Kenny Chesney released his 17th studio album, Songs for the Saints, on July 27.
The 11-song offering, which has already spawned No. 1 lead single, “Get Along,” features a collaboration with Jimmy Buffett on “Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season.”
“Each one of [the album’s guests] has a tie to my life in the islands, but also reflect some piece of what we’re trying to do,” says Kenny. “Jimmy, more than the lost shaker of salt, understands the poetry of the islands beyond what tourists see, the life in a way that made a song written decades ago so current.”
The catalyst for the new album, which also features collaborations with Ziggy Marley and Mindy Smith, was Hurricane Irma. The storm devastated a number of Caribbean islands in September 2017, including Kenny’s home on St. John.
“I was at a turning point in my life on so many levels, and then Hurricane Irma hit the Virgin Islands,” says Kenny. “But this album isn’t about St. John, so much as it’s about what happened to St. John and all those islands you didn’t see on the news. To just see the devastation and what that does to people is one thing, but then there’s this courage and resilience people find . . . This is not a literal record, but it is an album about the refuges we all have, how temporary life is and the way we navigate to better places, dig in and face the destruction. And sometimes, we learn to own our wild hearts in the process.”
Listen to Kenny and Jimmy’s new soothing new song.
We’ve been getting some really unique perspectives from female artists since launching Women Want to Hear Women—and this week’s profile is extra special: 14-year-old Tegan Marie.
Tegan is the youngest artist to be signed to a major country label since Tanya Tucker in 1972. Obviously, her experience as a woman in country music has been VERY different from the ladies we’ve profiled so far.
In our sit-down interview, Tegan and I talk about what it’s like being in the spotlight at such a young age, social media, bullies, her music—including new single, “I Know How to Make a Boy Cry”—and, of course, we find out what she thinks about the phrase that kicked off this entire series: “women DON’T want to hear women.”
Tegan also helps me curate this week’s WWTHW playlist and she “Plays It Forward” with a cover of LeAnn Rimes’ “Blue” and a performance of her new single.
Listening to Tegan will put a smile on your face. Hope you enjoy.
Podcast Participants:
Tegan Marie
Elaina Smith, host of Women Want to Hear Women
Videos:
Tegan “Plays It Forward” with a cover of LeAnn Rimes’ “Blue”
Scotty McCreery dropped a new video for his current single, “This Is It.”
The new tune, which Scotty co-penned with Frank Rogers and Aaron Eshuis about his then-fiancée Gabi Dugal, is featured on Scotty’s recent album, Seasons Change.
The new clip was directed by Jeff Ray and gives viewers an intimate look inside Scott and Gabi’s rehearsal dinner and wedding in June.
“It’s my engagement story,” says Scotty to NCD. “Like ‘Five more Minutes,’ this is another song that is personal to me. It’s our story. It’s like the blueprint for how we got engaged and the story of that day. I love it. I hope people enjoy it.
“The coolest part was that I wrote it before we got engaged. I wrote it two weeks before. I had it all planned out in my head—where we were gonna be, where we were gonna go, the time of day. Luckily, everything went to plan.”
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. – Tennessee senior defensive end Kyle Phillips has been named to 2018 Wuerffel Trophy Watch List. The award honors college football’s top community servant.
The Wuerffel Trophy, known as “College Football’s Premier Award for Community Service,” is presented annually at the All Sports Association’s Awards Banquet in Fort Walton Beach. Named after 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel from the University of Florida, the Wuerffel Trophy is awarded to the FBS player that best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.
Phillips played in all 12 games last year and started in seven at defensive end where he totaled 35 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, two PBUs and four quarterback hurries. He had a career high with six tackles in a road game at Alabama on October 2.
Phillips, who graduated with a degree in Recreation and Sport Management, owns a 3.42 GPA. He has volunteered in the community, taking part in the VOLeaders Academy’s 13-day study abroad trip to Vietnam where he and fellow Tennessee student-athletes learned about the nation’s culture and used sports as a means to enact positive change. On the trip, Phillips interacted with Vietnamese youth, worked with children in orphanages and volunteered at various sports skills camps. He also helped run the annual VOLeaders Sports Fest, an inclusive sports event for persons with disabilities. He visited and spoke with children at Bricky McCloud Elementary School. Phillips and teammate Drew Richmond provided food donations for the homeless in the Knoxville Area. He also participated in Kappa Kares, an initiative by his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, to promote women’s health by raising over 1,000 hygiene products for homeless women.
A current list of nominees can be found at www.wuerffeltrophy.org beginning on August 1. Semifinalists for the award will be announced on November 1 and finalists will be announced on November 19.
The formal announcement of the 2018 recipient will be made at the National Football Foundation’s press conference in New York City on December 4. The presentation of the 2018 Wuerffel Trophy will occur at the 50th All Sports Association Awards Banquet on February 15, 2019 in Fort Walton Beach.
