Billy didn't name names.... but just because he's protecting the guilty doesn't mean I have to!
"Someone from the Grand Ole Opry came up to me the the other day," he recalls. "We were in an airport, and I've sung on the Opry with this lady 500 times, so we know each other. We were getting on the same plane, and she was like, 'Oh my God, Dierks! What's goin' on?' She gives me this big hug, and I'm thinking, 'Should I tell her?' I never told her. [laughs] So 30 minutes later, she's sitting by her husband who's also on the Grand Ole Opry, and I walk past him, and he's like, 'Billy, what's up, man?' And she's like, 'That's not Billy. That's Dierks.' And I'm like, 'No ... I'm Billy.'"
-- TheBoot.com
I can come up with two married couples on the Opry, but only one that plays there regularly enough that he'd have sung with her 500 times (or at least, a whole bunch.)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
They're Comin' to Your City
It's a Big & Rich 3 Ring Circus on the Music Row Happy Hour.
Today we played a new John Rich song called... called... it's so new I can't remember the title. "Burning Detroit Down." I think. When the label brought over an unmastered copy to play it for us yesterday, the song was 8 days old... the recording 4 days old. After taking many calls on the song during his show tonight, Storme got a phone call from Mr. Rich, who was somewhere out of town promoting his solo project.
Tomorrow... Big Kenny is coming by. He's doing a film screening at the Hall of Fame, and will swing by around 5pm ET to promote his solo documentary project.
Next Tuesday... Two Foot Fred is coming in. Why? I don't know. Maybe because someone needs to promote Big & Rich together? As a duo? With a tour coming up?
We've also got Dusty Drake coming in tomorrow (was going to be today, but we had a snow day) to talk about his new song, The 12th Man, which is in support of one of the Super Bowl contenders. Tune in to find out which one!
Today we played a new John Rich song called... called... it's so new I can't remember the title. "Burning Detroit Down." I think. When the label brought over an unmastered copy to play it for us yesterday, the song was 8 days old... the recording 4 days old. After taking many calls on the song during his show tonight, Storme got a phone call from Mr. Rich, who was somewhere out of town promoting his solo project.
Tomorrow... Big Kenny is coming by. He's doing a film screening at the Hall of Fame, and will swing by around 5pm ET to promote his solo documentary project.
Next Tuesday... Two Foot Fred is coming in. Why? I don't know. Maybe because someone needs to promote Big & Rich together? As a duo? With a tour coming up?
We've also got Dusty Drake coming in tomorrow (was going to be today, but we had a snow day) to talk about his new song, The 12th Man, which is in support of one of the Super Bowl contenders. Tune in to find out which one!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Statler Brothers Therapy
It's all the rage on Facebook now to do those "25 Random Things About Me" lists. So last night I did one, and one of my random things was that no matter how rotten my day was, Statler Brothers music makes it better.
Today, after one of the crappiest days I've had in months in which I was beat up from 3 different states, Wade Jessen made it all better. Just call him the 5th Statler.
One of my tasks as the acting PD of the Roadhouse is putting together a show Wade does called "Rear View." If you didn't hear me raving over it on the air last week, allow me to rave for you now -- it's a fabulously entertaining lesson in country music history.
But before it hits your airwaves, it's a 3 hour block of music that has to be hand scheduled, and each week there are a few songs that have to be ingested into our music library, and several more that get activated from other channels. The last 2 weeks there have been Statlers songs to load in. No complaints from me!
Today, in the early afternoon, The Statler Brothers Sing Country Symphonies in E Major appeared on my desk. The song I was to ingest was "Monday Morning Secretary." Looking at the title on his song list, I couldn't come up with it, but once it started playing, I could sing right along. (Funny how much of it was applicable to me!) I played it at least 3 times, and it made the day much better.
The BEST though, was another track on that CD. Track #8.
Now y'all know I love me some Statler Brothers. But Oh. My. Goodness. They cut "Delta Dawn." And I was in tears all over again.
This time, from laughing so hard.
