TNS Video History- Lyle Lovett- "That's Right You're Not From Texas"

Longtime Grand Ole Opry Member Wilma Lee Cooper Passes

Wilma Lee Cooper, who teamed with husband Stoney Cooper as a top country duo for some three decades and earned the title "The First Lady of Bluegrass," has passed away at the ripe old age of 90. She died Tuesday of natural causes at her home in Sweetwater, Tenn., The Grand Ole Opry announced Friday.

Elizabeth Cook probably said it best this afternoon, "Sad to know of the passing of Wilma Lee Cooper, a personal hero and original punk rockin honky tonk girl."

She and her husband began recording in the late 1940s, then performed regularly on the Opry from 1957 until his death in 1977. She continued as a solo singer on the show until 2001. With her husband, they had such hits as "Cheated Too," ''There's a Big Wheel" and "Come Walk With Me." The two were members of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

Wilma Lee was known for her big voice and boundless enthusiasm. In 1974, the Smithsonian Institution honored her as "The First Lady of Bluegrass."

She had a stroke at age 80 in 2001, leaving her voice and speech affected. After that, she lived in Sweetwater with a caretaker. In February 2005, she walked onto the stage during an Opry show at the Ryman Auditorium and received a standing ovation. She also joined in a group sing-along in September 2010 when the Grand Ole Opry House reopened after being closed four months because of flooding.

Cooper was born in Valley Head, W.Va., and sang with her parents and siblings as the bluegrass and gospel group The Leary Family.

The Opry said she asked that there be no memorial service. "She will be remembered for her music and her faith," the Opry statement said.

New Music From Emily West- Hear it Here

Emily West took to her Facebook account yesterday and unveiled lots of new music that she's sharing with the world. She says, "A new baby I just birthed is ready for her debut on FB. Check it out. You like-y?" You can listen to several of the new songs below.

Boys in the Morning by EmilyWestMusic. Uploaded with BandPage by RootMusic Damn, You Were Mine by EmilyWestMusic. Uploaded with BandPage by RootMusic Blow Your Mind by EmilyWestMusic. Uploaded with BandPage by RootMusic Keepin It Young by EmilyWestMusic
Gold by EmilyWestMusic
Supergirl by EmilyWestMusic

Brad Paisley Honors His Guitar Heroes In Book Form In November

Brad Paisley's new book, Diary of a Player, will be published on November 1 by Howard Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. The book is "a salute to the guitar gods of country, blues, and rock 'n' roll who have shaped his life," according to press materials. In addition, the book tells the story about how Paisley's love for his guitar is a constant theme throughout his life. Paisley co-wrote the book with David Wild, a contributing editor to Rolling Stone and an Emmy-nominated television writer and producer.

From the press release notes: 
This book is the very personal story of how Brad Paisley came of age as a musician and a man. Focusing on what it means to play the guitar and how he found his voice through a series of guitars, the book will also share what he has learned about life along the way. Beginning with his own very personal love letter to the guitar and what the instrument has meant in his life as a way to find his voice in the world, the book then moves into a musical, but personal, diary. Brad tells the story of his own musical passion, while writing loving salutes and sharing memorable tales about all the great players in country, blues, and rock & roll who have inspired him over the years.

As he wrote in liner notes of his instrumental guitar album, Play, his first guitar was a gift from his grandpa when Brad was only eight. Brad quickly learned that no matter how he changed and evolved, the guitar was his only real constant. When life gets intense, he says, “there are some people who drink, who seek counseling, eat, or watch TV, cry, sleep, and so on. I play.”

Country Music Loses Songwriter Don Wayne

Country artist/songwriter Don Wayne has passed away at the age of 78 following a battle with cancer. Wayne had written for numerous country music artists and is best known for his song “Country Bumpkin,” which won CMA and ACM “Song Of The Year” in 1974.

In an interview with Wayne, "I think "Country Bumpkin" is by far my best song and it will always be special cause "it" came along and picked me up at a very low point in my songwriting career. I love all my songs but I also feel a special affection for those recorded by the heroes I idolized as a youngster, among those are "Don't Water Down the Bad News" by Ernest Tubb, "What in Her World Did I Do" by Eddy Arnold and "MacArthurs Hand" by Tex Ritter."

In 1978, Mr. Wayne was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Mr. Wayne went on to serve as president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and he remained devoted to songwriting throughout his life. His songs were recorded by numerous artists, including Country Music Hall of Famers Bill Anderson, Jean Shepard, Eddy Arnold and Ernest Tubb.

“You could sit in a room to write a song with him, but he wouldn’t sit,” said friend and co-writer Glenn Warren. “He would pace back and forth, like there was no one else in the room, and what he was doing was working out the line exactly the way he wanted it to go. Don was a perfectionist. Nothing was good enough unless he thought it was great.”