Past winners of the award are: Rudy Niswanger (LSU, 2005); Joel Penton (Ohio State, 2006); Paul Smith (Tulsa, 2008); Tim Tebow (Florida, 2008); Tim Hiller (Western Michigan, 2009); Sam Acho (Texas, 2010); Barrett Jones (Alabama, 2011); Matt Barkley (USC, 2012); Gabe Ikard (Oklahoma, 2013); Deterrian Shackelford (Ole Miss, 2014); Ty Darlington (Oklahoma, 2015); Trevor Knight (Texas A&M, 2016); Courtney Love (Kentucky, 2017).
The Vols open the season at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 at the Belk College Kickoff against West Virginia in Charlotte, N.C., before hosting ETSU at 4 p.m. on Sept. 8 and UTEP at 12 p.m. on Sept. 15. Tennessee welcomes Florida to Neyland Stadium on Sept. 22 (kickoff is TBD) to start SEC play.
Tennessee football single game tickets are on sale now for six of the seven home games at allvols.com or by calling the 1-800-332-VOLS.
Nashville’s AmericanaFest (Sept. 11–16) has nailed down its list of more than 250 artists slated to perform during the six-day festival, including John Prine, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Lee Ann Womack, Rosanne Cash, Hayes Carll, Brandy Clark, Ashley Monroe, Tyler Childers, Amanda Shires and more.
The nominees for the 2018 Americana Honors & Awards were announced in May, and a familiar name was front and center: Jason Isbell.
Jason, who has won six Americana Awards since 2012, leads the pack with four nominations in 2018, including Album, Artist and Song of the Year, as well as an additional nomination for Duo/Group of the Year with his band the 400 Unit. Other artists with multiple nominations include Margo Price, Brandi Carlile and producer Dave Cobb.
The 2018 Americana Honors & Awards show will be held September 12 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The ceremony is the centerpiece of AmericanaFest. For ticket information, visit americanamusic.org.
Check out the full list of nominees.
Album of the Year
“All American Made,” Margo Price, Produced by Jeremy Ivey, Alex Munoz, Margo Price and Matt Ross-Spang
“By The Way, I Forgive You,” Brandi Carlile, Produced by Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings
“The Nashville Sound,” Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Produced by Dave Cobb
“Rifles & Rosary Beads,” Mary Gauthier, Produced by Neilson Hubbard
Artist of the Year
Brandi Carlile
Jason Isbell
Margo Price
John Prine
Duo/Group of the Year
I’m With Her
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Emerging Act of the Year
Courtney Marie Andrews
Tyler Childers
Anderson East
Lilly Hiatt
Song of the Year
“A Little Pain,” Margo Price, Written by Margo Price
“All The Trouble,” Lee Ann Womack, Written by Waylon Payne, Lee Ann Womack and Adam Wright
“If We Were Vampires,” Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Written by Jason Isbell
“The Joke,” Brandi Carlile, Written by Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth
Shawna Thompson of Thompson Square stopped by the Nash campus last week to chat with Elaina Smith on her Women Want to Hear Women podcast (you can listen to the entire podcast here).
One of the podcast’s segments—“Play It Forward”—beckons the featured artist to perform a song from another female’s catalog.
For her Play It Forward, Shawna covered Faith Hill’s “It Matters to Me,” a tune Faith took to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for three weeks in 1996.
Watch Shawna perform “It Matters to Me” with husband and duo partner, Keifer Thompson.
Charles Esten can add a Guinness World Records title to his lengthy resume.
After his performance on the Today show on July 25, Charles was presented with a certificate for the Guinness World Records title for the Most Consecutive Weeks to Release an Original Digital Single by a Music Act. The title reflects Charles’ #EverySingleFriday campaign, which started on July 15, 2016, and ended on July 21, 2017. The record represents 54 original songs that Charles wrote (or co-wrote), recorded and released every Friday during the campaign.
“On July 1, 2016, I posted a video where I promised to put out a brand-new original single every single Friday for ‘as long as it made sense,’” says Charles. “At that time, I had no idea how it would go, or how long I could do it. I only knew that, as a lifelong songwriter, through my role as Deacon Claybourne on Nashville, I had found my way to Music City and, surrounded by some of the most talented people in the world, I was feeling a level of inspiration and creativity that needed a different kind of outlet than an EP or an album. I had no idea how challenging this project would be, or how incredibly fulfilling, or that a little over a year later, I would complete #EverySingleFriday with 54 original singles released. I certainly had no idea that number would be considered a Guinness World Records title.”
The Guinness World Records title comes on the heels of Charles’ 100th performance on the Grand Ole Opry on July 20.
After being announced as a 2018 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame in March, Ricky Skaggs was named a 2018 inductee into the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame on July 25. Ricky will be joined by 2018 inductees Paul Williams, Tom T. Hall and the late Dixie Hall.
