Nominees Announced For Third Annual “American Country Awards” – Luke Bryan Earns Seven Nominations

The third annual AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS will air live from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Monday, Dec. 10 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX. Luke Bryan leads the AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS nominees with seven nominations; Lady Antebellum and Zac Brown Band each earned six nods; and Eric Church and Taylor Swift garnered five nominations.

A “Song of the Year” category also has been added to this year’s event, in an effort to pay tribute not only to country music’s top performers, but to its top songwriters, as well. The nominees are determined by the Professional Songwriting Division of the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Starting today, fans can vote once each day for their favorite AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS nominees atwww.theacas.com. Voting is open until Monday, Nov. 12 for all categories, except for Artist of the Year, which closes on Friday, Dec. 7. The nominees for each award category have been determined by four media measurement companies: BigChampagne (record sales and media consumption); Great American Country (video airplay); Mediabase (radio airplay); Pollstar (touring data); and Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Hosted by multi-platinum recording artist Trace Adkins and Emmy and Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, the two-hour live music spectacular is the only country music awards show that gives fans the opportunity to vote for their favorite artists not only in traditional categories but also in a previously unrecognized area – touring – encompassing the entire spectrum of country music and bestowing honors that no other awards show has.

The AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS will feature performances and appearances by the year’s chart-topping country artists. Performers and presenters will be announced soon.

Following is the list of categories and nominees for the AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS:

ARTISTS

Artist of the Year

Jason Aldean

Luke Bryan

Lady Antebellum

Taylor Swift

Zac Brown Band

Artist of the Year: Male

Jason Aldean

Luke Bryan

Kenny Chesney

Eric Church

Toby Keith

Artist of the Year: Female

Sara Evans

Miranda Lambert

Martina McBride

Taylor Swift

Carrie Underwood

Artist of the Year: Group

The Band Perry

Eli Young Band

Lady Antebellum

Rascal Flatts

Zac Brown Band

Artist of the Year: Breakthrough Artist

Lee Brice

Colt Ford

Gloriana

Justin Moore

Jake Owen

Artist of the Year: New Artist

Lauren Alaina

Hunter Hayes

Jana Kramer

Kip Moore

Pistol Annies

Album

Album of the Year

Dierks Bentley, “Home”

Luke Bryan, “tailgates & tanlines”

Eric Church, “Chief”

Lady Antebellum, “Own the Night”

Blake Shelton, “Red River Blue”

SINGLES

Single of the Year

Jason Aldean, “Tattoos On This Town”

Luke Bryan, “I Don’t Want This Night To End”

Eric Church, “Drink In My Hand”

Chris Young, “You”

Zac Brown Band, “Keep Me In Mind”

Single of the Year: Male

Jason Aldean, “Tattoos On This Town”

Luke Bryan, “I Don’t Want This Night To End”

Kenny Chesney, “Reality”

Eric Church, “Drink In My Hand”

Chris Young, “You”

Single of the Year: Female

Sara Evans, “My Heart Can’t Tell You No”

Miranda Lambert, “Over You”

Martina McBride, “I’m Gonna Love You Through It”

Taylor Swift, “Ours”

Carrie Underwood, “Good Girl”

Single of the Year: Group

Eli Young Band, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”

Lady Antebellum, “We Owned The Night”

Rascal Flatts, “Banjo”

The Band Perry, “All Your Life”

Zac Brown Band, “Keep Me In Mind”

Single of the Year: New Artist

Hunter Hayes, “Wanted”

Jana Kramer, “Why Ya Wanna”

Dustin Lynch, “Cowboys and Angels”

Kip Moore, “Somethin’ ’Bout A Truck”

The Farm, “Home Sweet Home”

Single of the Year: Breakthrough Artist

Lee Brice, “A Woman Like You”

Brantley Gilbert, “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do”

Gloriana, “(Kissed You) Good Night”

David Nail, “Let It Rain”

Jake Owen, “Alone With You”

Single of the Year: Vocal Collaboration

Kix Brooks featuring Joe Walsh, “New To This Town”

Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, “Feel Like A Rock Star”

Brad Paisley featuring Carrie Underwood, “Remind Me”

Rascal Flatts featuring Natasha Bedingfield, “Easy”

Zac Brown Band featuring Jimmy Buffett, “Knee Deep”

TOURING

Touring Artist of the Year

Jason Aldean

Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw

Eric Church

Toby Keith

Lady Antebellum

Miranda Lambert

Brad Paisley

Rascal Flatts

Taylor Swift

Zac Brown Band

VIDEOS

Music Video of the Year

Luke Bryan, “I Don’t Want This Night To End”

Jake Owen, “Alone With You”

Blake Shelton, “God Gave Me You”

Keith Urban, “For You”

Chris Young, “You”

Music Video of the Year: Male

Luke Bryan, “I Don’t Want This Night to End”

Jake Owen, “Alone With You”

Blake Shelton, “God Gave Me You”

Keith Urban, “For You”

Chris Young, “You”

Music Video of the Year: Female

Sara Evans, “My Heart Can’t Tell You No”

Miranda Lambert, “Over You”

Martina McBride, “I’m Gonna Love You Through It”

Taylor Swift, “Ours”

Carrie Underwood, “Good Girl”

Music Video of the Year: Group or Collaboration

Gloriana, “(Kissed You) Good Night”

Lady Antebellum, “Dancin’ Away With My Heart”

Little Big Town, “Pontoon”

Love and Theft, “Angel Eyes”

The Band Perry, “All Your Life”

Music Video of the Year: New Artist

Hunter Hayes, “Wanted”

Casey James, “Let’s Don’t Call It A Night”

Jana Kramer, “Why You Wanna”

Dustin Lynch, “Cowboys and Angels”

Kip Moore, “Somethin’ ’Bout A Truck”

Song of the Year:

Trace Adkins, “Just Fishin’” (Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell and Ed Hill)

Jason Aldean, “Fly Over States,” (Michael Dulaney and Neil Thrasher)

Jason Aldean, “Tattoos On This Town” (Michael Dulaney, Wendell Mobley and Neil Thrasher)

Lee Brice, “A Woman Like You” (Phil Barton, Johnny Bulford and Jon Stone)

Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter, “You And Tequila” (Matraca Berg and Deana Carter)

Eric Church, “Springsteen” (Eric Church, Jeff Hyde and Ryan Tyndell)

Ronnie Dunn, “Cost of Livin’” (Phillip Coleman and Ronnie Dunn)

Eli Young Band, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” (Will Hoge and Eric Paslay)

Toby Keith, “Red Solo Cup” (Brett Beavers, Jim Beavers, Brad Warren and Brett Warren)

Tim McGraw, “Better Than I Used to Be” (Ashley Gorley and Bryan Simpson)

AMERICAN COUNTRY AWARDS is executive-produced by Bob Bain (TEEN CHOICE 2012, “Kids’ Choice Awards”). Fletcher Foster, Paul Flattery and Tisha Fein serve as producers. Greg Sills is supervising producer. Michael Dempsey will direct the live special.

