Swift during 2009's Fearless Tour

Nashville, TN – July 20, 2010 – Taylor Swift’s highly-anticipated third studio album will be released worldwide on October 25th, Taylor herself announced this afternoon during a web chat with her fans. Entitled SPEAK NOW, the album will be released on Big Machine Records and contains 14 tracks, all written solely by Taylor. Taylor co-produced the project with Nathan Chapman, and the first single from the new record, “Mine,” will be released on August 16th.

“Saying the right thing at the right moment is so crucial that most of us start to hesitate, for fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately what I’ve begun to fear more than that is letting the moment pass without saying anything,” Taylor says of the very personal collection that is Speak Now. “These songs are made up of words I didn’t say when the moment was right in front of me. These songs are open letters. Each is written with a specific person in mind, telling them what I meant to tell them in person.” Starting on August 20th, Speak Now will be available for special pre-sale on the site www.SpeakNow13.com. Four-time GRAMMY award winner Taylor Swift is the top-selling digital artist in music history, has had singles top both the Country and Pop radio charts, and had the #1 best-selling album in any genre of music in both 2009 and 2008. This year, at the age of 20, she became the youngest artist in history, and the first female solo country artist ever, to win the music industry’s highest honor, the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year. Also at the 2010 GRAMMYs, she took home the awards for Country Album of the Year, Best Country Song, and Best Country Female Vocal Performance. In 2009, she was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and also became the youngest artist in the 43-year history of the Country Music Association, and the seventh female act ever, to be awarded country music’s top prize when she took home the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. Taylor’s sophomore release, Fearless, reached double-platinum in just four weeks and in addition to the Album of the Year GRAMMY, was voted 2009’s Album of the Year by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. Fearless also won the 2009 American Music Award for Favorite Country Album, and was 2008’s biggest debut for any female artist, and the fourth highest debut of the year, over all.

Now 6X-platinum, Fearless has spent more weeks in the #1 position atop Billboard’s Top 200 all-genre CD sales chart than any other album this decade. Taylor, whose career record sales now top 13 million, currently holds the Billboard all-genre records for most first-week downloads by a female artist, for the longest charting album of this century and for most Top 20 debuts in a calendar year, as well as the Billboard record for the largest overall airplay audience for a country-based act. Taylor headlined her first arena tour last year, the TAYLOR SWIFT FEARLESS 2009 TOUR. Every show on the tour sold out within minutes, including Madison Square Garden in one minute, and Los Angeles’ STAPLES center in just two minutes. Taylor’s 40-date FEARLESS 2010 North American tour sold out arenas and stadiums in 32 cities in 26 states and provinces in the US and Canada.

Taylor Swift

At the age of 17, Taylor became the youngest person ever to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single entirely on her own, and Taylor is the first female solo artist in country music history to write or co-write every song on a platinum-selling debut CD. When Taylor was just 14, she signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music, and in 2006 released her self-titled debut CD on Big Machine Records. Taylor Swift has surpassed quadruple-platinum status and spent more than 20 weeks in the #1 position atop Billboard’s Country CD Sales Chart. Taylor is consistently ranked Country’s #1 artist on MySpace, and was named Country Music’s Hottest Female Artist by AOL Music and Best New Artist by the editors of iTunes. Taylor has more than 7.4 million Facebook friends, more than 3.6 million followers on her Twitter account, and has had more than 273.8 million music plays on her MySpace page.

In 2009 Taylor won AMA Awards for Artist of the Year, Favorite Female Artist (Country), Favorite Female Artist (Pop/Rock), Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, and Favorite Album (Country). She also took home CMA Awards for Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Video of the Year and International Artist Achievement. The same year, Taylor was awarded the Academy of Country Music’s Crystal Milestone Award, given for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music. Taylor was the 2nd artist in history to receive this prestigious award — Garth Brooks received the award in 2007. She is also the first Country artist to win an MTV VMA Award, taking home the 2009 Moonman for Best Female Video.

