All Checked In: Garth Radio Seminar

I'm 20 stories above Nashville, all checked in to what they are calling "Garth Radio Seminar." A little play on the usual "Country Radio Seminar" that they hold each spring here in Music City. I have a great view of the Capitol building, high speed internet, and my very own Big Machine t-shirt. Can't complain, eh?

They've given us the full rundown of the weekend events (they're feeding us well!) and one slight disappointment is that they're saying no cameras at GRS events. Hmm. That doesn't make my blogging as much fun.

They have a full day of events for us tomorrow. One thing that did clear up, once I saw the schedule, was this press conference thing which is happening tomorrow, but is separate from the radio event. He's actually spending an hour and half doing the same sort of thing with us, in a session called "The Man, The Plan, The Music," BEFORE the press conference, then the next event is "Announce it to the World" where he does the public press conference that will be streamed live on GarthBrooks.com. It will be deja vu for those of us who are going to both. Then there's lunch and several more events after that.

All of that is tomorrow, however - first we have to get through tonight! Up first on the agenda is Party #1 - a dinner and showcase by Big Machine to introduce radio to their new act "Kingbilly." This is one of the off site events they are bussing us to, at a club here in Nashville that I've never been to before.

Will check in with you later! Oh, if you comment and you're not one of my regular posters, please post what city/ state (or country) that you're blogging from. I can see in my site stats, but it's cool for everyone else to see too!

My Fellow Redbird

I just spent a delightful 20 minutes or so with my fellow Illinois State Alumni Suzy Bogguss. Love her. She's a doll. We got to talking and laughing about campus parking tickets that totally brought back some memories. I'm going to have to chop some of that up for my show on America sometime.

Jay Thomas has arrived, he was one of the massess flown in for Garth Radio Seminar. I'm going to go check in to the hotel and pick up my credentials... I presume you're going to be looking for on site blogging...?

You heard it here first!

Garth Brooks Press Conference
Saturday 11:45am CENTRAL
live from Nashville

Audio and Video streaming live at http://www.garthbrooks.com/

YAY ! ! !

Bluegrass Broadcaster of the Year Nominees:
Kyle Cantrell, XM Satellite Radio
Chris Jones, Sirius Satellite Radio
Ned Luberecki, Sirius Satellite Radio

Kyle took me to lunch to celebrate. I'm now 3 for 3 on Nominations reels... hoping this is our first win.

Tomorrow's Color: Blue

80% of my time is spent in mainstream country in some form or fashion... between US Country, Highway 16, and America. The other 20% is split up between bluegrass and americana, with the occasional public radio thing thrown in for good measure.

Tomorrow, I'm immersed in bluegrass. It's a big day in the Bluegrass world, as the IBMA announces their awards show nominees. The awards show itself (which happens in October) is always heard live on XM 14, Bluegrass Junction. And the nominations announcements will be heard live there tomorrow as well.

Kyle Cantrell will be anchoring a full morning of programming, including interviews with the nominees after the official announcements are made. The cool thing about bluegrass - versus mainstream country - is that they give us the nominees several days in advance. However, they slyly DIDN'T send us the special nominees, including Bluegrass Broadcaster of the Year. By this time tomorrow, I hope to be working with one of them. :-O I will say his nomination reel is darn good.

Amongst the artists on hand for the event that we're expecting to drop by: Show host Sam Bush, Doyle Lawson, Dale Ann Bradley, and several others that I've managed to forget.

Other random notes:

Sarah Johns was awesome. Gorgeous girl. What I would give to have hair like that! She's lots of fun and can curse like a sailor. I'd love to do a show of her outtakes.

If I was the biggest selling superstar in a particular genre of music... and I was going to have a press conference... that I felt was important enough to stream llive on my website.... in audio AND video.... I think I... personally... would be telling people about it... so they'd know that they'd need to be in front of their computer. Because people might have plans around lunch time on a weekend. And unless some random blogger told them... they wouldn't know that they should be at their computer... around lunchtime... on a weekend day...

What Would YOU Ask Garth?

So the G-Man is in front of the media several times coming up, and of course, there will be the obvious questions and information given out about his upcoming project. Some things you know will come up. But casting all those things aside, if you were a member of the media and got all the obvious questions answered, and there was time for a "bonus" question of some sorts.. that didn't have anything to with what he's trying to promote, what would you ask?

I think, if we got things answered about international distribution and the duet album, what I'd want to ask is --

When you retired, you were planning to develop a new career as a scriptwriter. How'd that work out for you?

LOL

Your turn. I've got to finish wolfing down lunch before our interview, then we're gonna talk Bluegrass.

I stand corrected

I'll be the first to tell you, I'm not always right. And last night, I learned I was wrong about something.

There IS a Garth press conference scheduled. It's completely separate from the radio extravaganza that's about to be unleashed. Mr. Brooks apparently is a VERY busy boy for someone who's retired.

What I hope most comes out of this is that he comes out and says "I've changed my mind." Not giving 80 thousand justifications for how he's still retired yet continues to do all this stuff, but just admits - I can't be retired, I'm bored silly in Oklahoma while my wife is on tour, my girls, who only live with me every other day anyway, are in school, and I miss my incredibly fabulous fans.

That's the scenario in J.'s Perfect World. Of course we know... JPW doesn't seem to be there when she needs it to be, LOL.

We're taping a Sarah Johns Driver's Ed today, and then I'll be in to fill you in on the IBMA Nominations tomorrow on XM 14 Bluegrass Junction.

Define "New" ...

I love it when information starts leaking out about a project and the fans get all up in arms over things and there's no official word from anyone setting the record straight. It gives Detective J. something to do.

So reports from MCA say that the Trisha Yearwood Greatest Hits project contains two new songs. "But wait!" cry our fabulous listeners - Trisha told XM there was no new music on the CD!

Well she's right. And the record label is right. It really depends on how you define "new." In Trisha's world, her new music is on Big Machine, and that's what she's focusing on. Rightly so, IMHO. However, the label can make the case that if you haven't heard it, it's new to you! And I get that too. If I ever get around to renting Reba's TV show on DVD, they entire series will be new. To me! The two "new" songs, MCA tells me, are "overcuts" from previous Trisha albums, and of course, Trisha will not be doing any interviews etc. to promote the release.

At some point NEXT week, after the fact, remind me to tell you why I'm disappointed she's playing the Opry Saturday night.

On a completely unrelated note... a helpful hint for song requesting. When we get three emails in a row from variations of the same email addresses, requesting the same song - in the same request format - we're gonna figure out they're all coming from the same person. Even if you sign a different name to one of them. ;-)

I just finished editing the Joe Nichols XM WORLD PREMIERE that will air this weekend on Highway 16. This show was done on the road, at a restaurant in Pittsburgh, where I'm guessing, there were adult beverages being served. Some things, you can not fix in the edit. It's a good show, lots of scoop about his bride-to-be, who will have his last name before Garth Un-retires again.

Two nights in a row I've had dreams about this Garth shindig. Wierd. I don't normally dream about work, although I do still ocassionally have nightmares that take place in TV control rooms where I forget which buttons to push and send the evening news into chaos.

Early to Bed... Early to Rise...

.... confuses the hell out of a night owl like me!

