Billy Joe Shaver's 65th Year Is Banner Year Following Time Of Tragedy
What a difference a year makes! When we announced Billy Joe Shaver's most recent studio album, Billy and the Kid (August 2004), it was couched in the context of tragedy. The legendary Texas singer/songwriter had lost his mother, wife and son within a single year.
Shaver still feels the hurt, but his life has turned around. On May 17, Compadre Records will release A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver Live, a CD that documents a 65th birthday tribute held in Austin last August. Guest stars on the album, who paid tribute to Shaver at Austin's Paramount Theatre, include (in alphabetical order) Guy Clark, Diamondback Texas, Joe Ely, The Geezinslaws, Colin Gilmore, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Rodney Hayden, Jack Ingram, Robert Earl Keen, Cory Morrow, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis, Todd Snider and Dale Watson. More...
‘Nashville Now’ Is Back
Nashville Now featuring Ralph Emery and Shotgun Red is making a comeback. The new show will be recorded live at the Nashville Nightlife Dinner Theater in Nashville and will air online and via DVD at theNashvilleshow.com
Shelly Fairchild Tours With Rascal Flatts
Columbia Records newcomer Shelly Fairchild is adding Rascal Flatts to her impressive list of tour partners who include John Fogerty, Travis Tritt, Wynonna and Brad Paisley, among others. Fairchild will join the guys on ten dates stopping in Gainesville, Florida on February 18; Columbia, South Carolina on February 19; Columbus, Georgia on February 20; Reading, Pennsylvania on February 25; Amherst, Maine on February 26; Trenton, New Jersey on February 27; Austin, TX on March 4; Bossier City, Louisiana on March 5; Southaven, Mississippi on March 11 and Biloxi, Mississippi on March 12.
Fairchild will be featured on the Travel Channel's series "Fantasy Living" on February 28th at 8 p.m. EST in an episode on fantasy buses. The channel caught up with Fairchild on the Rock The Vote Tour in St. Louis. Part of the tour entourage was the John Lennon Education Bus, which is equipped with a full recording studio.
Superstar Alan Jackson 2005 What I Do Tour Kicks Off In April
Arista Nashville superstar Alan Jackson launches his much-anticipated 2005 What I Do Tour, joined by chart-topper Sara Evans and ACR/RCA debut-recording artists, The Wrights, on April 22 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV.
With more than 40 concerts planned this year, Jackson's tour is expected to draw sell-out crowds as the three-time CMA Entertainer of the Year consistently delivers a hit-packed set to his legion of country fans. Jackson's latest Platinum-certified release, What I Do, earned year-end, best of 2004 accolades from such outlets as the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Village Voice, while a recent four-star Blender review raved, "The whole collection ... shows how much subtle pathos, humor, and passion a flat-brilliant country performer can harvest from non-strict traditionalism." What I Do repeated the success of Jackson's multi-Platinum Greatest Hits Volume II CD and previous studio album, Drive, by topping Billboard's pop and country album charts in its first week of release. An undeniable country superstar, Jackson has recorded 14 albums, earned 31 #1 singles and amassed record sales of more than 43 million.
Kenny Chesney Looking At Bigger, Bolder Stage -- Cleaner Lines, More Fan Access, 125 Individually Controlled Amplifiers & More
When you're following up the second biggest tour of the year -- behind no less than Prince's awesome multi-night stand in many cities Musicology -- you need to really get your game on, so Kenny Chesney's been taking his Somewhere In The Sun Tour seriously. The stage -- which was trucked in from Torrance by 15 trucks -- has been erected now for over almost two weeks, the band began rehearsing on it in the middle of last week. Special guest Gretchen Wilson will get her turn on it shortly.
The reason for this amount of rehearsal time? The sheer size.
"We're having to play a lot more arenas this year, because the outdoor venues can't handle the staging and light trusses," says the reigning Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year. "It's bigger than Van Halen's Diver Down Tour, which I saw when I was in high school -- and I thought was about the biggest thing I'd ever seen! But when we got bigger, I wanted to make the lines cleaner, so everybody could see everything that was going on no matter where they were sitting. THAT was a really big deal for us." More...