With a voice as sweet as toffee pudding, England-to-Nashville transplant Fiona Culley has been carving out her own space in Music City since crossing the pond six years ago.
In addition to recording a 2016 duet with Darius Rucker, “Life On the Line,” which she co-wrote, Fiona dropped her debut single, “Act Like a Lady,” in 2017. As she gears up to release her second single this summer, Fiona, who cites Alison Krauss, Trisha Yearwood and Lee Ann Womack as influences, is keeping her fans’ interest piqued with a cover of Lee Ann’s 2004 Top 10 hit, “I May Hate Myself in the Morning.”
“I have always loved Lee Ann Womack—her voice is incredible,” says Fiona. “This song has been one of my favorites, and after recent events in my own life, it speaks to me so much. It is hard to let go of someone you love and move on. This is one of those songs I wish I had written.”
Check out the video premiere of Fiona singing “I May Hate Myself in the Morning.”
A handful of country stars helped the T.J. Martell Foundation raise more than $425,000 for cancer research at the 10th annual Nashville Honors Gala on March 26.
Nashville’s Charles Esten emceed the event that honored outstanding community leaders and featured performances by Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, Lauren Alaina, Natalie Grant, Danny Gokey and Jeff Foxworthy.
This year’s honorees included:
Janet Ayers – Lifetime Humanitarian Award
David Poile – Spirit of Nashville Award
Frank Bumstead – Frances Preston Outstanding Music Industry Achievement Award
Mike Smardak – Tony Martell Outstanding Entertainment Achievement Award
Dr. James Netterville – Medical Research Advancement Award
The T.J. Martell Foundation is the music industry’s leading foundation that funds innovative medical research focused on finding treatments and cures for cancer. The Foundation has provided more than $280 million for research at eight flagship hospitals in the United States.
Check out the photo gallery below, courtesy of Rick Diamond/Wortman Works Media.
LeAnn Rimes was just 14 years old when she released “How Do I Live” in May 1997.
LeAnn’s version of the tune—you also may recall Trisha Yearwood released the song in May 1997—reached No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, spending a then-record 69 weeks on the chart. Penned by Diane Warren, “How Do I Live” also earned LeAnn a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year in 1998.
More than 20 years later, LeAnn has released a rebooted version of the song, “How Do I Live (Re-Imagined).”
“For my tour last year in the U.S. and U.K., we arranged ‘How Do I Live’ in a new way to reflect where I was coming from musically with my last album, Remnants,” says LeAnn. “I wanted the arrangement of ‘How Do I Live’ to highlight the vulnerability of Diane’s lyric. It’s more of a spiritual experience singing the song this new way, a personal prayer. After the shows, so many of my fans were asking how to get the new version, so we went in to record it as a ‘thank you’ to my fans, hence the title ‘Re-Imagined.’ I greatly appreciate and adore the original version and all that it has done . . . that will always exist and never change. I would love for this new arrangement to sit alongside the original as a companion, highlighting what a classic song Diane Warren created.”
ATLANTA – Zay Green now has bragging rights over future Lady Vol basketball teammates Amira Collins and Jazmine Massengill. The Tennessee signee helped her West team to an 82-79 victory over the East on Wednesday night in the McDonald’s All American Game at Philips Arena.
Green, a 6-0 guard from Duncanville, Texas (Duncanville H.S.), started for the West squad and played 17 minutes. She finished with six points on 3-of-8 shooting and tallied four steals, three assists and a rebound.
Massengill, a 6-0 point guard from Chattanooga (Hamilton Heights Christian Academy), and Collins, a 6-3 forward from Waldorf, Md. (Paul VI Catholic H.S., Fairfax, Va.), came off the bench for the East.
Massengill contributed four points on 2-of-5 shooting, adding two rebounds, a block and an assist in 17 minutes. Collins, meanwhile, connected on one of three field goal attempts and hit a free throw to finish with three points in 13 minutes. She also added three rebounds and a steal.
The trio has another all-star game coming up. They will head to Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 8, where they are scheduled to play in the Jordan Brand Classic at the Barclays Center.
New York Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher and Chattanooga wrestling coach Heath Eslinger join an impressive list of speakers that also includes Peyton Manning, Mike Vrabel and Phillip Fulmer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt announced additional speakers for the Vols’ 2018 Coaches Clinic on Wednesday.
New York Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher is scheduled to speak on Saturday, April 7, while renowned speaker and Chattanooga wrestling head coach Heath Eslinger will lead the FCA Breakfast earlier that morning.
The event is open only to high school coaches and attendees will have the opportunity to attend Tennessee’s practice on April 5 and a scrimmage on April 7 at Neyland Stadium.