In 2009 Taylor won CMT Music Awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year, awards she was also honored with in 2008. In addition, she won 2009 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Female Artist and Choice Music Album – Female Artist. Taylor was named 2008’s Favorite Female Country Artist at the American Music Awards, and Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music. She was named Choice Breakout Artist at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, and was honored as the 2008 Superstar of Tomorrow at the 10th Annual Young Hollywood Awards, making her the first musician to ever receive this prestigious award. She was named Songwriter / Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association International in both 2009 and 2007, and she won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award, as well as receiving a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. In 2009, NBC dedicated an entire hour to the primetime special “Dateline: On Tour With Taylor Swift.” Taylor’s other television appearances include a guest-starring role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and in 2009 she became only the twelfth person in 35 years to both host and perform on Saturday Night Live. Taylor’s numerous television guest appearances include The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Jay Leno Show, the Late Show with David Letterman, the Today Show, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show, The View, and Live with Regis & Kelly. Taylor made her feature film acting debut in 2010, as part of the ensemble cast of the Garry Marshall film Valentine’s Day. Taylor has been featured on the covers of Rolling Stone (twice), Billboard (twice), Elle, Glamour, People, InStyle, New York Times T magazine, Allure, Marie Claire, People StyleWatch, Blender, USA Weekend, Seventeen (twice), Redbook, Self, Us Weekly, CosmoGirl, Girl’s Life, Teen Vogue, Women’s Health, First, Your Prom, and Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine. She was featured in a Vanity Fair spotlight, was profiled in Vogue, was named one Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010, was named one of People magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful People of 2008, 2009 & 2010, was Cosmopolitan magazine’s Fun Fearless Female, was Allure’s Face of December, was named a Style Star of 2008 and 2009 by the editors of Seventeen, and was featured on Maxim’s Hot 100 list in 2008, 2009 & 2010.

Paltrow and McGraw in Country Strong

Nashville, TN – Today, country radio stations have begun receiving the dynamic new single, “Country Strong,” sung by Gwyneth Paltrow, who stars as singer Kelly Canter in the upcoming Screen Gems film, Country Strong. The song, which features Vince Gill and Patty Griffin on background vocals, is the first single from the original motion picture soundtrack to Country Strong, set for release October 26 on RCA Nashville.

Hear it now on the Boot here

Additional information on track listing and participating artists will be forthcoming.

The motion picture, Country Strong, will arrive in theatres on December 22, starring Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Leighton Meester, and Garrett Hedlund.

Paltrow Country

Kenny Chesney On Tour

No massive concert tour this summer for Kenny Chesney… instead his has spent his time bailing flood waters and committing to a Gulf concert with Jimmy Buffett… he also took the time he wanted to really enjoy the process of making a new studio record. While he has released the ocean-driven Lucky Old Sun, which yielded the multiple week #1s “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” and “Down The Road” with Mac McAnally, and his Greatest Hits II, which had the chart-topping “I Went Out Last Night,” as well as “Ain’t Back Yet,” the theme from his nationally-released Sony Motion Pictures “Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D,” it has been almost three years since Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, his last true studio release.

“I knew I wanted the record to be something more, something that took what I do in my special projects and weaved it into what I do for the mainstream,” Chesney says. “It takes a lot of energy and mental space to be on the road… and I kind of felt like – especially coming off of this second Greatest Hits – this next record should be something that set the stage for the next phase of my music, the same way No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems opened up the music I’ve made for the past 8 years.

“I came to town to write songs, to make records, to create something that spoke about how I lived, and the people who I knew who were just like me and my friends lived. I’d like to think we’ve captured that, just like I’d like to think that we’ve all come to realize that life is a little more complicated than maybe we thought. It’s still fun. It’s still intense. It’s still about friends and dreams and all kinds of things, but there’s something more, too.”

Whiskey's Cover

That something more is probably the best way to describe Hemingway’s Whiskey, which will arrive in record stores Sept. 28. The album – which builds on many of Chesney’s trademarks – pushes each thing further and in new directions, including the pensive Guy Clark title track.

“When I heard the song, I knew it was the perfect title for the record,” Chesney says. “I was sitting in my truck and a friend had given me Guy’s album, which had just come out – and it’s a song that talks about living life to its fullest, being a man about your responsibilities and not compromising. As soon as I heard it, I knew I had to cut it… and call the album that… because it says everything about the way you live your life, and what life can be if you refuse to buy into limits, which – as someone who’s read all his books – is everything Hemingway’s novels revolved around.”

