Category: country music

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Country superstars and a Dodgers superstar galore in Nashville.

Mookie Betts is known for his talent and accolades on the baseball field. But this coming week, the Dodgers’ star outfielder will be rubbing elbows with the superstars of country music at the 56th annual Country Music Awards.

The event will be hosted in Nashville, Tennessee, making Nashville’s own Markus Lynn Betts a solid choice to present an award.

Mookie will join Reba McEntire, Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town among many more on the full list of presenters.

This year’s CMAs will be hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning and will feature performances by country’s biggest stars including Luke Combs, Jon Pardi, Chris Stapleton, Cole Swindell, Morgan Wallen and many more.

The show will be on Wednesday, November 9th

The Northern Ontario Country Music Awards weekend commenced last night to excited fans, with the Great Northern Opry All Stars Event.

White Stallion was the house band with guest appearances as the stage in the packed ballroom at Quattro Hotel was graced with country music greats from across Northern Ontario.

From the Sault, there was Rob Wagner, Larry Cote and Jimmy Bouchard. From Timmins there was Mike Geoffrey, Cleo and Chantal Bellemare, Dana Lee Herbert and Sasha Lee Cadieux. From North Bay there was Frank and Cheryl Robbins, Don Brose and Jason Lamoureax. From Manitoulin there was Ben Lentir and Doug Hope. From Sudbury there was Kevin Russell, Gilles Giroux and Guy Moncion.

Today will be the Northern Ontario Country Music Awards Show at 7 p.m.

Issued on: 05/11/2022 – 02:24

The country queen and rap agitator are joined by pop futurists Eurythmics, smooth rocker Lionel Richie, new wave Brits Duran Duran, confessional lyricist Carly Simon and enduring rock duo Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo in entering the music pantheon.

The Cleveland-based Hall of Fame — which surveyed more than 1,000 musicians, historians and industry members to choose the entrants — will honor the seven acts in a star-studded gala at Los Angeles’s Microsoft Theater.

More supergroup concert than ceremony, the evening will see music legends honor their peers with performances of their time-tested hits — the lineup is usually kept under wraps until showtime.

But Rock Hall Chairman John Sykes spilled some of the guest appearances in an interview this week with Forbes, telling the outlet that attendees will including Olivia Rodrigo and Alanis Morissette while Bruce Springsteen and Sheryl Crow are set to figure among those introducing the honorees.

‘Sound of young America’

Sykes emphasized the institution’s fluid definition of “rock” that is more about spirit than genre.

Over the years a number of rappers, pop, R&B and country stars have been brought into the hall’s fold.

“Rock and roll, like music culture itself, never stays in one place. It’s an ever-evolving sound to reflect culture,” Sykes said.

“So you look at these different artists that you’re going to see inducted this year — they’re different genders, they’re different colors, they’re different sounds but they have one thing in common, they created the sound of young America.”

This year’s inclusion of Parton, 76, prompted a characteristically humble response from the beloved icon, who initially requested her name be taken out of the running, saying that she was far from a rock star.

But voting had already begun, and the organization explained to Parton, whose prolific body of work includes the classics “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” that her body of work was worthy.

“When she understood what the true meaning of rock and roll is, then she embraced it and is going to not only attend the ceremony but she’s making a rock and roll album and is going to debut a song, specifically from that record, at the ceremony,” Sykes revealed.

Eclectic group

The 2022 group of hall of famers is among the organization’s most eclectic in years.

Detroit rapper Eminem burst onto the world stage in the late 1990s with darkly comical hits off his major label debut “The Slim Shady LP” including “My Name Is.”

“The Marshall Mathers LP” cemented his superstar status, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time and setting up the rapper as one of pop’s master provocateurs with a blistering flow.

He joins fellow rappers including Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube and Grandmaster Flash along with his loyal producer and mentor Dr Dre in the hall.

Eminem gained the recognition in his first year of eligibility: acts can be inducted 25 years after their first commercial music release.

Lionel Richie, the crooner behind enduring love songs “All Night Long” and “Hello,” earned the distinction after already scoring the majority of music’s top honors.

The 73-year-old artist has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as designated a Kennedy Center Honoree and a winner of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Eurythmics — the duo comprised of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart — earlier this year also entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The synthpop innovators behind “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” will now take their place among rock’s greatest.

Duran Duran is set to reunite with their former guitarists Andy Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo.

Simon, the singer-songwriter behind the 1970s classic “You’re So Vain,” will finally be inducted following almost two decades of eligibility.

And power couple Benatar and Giraldo, who dominated the 1980s with hits like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” will also finally get rock hall recognition for their vast output.

Judas Priest along with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis will also receive awards for musical excellence, while Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten will be recognized for early influence prizes.

The gala will begin at 7:00 pm (0200 GMT Sunday), and will be broadcast on November 19 on HBO.

© 2022 AFP

Tyler Ryan catches up with Clay Walker to chat country music and Tik Tok

COLUMBIA SC (WOLO) – Since 1993, Clay Walker has been a star in Country Music, with six number one songs, lots of albums, awards, and millions of fans.  Saturday night, he returns to Columbia for a show at the Township Auditorium, with fellow country star Tracy Lawrence.