Reigning NCAA III national champion Mount Union head coach Vince Kehres
Members of the offensive staff at Texas A&M Commerce – the reigning NCAA II national champions.
“I’m fired up about our Coaches Clinic,” Pruitt said. “One thing about our staff is that there is seven of us who started out as high school coaches. There have been a bunch of high school coaches who have already come to our practices and it’s going to be open door practices to high school coaches all the time. It helped me as a high school coach. People were good to me and gave me an opportunity to go watch practice, to set meetings, to grow as a coach. We want to do the same thing here. We want to be the most accessible program to high school coaches in all of the United States.
“We want to make our Coaches Clinic the best in the country. Like everything else we are starting over. I’m very thankful. We have number of really good guys coming to speak. Peyton (Manning) is coming her to help us. Coach (David) Cutcliiffe, Coach (Mike) Vrabel) – we are going to have a bunch of great guys coming in here to share. I’m excited about that and I’m thankful these guys are doing it for us.”
The event is open only to high school coaches and attendees will have the opportunity to attend Tennessee’s practice on Thursday, April 5, and a scrimmage on Saturday, April 7, at Neyland Stadium.
For information and to sign up, visit TennesseeSportCamps.com.
Tennessee forward Grant Williams received All-American Honorable Mention honors Tuesday as The Associated Press (AP) released its 2017-18 All-American Teams.
En route to unanimous AP First-Team All-SEC honors, Williams led the Vols in scoring (15.2 ppg), finished second in blocks (44) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) and was fourth in assists (66) on the season. During conference play, the SEC Player of the Year ranked ninth in the SEC in scoring (16.1 ppg) and shooting percentage (.463) despite being regularly double-teamed by opponents.
Just a sophomore, Williams has already established himself as one of the best to ever suit up for the Big Orange. So far in his short career at Tennessee, he joined Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bernard King as the only Vols to earn SEC POY distinction as underclassmen and holds UT’s freshman records for blocks (61) and offensive rebounds (94), which rank second and sixth for single-season marks in program history, respectively.
With 933 career points, Williams is only 67 points shy of becoming the 49th Volunteer to reach the 1,000-point club. He currently stands just outside of the top 10 for UT’s career rankings, sitting at 14th in offensive rebounds (175) and 15th in blocks (105).
Williams was one of four players from the SEC to be named honorable mention, joining Kevin Knox (Kentucky), Yante Maten (Georgia) and Collin Sexton (Alabama).
The 23rd annual Key West Songwriters Festival on May 9–13 in Florida will feature some of country music’s most talented singer/songwriters, including LANCO, Tyler Farr, Robert Earl Keen, Wade Bowen, Bruce Robison, Ashley McBryde and more.
While attendees of the summer festival enjoy five days of sun, fun and music, they may also notice a rebuilding effort as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma, which hit the Florida Keys and Caribbean in September 2017.
To help further the rebuilding effort, Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, Morgan Wallen, RaeLynn and more will headline the Keys Strong Hurricane Relief concert during the Key West Songwriters Festival on May 9.
“Not many people know that when FGL first started playing shows, we would pile in to [Brian Kelley’s] Tahoe and head south to perform in the bars and clubs all around Key West,” says Tyler Hubbard. “So this place is a really special one for us.”
“We believe that music is healing and are beyond blessed to bring our Nashville community to Key West in support of the relief efforts,” says Brian Kelley. “Spreading the love to a place that first welcomed us and our music completes the circle in a way. We’re looking forward to being back.”
Grant Williams became only the ninth player in Tennessee history to be named SEC player of the year.
He averaged 15.2 points and 6.0 rebounds. He shot 47.3 percent from the field. He made key baskets to help win several games. He even made a clutch goal to give the Vols a one-point lead over Loyola Chicago before the Ramblers bounced in a game winner in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
While Williams was a better player as a sophomore than as a freshman, he didn’t show improvement across the board. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.9 rebounds last season, but, a year ago, he had more blocks (61 to 44) and more steals (26 to 21), shot a better percentage from the field (50.4 percent to 47.3 percent) and made 12 of 32 from 3-point range, compared to 3 of 25.
One puzzling part of Williams’ game was rebounding. Although only 6-foot-6, he is strong, has great length and plays in the low post. Yet, this past season, he had seven games with 3 or fewer rebounds and 11 with 4 or fewer rebounds. Wing player Admiral Schofield actually averaged more rebounds per game than Williams.
This past season, Williams averaged only 12.6 points in the last five games and had a four-game stretch in which he scored in single digits three times.
For Williams to truly be the best player in the SEC, he must improve his rebound totals, be more consistent on mid-range jumpers and stay out of foul trouble.
But that’s not all.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes focused on other elements that could make Williams better.
