The new remake of Footloose will have some country swagger when it hits theaters this Fall. The Footloose Soundtrack – that will be released September 27th – has a good representation of twang. Including Nashville’s star of the moment Blake Shelton singing the iconic theme song. The film is set for an October 15th release and features a sexy Julianne Hough as Ariel – the minister’s daughter.

The Soundtrack features eight new songs as well as the remakes.  Julianne, still growing her music career on Mercury records, is not featured singing in the film or soundtrack

Julianne Hough

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Victoria Justice and Hunter Hayes join the album with the movie’s love theme, “Almost Paradise.” The cast for the soundtrack has new music from Big & Rich, Cee Lo Green, David Banner, Whitney Duncan, Lissie and Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band. Other classic songs featured on the album are “Holding Out For A Hero” by Ella Mae Bowen and “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Jana Kramer.

Here’s a look at the tracks:
1. Footloose – Blake Shelton
2. Where The River Goes – Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band
3. Little Lovin’ – Lissie
4. Holding Out For A Hero – Ella Mae Bowen
5. Let’s Hear It For The Boy – Jana Kramer
6. So Sorry Mama – Whitney Duncan
7. Fake I.D. – Big & Rich feat. Gretchen Wilson
8. Almost Paradise – Victoria Justice & Hunter Hayes
9. Walkin’ Blues – Cee Lo Green feat. Kenny Wayne Shepherd
10. Window Paine – The Smashing Pumpkins
11. Suicide Eyes – A Thousand Horses
12. Dance The Night Away – David Banner

Photos: Paramount Pictures

About “FOOTLOOSE”
Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Dylan Sellers Zadan / Meron Weston Pictures Production of a Craig Brewer Film. Footloose stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Andie MacDowell and Dennis Quaid.  The film is directed by Craig Brewer from a screenplay by Dean Pitchford and Brewer and Story by Dean Pitchford.  It is produced by Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Dylan Sellers and  Brad Weston.  The executive producers are Timothy M. Bourne, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman.

 

 

Blake has it going on.   Reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year and country music’s most interesting man (Have you seen the funny vids at http://bit.ly/mostinterestingman), Blake Shelton, continues his wave of success with his new Warner Bros. Records release, Red River Blue as the largest selling album in the U.S.

Red River Blue #1 Debut

This amazing debut comes hot on the heels of a string of No. 1’s which include: Soundscan Top Current Albums chart, Soundscan Top Country Albums chart, iTunes Overall Albums Chart, iTunes Country Albums Chart and his multi-week insatiable hit “Honey Bee.” The single is the fastest-selling digital Platinum single for a male country solo artist. Red River Blue is the highest digital percentage for Shelton with almost 30% of his album sales and marks his highest selling album debut to date.  This success also comes at a time when Blake is enjoying a new marriage to Miranda Lambert and TV success on The Voice.

Chris Young also hit with his third release last week with 70 some thousand copies.  Good for second in Country.

Paisley

CMA Entertainer of the Year Brad Paisley announced his 2011 tour, H2O II World Tour presented by Chevy. The first date of the tour will be May 28 at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The 33 city tour includes five stadiums and an international trek that includes London’s O2 Arena, Dublin, Stockholm, Oslo and more.  Special guests on the tour will be Blake Shelton and Jerrod Niemann.

H2O II World Tour will bring back the very popular and fan favorite “Water World Plaza,” turning every city into a water festival.  Focal point in the Plaza area will be the “Water World Plaza Stage” featuring emerging new stars Brent Anderson, Edens Edge and Sunny Sweeney.  The tour extravaganza will open each day at 4:00pm with music starting at 5:00pm.  In addition to the music stage there will be multiple water-themed activities – including a Chevy H2O FLW fishing simulator, dunking booth, slip n slide, and other various water games.

Chevy will be providing a Corvette driving simulator for concert goers to test the latest Corvette ZR1 series as well as their individual driving and racing skills against Paisley himself.  The fan having the highest score each day will meet Paisley later in the evening.

Reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year and Grand Ole Opry member Brad Paisley is a consummate singer, songwriter, guitarist and entertainer, which has earned him three GRAMMY’s, 14 Country Music Association Awards and 13 Academy of Country Music Awards.  He has 18 #1 singles with the last 14 consecutive.  Paisley has released nine critically acclaimed studio albums, the most recent Hits Alive which is a two disc release of original studio hits as well as live performances from concerts.   Paisley’s innovative and entertaining H20 World Tour played to over 879,000 fans in 2010 and placed #1 country tour for attendance by Pollstar.  Paisley’s current single “This Is Country Music” is the title track from his next album which will be in-stores May 24.

About Blake Shelton:

CMA Male Vocalist of the Year and one of the “most versatile of contemporary country singers” (The New York Times), proves he is a force to be reckoned with as he’s set to co-host the 46^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards this April with Reba. In just 10 months, Blake has won six awards, has had three consecutive No. 1’s (“Who Are You When I’m Not Looking,” “All About Tonight” and “Hillbilly Bone”), sold out shows on his first ever headlining tour: “All About Tonight Tour,” his first No. 1 album with All About Tonight, his first GRAMMY nomination, his first ACM Award nomination for “Top Male Vocalist of the Year” and a chart-topping greatest hits CD, LOADED: The Best of Blake Shelton. The release catapults Shelton into an elite group of artists who have charted three records in one year (among those are Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson). Shelton’s eight No. 1 hits are “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking,” “It’s All About Tonight,” “Hillbilly Bone,” “She Wouldn’t Be Gone,” “Home,” “Some Beach,” “The Baby” and “Austin.” Shelton has not had a single peak outside the Top Ten since 2007.

About Jerrod Niemann:

Sea Gayle/Arista Nashville recording artist Jerrod Niemann is on the radio now with “What Do You Want,” the hit follow-up to his #1 smash and RIAA-certified Gold Digital Single, “Lover, Lover.”  Niemann co-produced and was a writer on 10 of the 12 songs on his acclaimed album,Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury, one of The New York Times’ Top 10 Albums of 2010.  Upon release, the album debuted at #1 onBillboard’s Top Country Albums sales chart and remained the only major label debut to hit #1 on the chart all year.  Niemann’s multiple award nominations in 2010 included his first CMA Award nomination as New Artist of the Year.  www.jerrodniemannofficial.com

About Brent Anderson:

Newcomer Brent Anderson is a Pascagoula, Mississippi native and a fresh voice on the national music scene.  At age 13, Anderson was fronting his own band, and by age 16, his gift for songwriting caught the ear of Nashville, earning him his first publishing deal in 2005.  Now a songwriter for Sea Gayle Music, Anderson is currently working on his debut album with noted producer Frank Rogers.

About Edens Edge:

Comprised of Hannah Blaylock (lead vocalist), Dean Berner (harmony vocals, guitar, dobro) and Cherrill Green (harmony vocals, mandolin, banjo, and guitar), Edens Edge composes a unique musical blend deeply rooted in Country and Bluegrass.  Growing up about an hour from each other in Arkansas the members of Edens Edge never met until they were introduced through mutual friends in college.  After entering the CMT/NSAI Songwriters Contest in 2006, the band was discovered by Kye Fleming who helped further develop the group’s writing and artistic talents.  In recent months the trio has opened for such Country stars as Lady Antebellum, Gloriana, Lonestar and Ronnie Milsap.  Recently profiled as one of Billboard’s “Artists to Watch in 2011” the trio’s debut single on Big Machine Records, “Amen,” will be at Country Radio on March 28^th.