Today was the first day of school. Excuse me.. the first day of MIDDLE SCHOOL. So in addition to living a good 10 minutes farther away from Delaynie's school, she also starts 15 minutes earlier than last year. All of which means, the rooster crows, and I'm out of bed. Ugh. Hoping the earlier start means I'll be getting out of the studio earlier in the day, thereby saving on the cost of after school child care.

However, with not having internet at the house yet, I'm not up all night on the computer either. Last night I was in bed by 10:30, which is kind of crazy for me. And Gary hung make shift curtains over the bedroom windows so it's a little darker in there, and I actually got a little sleep last night. Cool!

Lots of questions coming in about Garth's project... do you mean to tell me his official website isn't keeping you informed? (she says with a smart-ass twang...) Seriously... to not have updated your website since October is ridiculous, I don't care who you are. The fans deserve better than that. In fact, that may be my first question for the G-man. "Are you going to do a decent website, or do I need to go back to doing one for you?"

Anyway... much of the info I have was given off the record, I've seen a bunch of stuff in print, a bunch of speculation, and a bunch of grumbling already. There will be a ton of info coming soon - and I'll share when I can. I did want to clarify though this talk of there being a Press Conference. It's really not.

What IS going on is a couple days of seminars, Q&A sessions and PARTIES for radio. You're not going to hear when and where from me, because I know there are people (and some of you know them!) who would fly in and crash the event. This event is only for radio to my knowlege - not the general press, so I don't expect there to be any newspaper / television. Although it wouldn't surprise me to see CMT Insider or Storme's crew at some point. He's flying in radio people from all across the country for these soirees in an attempt to clarify all questions, hear the new music, and of course, party! And yes I say "he" because there's no way his new record label has the budget they're spending on all this airfare, food, and hotel for this multi-day extravaganza.

Read into all of the above whatever you choose, but it tells me is that someone is very VERY determined to make himself a radio comeback, and that same someone has the money to make it happen.

I'm back... sort of...

Been gone for several days for a family vacation in Missouri. Add that state to the 2007 Producer J. World Tour.

I know... Missouri not exactly the glamorous vacation hot spot, but we have a cabin in the woods we like there, and we got together with our boys, our daughter-in-law, her parents, and brothers -- 10 of us in all. Delaynie went fishing for the first time. (Didn't catch anything.) No cell phones, no email, no idea of what's going on in the outside world. In fact, I still don't have cable or internet at home (I'm at the library) so I really don't know what's going on in the outside world.

I presume my readers are all a flutter about Carrie Underwood setting new chart records and Garth's massive upcoming radio blitz (which I didn't miss after all). I have yet to unpack most of my belongings, so I think I'm going to have to shop to find something to wear to his upcoming shindigs. Shopping sounds MUCH better than unpacking, don't you think?

Apparently, from a quick check of the email, the world is coming to an end.... Vince Gill is going into the Hall of Fame, and I DID get email from Elvis Presley.

Sneaky Camera Man!

Check out this awesome photo that my intern Jason took at the Tracy Lawrence #1 party!

My favorite part is Trent Tomlinson hanging in the background watching... no doubt thinking some day... I'll be in the photo too.

Early Rizer

Good Morning! One of the things I've discovered over the past week or so is that there are just NOT enough hours in the day. So I've started getting up at these ridiculous hours and making lists or answering emails, or scheduling logs, which is what I'm about to do now.

We did get into the new house last night and do some cleaning and a little painting. I'm throwing open the doors tonight for coffee and dessert - not that I have time to party, but by golly, we've earned it. We have to be out of our old house before we leave on vacation next Tuesday, so I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment.

All of which means I'm still not getting to hit the schmooze fests. Emerson Drive had 2 parties on Monday, Raul Malo had a CD release party on Tuesday, Tracy Lawrence had a #1 party last night, and while I'm out of town next week he's got a 2nd party, and I think Garth's big radio shindig happens while I'm gone too. I've decided now would be a really good time to be cloned. Tonight Sony BMG is doing a showcase for Sarah Johns, which I would have really liked to have gone to, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm having a party at my house.

Off to schedule some US Country music -- wouldn't want them to run out while I'm gone!

SOLD ! ! !

*** SCREAMING ***SHOUTING***SCREAMING SOME MORE***

SIGNED ! ! ! !

9 Days Late... a GAZILLION grey hairs and a probable ulcer later, Josefina has signed her closing paperwork. She has until Noon tomorrow to get her money to the title company, who assured her she'd be looking at a stack of lawsuits if she didn't.

It took her TWO HOURS to sign her closing paperwork. She insisted on having every word on every document translated for her. They finished at 8:30 at night.

While she was doing that, I was teaching myself to curse in Spanish. She's going to get a lovely "welcome to your new home" note left on the kitchen counter.

Hopefully, all the money will change hands tomorrow and we'll get posession of our new home tomorrow night. My mom flies in to town Wednesday (ha - she was supposed to be helping me decorate the house I would have moved into last week!), and we have 9 days to vacate this house. And you'd better believe, I'm taking every single one of them.

Watch this space for the celebratory screaming tomorrow.

New Carrie On The Way - Highway 16

Yeah, so... they released the single an hour or so ago, and we're getting slammed by Carrie fans. It's loading into the system - Jay Thomas will have it on his show after the top of the hour. Hold tight!

PRESS RELEASE:
Carrie Underwood’s New Single, “So Small,” Hits Country Radio Today!

Track Is the First from Her Upcoming October 23 Release, the Follow-Up to Her Six-Million-Selling ACM Album of the Year, Some Hearts

Nashville, TN – Two-time GRAMMY winner and reigning CMA and ACM Female Vocalist Carrie Underwood has new music at country radio today, with the delivery of “So Small,” the first single from her upcoming album, releasing October 23. The song was co-written by Carrie with Luke Laird and GRAMMY-winning songwriter Hillary Lindsey (who co-wrote three tracks on Carrie’s debut disc, including the chart-topping “Wasted” and “Jesus, Take the Wheel”).

Of the new single, Carrie reflects, “‘So Small’ is a feeling song on how people invest so much of their time and energy into things that aren’t really important. And you don’t really realize that until it’s too late.”

After co-writing one song on her six-million-selling 19 Recordings/Arista Records/Arista Nashville debut disc, Some Hearts, “So Small” marks the first of several Carrie co-writes to be included on her upcoming album, and its message is one she feels can hit home with everyone, including herself.

“And we’re all guilty of it, as I know I am, of just letting silly things get in the way. The smallest thing can almost ruin my day, and at some point I realize, ‘Good gracious, Carrie! What are you doing?’ I have a great life, and we need to remember the things that are truly important.”

Underwood’s to-be-titled new disc reunites her with producer Mark Bright, who helmed seven tracks on Some Hearts.

The House Closing From HELL

Sorry I haven't been around... it would take me all morning to update you on what we've been through this week, and trust me, it's not a fun read. Short version of the story is we still haven't closed - everything has been done except Josefina singing her paperwork - and we are probably getting a lawyer Monday morning.

I'm completely out of the country music loop, missed the Big & Rich #1 party, completely could care less that Garth is releasing a new album, and my rock-n-roll hubby last night was the one to inform me that The Wreckers have split up. I'll catch up eventually.