While details are emerging slowly from the studio – beyond there will be guests, surprises and songs his audience can see their own lives in – Chesney has savored the time spent in the creative process. As he says, “There’s something about getting inside songs, finding the keys and working with these amazing Nashville musicians that inspire and reminds me not just what a privilege making music is, but how important great songs can be in all of our lives.”

But even as Chris continues to make his own mark on chart history, he’s offering a tip of the hat to some of the artists who’ve influenced him, and you can hear his salute to those music makers with the May 25th release of Chris’ Voices EP.
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It’s an all-acoustic digital album, available exclusively on the iTunes Store, and it contains Chris’ recordings of three classic favorites: Vern Gosdin’s “Chiseled in Stone,” Keith Whitley’s “I’m Over You,” and John Anderson’s “Swingin’.” For Chris, releasing the EP was a way to offer something special for his fans while also celebrating some of his favorite artists and songs. And doing it all acoustically was another way that Chris thought it could be a cool project. Chris says, “It’s just really pure…if you were sittin’ there across from me, and I wanted to play these three songs, this is what I would do.”Shop on iTunes

Miranda - People's Choice

Fresh off of her first Number One Single with, “White Liar,” Miranda Lambert’s new single, “House That Built Me,” is off to a quick start.

In fact, it’s the fastest rising single in her career achieving Top 20 status in just 5 weeks.     The powerful song about returning to a cherished childhood home, has yielded an equally powerful video that will World Premiere on iTunes on Tuesday, April 6.  iTunes: All Your Music, All In One Place

UPDATE — See it HERE

Along with the exclusive 48-hour video premiere, the album Revolution, which includes “House That Built Me,” “White Liar” and 13 other tracks, will be available all week on iTunes for $7.99. The album has been certified Gold and achieved that status faster than her previous two albums, which have been certified Gold and Platinum.

Next week Miranda will travel to Las Vegas for the Academy Of Country Music Awards where she will perform “The House That Built Me.” She is the second most nominated artist with nominations for “Top Female Vocalist,” and “Album of the Year.”

With Revolution, Lambert received rare perfect reviews from countless publications including 4 stars from Rolling Stone and USA Today, an ‘A’ from Entertainment Weekly and exuberant praise from SPIN, NY Times, Washington Post and more. Many claimed Revolution the “Best Album of the Year” in any genre. In 2008, she won the coveted ACM Album of the Year and in 2007, ACM’s Best New Female Award. She is currently headlining her “Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars” Tour.

“I’ve made records for 20 years and never been more excited,” says Lynne, who has released 10 studio albums in that period, including her 2000 breakthrough, I Am Shelby Lynne. “I finally have the creative control I’ve needed to get my vision out there.”

”Shelby has always been a true original,” stated Ron Spaulding, President of Fontana. “She stands atop the list of innovative songwriters and soulful vocalists. Tears, Lies, And Alibis is a stunning and true revelation by one of the world’s most insightful and unpredictable artists. The entire Fontana family is thrilled to be part of the next chapter in an already critically-acclaimed career.”


While Tears, Lies, And Alibis signals increased independence for an artist already known for defying tradition, it was shaped by those close to her, who encouraged Lynne to venture down paths she might not have otherwise explored. “Loser Dreamer” was triggered by a phone conversation with Brian “Brain” Harrison, who engineered the sessions and played bass, Moog and percussion. Their talk about musicians and relationships ended the dry spell she’d been experiencing as a songwriter.

“Rains Came,” the album’s first song and lead single, came about in an equally organic fashion, inspired by a rare storm in the Southern California desert where she resides. As the rain fell one Sunday morning, Lynne, who misses the Southern rainstorms of her Alabama childhood tremendously, resisted the impulse to go outside and stand in it and grabbed a pen instead. The resulting song, with Randy Leago on horns and Val McCallum on guitar, is perhaps the sunniest sounding one ever written about having the blues. “The dark side of me seems to like how it feels when it’s pouring,” she sings with unabashed exuberance. Like “Something To Be Said,” her ode to the iconic Airstream trailer, it’s a song that might not have made the album if her collaborators hadn’t encouraged her to “give it a whirl.”