About Mandalay Bay

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino is a unique destination resort set on 120 lush acres on the Las Vegas Strip. The resort offers three distinct hotel experiences: Mandalay Bay, a AAA Four Diamond award-winning hotel, with 3,211 luxurious rooms and suites reflecting a modern tropical ambiance; Four Seasons Hotel, a AAA Five Diamond hotel-within-a-hotel, offering 424 rooms and suites; and the stand-alone all-suite THEhotel, which will be redesigned and rebranded as Delano Las Vegas in early 2014. Mandalay Bay boasts an 11-acre tropical pool paradise, featuring real sand, a wave pool and the only climate-controlled, poolside gaming in the city. Other property highlights include world-class entertainment at the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center, award-winning dining by celebrity chefs and restaurateurs, Shark Reef Aquarium and the 1.7-million-square-foot Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Mandalay Bay’s offerings also include BATHHOUSE Spa, House of Blues Concert Hall and restaurant, and The Shoppes at Mandalay Place, a collection of unique boutiques and restaurants. In 2013, Mandalay Bay will become home to a resident Cirque du Soleil production based on the music and choreography of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Mandalay Bay is a wholly owned subsidiary of MGM Resorts International™ (NYSE: MGM). For more information and reservations, visit mandalaybay.com or call toll free at (877) 632-7800 or find us on Facebook and Twitter.

About BigChampagne

BigChampagne integrates, analyzes and reports information about the sale, broadcast and consumption of popular entertainment media. Our partners and sources for data include retailers, online and traditional (radio and television) broadcasters, major content companies, subscription services, social networks and other venues where entertainment is enjoyed.

About Great American Country (GAC)

Great American Country is the leader in country music entertainment, and delivers to viewers the widest variety of country music, its artists and the lifestyles they influence. GAC broadcasts original country music programming, music performance specials, live concerts and music videos. GAC is available in more than 60 million households and online at www.GACTV.com. GAC is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive, the leading developer of lifestyle-oriented content for television and the Internet, including HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel andTravel Channel. Scripps Networks is based in Knoxville, TN, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Chevy Chase, MD and Nashville, and is a unit of Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI).

About Mediabase

Mediabase monitors the airplay of over 1,800 radio stations, updated continuously 24 hours daily. Mediabase produces historic and current airplay data for U.S. and Canadian radio stations, satellite radio, and music television. Formats monitored include Mainstream Top 40, Rhythmic, Mainstream Rock, Active Rock, Modern Rock, Classic Rock, Triple A, Country, Oldies, AC, Hot AC, Urban, Urban AC, Smooth AC, Christian AC, Gospel and Latin.  In addition to providing vital airplay information to radio stations in the U.S. and Canada, Mediabase provides information to every major record label and distributor, as well as concert promoters, artists, managers, music publishers, movie studios, video game developers and more.
Mediabase charts are published weekly in USA Today, and are used on nearly all radio countdown shows and dozens of websites and magazines.

About Pollstar

Pollstar is the only trade publication covering the worldwide concert industry. It has been supplying in-depth information to every professional concert promoter, booking agent, artist manager, facility executive and every other entity involved in the live entertainment business for more than 25 years. Pollstar gets its information primarily from the agents, managers and promoters who are producing concerts. It employs a staff of more than 25 full-time professionals who do nothing except research and build their tour database.

About Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI)

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade association. Established in 1967, the membership of more than 5,000 active and pro members spans the United States and six other countries. NSAI is dedicated to protecting the rights of and serving aspiring and professional songwriters in all genres of music.

Kris Kristofferson in UK and Ireland

After a lengthy period of struggle, Kris Kristofferson achieved remarkable success as a country songwriter at the start of the 1970s. His songs “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” and “For the Good Times,” all chart-topping hits, helped redefine country songwriting, making it more personal and serious, much in the way that Bob Dylan’s songs had transformed pop music songwriting in the mid-’60s. By 1987, it was estimated that Kristofferson’s compositions had been recorded by more than 450 artists. His renown as a songwriter enabled him to launch a moderately successful career as a musical performer and that, in turn, brought him to the attention of Hollywood, leading to a lengthy career as a film actor.

The eldest of three children of an Air Force major general who retired from the military to head up air operations for the Saudi Arabian company Aramco, Kristofferson spent most of his childhood in Brownsville, TX, though his family moved around, finally settling in San Mateo, CA, by his junior high-school years. He graduated from San Mateo High School in 1954 and entered Pomona College in Claremont, CA. There he studied creative writing and he won first prize and three other placements in a collegiate short-story contest sponsored by Atlantic Monthly magazine. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1958, having secured a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to continue his studies at Oxford University in England. While at Oxford, he wrote and performed his own songs, which brought him to the attention of manager Larry Parnes (who handled Tommy Steele and other British pop stars). Signing with Parnes, he made recordings for Top Rank Records produced by Tony Hatch (apparently never released) and performed under the name Kris Carson, but he was not successful.

After earning a master’s degree in English literature from Oxford in 1960, Kristofferson intended to continue his studies there. But during a Christmas break back home in California, he resumed his relationship with an old girlfriend, Fran Beir, and they married. Instead of returning to Oxford, he joined the Army. Like his father, he became a pilot, learning to fly helicopters. He was assigned to West Germany and went there with his wife and their daughter. During the early ’60s, while rising to the rank of captain, he eventually returned to writing and performing, organizing a soldiers’ band to play at service clubs. Hearing his songs, a friend suggested sending them to a relative of his, the Nashville songwriter Marijohn Wilkin. Kristofferson did so and he received encouragement from Wilkin, who had become a music publisher by founding Bighorn Music. In 1965, Kristofferson was reassigned to the West Point military academy, where he was to become an English instructor. He spent a two-week leave in June 1965 in Nashville, where he looked up Wilkin and decided to try to become a country songwriter instead. He resigned his commission and moved his family to Nashville, signing to Bighorn, which gave him a small weekly stipend that he augmented with a variety of jobs, including janitorial work, bartending, and flying helicopters to and from offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. He and his wife had a son who was born with a defective esophagus, resulting in thousands of dollars in medical bills. Eventually, the couple divorced.

Kristofferson scored his first success as a songwriter with “Viet Nam Blues,” which was recorded by Dave Dudley and peaked in the country Top 20 in April 1966. As a recording artist, Kristofferson was signed to Epic Records and released a lone single, “Golden Idol”/”Killing Time,” in 1967, but it missed the charts. (He later re-recorded both songs for his Surreal Thing album.) Roy Drusky recorded Kristofferson’s “Jody and the Kid” and took it into the country Top 40 in the summer of 1968 and Billy Walker and the Tennessee Walkers’ version of his “From the Bottle to the Bottom” peaked in the Top 20 of the country charts in April 1969. But by that spring, those three chart placings and his failed single were all Kristofferson had to show for almost four years of effort in Nashville. He had moved to Fred Foster’s Columbine Music and begun to collaborate occasionally with Foster, and he got a break when Roger Miller decided to record one of their songs, “Me and Bobby McGee,” a ballad about hoboing that recalled earlier Miller hits like “King of the Road,” but with more of a hippie slant. Miller ended up recording not only “Me and Bobby McGee,” but also two other Kristofferson compositions, “Best of All Possible Worlds” and “Darby’s Castle,” for his August 1969 album, Roger Miller. “Me and Bobby McGee” was released as a single in advance of the album and it peaked in the country Top 20. Meanwhile, Kristofferson had begun to gain recognition as a performer, thanks to Johnny Cash, who introduced him at the Newport Folk Festival that summer and featured him on his network television show.

In September 1969, Kristofferson earned another important cover when Ray Stevens released a version of his reflection on a hangover, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” as a single. It entered both the pop and country charts. The following month, Faron Young released “Your Time’s Comin’,” co-written by Kristofferson and Shel Silverstein. It gave the songwriter his biggest hit so far when it peaked in the country Top Five in December 1969. Jerry Lee Lewis’ recording of Kristofferson and Silverstein’s “Once More with Feeling” did even better, just missing the top of the country charts in March 1970.