It's funny, too, because on my drive home last night I heard Conway Twitty singing "Fifteen Years Ago," which was the hit version, and thinking how much better I liked the Statlers version, which lead me to thinking about "All I Have To Offer You Is Me" which I also knew as a Statlers song, even though Charley Pride had the hit with it. I guess back in the day, before every waitress in town was a songwriter, there wasn't so much material to choose from.
But Delta Dawn... I'm cracking up all over again just thinking about it. Do yourself a favor, and go raid your mom's record collection and find this.
Today, after one of the crappiest days I've had in months in which I was beat up from 3 different states, Wade Jessen made it all better. Just call him the 5th Statler.
One of my tasks as the acting PD of the Roadhouse is putting together a show Wade does called "Rear View." If you didn't hear me raving over it on the air last week, allow me to rave for you now -- it's a fabulously entertaining lesson in country music history.
But before it hits your airwaves, it's a 3 hour block of music that has to be hand scheduled, and each week there are a few songs that have to be ingested into our music library, and several more that get activated from other channels. The last 2 weeks there have been Statlers songs to load in. No complaints from me!
Today, in the early afternoon, The Statler Brothers Sing Country Symphonies in E Major appeared on my desk. The song I was to ingest was "Monday Morning Secretary." Looking at the title on his song list, I couldn't come up with it, but once it started playing, I could sing right along. (Funny how much of it was applicable to me!) I played it at least 3 times, and it made the day much better.
The BEST though, was another track on that CD. Track #8.
Now y'all know I love me some Statler Brothers. But Oh. My. Goodness. They cut "Delta Dawn." And I was in tears all over again.
This time, from laughing so hard.
It's funny, too, because on my drive home last night I heard Conway Twitty singing "Fifteen Years Ago," which was the hit version, and thinking how much better I liked the Statlers version, which lead me to thinking about "All I Have To Offer You Is Me" which I also knew as a Statlers song, even though Charley Pride had the hit with it. I guess back in the day, before every waitress in town was a songwriter, there wasn't so much material to choose from.
But Delta Dawn... I'm cracking up all over again just thinking about it. Do yourself a favor, and go raid your mom's record collection and find this.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The return of Lady J
When you are born with a name like Joyce, you spend your life wondering why you don't have a normal name like Melissa or Jennifer or Lisa (all hugely popular names in my graduating class.) My mom was a Joyce too, so at home, to this very day, I'm Joyce Maree. I also spent my life wondering why they elongated my name, instead of shortening it to something hip and cute like Joy.
Of course now, I have no idea why I didn't start using that myself when I went off to college, but I guess after 18 years I'd gotten used to it.
When I moved to Nashville I was the only female director at the tv station I worked at... just as I'd been at the tv station back home. There was a guy about my age who pretty much ran the weekend studio crew, and he took it upon himself to nickname me Lady J. It was his way of making sure the crew guys showed me respect.
So when I got out of TV and stumbled into radio, I produced a Nashville midday show and did some on-air sidekick type work, and adapted Lady J. to Producer J. Because let's face it... no one is going to turn in to hear a Joyce. Very unhip. Producer J. followed me to LiveOnTheNet.com, CountryCool.com, PlanetGarth.com, and eventually, XM, where I was back doing some side kick type work and co-anchoring special events like Award Show coverage, and at various points, some specialty programming and then a Sunday night show on our classic country channel.
New company, new channel names, new on air names. As much as I like Producer J. because it explains that I'm not first and foremost a jock, and therefore, should be forgiven for not having a voice like Devon O'Day, I decided it was time for a change. So last Saturday afternoon, Lady J. made her debut on The Roadhouse, filling in for Kyle Cantrell. Somehow it fit with the channel better than Producer J. Maybe because once again, I'm the only girl in the joint.
Of course now, I have no idea why I didn't start using that myself when I went off to college, but I guess after 18 years I'd gotten used to it.
When I moved to Nashville I was the only female director at the tv station I worked at... just as I'd been at the tv station back home. There was a guy about my age who pretty much ran the weekend studio crew, and he took it upon himself to nickname me Lady J. It was his way of making sure the crew guys showed me respect.
