TNS Video History- Radney Foster- "Nobody Wins"

Tim McGraw To Release New Children's Book Next Month

Shannon, my buddy over at Nashville Gab, has some fun new news regarding Tim McGraw. Seems, he's adding to the job title of author on his resume with a brand new children's book hitting shelves on the February 16, 2010.

Tim McGraw and songwriter Tom Douglas have once again joined forces to write another book about the precocious Katie and her dad. Katie has many talents, but she wonders which one will win her school's talent show. With the help of Dad and her faithful dog Palio, and after several amusing mishaps, Katie finally chooses one talent that includes Palio. But at the talent show, she decides to drop out of the contest to help her friend, showing kindness is the best talent of all. Katie's proud dad reassures her that she did the best thing and that while he loves many things about her, he loves her heart most of all.

Taylor Swift & Keith Urban Join "Hope For Haiti Now" Televised Fundraiser Friday

A bevy of top-selling artists will perform a cross-continent televised fundraiser for "Hope For Haiti Now" on Friday. Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting will perform from New York; Los Angeles hosts Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and a group set from Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow; Coldplay joins Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna in London.

The two-hour program will be simulcast on all major networks, HBO and music-themed cable channels and online at video sites including YouTube and Hulu. It will benefit on-the-ground-in-Haiti charities like Oxfam, Partners in Health, the Red Cross and Jean's Yele Haiti organization.

New Lonestar Album Party Heard Around The World To Land In April

Lonestar, consisting of original members Dean Sams, Keech Rainwater, and Michael Britt, as well as lead vocalist Cody Collins who joined the group in 2007 will be releasing a brand new album this April under the Saguaro Road Record label.

This will be the band's first studio album in four years. Party Heard Around The World, their 10th album, is a total ‘hands on’ creative effort, produced by the band with eight of the ten tracks written by the foursome. Noted lead guitarist and original member Michael Britt said in a recent interview: “We feel that this album is a complete reflection of the group, circa 2010. It’s personal and powerful music that reflects the core values of Lonestar through lyrics, performance and production.” The street date is April 27th.

Known both for their strong country roots as well as their multi-genre crossover appeal that’s led to a history of success on the pop/rock charts, Lonestar has only their own career records to break. To date, the band has RIAA certified sales in excess of 10 million album units since their national launch in 1995. The Texas bred band has had an impressive list of hit singles on the country charts, including ten #1’s as well as nine Top 40 songs on the pop charts. Signature songs in the mid-90’s included early #1 hits such as “No News,” and “Come Cryin’ To Me.” Their 1999 album release, Lonely Grill, produced Lonestar’s biggest crossover smash to date, the ballad “Amazed,” which spent eight weeks at the #1 spot on the country charts as well as reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The dual win made them the first country act since Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton’s “Islands In the Stream” in 1983 to accomplish this career milestone. Three more singles from the band (“Smile,” “What About Now,” and “Tell Her”) followed to #1 as the Lonely Grill album was certified multi-platinum. Lonestar dealt listeners a follow-up platinum hand with the release of their I’m Already There album (2001) with the title track lead-off single spending six weeks at #1 as the album was on the way to platinum certification.

An Interview With Terri Clark Over At The 9513

Terri Clark has had an incredible career with a long list of musical accomplishments that include 19 charted singles, two #1s, multiple platinum records, a Grand Ole Opry membership and numerous Top 10s. Any country fan recognizes smash country hits like “Easy On The Eyes,” “Girls Lie Too,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” and “I Wanna Do It All.”

And with a brand new album called The Long Way Home that came out late last year, she continues on that legacy. I had a chance to sit down with Terri and talk about the new album, a change in life priorities, and even a little bit about how us Americans (she's Canadian) can't quite handle our winters. There's a little snippet of the interview below, but you can view the rest of it HERE.

"Country music is about real life. It’s about real loss. It’s about demons. It’s about angels. It’s about life. It is a lifestyle type of music–what we face every day in life. Some of it’s good and some of it’s not. But we have to look at it all to get a true picture of it. And that’s what country music has been to me. And it’s about the people who came before me, the people that started out. It’s about the Opry members that I run into every night. They’re the ones that paved the way so a lot of it is about the history of the music to me too."

