TNS Video History- Crystal Shawanda- "Beautiful Day"

Country Music News Round-Up- Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Mallary Hope & More

• The salvos that Hank Williams, Jr. and ABC/ESPN have been firing back and forth all week long over Williams interview comment comparing President Obama to Hitler finally came to a conclusion yesterday. There will be no more partnership after two decades of utilizing Williams’ song as the theme song for Monday Night Football.
•  Mark November 9^th as Faith Hill’s comeback night. The Country Music Association has announced that Mrs. Tim McGraw will premier her brand new single “Come Home” off of her upcoming 2012 album that night at the CMA Awards.
• Mallary Hope had not one, but two big announcements this week. First of all, her song, “Georgia Peaches,” was announced as the second single to be released by American Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina. And Hope has released her next single as a solo artist called “Illusion.” You can listen to it HERE.
• A possible freedom date has been set for Tim McGraw. A November 29 court hearing here will decide whether country music star McGraw can record any new albums during an ongoing legal dispute with Curb Records.
• New music from Crystal Shawanda called “You Belong To Me.”

New Music Video From Blake Shelton- "Footloose"

Country Music News Round-Up- Sherrie Austin, Brad Paisley, Big Kenny & More

Sherrie Austin

• In case you were completely living under a rock and hadn’t turned on the internet, read a paper or turned on the radio or the television, Apple founder Steve Jobs passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. And while Jobs wasn’t a musician, he had a bigger impact on the landscape of the music industry than perhaps the Beatles or Elvis. Good or bad, more music is sold through i-Tunes than any other format these days and Jobs ushered in the digital age of music.
• Long time folk singer and guitarist Bert Jansch of the band Pentangle passed away at the age of 67 after a long battle with lung cancer.
• Big Machine Records is hoping they can catch teenage lightning in a bottle a second time with their recent signing of Ella Mae Bowen, a 15-year-old from South Carolina.
• According to BMLG, original music from Bowen will most likely surface sometime in 2012 but the young performer has already a remake of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero” on the upcoming Footloose soundtrack. Bowen will be assigned to one of the label group’s three imprints in the future.
• After seven years away from the recording world, Sherrie Austin has just completed work on her upcoming November release Circus Girl, a self written, self produced and self financed project.  With a return to her recording career also comes a surprise return to television for the former actress.  Austin has just finished shooting a docu-series for Sundance Channel called "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys" which could potentially shake up the traditionally conservative country music town of Nashville. The critically acclaimed show, now in its second season, celebrates and explores the relationships between straight women and their gay best friend and features Austin and her close friend and coll aborator Shane Stevens; writer of the Lady Antebellum #1 hit song "American Honey". 
• On Tuesday, October 11th, Godfather of the MuzikMafia, the BIG of Big & Rich, the Ambassador of Love—Big Kenny—will release The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farm Boy: The Whole Experience Deluxe Edition, a brand new multimedia experience of his 2009 independent release. In addition to the original album, re-mastered with new transitions, The Whole Experience will contain an exclusive 15-page digital art booklet and a 40-minute sing-a-long video album.
• October 9^th is the premiere date of a brand new Sesame Street character that will be a homeless and hungry child. Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams- Paisley will star in the special episode.
• Will Hoge has a brand new music video on CMT called “When I Get My Wings.” Check it out below.

When I Get My Wings - Will Hoge - Will Hoge Videos

The Lost Trailers Reunite (Partially) With New David Lee Murphy Penned "Underdog"

"Underdog," the new single release from The Lost Trailers, is starting to pick up steam at country radio stations all across America.  The song co-written by David Lee Murphy, Stokes Neilson and Jason Sever has been in the Top 10 most added country songs for the past two weeks. And that might not normally be big news. But it is from a band that announced this past year that it was done and had broken up for good.

"I'm thrilled to finish playing out the shows on the calendar for our fans; we've been blessed to have their unending support over the years," said former lead singer Ryder Lee last June. "I'm very much looking forward to the next phase of my career."

"We started this band as a bunch of high school friends with a dream of making music, and we've taken that dream to incredible places that have opened a lot of doors for us," Stokes adds. "I look forward to thanking the fans on our tour dates throughout this year; they've always been there for us. I'm excited for the future, continuing to create new music that becomes part of people's lives."

The former quintet is now down to a duo with Neilson and Sever holding the flag for the former band.