Drawing inspiration from the everyday, Lynne uses the familiar to render a complex internal landscape. From the lost dog searching for a porch to lie on in the restless, bluesy “Old Dog“ to the wife starching the collar of an errant husband in the poignant “Alibi,” her evocative imagery brings to life the scarred yet determined group of survivors whose stories are told in Tears, Lies, And Alibis. A stellar group of musicians enhance the immediacy of the songs, bringing a vintage, live-in-the-studio vibe to the album.

Recording initially at her home studio in Rancho Mirage, CA, she was joined by Harrison, McCallum, Ben Peeler (steel guitar, mandolin and banjo) and John Jackson (guitars, dobro, harmonica). Then she flew to Nashville for sessions at The Rendering Plant.

“I enlisted a couple of the Swampers from Muscle Shoals – David Hood (bass) and Spooner Oldham (Wurlitzer, Rhodes) – and Rick Reed (drums), Bryan Owings (drums, percussion) and Kenny Malone (drums, percussion), who had played on my very first record,” says Lynne. “Dave Jacques, one of the best upright bass players in Nashville, can be heard on “Like A Fool,” as can Mark Jordan, who plays the haunting piano solo.” (“Like a Fool” was already tapped for an episode of the Lifetime series “Army Wives” that Lynne appeared in. She made her acting debut in Walk the Line, released in 2005.)

Lynne, who played a sold-out concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in December for public radio station WFUV, will be touring in support of Tears, Lies, And Alibis. Dates will be announced shortly.

The track listing for Tears, Lies, And Alibis is as follows:

Shelby Lynne

1. Rains Came
2. Like A Fool
3. Why Didn’t You Call Me
4. Alibi
5. Something To Be Said
6. Family Tree
7. Loser Dreamer
8. Old #7
9. Old Dog
10. Home Sweet Home

Here are the dates on the Shelby Lynne – Spring 2010 Tour

4/22 West Hollywood, CA The Roxy Theatre
4/23 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
4/26 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
4/27 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
5/1 Minneapolis, MN Dakota
5/2 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall
5/3 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
5/4 Chicago, IL Martyrs’
5/5 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern
5/7 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Music Hall
5/8 Somerville, MA Johnny D’s
5/9 Philadelphia, PA World Café Live
5/10 New York, NY The Concert Hall
5/11 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere
5/13 Nashville, TN The Belcourt Theater
5/15 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
5/17 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
5/18 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
5/19 Austin, TX St. David’s Episcopal Church
5/25 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern

Danny Gokey begins his Best Days

Nashville, TN – 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville recording artist Danny Gokey powers his way into the chart record books this week, as his March 2 debut album, My Best Days, brought out the fans, with first-week sales of more than 65,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The accomplishment nets Gokey the best opening-week sales by a debut country male since 1992.

The soaring success of My Best Days includes a sizzling digital album tally in excess of 19,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, earning Danny a #1 berth in chart history with the best first-week digital album sales ever recorded by a debut country act.

The album’s total sales also earn My Best Days this week’s highest chart entry by a debut artist, landing at #3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and #4 on the all-genre Billboard 200.

After crossing the country with an event-packed release week filled with in-store appearances, concerts, radio visits, and television – including a Thursday return to American Idol to sing his hit, “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me” – Gokey will be in Nashville this weekend for a March 13 performance on the Grand Ole Opry.  Gokey made his Opry debut earlier this year and will play both Opry shows this Saturday, in addition to meeting fans at a CD signing from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM at The Opry Shop.

About Danny Gokey: Danny Gokey became a favorite of millions of fans nationwide as a finalist on Season Eight of American Idol, and on March 2, the Milwaukee native and 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville recording artist released his debut album, My Best Days.  Danny credits his late wife, Sophia, with the inspiration to pursue his musical dreams on Idol, and he continues to honor her with the charitable work of the Sophia’s Heart Foundation, founded in her memory.  For more information on all things Danny, visit him online at www.dannygokey.com.

Anthony Smith

Award winning singer-songwriter and critic’s favorite, Anthony Smith, is joining the ranks of artists like Big Kenny, Gretchen Wilson and Toby Keith by launching his own record label, Krankit Records, LLC.

With an established team of industry veterans to guide the label, Krankit Record’s first album release will be Smith’s Sunshine with the lead single and video “Love Is Love Is Love.”