TNS Wishes Charlie Daniels A Speedy Recovery After Mild Stroke

Legendary recording artist Charlie Daniels suffered a mild stroke while snow-mobiling in Colorado on Friday, Jan. 15th. He was treated at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango, CO then airlifted to Swedish Medical Center in Denver, CO. Daniels was released from Swedish Medical Center on Sunday, Jan. 17th and returned to his home in Colorado, where he has been on vacation since Dec. 27th.

There are no plans to cancel any concert dates. Charlie is doing well and looking forward to beginning The Charlie Daniels Band 2010 concert dates on Feb. 27th in Ft. Pierce, FL and Feb. 28th in Brooksville, FL.

CD Reviews- Waylon Jennings- A Collection Of Six Reissued Albums From 1966 to 1970

Doing something a bit different on this review, we’re reviewing six different albums that have just be re-released in January 2010 including Folk Country, Waylon Sings Ol’ Harlan, Love Of The Common People, Hangin’ On, Waylon and Singer Of Sad Songs.

The Background:
Six of Waylon Jenning’s original albums have just been rereleased on CD with two CD’s to a disc. They include Folk Country, Waylon Sings Ol’ Harlan, Love Of The Common People, Hangin’ On, Waylon and Singer Of Sad Songs. 1966’s Folk Country is Waylon’s true debut for RCA, and the result of a lot of creative tension between he and producer Chet Atkins (one of the architects, of course, of the Nashville Sound.) And, since four of the songs on Folk Country are by Harlan Howard, it seems natural pairing it with 1967 s Waylon Sings Ol Harlan. Waylon is seriously honing his sound on 1967 s Love of the Common People, drawing upon material as far-ranging as the Beatles, Mel Tillis and Tompall Glaser, while 1968 s Hangin On stretches the Jennings-Atkins collaboration to a brilliant breaking point (Waylon even manages to sneak his own band the Waylors in for a few tracks). 1970’s self-titled release Waylon found Waylon truly beginning to turn his back once and for all on Nashville conventions and begin to reveal his outlaw movement intentions. And Singer of Sad Songs, from the same year, paired Waylon with fellow renegade Lee Hazlewood for a revealing album which up until now, was one of his hardest to find.

The Review:
Much is made of Waylon Jennings' outlaw country movement and the incredible artistic result that came in the late 70’s and 80’s. If that is all you’re familiar with in Waylon’s history, these six albums will be a major revelation. These company-produced pre-outlaw albums are modeled very much in the Nashville Sound movement that was popular at the time including slick studio pro backing, big backing choruses and fairly innocent topics on the first two or three albums.

The first Collectors' Choice's two-for pairs his 1966 RCA debut Folk Country with 1967's Waylon Sings Ol' Harlan. Folk Country includes the chart hits "Stop the World (and Let Me Off)" and Jennings' original "That's the Chance I'll Have to Take." Chet Atkins acted as producer and the album has a little of a 60s-ish folk feel with 12-string, tambourine and harmonica. Waylon Sings Ol' Harlan consisted completely of songs by Harlan Howard- whom Jennings had recorded many songs from before. Jennings had a great affection for Howard's songs, most of his 1960’s albums contain at least one song by the songwriter. The big single from this album is "Busted" which was first recorded by Johnny Cash. Jennings also takes on "Heartaches by the Number," a song that had been made famous by Ray Price, in a decidedly more uptempo production with twangy guitars. "Tiger by the Tail" is a a good representation of the Buck Owens' original.

