Category: Singer-Songwriter News and Ideas

Confederate Railroad album out July 15

Confederate RailroadFans of Southern Rock/Country will be pleased to know that multi-platinum-selling Confederate Railroad will release their upcoming album, Lucky to be Alive, on July 15. The project features guest appearances by Willie Nelson, John Anderson, Colt Ford and former NFL coach, Jerry Glanville, on a special 20th anniversary version of their signature smash, “Trashy Women.”

The band is out on tour right now but will be in Nashville, June 10, for shows on the WSM Stage and Nashville Palace during the CMA Music Festival. The blockbuster tour will hit both the east and west coast and everywhere in between.

Confederate Railroad are perhaps best known for their hit single, “Trashy Women,” the fourth single from their self-titled 1994 album. That album had already been the source of three other singles (“She Took It Like A Man,” “Jesus and Mama” and “Queen of Memphis”) all of which sold well, but “Trashy Women” became their monster hit, earned a Grammy nomination and is regarded as their ‘signature song.’

Latest tour info and samples from the new album here.

Garth and Trisha heading to San Antonio

small-Garth_Brooks_-_Man_Against_Machine-minFrom the “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun” Department… Can it really be 18 years since Garth and Trisha played San Antonio, Texas? The answer is ‘Yes!’ The Garth Brooks World Tour With Trisha Yearwood World Tour will include two concerts in San Antonio Friday July 22 at 7:00 pm and Saturday July 23 at AT&T Center.

Tickets go on sale Friday June 3 at 10:00 am CDT. There’s an eight-ticket limit per purchase, and tickets can only be purchased at ticketmaster.com or ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks. Tickets (including taxes, facility fees and service charges) are $74.98.

BTW, Garth’s most recent album, 2014’s ‘Man Against Machine’ has been certified platinum by RIAA, making him once again the #1-selling artist in US History with 136 million sold. More about Garth here including latest tour dates

A Preshias Musical Definition

Preshias music notes graphic crop black pinkPitch Meeting

A meeting at which publishers or their song pluggers meet with record producers and/or artist management and play them demos of songs that they believe match the producer’s stated needs for an upcoming project. As a result, a song or songs might be put on hold.

Another Preshias Pointer

Preshias music notes graphic crop pink purpleA Performing Rights Organization (P.R.O.) is a songwriter’s best friend in the music business. A P.R.O. acts an intermediary between copyright holders and parties that use copyrighted music works publicly. Such public performances can include radio, television, clubs and restaurants. Without a P.R.O. it would be impossible to collect even a fraction of the income your music generates.

New album from LOCASH

LOCASH FightersLOCASH fans are looking forward to June 17, 2016. It’s on that date that the fast-rising duo of Chris Lucas and Preston Brust will release their first full-length album for Reviver Records, titled The Fighters. The album includes “I Know Somebody,” as well as fan favorites “Shipwrecked” and “Drunk, Drunk.” The duo has been featuring much of the new material in their live shows this past winter and early spring. LOCASH has a full slate of dates on their calendar throughout the rest of 2016 – including a June 12 stop at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville. Tour dates and more info about The Fighters here

Vince Gill and Emmylou Harris honored with American Eagle Awards

Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris

The National Music Council will bring its annual American Eagle Awards presentation to Nashville for a second year in a row on Saturday, June 25, 2016. The highly prestigious Eagle Awards are presented each year in national celebration of an individual’s or an organization’s long term contribution to America’s musical culture and heritage. This year, music legends Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill will be honored, along with the iconic Grand Ole Opry.

Vince Gill
Vince Gill

Past American Eagle Award recipients include Kris Kristofferson, Quincy Jones, Clive Davis, Benny Goodman, The Oak Ridge Boys, Roberta Peters, Odetta, Sherman Halsey, Sesame Street and Hard Rock Café. This year’s event in Nashville will mark the 33rd year of formal presentations of the Awards.

As someone who is deeply concerned about the ongoing problem of music piracy, I’m delighted to hear the event will also feature the New York Emmy award winning animation created by the NMC and the Music Publishers Association of the United States, as part of a primary school lesson plan that encourages kids to think about the ramifications of taking other people’s creative works without permission. NMC Director David Sanders frames the animated piece as “part of a world-wide effort by creators to change the narrative in terms of fostering an understanding that the online protection of creative works enhances freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas, rather than encroaching on them.”

Tickets, details, etc at musiccouncil.org

A Preshias Musical Definition

Preshias music notes graphic crop black pinkHold

Noun: An agreement by a music publisher not to exploit or license a song to any other parties when a recording artist, a producer or a record label has indicated they plan to record it. Note that a publisher cannot place a hold on a song that has already been recorded and released commercially but a publisher may still agree not to actively plug a song to other artists for a certain length of time. For new or unreleased songs, a publisher has full discretion whether or not to issue a mechanical license.

Old Dominion on a roll

Old Dominion L to R: Whit Sellers, Brad Tursi, Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Geoff Sprung
Old Dominion
L to R: Whit Sellers, Brad Tursi, Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Geoff Sprung

Old Dominion are still reflecting on their recent win in the Breakthrough Group/Duo of the Year category on the ACC Awards.

“When we started this band, winning awards never crossed our minds,” said frontman Matthew Ramsey. That’s because he and his bandmates have celebrated successes as songwriters before having hit records as a band. “We just wanted to make the best music we could. But winning this award really shows us that the years of work we have put into this are paying off in ways we never dreamed of. We owe so much to our families, our management team, our record label, country radio and our FANS for embracing what we do and making us feel at home in the country music family!”

The win follows on the heels of earlier 2016 award wins at the Academy of Country Music Awards for Best New Vocal Duo/Group of the Year and the Association of Independent Music Publisher Awards (AIMPs) for Artist/Writer of the Year. Additionally, Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi all individually took home CMA Triple Play Awards presented to top songwriters who have penned more than three No. 1 hits within a one year period in the Country format.

With an estimated 160 dates on the books in 2016—and it being a lighter year than 2015—Old Dominion are already looking to their next studio album, taking advantage of a break in touring to again join GRAMMY-winning producer Shane McAnally, their co-conspirator on Meat and Candy, in the studio to work on their upcoming second album.

More about Old Dominion, including tour dates here.

 

 

Rain can’t douse the Flame…

The storm clouds burst over Miranda's May 13 show in Maryland Heights, Mo, but the fans didn't leave.
The storm clouds burst over Miranda’s May 13 show in Maryland Heights, Mo, but the fans didn’t leave.

You can schedule a show, you can schedule a tour, but you can’t schedule the weather. Just ask Miranda Lambert whose ‘Keeper of the Flame Tour’ kicked off mid-May at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights, Mo., with openers Kip Moore and Brothers Osborne. And a storm rolled in just an hour into Lambert’s set; mother nature’s way of offsetting the heat radiating from the seven-time Female Vocalist of the Year’s first tour stop of the season. The Tour continues at multiple locations through the rest of 2016. Updated tour info and more here