New Music Video From Sonia Leigh- "My Name Is Money"

Jaron Lowenstein (of Jaron and the Long Road To Love) Starts The Cordovas

Jaron Lowenstein of Jaron and the Long Road to Love, known for his clever country hit “Pray For You” and early 2000's smash hit “Crazy for this Girl” from pop duo, Evan and Jaron, has recorded a genre-bending album with Joe Firstman (former band leader of Last Call with Carson Daly) and their new band Cordovas. The new release, which shifts from Southern Rock to Alt/Country to Gospel then Bluegrass, sometimes within a single track, was made available worldwide on iTunes and TheCordovas.com yesterday, Tuesday, September 13.

“This whole project has been one giant musical evolution... and still continues to evolve daily," said Jaron. "Joe and I had no idea where this would lead when we began working together back in May, but we knew that combining our strengths would lead to a sum that is greater than the individual parts. We set out to create the best music we could -- music that would inspire us first with the belief that if we're moved by it, others will be too."

The band is making the new album available for sale in physical form at live shows, digitally worldwide on iTunes and for FREE (download) at their official website, TheCordovas.com. Their decision to allow it to be downloaded for free stems from their belief that art should be made available to everyone with no barrier for entry.

"Superfans will immediately buy the record, some may download and then buy it for a friend or some may enjoy it and never pay for it," Jaron said. "How they get the album isn't our concern. That they get the album is."

For a sneak preview of the release, click to watch this exclusive music video for track #6, “Old Dog.”


Track Listing:
Produced by Rick Parker & JF
Engineered by Kenny Woods

1. All I Found (3:05)
2. Southern Rain (6:14)
3. Maria (4:41)
4. Step-back Red (4:20)
5. Storms (3:41)
6. Old Dog (3:29)
7. Salome (3:56)
8. Tell Me You're Not Telling The Truth (3:36)
9. Standin’ On The Porch (4:05)
10. Louisiana Hurricane (4:47)
11. Feel Good To Be Free (5:38)

"The Grandfather Of Bluegrass" Wade Mainer Passes Away

Wade Mainer, the legendary banjo player from Weaverville whose mastery of early mountain music earned him the title “grandfather of bluegrass,” died at his home in Flint, Michigan yesterday. He was 104.

Mainer’s friends and fellow musicians credit him with preserving traditional Southern Appalachian music and helping to shape contemporary bluegrass.

"Wade Mainer's influence is far-reaching,” said David Holt, a Grammy-winning musician and storyteller who knew Mainer for years. “Doc Watson, Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley all have said that after hearing Wade, it changed their music,” Holt said.

Mainer, who died Monday, grew up listening to his family play the mountain music of the region and by the 1920s was performing publicly with his wife, Julia Mainer. In the 1930s he experimented with innovations that would set the stage for Monroe, Earl Scruggs and others as bluegrass evolved. With his band, the Sons of the Mountaineers, he is credited with bridging the gap between old-time mountain music and Bluegrass and is sometimes called the "Grandfather of Bluegrass." In addition, he innovated a two-finger banjo fingerpicking style, which was a precursor to modern three-finger bluegrass styles.

Originally from North Carolina, Mainer's main influences came from the mountain music of his family. In a career that began in 1934 and spanned almost six decades, Mainer transitioned from being a member of his brother's band into the founder of his own ensemble, the Sons of the Mountaineers, with whom he performed until 1953, when he became more deeply involved with his Christianity and left the music industry. After working at a General Motors factory and attending gospel revivals,

“The Steep Canyon Rangers had the privilege of hearing Wade Mainer sing ‘I Can’t Sit Down,’” said band member Woody Platt. The Steep Canyon Rangers perform regularly with major artist Steve Martin. “We were so taken by the song and the energy between the two of them we went home and arranged our version. To this day it is one of our most requested songs,” Platt said.

Buncombe County native and Grammy-nominated banjo player George Buckner learned Mainer’s style, visited with him here and at his home in Michigan and performed with Mainer on the radio in Asheville in 2004. “Wade Mainer was the first person to record bluegrass standards like ‘Little Maggie’ and ‘Take Me in Your Lifeboat,’ and a lot of others, before Bill Monroe or Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs did. He is a really important person in the history of the music. He will be dearly missed by me and many others,” Buckner said.