Country Music News Round-Up- Bucky Covington, Randy Travis, Hank Jr, Gene Watson & More

• Crystal Shawanda has officially released her first single from her new Nine North Records Label called “Love Enough” to country radio. Click HERE to give it a listen.
• Bucky Covington finalized his record deal with Entertainment One Music Group and will have a new single out this fall.
• Sugar Hill Records is giving away a free single called “West Side Street” from the Canadian country-folk band Deep Dark Woods. Click HERE to get your single.
• American Idol winner Scotty McCreery has his brand new album coming out today and he also will be singing the National Anthem at the upcoming World Series.
• Randy Travis premiered his brand new music video for “Everything and All” on GACTV. Check it out HERE.
• Monday Night Football theme song singer Hank Williams, Jr. has gotten himself into a heap of un-PC trouble with comparing President Obama to Hitler. As a result, the television studio ESPN elected to pull his “Are You Ready For Some Football” music showcase that usually starts the broadcast.
• Texas music legend Gene Watson almost rolled his bus. These pictures show his precarious position.
• Another longtime Texas singer/songwriter Roger Creager has had five albums released in the Lone Star State and now has a... uh…hilariously funny harrowing (?) tale about a shark encounter to draw inspiration from on his next album.
• Foster and Lloyd did a live recording for Music Fog called “Hiding Out” that’s worth a watch. 

A Hank Williams Movie Preview- The Last Ride

There's a new movie coming out soon starring Henry Thomas, the kid from E.T., called The Last Ride. From the press release:

Hank Williams pioneered and pretty much invented what we know today as country music. At the peak of his career, he was acknowledged to be the greatest singer-songwriter in American history. But after a meteoric rise to record and radio super-stardom in the late 1940's, the man had made a train wreck of his life. Drugs, alcohol, and a hair-trigger temper had ended two marriages, ruined a host of friendships and made the tortured genius a virtual untouchable in the music business. So at the end of 1952, Hank Williams gathered what was left of his physical strength to make things right, and begin the long road back. He booked New Years shows in West Virginia and Ohio, and hired a local kid who didn't even own a radio, much less know who this legend was, to drive him there from Montgomery Alabama. Inspired by the mysterious final days Hank Williams' mercurial life, THE LAST RIDE is the story of that final drive through the bleak Appalachian countryside of 1950's America. A lonely two-man odyssey; a boy coming of age, and a man leaving this world way before his time, a victim of his own abuses.

CD Album Review- Lady Antebellum- Own The Night

The background-

Reigning CMA and ACM Vocal Group of the Year Lady Antebellum will release their third Capitol Nashville studio album Own The Night. The album's lead single "Just A Kiss" has quickly become the fastest-rising single of the trio's career, climbing into the Top 10 on Billboard's Country Singles chart in just six weeks.

Own The Night follows the band's GRAMMY winning sophomore album Need You Now. Since its release in January 2010, the album has sold over five million copies across the globe, spawned three multi-week #1 hits, taken home five GRAMMY Awards and scored over a dozen other award show trophies. The success of "Just A Kiss" already producing massive momentum for Lady Antebellum's highly anticipated release.

The review-

Read my critical review HERE at Engine 145.

Sounds like-

A cross between Casting Crowns and Sugarland

Top tracks-

Cold as Stone

Singing Me Home

Heart of the World

The verdict-

Three stars out of five

Infamous Stringdusters Plan New Album Release in October- We'll Do It Live

One of bluegrass music's finest, The Infamous Stringdusters, will be releasing a live album this month. We'll Do It Live will be the band's first live recording.

According to the band:
The album will be available starting October 7th when we open the gates for the second Festy Experience. That will be the first place people can purchase physical copies of the album. If we do say so ourselves, it is a sight to behold with live and candid pics throughout the booklet.

Recorded Live:
April 29, 2011 - Charlottesville, VA - The Jefferson Theater
May 4, 2011 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
May 6, 2011 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
May 7, 2011 - Falls Church, VA - The State Theater

1. Fork in the Road (Chris Jones) 4:15
2. The Hitchhiker (Jeremy Garrett, Jon Weisberger, Chris Pandolfi) 6:21
3. Long Lonesome Day (Travis Book) 3:06
4. Gettin’ Down the Road (Andy Hall) 7:53
5. Get It While You Can (Danny Barnes) 4:22
6. Masquerade (Jeremy Garrett, Jon Weisberger) 4:45
7. Ain't No Way of Knowing (Shawn Camp) 3:25
8. Well, Well (Andy Hall) 6:48
9. How Far I'd Fall For You (Benny Galloway) 4:21
10. All The Same (Andy Falco, Travis Book) 5:06
11. No More To Leave You Behind (Andy Hall) 7:53
12. Echoes of Goodbye (Jeremy Garrett) 4:20
13. Keep on Truckin’ (John Hartford) 4:17

TNS Video History- Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton- "We've Got Tonight"