Monarch PublicityCSI: NY’s Gary Sinise will join Charlie Daniels and Chris Young for a free Nashville concert, to kick off Daniels’ Scholarships for Heroes 2012 tour. The show will be held March 6 on the campus of Nashville’s Lipscomb University, where its Yellow Ribbon Program helps send veterans to college. When he’s not acting, Sinise travels and performs for the troops with his Lt. Dan Band. Darryl Worley, the Grascals and other special guests are also set to play.
BNA RecordsThe woman caught trespassing at Kenny Chesney's Nashville-area home last night has been set free. Melissa Mansfield has been ordered not to contact Chesney in any way as part of her release. She was arrested February 15 after authorities discovered her drinking wine and smoking cigarettes by the country star's pool.
Mansfield represented herself before the Williamson County, TN judge, who told Mansfield, "You are ordered to stay away from the victim's property located at…anywhere. I mean anywhere."
According to Nashville ABC affiliate WKRN, Mansfield was released Wednesday afternoon after spending a week in jail.
Curb RecordsLee Brice discovered his latest hit, “A Woman Like You,” when he was hanging out with his friend Jon Stone. He immediately cut a demo, played it for his label, and with a few tweaks, that became the version you’re hearing on the radio now. Lee is thankful his buddy played it for him first, otherwise, he fears you might be listening another male vocalist sing it on the radio. “If Blake [Shelton] or Chris Young or anybody would have got their hands on that, I think it would have been a smash for any of them. I was just lucky to get my hands on it first,” he tells CMT.com.
Arista NashvilleCarrie Underwood tells Nashville’s N Focus magazine she looks to Charlize Theron and Reese Witherspoon as her own personal style icons. “They are beautiful, but in a natural way. They look like they take care of themselves but don’t do anything too crazy. They always look and act classy,” she says. Carrie is set to perform at the sold-out Nordstrom Nashville Symphony Fashion Show next Tuesday. Her new CD comes out May 1.
Monarch PublicityCraigMorgan stopped by Dickson Middle School in Dickson, TN west of Nashville Tuesday to donate 15 Dean acoustic guitars to the school's music program. While he was there, Craig talked with the students about the importance of music, gave them a quick guitar lesson and even wrote a song with them.
"Music has always been such an important part of my life,” says Craig. “I’m happy to give back so that others can share in that experience."
Craig will share his new music with fans February 28 when his new album, This Ole Boy, hits stores. The title cut from that project is now climbing the country singles chart.
ABC/Katherine BomboyKeith Urban took part in several talent competitions growing up, and he took some harsh criticism from the judges. That's part of the reason he's hoping to make a positive impact as a mentor on Australia's version of The Voice. Keith is currently in Australia taping the show.
He tells The Tennessean, "My want is to help someone realize that, ‘You nailed these things, and any artist has areas they need help with, and I may have these faults myself and that’s why, maybe I’m pointing them out in you,’" Keith adds, “I look at this as an opportunity to give back and help somebody.”
Keith's fellow mentors on the show are Seal, Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and singer DeltaGoodrem.
Show Dog/UniversalJoe Nichols and his wife Heather are expecting their first baby together this spring according to People. They have been trying to have a child for awhile now, and Joe says, "I have to give all the credit to my wife -- she has been a trooper through all of this, and I am so happy.”
Joe and Heather were married in 2007 in Georgia. Joe has a 13-year-old daughter named Ashelyn from a previous relationship.
Big Machine RecordsRascal Flatts is taking its new album, Changed, to the big screen. Rascal Flatts: Changed -- One Night Exclusive Theater Event will screen in theaters across the U.S. and Canada on the night of April 5, two days after the album's release on April 3. The special will include exclusive access into the lives of Flatts band members Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus.
The guys will also perform their biggest hits as well as new music from Changed during the theater event. Tickets will go on sale early next month at FathomEvents.com.
The lead single from Changed, "Banjo," is now climbing the country chart.
Brantley Gutierrez LadyAntebellum brings its Own the Night tour to Nashville Wednesday for a hometown show with special guests Darius Rucker and Thompson Square. But while fans might come out first and foremost to see the headliners, Lady A's members are fans of the openers.
Darius's rock group Hootie & The Blowfish, was a musical influence on Lady A's Charles Kelley. He says, "I've got a video of me singing 'Hold My Hand" at probably 10 years old. It's pretty awesome."
Darius has become a friend to the group and Charles is thrilled to have him perform on the bill. "He could go out and headline on his own," Charles said. "You know, that meant a lot that he wanted to come on board and be a part of this."
Thompson Square got Lady Antebellum's attention when they hit #1 with "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not." Charles says, "We kind of locked them in early on before they went out with Taylor Swift or somebody."
Lady A's Dave Haywood points to Thompson Square's vocal talent. "They got great harmonies too," Dave explains. "We love duos and groups. We're honestly big fans."
Lady Antebellum continues the Own the Night tour this weekend with shows in Detroit and Evansville, IN.
Arista NashvilleCarrie Underwood has posted a YouTube video giving fans a sneak peek of her new single, "Good Girl." The clip shows Carrie in the studio on the last day of recording for her new album as they put the finishing touches on the single. Before opening the door to the studio control room where the song is being played, Carrie says, "I don't think I'm supposed to do this, but I'm so excited about the first single 'Good Girl," I thought I'd give you guys a little teaser 'cause hey, what are they going to do to me?"
From what we can hear, "Good Girl" sounds like another up tempo track in the same vein as Carrie's hits "Last Name" and "Cowboy Casanova."
"Good Girl" will be released to radio Thursday. Carrie's full album will be in stores May 1.
