Monday, June 10th

Garth Brooks To Receive Hitmaker Award
From about.com Garth Brooks travels to New York City on Thursday, June 13, to accept the Hitmaker Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Stevie Wonder will also be on hand to accept the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award. Inductees into the Hall of Fame this year include Sting, Randy Newman, Michael Jackson, Ashford & Simpson and Barry Manilow.

Andy Griggs Launches New Website
From about.com Andy Griggs has launched a new, interactive website with a fresh design, featuring music, tour dates, photos, merchandise and news. Visitors to the site can sample new music from Andy's highly anticipated forthcoming album, Freedom, scheduled for release July 9th. Andy's new hit single, "Tonight I Wanna Be Your Man," is also featured on the site.

Joe Diffie inducted into Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
From about.com Oklahoma's favorite son, country music star Joe Diffie, has been selected for induction into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Diffie will join other 2002 inductees singer Hank Thompson, pop/jazz vocalist Kay Starr and jazz guitar pioneer Charlie Christian (posthumously). Each artist will be inducted at the annual Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony and concert, slated for October 8, in Muskogee, OK. Thompson and Diffie both are scheduled to perform.

Sonny James Honored
From about.com, Presenters of the annual Country Radio Seminar (CRS), will honor Sonny James with the Country Radio Broadcasters Career Achievement Award as part of their annual Country Music DJ Hall of Fame ceremonies to be held on Thursday, June 27, 2002 at Nashville¹s Renaissance Hotel.

Cyndi Thomson Goes Gold
From capitolnashville.com, My World, the debut album from Cyndi Thomson, has been certified gold (signifying sales of 500,000 albums) by the Recording Industry Association of America. "The songs from My World connect with a new generation of country music fans, says Capitol Records' V.P. of Sales, Bill Kennedy. "Cyndi is without a doubt one of the bright young talents in music today. We're looking forward to a long successful career for her here at Capitol Records."

Tuesday, June 11th

Blake Shelton Receives Music Row Award
From about.com Blake Shelton graciously accepted his first Music Row magazine award during an awards ceremony at Nashville's BMI headquarters. Shelton received the "Critic's Pick" award which recognizes an outstanding new artist who has released their first single in the past year.

Sony Scene
From about.com In this week's Sony Scene there is Fan Fair information and news from Billy Ray Cyrus, Jack Ingram, Little Big Town, Michael Peterson, as well as TV appearances and releases.

Chris LeDoux The Capitol Collection
From about.com For ten years, Chris LeDoux has been a part of Capitol Records Nashville, steadily delivering music that reflects the true cowboy spirit and the rowdy fun of the rodeo. Chris LeDoux: The Capitol Collection 1990-2000 gathers together six of his albums, each containing a previously unreleased bonus track, in a boxed released Tuesday.

Ronnie Milsap Fans Flock to Nashville
From about.com, Country Music fans are know for being loyal. However, there are two Los Angeles based fans of legendary singer Ronnie Milsap that have gone beyond loyal. It seems that this husband and wife were recently listening to Nashville radio station "Live 95" via the Internet when they heard about Milsap's appearance at the Opry Mills Tower Records store last Saturday (6/8). The couple decided to hop on a plane to Music City to have their CD copy of Ronnie Milsap: Live (Image Entertainment) signed by the singer. Milsap was overwhelmed when he heard how far the couple had traveled and spend 30 minutes chatting with them.

Audium's Fan Fair Show
From about.com, Audium Records will host a very special Fan Fair show at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 16th at the Opry Mills mall. Featuring a special performance of Caught In The Webb - A Tribute To The Legendary Webb Pierce, the live performance stars album producer Gail Davies along with many of the artists who participated in the landmark album including Dale Watson, Mandy Barnett, Rosie Flores, Trent Summar, Billy Walker, Robbie Fulks, Joy Lynn White, Kevin Welch, Patty Mitchell, Matt King, Chris Scruggs and Chuck Mead of BR-549.

Wednesday, June 12th

CMT To World Premiere New Dixie Chicks Video
From about.com On the heels of their live appearance on the CMT FLAMEWORTHY VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS to accept the "Flameworthy Video Visionary Award," the Dixie Chicks will world premiere their new video directly following the awards show on the CMT WRAP PARTY live on Wednesday, June 12 at 11:00-11:30 PM, ET on CMT: Country Music Television. The Dixie Chicks will join CMT WRAP PARTY hosts Lance Smith, Katie Cook and Greg Martin live from the plaza of the Gaylord Entertainment Center to introduce the much-anticipated video for their new single, "Long Time Gone."

SHeDAISY Takes Over VH1 country
From about.com VH1 Country (the Digital Television channel) will be turned into SheH1 on Wednesday, June 12 from 8:00 to 10:00 PM Eastern when SHeDAISY will take over the channel. During this time, the network will air images of the three sisters and play the new album, "Knock On The Sky," in its entirety for the whole two hours! Be sure to tune in and watch.

