Nashville Music News Roundup
Scroll down to read these Music Row One Sheet news items
- Nashville Songwriter Awards set for Sept 19
- Half of UMG up for sale
- Kenny Chesney breaks Nashville attendance record
- Dan+Shay toast No. 1 with Tequila Tuesday
- R.I.P. Aretha Franklin
- Catch these acts on tour
- Preshias on Y’all Radio podcasts
Scroll down to read these Music Row One Sheet news items
Nashville Songwriter Awards set for Sept 19
The star-studded line-up continues to grow for the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) annual Nashville Songwriter Awards presented by City National Bank.
This event is always a ‘must’ on my calendar as we show our appreciation and respect for Nashville’s incredibly talented songwriters. Country megastar and five-time CMA ‘Male Vocalist of the Year’ Blake Shelton, along with eleven-time GRAMMY nominated singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson and ACM, BMI, and CMT Award winning artist Scotty McCreery will participate in the evening dedicated to songwriters. They will join previously confirmed artists Bill Anderson, Chris Janson and LANCO.
Awards given will include Song, Songwriter, and Songwriter-Artist of the Year as well as the coveted ‘10 Songs I Wish I’d Written’ awards. As previously announced, country legend Bill Anderson will receive the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award. This year’s Nashville Songwriter Awards will take place on September 19, 2018 at 7:30pm at the historic Ryman Auditorium. More details and tickets available here.
Half of UMG up for sale
If you’ve got some spare cash laying around, here’s an opportunity: Vivendi is looking for investors to buy 50% of Universal Music Group. UMG includes: Capitol Music Group, Republic Records, Island Records, Def Jam, UMG Nashville and more. UMG revenues were up 6.8 percent for the first half of 2018 compared to 2017 (although physical record sales and downloads were down). The 50% share could be worth around ten billion dollars, but would probably not require the new investment partner to come up with anything like that much cash. See a full report at Billboard here.
Kenny Chesney breaks Nashville attendance record
Kenny Chesney has broken another record. On Saturday, August 11, his ‘Trip Around the Sun’ tour concert in Nashville’s Nissan Stadium hosted 55,182 members of his ‘No Shoes Nation.’ That beat the previous attendance record of 54,249 in 2014 set by …. … One Direction, the English-Irish band that includes Harry Styles.
Proceeds from Chesney’s latest album, SONGS FOR THE SAINTS, will go to his ‘Love For Love City’ fund that supports disaster relief in places such as his beloved Virgin Islands. Also… Chesney’s album SONGS FOR THE SAINTS debuted at Number Two on the Billboard Top 200 [all genre album chart] and debuted at Number One on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. It is his first album on his new label, Warner Music Nashville, and his sixteenth Number One album overall. That puts him in a 4th place tie with Merle Haggard and Tim McGraw. George Strait leads with 26 Number One country albums. News and music at Kenny’s website or his Facebook page.
Dan+Shay toast No. 1 with Tequila Tuesday
Dan+Shay will remember August 14, 2018 for a long time. That afternoon, they celebrated at a Number One Party for ‘Tequila’ with co-writers Nicolle Galyon and Jordan Reynolds. Later, Dan+Shay hosted the aptly-named ‘Tequila Tuesday’ street party show for around 10,000 fans in Nashville.
During the show, Warner Music Nashville’s John Esposito presented them with plaques recognizing ‘Tequila’ for sales of more than one million track equivalents. Esposito noted that ‘Tequila’ is the fourth most-streamed country song of the year so far with 200 million on-demand streams. The event benefited Musicians On Call with a check for $5,000. Musicians On Call live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities.Music and tour dates here.
R.I.P. Aretha Franklin
The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, passed away today, aged 76. Aretha sold more than 75 million records worldwide and received 18 Grammy Awards. She is recognized as the ‘most charted’ female singer in the history of Billboard’s charts. Over the years she chalked up 112 charted singles, including twenty Number Ones on Billboard’s R&B charts. Dubbed ‘The Queen of Soul,’ she died on the same day, August 16, as Elvis Presley, ‘The King of Rock and Roll, forty-one years before.
Catch these acts on tour
If you’re looking to catch an upcoming show, here’s some tour news for you. LANCO will kick off The Hallelujah Nights Tour, their first headlining run, in Columbia, MO on Oct. 24th with special guest Travis Denning. Rapidly creating a loyal fanbase over the past five years with more than 400 shows as the featured act, LANCO will hit 14 cities and close out the run where it all began for the band in Nashville, TN. Tickets are on sale to the public now here.
Brothers Osborne are starting out on a world tour this fall. The Wild Feathers and Lucie Silvas will be joining them at select dates on the tour. After a string of concert dates in Canada through October and November, the duo return to the United States and then head overseas to the United Kingdom for stops in England, Scotland and Wales. Interestingly, during the tour they will play at both London, Ontario, and London, England. Check out their music and full tour schedule here.
Carrie Underwood has announced dates for her next tour, titled ‘Cry Pretty 360 Tour.’ But it won’t start until May 2019 because she’s pregnant. Carrie will be joined on tour by Maddie & Tae and Runaway June. Tickets go on sale Friday August 17, but are available now for presale at Carrie’s website. As you probably know, Carrie is married to pro hockey player, Mike Fisher.
LOCASH are out on the road and have released a new single, ‘Feels Like A Party’ (Wheelhouse Records). The good-time track, available at all digital retailers, is the pair’s first release with their new label. Written by LOCASH’s own Preston Brust and Chris Lucas along with Corey Crowder and Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard, ‘Feels Like a Party’ impacts Country radio on September 4. The pair has been hard at work the past few years, in the studio and traveling the country as part of their own headlining tour as well as in support of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s SOUL 2 SOUL Tour. Music, tour news and tickets here.
And for Kenny Chesney’s Trip Around the Sun tour dates and to buy tickets (see news item above) go to Kenny’s ‘events’ page.
Preshias on Y’all Radio podcasts
A reminder that every week I appear on the Wednesday edition of Y’all Radio podcast to talk about what’s happening in country music. Y’all is a syndicated radio show covering the people and culture of the 16 Southern states. Hosted by Yall.com publisher Jon Rawl, the show covers news, sports, opinion, food, business, music, movies, storytelling, and more. Catch up on recent episodes here.