Greg WatermannThe folks at Solo Cup Company celebrated their 75th anniversary last year, but they're still partying thanks to Toby Keith's hit "Red Solo Cup." That song first got on the radar at the Solo Cup building last year thanks to a YouTube video of Toby performing the song. The official video for the song has now been viewed nearly 12 million times, and "Red Solo Cup" has been certified platinum for a million paid downloads.
Though "Red Solo Cup" hasn't popped up in any official Solo Cup commercials, the company's CEO Bob Korzenski tells the Chicago Sun-Times, "We’re happy the way it turned out. Our products are all about entertainment and having a good time. The song captures that perfectly.”
The song has also given Solo Cup employees an extra kick in their step. "It’s had a positive impact on morale,” says Korzenski.
"Red Solo Cup" has been featured on Fox's Glee. It appears on Toby Keith's latest studio album, Clancy's Tavern.
Mercury NashvilleSugarland has responded to a lawsuit filed on behalf of 51 people connected to the stage collapse last August at the Indiana State Fair. The suit claims Sugarland, the concert promoter and those who built the stage were negligent in allowing the stage to be overloaded by heavy gear, failing to monitor the weather properly and failing to evacuate the area in a timely manner before the collapse.
According to Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV, the response from Sugarland's lawyer states they had nothing to do with the construction of the stage at the Indianapolis State Fair as it was not set up just for their concert.
The statement reads, "The incident at issue in this litigation resulted from a gust of wind of unprecedented intensity, which caused a structure that may have been improperly designed, maintained andor inspected to fail. As such, this was a true accident or Act of God."
An attorney for some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit claims Sugarland twice refused to cancel the concert because they were concerned with getting to their next show. The band denies claims it was their responsibility to cancel the concert in case of inclement weather.
Sugarland's response also claims that "some or all of the plaintiffs failed to exercise due care for their own safety" and that "some or all of the plaintiffs knowingly and voluntarily assumed andor incurred the risk of injury to themselves."
Capitol NashvilleLuke Bryan launched his own headlining tour last year, but now he's opening shows on his pal Jason Aldean's 2012 My Kinda Party tour. Luke is on a roll with a steady stream of hits on the radio, but he wants to score a few more chart toppers before he helms his own tour again.
"I think you ever step out there too soon as a headliner, it's a scary deal to go too soon," Luke says, "and I just felt like this year I would be a little presumptuous for me to go all out for major headlining."
Luke plays for nearly an hour on tour with Jason, and that gives him just enough time to perform all his hit songs for the fans. The shows on this tour have been selling out very quickly, and Luke says, "I think it's always important for me to just know I'm here to add to what Jason's got going on and still to gain fans."
Fans who catch Luke's set on the Jason Aldean tour will hear him perform the new single "Drunk on You" from his gold-selling album, tailgates & tanlines.
Randee St. NicholasMiranda Lambert is such a big fan of vintage Airstream trailers she wrote and recorded a song about them on her Revolution album. She spent a lot of time thinking about Airstreams while working on that song. She tells Valley24.com, "Thinking about them so much turned into buying three of them."
Miranda carries one of the trailers with her on her On Fire tour. "I had one of the Airstreams decorated and made into a bar, so I would have somewhere to hang out with friends when they come visit me on the road," Miranda explains.
Her tour continues Thursday in Macon, GA with special guests Chris Young and Jerrod Niemann.
James Minchin IIIJasonAldean has one of the top tours in country music this year, playing to packed arenas from coast to coast. One of the secrets to Jason's success is keeping his tickets reasonably priced for fans. He tells The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "You can go out and charge 80 bucks for a ticket and have the place half full or you can charge 40 bucks a ticket and have the place completely full and you make the same amount of money. It's just common sense."
Jason's 2012 My Kinda Party tour continues with a show in Nashville Friday night.
Randee St. NicholasMiranda Lambert took her Twitter feud with Chris Brown on stage Thursday night. It all started last week when Miranda shared her displeasure with Chris getting two performance slots on the Grammys. She tweeted, "I don’t get it. He beat on a girl…Not cool that we act like that didn’t happen." In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty for assaulting former girlfriend Rihanna and is now serving five years of probation.
In a concert Thursday night in Massachusetts, Lambert held up a handwritten poster that read, “Take notes Chris Brown” and said, “Listen, I just need to speak my mind. Where I come from, beating up on a women is never OK.” After the crowd applauded, she added, “So that’s why my daddy taught me early on in life how to use a shotgun.” Miranda then sang her hit song “Gunpowder and Lead."
Brown responded to Miranda's initial tweet saying people's criticism of him didn't matter because he has a Grammy now. Miranda tweeted back that she has a Grammy too.
After her onstage comments, Brown tweeted Miranda again, “Using my name to get publicity? I love it! Perform your heart out! Go buy @miranda_lambert! So motivational and 'PERFECT.' Goodnight to all the people who live life and who aren’t stuck in the past!”
Capitol NashvilleKeith Urban didn't write his latest hit, "You Gonna Fly," but he says, "I loved it straight away." Part of the song's appeal for Keith is the way the guy in the song goes after the girl he's singing to. "I like the sort of swagger of the guy," Keith says. "I like the guy in the song, you know?"
"You Gonna Fly" was actually co-written by Jaren Johnston, the lead singer of the rock group American Bang. The demo version of the song was really heavy on electric guitars, and Keith kept it that way while recording his own take. Something just didn't feel right about it though, so Keith changed course and focused on acoustic instruments like mandolin, six-string banjo and acoustic guitars. He says, "Musically, the song just fell into place much better for me."
For a big finishing touch on the song, Keith had Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman come sing on the song along with singer/songwriter Sarah Buxton. "You Gonna Fly" is included on Keith's album, Get Closer.
