Adkins Set To Perform at Orange Bowl
Trace Adkins has been named as part of the FedEx Orange Bowl 2005 National Championship Halftime Show. Adkins will perform his new single, Songs About Me. Joining Adkins, will be pop superstar Ashlee Simpson and the winner of FOX-TV’s first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson. As part of the choreography, these artists will be joined by 3,000 dancers, with over 1,000 youth participants hailing from local South Florida dance studios. The national championship game airs live at 8 p.m. ET on ABC on January 4. More...
Jeff Bates' Fans "On a Mission"
RCA's gravel-voiced singer and songwriter Jeff Bates claims that country music fans are the best in the world, and has even said a few times that his are the best of all. On Christmas 2004 they may have proved him right.
Jeff is one of the most generous country artists, and spends a great deal of time with fans after his concerts. He wants to shake as many hands as possible, and put fans' faces with their names. Jeff has so far chosen not to start his own official fan club and thereby foregoes collecting membership fees. His philosophy is one of inclusion, and anyone who comes to see him in concert or buys his album automatically "belongs" and can attend his meet-and-greets.
"I love and appreciate my fans and give them, along with everybody else who shows up, as much time and attention as possible at concerts," says Jeff. More...
Crystal Gayle—The Buzz on National Television this Week!
After just completing her Holiday tour, Crystal Gayle is enjoying the first week of 2005 in sunny Florida spending some prime time at Disney World with her husband, children and new grandbaby boy, Elijah. While in the Sunshine State, Crystal has incorporated a date in her planner to make a special appearance on one of television’s newest national morning shows. She will appear on the WB’s The Daily Buzz this Wednesday, January 5.
The Daily Buzz is the hippest and trendiest early morning show on television featuring news, weather, special guest appearances and the latest in entertainment news, music, travel, fashion, pet care, home fix-ups and more. The show begins at 6:00AM and airs in 136 markets including Cleveland, Columbus, Charleston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Seattle. Crystal will visit with hosts John Brown, Andrea Jackson, and Mitch English and perform two songs.
Sony Scene - 01/03/05
JESSI ALEXANDER:
2005 is starting off on a high note for Jessi Alexander. American
Songwriter magazine proclaims, "Jessi Alexander is a songwriter that just gets it- the essence of pure songwriting, the ability to tell stories and capture emotion in four minutes. And on her Columbia Records debut, 'Honeysuckle Sweet' [out March 1st], she does it 11 times."
Alexander recently finished shooting the music video for her late January single "Canyon Prayer." Directed by Kristen Barlowe (Alan Jackson's "Remember When"), the video evokes the spiritual emptiness expressed in this song by placing Jessi inside the four walls of a minimally furnished room, with aged walls, a dark soil floor and few props. "This is a song about inner struggle and surrender, and everyone can identify in some way to those two things," says Alexander. She was impressed with Barlowe's inspired vision, saying, "She had visualized the song in a way, I as the writer had never seen it."
Jessi didn't write the song in a lonely room, however. "My best friend Marie and I were driving cross-country and decided to stop at the Grand Canyon. We each found our own perch overlooking the beauty, and I started to write in my journal... [Later,] I called Gary Nicholson (Delbert McClinton), and he helped me shape the words and find the perfect melody. We both felt the power of this song as we were writing it. I swear this song evolves and affects me differently every time I sing it. I felt there was no better way to end my record."
Rising star, Alexander, looks forward to the March 1st release of her debut album 'Honeysuckle Sweet'. In a feature in the January/ February issue of American Songwriter, Alexander says, "I come from the belief that a song really doesn't take on a life until people have heard it. ... until people get to have it and hold it in their hands and play it over and over, my job isn't fulfilled." More News on Buddy Jewell, Montgomery Gentry and Gretchen Wilson