The next re-release in sequence pairs two more of his RCA albums, Love of the Common People (1967) and Hangin' On (1968). Producer Chet Atkins still keeps the production clean fairly static and the backing choruses there as they were for most of the country artists, but Jennings begins to have a bit more influence over the song choices and his voice is often huskier and more emotive than on previous albums. We begin to sense just a bit of the outlaw in Jennings in the recordings. While the first album, Love of the Common People didn't launch any hit singles, it did for many additional artists. Artists that have rerecorded some of this album include Mike & The Mechanics member Paul Young in the 1980s, Kenny Rogers with "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" as well as Wayne Newton, the Everly Brothers, and the Winstons. Highlights for this reviewer include "Money Cannot Make the Man," the Johnny Cash penned “I Tremble For You,” the Marty Robbins-ish western-themed “Taos, New Mexico” and the harmonica-filled and sorrowful "The Road." Jennings even does a somewhat forgettable take on the Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." Hangin' On shows that with each successive and successful album Jennings' artistic convictions and liberties were getting stronger. This album includes songs written by Roy Orbison, Bobby Bare, Harlan Howard and Roger Miller. Hangin’ On starts off with an outstanding cover of Roy Orbison’s “The Crowd.” Glen Campbell would later take “Gentle On My Mind,” to the top of the charts later on in the 70’s. “The Chokin’ Kind,” has also since become an R&B staple that has been recorded by the several artists including recently by Joss Stone.

As Waylon and Singer of Sad Songs were released in 1970, the venerable but ill-matched Chet Atkins had been replaced and the song-selection varies ever further from Nashville’s most recognizable writers to more classic and new rock and roll songs and material from Mickey Newbury, Tom Rush, and Tim Hardin. As a result, the song and Waylon’s distinctive voice are more of the focus on these albums. Jennings opens Waylon with "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," a 1956 Chuck Berry song that had been a R&B hit and would chart to #3 on the country list. The Mickey Newbury penned "The Thirty Third of August" introduces the first traces of acoustic guitar, high-string bass, drums, organ and strings that would show in much of his later work. The duet with Anita Carter (June Carter Cash’s sister) “All Of Me Belongs With You,” would be one of a couple they would do together. The standout track on the album is the soulful and mournful “Don’t Play That Game.” It highlights the great depth and warble in Jennings’ voice like no other song to date. Unlike most other RCA country albums, the album Singer Of Sad Songs was recorded at their "Music Center Of The World" studios in Hollywood. Only the title track was recorded in Nashville. As a result, RCA Nashville was unwilling to promote the album. Jennings covers the Louvin Brothers' "Must You Throw Dirt in My Face,” the vintage George Jones penned "Ragged But Right," and even the Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk Woman." This album further illustrates the journey of a musician being attracted to the Texas rock-tinged country that was becoming popular in the honkytonks.

Sounds Like:
Merle Haggard

Track Highlights (suggested iPod adds):
Folk Country- Stop The World (& Let Me Off)
Folk Country- Cindy of New Orleans
Folk Country- That’s The Chance I’ll Have To Take
Waylon Sings Ol’ Harlan- Busted
Waylon Sings Ol’ Harlan- Tiger By The Tail
Love Of The Common People- Money Can’t Make The Man
Love Of The Common People- I Tremble For You
Love Of The Common People- The Road
Love Of The Common People- Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town
Love Of The Common People- Taos, New Mexico
Hangin’ On- The Chokin’ Kind
Hangin’ On- The Crowd
Hangin’ On- Julie
Hangin’ On- The Crowd
Hangin’ On- Gentle On My Mind
Waylon- All Of Me Belongs With You (With Anita Carter)
Waylon- “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man
Waylon- Don’t Play That Game
Singer Of Sad Songs- Singer Of Sad Songs
Singer Of Sad Songs- Sick and Tired
Singer Of Sad Songs- If I Were A Carpenter
Singer Of Sad Songs- Honky Tonk Woman

The Verdict:
Folk Country- Three & A Half Stars Out Of Five
Waylon Sings Ol’ Harlan- Three Stars Out Of Five
Love Of The Common People- Four & A Half Stars Out Of Five
Hangin’ On- Four Stars Out Of Five
Waylon- Three & A Half Stars Out Of Five
Singer Of Sad Songs- Four Stars Out Of Five

Laura Bell Bundy's New Video Premieres Today

Earlier today, we featured Laura Bell Bundy in our Up & Coming New Nashville series. This morning, she had the world premeire of her new music video, "Giddy On Up." You can watch it below.

