Country Chatter Archive (January 18th - January 24th, 1999)

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January 18th - January 24th When asked what her goals are for 1999, Jo Dee Messina replied that she wanted to surpass her achievements of 1998. That is no easy feat. Jo Dee spent 10% of last year in the #1 position on the charts. Her current single, "Stand Beside Me" leaped from #9 to #4 last week, and her album I'm Alright has moved into the Top 10 once more on Billboard's charts, and is close to Platinum in sales. "Stand Beside Me" has just hit #1, giving Ms. Messina three #1's in a row. 1999 could shape up to be her biggest year yet. Jo Dee heads to Dallas to join Neal McCoy as a special guest on the concert program, All Access." She then will begin rehersals for her new live show. Look for dates to be released soon. Wade Hayes has asked his girlfriend, Danni Boatright to marry him. There is no date set yet. You can see Danni in Wade's latest video, "Tore Up From the Floor Up." Congrats to both of them! The Warren Brothers will be appearing at the Sundance Film Festival in Sundance, UT on January 25th. They'll perform their latest single, "Better Man," which is a song inspired by one of actor, Jack Nicholson's lines from the movie, As Good As It Gets." Also performing at the Sundance Film Festival is BR5-49. Group member Jay McDowell recently married his girlfriend, Wendy Williams in an intimate ceremony in Nashville. The group had to be tracked down shortly after the wedding to be notified of the appearance at the festival. Congrats to Jay and Wendy. May you have many years of happiness together. Marty Stuart is finishing up a new album with the help of some friends. Pam Tillis will be singing harmony on several songs, and Emmylou Harris and Ralph Stanley will also be helping out. The album should be released in May. Lee Ann Womack has fans all over, including basketball great, Karl Malone. Karl says "A Little Past Little Rock" is one of his favorite songs, and he listens to it daily to keep everything in perspective. For her upcoming TV special in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Shania Twain had two special guests, Elton John, and the Backstreet Boys. It appears that many of the fans that came to see the show were there for the Backstreet Boys. When Shania and the group sing her hit, "From This Moment On" together, the guys had a hard time hitting the high notes, and the girls in the audience were drowning out Shania. Ms. Twain promptly had a hissy fit that was worthy of a "diva," according to the New York Post, and it didn't get any better for her when she had to redo another number because of technical difficulties. Then to make things even worse, when the Backstreet Boys left the set, half the audience got up and left as well. Johnny Cash will receive a Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammy's next month. Then on April 6th, there will be a Johnny Cash Tribute Concert in New York. Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Trisha Yearwood, Roseanne Cash, U2, and Bruce Springsteen will be among the performers. The show will be broadcast on TNT on April 14th. It's not decided yet if Johnny himself will perform at the tribute. It will all depend on how he feels. Last week was a sad day for those working for Decca Records, which closed its doors. The Universal Music Group made company-wide staff cuts in preparation to merge with PolyGram. Not even artists were spared the axe, however Mark Chesnutt, Gary Allan and Lee Ann Womack will move over to Decca's sister label, MCA Nashville. Artists that weren't so lucky are Rhett Akins, Chris Knight, Dolly Parton, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Danni Leigh, and Shane Stockton. MCA Nashville also made some cuts, and Mercury Nashville dropped the contracts of John Anderson, and newcomer, Jenny Simpson. It's been just under a year, since the Dixie Chicks released Wide Open Spaces, and last week it finally reached the #1 spot on Billboard's Country Albums Chart. This feat makes the Chicks the second debut act in history to go to #1 with an album. LeAnn Rimes was the first. The Chicks latest single, "You Were Mine" is currently in the Top 15 on the singles charts, and the album is closing in on 4 million in sales. Congrats Natalie, Martie, and Emily. You guys deserve it! Speaking of the Chicks, the girls had to cancel two shows last week due to illness. Natalie, the group's lead singer has an upper-respiratory disease, and singing could cause permanent damage to her voice. She's been ordered by her doctor to take a week off to rest. Here's wishing Natalie a speedy recovery. January 25-30th is Country Legends Week on on A&E. You can watch Biography air shows on Kenny Rogers, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash. The shows air at 8:00 pm ET each night. On the 30th, you can also catch Vince Gill's special, Live By Request starting at 9:00 pm ET. If Alan Jackson had to start all over, trying to make it in Country Music today, does he think he could make it? Alan replies, "No. I don't think I'd make it at all. I think it'd be really hard to get my music played on radio." Because Alan remembers when he was first starting out, and the people that helped him out, he's trying to do the same for several other newcomers by having Sara Evans, Danni Leigh, Chad Brock, Andy Griggs and Clint Daniels on his High Mileage Road Show. They currently have dates scheduled through February, and if things go well, they'll add more dates after March. Each of the four newcomers will have less than 20 minutes each, but they're not complaining, because it's 20 minutes in front of 18,000 people as opposed to 1,800. They draw straws each night to see what order they'll perform. Sara Evans is the most well-known of the four, due to her hit single, "No Place That Far." And speaking of Sara, she and husband, Craig Schelske are expecting their first child later this year. Congrats to Sara and Craig! Nashville songwriter Bob DiPiero had a surprise the other night when he heard someone calling from downstairs, "Is anyone here?" He came down to be confronted by two policeman with guns. It appears something tripped his burglar alarm, and they were there to investigate. LeAnn Rimes is set to play herself on an upcoming episode Moesha. In the episode, Brandy's character will take her friend to interview LeAnn for MTV's FANatic. March 6th will mark the start of George Strait's Country Music Festival. The first show will be at Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix, AZ. The full schedule will be announced next Wednesday. Tanya Tucker has called off her January 29th wedding to fiance Jerry Laseter. She found out that she is pregnant with his child, and wants to wait til after the baby is born to get married. Tanya didn't want to walk down the aisle pregnant in her wedding dress. The baby is due in July, and both Tanya and Jerry are ecstatic about the news. Congrats Tanya and Jerry! Fan Fair is boasting an extended exhibit schedule this year. The exhibit halls which previously haven't opened til the Tuesday of Fan Fair week will open for a full day on Monday. This is instead of the half day on Friday of previous years. The decision to change the schedule was based on registrant and participant requests. Some of the artists who have applied for exhibit hall booths include Diamond Rio, Joe Diffie, Wade Hayes, Sammy Kershaw, John Michael Montgomery, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Aaron Tippin and Steve Wariner.