In addition to Columbine Music, Fred Foster also ran Monument Records, an independent label, and he signed Kristofferson to it as a recording artist. Kristofferson went into the studio and cut his own versions of some of the songs others had already done — “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Best of All Possible Worlds,” “Darby’s Castle,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” — as well as some new songs, notably “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and “For the Good Times,” both romantic ballads with a decidedly erotic tone. His debut album, titled Kristofferson, was released in April 1970 and he promoted it with his first major concert tour, debuting at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on June 23, appearing at the giant Isle of Wight Festival on July 26, and playing the Bitter End in New York in August. But even at a time when standards for singers had fallen noticeably, the album was criticized for Kristofferson’s rough vocals; it sold poorly and quickly went out of print.

The demand for his songs, however, only increased. The same month that Kristofferson was released, Ray Price reached the country charts with “For the Good Times,” though it had been intended as the B-side of the single. It hit number one in September and crossed over to the pop charts, where it reached the Top 20; as a result, “For the Good Times” was named Song of the Year for 1970 by the Academy of Country Music. In August, Waylon Jennings reached the country charts with Kristofferson and Silverstein’s “The Taker,” which peaked in the Top Five in October and crossed over to the pop charts. By then, Johnny Cash had entered the country charts with his version of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (as he called it, restoring the dropped “g”s). It hit number one in October and crossed over to the pop charts, and that same month it won the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year Award for 1970, putting Kristofferson in the unusual position of winning the same award from country’s two rival organizations for the same year with different songs.

But the string of hits was far from over. In December, Sammi Smith entered the country charts with “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” giving the song a surprising twist by having the woman ask the man to sleep with her instead of the other way around. The single crossed over to the pop charts, eventually reaching the Top Ten and going gold, and it gave Kristofferson his third country chart-topper in February 1971. Meanwhile, Bobby Bare’s recording of Kristofferson’s “Come Sundown” also had reached the country charts in December and it peaked in the Top Ten in February 1971. Up to this point, Kristofferson had been getting most of his recognition in country music, but that changed in January 1971 when Janis Joplin’s posthumous album Pearl was released. Joplin had covered “Me and Bobby McGee” and it was released as a single, shooting up the pop charts to number one in March. That same month, Ray Price followed “For the Good Times” with another Kristofferson song, “I Won’t Mention It Again,” which crossed over to the pop charts and in May gave the songwriter his fourth country number one hit within eight months. Meanwhile, Joe Simon got into the pop charts with his version of “Help Me Make It Through the Night” in April, Bobby Bare charted country in May with Kristofferson’s “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends,” which peaked in the Top Ten in July, and Peggy Little reached the country charts with his “I’ve Got to Have You.”

Despite all this sudden success as a songwriter, Kristofferson had not yet achieved any great notice as a performer. Monument had been purchased by CBS Records and turned into a subsidiary of the Columbia label, giving its artists the benefit of major-label distribution and promotion. Kristofferson released his second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, in July 1971. Again, it combined the songwriter’s own versions of songs that had scored for others — “Jody and the Kid,” “The Taker” — with important new work, notably the ballad “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again),” which Roger Miller quickly covered for a Top 40 country hit. The album finally broke Kristofferson as a recording artist, rising into the Top Five of the country charts and the Top 20 of the pop charts and going gold, with the songwriter’s own version of “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” becoming a Top 40 pop and Top Five easy listening hit. In August, Monument re-released Kristofferson’s first album, renaming it Me and Bobby McGee. This time, the LP reached the country Top Ten and the pop Top 100 and went gold. Meanwhile, Ray Price released his third consecutive single of a Kristofferson song, “I’d Rather Be Sorry,” and it just missed topping the country charts in October while crossing over to the pop charts. Patti Page also made the country charts with her version of the song. Jerry Lee Lewis put “Me and Bobby McGee” into the charts for a third time in November; it was given some country airplay as the B-side of his number one country single “Would You Take Another Chance on Me,” while pop radio flipped the disc over and made it a Top 40 pop hit. The same month, O.C. Smith got into the pop charts with his version of “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”

Kristofferson himself, meanwhile, had traveled to Peru at the behest of director Dennis Hopper, and he made his film debut in a bit part in The Last Movie, released in September, to which he also contributed songs. The same month, part of his performance from the Isle of Wight Festival was in the charts on the triple-record set First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies: Isle of Wight/Atlanta Pop Festival. (In 1997, the film and CD Message to Love: The Isle of Wight also featured his appearance.) He had a more substantial film role in Cisco Pike, released early in 1972, also getting to sing several more of his songs. In February, he released his third album, Border Lord. It was his first collection to consist of all-new material and proved to be a slight commercial disappointment, reaching only the Top 100 of the pop charts and the Top Ten of the country charts, its single “Josie” becoming a pop and country chart entry but not a big hit. In March, however, three of his songs, “For the Good Times,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” and “Me and Bobby McGee,” were among the five nominees for the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Country Song, while “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and “Me and Bobby McGee” were also up for the Song of the Year Grammy. Competing against himself, he managed to win his first Grammy for Best Country Song for “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” The same month, Gladys Knight & the Pips brought the song back into the pop Top 40 and also made the R&B Top 20 with their rendition. In April, Kristofferson was in the charts with another live recording, appearing on the various-artists collection Big Sur Festival/One Hand Clapping. In June, Sammi Smith made the country charts with her version of “I’ve Got to Have You,” which peaked in the Top 20 in September and also crossed over to the pop charts.

Having taken only seven months between his second and third albums, Kristofferson waited only nine more months before delivering his fourth album, Jesus Was a Capricorn, in November 1972. Initially, the LP did not do as well as Border Lord, itself a step down from The Silver Tongued Devil and I, as the title song barely made the pop singles charts and a second single, “Jesse Younger,” missed the charts entirely. But in March 1973, Monument released a third single, the slow, pious “Why Me,” which topped the country charts in July and went gold, also crossing over to the pop Top 20. With that, sales of Jesus Was a Capricorn rebounded and the album hit number one in the country charts a year after it was released. (Meanwhile, Brenda Lee had covered “Nobody Wins” from the album for a Top Five country hit and a pop chart entry.)

Kristofferson, meanwhile, had returned to acting, getting more substantial film roles and working with important directors. In 1973, he appeared in Paul Mazursky’s Blume in Love, also contributing a couple of songs, and in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, co-starring as Billy the Kid in the latter. His notices tended to be better than those for the films themselves and indicated that he had a future in films.

On August 19, 1973, Kristofferson married singer Rita Coolidge (who soon bore him a second daughter) and the following month the couple released a duo album, Full Moon. It was a big hit, topping the country charts, reaching the Top 40 of the pop charts, and going gold. Its first single, Kristofferson’s composition “A Song I’d Like to Sing,” was a Top 20 easy listening hit, a Top 40 pop hit, and a country chart entry. “Loving Arms,” a second single, made the easy listening Top 40 and also reached the pop and country charts. The couple’s version of “From the Bottle to the Bottom” won the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. (Due to the peculiarities of the Grammy eligibility rules, “Loving Arms” was nominated in the same category the following year.) Kristofferson also earned 1973 Grammy nominations for Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Male, for “Why Me.”