About Sunny Sweeney:

Hailing from East Texas, Sunny Sweeney is a singer/songwriter with musical instincts that are stone-cold country. She is a Top 10 Female Country Artist of 2010 with the highest charting debut single of a female country artist in the last four years. Her lead single, “From A Table Away,” is a Top 15 hit on the Country Charts and rising. Sunny co-wrote all of the songs on her current EP and a full album is slated for release later this year. Though relatively new to the scene, she has already been featured in Country Weekly, AOL’s The Boot, Last.fm, Arizona Daily Star, Country Aircheck and MusicRow as well as on WGN-TV, CMT and GAC. Sunny has also landed on multiple “Ones to Watch in 2011” lists, including MSN and AOL. She is a favorite guest of the Grand Ole Opry, playing more than 20 times since her debut in 2007, and has warmed up the stage for County Music icons Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams, Jr. Recently she lent her voice to The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, dueting with another idol, Jessi Colter, on ”Good Hearted Woman.”

About Chevrolet:

Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Live Nation is the national tour promoter.  Log on to www.bradpaisley.com and www.livenation.com for on-sale and up to date information onH2O II World Tour – dates to be added.

*Paisley only shows.

**Paisley, Shelton, Niemann only

*** Paisley, Shelton, Niemann and Darius Rucker

May 28                  Heinz Field                                           Pittsburgh, PA ***

June 3                    Virginia Beach Amphitheatre                 Virginia Beach, VA

June 4                    Comcast Theatre                                  Hartford, CT

June 11                  Progressive Field                                  Cleveland, OH

June 16                  Riverbend Music Center                       Cincinnati, OH

June 17                  Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre             St. Louis, MO

June 18                  Verizon Wireless Music Center             Indianapolis, IN

June 24                  Wild West Arena-Nebraskaland Days North Platte, NE**

June 25                  Tuttle Creek State Park                        Manhattan, KS**

July 2                     Lavell Edwards Stadium                       Provo, UT*

July 9                     Cavendish Beach Music Festival           Cavendish, P.E.I.**

July 15                   PNC Band Center                                Holmdel, NJ

July 16                   Comcast Center                                   Boston, MA

July 17                   Scarborough Downs                             Scarborough, ME

July 22                   Toyota Pavilion                                     Scranton, PA

July 23                   Darien Lakes PAC                               Darien Lakes, NY

July 30                   Pizza Hut Park                                      Frisco, TX

August 4                 WE Fest                                               Detroit Lakes, MN**

August 6                 First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre         Chicago, IL

August 7                 Columbus Crew Stadium                      Columbus, OH

August 17               O2 Arena                                             London, UK*

August 19               Olympia Theatre                                   Dublin, IRE*

August 20               V Fest                                                  Chelmsford, UK*

August 21               V Fest                                                  Staffordshire, UK*

August 24               Cirkus                                                  Stockholm, SWE*

August 26               Spektrum                                             Oslo, NOR*

August 27               Lisebergshallen                                     Goteburg, SWE*

August 28               Forum                                                  Copenhagen, DEN*

September 9           1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre        Tampa, FL

September 10         Cruzan Amphitheatre                            West Palm Beach, FL

September 23         Susquehanna Bank Center                    Philadelphia, PA

September 24         Jiffy Lube Live                                      Washington, DC

September 25         Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion       Raleigh, NC

Blake Shelton

NBC has named country music’s Male Vocalist of The Year Blake Shelton as the fourth and final musician coach of “The Voice,” a new musical competition series premiering on Tuesday, April 26 (9-11 p.m. ET).  Shelton joins previously announced musician coaches Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine.

The announcement was made by Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios.

“We couldn’t have a panel that represented the hottest American music without a strong country presence, and Blake is at the top of his game right now,” said Telegdy. “Not only is he incredibly charismatic, but his passion for collaborating with and bringing the best out of other talented artists makes him the perfect choice to round out this ‘Dream Team’ of musician coaches.”

“I’m not sure ‘The Voice’ knows what they signed on for by bringing me on the show,” joked Shelton. “I know this for sure; Christina, Cee Lo, Adam and I are going to have a blast and I am extremely excited to be part of a show that recognizes true vocal talent.”

The Oklahoma-born Shelton made his debut with the single “Austin,” released from his self-titled first album that later became gold-certified. The song occupied the top spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs charts for five weeks.

Shelton’s second album, “The Dreamer,” and his third, “Blake Shelton’s Barn & Grill,” also were certified gold.