Nothing to Wear

You know how you sometimes stand in front of your closet (if you're a girl) and look at all your clothes, and you have nothing to wear?

And it's not that you have "nothing" to wear, it's more like you have nothing "right" to wear. Not the right look, or fit, or the perfect outfit to give off the impression or feeling that you're looking for.

Well right now, I truly can stand in front of my closet and have nothing to wear. Because Monday night, while I was working at Vacation Bible School, my husband packed our bedroom. All of it. My closet is empty, and I was left with just the scraps that were in the laundry.

Yesterday morning, I had to call him at work because I'd been searching for 10 minutes and couldn't find any socks. I managed to find a sweater and jeans. Sure, it's July, but the studio is often cold, so a sweater it was. Until I managed to dump half a cup of coffee down me on the way to work and had to spend the rest of the day in an XM t-shirt.

And that, my friends, was just the beginning of the day.

Today was SUPPOSED to be the most awesome day of the week for me. I was SUPPOSED to be buying a house. I was SUPPOSED to get possession of it after work today. I am SUPPOSED to be off work tomorrow and Friday because I'm SUPPOSED to be getting a house full of company (actually - TWO houses full!) that was SUPPOSED to help me move.

However, the house closing from hell still hasn't happened, and I can't buy a house until I sell this one. They tell me I'm SUPPOSED to be able to sell it at 5pm today - 5 1/2 hours after I was SUPPOSED to be buying a house.

Since my brain is completely fried from this ridiculous merry go round of home selling, I'm going to let YOU tell me what the heck this sentence means. (Yes, it's all one sentence!) Because they completely lost me at the first 5 words:

Furthering manning up the man who last year sold more concert tickets in North America than even the Rolling Stones or the Dave Matthews Band was the guest appearance of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and occasional Flip Flop Summer tour surprise guest Joe Walsh, who added some blistering electric guitar and a bit of voice box.

"Furthering manning up the man?" I have no idea what that means. All I can think about is Peyton. 56 words in that sentence. Which is nothing compared to the 64 in this one:

With Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, Chesney’s first new music in two years and easily the most multi-faceted picture of the songwriter from Luttrell, Tennessee to date, Chesney reaches not quite so far back into his quiver of influences to embrace Bakersfield acolyte/LA post-cow-punker Dwight Yoakam’s raucous “Wild Ride” with a furor that may even surprass the progressive country icon’s.

Really.

Producer J.'s Treasure Hunt

I'm (allegedly) moving in like... 4 days. You'd never believe it if you walked through my house right now. At any rate, as I've been packing and sorting... I'm finding all kinds of things. I could have my own country music yard sale.

It's also my own little walk down memory lane. CountryCool.com stationary, business cards from every job I've held in Nashville, aircheck tapes from radio, microcassette interview tapes from the magazine, and old video tapes from TV. Really... what am I saving the 6pm news from November of '96 for? It's not like I'm going to get a job off that now. My garbage cans are a treasure trove of country music history. OHhhhh the Music Industry propagand! "For Your Consideration" mailings from Rascal Flatts, Toby, Kenny, B&D, Terri Clark, Martina, Joe Nichols... press kits from everyone from Billy Ray Cyrus to The Oak Ridge Boys to artists I don't even remember ever having a record deal. Also found some cool stuff too, like early XM brochures and press kits, newspaper clippings, and photos of Delaynie before she had hair.

Hopefully the next time I talk to you we'll have CLOSED on this house. Everyone keeps asking me "Did it go through? Have you closed yet?" Believe me... when this deal FINALLY gets finished, the whole wide world is gonna hear me shouting.

I have a small army of people coming to Nashville Thursday to move me. What I really need is people to come PACK me! If nothing else, they'd be able to dig some cool stuff out of my garbage.

Who's next, Elvis?

Recently, I wrote about the latest trend in music industry emailing - to set up an email box with your artist listed as the "sender."

Today however, that cute little trend went a little far.

Today... I got email from Waylon Jennings.

Find Out Who Your Friends Are

I've been meaning to write about this for weeks now, and it's old news, but it was SO exciting when Tracy Lawrence got a #1 song with "Find Out Who Your Friends Are." If you missed the controversy - and I'm not sure how much of it got out to the public, and how much just played out on Music Row, but there is a version of the song, which we occasionally play on XM, that includes Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. I personally LOVE that version of the song.

The single that was released to radio was Tracy's solo version, but when the full album came out and programmers got their hands on the bonus track, a lot of places did what we did and started spinning it.

Now... things move slow on the music charts, and REALLY slow when you're on an indie label. That song was on the chart for MONTHS. Finally - it made it to the top 5, actually leaping over Brad Paisley on it's way to #1. And that, my friends, is when the $^!# hit the fan.

I'm sure you can google and get the full text, but SonyBMG, the biggest baddest record label conglomarate in Nashville, sent a cease & decist letter from their lawyer to radio programmers telling them to STOP playing the version that included their artist, Kenny Chesney.

Now let me tell ya... there ain't nothing stopping a PD from playing Kenny Chesney singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in heavy rotation if it's on a CD that is commercially available.... Even in the crazy world of satellite radio, where DMCA regulations tell us how many songs how often by any given artist, we can play a bonus track off any album that has a barcode. The big bad record label was not only wrong -- they looked like the bad guys for picking on Mr. Independent Record Label.

Tracy's publicst is a long time friend of mine, and she told me that programmers were so outraged that her phone was ringing off the hook and the radio stations increased spins. Some places played the song several times back to back, or at the top of each hour. The next day, Sony BMG sent an apology - but it was too late... the spin increase pushed the song to #1. Tracy Lawrence definitely found out who his friends were.

At any rate... I've been reminded of this experience over the past few weeks as we've gone through the roller coaster ride of selling our home. I have awesome friends. People here in Nashville, like Dianne, who is everything from my cleaning lady to Delaynie's second mom, and Mark, who gave me invaluable mortgage help, and Jennie and my entire Sunday School class who has kept praying that this house sells.

And then there are all of you, across the country. Some of you I only see once a year, like Pammy or Paula, and some of you are here often enough that YOU NEED TO MOVE HERE *cough*cough*youknowwhoyouare*cough* but you're all very dear to my heart. I love you for listening to my panicky emails, for reading my therapy sessions disguised as blogs, and for the sweet emails or IM's or comments you leave here. Y'all are the best!

Ok, I'll try to contain my sappy-ness, but I have to give you Example #797 of why you guys are awesome:

My dad brought back a school project from Australia that was for a young girl who was the daughter of one of his customers there. She's about Delaynie's age, and totally stole dad's heart. The basic idea was that the kids traced an outline of themselves and decorated it, and then sent them around the world. As the flat versions of themselves travel, they send back postcards and momentos to the class so they can learn about the places they're traveling. So Flat Emily came back with dad, eventually making her way to Nashville, and then to Florida, (she went to Disney World!) and then to Boston... where Paula introduced her to another friend.

Really... I don't know what I'd do without y'all, on crazy hectic rotten days like today, you still find ways to make me smile!!!

Thanks for asking about Delaynie, it was a rough day and evening but she's sleeping now. They wound up doing a bunch more work than we were expecting while they had her sedated. My mouth is better tonight (had them fix something today while I was waiting on her and it helped) and I haven't touched the liquor cabinet at all. (although I really need to pack it!) Our closing scheduled for 9am tomorrow got postponed (not really a shock after everything else these buyers have put us through) but I'm hopeful it WILL get done in the next 48 hours.

