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Loretta Lynn & George Strait Honored At Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame Awards

Posted on by Bob Ballard

Loretta Lynn was honored earlier this week with the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award at the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards at the Ryman Auditorium.

Loretta was honored with tributes by Reba McEntire, who performed “You Win’t Woman Enough To Take My Man,” as well as Kellie Pickler, who performed “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl,” and Loretta’s granddaughter Tayla, who performed her signature tune, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

After being escorted on stage by Kid Rock, Loretta told the audience, “I’m Loretta. I want y’all to know I love you for being here tonight. Thank you all, I love you.”

But Loretta wasn’t the night’s only honoree. George Strait was also honored with the President’s Keystone Award. “I think songwriting is a gift from God,” he told the audience. “I’ve leaned on [songwriters] for years and they’ve been kind enough to send me some great songs to record and I really appreciate it.”

Tributes to George included a performance of “Here For A Good Time,” and “The Chair,” from Dean Dillon, who has written songs for George for more than 40 years, as well as a medley of “Carried Away” and “Carrying Your Love With Me,” performed by Steve Bogard and Jeff Stevens.

The night’s other honorees included: Luke Combs for Songwriter-Artist of the Year and Josh Osborne, for Songwriter of The Year.

This day in 1970, Crystal Gayle’s first hit makes it’s chart debut

Posted on by Bob Ballard

This day in 1970, Crystal Gayle hit the country charts for the first time with “I’ve Cried The Blue Right Out of My Eyes.” Her sister, Loretta Lynn, wrote the song.

Born Brenda Gail Webb on January 9, 1951, Crystal Gayle began her career in the 1960s performing in the background of her siblings’ bands, most notably Loretta Lynn. It was Lynn who helped her sister sign a recording contract with Decca Records in 1970 where she enjoyed minor success. Encouraged by Lynn to develop her own musical identity, Gayle signed a new recording contract with United Artists Records in 1974. A collaboration with producer Allen Reynolds brought forth major success by shifting her music towards a country pop style. In 1975, “Wrong Road Again” became Gayle’s first major hit. However, it was in 1977 when Gayle achieved her biggest success with the single “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”. The song topped the Billboard country chart, crossed over to the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, and became a major international hit.

Gayle continued having major country pop success from the late 1970s and through late 1980s. Her biggest hits included “Ready for the Times to Get Better” (1977), “Talking in Your Sleep” (1978), “Half the Way” (1979), “You and I” (1982), and “The Sound of Goodbye” (1984). In 1982, Gayle collaborated with Tom Waits on the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola’s film One from the Heart. In the mid 1980s she and Gary Morris recorded the theme song for Another World and would appear in several of the show’s episodes. Throughout the 1990s Gayle shifted artistic directions by recording various genres of music. This included an album of inspirational music entitled Someday (1995) and an album of standards called Crystal Gayle Sings the Heart and Soul of Hoagy Carmichael (1999). During the decade she also owned and operated a fine arts shop called “Crystal’s Fine Gifts and Jewelry”. Her last studio album appeared in 2003 and Gayle has since continued to tour throughout the world.

Gayle has won one Grammy Award and has been nominated for several others since the 1970s. She has also won five Academy of Country Music awards; those awards include receiving the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award in 2016. In addition, she has won two Country Music Association awards and three American Music Awards. Rolling Stone ranked her among the 100 greatest country artists of all time and CMT ranked her within their list of the 40 greatest women of country music. Gayle has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2017.

You can hear “I’ve Cried The Blue Right Out Of My Eyes” here.

 

Source: Wikipedia

CMT Announces 2019 Artists Of The Year

Posted on by Bob Ballard

There are still a few months left of 2019, but CMT already knows who the big players were this year.

The network is set to honor Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Kane Brown, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett. during their 10th annual Artist of the Year celebration, which will air live from Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center on October 16th at 8 pm. ET.

While last year’s Artist of the Year celebration was an all-female affair, this year only Carrie made the list, her fifth time being celebrated with the honor. This will be the second time Thomas is honored, with Kane, Dan + Shay and Luke being honored for the very first time.

The event is expected to feature tribute performances to each honoree, as well as some surprise collaborations. One person who won’t be there in person is Carrie, who is out on tour, but the show will include a performance from her concert that night in Cleveland.

 

 

Taylor Swift returns to “The Voice”

Posted on by Bob Ballard

Taylor Swift is returning to “The Voice.” The NBC talent competition just announced that Taylor will turn up this season as what they’re calling a “Mega Mentor,” which will have her offering advice to all the teams ahead of the knockout rounds.

Taylor’s participation was announced with a promo featuring coaches John Legend and Blake Shelton, in which they discuss who could possibly be the new mega mentor.

“I think the person’s supposed to be one of the most successful people in music,” Legend says, with Blake chiming in, “that’s true, but I can’t be cause I’m already here.” At that point Taylor walks out of her trailer and they say hi, with Legend continuing “I wonder…” before it hits them.

This won’t be Taylor’s first visit to “The Voice.” She served as a mentor during season seven, and also performed on last season’s finale.

Season 17 of “The Voice” debuts Monday.

This day in 1960, Loretta Lynn makes her Grand Ole Opry debut. 

Posted on by Bob Ballard

Today in 1960, Loretta Lynn made her Grand Ole Opry debut.

Loretta Lynn told the newspaper, The Tennesseean: “I came out the back of the building, and I was hollering, ‘I’ve sung on the Grand Ole Opry! I’ve sung on the Grand Ole Opry!’”

She was 25 at the time, and was just signed to the Zero label, before she began her longtime association with Decca. Lynn had made her first country singles chart appearance in June of that same year with ‘I’m A Honky Tonk Girl.’ It reached No. 14 during it’s nine-week run.

The Highwomen Debut In The Top Ten

Posted on by Bob Ballard

The self-titled debut album from all-female supergroup The Highwomen has debuted in the Top Ten on the all-genre “Billboard” 200 Album chart.

The band, made up of Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires, moved 34,000 equivalent album units, 29,000 in traditional sales, to debut at ten.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has listened, shared, written about, and supported this album already,” the band recently tweeted. “This is just the beginning.”

 

Source: Billboard

Luke Combs Announces New Album

Posted on by Bob Ballard

Luke Combs is finally ready to release his sophomore album. The singer announced that the record, “What You See Is What You Get,” will drop November 8th, and revealed the cover art for the record.

As promised, Luke also released the studio version of his track “1,2 Many,” which features a guest appearance by Brooks & Dunn. It, along with the recently released “Even Though I’m Leaving,” will be an instant grat track for anyone who pre-orders he album.

“What You See Is What You Get” is the follow-up to Luke’s debut album “This One’s For You,” which currently holds the record for the longest reign at the top of that chart by a male artist wiht over 44 weeks on top.

 

 

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