Up & Coming New Nashville- Mercury Records' Laura Bell Bundy

There are two sides to every story, as the old adage goes, and there are certainly two sides to the story of singer-songwriter Laura Bell Bundy’s daring Mercury Records debut release, Achin’ and Shakin’. Laura Bell bypassed the tried-and-true Music Row approach usually taken on country albums and instead created a bold concept album that is essentially two separate albums within one project.

The album’s title aptly describes the project’s division: Achin’ is a collection of slow and sultry country songs and Shakin’ is a group of sassy songs that are equal parts humor, confidence and attitude. One side presents a modern-day mixture of Loretta Lynn, Minnie Pearl and Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw; the other unveils country’s answer to Norah Jones. The debut single, “Giddy On Up,” is an irresistibly upbeat and saucy kiss-off to a cheating lover, while the romantic “Drop On By” oozes sensuality as she beckons a lover to visit. Both sides pay homage to traditional country and soul music with a reinterpretation featuring modern production. “’Two records, one woman’ is my motto,” jokes Laura Bell, who penned all but one of the songs on the album.

“I have two different sides of my personality,” she explains. “I have a crazy, wild, humorous, outspoken personality, and then I have a depth that only opens up when I am alone or with one other person, and that is captured with this album. I really couldn’t do one without the other.”
“I listen to music depending upon the mood that I’m in. If I want to chill out, I will listen to certain music and almost make a playlist for it. If I am running or driving and want to hear up-paced music, I listen to different songs, so I created a two-sided album.”

It’s no surprise that Laura Bell shattered the usual industry formulas because nothing about her entertainment career has been normal. Like two of her idols Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, she traveled the musical highway that spans from Nashville to New York’s famed Broadway.
She originated the lead role of Elle Woods in the Broadway musical Legally Blonde, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. She also originated the role of Amber Von Tussle in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hairspray and played Glinda in the smash hit Wicked. Prior to that, she originated the role of Tina Denmark in the successful off-Broadway production Ruthless, The Musical!, for which she received the Outer-Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk nominations. (Her understudy, Britney Spears, also pursued a recording career.) Her professional career, which began at age nine, includes numerous network TV shows (Cold Case, Veronica Mars) and touring productions of Gypsy (featuring Betty Buckley) and The Sound of Music (featuring Marie Osmond). Her movie credits include Dream Girls, Jumanji, Life with Mikey and The Adventures of Huck Finn.

Her theatrical career has been a wonderful life experience that was a natural extension of her original dream of having a music career. Indeed, her time on Broadway propelled her pursuit of music, exposed her to a community of talented creative people and helped her become a better writer and performer.

After moving to New York at 18, she formed a country duo with roommate Amber Rhodes and they wrote and performed songs in various New York clubs. “In the meantime, I got Hairspray and Wicked, and honestly, that’s how I supported myself.”

“People can look at it and go, ‘You went from Broadway to doing country,’” she says. “I actually went from the country to Broadway. I’m from Kentucky and I always listened to country music. When I started writing songs, it all came out country.

“I moved to New York and my intention was to have a music career, not to do Broadway. For me, it was like I had two different baskets of eggs and one was the acting basket and the other was the music basket and the acting basket of eggs hatched first. The others were incubating, and honestly I’m glad because where I am in terms of the emotional place I am in my life and my ability to express myself is much better now that I’m a bit older. I have more life experience to talk about when I write music and I’m a better performer now that I’ve been doing it for so long. My ability to put on a good show is stronger now, and I’m more in tune with who I am.
“It wasn’t until I was on the Broadway radar that Nashville noticed me. Isn’t that ironic? My showcase was my show, in some ways.”

Born in Lexington, her father is an electrical engineer who owns a manufacturing plant and her mother manages a Victoria’s Secret. Growing up, she had two older half-sisters, and at 16 her parents divorced and later remarried, so now her extended family is like a modern-day Brady Bunch.

