Country Chatter Archive (January 11th - January 17th, 1999)

Country Music

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January 11th - January 17th Sales in country music rose 2% in 1998, largely due to Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, and Shania Twain. The record labels aren't doing handstands at the increase, but they aren't unhappy with the results, either. There's a date set for the release of the second Trio collaboration of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Rondstadt. Due to scheduling conflicts, the date has been moved several times, but now the news is we can expect to see this follow-up album on February 9th. Trace Adkins is due to release the first single from his upcoming album next month. No word on the title of the song, or album, but he put some work in the studio over the holidays on it. Trace promises that his new album will be the best yet. Freddy Fender will receive a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on February 4th. Fender is best known for his 1975 hit "Before the Next Teardrop Falls." At the People's Choice Awards, Garth Brooks picked up an award for Favorite Male Musical Performer. The next night at the American Music Awards, Garth picked up two more for Country Male and Country Album. Shania got the nod for Country Female. Alabama won for Country Group, and The Dixie Chicks won for New Country Artist. Willie Nelson recorded a duet with the rock group, Beck for the soundtrack to the movie, Hi-Low Country. The song is titled "Driving Nails in my Coffin." Marty Stuart also has a tune on the album, which will be released next week. Country stars, Alabama, The Dixie Chicks, The Kinleys, Paul Brandt, Wade Hayes, Kevin Sharp, Sara Evans, Kenny Chesney, John Berry, Lorrie Morgan, Martina McBride, Aaron Tippin, Travis Tritt, The Lynns, Thrasher Shiver, and Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown, all participated in a radiothon for Country Cares for St. Jude Kids in Memphis, TN last weekend. Country radio personalities, and other industry heavyweights also participated. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which opened in 1962 was founded by the late Danny Thomas. St. Jude treats thousands of children each year regardless of their ability to pay. The hospital is funded primarily from public contributions. The Crown Royal Untamed & True 2 Tour, featuring Mark Chesnutt, Gary Allan, Chely Wright and Keith Harling will kick off in Nashville on January 20th. If you can't make it, you can watch it now, online. An online auction of merchandise was started on January 11th and will go through the 20th. Merchandise donated includes stage-wear from all four artists, as well as autographed CDs, posters and cowboy hats. Mark Chesnutt and Gary Allan have also donated tour jackets. All proceeds go to Share Our Strength, an anti-hunger organization. Reba McEntire appeared on the popular United Kingdom daytime show, Good Morning London to promote her European tour. She had previously appeared back in September, and the response was so good they asked her back. Though their concert tickets didn't go on sale until last Saturday, the 16th, The Judds reunion concert this coming New Year's Eve, the highest price tickets were almost all sold out. How, you ask? The Fan Club members had first crack at them. The Judds are also inking a marketing deal with K-Mart, plus the retail chain will be sponsoring their New Year's Eve show. Shania Twain will grace the February issue of Cosmopolitan. She's a natuaral choice for the "Fun, Fearless Female of the Year Award. The feature about her talks about her life growing up, and says it's the "stuff Country songs are made of." She's also the first country artist to grace the cover of the mag. Blackhawk has contributed three guitars to the Door of Faith Mission in Des Moines, IA. They'll be used for instructional purposes. The Mission provides shelter for financially challenged men. Kenny Chesney has a new album coming out on March 2nd, called Everywhere We Go. This will be Kenny's fourth album, in a career that hasn't been what you would call fast paced. Kenny has taken his time to build his career, choose the right songs, and he feels the slow trek is the right one. He remembers when he was first starting out, there were other artists that were just flying by, and having lots of hits on the radio. But when you look for these artists today, they're nowhere to be found. The new album will be more tempo oriented, and will also have on it, a duet with Randy Travis. The song is called "Baptism." Kenny's really pleased that Randy would come sing on his album, as Randy's always been one of his favorite country singers. He says that to have Randy sing with him on this album meant the world to him. The first single, "How Forever Feels," was released in December, and is making its way up the charts. RCA and CMT are joining forces for a "Girls Night Out" live telecast, to air on the Music Station on March 3rd. A CD of the event will be released on March 2nd. Involved in the project are Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Lorrie Morgan, and Mindy McCready. Each of them will perform one new song, and three other songs, plus there will be one group song. Garth Brooks has a new singing partner. Several of them, actually. Garth taped a segment for Sesame Street, where he sang a song called "Together We Make Music." Also, this week, Garth's sometimes duet partner, Trisha Yearwood taped a Sesame Street of her own. There is no air date for it yet. If you missed Garth, you can watch the show again on February 4th when it re-airs. LeAnn Rimes will be singing the National Anthem at the All-Star Hula Bowl, on January 17th. This year will be a busy one for her, as she plans to release both a country and a pop album. Look for Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Travis Tritt on the small screen in the upcoming TV-movie, "Outlaw Justice." It airs on CBS on January 24th, and features Waylon as a gun-slinger pursued by the other three. Speaking of Travis, he's also filming an episode of Diagnosis Murder. That show will air on February 18th. Last weekend, the Grand Ole Opry returned to the Ryman Auditorium. On hand to perform were Steve Wariner, Little Jimmy Dickens, Joe Diffie, The Four Guys, Ricky Skaggs, and Trisha Yearwood, among others. It was a most special day during the televised portion of Saturday's show, when Trisha was asked to be a member of the Opry. She said yes, and will become the 71st member on March 13th. Congratulations Trisha!! The real story on Bryan White and Erika Page's engagement... Seems that the couple didn't actually just get engaged after Christmas like it was reported. They've been engaged since last August, but Bryan gave Erika her ring just after Christmas. They said they wanted to keep it a secret so they could enjoy the engagement for a while before making it public. They have no wedding date yet, but it's easy to see how smitten Bryan is of Erika. He says, "She completes my life. She's my best friend. She's the first person I call when anything happens. We have a companionship I've never had, and we will never be apart." Did you know that with rare exceptions, performers who appear on the AMAs are barred from performing at the Grammys, which come six weeks later, until the following year? 'Tis true. So, don't expect to see Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, LeAnn Rimes, or The Dixie Chicks performing on the Grammys this year. Terri Clark is moving up to the headliner spot. Yep, Terri has decided to dip her toes in the water. She's scheduled a handful of shows in medium size venues to see how she does.

