NASHVILLE SKYLINE: A New Country Music Quiz
Spring has sprung, so I think it's time to kick back a little and try a restful country music quiz. Googling is allowed. The answers are below.
Lady Antebellum Make Their Mark at Ryman Auditorium
Something extraordinary happened between the time tickets went on sale in January and when Lady Antebellum walked onstage Wednesday night (March 10) at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium: In a matter of weeks, they became major stars.
Music Row Celebrates Jason Aldean's Latest No. 1, "The Truth"
BMI, the performance rights agency, applauded songwriter Ashley Monroe for co-writing Jason Aldean's latest No. 1 single, "The Truth," with a Monday (March 8) afternoon party at the organization's Nashville headquarters. It was her first chart-topper.
I'm Not the Only One Who Gets Melissa Peterman
Even if you only know bits and pieces of Melissa Peterman as Barbara Jean on Reba, as the host of CMT's The Singing Bee, or her breakout role as Hooker #2 in Fargo, it would be impossible to not think she's funny. I think if you know her, you love her. And now that she [...]
Seven Surprising Singers With a No. 1 Country Hit
As I've been flipping through Joel Whitburn's Billboard Hot Country Songs, an invaluable book that recounts the peak position of every single that's ever charted in country music, I've jotted down a few surprising statistics about unlikely success stories. For example, here are seven singers that you might not expect to have a No. 1 [...]
Chelsea Handler Comes Around to Country Music
I was at Chelsea Handler's show last night. Not the Chelsea Lately talk show, although that would be great to see someday, but her stand-up comedy show, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, which kicked off here in Chicago last night. It was hysterical on so many levels, but most of it was too R-rated to repeat [...]
Lance Smith Hosts a Workshop on Hosting Shows
Gone, but so not forgotten. That's how I feel about Lance Smith, the former CMT Top 20 Countdown host and red-carpet anchor for every country music awards event I ever watched. He left CMT late last year, which bummed me out, but I've kept in virtual touch with him after he moved out to Los [...]
Happy 50th Birthday, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge
If you've ever been to Nashville, you've surely visited the world famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Lower Broadway. It's the epitome of a honky-tonk where country music can be heard continuously on that tiny wooden stage by the front door. It's where Kris Kristofferson's name is written on the ceiling upstairs and pictures of Waylon [...]
Lady Antebellum Trade Motel 6 for a Million Sales
It's hard to picture Lady Antebellum even setting foot in a Motel 6, let alone sharing a room in one. But before the band was well-known, selling more than a million copies of a single album was a dream the band hadn't even had yet. In this USA Today story, the group's big three (Hillary [...]
Miranda Lambert's "House" Takes Me Back Home
If a childhood home can build you, I think that maybe a song can write you. At least that's how I feel when I listen to Miranda Lambert's latest single, "The House That Built Me." When she sings these words about going back home, it sounds like the lyrics wrote her. Or maybe they just [...]
Top 10 Tracks I'm Digging Right Now
Two words: Ryan Bingham. I know for some of you, he was all the Americana rage Before The Oscar (B.T.O.), so maybe I'm a little late. But after Bingham won the Academy Award with T Bone Burnett for best original song for "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart, I started looking into his other songs [...]
Love Goin' Right, Love Goin' Wrong
Maybe more so than in any musical genre, love reigns supreme in country music. And if you look at the wide range of songs that love has inspired, it's clear that country music has the unique ability to cover the complete progression of a relationship. To begin with, there's the excitement and promise of young [...]
George Jones' Hard-to-Find Hits Finally Emerge
Last year I attempted to make a playlist encompassing George Jones' career in country music, but despite numerous compilations and box sets at my disposal, I couldn't track down his signature hits from the late 1960s and early 1970s when he recorded for the Musicor label. Later I learned that perpetual lawsuits have kept those [...]