Country Music News Round-Up: Mark Wehner Passes & Taylor Swift Covers Alan Jackson

• Nashville lost a singer/songwriter and a good music aficionado with the passing of Mark Wehner this past week. Wehner created/produced the weekly Americana Tonight showcase series in Nashville, one of the nation’s most respected vehicles for presenting live Americana performance to the industry. Mark was also an Americana artist himself with two highly touted releases, including That’s The Way That It Goes (Hayden’s Ferry Records.) and Wait ... I Wasn't Finished. Peter Cooper did a feature on him just a week or two ago as he entered hospice.
• Bucky Covington (pictured) signed to a new label. 
• The black and white shadows are stunni ng on the new Little Big Town music video for “Shut Up Train.”
• Jack Ingram unveiled a brand new track he wrote with Chris Knight called “Stained Glass Window.”  Watch him play it live for you HERE
• Taylor Swift covered Alan Jackson’s iconic “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning) during her concert on this past 9/11 ten year anniversary weekend.
• George Jones and Elizabeth Cook are going to be guest stars on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim feature Squidbillies.
• Don Williams is going to be honored at the 49^th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards with the ASCAP Golden Note Award- they’re highest honor. 

Johnny Reid, Terri Clark & Dean Brody Are Big Canadian Country Music Award Winners

Johnny Reid and rising star Dean Brody each took home three trophies at the Canadian Country Music Awards tonight being held this year at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum.

Reid won the Fans' Choice Award, Male Artist of the Year and the CMT Video of the Year honors with "Today I'm Gonna Try and Change the World.". The Scottish-born, Toronto-transplant came into the evening holding a leading six nominations, including Album of the Year, for his sixth studio album A Place Called Love, which is certified double platinum in Canada.

But it was Dean Brody that took home the Album of the Year Award for his stellar work on Trail in Life. Brody also won Songwriter of the Year for the album's title track and won the Single of the Year for the same song.

"Every year I tell him 'one of these days, Dean, you're going to stand up there and take home not only a piece of glass but something much more than that,'" said Reid. "All the years and hard work ... to be recognized, it's wonderful."

"At one point we're living in (my wife's) parents' garage, I was so embarrassed, was hiding out from my own friends in my own town," recalled a teary Brody during his speech on stage."To be here today and to see my dad out there, he was crying. My dad doesn't cry. That means the world to me coming from where we started out."

Longtime country veteran Terri Clark took home the female artist of the year category for her fourth career CCMA. Clark was choked up during her speech too, telling the audience "I'm going to try and do this without crying." It was her first CCMA without her mother, who passed away due to cancer at 60. "It was a little bittersweet winning the award tonight," said Clark. "She was extremely important to me."


2011 CCMA WINNERS LIST:

FANS’ CHOICE AWARD
Johnny Reid

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Trail in Life — Dean Brody

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Trail in Life — Dean Brody

SONGWRITER(S) OF THE YEAR
Trail In Life (written by Dean Brody; recorded by Dean Brody)

FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Terri Clark

MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Johnny Reid

CMT VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Today I’m Gonna Try and Change the World — Johnny Reid

GROUP OR DUO OF THE YEAR
Hey Romeo

ROOTS ARTIST OR GROUP OF THE YEAR
Jimmy Rankin

RISING STAR
Chad Brownlee

FREE Bob Seger Music on i-Tunes- Today Only

A 24-hour exclusive for USA TODAY/Gannett readers: Download a free six-song Bob Seger EP (featuring "Hollywood Nights and "Mainstreet") as his classic rock hits arrive for the first time on iTunes.

Available September 12, 2011 until 11:59 PM (EST). 

Click HERE to download.

That Nashville Soundbites- Brantley Gilbert- Halfway to Heaven

That Nashville Sound receives many different CD releases throughout the year from indie and new artists that we’re doing short mini CD reviews on. We call them That Nashville Soundbites- it’s a feature that will allow us to give some props to some albums and artists that deserve a spotlight on their work.

Release Date: September 2011
Music Label: Valory Music Group
The Skinny: In the time since his last album, Modern Day Prodigal Son, until now, Gilbert has moved more from a Jason Aldean sound to a more southern rock influenced Lynyrd Skynyrd sound. With themes of bad boy behavior, this sophomore album finds Gilbert cementing his personality on the still-safe-for-soccer-moms outlaw movement aka Eric Church. "Saving Amy" is an outstanding track worth hearing- a tune written from a ghost's perspective. This album was originally released a year ago by Average Joe's and has a new version of Aldean's big hit, "Dirt Road Anthem"
Sounds Like: Shooter Jennings
Standout Tracks: "Saving Amy”, “My Kind Of Crazy”,
The Verdict: Three Stars Out Of Five

New Music Videos From Glen Campbell, Lyle Lovett & Montgomery Gentry

We've got three brand new music videos for you this bright Monday morning. Take a look at Glen Campbell's "A Better Place," Lyle Lovett's Buddy Holly cover of "Well All Right," and Montgomery Gentry's "Where I Come From."

TNS Video History- Vince Gill- "The Reason Why"