January 11th - January 17th

Sales in country music rose 2% in 1998, largely due to Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, and Shania Twain. The record labels aren't doing handstands at the increase, but they aren't unhappy with the results, either.

There's a date set for the release of the second Trio collaboration of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Rondstadt. Due to scheduling conflicts, the date has been moved several times, but now the news is we can expect to see this follow-up album on February 9th.

Trace Adkins is due to release the first single from his upcoming album next month. No word on the title of the song, or album, but he put some work in the studio over the holidays on it. Trace promises that his new album will be the best yet.

Freddy Fender will receive a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on February 4th. Fender is best known for his 1975 hit "Before the Next Teardrop Falls."

At the People's Choice Awards, Garth Brooks picked up an award for Favorite Male Musical Performer.

The next night at the American Music Awards, Garth picked up two more for Country Male and Country Album. Shania got the nod for Country Female. Alabama won for Country Group, and The Dixie Chicks won for New Country Artist.

Willie Nelson recorded a duet with the rock group, Beck for the soundtrack to the movie, Hi-Low Country. The song is titled "Driving Nails in my Coffin." Marty Stuart also has a tune on the album, which will be released next week.

Country stars, Alabama, The Dixie Chicks, The Kinleys, Paul Brandt, Wade Hayes, Kevin Sharp, Sara Evans, Kenny Chesney, John Berry, Lorrie Morgan, Martina McBride, Aaron Tippin, Travis Tritt, The Lynns, Thrasher Shiver, and Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown, all participated in a radiothon for Country Cares for St. Jude Kids in Memphis, TN last weekend. Country radio personalities, and other industry heavyweights also participated.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which opened in 1962 was founded by the late Danny Thomas. St. Jude treats thousands of children each year regardless of their ability to pay. The hospital is funded primarily from public contributions.

The Crown Royal Untamed & True 2 Tour, featuring Mark Chesnutt, Gary Allan, Chely Wright and Keith Harling will kick off in Nashville on January 20th. If you can't make it, you can watch it now, online.