“I’m very honored to be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame along with the ‘Father of Bluegrass’ Bill Monroe,” says Ricky. “His impact on me and all of us as musicians and singers that love bluegrass music will never be replicated. With so many other heroes in the Hall, I’m just thankful to have my name mentioned alongside theirs.”
The induction ceremony will take place on Sept. 27 in Raleigh, N.C., at the International Bluegrass Music Awards. The awards show will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction (Ch. 62).
As the sixth and final season of Nashville comes to a close on July 26, research organization the Beacon Center has released a report on the “ineffectiveness of film incentives in Tennessee,” citing that Nashville cost Tennessee taxpayers more than $45 million.
According to its profile, “The Beacon Center is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan research organization dedicated to providing expert empirical research and timely free market solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee.”
Here’s what the Beacon’s new report had to say about Nashville, in part:
No project exemplifies the bad public policy of [movie production incentives, MPIs] in Tennessee more clearly than the ABC/CMT television show Nashville. The show, which has now been cancelled twice in three years due to poor ratings, has received the most taxpayer money of any project, totaling $45 million in state incentives alone (including millions more in local taxpayer incentives). Even worse, the show’s six seasons received the largest six individual Tennessee Entertainment Commission grants of any project in state history. The smallest incentive, $5.7 million given for the sixth and final season, was still awarded after CMT announced the show would be permanently cancelled. The show Nashville also serves as an example of how corporations or sports teams hold cities and states hostage after receiving taxpayer money. After the show’s second season, ABC producers explored moving filming to Austin, Texas, unless the show received more in Tennessee taxpayer incentives for the third season. However, this came immediately after less than 50 percent of season two’s budget was spent in Tennessee, a series low.
For a show named after a Tennessee city, outside of its first season Nashville was hardly dominating the Tennessee film industry. Also of note is that with the increased production budget after the first season, the percentage of expenditures that were qualified Tennessee expenditures dropped dramatically. The show also demonstrates that if a taxpayer-incentivized television show becomes even somewhat popular and scales up production and budget, the vast majority of a project’s growth will inevitably occur elsewhere, likely in Hollywood, where actors and actresses are more likely to reside and where support staff is easier to obtain. Thus, even a “successful” TV series will result in Tennessee taxpayers subsidizing Hollywood and other out of state locales. While fans may miss the show after it received its final death in July 2018, Tennessee taxpayers should breathe a sigh of financial relief.
Event though Nashville spent more than $251 million for goods and services in Tennessee over its six seasons, the Beacon is one entity that won’t miss Deacon, Juliette, Scarlett, Will and the rest of the gang.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced that Reba McEntire will be one of the four honorees at the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors. Reba will follow in the hallowed footsteps of past Kennedy honorees Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn and more.
“The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes exceptional artists who have made enduring and indelible marks on our culture,” said Kennedy Center chairman David M. Rubenstein. “Country songstress Reba McEntire has inspired us over four decades with her powerhouse voice and music that conveys heartfelt, heart-warming honesty.”
In addition to Reba, the 2018 class includes Cher, Philip Glass and Wayne Shorter.
The 41st Kennedy Center Honors ceremony takes place on Dec. 2 in Washington, D.C. The show will be broadcast on CBS on Dec. 26 at 9 p.m. ET.
Reba’s Kennedy Center Honors’ bio is below.
Multi-media entertainment mogul Reba McEntire has become a household name through a flourishing career that spans music, television, film, theater, and retail. She marked her 13th summit as Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope topped both the Billboard Country and Christian/Gospel charts, bolstering McEntire’s successful record of 35 No. 1 singles and over 56 million albums sold worldwide across four decades. The double-disc collection earned McEntire her third Grammy Award® and first GMA Dove Award. The Country Music Hall of Fame, Grand Ole Opry, and Hollywood Bowl member has also won 16 ACM Awards, 15 American Music Awards, 9 People’s Choice Awards, and 6 CMA Awards. Her leadership and philanthropic endeavors have been recognized with the Andrea Bocelli Foundation Humanitarian Award, Leadership Music Dale Franklin Award, the Music Biz Chairman’s Award, the National Artistic Achievement Award from the U.S. Congress, and with joining the Horatio Alger Association.
McEntire returned for the 15th time to host the ACM Awards in April and led the 2017 ratings-high CMA Country Christmas television special. In 2005, she partnered with Dillard’s to launch her own lifestyle brand, and launched the REBA by Justin™ collection at select retailers nationwide for holiday 2017. The Oklahoma native is an acclaimed actress with 11 movie credits to her name, a lead on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun, and starred in the six-season television sitcom, Reba. As part of the longest-running Country act in The Colosseum’s history, she will join with superstar pals for another round of Reba, Brooks & Dunn: Together in Vegas at Caesars.
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