In April 1974, “One Day at a Time,” written by Kristofferson and Marijohn Wilkin, reached the country charts in a recording by Marilyn Sellars that went on to peak in the Top 20. Later in the year, it reached the pop Top 40. Kristofferson’s fifth album, Spooky Lady’s Sideshow, was released in May. Compared to earlier releases, it was a commercial disappointment, reaching the Top Ten of the country charts but only the Top 100 of the pop charts, with no charting single. From this point on, Kristofferson’s albums would be only modest sellers at best. But he remained a potent country songwriter. In July, Ronnie Milsap entered the country charts with a revival of “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends”; by September it had topped the country charts and crossed over to the pop charts. Kristofferson continued to pursue his film career, taking a small part in Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, released in the summer and a co-starring role in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which appeared in December. Also that month, Kristofferson and Coolidge released their second duo album, Breakaway. Though less successful than their first one, it reached the Top 100 of the pop charts and the Top Five of the country charts. The single “Rain” made the country and easy listening charts. “Lover Please” also got into the easy listening charts and it went on to win the duo a second Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

Kristofferson took a break from moviemaking to concentrate on his musical career and his sixth album, Who’s to Bless and Who’s to Blame, released in November 1975. But the extra effort did not translate into increased sales. The LP reached the country Top 40, but it missed the Top 100 of the pop charts. Johnny Duncan’s recording of the Kristofferson song “Stranger” from the album became a country hit, however, reaching the Top Five. Kristofferson returned to the movies and in the spring of 1976 was seen in Vigilante Force and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, also contributing a song to the latter. His seventh album, Surreal Thing, followed his sixth by only eight months. It was another commercial disappointment, reaching the country Top Ten while barely registering in the pop charts. But in December 1976, he enjoyed both a hit movie and a hit record with the release of A Star Is Born, in which he co-starred with Barbra Streisand. Critics howled, but the film was a box office smash, second only to Rocky among motion pictures released in 1976 as the top-grossing hit, while the soundtrack album, which featured several contributions from Kristofferson (among them the pop chart entry “Watch Closely Now”), topped the pop charts and sold several million copies. Of course, Streisand had more to do with all that than Kristofferson did, but he was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Monument Records seized upon the occasion of his increased profile to release a compilation, Songs of Kristofferson, in April 1977. It did considerably better than his recent releases of new material, making the country Top Ten and the pop Top 100 and earning a gold record. Making only one film in 1977, Semi-Tough, released in the fall, he worked on his eighth album for more than a year and a half, not releasing Easter Island until March 1978. It marked a slight commercial uptick, charting higher in the pop and country charts than his previous effort, but did not restore his commercial fortunes as a recording artist. Returning to the movies, Kristofferson starred in Convoy, a film extrapolation of the 1976 song hit by C.W. McCall, which opened in the summer. In January 1979, he and Rita Coolidge released their third duo album, Natural Act, which was another modest seller.

Kristofferson’s personal life and professional career were both at low points in the late ’70s and early ’80s. His ninth album, Shake Hands With the Devil, was released in September 1979 and did not sell well enough to reach the charts, though the single “Prove It to You One More Time Again” was a country singles chart entry. His next film, Freedom Road, was not given a theatrical release in the U.S., instead being broadcast on television in October. And on December 2, he and Rita Coolidge divorced. At the same time, however, his song catalog continued to prosper. Lena Martell’s cover of “One Day at a Time” hit number one in the U.K. in October, then in the U.S. Cristy Lane revived the song, taking it to number one in the country charts in June 1980. Willie Nelson Sings Kris Kristofferson was released in October 1979 and made the country Top Five, as did Nelson’s single release of “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” Kristofferson toured with Nelson during the winter of 1979-1980. During this period, he also was working on what should have been his greatest cinematic triumph yet, though it turned into a debacle. This was Heaven’s Gate, director Michael Cimino’s follow-up to his Academy Award-winning film The Deer Hunter. The lengthy, expensive film debuted to negative reviews in November 1980 and was such a financial catastrophe that it bankrupted the movie studio that made it. Kristofferson had already been contracted to make another film, Rollover, released in 1981, but his association with Heaven’s Gate may have scared off casting directors, since he didn’t appear in another film until 1984. Meanwhile, he released his tenth album, To the Bone, in January 1981, and it became his second straight LP to miss the pop charts, though it made the country charts briefly, as did the single “Nobody Loves Anybody Anymore.” But the old songs continued to sell; in July, Tompall and the Glaser Brothers just missed topping the country charts with their revival of “Lovin’ Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).”

Except for a non-charting single, “Here Comes That Rainbow Again”/”The Bandits of Beverly Hills,” Kristofferson was not heard from for the rest of 1981 or most of 1982, resurfacing in November 1982 with the release of the double-album The Winning Hand, a group effort credited to “Kris [Kristofferson], Willie [Nelson], Dolly [Parton] & Brenda [Lee].” The album reached the country Top Five, though it failed to cross the 100 mark on the pop charts. On February 19, 1983, Kristofferson married for the third time, wedding attorney Lisa Meyers, with whom he eventually had five more children, for a total of eight. He returned to filmmaking in January 1984 with the television broadcast of The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck, and made it back into movie theaters later that year with Flashpoint, a mystery, and Songwriter. In the latter, he co-starred with Willie Nelson in a story about the Nashville music industry. He wrote a number of songs for the film, resulting in his first Academy Award nomination for original song score. Columbia Records released Music From Songwriter, a duo album by Nelson and Kristofferson on which the two sang separately and shared a couple of duets. The album reached the pop charts and the Top 20 of the country charts, and one of the duets, Kristofferson’s “How Do You Feel About Foolin’ Around,” made the country singles charts.

Kristofferson and Nelson expanded their partnership into a supergroup quartet with the addition of Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings to create the album Highwayman, released in April 1985. The title track, a song about reincarnation written by Jimmy Webb, with each group member taking a verse, topped the country charts in August and the LP was also a number one country hit, going gold. A second single, Guy Clark’s “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” made the country Top 20. The recordings were billed to the four participants by name, but the group came to be known informally as “the Highwaymen,” though a settlement had to be made with the 1960s folk group of the same name for the name to be used legally.

In December 1985, Kristofferson starred in Alan Rudolph’s film Trouble in Mind, also contributing the theme song, “El Gavilan” (“The Hawk,” after the name of his character), sung by Marianne Faithfull. He put the song on Repossessed, his first solo album in six years, which was released on Mercury Records in February 1987. Reflecting his left-wing views particularly on American military involvement in Central America, Repossessed spent six months in the country charts, and “They Killed Him,” a tribute to Christ, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., placed in the country singles charts. Simultaneous with the release of the LP, Kristofferson appeared in Amerika, a controversial weeklong television mini-series that fantasized a U.S. under Communist domination. It was one of many TV movie projects the actor had done in the mid-’80s, a time when his feature film work remained sparse.

Highwayman 2 appeared in February 1990, preceded by a single, “Silver Stallion,” that made the country Top 40. The album reached the country Top Five and it earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. Kristofferson followed Repossessed with a second Mercury album, Third World Warrior, in March 1990. Another work of agitprop, it failed to reach the charts. In 1991, Columbia/Legacy released the compilation Singer/Songwriter, a double-CD set containing both Kristofferson’s versions of his best-known songs and the best-known covers of them by people like Janis Joplin and Ray Price. The archival label followed in 1992 with the previously unreleased concert set Live at the Philharmonic, recorded in 1972. Kristofferson worked steadily in TV movies and independent features during the late ’80s and early ’90s; he wrote the score for the 1993 film Cheatin’ Hearts, in which he also appeared. The Highwaymen’s third album, The Road Goes on Forever, appeared in April 1995 and made the country charts. As a solo artist, Kristofferson had teamed with producer Don Was to record a new album, A Moment of Forever, for Was’ Karambolage imprint in 1993, but an initial distribution deal fell through and the album was not released until August 1995, when it appeared on the Texan independent label Justice Records. Four years later, Kristofferson released The Austin Sessions, an album of remakes of his most popular songs. (In the mid-’90s, One Way Records reissued many of Kristofferson’s Monument albums on CD.)

