Record Setting Friday

Kenny Chesney has something else to celebrate this week besides the release of his album, Hemingway’s Whiskey. His current single “The Boys of Fall” has put Kenny in Billboard’s record books for having at least one number one single in each year, for the past 10 years. In the charts 66-year history, only six artists have had longer runs than Kenny including:
· 19 years, George Strait, 1982-2000
· 16 years, Ronnie Milsap, 1974-89
· 14 years, Alabama, 1980-93
· 12 years, Loretta Lynn, 1967-78
· 11 years, Tim McGraw, 1994-2004
· 11 years, Dolly Parton, 1977-87
· 10 years, Conway Twitty, 1968-77
· 10 years, Merle Haggard, 1967-76

Joe Nichols was a contestant last week on CMT’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and he walked away with $125,000 in prize money that he donated to Camp Barnabas, a Missouri Christian camp for people with special needs. Joe’s younger sister, Kelli, has attended the camp for the past several years, and according to the camp’s co-founder, the money will go towards building a new Health Care Facility to take care of the 1,300 campers.

Montgomery Gentry, who recently parted ways with their longtime label, wrote a letter to fans to clear up the duo’s future. The statement said, “Eddie and Troy here. As you may have heard, there were plans to release a ‘Greatest Hits’ yesterday but we wanted to make sure you knew that would not be happening. BUT, know that we are working on an album of brand new material. We are more motivated than ever to get the biggest and baddest Montgomery Gentry album ever out there! Hang in there and we’ll get that done as quickly as we can. In the meantime, we can’t wait to see you out on the road!”

Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire

No sooner does one relationship end, than Ronnie Dunn is at it again. A month after playing the final show of Brooks & Dunn’s Last Rodeo Tour, Ronnie has started work on a solo album. Ronnie’s manager says that Ronnie has recorded two or three things; He’s mixing them and playing them for people and making the determination of when he’s ready to go. When complete, the album will be released on Arista Nashville, the longtime label of Brooks & Dunn.

News From Around The Country
With 154,000 copies out the door, Zac Brown Band’s sophomore album, You Get What You Give, debuted as the number one album on Billboard’s Country Albums chart and Billboard’s Top 200 chart. Zac and the band knew they had something good on their hands and are very pleased with how well fans have embraced their new music. …..
The first round of performers for the 44th Annual CMA Awards have been announced. Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, and Blake Shelton will all take the stage at the Bridgestone Arena. The Zac Brown Band and Alan Jackson will perform together as well. The CMA Awards which will be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood will take place November 10th in Nashville and will air live on ABC. ….. And finally, Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus and his wife, Allison, have announced the name for their daughter who is due to be born in January. The couple decided on the name Madeline Leigh. Jay said, "Leigh is Ally's middle name and we finally settled on a [first] name that we both liked together." They plan to call her Maddy. The baby will join the Flatts’ family that includes Gary LeVox and wife, Tara, their two daughters, Brittany and Brooklyn, and Joe Don Rooney and wife, Tiffany, who have a son, Jagger, and recently had their daughter, Raquel.

Old School Is New Again

It was a big night last night as country music returned to the Grand Ole Opry and Blake Shelton was asked to become a member. After Blake and Trace Adkins performed “Hillbilly Bone,” Trace then took the microphone and teased Blake about his tweets. He then said, “The Grand Ole Opry has decided they’re going to tweet you.” An image then popped up on a screen that said “Blake, you’re invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.” Trace then turned to Blake and said, “I’m officially here and have the authority to ask you to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.” Blake accepted the invitation and gave Trace a big hug. Blake’s fiancé, Miranda Lambert, was in the audience smiling ear to ear with the news. As for the upgrades made during the post-flood renovations, the Grand Ole Opry now has 3 new HD projection screens are stage, 18 newly themed dressing rooms including Friends & Neighbors (dedicated to celebrity guests of the Opry), Into the Circle (showcasing quotes from artists on their debut nights), and The Roy (in honor of Roy Acuff). The only original part that remains of the backstage is the Post Office. The names are in alphabetical order except for Little Jimmy Dickens. His box should be on the top row according to his last name, but in order to reach his box it’s been moved to the middle row.

Family and friends gathered recently at at Loretta Lynn’s museum in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee Friday to celebrate 50 years of making music. It was that long ago that Loretta wrote her breakthrough hit “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” It’s a rarely mentioned factoid that she had to take out six verses before she recorded it. At the time, she had no idea the impact the song would have on her career. Loretta said, “I just thought it was another song of people talking about their life ya know. I didn’t think about it ever being anything. But it was a smash and I’m real proud. I’m proud to be a coal miner’s daughter, I am.”

