Gloriana - Grammy Nominated

By any measure, Gloriana has become one of country music’s hottest young artists. Critics have raved about their sound, with Billboard calling them “a sonic delight” and People predicting they are “destined for glory.” Their peers have embraced them, with Taylor Swift calling on the four-member group to open her Fearless 2009 tour, and Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, LeAnn Rimes and the Zac Brown Band all choosing them for opening slots this year. In addition, they have appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, Access Hollywood and Sirius/XM, to name a few. On the cusp of the band’s Top 10 debut single “Wild At Heart,” they also won the fan-voted “Nationwide On Your Side Award” at the 2009 CMT Awards.

The ultimate key to any artist’s success lies with the fans, and it’s the fans who have made Gloriana one of 2009′s hottest new artists in country music and the Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2009
American Music Awards in November. Gloriana’s self-titled Emblem Music Group/Warner Bros. Records debut premiered at #3 on Billboard’s Top 200 and at #2 on the Billboard Country Album Chart. The album had the best first-week sales of any new country artist in 2009, and “Wild At Heart”
is the best-selling song by a new country artist in 2009, selling over
375,000 copies to date. The breadth and diversity of their appeal can be
seen in the fact that they have appeared both on the Grand Ole Opry and
in the pages of several magazines aimed at teens, with Rachel and
Cheyenne appearing on the cover of Justine magazine.

Tom Gossin, Mike Gossin, Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball perfectly
captured the soaring four-part harmonies that have led to comparisons
with the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac and gave fans a taste for the sheer
excitement Gloriana brings to songs whether on stage or in the studio.
The 13-track album was produced by Grammy Award-winner and Emblem Music
Group label owner Matt Serletic (Rob Thomas, Willie Nelson, Aerosmith),
and mixed by Justin Niebank (Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts) and Chris
Lord-Alge (Faith Hill, Tim McGraw). It reflects both the sheer talent of
the foursome and the level of commitment they have brought to making
every note count.

That talent and that commitment have been winning Gloriana supporters
virtually since the beginning. The band got its start in the winter of
2007, when brothers Tom and Mike, who had moved to Nashville after
sweating it out in clubs in North Carolina, discovered Rachel.

“We had never combined our duo with a female voice before,” says Mike,
“but singing with her gave us that high harmony and opened us up to
something new.”

It wasn’t long after seeing the group perform at 3rd and Lindsley that
Cheyenne fell in love with Gloriana. “When I saw them perform for the
first time, it renewed my passion for music,” said Cheyenne.  So
immediately after the show, she asked the trio if she could get together
with them and jam. When they did, it was magic.

“The three of us definitely felt we had something special,” says Rachel,
“but when Cheyenne came into the picture, the four-part harmony
completed us.  Her skills on the mandolin, combined with the guys’
guitar talent helped us to replicate the group’s live sound. It felt
complete.”

From that point on, commitment was everything.  ”We spent the next six
months getting our songs and our live sound together,” says Tom. “We
accomplished a lot, working non-stop, playing shows, making sure we were
tight and ready to go.”

The band sent a demo to Emblem Music Group, an evolution of Melisma
Records, Serletic’s Diamond and multi-Platinum award-winning label, with
over 50 million album sales to its credit.

An intense creative process got underway. “Emblem helped to introduce us
to some of the best that Nashville has to offer,” says Rachel. In the
early stages of the album’s development, Serletic began writing with one
of Nashville’s finest songwriters, Jeffrey Steele (Rascal Flatts, Trace
Adkins, Tim McGraw, etc.) and co-wrote the group’s debut single “Wild At
Heart” with Josh Kear and Stephanie Bentley. At the same time, Gloriana
was collaborating with a talented array of Nashville songwriters
including Trey Bruce, Kyle Cook, Ben Glover, Chuck Jones, Kevin Kadish,
Wayne Kirkpatrick, and Danny Myrick.

The band members moved in together and secluded themselves to begin
making their mark on the songs. “We spent an intense month putting our
stamp on the songs,” says Tom. “In our minds it’s critical; it’s what
makes the music authentic, heartfelt and true.”

One at a time, they worked up songs, and performed them before the best
critics that any artist has…the fans.

“Playing for a live audience helped us to know what worked and what
didn’t work,” said Cheyenne. “It really was valuable to do that before
entering the studio.”

“By the time we went into the studio we knew exactly what we were doing
and how we wanted the songs to sound,” adds Rachel. “Guess you could say
that the fans helped us make this record.”

That sense of assurance and the hard work they put in are evident in
every track of their debut CD. The feels vary from “The Way It Goes” and
the second radio single, “How Far Do You Wanna Go?,” which display the
four-part harmonies, energy and big sound that make the group so
exciting on stage, to “Lead Me On” and “All The Things (That Mean The
Most),” songs whose passion and intimacy are undeniable.