His other popular albums include “Pure BS,” “Startin’ Fires,” “Hillbilly Bone,” “All About Tonight” and “Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton” (his first compilation album). The albums yielded such hit singles as “Ol’ Red” (considered Shelton’s signature song), “All Over Me,” “The Baby,” “Some Beach,” ”Goodbye Time,” “Nobody But Me” (which appeared on the television movie “The Christmas Blessing”), “Home,” “The More I Drink,” “Don’t Make Me,” “She Wouldn’t Be Gone,” “I’ll Just Hold On,” “Hillbilly Bone,” “All About Tonight,” and more recently, “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking.”

In addition, Shelton’s duet with Trace Adkins, “Hillbilly Bone,” reached #1 last year and won every country collaboration award from the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music, CMT and ACA Award shows.  He also collaborated with his fiancée, Miranda Lambert, for their #1 hit single “Home” and Hillary Scott (Lady Antebellum) on “Suffocating.”

Last fall, Shelton was named the Male Vocalist of the Year by the 44th Annual Country Music Awards. He also has won five additional awards for Vocal Event of the Year from the Academy of Country Music, Musical Event of the Year from the Country Music Awards, and Collaborative Video of the Year (with Adkins) from Country Music Television to name a few. He also is a Grammy Award nominee and was inducted into the prestigious Grand Ole Opry.

On “The Voice,” four famous musician coaches — Shelton, Aguilera, Green and Levine — will each select singers to mentor into artists during the blind auditions.  Once they have their teams, the star coaches will bring in their personal songwriters, producers, and high-powered friends to help their teams evolve. Ultimately, America will decide which singer will be worthy of the grand prize.

Hosted by Carson Daly, the show’s innovative format features three stages of competition. The first begins with the blind audition, then the competition enters into a battle phase, and finally, the live performance shows.  The show’s casting team is working with the music industry and searching the country for the best singers to bring to the blind audition process.

During the blind auditions the decisions from the coaches are based solely on voice and not on looks.  The coaches hear the contestants perform but they don’t get to see them thanks to rotating chairs.  If a coach is impressed by the contestant’s voice, he/she pushes a button to select the contestant for his/her team.  At this point, the coach’s chair will swivel so that he/she can face the contestant he/she has selected.  If more than one coach selects the talent, the power shifts to the contestant, who may choose which coach he/she wants to work with throughout the competition.

Once the teams are set, the battle is on.  Coaches will dedicate themselves to developing their singers, giving them advice, and sharing the secrets of their success.  During the battle rounds the coaches will pit two of their own team members against each other to sing the same song together in front of a studio audience.  After the vocal face-off, the coach must choose which of his/her singers will advance.

At the end of the battle episodes, only the strongest members of each coach’s roster remain and proceed to the live stage shows.  In this final performance phase of the competition, the top contestants from each team will compete against each other during a live broadcast.  The television audience will vote to save one talent on each team, leaving the coach to decide live who they want to save and who will not move on.

At last, each coach will have their best contestant left standing to compete in the finale.  From these four, one will be named “The Voice” — and will receive the grand prize of a recording contract and $100,000.

“The Voice” is a presentation of Talpa Productions, Mark Burnett and Warner Horizon Television.  The series is created by John de Mol, who will executive-produce along with Burnett and Audrey Morrissey.

Blake and Miranda set to Wed

The timing must have finally felt right for country stars Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert.  The two are engaged according to THE BOOT and People Magazine. They say he popped the question in Oklahoma May 9th

Shelton, 33, and Lambert, 26, are both riding high with award accolades and hit records (like Hillbilly Bone and House That Built Me) and a stars aligning engagement may be the one thing o push them both into superstar status.    Blake had recently joked about ring shopping and Miranda says Blake called her dad to get his blessing.

Miranda is proud of the ring (rightfully so) she’ll be showing it off in the next issue of People Magazine (out May 14th).

Blake Shelton is slowly clawing his way onto the A List.  He’s started gaining real traction in the hit making department and has developed a long list of concert songs.  Plus with a few high profile TV stints he’s becoming a big name.

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
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