“This is a special record and I want to put my own stamp on country music with its release. We are very proud of Krankit and what it stands for and feel strongly that this will be the first of many successes that the label enjoys,” Smith said.

Krankit Records, LLC is a joint venture with Artist Garage, LLC who distributes through Fontana which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Mike Regan will serve as the director of operations for the label while Larry Pareigis and Nine North are the radio promotions partners . Jules Wortman of Wortman Works Media and Marketing as well as Nicole Cochran of Nic of Time Communications will run public relations and media for the label.

“The first single, ‘Love Is Love Is Love’ is vintage Anthony Smith with creative lyrical content and his unique vocals that can be duplicated by no other,” says Larry Pareigis who is working the radio promotion. “I believe ‘Love is Love is Love’ has the unmistakable Anthony Smith sound and at the same time is the most commercial single he’s sent to Country radio,” said Pareigis. “Nine North is honored to be partnered in the launch of Anthony’s label Krankit Records.”

About Anthony Smith:
Anthony Smith has had over 200 songs recorded by other artists including “Run” and “Cowboys Like Us” by George Strait, “Kristofferson” by Tim McGraw, “Chrome” and “I’m Trying” by Trace Adkins and “Who Invented the Wheel” by Trisha Yearwood. This is Smith’s sophomore record, the first being That Ain’t Country for Mercury, which he calls a “songwriters record”. The eagerly anticipated follow-up, Sunshine is poised to be an extraordinary collection of music that in Smith’s words, “is not Nashville”.

Just when he gets there it looks like they change the game.   His latest album isn’t really an album.  It’s a download collection of songs.  Packaged as a Six Pack and out 3/2/10.  It looks like the smaller packages of music are potentially more lucrative.   That’s surprising to most outside the music biz who don’t realize that the cost of printing physical disks and cases are not the big cost.  A substantial cost is publishing rights and royalties.

Expect to see more of this as the music biz shifts to an itunes-singles focused world.

Blake Shelton

In fact , Hillbilly Bone will drive a lotof the sales for Shelton’s SixPack, but there’s some other – mostly fun – stuff on the collection to make it worth your download.  From Can’t Afford To Love you to Kiss my Country Ass he continues to showcase his funny side.  In fact – after hearing several different versions of Kiss My Country Ass  – Shelton’s is the only one I’ve heard that really works.

You can see a preview and special performance via Walmart’s SOUNDCHECK – Click HERE

Overall Grade B+

Download – Everyone will be downloading the big hit HillbillyBone
Shop at the iTunes Music Store.

Josh Thompson is not a hat act… but kinda sounds like he could be.   He’s the real deal and he writes too.  In Fact, he

New music now out...

had a hand in writing every track) on his new CD “Way Out Here” just released this week on Columbia/Sony Records Nashville.  The new CD - download on iTunes.-is a nice break from the pop country that’s starting to be back in vogue with the Nashville Country labels.

Thompson is from Wisconsin and his debut album, out this week, is fun to hear.  I don’t know of many country stars that grew out of Wisconsin but I do know first hand there’s a lot of farmland to grow some country ”way out there”.    Maybe that’s why his traditional – but rocking – country sound comes across as fresh and not a remake of someone else’s stuff.    In fact there’s a lot of “country boy” themes in his new collection of songs… but Thompson’s found new ways to express it.    Not “redneck” or “hillbilly” but he sings about being from “Way Out Here.”

His  ”You Ain’t seen Country Yet” is worth a good laugh with a line about making love to the sounds of a Haggard casette (if you haven’t…”you ain’t SEEN country yet”).   Add in his rapid fire toungue twisting twang on radio hit “Beer On The Table” and you got a fun mix that defines what Thompson does.   As a bonus there’s a serious side painted in “Sinner”  that will resonate with the bible belt country fans too.

Thompson is currently playing to packed clubs with Eric Church on the Jagermeister Tour.

Listen for the nod to the legends with “Blame It On Waylon” and an ”old” Kenny Chesney flavor on the well-written “Back Around” that sounds like it could be a current radio hit anywhere in the country.

Overall Grade: A  surprise collection that proves traditional leaning country can still sound young and fresh.

Download:   Beer On The Table  although it may disappear from the radio top twenty soon it’s a song that should have hit.

Delete: None – this is one to listen to cover to cover.