An online auction of merchandise was started on January 11th and will go through the 20th. Merchandise donated includes stage-wear from all four artists, as well as autographed CDs, posters and cowboy hats. Mark Chesnutt and Gary Allan have also donated tour jackets. All proceeds go to Share Our Strength, an anti-hunger organization.

Reba McEntire appeared on the popular United Kingdom daytime show, Good Morning London to promote her European tour. She had previously appeared back in September, and the response was so good they asked her back.

Though their concert tickets didn't go on sale until last Saturday, the 16th, The Judds reunion concert this coming New Year's Eve, the highest price tickets were almost all sold out. How, you ask? The Fan Club members had first crack at them.

The Judds are also inking a marketing deal with K-Mart, plus the retail chain will be sponsoring their New Year's Eve show.

Shania Twain will grace the February issue of Cosmopolitan. She's a natuaral choice for the "Fun, Fearless Female of the Year Award. The feature about her talks about her life growing up, and says it's the "stuff Country songs are made of." She's also the first country artist to grace the cover of the mag.

Blackhawk has contributed three guitars to the Door of Faith Mission in Des Moines, IA. They'll be used for instructional purposes. The Mission provides shelter for financially challenged men.

Kenny Chesney has a new album coming out on March 2nd, called Everywhere We Go. This will be Kenny's fourth album, in a career that hasn't been what you would call fast paced.

Kenny has taken his time to build his career, choose the right songs, and he feels the slow trek is the right one. He remembers when he was first starting out, there were other artists that were just flying by, and having lots of hits on the radio. But when you look for these artists today, they're nowhere to be found.

The new album will be more tempo oriented, and will also have on it, a duet with Randy Travis. The song is called "Baptism." Kenny's really pleased that Randy would come sing on his album, as Randy's always been one of his favorite country singers. He says that to have Randy sing with him on this album meant the world to him.

The first single, "How Forever Feels," was released in December, and is making its way up the charts.

RCA and CMT are joining forces for a "Girls Night Out" live telecast, to air on the Music Station on March 3rd. A CD of the event will be released on March 2nd. Involved in the project are Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Lorrie Morgan, and Mindy McCready. Each of them will perform one new song, and three other songs, plus there will be one group song.

Garth Brooks has a new singing partner. Several of them, actually. Garth taped a segment for Sesame Street, where he sang a song called "Together We Make Music." Also, this week, Garth's sometimes duet partner, Trisha Yearwood taped a Sesame Street of her own. There is no air date for it yet. If you missed Garth, you can watch the show again on February 4th when it re-airs.

LeAnn Rimes will be singing the National Anthem at the All-Star Hula Bowl, on January 17th. This year will be a busy one for her, as she plans to release both a country and a pop album.

Look for Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Travis Tritt on the small screen in the upcoming TV-movie, "Outlaw Justice." It airs on CBS on January 24th, and features Waylon as a gun-slinger pursued by the other three.

Speaking of Travis, he's also filming an episode of Diagnosis Murder. That show will air on February 18th.

Last weekend, the Grand Ole Opry returned to the Ryman Auditorium. On hand to perform were Steve Wariner, Little Jimmy Dickens, Joe Diffie, The Four Guys, Ricky Skaggs, and Trisha Yearwood, among others.

It was a most special day during the televised portion of Saturday's show, when Trisha was asked to be a member of the Opry. She said yes, and will become the 71st member on March 13th. Congratulations Trisha!!

The real story on Bryan White and Erika Page's engagement... Seems that the couple didn't actually *just* get engaged after Christmas like it was reported. They've been engaged since last August, but Bryan gave Erika her ring just after Christmas. They said they wanted to keep it a secret so they could enjoy the engagement for a while before making it public.

They have no wedding date yet, but it's easy to see how smitten Bryan is of Erika. He says, "She completes my life. She's my best friend. She's the first person I call when anything happens. We have a companionship I've never had, and we will never be apart."

Did you know that with rare exceptions, performers who appear on the AMAs are barred from performing at the Grammys, which come six weeks later, until the following year? 'Tis true. So, don't expect to see Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, LeAnn Rimes, or The Dixie Chicks performing on the Grammys this year.

Terri Clark is moving up to the headliner spot. Yep, Terri has decided to dip her toes in the water. She's scheduled a handful of shows in medium size venues to see how she does.

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