Sleep well friends!

If It Don't Come Easy...

Sometimes... scripts just flow out of me. I can sit down and write and write and write, and 2-3 hours later, have a show I love. A show that makes me smile when I hear it on the air.

Sometimes... you have to write a show while suffering through horrible pain thanks to dental work you had done earlier in the day... all the while trying to not let your 10 year old know about the excruciating pain you are in because she's having oral surgery first thing in the morning.

And let me tell you... when it's situation #2... and you have minimal information about the aritst... and the one thing you do know is that they don't admit to being married... it makes you a bit cranky.

In general, when I script an interview I give Jon as many answers as I can:

"Where's home for you Producer J?" (She grew up in Central IL but has been in Nashville 10 years.)

But in this case... not only do I not know the answers... I'm not real sure yet in the questions. Which puts me way out of my comfort zone.

Lesson #1 to aspiring country music artists: Hire a good bio writer.

I'm wondering how much better the show might go if I took a couple shots of whatever I can find in the liquor cabinet...

The Single is Here!

I just LOVE the new photos Trisha Yearwood has, which have been up on her website & myspace page, and is on the cover of the new single. I haven't seen the photo on the back of the single anywhere, so I thought I'd share.

Also note that there's an album version and a radio edit of the single. On XM... we play album versions.

Remember - Trisha's on with Jon Anthony today at 1pm Eastern on Highway 16. I know a lot of bits and tidbits have come out over the past week through various interviews she's done, but this is definitely the most news all in one place of the interviews I've heard. It's about 25 minutes including music so plan to spend lunch around your XM Radio!

Ok Carrie Underwood Fans!

Release date for Carrie's next CD: October 23rd. Are ya excited?

Washington D.C. Landmarks

How many can you name?

More Trisha

Our interview with Trisha will air Tuesday around 1pm Eastern on XM's Highway 16.

Since she's doing bunches of interviews, there's no sense making you wait for the details that are coming out anyway.

The album is .... hopefully... going to be called "Heaven, Heartache, & The Power of Love." That's contingent on the single doing well, so y'all better do your part!

They tracked the album in four days.

She has 2 Karen Rochelle songs (Karen wrote "Georgia Rain"), both of which she has men singing with her - one is Jim Lauderdale, one is Keith Urban. Yeah... that's gonna be AWESOME.

So Garth is NOT singing on the album. But we asked her if he made any contributions. I'm going to make you wait to hear her answer, because it's very... amusing.

Matraca Berg is another songwriter I remember having a couple of songs on the CD, and a Jessie Alexander song called "He Doesn't Know Nothing About Memphis." That's a double negative - maybe I wrote it down wrong. Actually, I'm pretty sure Sandi has been sitting on that scoop since we saw Jessie's fiance at a show here in Nashville a couple weeks ago.

She's not touring beyond September - will hit the road again in February. Sorry gang. You're going to have to get your frequent flyer miles elsewhere.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go find some Carrie Underwood news so that I can get some COMMENTS on my blog!

Great Discoveries

I've discovered some really fun things I wanted to share with y'all.

First off, if you haven't heard the Vince Gill / Fruit of the Loom commercial - it is the ONE redeeming factor I've found about commercial radio lately. I heard it on FM yesterday I think - must have been when I was listening to WSIX waiting for Trisha to come on. This is GREAT commercial strategy - it sounds just like a song. Vince Gill, in that angelic sweet voice, singing about underwear. No kidding. I was dying, laughing. And now I've discovered, there's a VIDEO! Seriously - how did he do that with a straight face???? Go Watch it - I'll wait until you come back.

Great Discovery #2 (and it's hard to top baby Apple swimming in the pool!) came as a result of finding #1 - and noticing a link for my friend Suzanne Alexander's blog. Check out her Music Row Ramblings for some awesome scoop from Music City. The whole world is bloggin'!

My intern, Jason had a great discovery of his own yesterday, when he ran into Kellie Pickler, and her realtor, in his condo building. There goes the neighborhood! (Kidding!)

The newest rage in publicity seems to be sending emails with your artist's name listed as the sender. I got yet another one today from Daryl Worley, (and no they didn't include his Playgirl photos.) Coolest one so far was seeing email from Lynryd Skynyrd in my inbox.

Amy Paige has Danielle Peck on her show tomorrow morning at 10am Eastern. Tune in for some serious Chick Chat!

The Answers - Updated Thursday Morning

Hey gang, PLEASE don't copy and paste my blog elsewhere... that's bad netiquette. If you liked it enough to share it, just post a link, or a highlight with a link back to it. Thanks!

So... I spent some time with Ms. Yearwood today. Or Mrs. Yearwood-Brooks as she confirmed her name legally is. Part of that time was recorded for an interview that will air Monday, and part of it was not. As soon as I get the official air time of COURSE I will let you know. We're hoping it will happen in Jon Anthony's live show on XM's Highway 16, however, we don't at this moment have the full single - just a 1:11 preview which I presume is the snippet that will go on her MySpace page Friday. So once I confirm what time I can get my hands on the whole thing, I'll let you know what time the interview can air.

A few things I learned:

The reason she looks SO awesome these days is she's participating in a 3 day walk coming up in August - where she's walking 20 miles a day. TWENTY MILES? So she's on a training course, currently she's up to 13 miles at a time. This weekend will be her first weekend on the road while on this training schedule, so those of you in the East Coast area where she's performing -- be watching the roads. The walk, by the way, is for the Susan G. Komen foundation. She did say "we" were doing it, but I didn't find out who her walking buddy was.

Another miscellaneous tidbit - Garth loves her german chocolate cake, and she makes him one each year for his birthday.

My favorite story, that she told us off the air, was that they took the girls to the Smithsonian while in D.C. last weekend, and they got a private tour of the "Mummy Room" which is in the basement of the Smithsonian. She said it was really cool, they were opening up sarcopha... umm... mummy cases. Can't you imagine the girls loved that!

Obviously she talked a LOT about the upcoming album in our time on mic. It's a really great, informative interview, with a lot of news about what's ahead. I actually thought about posting the script, so you could see the questions and wonder all weekend about her answers.LOL.

Amongst the things you'll be able to hear her talk about:

- The title of the upcoming CD. We asked, she answered.
- The process of how this CD came together so fast
- Touring plans
- The video for the new single (yes there will be one)
- Songwriters on the upcoming album - familiar names here.
- The song that if she was a songwriter she would have written about her cowboy
- Not one but TWO duet partners - both males!
- Songbook 2: Yes it's happening. Will there be new music on it?
- How life in Oklahoma is influencing her career
- Garth's contributions to the project

Also, if you heard her on XM 161 this morning with Gerry House, you know she talked about Live Earth. I thought it was very interesting that they were discussing playing NYC. She said they recycle and use the "curly light bulbs" but they had a long way to go, LOL. Me too.