Kristofferson’s appearance in director John Sayles’ film Lone Star (1996) marked a turning point in his film career. Taking a supporting role as a corrupt sheriff, the 60-year-old actor displayed a flair for character parts and villains that vastly increased his offers from Hollywood in the late ’90s and led to his appearances in such major-studio action features as Fire Down Below, Blade, and Payback. He also earned admiring critical notices as a James Jones-like novelist in A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries and in another Sayles film, Limbo. By the turn of the century, complaining that he hadn’t had time to tour as a singer in years, Kristofferson was looking forward to additional film work.

Although his early work was frequently repackaged and released in new compilation packages, Kristofferson released very little new work as the 21st century dawned. A live set, Broken Freedom Song, appeared in 2003 on John Prine’s Oh Boy Records, and another Don Was-produced album, This Old Road, saw the light of day in 2006 on New West Records

Brad Paisley in Dublin

Contemporary country singer/songwriter Brad Paisley was born October 28, 1972, in Glen Dale, West Virginia; given his first guitar at age eight, he delivered his first public performance at church two years later. With his fifty-something guitar teacher Clarence “Hank” Goddard and two of the older man’s seasoned musician buddies, the teenaged Paisley formed his first band, the C-Notes, and at age 12 began writing his own material. After performing in front of the local Rotary Club, he was invited to appear on Wheeling station WWVA’s famed Saturday night broadcast Jamboree USA. Paisley’s debut was so well received that he was invited to join the program full-time, and in the years to follow he opened for the likes of the Judds, Roy Clark, and Little Jimmy Dickens. He later attended Nashville’s Belmont University, serving an internship with ASCAP; the contacts Paisley made there helped him land a songwriting deal with EMI, and he also appeared on countless demos.

Signing to Arista, he issued his debut solo album, Who Needs Pictures, in 1999. The record produced two chart-topping singles in “He Didn’t Have to Be,” an ode to loving stepfathers, and “We Danced,” and also earned generally positive reviews for its diversity of country styles. In the meantime, Paisley recorded a duet with Chely Wright, “Hard to Be a Husband, Hard to Be a Wife,” for the Backstage at the Grand Ole Opry compilation; the two later collaborated on several songs for Wright’s Never Love You Enough album. The sequel to Paisley’s debut, Part II, was released in 2001 and promptly returned him to the Top Five with “Two People Fell in Love.” “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)” gave Paisley his third chart-topper, and “Wrapped Around” fell one spot short of becoming his fourth. “I Wish You’d Stay” became the fourth Top Ten hit from the record in early 2003.

At the beginning of August 2005, Paisley put together a short “director’s commentary” preview of his next album for his fan base to download. The full album, Time Well Wasted, appeared two weeks later and narrowly missed the top of the album charts, though it did hit number one on the country charts. In 2006 Brad Paisley Christmas, a collection of both originals and covers, came out, followed by 5th Gear in 2007, which included the ubiquitous “Ticks,” a sure future novelty classic. An album of mostly guitar instrumentals (Paisley’s excellent guitar playing is a big part of his appeal), Play, followed in 2008, with the big country vocal hit “Waitin’ on a Woman” added in as a “bonus” track. By now poised at the very top of the commercial country world, Paisley released American Saturday Night in 2009. American Saturday Night was greeted by Paisley’s strongest reviews yet and generated the hit singles “Then,” “Welcome to the Future,” and “Water.” Paisley bought some time with the 2010 release Hits Alive — a double-disc package divided into one live set and one collection of hits — and then returned with his seventh collection of new songs, This Is Country Music, in May 2011

Charley Pride Performances in UK and Ireland

With 36 number one hits under his belt, Charley Pride, who is black, has helped prove how little race matters to the majority of country music fans. It’s taken a long time to understand that, though. His first single, “Snakes Crawl at Night,” was released without publicity photos, as some in the industry feared listeners would automatically reject a black country singer. Since then, Pride’s 12 gold albums in the United States, combined with 30 gold and four platinum internationally, place him in the Top 15 all-time country record sellers. His easygoing singing style and easy-to-listen-to voice show why these honors have come his way. From picking cotton in his native Mississippi, Pride ended up working in a smelting plant in Montana after a stint as a semipro baseball player. At the suggestion of Red Sovine, Pride moved to Nashville, where he was signed by Chet Atkins of RCA. In 1966, “Just Between You and Me” brought Pride a Grammy nomination and national fame. At the end of the ’60s and the early part of the ’70s, he had five number one singles in a row, including “All I Have to Offer Is Me” and “(Is Anybody Going To) San Antone.” Numerous awards came in 1971 and 1972, with many more hits following, among them “She’s Too Good to Be True,” “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’,” and “Night Games.” Pride’s warm baritone voice and relaxed style made him the highest-selling act for RCA since Elvis Presley.

Pride was born on a cotton farm in Sledge, MS. His father was a sharecropper on the farm at a time. When he was 14 years old, Charley bought a guitar from Sears Roebuck and proceeded to learn how to play by listening to country music on the radio. Two years later, he turned his attention to baseball. He joined the Negro American League, playing with the Memphis Red Sox. After playing ball for two years, Pride joined the U.S. Army, where he served for two years. Upon his discharge, he intended to return to baseball, but he sustained injuries that affected his throwing arm. Discouraged that he couldn’t qualify for the major leagues, Pride began working construction in Helena, MT, while he still played in the minors. Eventually, he earned a tryout for the California Angels in 1961, but they turned him down; the following year, the New York Mets rejected him as well.

Following his rejection in baseball, Pride turned his attention to music, and in 1963, he sang “Lovesick Blues” for Red Foley and Red Sovine backstage at one of Sovine’s concerts. The veteran musicians were impressed and told Charley to go to Nashville. Heeding their advice, he traveled to Music City, but he couldn’t break into the industry. However, both of the Reds and Webb Pierce kept recommending the fledgling singer to their associates and eventually helped him secure a management deal with Jack Johnson. Through Johnson, Pride met Jack Clement, who sent a demo tape of Pride’s to Chet Atkins at RCA, who signed the vocalist in 1966. Later that year, Pride’s debut single, “The Snakes Crawl at Night,” was released but was issued without a publicity photograph, since the label was afraid that radio programmers would be reluctant to lend support to a black country singer. Both “The Snakes Crawl at Night” and his second single, “Before I Met You,” gained a small audience, but it wasn’t until “Just Between You and Me” that Charley became a star. Released at the end of 1966, “Just Between You and Me” climbed to number nine and began a virtually uninterrupted streak of Top Ten singles that ran until 1984; out of his 54 singles released during those 18 years, only three failed to crack the Top Ten.

However, Pride’s success didn’t arrive as easily as it may seem. Though he was praised upon the release of “Just Between You and Me” and won a Grammy award for the single, there remained resistance in certain quarters of the country audience to a black performer. Nevertheless, the consistent quality of Pride’s music and the support from his fellow musicians helped break down doors. And the doors began to open very quickly — on January 7, 1967, he became the first black artist to perform on the Grand Ole Opry since DeFord Bailey in 1925. Over the next two years, his star steadily rose, and between 1969 and 1971, he had six straight number one singles: “All I Have to Offer You (Is Me),” “I’m So Afraid of Losing You Again,” “(Is Anybody Going To) San Antone,” “Wonder Could I Live There Anymore,” “I Can’t Believe That You’ve Stopped Loving Me,” and “I’d Rather Love You.” All of those singles also charted in the lower regions of the pop charts, giving evidence of his smooth, country-pop crossover appeal. “Let Me Live,” taken from his gospel album, Did You Think to Pray?, temporarily broke his streak of number one singles in the spring of 1971, but it won a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance. Directly after “Let Me Live,” two of his biggest hits — “I’m Just Me” and “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” — arrived, earning him his greatest success on both the country and pop charts.