Her father was raised in Sheffield, Ala., which is near musical hotbed Muscle Shoals (where his friends started Muscle Shoals Sound and Fame studios), so he introduced his daughter to 1960s soul, while her mother played country music in the house and car. “When I was three or four, I distinctly remember listening to ‘Islands in the Stream’ in the car and thinking it was the best song ever written,” she says. “My mom kind of looked like Dolly Parton, so I thought Dolly Parton was my mom.”

The strongest influence, however, was her grandfather, who was a radio DJ and newscaster who had a voice that was reminiscent of Bing Crosby and introduced her to Patsy Cline, Frank Sinatra, Pearl Bailey and Willie Nelson. “For me, being in Kentucky, the world was country music, and as I got older, I listened to country and oldies. It’s all in this album.”

At a young age she studied at the Town and Village School of Dance in Paris, KY. She landed her first professional job at age nine, requiring her to move with her mother to New York to be in Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular. A year later, she was appearing in Ruthless, which helped hone her comedy chops, and two years later began acting in movies and touring the nation with musicals.

She returned to Kentucky at age 14 so that she could have a normal high school experience. She ran track and cross country and limited her performances to school productions. “I started high school and within two months, my parents separated, which was heavy,” she says. She began writing poetry in high school that she wouldn’t show to anyone, and soon began creating melodies for her words.

After high school, she returned to New York, this time to attend New York University and run on its track team. But she landed the recurring role of Marah Lewis on The Guiding Light from 1999-2001, so her college plans were put on hold. It was during this time that she formed the country music duo with Amber. “Everything we did, our Kentucky came out. We were in the middle of New York singing country songs, which was kind of our gimmick in some way. We took it very seriously. Then we decided to do our own thing.”

After a successful run on Broadway, she moved to Nashville in the fall of 2008 and has spent 18 months doing her own thing in her own unique way. Achin’ and Shakin’ is a culmination of her experiences on and offstage combined with her musical experiences, songwriting and Southern heritage.

“Songwriting and recording is my passion; this is my love,” she says. “There’s a part of myself that has come out that I really like and it’s very important to me. This is a dream,” she says of releasing her debut album. “It has been a dream since I was a kid. I think I always wanted to be an entertainer. There’s an element of that at the Grand Ole Opry, where you can be funny and also be a singer. That is what I really want, that full scope of being a true entertainer.”

Taylor Swift's Brand New Song- To Be Released Tuesday- Can Be Heard Here Now

Taylor Swift just can’t get enough of her fairytales even in her new song, “Today Was A Fairytale.” It appears on the Valentine's Day film soundtrack and will be available in iTunes on Tuesday, January 19th.

Taylor has said to Allure mag about her fairytale obsession, “I have always been fascinated with fairy tales, and the idea that Prince Charming is just one castle away. And you’re gonna run across a field and meet each other in the middle, and have an amazing, perfect movie kiss. And it’s gonna be happily ever after.”

Preview the new song below...

Country Music Hall Of Famer Carl Smith Passes Away

Country Music Hall of Famer and former Grand Ole Opry member, Carl Smith died at the age of 82. Smith earned the nickname "Mister Country" in the 1950's.

According to family members, Smith died of natural causes at his Franklin home Saturday.

Throughout his career, the famous honky tonker had 30 Top 10 Hits including "Let's Live A Little" and "Don't Just Stand There." Other songs of Smith's include “Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way" and "Hey Joe."

He released his last album in the 1970s.

Smith was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame back in 2003 and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry from 1950 to 1956.

The legendary country singer was born and raised in Maynardsville, Tenn.

Smith was married to June Carter Cash for a few years and later was remarried to Goldie Hill. Hill passed away five years ago and the two were married 48 years.

He is survived by his three children, Carlene Carter, Dean Smith, Carl Smith Jr. and Lori Lynn Smith along with 12 grand children and 12 great-grand children.

TNS Video History- Toby Keith's "Big Blue Note"