Update: I thought of a few more things. Trisha talked (off air) about the Teammates for Kids event that was held out at Garth's estate last night, said she had to make sure to get lunch today because she usually doesn't get to eat at those events. She was explaining how they hold 2 different events each year to accomodate the hockey players, who can't make the January event. AND - during our interview, Jon books her for the XM World Premiere of her album on Highway 16 ShortCuts, the weekend before it goes on sale. So if you're a Trisha fan and you DON'T have XM, you're just gonna need to get it. I've got deals!

Your Trisha Questions ANSWERED!

Just what ARE the inquiring Trisha Yearwood fans wondering about these days?

The title of her next album?

The status of that mysterious Songbook 2?

Who the special guests are on the upcoming CD?

What her hubby contributed to this record?

How she's looking so good these days - and why?

What else she did in D.C. last weekend?

I have all those answers and more... some of which will be answered on this blog... some of which you are going to have to wait for our interview with her to air Monday. Watch this space for details!

It's Midnight Cinderella

So I learned something at about 1am this morning. It's impossible to get a cab after midnight. The Metro stops running at Midnight on Sundays, which I knew. So I get everything synched back up with BOC from our live show at about 12:15am (which they butchered badly and all my perfect timing was for naught) and I google "Taxi Washington D.C." And I start calling. And calling. And re-dialing. I go through about 5 companies, and can't get anyone to answer the phone.

So I go up to the front security desk and ask the guy there if he can help me call a cab. Perhaps I just am calling the wrong companies. Maybe some of them don't work after midnight. Or don't answer the phone for tourists. Or something. So he calls one for me. And I sit in the lobby and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Now realize... I've put in 12 1/2 hours at work today. I'm exhausted. I'm practically falling asleep on the couch. You know how you get so exhausted the littlest things make you wanna cry? That was me at about 12:45 this morning.

So after 30 minutes of waiting, I decide The Yellow Cab Company is blowing me off. So we try calling another company. Bless their hearts, within 10 minutes the Diamond Cab company was at the front door.

Another benefit to my hotel is they have one of those little markets with soda and snacks and ready made sandwhiches. Which was a blessing, because I'd realized on my way home, I hadn't eaten anything but a fruit cup for dinner. So 1:30 am I'm eating a sandwich in my hotel room - and have caught my second wind, so I'm completely wide awake. The last time I looked at the clock, it was 2:20am.

On the bright side, I slept until 9am. My schedule is going to be SO out of wack. I'm on a 7pm flight home, and I can't wait!

Day 3 in D.C.

Before I get to today, I had a blast last night board op'ing for Jon Anthony's live show. It's been probably 6 years since I've run a board, and it was fun. Not as fun as switching a tv show, but fun. Made me even more regretful that I didn't get to do a live show on America Friday.

So I got up this morning and had a leisurely breakfast. I'm staying at a place that has a breakfast buffet with made-to-order omlettes. Seriously, I could eat breakfast 3 meals a day. So I'm loving it.

Left the hotel about 9:45, with somewhere I wanted to be at 10:30. So, I decided I'd head west. I was staying on the 900 block of F street... and of course everyone knows the White House is at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. 7 blocks and change. Cake. They wound up being 7 long blocks and quite a bit of change, and it was pretty hot. But I'm glad I went. And I got to see a lot of cool buildings along the way, which I took photos of that I will share when I get home.

I had been to the White House before, around '95 - back when they actually let you go in it. You still can... IF you have a group of 10 or more and IF you get your Congressman to make you a reservation and IF he makes that reservation 2 weeks or more in advance. So I had to be content with looking at it from the fence. It's big.

One thing I haven't gotten the hang of yet is the street structure here in D.C. They have numbers going one way... and letters going another. That's great. I'm at 9th and F... I can find that. My next destination was going to be 11th and K. No problem. But then they put states in the middle of things. I left Pennsylvania and wound up on New York, which actually is a cross street that XM is on - at the complete other end of the city. Wonder how long of a walk that would be?

On my way into work later that morning I stopped into the Spy Museum gift shop. Didn't really find anything I was compelled to buy for Delaynie, but I did discover some cool Nancy Drew books that I didn't know existed. Will pick them up at Overstock.com later.

I spent my afternoon at Eckington editing - chopping up interviews and creating artist soundbite pieces for US Country. Oddly, I don't feel like I've gotten as much done as I should have, because listening to interviews to mine sound out of is time consuming, and you don't have a lot to show for it. But I did get 15 new pieces created.

My eyes were crossing from staring at a computer monitor for the past 5 hours, and I still had 6 1/2 or so hours to go in this shift, so I decided to take a break and head downstairs. Another perk of life at the Mother Ship is that they have a fitness center in the basement. A really nice one, complete with a locker room and showers and big makeup mirrors and blow dryers. I'm horribly jealous, they don't even pay for my Y membership. But I like to at least use it while I'm here, so I swiped a t-shirt off someone's cubicle wall and worked out for about 45 minutes.

Oh, one more perk of XM D.C. - the talk channels have a couple tables where they discard the books that they've been sent to review once they're done with them. I usually come back loaded up with reading material. Currently I'm reading Everything I Needed To Know About Being A Girl I Learned from Judy Blume while waiting on the Metro.

While I'm lounging around playing tourist here in D.C., my husband is left with a Honey Dew list on the house, and my daughter leaves tomorrow morning for her first "sleep away" camp. We are 11 days away from closing on the house we're selling - it's crunch time! It's kind of a nice respite being half the country away from the madness and moving boxes!

Just finished the fruit cup I brought in for dinner, I'm off to schedule logs. Jon Anthony will be doing the Highway 16 Traffic Report live tonight from San Francisco -- be sure to tune in -- you never know what kind of wacky mistake his rookie board operator might make!

Playing Tourist

One of the perks of coming to D.C. is that they feed the staff a lot here. Employee Appreciation days... VIP tour groups...catering for artists... there's always food laying around. So while I eat my delicious dinner from Red, Hot & Blue catering, I thought I'd fill you in on my day so far.

I slept in this morning until 8:30... which granted, is only 7:30 Nashville time, but it sure felt like a luxury. My hotel is one of those older D.C. hotels with funny shaped rooms. Nice place (I did get in the hot tub last night!) but wierd nooks and crannies. Had breakfast, and set out to explore the city a little.

I'm staying in a part of town I haven't stayed in before. I'm literally around the corner from the Ford Theater, where Lincoln was shot. Lots of restaurants and such, and the Spy museum, where I have to go pick up a souvenir for Delaynie.

Left my hotel around 10, and headed towards the mall, even though I didn't get up early enough to get a ticket for the Washington Monument, which I have never gone up in. On the way there I went to the US Navy Memorial. Very pretty, with a nice museum. Found my dad's naval records in the logs, and bought the hubby a US Navy Submariner coffee mug.

My plan was to meet up with Sandi after the Mother Earth event, which I'd decided last night I wasn't going to get to. I thought Al Gore, Garth, & Trisha would be the top of the show, at 10:30, so I wandered over that way about 10:45, and texted her to see if she was done. They hadn't gone on yet.

The setup for the event was odd - and from what I could gather, rather badly handled. People (none of whom I knew, for the record) apparently camped out overnight to get a good spot, and didn't. People like me, who wandered in after the event started, weren't all that far back. I had guestimated about 800 people there... I think that was a high guess, because I realized later that there was a large portion down front blocked off for cameras and a walkway. Maybe 700 is more appropriate. From my spot I got to see Al, and could see Garth, but not Trisha, due to some large speakers being in the way.