You can get ticket info HERE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tyler Ryan is an award winning television and radio personality, writer, investigative journalist, and professional emcee.  He appears daily on ABC Columbia’s Good Morning Columbia, as well as hosting the syndicated radio program Carolina Cares on the South Carolina Radio Network, and the iHeart Radio Network.  Tyler also regularly appears as a criminal expert and journalist on regional and national crime based programs like Snapped and Killer Couples.  You can contact him directly via EMAIL Or on the socials: Tyler’s Instagram  // Tyler’s Facebook

Brooks to discuss criteria and selection process during CRS 2023

Country Radio Broadcasters (CRB) has announced the establishment of a new industry honor, the Garth Brooks “No Fences” Award. Presented by CRB and inspired by the influential career of Garth Brooks, and his groundbreaking 1990 No Fences album release, the newly established honor will recognize an individual in the country music industry who has boldly demonstrated innovation, creativity, and tenacity.

Recipients of the award will have defied traditional standards and practices, positively changed the face of the industry, and established higher standards for measuring success. Additionally, their achievements will have expanded the country music industry’s profile on a national level, not only for their benefit but for the industry as a whole, for a sustained duration and with proven significant impact.

The inaugural recipient of this newly established award will be honored at a future CRS, with a blue-ribbon committee comprised of CRB board members and representatives of Brooks’ team evaluating candidates based on the criteria articulated above. Additionally, Brooks will appear at CRS 2023 on Monday, March 13th for an exclusive and rare conversation to discuss the collaboration with CRS and the last several years.

The award’s namesake, No Fences, comes from his historic album release that further catapulted his remarkable career. With over 18 million copies sold worldwide, No Fences exhibited musical foresight, shattered sales and airplay records, and spear-headed country music’s historic expansion, decade-long dominance, and era-defining catalog of country music that continues to entertain fans around the world.

“We all know about Garth’s monumentally successful career, which established this genre as popular, sustainable, and mainstream,” shares CRB/CRS executive director RJ Curtis. “What many don’t know, however, is that concurrent with his many personal accomplishments, Garth Brooks has given unwavering support for CRS during the past 30 years by showing up to CRS annually and creating innovative ways to engage, entertain, and educate CRS attendees that perfectly match the ‘Growth through sharing’ mission of CRS. It’s fitting that we honor Garth’s innovative, tenacious spirit with this newly established award bearing his name.”

Country Radio Seminar will take place Monday, March 13th through Wednesday, March 15th at the Omni Nashville Hotel. Registration for CRS 2023 is open and is $649 per person. Unlike previous years, New Faces of Country Music Showcase tickets are sold separately for $100 per ticket. New Faces of Country Music Showcase tickets are limited and nearly sold out.

“Let me sing you the songs you are longing to hear,” Patrick Haggerty offered fondly during his waltz-time ballad “All Disillusions Behind” on Lavender Country’s second album Blackberry Rose. He was singing to a lover — “It’s kinda corny,” he winced and chuckled during a promotional documentary — but by then, he was also addressing an audience he once doubted he’d ever have.

When he died at age 78 on Monday — Lavender Country’s official Instagram account confirmed that he died of complications related to a stroke, “surrounded by his kids and lifelong husband, JB” — Haggerty was celebrated as a pioneering elder by LGBTQ+ artists, activists and fans who stake their claims to roots, country and folk music. But it was just in the last half-dozen years or so that Lavender Country’s debut — the self-titled, 10-song set he and his original bandmates made back in 1973 — enjoyed wide recognition as the first openly gay country album.

Making those kinds of claims to firstness is a complicated thing. As a number of history-revising scholars, including Nadine Hubbs and Ryan Lee Cartwright, have noted in their work, and as queer, banjo-playing songwriter and thought leader Justin Hiltner makes clear virtually every time he speaks on the record, “queerness in these rootsy, country, and rural spaces is nothing new.” But the arc of Haggerty’s career, the chance to witness a warmly uncompromising and incisively charismatic figure revive the life-endangering truth-telling he did during the Stonewall era while occupying the spotlight in a lavender-hued snap shirt the final eight years of his life — that was monumental.

The many interviewers who asked Haggerty what he thought about gaining new generations of musical followers in recent years often received a playfully pungent response. “For years I was by myself,” he told Billboard in 2021. “Now I have an entourage of country performers who think I’m their grandpappy or something.” He also tended to scoff at the question “Why country?” as though it ought to be self-evident that a boy who grew up in a Hank Williams-loving, dairy-farming household in Washington state and went on to become an openly gay and politically radicalized man would reach for country songwriting as a tool of agitation.

Haggerty made clear that his wasn’t the story of a country hopeful who tried to break into the business. He was acutely aware that songwriting advocating for a Marxist and intersectional vision of gay liberation would be unmarketable in almost any genre in the late ’70s. What enabled him and his musical co-conspirators Michael Carr, Eve Morris and Robert Hammerstrom to make that first Lavender Country album, and press 1,000 copies of it, was the grassroots funding they received from Gay Community Social Services of Seattle, where they lived. That’s also how they secured a P.O. Box, placed ads in the back of magazines and commenced a modest mail-order business.