January 18th - January 24th

When asked what her goals are for 1999, Jo Dee Messina replied that she wanted to surpass her achievements of 1998. That is no easy feat. Jo Dee spent 10% of last year in the #1 position on the charts. Her current single, "Stand Beside Me" leaped from #9 to #4 last week, and her album I'm Alright has moved into the Top 10 once more on Billboard's charts, and is close to Platinum in sales. "Stand Beside Me" has just hit #1, giving Ms. Messina three #1's in a row. 1999 could shape up to be her biggest year yet.

Jo Dee heads to Dallas to join Neal McCoy as a special guest on the concert program, All Access." She then will begin rehersals for her new live show. Look for dates to be released soon.

Wade Hayes has asked his girlfriend, Danni Boatright to marry him. There is no date set yet. You can see Danni in Wade's latest video, "Tore Up From the Floor Up." Congrats to both of them!

The Warren Brothers will be appearing at the Sundance Film Festival in Sundance, UT on January 25th. They'll perform their latest single, "Better Man," which is a song inspired by one of actor, Jack Nicholson's lines from the movie, As Good As It Gets."

Also performing at the Sundance Film Festival is BR5-49. Group member Jay McDowell recently married his girlfriend, Wendy Williams in an intimate ceremony in Nashville. The group had to be tracked down shortly after the wedding to be notified of the appearance at the festival. Congrats to Jay and Wendy. May you have many years of happiness together.

Marty Stuart is finishing up a new album with the help of some friends. Pam Tillis will be singing harmony on several songs, and Emmylou Harris and Ralph Stanley will also be helping out.

The album should be released in May.

Lee Ann Womack has fans all over, including basketball great, Karl Malone. Karl says "A Little Past Little Rock" is one of his favorite songs, and he listens to it daily to keep everything in perspective.

For her upcoming TV special in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Shania Twain had two special guests, Elton John, and the Backstreet Boys.

It appears that many of the fans that came to see the show were there for the Backstreet Boys. When Shania and the group sing her hit, "From This Moment On" together, the guys had a hard time hitting the high notes, and the girls in the audience were drowning out Shania.

