited to hear what they did with the songs.

The crowd sounds aren’t enhanced enough on the album to really tell what kind of show you’re listening to, but it’s pretty obvious many are taken from smaller shows, not arenas. A good idea, and a lovely setting for live recordings, but this is one of the biggest touring bands in the nation… give me arena energy. Having said that, the live versions really are enjoyable and the crowds are obviously in to it. Not to mention, the band sounds great and the guy’s harmonies are better featured here than in a studio.

As I said, there are two medleys on the album. The first is I’m Moving On, Skin (Sarabeth), and Feels Like Today… I don’t know what to think about that sample of songs. They are apparently just saving set list time by combining them. The second medley is their encore of classic rock songs: Boston’s Foreplay/Long Time, and Free Ride by The Edgar Winter Group. The thought of Gary Levox singing Boston had me questioning, but it’s fine… and Joe Don flat out shreds it on guitar.

They hit their big ones: Bless The Broken Road, What Hurts The Most, Stand, and their cover of Life Is A Highway. Missing from the album are Mayberry and Love You Out Loud, and I would have liked to hear Me And My Gang because I think that would be an awesome song live. That’s just me, but overall I think the song choices were solid.

One thing that can really turn me off from live albums is if the songs sound essentially the same as the studio recordings. Thankfully, this one gives so much diversity that it’s actually worth purchasing, even if you own every Flatts song already. Definitely worth listening to. Students earning online college degrees in music should add this to their collections.

5. Medley: I’m Movin’ On, Skin (Sarabeth) and Feels Like Today

6. Stand

7. These Days

8. What Hurts The Most

9. Life Is A Highway

10. Encore: Foreplay/Long Time, Free Ride

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Album Review: Jason Michael Carroll “Numbers”

By on September 6, 2011 in Album & Song Reviews

Jason Michael CarrollI was immediately drawn into this new album by Jason Michael Carroll called “Numbers” released exclusively at Cracker Barrel stores upon hearing the 1st few bars of the 1st track on the album, “This Is For The Lonely“.  What a great voice he has! I would compare his vocals to Chris Young or even a little like Darius Rucker , who both have some of the best voices out there.  I would certainly include Jason Michael Carroll on my list of the best male vocalists in the country genre.

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