The stage was small, and Garth and Trisha had to share a mic, which turned out to be a bad thing. The mix that all the radio (and I assume the television) feeds got was horrid - Garth's guitar was overdriven, and his background singers were louder than he was. Trisha sounded fantastic. The house mix, however, was fine - sounded great on site, so I wound up being glad I'd wandered in.

After their ONE SONG performance at least half the crowd left, and I hooked up with Sandi for a few minutes. I should also take a moment to complain that biggest solo artist in the universe was a complete, neglected, footnote in this whole event. No idea why he wasn't on a main stage SOMEWHERE - clearly he could have been had he wanted to be, and if he didn't want to be, that's fine. But the whole thing seems to have left me wondering "why did he bother?" He always said he didn't do music half way, but this sure seemed like a half hearted attempt by everyone, thrown together at the last minute, very amaturely. I think I'd have rather thought he was spending 7/7/07 hidden away on a tropical island somewhere with his wife. Ok, rant over.

After that I wandered back up to a Metro Stop - I covered some major ground this morning, I'm here to tell you! And then headed into XM - aka Live Earth HQ.

The other awesome thing about working at Eckington is that everything works SO much faster here - because the info doesn't have to travel from D.C. to Nashville and back again. I got another Driver's Ed episode built today, scheduled a couple of logs, and am currently editing an episode of Music City Connection. I also got the Keith Urban performance from Live Earth ready for air - it's going to air at some point in Jon Anthony's live show tonight, between 8:30 - 11pm Eastern, and again tomorrow at 10am and Monday at 8am. It sounded great - and he had a special duet partner.

I think that's it for my day so far... dinner is done - so back to work I go!

Where in the World is XM Nashville?

Greetings from XM HQ in Washington D.C. I've commandeered J.W.'s desk (from XM 10) and am sitting here gabbing with Jay Thomas. The first person I saw when I came in to Eck was my fellow Nashvillian, Kyle Cantrell, from Bluegrass Junction. He beat me up here by about 12 hours I think. Jon Anthony, however, is at the opposite end of the country. He's in San Francisco, broadcasting live on Highway 16 from MLB Fan Fest. He joked that we were getting as far away from each other as possible.

The question I've been getting most today is "are you going to see Garth & Trisha tomorrow?" You think it's coincidence my first trip to D.C. in 6 months came the weekend they are here? Or is it fate? I'll probably be there, I've gotten a TON of work done here already - and I've only been in town 3 hours. I'm told they're just doing one song each though - not quite sure that it's going to be worth the effort, but it might be something to do, just to say I did.

I was originally supposed to do a show live on XM 10 tonight. I promoted it in my (voice tracked) show Sunday night and everything. However... I was informed Monday morning that they were running specialty programming instead. So in my (voice tracked) show THIS Sunday night I'm complaining that I am was locked out of the XM 10 studios. Because they don't let women in, apparently.

Since I'm not live, I'm going to go find my hotel and then investigate dinner options. Will be back here tonight for Jon's live broadcasts, where Jay and I can resume our gossip session.

Update 9:33pm. Had a great night with Jay Thomas. I love being in D.C. Talked to Mary Sue Thwony from the Folk channel for a bit. I'm now headed to the hotel where I'm hoping to take a dip in the hottub. I've decided I'm **NOT** going to see his Garthness tomorrow... they're saying only 200 people can get in, everyone else has to watch on video screens across the street. I can see him on TV anytime - and he'll do more than one song.

Kodak Moments from the Cornfields

There's a festival of some sort going on in my home town tonight, where I'm told they specialize in turning perfectly normal 10 year olds into giant alien kitty cats. (Sharon - do you recognize the shirt? )

And apparently, there's a cloning issue at

hand as well... with 2 year olds emulating their big kid cousins... inflating "Copy Cat" to a whole new level.

Meanwhile, the town is also having trouble with underage driving.. compounded by migrant kiwis insisting that everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road.

And despite my previous insistance that I'm not one to spread rumors, there is one spreading through my home county tonight that just cracks me up. And my sources are very good. The Director of the county's Emergency Services Disaster Agency (also known as my little brother, or better yet, Maddie's Daddy) tells me sources on the county board tell him, that everyone is just ALL a twitter. Apparently a very large parcel of land has been sold, after a long time sitting unclaimed (and thereby, not generating any property tax revenue) to a Nashville power couple. When I asked something slightly more polite than "What the hell would they want with it?" I was told it's good hunting land.

I'm highly skeptical, however... I shall keep you informed should I be proven wrong. Because property records are public records.

Can't You Just Call Him "Superstar"

How would you like THIS descriptor before your name?

triple and reigning Academy of Country Music and double and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney.

You just can't make up the things that you read in a KC press release. I mean... obviously... someone does. But I sure couldn't.

Up Next on the Producer J. World Tour

Wednesday: 4th of July celebration downtown Music City USA. Van Zant headlining - you know I'm going to be there!

Thursday: Louisville, KY - where I reclaim my daughter after a couple of weeks at Grandparents Camp

Friday: XM Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

I'll be in D.C. through Monday night, and am contemplating a side trip to Staunton, VA at some point over the weekend. Although the Statler Brothers Gift Shop is only open Mon - Fri... so if I worked really hard over the weekend... maybe Monday....

-----------------------------------------------------------

I'm really excited about the 4th of July celebration in Nashville this year. I always watch it on TV, but this year I'm braving the crowd and going right down into the middle of it. The Nashville Symphony also performs, and the artists each do a song with the symphony. Van Zant is doing a song called "Red, White & Blue", Taylor Swift is doing "Teardrops on My Guitar" and Rodney Atkins is doing "If You're Going Through Hell." Yep... you read that right.

I'll give you a minute to imagine a symphony playing that song. You might need longer to wrap your head around the image of Johnny and Donnie Van Zant in front of a symphony.

Jumping gears here, I've confirmed with our friends at Big Machine that it IS 100% public knowledge and we are ABSOLUTELY allowed to talk about Trisha Yearwood having a new single on the way. Why discussion of it was pulled off her website is a mystery to me - and to them - but it hit the trades today. (How many days after I told you?)

Your July is looking like this: There will be a clip of the song on her website and MySpace page on July 13th. The full song gets digitally delivered to country radio on July 16th, with hard copies arriving July 17th. Song is going for adds July 30th. (But really...who would be crazy enough to wait until then to play it?)

I, however... am getting to hear it July 11th, and will bring you a full report. Now I'm counting on the Trisha fans to be equally as enthusiastic on my blog as the Carrie Underwood fans are when I have Carrie scoop. Pressure is on!

And just because I love y'all so... I'm going to remind you that albums come out on Tuesdays... and not to be superstitious

Programming Notes

We are just over 48 hours away from our annual 4th of July Fan Fair Flashback. Get a complete schedule on the Highway16 MySpace page - it's your chance to re-live - or maybe catch for the first time - the amazing content we captured during CMA Music Festival Week.

Speaking of our nation's birthday -- XM is launching a "micro-channel" called Uncle Sam that runs July 3rd and 4th on XM 120. The soundtrack for your 4th of July b-b-q. I heard on the radio this week that the 4th of July is the biggest single day for beer sales of the year. I'm sure our founding fathers are proud.