So when I got out of TV and stumbled into radio, I produced a Nashville midday show and did some on-air sidekick type work, and adapted Lady J. to Producer J. Because let's face it... no one is going to turn in to hear a Joyce. Very unhip. Producer J. followed me to LiveOnTheNet.com, CountryCool.com, PlanetGarth.com, and eventually, XM, where I was back doing some side kick type work and co-anchoring special events like Award Show coverage, and at various points, some specialty programming and then a Sunday night show on our classic country channel.
New company, new channel names, new on air names. As much as I like Producer J. because it explains that I'm not first and foremost a jock, and therefore, should be forgiven for not having a voice like Devon O'Day, I decided it was time for a change. So last Saturday afternoon, Lady J. made her debut on The Roadhouse, filling in for Kyle Cantrell. Somehow it fit with the channel better than Producer J. Maybe because once again, I'm the only girl in the joint.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Late Night Ramblings
I keep trying to figure out how to blog everything that I've been doing in the past week and a half or so, since my failed promise of blogging under the influence of painkillers, and I just can't do it. Too much. I'd be writing for days. So... I'm just gonna bullet point the highlights of last week.
- Three less teeth in my mouth
- One 4am trip to the ER
- Playing the role of Roadhouse program director
- School cancelled because of cold
- My awesome friend Dianne who watched my child AND cleaned my house
- Sandi arriving in town for the weekend!
- Seeing Sylvia at a Janis Ian / Gretchen Peters show that I was way to exhausted to have been going to but Sandi made me go and I was glad I did. (Y'all remember Sylvia, right? "Nobody" "Snapshot" "Matador" -- LOVED her. She still looks as beautiful as she did 20 years ago when those songs were hits.)
- Introducing Sandi to Janis Ian
- Big G Salsa -- and lots of it
- The Pancake Tree
- My first visit (of MANY future visits) to the Loveless Cafe
- Having both of my hairdressers in the same place at the same time and not needing to have my hair colored
- Slumdog Millionaire
- More dental appointments
Which brings us to today.
First off, we have to talk about the Dierks Bentley script I wrote last night. I've never been all that big of a Dierks Bentley fan... I think I'm too old and too married for his little white tank top demo. Great guy, but just never really got all that into his music.
This new album -- Feel That Fire -- LOVE.IT. Probably, I relate to it more because he's now closer in line to my life situation - being married with a child. Great stuff. Diverse stuff, a great well rounded package of music. Was a totally fun script to write. For one thing, it's easier to write a show where the artist is a songwriter. For another, him and Jon have known each other a while, so it's easier to write a more "comfortable" script than a script for strangers. For another, I haven't gotten to write a ShortCuts script in a couple of months, so I was jazzed to do it.
The show turned out AWESOME. He and Jon talked about everything... it was very casual and loose, and he was so appreciative of getting the chance to dig in deep to the music the way we do on ShortCuts. I can't wait to edit it and put it all together. It will air the last weekend in January.
One funny note... the crazy boy came in wearing SHORTS. It's been crazy cold in Nashville... snowed again today... and he's running around in shorts.
We've been rocking on the Music Row Happy Hour lately -- that's Storme Warren's live show, from 4-8pm ET on The Highway. Today Kellie Pickler came in. I don't know how long she was on the air for, but in total she spent 2 hours hanging out in our studios. After she got off the air, everyone started talking politics. Kellie is NOT the airhead blonde she plays on TV. (In fact, if you were listening you got some cool scoop related to that, that she's never told anyone else!) I really enjoyed seeing a different side of her.
I've edited the interview, I think it will run again this week. Later in the show, songwriter Monty Powell (a zillion Keith Urban hits, including "Sweet Thing") came in. Wednesday we're expecting Trent Tomlinson, and Friday new duo Caitlin & Wil, who won the CMT reality show "Can You Duet." Oddly enough, I'd thought Joey & Rory had won that. Unless Caitlin is really Joey.... and Wil... hmm....