Throughout the ’70s, he continued to chart in the upper regions of the country charts, earning number one singles like “It’s Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer” (1972), “She’s Too Good to Be True” (1972), “A Shoulder to Cry On” (1973), “Then Who Am I” (1975), “She’s Just an Old Love Turned Memory” (1977), and “Where Do I Put Her Memory.” During this entire time, he never changed his country-pop style, though he promoted new performers and songwriters like Ronnie Milsap, Gary Stewart, and Kris Kristofferson. Pride’s success continued during the first half of the ’80s, as he continued to have number one hits like “Honky Tonk Blues” (1980), “Mountain of Love” (1982), “You’re So Good When You’re Bad” (1982), and “Night Games” (1983). During 1984 and 1985, however, he grew frustrated with RCA Records, who began to promote newer artists at the expense of veteran performers like Pride himself. He left the label at the end of 1986, signing with Opryland’s 16th Avenue label, where he returned to working with his old producer, Jerry Bradley. Pride had a number of minor hits for the label, highlighted by 1988′s number five “Shouldn’t It Be Easier Than This,” before it collapsed. Pride moved on to Honest Entertainment in the early ’90s, where he released My 6 Latest & 6 Greatest, where he dueted with the likes of Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt. Pride didn’t record much after that album, yet he continued to be a popular concert attraction. On each of his shows, he was supported by his son Dion, who played lead guitar. In 1994, Pride was given the Academy of Country Music’s Pioneer Award.

Scotty McCreery Releases Christmas Album

Scotty McCreery will release a new album, Christmas with Scotty McCreery, on Oct. 16 that features many of the holiday songs that have played an important role in his life, as well as two exciting new originals that he hopes will have a place in many Christmases to come.

“Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year,” he says. “And what is Christmas without music? We start listening to Christmas songs early in the McCreery household, so it felt right. I’ve always wanted to record a Christmas album since I’ve had my music career.

“It’s a special thing for me,” he says. “As a family, we were all really excited about making a Christmas album. Now we can add my CD to the collection we listen to.”

McCreery has plenty to be thankful for this holiday season. He recently made his first entry into theGuinness World Records Book for being the youngest male to enter the U.S. album charts at No. 1. In 2011, his debut album, Clear As Day, premiered atop the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified platinum for sales of 1 million copies in just three months.  The album’s first two singles, “I Love You This Big” and “The Trouble With Girls,” were certified gold.

The album garnered the highest sales of any country solo album released last year and held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for six weeks. He was named New Artist of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the American Country Awards.

This week, he was ranked No. 4 on Billboard’s list of “21 Under 21: Music’s Hottest Minors 2012,” which was his second consecutive year to be ranked No. 4 on that prestigious list. Recently, he was among only five musical artists to be included in Variety’s Youth Impact Report 2012 that detailed those under age 21 who are driving forces in the entertainment industry.

McCreery’s goal for his Christmas album was to create a body of work that makes people feel good and celebrate the birth of Jesus. “I just wanted it to be holly and jolly and really lift people’s spirits in the Christmas season because it’s supposed to be a really happy time. But I also wanted to get across the real reason for the season. ‘Christmas in Heaven’ is my favorite song on the album and it really speaks to that.”

Of course, the album embraces the traditional country sound for which McCreery has become known, but he also stretches his boundaries a bit to showcase songs with a more rocking feel, like “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Santa Claus Is Back in Town,” and even create a musical atmosphere reminiscent of the Rat Pack on some songs.

“There will be some songs that sound like a different Scotty – not different as far as not country, but a different sound than they heard on the first album. Hopefully, they will be pleasantly surprised.”

He says deciding which songs to record was the most difficult part of the process because there are so many great Christmas standards. “I knew of a few that I just had to do, like ‘Mary, Did You Know?’ and ‘The First Noel.’ Then we heard some originals that blew me away and it was a no-brainer to put them on the album. When I heard ‘Christmas in Heaven,’ I listened to the first verse and automatically said, ‘You can stop it. That is on the album.’

“The other new song is called ‘Christmas Comin’ Round Again,’” he says. “That’s just a great story about Christmas time and really just lifting people’s spirits. Times may be tough, but during Christmas, it needs to be a happy time.”

Standards on the album include “Winter Wonderland,” “Jingle Bells,” “Let It Snow,” “The Christmas Song” and “O Holy Night.”  “With me being such a huge Elvis fan, I had to have one Elvis song, so I chose ‘Santa Claus Is Back in Town.’”

Since his elementary school days, he has delivered special performances for Christmas. In elementary school, he got a last-minute solo in a holiday concert and was able to sing it with ease. He played Joseph in a Christmas play and sang “O Holy Night” in fifth grade.

“For the last few years, I sang ‘Mary, Did You Know?’ in Christmas Eve services before the church service started with my friend Cody Wilson. He would play a little drum and I would play the guitar.

“Music is a very important part of Christmas time for me and everybody else.”

Taylor Swift Launches Red Album Release With 4-Week Itunes Countdown

Taylor Swift’s highly-anticipated new album, Red, will be released worldwide on October 22^nd, and a new track from the Big Machine Records album will be available for purchase exclusively from the iTunes store for the four weeks leading up to the album release.

In addition, each song will also be available in advance as an exclusive 30-second preview, along with a brief intro with Taylor, each week on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

The iTunes / “Good Morning America” countdown pre-release tracks and previews are scheduled to launch as follows:

September  24 & 25 – Song #1

September 24^th - song preview and intro on “Good Morning America” on ABC (7 – 9 a.m. ET/PT)

September 25^th - 12:01 a.m. ET – Song #1 available for purchase at iTunes.com

October 1 & 2  – Song #2

October 1^st - song preview and intro on “Good Morning America” on ABC (7 – 9 a.m. ET/PT)

October 2^nd - 12:01 a.m. ET – Song #2 available for purchase at iTunes.com

October  8 & 9 -  Song #3

October 8^th - song preview and intro on “Good Morning America” on ABC (7 – 9 a.m. ET/PT)

October 9^th - 12:01 a.m. ET – Song #3 available for purchase at iTunes.com

October  15 & 16 -  Song #4

October 15^th -song preview and intro on “Good Morning America” on ABC (7 – 9 a.m. ET/PT)

October 16^th - 12:01 a.m. ET – Song #4 available for purchase at iTunes.com

October 22 & 23   – Taylor appears live on “Good Morning America” — on the 22^nd for album launch and on the 23^rd for a live concert.

Red contains 16 tracks, all written by Taylor, who wrote ten of the songs alone and six with co-writers.

The first single from Red, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” is a worldwide smash, spending 3 weeks so far at #1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, and reaching #1 at iTunes in 32 countries. “Never Ever” set a new record for the biggest digital sales week ever for a female artist.

Just this week it was announced that Taylor is a leading nominee for the MTV European Music Awards with nominations in 5 categories: Best Female Artist, Best Pop Artist, Best Live Artist, Best World Stage and Best Look. She is also nominated for three CMA Awards: Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year.