If you missed it tonight you have 2 more chances to catch Music City Connection: Heroes Behind the Hits this week with Bob Regan, Georgia Middleman and Jeff Stevens. (Another case of a songwriter who testified to Congress about how evil XM is, jumping at the chance to be on our airwaves) This one was taped at the XM Mother Ship in Washington, D.C. You can always get the latest schedule and listen to past shows at the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau website.

And of course: 7-7-07 means Live Earth -- around the globe and across the XM Nation. I'm a little torked that Keith Urban is the only country artist included, but at least we have one. Live Earth coverage takes over the XM Rock neighborhood (starting at channel 40) and will also air on DirecTV and XM Radio Online as well as our cell phone and airline partners. It will NOT air on our AOL feeds. All the schedule of events can be found at LiveEarth.org - plus you can get tips on mass transport options for getting to the shows. How much carbon emissions are going into the air to get all those artists to these shows via their tour busses and private jets? The whole thing sort of seems a bit hypocritical to me, but I'm merely a lone blogger, what do I know. it will be a great day of music.

Tomorrow I shall bring you all the scoop I have on Nashville's 4th of July celebration - seen live on GAC-TV - as well as the next couple of stops on the Producer J. World Tour.

Happy July to you!

I'm not one to start rumors... unless I have a really *really* good source. Really good. Like.... REALLY good.

Anyway... if I were to start a rumor today... it would be about an artist that I know a lot of my readers are a fan of. An artist who previously said they wouldn't be releasing any new music until next year.

But you know... sometimes... Christmas comes in July. Because sometimes... when an artist is really excited about something... and when their record label is really excited about something... and when the artist at the... what was it? Front of the line? Things move quicker than they're used to. Singles... albums.... you know. Things.

Now I don't want to say too much... because I'm sure that just ANY day now this artist's Official website will be telling you all about it.

But just in case they don't... I know that YOU know... that the hottest new music is ALWAYS heard first on XM's Highway 16.

Apparently it's NOT an honor to just be nominated.

According to The Tennessean, Toby Keith is not going to attend the CMA's ever again. Because he doesn't win enough.

But he still feels that he hasn't been given the respect he deserves on Music Row, especially by Country Music Association awards voters. He's been nominated 27 times but has taken home only two awards: top male vocalist in 2001 and top music video in 2005.

"The very same two years I swept through the ACMs and had entertainer of the year twice, I was sitting on the front of the CMAs getting zero," he said.

He said he doesn't know why. "You tell me," he said. Is it because he's not liked? "I don't care; it never mattered.

"The hardest people to answer to was your fans," he said. "It just makes you question the integrity of a system where the person who has the biggest year and is most nominated and has outperformed and been the No. 1 ticket seller, which I was in that time, to walk out 0 for 16."

Because of these experiences, Keith said, he won't attend any future CMA awards shows. "I'm done with it, but I tried to keep that quiet. I don't want this to be sour grapes," said Keith, adding that he doesn't want his decision to hurt the other artists on his label. "It never worked for me; I gave it a full shot.

Nah, no sour grapes there....I hope that means everyone at his label won't be working to get him nominated this year. Because there ARE people who believe that being singled out as one of the five best male vocalists in country music IS an honor - and I'm quite certain that someone like Dierks Bentley or Trace Akdins or Craig Morgan would be HAPPY to have his spot on the ballot.

** SOLD ! **

We've sold our house. :-) Y'all are invited to the moving party... I'll let you know when it is.

What's in a Name?

I completely swiped this from my favorite blog to read... ok... it's pretty much the only blog I read with any regularity... but anyway... I was having so much fun with it I wanted to share it with y'all.

You put your full name in here and it gives you an anagram. Now, once you do this, you MUST come back here and post your results. It's the rule.

Our Names:

Me: Crazier, mere joey

Hubby: Grr! Rely in zany

Delaynie: Sexy, linear idealizer

And a couple just for fun:

XM Satellite Radio: O Dear Me! Still taxi.

Troyal Garth Brooks: OK star bog harlotry

And in the "I couldn't make this up if I tried" category:

George Walker Bush: Blush, war geek ogre

Your turn!

Is it just me?

Or is Reba looking more and more like Naomi Judd these days?

Because honestly, I had a few moments watching "CMT Crossroads" tonight where I thought "wait... who IS that?"

I adore Reba, and as some of you know, I had the great privilege of sitting down with her one afternoon for an XM series I produced called "The Reba Story." Granted, I now realize that she told me the exact same stories the same way she tells them in every interview - I heard some of them again tonight in Crossroads. But to hear her tell them in person was really special.

I had two "favorite" moments that day, both of which happened after the interview was over. One was a conversation about Shelby driving - she was taking him to get his learner's permit as soon as we were through. And the other was after I asked her if we could take a picture together for my mom, and she picked up a CD she'd sent her assistant for during the interview (she couldn't remember who'd produced it) and asked if she could sign it for my mom.

At any rate, Kelly and Reba were too cute together, although it would have been nice to hear Kelly offer up more than "yeah" in conversation. Seeing her bounce up and down on stage mouthing the lyrics when Reba was singing was worth the price of admission. Kelly has a really strong voice, and added almost a bluesy touch, I thought, to Reba's songs. Reba blew her away though when it came to stage presence and facial expressions. It was cracking me up to watch her theatrics for "Does He Love You?" (which I remember LOVING when Kelly did it with Martina on CMT Giants.) I couldn't help but think though, as I was watching them do that song - just once, I would like to hear Reba sing the OTHER part.

I only caught the last 40 minutes or so of the show - if you saw any of it make sure to share what you thought!

Schmooze Fest Du Jour

Yesterday Jason, my intern, had an exciting day. He spent the morning editing an interview for X-Country, the afternoon tempo coding music for Bluegrass Junction, and then went to a Platinum Party for Billy Currington with me.

See how I've set myself up to be the cool one on the team?

So anyway, we get to this little restaurant called Radius 10 which I've never heard of. It was awesome - for a restaurant. Not so condusive to a party, because there's a big curved bar in the middle of it. So most of us had to look through the liquor bottles to see Billy. Gave his hit "Walk a Little Straighter" a whole new twist. And because everyone was gathered around the bar trying to see the star, I never could get even so much as a diet coke.

It was a small crowd, maybe 125-150 people. Storme Warren was in the house, and Larry Holden, from Country Weekly, and Jason got to meet a bunch of my media buddies from CMT.com and CMT Radio. What I didn't tell him that my friend Lindsey, from CMT Radio, is also a Tennessee Titans Cheerleader. Due to the bar being in the way, we didn't get a chance to talk to Billy, so I couldn't dazzle Jason there.

The perk the interns always like about the schmooze fests is the free food. Judging from the looks of Radius 10, I figured the food would be pretty good. There were miniature handburgers on sticks, polish sausage on buns, and some other identified meat. No veggies, no chips, just a meat buffet.

And Jason's a vegetarian.

Ok, so I apparently didn't turn out looking as cool as I thought I would. It was a short party, so we were soon back on the road - and headed for fast food. Better luck next schmooze fest.

Here's Tinkerbell!

