CRS Day Three

Brooks & Dunn made the "big announcemnt" at lunchtime. Later, Alan Jackson joked, "I knew those two would end up getting married someday." Seriously, Brooks & Dunn decided to honor the heritage of the music that has provided them with a career by donating the proceeds of their last concert to the Country Music Hall & Fame. The show will be August 10th in Nashville, with a string of big guest stars to be annouced later.

Alan Jackson played a casual show for lunch. He was his own Alan Jackson jukebox, as he played requests called out by the audience and just winged his way through a non-playlisted set. He through in a couple of new songs, but admitted to the downside of hearing new music live for the first time - it's hard to understand the lyrics and gist of the song. Musically, Alan and The Strayhorns sounded wonderful, but the lunchtime gig brought back some not-so-pleasant memories for Alan as he recounted his early days in Nashville playing music at a greasy spoon for 4 hours for $25. Watching everyone eat lunch while he sang reminded him of those days, yet this time he didn't even get the money! The latest American Idol to get a deal in Nashville, newcomer Danny Gokey, opened the show. He played a short set that included his first single, "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me," and wrapped up with a touching song dedicated to his late wife, "I Won't Say Goodbye."

After the afternoon seminars on the radio businees, it was on to another songwriter's showcase. It seems that each year at CRS a legendary artist is featured in some capacity, and this year was no exception. Tom T. Hall was given his due respect as he emerged from behind the curtain to a standing ovation which literally cut off the speaker's introduction of the legendary songwriter. At 73, Tom T. Hall is as spry and sharp-tongued as a man half his age. He said that he has been retired for 12 years and doesn't get out much anymore. As a matter of fact, he noted that he was missing an episode of Gunsmoke just to make this rare appearance at CRS. The audience showed its appreciation as Tom T. sang three songs, including his classics "The Day Clayton Delaney Died," and "I Love," the latter written to counter a psychological exercise to list all things you hate in order to change the behavior. Tom T. decided that he would write about things he loved. At the time, radio loved it because it was so short, and it went on to become his fourth number one hit.

Sheepishly following Tom T. Hall, Easton Corbin came out with songwriter, Wynn Varble to sing and tell a few stories behind their respective hits, "A Little More Country Than That," (originally written for Blaine Larsen who never cut it), "Waitin' On A Woman," and "Things That Never Cross A Man's Mind," (not intended for a woman, Kellie Pickler, to sing. Actually, Wynn had no idea who Kellie was when he was told that she cut the song. Wynn thought that "Kelly" was a "he" and it was his kids that had to inform him that "Kellie" was from American Idol.)