“I know how much music has impacted all of our lives,” said Tom. “It
connects us all, it moves us and it can change a person,” added Mike.
“We hope that our music will do that for others for a long time to
come.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT http://Gloriana.com

UPDATE FROM BILLBOARD: SWIFT TAKES THE CROWN  OF SOUND! –

Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” reigns for a sixth straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 137,000 (down 73%) according to Nielsen SoundScan, bringing her cumulative sales total up to 3,104,000. However, while that is a huge sales sum — especially considering it was totaled in just six weeks time — it’s not enough to overtake Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” as 2009′s top selling album. The latter is at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 this week, selling another
60,000 — bringing its 2009 total to 3,217,000.

It’s an exciting battle with two unlikely stars fighting (not really) for the number one CD release of 2010.

Susan Boyle and Taylor Swift have been almost the only singers selling in the last year as physical

Taylor Swift Fearless Platinum

CD sales continue to shrink.   But two unlikely singers – a kid – and a mature Brit ish woman have turned things upside down.    The bean counters are tabulating the sales figures right now…

Swift’s “Fearless” in fact was a 2008 release that recieved a makeover in 2009 with a “Platinum” edition.  Boyle has simply been a phenomenon from the YouTube – jaw dropping reality show start.

Boyle is confirmed as Britans number one seller of the year… U.S.Numbers out soon at Billboard.  More here when news is official.

Kellie Is In Shape

NASHVILLE, TN – After taking a few weeks off during the Christmas holiday, singer songwriter Kellie Pickler is already packing her bags for another eventful year which begins with her third USO Tour.

In preparation for the trip Pickler Tweeted, “Started packing for my USO Tour. Think I’m gonna leave the Red High Heels at home for this trip. It’s easier to jump in/out of helicopters in flats.”

Although details of the trip are kept secret, past tours have included visits to troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Germany, and last year the other artists on the tour included Kid Rock and The Zac Brown Band. This year, in addition to Kellie, Jamey Johnson and Randy Houser will be on the Tour.

Pickler can be seen in the January issue of Shape Magazine where she’s featured on the “Healthy Hollywood” page, and she talks

USO Tour Bound

about eating healthy, hanging out with happy people and

surrounding herself with people that inspire her. She also talks about her Kindle and what she’s currently reading.

As her current hit single, “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You ,” continues to climb the country singles chart, it follows in the wake of her Top 10 single, “Best Days Of Your Life,” both from her current self-titled album. The music video was fan-voted one of the Top Ten videos of 2009 on GAC.

A Toast to the 2000's For Kenny

Nashville: While he’s the only country act in Pollstar’s Top Tours of 2009′s Top 10 – finishing at #6 with a gross of $71.1 million, Keith Urban being next at #16 – but more impressively, after only 8 of the new century’s first 10 years spent as a headliner, the high energy performer still came in as the #2 most attended and #3 highest earning tour of the 21st century’s first decade. Granted 5 of those years saw Kenny Chesney headlining multiple NFL stadiums, but it’s still an achievement he finds staggering.

“I remember how good it felt when I was selling out small halls and bars, and you can tell everyone “I sold the show out…,” Chesney says with a laugh. “You know that idea that there are no more tickets left, no matter how small the venue, it’s exciting – and you can feel it in the crowd. So, when you start playing bigger and bigger places, you want to keep that… the energy you have, and the excitement when you hear you’ve gone clean in a venue.”

“But even as you’re hearing that stuff, there’s still some sense of, well, it’s not real. You sell out Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium 5 years in a row – it’s not ho-hum…. and it’s still more things people say than real until you walk out onstage, hear the crowd and go, ‘WOW!’ Because in a weird way, these numbers – especially to a guy from Luttrell, TN who thought they had it made playing the Turf in Nashville one New Year’s Eve – are surreal.”

Ironically, the only act who outdrew Chesney for the decade was good friend and duet partner Dave Matthews, well established as a headliner in the last 90s. For sheer gross, Celine Dion’s historic Vegas residency put her at #2 – with DMB earning $529 million, Dion bringing in $522 million and Chesney earning an impressive $455 million with aggressively low ticket prices. Rounding out the decade’s Top 10 are stalwarts Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna, the Eagles, Elton John and Jimmy Buffett.

“You look at those names, and you look around,” the 4-consecutive Academy of Country Music and 4-time Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year concedes. “Every name on that list is a serious performer whose songs have made a mark on how people live their lives, how they mark their passages – and to be on a list with those sorts of icons really makes me pause and think about all of it…

“Because to be honest, for me and the guys, it’s really more about the next show, the next chance to get up onstage and rock. That energy… the way the fans throw it back at us, sing these songs like they are their lives… well, that is, hands down, the greatest feeling in the world!’

The names on the 2009 list are pretty impressive, too. With U2′s stadium-only tour coming in at #1, it’s Bruce Springsteen, Elton John & Billy Joel, Britney Spears and AC/DC making the top 5 – and the Jonas Bros, Dave Matthews, Fleetwood Mac and Metallica closing out the Top 10 tours of the year. With a 3-D moving coming in April, who knows what 2010 holds for country’s biggest draw?