Ronnie Milsap to be honored at Helen Keller Awards
From about.com Country music legend Ronnie Milsap will receive the "Personal Achievement Award " at the American Foundation for The Blind's 2002 Helen Keller Achievement Awards. The presentation will be made at a gala dinner on Tuesday, September 24, 6:30 PM at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The "Personal Achievement Award" is given to someone that is an exemplary role for other artists who are blind or visually impaired. The award is considered the highest honor that a visually impaired person can receive.

Alabama, Milsap, and Wynonna DVDs
From about.com, Image Entertainment, a worldwide company long recognized as the market leader in licensing, distribution and production of music long form DVDs, again makes it's voice heard on The Row. This past year saw the release of Lorrie Morgan's long awaited first concert album The Color Of Roses and now Image Entertainment is proud to release two sure fire hits to the DVD market- Alabama and Wynonna Judd.

keith urban to Debut New Song on MWL
From capitol-nashville.com, keith urban returns! He's been hard at work on his next album, and fans will get to hear new music from the awesome Aussie when he debuts his new single, "Somebody Like You" on CMT's Most Wanted Live, on Friday, June 14.

Thursday, June 13th

Joe Diffie hosts Father's Day Radio Special
From about.com Joe Diffie will host a one-hour radio special saluting fathers and Father's Day called "Music Row Dads." The program is set to air on numerous country radio stations across the nation June 13-16.

Loretta Lynn & Sissy Spacek Reunite
From about.com Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was the performance of "Coal Miner's Daughter" by Loretta Lynn, Sissy Spacek and Chely Wright. Spacek and her daughter attended as part of their week long stay in Music City while legendary Loretta Lynn came to surprise host Wright, her biggest fan. A stunned Wright could only utter, "I can die now...I can truly die!"

Bluebird Café celebrates
From about.com The Bluebird Café Scrapbook, published by Harper Entertainment, will be released June 18th to celebrate the Nashville listening room's 20th anniversary. Compiled by club owner Amy Kurland along with Mark Benner and Neil Fagan, the book features numerous songwriters and performers telling their experiences at the Bluebird Café.

George Strait Charts 49th Number One Hit
From yahoo.com, George Strait's current single, "Living And Living Well," tops both the Billboard and R&R country singles charts this week, kicking his total number of chart-topping hits up to 49. This feat puts the superstar second only to Conway Twitty for having the most Number One hits. Twitty's record is 55, including six duets with Loretta Lynn.

Lonestar Letting Fans Express Themselves
From cmt.com, Fans will write personal messages on the white walls of Lonestar's Fan Fair booth. The band's fan club came up with the idea, inspired by reports of the emails and letters sent by fans to Lonestar in response to the hits "I'm Already There" and "Not a Day Goes By."

Friday, June 14th

Sara Evans Expecting Second Child
From about.com RCA platinum-selling artist Sara Evans announced at a special Fan Fair Grand Ole Opry appearance on Tuesday, June 11, and again at last night's CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards that she and husband Craig Schelske are expecting their second child in early 2003. The baby, due in mid-January, will join big brother, Avery Jack, now 2 ½. "Craig, Avery and I are thrilled at the news of another family member," a glowing Sara enthused. "The funny thing is that Avery is under the impression that he's having the baby, too" she laughed. "We feel so blessed."

Chely Wright & Pooch On Cover of USA Weekend
From about.com While it may be widely known that Chely Wright, one of People Magazine's 50 most beautiful is cover girl material, there is now proof that her beloved Yorkie Miss Minnie is too. Wright and all 3.2 pounds of pooch appear on the cover of this Sunday's (6/16) USA Weekend. While Wright is fully clothed, Miss Minnie does appear topless.

Toby Keith speaks out on ABC censorship
From usatoday.com Toby Keith says the producer of an ABC 4th of July TV special rescinded an offer to have the country singer perform his current hit after the show's host, World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings, heard the song and vetoed it. "I find it interesting that he's not from the U.S.," Keith says of Jennings, who is Canadian. "I bet Dan Rather'd let me do it on his special."

Chesney Fans Flameworthy Fires
From cmt.com, Kenny Chesney burned brightest at the first-ever, fan-voted CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards in Nashville. The high-energy singer was the only double winner Wednesday (June 12), capturing Flameworthy video of the year and Flameworthy male video of the year for "Young." As he accepted the male vocalist honor, Chesney's fans shouted their support. "I wasn't really prepared for this," he admitted. "Every night, I go out on stage and hear the cheers and the crowds like that. They give me one of these every night."

Tim McGraw's Flameworthy Award
From curb.com, Last night CMT presented the first annual Flameworthy Video Awards---Tim took home the prize for the "Hottest Video of the Year" for his video "The Cowboy In Me." If you missed last night's broadcast---stay tuned...CMT will re-air the presentation.