Singer/Songwriter Kacey Musgraves Releases Debut Single To Radio And itunes

Mercury Records’ singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves released her debut single, “Merry Go ‘Round,” to radio and iTunes this past week. The Texas native’s co-write with Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally received an impressive 47 adds its first week. In fact, there was such high anticipation for “Merry Go ‘Round” that the song appeared on the charts at No. 50 a week early before it even went for adds. After just one week “Merry Go ‘Round” sits inside the Top 40.

Hear the song by clicking HERE  

Fans can now purchase the song that has created a buzz from everyone from Lady Antebellum and Katy Perry to Perez Hilton by visiting iTunes or by clicking HERE.

“Merry Go ‘Round” is the first single off Kacey’s debut album, which is co-produced by Kacey, Shane McAnally and Luke Laird. The album is scheduled for a 2013 release. To stay up-to-date on all things Kacey Musgraves, visit http://www.kaceymusgraves.com.

Kacey began singing publicly at 8 years old and wrote her first song at 9 years old. To date, that talent has produced cuts for multi-platinum artists such as Martina McBride and Miranda Lambert.  Miranda’s current album includes Kacey’s co-written track “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which Rolling Stone Magazine ranked #26 in their “50 Best Singles of 2011” list.

Kacey has had the honor of recently opening for Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss and Lady Antebellum. Be sure to catch her on tour this fall.

LeAnn Rimes, Gatlins, McGraw, Judds music available at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®

Curb Records announces music from LeAnn Rimes, Tim McGraw, Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers, The Judds and Wayne Newton is now available at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® locations.  Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® gives country music fans access to some of their favorite artists while visiting one of their favorite restaurants.  “This is a great opportunity to share these special packages of our most popular recordings with Cracker Barrel customers,” said Benson Curb, VP Sales/Curb Records.  “We’re happy to offer these projects and look forward to adding more recordings into their stores in the near future.”

All projects retail for $11.99.

Track Listings are as follows:

LeAnn Rimes (Special 3 CD Package)
Disc 1 – This Woman
1. I Want To Be With You
2. You Take Me Home
3. Something’s Gotta Give
4. Won’t Be Lonely Long
5. Nothin’ Bout Love Makes Sense
6. Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way
7. The Weight of Love
8. With You
9. I Got It Bad
10. I Dare You
11. When This Woman Loves A Man
12. Some People

Disc 2 – Blue
1. Blue
2. Hurt Me
3. One Way Ticket
4. My Baby
5. Honestly
6. The Light In Your Eyes
7. Talk To Me
8. I’ll Get Even With You
9. Cattle Call (with Eddy Arnold)
10. Good Lookin’ Man
11. Fade To Blue

Disc 3 – You Light Up My Life
1. You Light Up My Life
2. The Rose
3. Bridge Over Troubled Waters
4. I Believe
5. Ten Thousand Angels Cried
6. Clinging To A Saving Hand
7. On The Side Of Angels
8. I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
9. God Bless America
10. How Do I Live (Extended Mix)
11. Amazing Grace
12. National Anthem

Tim McGraw — Classic Collection, Greatest Hits 
1. Indian Outlaw
2. Don’t Take The Girl
3. She Never Lets It Go To Her Heart
4. I Like It, I Love It
5. Just To See You Smile
6. It’s Your Love (With Faith Hill)
7. Where The Green Grass Grows
8. For A Little While
9. Please Remember Me
10. Something Like That
11. My Best Friend
12. Maybe We Should Just Sleep On It
13. Down On The Farm
14. My Next Thirty Years
15. Let’s Make Love (With Faith Hill)

Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Bros — Classic Collection
1. All The Gold In California
2. Night Time Magic
3. Broken Lady
4. Houston (Means I’m One Day Closer To You
5. Statues Without Hearts
6. Johnny Cash Is Dead (And His House Burned Down)
7. Handsome Young Gringo
8. Family Reunion
9. Down
10. Americans, That’s Who

The Judds — Classic Collection 
1. Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days)
2. Why Not Me
3. Love Can Build A Bridge
4. Mama He’s Crazy
5. Young Love
6. Rockin’ With The Rhythm Of The Rain
7. Love Is Alive
8. Have Mercy
9. Girls Night Out
10. Turn It Loose

Wayne Newton — Classic Collection
1. You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Until You Lose It)
2. U.S. Male
3. Danke Schoen
4. Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast
5. Is She Dancing Tonight
6. She’s My Saturday Night Special
7. Here Comes My Baby
8. Red Roses For A Blue Lady
9. Years
10. T-R-O-U-B-L-E

In addition to the catalog projects, Curb Records has released two exclusive CD projects with Wynonna and Rodney Atkins through Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® locations.

Rodney Atkins
1. These Are My People
2. About The South
3. Watching You
4. Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)
5. In The Middle
6. A Man On A Tractor
7. Wasted Whiskey
8. Invisibly Shaken
9. Angel’s Hands
10. If You’re Going Through Hell (Before The Devil Even Knows)
11. Farmer’s Daughter
12. More Like Your Memory (Always Takes Me Back)

Wynonna – Love Heals
1. She Is His Only Need
2. No One Else On Earth
3. My Strongest Weakness
4. Tell Me Why
5. Only Love
6. Rock Bottom
7. What The World Needs
8. Come Some Rainy Day
9.  Is It Over Yet
10. Let Your Light Shine
11. Sing (Radio Mix)
12. When I Fall In Love (Radio Edit)

About Curb Records:
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Curb Records is one of the world’s leading independent music companies.  Owned and operated by Mike Curb since 1962,  Curb Records has achieved 432 number one records, over 1,500 hundred Top Ten records and charted over 4,500 total records.  Today’s roster includes some of the top names in Country, Christian and Pop/Rock music.  Curb Records was honored as Billboard Magazine’s 2001 Country Music Label of the Year and Radio & Records Magazine’s 2005 Overall Gold Label of the Year.

Sunny Sweeney will perform at the CMA Songwriters Series on Oct. 24 at Joe’s Bar in Chicago and Oct. 25 at Joe’s Pub in New York City.

Sweeney’s Top 10 single, “From a Table Away,” was the highest charting debut single from a female artist since 2006. She has toured with Lady Antebellum, Brad Paisley, and Darius Rucker, performing in front of more than one million fans.

“I am honored and so happy to represent the CMA and Country Music in New York City and Chicago,” said Sweeney. “Being in the presence of the kind of writers this series showcases is both humbling and inspiring.”

Joining Sweeney will be Marvel (“Right Where I Need To Be” recorded by Gary Allan, “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You” recorded by Jake Owen, and “Twang” recorded by George Strait), Satcher (“When God-Fearin’ Women Get The Blues” recorded by Martina McBride, “Tough” recorded by Kellie Pickler, and “Politically Uncorrect” recorded by Gretchen Wilson), and the evening’s host, Bob DiPiero (“Southern Voice” recorded by Tim McGraw, “Blue Clear Sky” recorded by George Strait, and “Lovin’ You is Fun” recorded by Easton Corbin).

Tickets for the Oct. 24 show at Joe’s Bar can be purchased via Ticketmaster by calling (312) 559-1212, online at Ticketmaster.com, or at Ticketmaster outlets. Purchases through Ticketmaster will have service fees. Tickets may also be purchased at the Joe’s Bar box office (cash only). There are no service fees at the Joe’s Bar box office, but there is a charge of $2 for Chicago city tax. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Fans must be 21 or older to gain entrance to Joe’s Bar, which is located at 940 W. Weed Street in Chicago.