So it's a pretty exciting time up in the Big Blue Cone we now call home... we've worked so hard and waited for so long to get to a point where we had these awesome studios to show off to everyone, and I'm so excited we're finally really up and rockin' and parading people through! Now I just need to get the energy back to rock with them.
The days right now are long and exhausting, and my To Do list grows each day with things I'm not getting done, but we knew going into this merger it was probably going to be a really tough first year. It's hard to get down about it when we have these beautiful studios to walk into and the most awesome programming now getting almost double the listeners. Life is good. Crazy. Stressful. Exhausting. But good.
So now... I'm just counting down the days (12 to be exact) until my Spring intern arrives!
- Three less teeth in my mouth
- One 4am trip to the ER
- Playing the role of Roadhouse program director
- School cancelled because of cold
- My awesome friend Dianne who watched my child AND cleaned my house
- Sandi arriving in town for the weekend!
- Seeing Sylvia at a Janis Ian / Gretchen Peters show that I was way to exhausted to have been going to but Sandi made me go and I was glad I did. (Y'all remember Sylvia, right? "Nobody" "Snapshot" "Matador" -- LOVED her. She still looks as beautiful as she did 20 years ago when those songs were hits.)
- Introducing Sandi to Janis Ian
- Big G Salsa -- and lots of it
- Breaking my blender just by turning it on
- My adorable husband going and buying a new blender, and whipping up delicious Guavaberry coladas
- Georgia Cooking in a Tennessee Kitchen
- Playing with Baby Cebastian, and watching him do laps around the coffee table trying to get to the Big G Salsa
- The Pancake Tree
- My first visit (of MANY future visits) to the Loveless Cafe
- Having both of my hairdressers in the same place at the same time and not needing to have my hair colored
- Slumdog Millionaire
- More dental appointments
- A studio visit from the ladies of Little Big Town (where the best stories happened OFF the air)
- Working a very very long MLK day, including finishing a script around midnight, under the influence of painkillersWhich brings us to today.
First off, we have to talk about the Dierks Bentley script I wrote last night. I've never been all that big of a Dierks Bentley fan... I think I'm too old and too married for his little white tank top demo. Great guy, but just never really got all that into his music.
This new album -- Feel That Fire -- LOVE.IT. Probably, I relate to it more because he's now closer in line to my life situation - being married with a child. Great stuff. Diverse stuff, a great well rounded package of music. Was a totally fun script to write. For one thing, it's easier to write a show where the artist is a songwriter. For another, him and Jon have known each other a while, so it's easier to write a more "comfortable" script than a script for strangers. For another, I haven't gotten to write a ShortCuts script in a couple of months, so I was jazzed to do it.
The show turned out AWESOME. He and Jon talked about everything... it was very casual and loose, and he was so appreciative of getting the chance to dig in deep to the music the way we do on ShortCuts. I can't wait to edit it and put it all together. It will air the last weekend in January.
One funny note... the crazy boy came in wearing SHORTS. It's been crazy cold in Nashville... snowed again today... and he's running around in shorts.
We've been rocking on the Music Row Happy Hour lately -- that's Storme Warren's live show, from 4-8pm ET on The Highway. Today Kellie Pickler came in. I don't know how long she was on the air for, but in total she spent 2 hours hanging out in our studios. After she got off the air, everyone started talking politics. Kellie is NOT the airhead blonde she plays on TV. (In fact, if you were listening you got some cool scoop related to that, that she's never told anyone else!) I really enjoyed seeing a different side of her.
I've edited the interview, I think it will run again this week. Later in the show, songwriter Monty Powell (a zillion Keith Urban hits, including "Sweet Thing") came in. Wednesday we're expecting Trent Tomlinson, and Friday new duo Caitlin & Wil, who won the CMT reality show "Can You Duet." Oddly enough, I'd thought Joey & Rory had won that. Unless Caitlin is really Joey.... and Wil... hmm....
So it's a pretty exciting time up in the Big Blue Cone we now call home... we've worked so hard and waited for so long to get to a point where we had these awesome studios to show off to everyone, and I'm so excited we're finally really up and rockin' and parading people through! Now I just need to get the energy back to rock with them.