“Conditioning,’’ Barnes said. “I think that is a major part of what he needs to do and he obviously needs to continue to work on his skill.’’
But conditioning is the primary deal.
“He needs that more than anything,’’ Barnes said. “and if he does that, it will help him in a lot of areas. It will help him guard the ball better on the perimeter, allow him to play harder longer, allow him to rebound more consistently.’’
Williams play much of this season with a hip injury. Bu Barnes shrugged that off, saying most players late in the season “deal with something.’’
Grammy for Best Country Album. CMA Entertainer of the Year. ACM Entertainer of the Year. Grand Ole Opry Induction.
Some awards and honors bestowed to artists in the country music industry are on another level. They mean more, not only to the artists, but also to the industry execs, media members and fans who are invested in the genre.
The biggest honor is election into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
On March 27, the Country Music Association announced the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2018: Ricky Skaggs (modern era), Dottie West (veteran era) and Johnny Gimble (musician).
Garth Brooks gets choked up announcing the 2018 Hall of Fame inductees. photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
As a teary-eyed Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood announced the class of 2018 in the CMHOF rotunda, it dawned on me once again that two of this year’s inductees—Dottie West and Johnny Gimble—weren’t present to enjoy the honor. Dottie died in 1991, while Johnny passed away in 2015.
In their steads, teary-eyed—just like Garth—family members accepted the honors on behalf of both Dottie and Johnny. The same scenario played out in 2017 when one of my favorite artists, Jerry Reed, who died in 2008, was elected. Again, in 2015, Grady Martin (dead since 2001) and Jim Ed Brown (who was deathly ill) were elected. In 2014, Hank Cochran (dead since 2010) was elected.
Their bodies of work hadn’t changed significantly, if at all, before their elections. The only thing that changed? Their bodies were no longer with us.
Since 1961, the CMA has elected 136 members to the Hall of Fame in its five categories: Modern Era, Veteran Era and Songwriter/Musician/Non-Performer (this category rotates every year). For the most part, what the CMA has done each year is elect one to four new members based on its own set of criteria.
Election to the Country Music Hall of Fame is solely the prerogative of the CMA. New members, elected annually by an anonymous panel of industry leaders chosen by the CMA, are formally inducted in special, invitation-only ceremonies held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum does not participate in the election. Through a licensing agreement with the CMA, the Museum exhibits the bronze plaques commemorating membership in a space and fashion befitting the honor.
2001 was the exception, when there were 12 inductees, including Waylon Jennings, Bill Anderson, The Everly Brothers, Webb Pierce and more.
I wrote all of that so I could write this: there are a number of people who deserve induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. They should be elected while they are still alive so they can enjoy country music’s biggest honor. If that means electing 10 or 12 people in one year again, so be it.
Can you imagine Jerry Reed giving his own induction speech? The “Guitar Man” would have been entertaining, to say the least.
After not meeting since the 2012-13 campaign, Tennessee and Memphis have agreed to a three-game contract featuring showdowns in each of the next three seasons.
The Volunteers will travel to face the Tigers at the FedEx Forum on Dec. 15, 2018. In 2019-20, Memphis visits Knoxville for a clash at Thompson-Boling Arena on a date yet to be determined. The contract concludes with an in-state, neutral-site meeting at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in December 2020.
Tennessee leads the all-time series with Memphis 14-11, dating to 1969. The programs met annually from 2006 through 2013. The Tigers won the most recent meeting, posting a 85-80 triumph on Jan. 4, 2013 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols own a 7-4 advantage when the series is played in Knoxville. When the teams meet in Memphis, the series is tied, 6-6. The series also is tied when contested at neutral sites, 1-1.
The most memorable game in the series took place at the FedEx Forum on Feb. 23, 2008. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the country, and the Vols were ranked No. 2. In a nationally televised thriller—which drew 5.28 million viewers and was the most-watched men’s college basketball game in ESPN history at the time—Tennessee prevailed, 66-62, and went on to earn the program’s first-ever No. 1 national ranking.
Tennessee (26-9, 13-5 SEC) won the regular-season SEC Championship this season and spent 14 straight weeks in the AP Top-25 poll. Under the direction of third-year head coach Rick Barnes, who earned SEC Coach of the Year honors, the Vols advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With only one senior on its roster this season, UT is expected to return the bulk of this year’s team next year.
Memphis finished with a 21-13 (10-8 AAC) record this season and hired former Tigers great and NBA All-Star Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway as the program’s new head coach on March 20.
Other non-conference opponents for the Volunteers next season include Georgia Tech and Wake Forest—both in Knoxville. Tennessee also will join Kansas, Louisville and Marquette in New York City for the NIT Season Tip-Off at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
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