Eric Church, Robert Earl Keen, Tom T Hall & John Rich Announce New Projects

Four very different country music artists have announced separate and new projects this week including Eric Church, Robert Earl Keen, Tom T Hall and John Rich.

Following up on the critically-acclaimed Carolina, Eric Church is planning the release what he calls a "experiential, head-turning country album" on July 26, 2011 with the release of his third studio album, Chief.

“I have a theory that all of us [artists] only get a small window of time to make records when people will really listen and care,” said Church. “It’s up to us to move the needle. People like Waylon and Cash or Garth and Strait,-- they all took the format and said, ‘We’re going over here,’ and they each changed the direction of the music a little bit-- helping to make it what it is today.”

Robert Earl Keen, a long-time purveyor of the Texas music scene, is out with his 16th CD in late August. "Ready for Confetti" drops Aug. 30 on Lost Highway. The CD was produced by Lloyd Maines (Dixie Chicks, Flatlanders), who also produced Keen's 2009 album "The Rose Hotel."

On May 17, John Rich will release two separate Six Pak EP's. The first will be the high energy Rich Rocks. Also available on May 17 will be Rich’s EP release For the Kids, paying tribute to the friends and families of his favorite charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Rich is currently one of six contestants left on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” where he is competing for St. Jude. A portion of the proceeds from For the Kids will go directly to support the foundation.

Rich Rocks includes Rich’s hit single “Country Done Come to Town,” along with five additional tracks full of country music’s favorite topics with singles like “Mack Truck” and “When You Get On Whiskey.”

And last but certainly not least, several acclaimed musicians have teamed to record a tribute version of Tom T. Hall’s 1974 release Songs of Fox Hollow. For the project, producers Peter Cooper and Eric Brace assembled artists Patty Griffin, Bobby Bare, Jim Lauderdale, Mike Bub, Buddy Miller, Duane Eddy, Tommy Cash, Elizabeth Cook & Tim Carroll, Gary Bennett, Jon Byrd, Mark & Mike, and Fayssoux Starling McLean. Cooper and Brace also recorded songs for the children’s album remake, as did original crooner Tom T. Hall who sings a new tune he wrote with wife Dixie Hall for the occasion. Recorded at Hall’s Fox Hollow farm outside Nashville, I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow will be released by indie label Red Beet Records and the Country Music Hall of Fame’s CMF Records. Set for release May 23, it will arrive in time for Hall’s 75th birthday.