Tickets for the Oct. 25 CMA Songwriters Series at Joe’s Pub are $35 and $40. For information about Joe’s Pub or to order tickets, visit joespub.com or call (212) 967-7555 between the hours of noon and 8:00 PM/ET. Joe’s Pub is located at 425 Lafayette St. in New York City.

For more information on the CMA Songwriters Series, visit CMAsongwritersseries.com.

ASCAP, BMI, GAC, and SESAC are the official partners of the CMA Songwriters Series.

Kix Brooks Takes Control on New to This Town
Photo credit: Robert Ascroft

Few people on Music Row, if any, possess a more diverse résumé than Kix Brooks. He can be heard weekly as host of the syndicated radio show “American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks.” He co-owns Arrington Vineyards, an award-winning winery just south of Nashville in pastoral Arrington, Tenn. He answers fan questions in a column for Country Weekly. He has launched an acting career and started a film company, Team Two Entertainment, in partnership with his son, Eric, director/producer Dustin Rikert and actor/producer William Shockley.

Then, of course, there’s his music career, which these days finds the Louisiana-born entertainer embarking on a new path. After 20 years as one-half of the multi-award-winning, multi-Platinum duo Brooks & Dunn, he amicably parted with partner Ronnie Dunn in 2010. Dunn released his self-titled project last year, and on Sept. 11 Brooks issued his own 12-song collection, New to This Town.

Brooks actually came to Nashville as a solo artist. He had released a single on Capitol Records, “Sacred Ground,” which peaked at No. 87 in 1989, and was establishing himself as a songwriter when he switched gears and paired with Dunn in 1990. Now, in striking out again on his own, he began by gathering material. Eventually, he wound up with 12 songs, nine of them with his credit as co-writer.

“I had a couple of songs that, being from Louisiana, were pretty rocky and swampy that I wrote early on,” he said. “I just felt they were me and how I was feeling right now. Then I started looking for songs that would complement that stuff and kept trying to write things in that vein. They seemed to have a continuity to them, so I tried to build an album around that that made some sense.”

Recruiting musicians was next. “I cut with the same guys I’ve been working with for a lot of years. I’ve known (bassist) Michael Rhodes for over 30 years; we even played with rival bands down in Louisiana. I’m sure with a lot of new artists, especially if you have studio players, trying to explain to them what you are about and where you come from can be difficult. But I’ve made so much music with these guys, so it was fun to bring some new songs in and they lit up and hit it real hard.”

Brooks produced the entire album except for the title track, which he wrote with Marv Green and Terry McBride. “Jay DeMarcus (of Rascal Flatts) and I are doing a soundtrack for a Christmas movie,” he explained. “We got done a little early. The players were sounding good and the studio was rockin’, so I asked Jay if I could do ‘New to This Town.’ We produced that song together, since we were already working. It came out really good and turned out to be the first single.”

The Eagles’ Joe Walsh added his legendary guitar skills to the track. “That kind of happened by accident,” Brooks said. “Lonnie Napier (Associate Producer, ‘American Country Countdown’) suggested adding ‘some Joe Walsh-sounding guitar,’ so I took a chance. I had met Joe when I was doing those stadium tours with Kenny Chesney. I took the liberty of calling Joe’s manager, Irving Azoff (Chairman/CEO, Front Line Management Group), and asking him if it would be inappropriate to get in touch with Joe about playing on it. He really liked the song and he said, ‘Heck, send it to him.’ And I did.

“Joe was in rehearsals with Paul McCartney at the Grammy Awards at the time,” Brooks continued. “He listened to the track when they were on break, called me up and said he wanted to play on it. He went home that evening, put those great slide tracks down and emailed them to me. I just dropped them in and we were done.”

“New to This Town” peaked at No. 31. “Obviously, I would have wanted it to go multi-week No. 1,” noted Brooks’ longtime manager, Clarence Spalding, President, Spalding Entertainment. “That didn’t happen, but some people who hadn’t really had the opportunity to hear Kix sing alone came back and said, ‘We love that song!’ That’s the ‘new artist’ way of doing things. We’re going to get the consumer to taste this a little bit, and if they like it, we’re going to feed them some more.”

Written by Brooks, Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson, “Bring It On Home” is the album’s second single. “I’d come up with that chorus the morning they got there,” Brooks said. “Dallas had a title, ‘Speed of Life,’ that we tried to stick onto it, but it was like we were forcing it. So we finished the song, and after they went home I got to banging around on it and came up with that idea of ‘Bring It On Home.’ I called them up and said, ‘Hey, what do you think about going a little more simple?’ They both liked that idea, because that’s really what the song is about. We actually wrote ‘Speed of Life’ the way it needed to be written, so we got two songs out of that one.”

These first singles invite listeners to open their ears and hear what Brooks has to offer on his own. “It’s hard for any singer in this format to stand up beside Ronnie Dunn every night and sing,” Spalding said. “Ronnie will go down in history as one of the greatest singers of all time. Kix got to sing a few songs on each album, but Ronnie’s was the voice that sang more. I think that allowed Kix to sit back, so when it came time for him to make his record, he had a good idea of exactly what he wanted to do. That’s what you hear. You don’t hear a Brooks & Dunn record; you hear a Kix Brooks record. It’s a lot easier being a solo act when it comes to making decisions. You don’t always have to ask, ‘What does Ronnie think?’ It’s ‘I think this’ and you move on with the decision. I couldn’t be prouder of him and all the music on there.”

Spalding also admires Brooks for the range of his interests and energy in pursuing them. “He does the radio show,” he said. “He has his acting career. Everything he does that goes along with his music career makes Kix Brooks who he is.”

“I like to think I can wear different hats,” said Brooks, whose acting chops will be on display with his lead role in “To Kill a Memory,” which will show at the Austin Film Festival on Oct. 23. The title takes its name from a song Brooks wrote with Randy Houser.

Not the least of his interests is the Country Music Association. A respected and productive CMA Board member, Brooks plans to continue to support his passion for Country Music through the organization and is proud of what it has accomplished throughout his involvement.

“I love our business,” he said. “So, to be on the Board and get to hang out every couple of days with the leaders of our business, to hear what everybody is up to and where our business is going and the things that we’re doing, is really fun for me. I enjoy that part of it, but I’m also really proud of the things that we’ve accomplished, like the CMA Music Festival in particular. We’re making a serious effort at helping kids get into music in public schools that otherwise wouldn’t be able to give them an opportunity. This year, we crossed the $6 million mark in contributing to (the CMA music education program) Keep the Music Playing and helping kids who need instruments in school and to teach them how to play music. We also helped victims of the flood two years ago in Nashville.

“It makes me feel good to see something that we worked real hard on go from the racetrack (at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, former home of CMA Music Festival/Fan Fair) to LP Field and be an event that the whole city of Nashville and fans of Country Music everywhere can be proud of. It accomplishes something that’s really meaningful.”

Whether singing for wine lovers during a night of music at Arrington, writing music to accompany a movie project or answering fans’ questions in Country Weekly, Brooks approaches each endeavor enthusiastically. “What brings me the most satisfaction is what I’m working on at the time,” he said. “Dale Earnhardt told me something when he had a lot of different projects going. I asked him if he was interested in quitting driving and just getting into some of these other things he was into. He looked me in the eye and said, ‘Don’t ever forget the No. 3 car,’ which was his way of saying ‘Racing is what allowed all this to happen for me.’ You can’t take your eye off the ball. Music is my heart and soul and that will always be. As long as people want me to play music, I’ll be doing that.”

On the Web: www.KixBrooks.com

On Twitter: @KixBrooks

© 2012 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.