Ms. Twain promptly had a hissy fit that was worthy of a "diva," according to the New York Post, and it didn't get any better for her when she had to redo another number because of technical difficulties. Then to make things even worse, when the Backstreet Boys left the set, half the audience got up and left as well.

Johnny Cash will receive a Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammy's next month. Then on April 6th, there will be a Johnny Cash Tribute Concert in New York. Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Trisha Yearwood, Roseanne Cash, U2, and Bruce Springsteen will be among the performers. The show will be broadcast on TNT on April 14th.

It's not decided yet if Johnny himself will perform at the tribute. It will all depend on how he feels.

Last week was a sad day for those working for Decca Records, which closed its doors. The Universal Music Group made company-wide staff cuts in preparation to merge with PolyGram. Not even artists were spared the axe, however Mark Chesnutt, Gary Allan and Lee Ann Womack will move over to Decca's sister label, MCA Nashville.

Artists that weren't so lucky are Rhett Akins, Chris Knight, Dolly Parton, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Danni Leigh, and Shane Stockton.

MCA Nashville also made some cuts, and Mercury Nashville dropped the contracts of John Anderson, and newcomer, Jenny Simpson.

It's been just under a year, since the Dixie Chicks released Wide Open Spaces, and last week it finally reached the #1 spot on Billboard's Country Albums Chart. This feat makes the Chicks the second debut act in history to go to #1 with an album. LeAnn Rimes was the first. The Chicks latest single, "You Were Mine" is currently in the Top 15 on the singles charts, and the album is closing in on 4 million in sales. Congrats Natalie, Martie, and Emily. You guys deserve it!

Speaking of the Chicks, the girls had to cancel two shows last week due to illness. Natalie, the group's lead singer has an upper-respiratory disease, and singing could cause permanent damage to her voice. She's been ordered by her doctor to take a week off to rest. Here's wishing Natalie a speedy recovery.

January 25-30th is Country Legends Week on on A&E. You can watch Biography air shows on Kenny Rogers, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash. The shows air at 8:00 pm ET each night.

On the 30th, you can also catch Vince Gill's special, Live By Request starting at 9:00 pm ET.

If Alan Jackson had to start all over, trying to make it in Country Music today, does he think he could make it? Alan replies, "No. I don't think I'd make it at all. I think it'd be really hard to get my music played on radio."

Because Alan remembers when he was first starting out, and the people that helped him out, he's trying to do the same for several other newcomers by having Sara Evans, Danni Leigh, Chad Brock, Andy Griggs and Clint Daniels on his High Mileage Road Show. They currently have dates scheduled through February, and if things go well, they'll add more dates after March.

Each of the four newcomers will have less than 20 minutes each, but they're not complaining, because it's 20 minutes in front of 18,000 people as opposed to 1,800. They draw straws each night to see what order they'll perform.

Sara Evans is the most well-known of the four, due to her hit single, "No Place That Far." And speaking of Sara, she and husband, Craig Schelske are expecting their first child later this year. Congrats to Sara and Craig!

Nashville songwriter Bob DiPiero had a surprise the other night when he heard someone calling from downstairs, "Is anyone here?" He came down to be confronted by two policeman with guns. It appears something tripped his burglar alarm, and they were there to investigate.

LeAnn Rimes is set to play herself on an upcoming episode Moesha. In the episode, Brandy's character will take her friend to interview LeAnn for MTV's FANatic.

March 6th will mark the start of George Strait's Country Music Festival. The first show will be at Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix, AZ. The full schedule will be announced next Wednesday.

Tanya Tucker has called off her January 29th wedding to fiance Jerry Laseter. She found out that she is pregnant with his child, and wants to wait til after the baby is born to get married. Tanya didn't want to walk down the aisle pregnant in her wedding dress. The baby is due in July, and both Tanya and Jerry are ecstatic about the news. Congrats Tanya and Jerry!

Fan Fair is boasting an extended exhibit schedule this year. The exhibit halls which previously haven't opened til the Tuesday of Fan Fair week will open for a full day on Monday. This is instead of the half day on Friday of previous years. The decision to change the schedule was based on registrant and participant requests.

Some of the artists who have applied for exhibit hall booths include Diamond Rio, Joe Diffie, Wade Hayes, Sammy Kershaw, John Michael Montgomery, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Aaron Tippin and Steve Wariner.

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