Around CRS: Toby, Sara, & all the Newbies

A couple of years ago I saw Catherine Britt at a little showcase in Nashville. Elton Jon was on video talking about how talented she was and she performed a Hank Sr. song and she yodeled and we knew that despite being from Australia the girl was completely country.

And now, she's looking like a rock chick.

Jake Owen is also looking like a rock star. The image doesn't go with the music, IMHO... I like him better in blue jeans, where he looks more real. There are some great fan photos of Jake at his website - JakeOwen.net.
-----------------------------
I was at this session. Also on the panel was artist Jack Ingram, and his label head, Scott Borchetta. At one point Jack, who's on his 14th year of recording, is about to put out his 13th CD, and is a superstar in Clay's native Texas was talking and Clay interrupted him with a comment that was something like "Yeah, that's well and good but you're new at this. You've had, what, two singles on the radio?"


At which point Jack looks at him and says "Don't you know who I think I am?"

Jack's episode of ShortCuts, by the way, is going to be awesome. He was a great interview.
-----------------------------
In a session about interviewing, John Rich asked if we wanted to hear the absolute worst interview question he'd ever been asked. He recounted "Lonestar exited me from the band" in January of one year, and then by summer came out with "Amazed." He was doing a radio tour for his solo project, and a DJ asked him "So, how does it feel to have left the Beatles?"
-----------------------------
I talked to Chris Young on the Boat, which was held the same night as the Nashville Star finale. He said he'd tried to get several of his friends to text message him the winner, but said he couldn't find anyone willing to watch the show for him. LOL
-----------------------------
Also on the boat - Sara Evans was introduced as being happier than she's ever been. Somehow I just find that hard to believe. Happier now than she was 3 months ago, maybe. But ever? Nope, ain't buying it. Whoever introduced her should have their mouth washed out.
-----------------------------
I watched Toby at the Music City Jam with the COO of the company that does Toby's (and a ton of other artists) video screens on the road. He snuck me Diet Cokes from the back. I'm going to sneak him into the Predators control room - he's a big Preds fan. Aside from the free soda, I got to know the special guests in advance, although I confess that I thought he had his artists confused when he told me Crystal Gayle. Who knew Crystal was Toby's favorite female singer?

There's a good review of the show here. Before they sang the second duet, Toby told her he knew she didn't usally perform this one live, and she told him to bare with her if she forgot the words. When they were done and he was getting ready to perform his next song, he shook his head and said "I just sang with Crystal Gayle, y'all!" It was, dare I say... cute.

Now, perhaps, I need my mouth washed out.
-----------------------------
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me about the merger this week I could afford to get TiVo AND the new boots. It's crazy. I did, however, get a chance to do a lot of networking, and had one job offer and a whole bunch of "you'll be fine, but if you aren't, call me and let me know how I can help" offers, which makes me feel much better.
-----------------------------
My favorite New Faces performance was Eric Church. Where everyone else did 4 or 5 songs, Eric crafted a little musical scrapbook of himself and his songwriting... playing snippets of his influences - from Motown to Bluegrass - parts of his own songs - segueing from Bob Segar's "Night Moves" into his own "Two Pink Lines" and talking about the year he's had "I've been hired, I've been fired."

The performances were all good, but they were just 4 or 5 song mini-concerts. Although I am intrigued to find out if one performer was sick... or... umm... under the influence of something stronger than Tylenol.
-----------------------------
Kix Brooks hosted the New Faces show... a gig he got not because he's an artist, but because he's the host of the mac daddy of Country Countdown shows - American Country Countdown. At one point he pulled out a guitar and accompanied himself singing "Red Dirt Road."
-----------------------------
I had a brief opportunity to see Kenny Chesney at the Hog's Breath Saloon in Key West tonight. Had I taken it, I would have completely re-defined exhaustion. And insanity.

The reason, however, I'm sitting here blogging instead of being at the Jack Ingram show I wanted to be at tonight, is because my daughter is sick and my husband is running a 101 degree fever. So, I'm wired on Mt. Dew (I didn't decide for sure until after dinner that I really couldn't leave them to go out tonight) and stuck at home administering benadryl and aspirin.

It was laundry, or blogging.