In a promotional clip for a re-release of the album decades later, Haggerty scoffed at the notion that he was fazed by any controversy his version of country generated. What he cared about was the queer folks who bought the LP in secret and listened in tearful appreciation as he merrily and explicitly took down straight, white, cis toxic masculinity (“Cryin’ These C***sucking Tears”), decried how the forces of capitalism divided and conquered working-class activist coalitions and delayed gay liberation (“Back in the Closet Again”), immortalized the pleasure and anonymity of a cruising encounter (“I Can’t Shake the Stranger Out of You”) and imagined a welcoming queer utopia where there would be no policing of gender performance (“Lavender Country”). Haggerty was writerly and purposeful about his outrage and outrageousness, drawing on the traditions of protest folk and high camp. Over shambling, spirited, piano-driven and fiddle-accented country-rock, he hit his notes head on, needling listeners with his penetrating wit. His rough, reedy timbre made no concessions to uptown, cosmopolitan expression, but he certainly knew how to ham it up.

After half a decade of performing in the Pacific Northwest, Haggerty felt marginalized in his own political movement, too radical for the gay rights coalitions forming with Democrats. He set the band aside and moved on with his life’s work: co-parenting, marriage, campaigning for local and state office, working for quality of care and policy change for AIDS patients.

The first Lavender Country album fell out of print and into obscurity, until a crate-digger uploaded “Tears” to YouTube and the indie label Paradise of Bachelors reissued the full-length in 2014. After it became available more widely than it had ever been, performers making their ways down a variety of paths latched onto Haggerty’s songs and story. High-profile drag queen Trixie Mattel wanted to duet. Masked crooner Orville Peck offered an opening slot. At a number of queer country showcases, Haggerty was both honored guest and headliner. When Blackberry Rose, the second Lavender Country album, saw a wide release by Don Giovanni records in 2022, musicians who saw themselves as working in that broad lineage — like Mya Byrne, Paisley Fields, Lizzie No, Jett Holden, Mali Obomsawin and Austin Lucas — collaborated with Haggerty, some providing backing on the record and others joining Lavender Country on a package tour this past spring.

For Haggerty, though, any interaction with the music industry itself remained fraught. His mind was still fixed on the movement. “You’re supposed to stand on my shoulders and move forward,” he insisted to the online magazine Country Queer, “because that’s what’s going to be required of you to see the Revolution through.”

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Now THIS is how you open a show.

The CMA Awards are coming up on November 9th and over the years we’ve seen so many legendary performances, moments, and honors that have gone far in defining the genre, many of them involving the great Alan Jackson.

There’s the iconic rendition of “When The World Stopped Turning” right after 9/11, him walking out while Beyoncé was performing, protesting the treatment of George Jones, and his and George Strait’s middle finger to Country Radio, just to name a few.

The awards this year will once again be dominated by the Georgia native because Alan is being given the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement award, an honor that is undoubtedly deserved, if not overdue.

He will be just 8th recipient of the award which was created in 2012 and named after the great Willie Nelson, who is still crushing it at 89 years old.

That got me thinking of the 2016 CMAs, which celebrated both the 50th anniversary of the show itself and the honoring of Dolly Parton with the 4th Lifetime Achievement award.

There were so many great moments during that show, however, the opening performance was the one for the history books.

Executive producer Robert Deaton made the decision that the focus would be on celebrating the rich history of the genre rather than attempting to push new singles, and that shift was very evident in the opening performance, which featured 12 of the genre’s most iconic and defining songs.

Vince Gill and Ben Haggard, youngest son of the great Merle, kicked it off with “Mama Tried”. Brad Paisley and Roy Clark came next with the Buck Owen’s classic “Tiger By The Tail” and Carrie Underwood followed with Tammy Wynette’s absolutely iconic anthem “Stand By Your Man”.

This is where the performance shifted from modern stars doing covers to legends playing their own.

Charley Pride came out with “Kiss An Angel Good Morning”, then Alabama with “Mountain Music”, Charlie Daniels with “Devil Went Down To Georgia”, Reba with “Fancy”, Dwight Yoakam with “Guitars, Cadillacs”, Clint Black with “Killin’ Time”, Ricky Skaggs with “Country Boy”, and Alan Jackson with “Don’t Rock The Jukebox” before the entire performing crew joined together to honor Randy Travis with “Forever and Ever, Amen”.

This was right after his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and about three years after his debilitating stroke, but he was still able to croon out that iconic last “Amen” at the end, which sent the crowd wild.

I mean, come on, talk about a legendary lineup of performers, all sharing the stage together, to honor the genre they all love and that had done so much for them and their fans.

That’s really what these shows should be about, not the fluffy pile of blah we’ve been force fed recently.

Hats off to everyone that participated in this incredible opener. It’ll probably never be matched, especially since losing Charley Pride and Charlie Daniels, along with the worsening health conditions of Alan Jackson and Randy Travis.

We need to enjoy these legends while we still have them. This upcoming ceremony will be worth watching if for no other reason than to support Alan Jackson.

We’ll see you in a week.