The days right now are long and exhausting, and my To Do list grows each day with things I'm not getting done, but we knew going into this merger it was probably going to be a really tough first year. It's hard to get down about it when we have these beautiful studios to walk into and the most awesome programming now getting almost double the listeners. Life is good. Crazy. Stressful. Exhausting. But good.
So now... I'm just counting down the days (12 to be exact) until my Spring intern arrives!
Oprah's Inauguration Gift To You
For those of you who don't watch Oprah, she's in Washington D.C. for the Inauguration festivities, and did her show yesterday from there as well, debuting a new song called "America's Song."
The song was written by will.i.am and famed producer David Foster. It was performed at the Inauguration festivities and featured yesterday on "Oprah," and features will.i.am, Faith Hill, Seal, Mary J. Blige, and Bono. It was made available as a free download on oprah.com for 24 hours after yesterday's show (so fans have until 5 PM ET today to get it).
The song was recorded at the XM HQ in D.C. -- if you watch the videos you can catch a glimpse of them in the second video on the link above.
Happy Inauguration Day everyone! Regardless of your political affiliation, every American will have a new president today, through a democratic process that we should feel very blessed to participate in.
The song was written by will.i.am and famed producer David Foster. It was performed at the Inauguration festivities and featured yesterday on "Oprah," and features will.i.am, Faith Hill, Seal, Mary J. Blige, and Bono. It was made available as a free download on oprah.com for 24 hours after yesterday's show (so fans have until 5 PM ET today to get it).
The song was recorded at the XM HQ in D.C. -- if you watch the videos you can catch a glimpse of them in the second video on the link above.
Happy Inauguration Day everyone! Regardless of your political affiliation, every American will have a new president today, through a democratic process that we should feel very blessed to participate in.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Tonight's Music Row Happy Hour
Special Guests on the Music Row Happy Hour tonight!
- Rodney Atkins
- Crystal Shawanda
- Randy Houser
- Montgomery Gentry
Don't miss it! Sirius 60 / XM 16 / Dish Network 6060 / DirecTV 814 / Air Trans, Jet Blue or Air Canada beginning at 4pm Eastern
- Rodney Atkins
- Crystal Shawanda
- Randy Houser
- Montgomery Gentry
Don't miss it! Sirius 60 / XM 16 / Dish Network 6060 / DirecTV 814 / Air Trans, Jet Blue or Air Canada beginning at 4pm Eastern
Today's Song Mystery
This query from a reader:
I’m trying to find the name of a song, and it’s driving me crazy. I think it was from the 50’s or 60’s and it is about a teenager who was killed, I think in a car accident. He is watching the crash scene as they are covering his body, his parents are mourning his death, and he is saying he can’t be dead because he’s too young to die.
This sounds familiar to me too, but I'm thinking it is one of those poems you forward around the internet to 10 people within 2 minutes or you too will die a horrific death. I'm going to ask Kyle when I see him this afternoon... let's see if y'all can come up with it first.
I’m trying to find the name of a song, and it’s driving me crazy. I think it was from the 50’s or 60’s and it is about a teenager who was killed, I think in a car accident. He is watching the crash scene as they are covering his body, his parents are mourning his death, and he is saying he can’t be dead because he’s too young to die.
This sounds familiar to me too, but I'm thinking it is one of those poems you forward around the internet to 10 people within 2 minutes or you too will die a horrific death. I'm going to ask Kyle when I see him this afternoon... let's see if y'all can come up with it first.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Blue Hole Road
Driving to work this morning, I heard Jason Aldean's "Hicktown" on the radio. Now I've heard this song a zillion and a half times before. But for some reason, today was the first time I've ever noticed that he talks about going "mudding down on Blue Hole Road."
Blue Hole Road is out in my neck of the woods, I drive home on it almost every day. (To be honest, I don't think there's anywhere to go mudding on it.) This part of town is a popular area for singer songwriter wanna-be's to live in when they first come to town, before they get successful and move to Green Hills. (Josh Turner still lived in an apartment on Bell Road when his first album came out! I don't think he's there anymore...) This is the second song I'm aware of that names Blue Hole Road.