Joe Bonsall from The Oak Ridge Boys has released his eighth published book, From My Perspective, which is a collection of commentaries and stories about life, music, faith, and America, all told in Joe’s perspective. Look for it at your favorite book retailer.

Martina McBride’s latest online video gives you a view of Martina’s experience at a Naval Air Station before a recent concert. Check out Martina and her entourage watching a flight demonstration, and experiencing what it feels like to sit in the pilot seat of an aircraft. At the end of the day, Martina was presented with a plaque which featured two command jets.

Tuesday Newsday

Kenny Chesney has earned his 20th career number one song with “Boys of Fall.” He also releases his album Hemingway’s Whiskey today. The project is something he was able to record during his down time while taking a year off from touring. He says for the past four or five albums, he was constantly rushing in and out of the studio and this time he was able to really focus on this project along with his producer Buddy Cannon. To promote the new project, look for Kenny on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday, and a Monday he’ll be a guest and performer on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The Grand Ole Opry will reopen tonight after suffering an enormous amount of damage during the floods that hit Nashville in May. Brad Paisley was on hand recently to return the historical circle of wood back to the center of the stage, and he said that although he lost a lot personal items in the flood, the news of the damage done to the Grand Ole Opry was the most painful. “My moments and my milestones happened here. So when this was destroyed, of all places, that was the most heartbreaking thing about the flood was this. No personal loss of property came anywhere near this,” said Brad. Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels Band, Del McCoury Band, Martina McBride, Montgomery Gentry, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Josh Turner and many more will take the stage tonight in honor of the reopening of the Grand Ole Opry.

Taylor Swift’s highly-anticipated third album, Speak Now, will be released worldwide on October 25th, and each week leading up to its release, a new track from the album will be available for purchase on iTunes. Each song will also be available in advance as an exclusive 30-second preview, along with a brief interview with Taylor, each week on Comcast On Demand, online at XfinityTV.com, and on E! News Daily. The iTunes / Comcast countdown pre-release tracks and previews are scheduled to launch as follows:

Song, “Speak Now”
- October 4th: 12:01 a.m. - Preview and interview available on Comcast on Demand and XfinityTv.com. Clip and interview featured on E! News that evening.
- October 5th:12:01 a.m. - “Speak Now” available for purchase at iTunes.com
Song, “Back To December”
- October 11th: 12:01 a.m. - Preview and interview available on Comcast on Demand and XfinityTv.com. Clip and interview featured on E! News that evening.
- October 12th: 12:01 a.m. - “Back To December” available for purchase at iTunes.com
Song, “Mean”
- October 18th: 12:01 a.m. - Preview and interview available on Comcast on Demand and XfinityTv.com. Clip and interview featured on E! News that evening.
- October 19th: 12:01 a.m. - “Mean” available for purchase at iTunes.com

And finally, it will be nice to see Travis Tritt in another movie roll. He is currently on location in Georgia playing the role of Eddie Waters in the Christian-based story about two brothers who lead two different lives in the 1950’s. Alan Jackson was also considered for the part. Fishers of Men will be released in January 2011.

Feeling Talented This Week?

Rodney Atkins has been named as the honorary host of the 4th annual Music City Songwriting Competition, which is conducted by the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. The CVB is holding a world-wide search for the best original song now until November 22nd. All entrants will receive a copy of Rodney’s newest album. Entries will be narrowed down to the top 25, and will be judged by a panel of music industry veterans. If you've got something good, send it in with this link.

Meanwhile, The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has launched their own contest, "They Came to Nashville", which is inspired by Marshall Chapman’s new book of the same name. Contestants can submit a personal statement expressing why they would like to go to Nashville in order try to win the Marshall’s Pick Grand Prize package. The package includes a trip to Nashville, an autographed copy of the book, and more.

News From Around The Country
Gloriana’s been honored with their first gold digital download. At a performance last week in Nashville, the quartet were given plaques from the RIAA to certify their debut single “Wild at Heart” as gold. “Wild at Heart” was the best selling single from a new country act in 2009. ….. John Rich is bringing the rock and rap to country music with his Rich Rocks Six Pak. John says that this is the perfect album to buy to get the party started, “I’ve got celebrity DJ’s over the middle of the mixes. I’ve got Kid Rock, Lil Jon, Hank Williams Jr., Cowboy Troy all on there keepin’ it going.” …. American Idol has revealed the judges for season 10, and it looks like the show is making a few other changes as well. Special genre weeks such as “Country Week” and “Frank Sinatra Night” will not be featured. Producers no longer want to make contestants outside their own genres. The styles of music are going to be more decades-based, rather than individual artists music.” The new season of the show starts in January. …. And finally, from the file of “what ever happened to…,” we catch up with Lyle Lovett. He will be a guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC’s Castle. Lyle’s character will investigate a possible alien abduction in the episode which will air in November.