The other one is Keith Anderson's "Closest I've Ever Been." I had to tell Keith he'd better not be doing 90 down Blue Hole Road anymore. If you were to mapquest BHR you'd notice there are 2 sections... where it crosses Bell Road. (Cute little miniature golf course on the corner, should you ever need one.) The northern section, with the nice bold line has 2 schools and a church. No one could do 90 through there if they wanted to.
It's the South Side of Blue Hole that those boys are getting into trouble on, I think. And although it's hard to tell on mapquest, that's a pretty curvy windy little dark road without much of a shoulder. That would be the section I'm driving on. You have to keep heading south and take a few more turns into the boondocks to find me. Hey... "Boondocks." That would be a great song title... Tonight I'm taking Blue Hole Road straight to the Boondocks...
Tomorrow I'm working the late shift... it's Sound & Speed night. Montgomery Gentry and a couple of other special guests will be joining Storme on the Music Row Happy Hour (4-8pm ET), and Claire B. Lang will be broadcasting 7-10pm ET on Nascar Radio out of our studios. I'm working some point on Saturday during Claire's live broadcast and then Monday -- hallelujah! I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled!!!!
Look for blogging under the influence of painkillers next week...
Blue Hole Road is out in my neck of the woods, I drive home on it almost every day. (To be honest, I don't think there's anywhere to go mudding on it.) This part of town is a popular area for singer songwriter wanna-be's to live in when they first come to town, before they get successful and move to Green Hills. (Josh Turner still lived in an apartment on Bell Road when his first album came out! I don't think he's there anymore...) This is the second song I'm aware of that names Blue Hole Road.
The other one is Keith Anderson's "Closest I've Ever Been." I had to tell Keith he'd better not be doing 90 down Blue Hole Road anymore. If you were to mapquest BHR you'd notice there are 2 sections... where it crosses Bell Road. (Cute little miniature golf course on the corner, should you ever need one.) The northern section, with the nice bold line has 2 schools and a church. No one could do 90 through there if they wanted to.
It's the South Side of Blue Hole that those boys are getting into trouble on, I think. And although it's hard to tell on mapquest, that's a pretty curvy windy little dark road without much of a shoulder. That would be the section I'm driving on. You have to keep heading south and take a few more turns into the boondocks to find me. Hey... "Boondocks." That would be a great song title... Tonight I'm taking Blue Hole Road straight to the Boondocks...
Tomorrow I'm working the late shift... it's Sound & Speed night. Montgomery Gentry and a couple of other special guests will be joining Storme on the Music Row Happy Hour (4-8pm ET), and Claire B. Lang will be broadcasting 7-10pm ET on Nascar Radio out of our studios. I'm working some point on Saturday during Claire's live broadcast and then Monday -- hallelujah! I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled!!!!
Look for blogging under the influence of painkillers next week...
Monday, January 05, 2009
If You Just Can't Wait...
... until the People's Choice Awards Wednesday night...
Text NEWRFCD to 66937 from your cell phone before end of day Tuesday to be the first to find out the title and release date for the new Rascal Flatts album and register to receive more advance information about the band and their upcoming CD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6fdT6nH_bY
I don't do texting because I have to pay for each one (so don't text me unless you really really have to, please?) so someone do this and report back to me.
Text NEWRFCD to 66937 from your cell phone before end of day Tuesday to be the first to find out the title and release date for the new Rascal Flatts album and register to receive more advance information about the band and their upcoming CD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6fdT6nH_bY
I don't do texting because I have to pay for each one (so don't text me unless you really really have to, please?) so someone do this and report back to me.
Friday, January 02, 2009
First post of 2009...
... has nothing to do with music, but is ALL about entertainment.
Here is Delaynie's new camera, being put to use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEg_T7AYe90
Here is Delaynie's new camera, being put to use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEg_T7AYe90
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