I blogged during the ACM's about running into Amy Paige in the hotel lobby, looking adorable in a Tinkerbell-like evening gown. She kindly shared this picture of herself and her real-life Prince Charm...er... Peter Pan, so I could share it with you!

How cute are they?

This cracks me up:

After this post earlier this week...
I did have a REALLY wierd moment though. I was listening to RiverCountry (which I used to know as Fire 97) out of Peoria as I was leaving town this morning, and I heard their morning news girl do a Bucky Covington news story that was taken word for word from my XM Backstage Buzz blog. I was like - woah! that sounds familiar!

.. I read this in the trades today:
The Illinois Broadcasters Assoc. Silver Dome awards were handed out June 14. WFYR/Peoria's Lisa Franks won the Medium Market Best Newscast award.

Of course she did! She has excellent sources! LOL

Mi Vida Loca

So let's recap my last couple of months, shall we?

I left mid-April to travel half way around the world to see the country my mother was born and raised in and meet the other half of my family.

I came back early May and spent the next 10 days unsuccessfully trying to adjust to life 17 hours opposite what I'd spent the previous 2 weeks living.

Completely gave up on that when I went to Las Vegas to cover the ACM Awards. So it came in handy not sleeping at night.

Was home for a grand total of 33 hours before I gathered my daughter and husband and got on a plane for Kansas City. My oldest son and daughter-in-law graduated from college, and we had a WONDERFUL weekend with them.

Came back to Nashville and prepared for HELL WEEK (aka Fan Fair.) Worked 7 days in a row during which I saw my husband for all of about 3 hours awake.

SOMEWHERE during all of that insanity, I completely lost mine. And I put the house we've lived in for the past 9 1/2 years on the market, and signed a contract to buy this one:



And let me tell you - selling a house is consuming every bit of energy I don't have. I absolutely LOVE the house we're buying - it is perfect for our family. However, I only have until July 31st to sell mine. Which shouldn't have been a problem - we had 2 offers within the first week it was on the market, and have had lots of traffic. However, interest rated spiked and the housing market now stinks.

Deep dark confession of stupidity: I did the unthinkable and signed a contract to buy a house without a contingency to sell mine. So I may very well have wasted my earnest money and the cost of a home inspection as I'm on the verge of loosing every bit of pride in me if I can't make this work.

Which is why I'm telling you what's consumed my life lately. I can use every prayer and good thought y'all can spare. The things that lead us to even be LOOKING for a house, which we thought we wouldn't be doing for another year - at the same time THIS house - the only one in it's model in a subdivision we love came on the market, is too much coincidence. I'm convinced we're meant to be there. Now I just need to find the family that needs mine like we needed it 10 years ago.

Brutal!

tor·ture [tawr-cher] noun, verb, -tured, -tur·ing. Spending 16 hours driving through corn fields without an XM Radio.

Brutal. Completely brutal. I got a rental car for my trip home, and it, despite being a Pontiac, did not have an XM radio that I could even get so much as the Preview channel on. It had been a LONG time since I'd listened to that much local radio. And let me tell you, it will be an even LONGER time until I do again.

One bright spot, I did find a couple of really good classic country channels in Western Kentucky. Although one of them lost points when they played Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It." I felt old.

The not-so-bright spots:

Loosing your signal every time a good song came on. Thankfully the car had radio controls in the steering wheel because I was CONSTANTLY flipping.

Lack of choices. One country channel, one soft rock channel, and a whole lot of farm reports. That pretty much describes my journey through Southern Illinois.

Commercials. REALLY - why does EVERY channel have to go to commercial break at the same time? Apparently the big thing now is to tell you how long the commercial breaks are. "You're just 5 minutes away from the latest from Sugarland." Guess what? In 5 minutes I'll have lost your lousy signal.

Redundancy. Do all channels have to share the same 10 power recurrents? If I heard "Fast Cars and Freedom" one more time I was going to drive off the road.

Pitching songs. Some stations - including apparently, the Springfield, IL country station - speed up songs so they can fit an extra commercial in each hour. I heard Billy Currington giving directions sounding like a girl... Faith Hill completely screeching her way through "This Kiss" and Kenny raising his beer in Mexico to the point my ears hurt. How can they mutilate the music that way? And let's say you hear something you LIKE, and then go out and buy the CD - and it doesn't sound anything like what you hear on the radio! Brutal.

And the thing that truly intrigued me for hours on end - voicetracked stations with DJ's who weren't in that city.

Now obviously, being in Nashville, we have DJ's who are really in Nashville. But a lot of smaller markets use a voice tracked midday show where the jock is somewhere else - in fact one of the Nashville midday guys voice tracks other cities from here. But what I heard on two different stations today was horribly bad radio.

If your DJ never gives the time... or mentions the call letters...or anything local... or someone else comes on and does the weather... and there are big empty pauses between the sweepers and the songs... you are probably listening to bad voicetracking.

Cardinal Country in Southern Illinois was like a train wreck I couldn't stop listening to. They had a great big voiced guy doing their imaging, and there'd be a sweeper of some sort that said "Cardinal Country - 90something point whatever" and then this weak voiced older guy came on and backsold the last three songs he'd played and said "Here's Reba". Or Kenny. Or Brooks & Dunn. WHAT was the point of that? There was absolutely nothing interesting or entertaining about his show - and I listened for a couple hours. I don't know where he's based out of, but I've googled him and he's on the air middays in Georgia and Arizona too. Why do listeners put up with that kind of crap?

Ok, so that's my local radio rant. I guess sometimes you have to be without something to truly appreciate what you have.

I did have a REALLY wierd moment though. I was listening to RiverCountry (which I used to know as Fire 97) out of Peoria as I was leaving town this morning, and I heard their morning news girl do a Bucky Covington news story that was taken word for word from my XM Backstage Buzz blog. I was like - woah! that sounds familiar! That's even cooler than when my hometown paper swiped something I'd written for PlanetGarth.

I was also a little mortified to learn that WXCL is now "The Wolf." My first foray into country music programming was directing "WXCL Hot Country Videos" for WEEK-TV. It was a horrid show - and completely proved that people in radio shouldn't try to do television.

Then again, I'm sure there are those who think tv people like me shouldn't try to do radio. ;-)

Release Day Rest Stops

A reminder to my Brad Paisley fan Blog Readers (both of you!) that tomorrow is the Release Day Rest Stop <3 with Brad Paisley. I don't think the heart is an official part of the title, but there it is on my studio calendar. Hmm.... Brad Fans will want to be listening all day tomorrow to Highway 16. Every hour / on the hour (roughly) we feature a song from the CD and Brad's comments about the song.

For my Carrie Underwood fan Blog Readers (all 476 of you!) you'll want to be tuned in at 8am and 10pm Eastern.

As a reminder - Highway 16 is heard on XM 16, DirecTV channel 814, and free on the internet via XM Radio Online (if you haven't had a free 3 day trial) or www.AOLRadio.com - even if you're not an AOL subscriber.

Next stop on the Producer J. World Tour:

Central Illinois! Which means I also get to add Kentucky to the list of places I've been this year. Going up to spend Father's Day with my dad, and am leaving Delaynie up there for a couple of weeks of "Grandparents Camp."

When I get back I will fill you in on what's been consuming my life lately.

Taking a Survey

I'm writing a show that involves someone whose bio says they wrote "the signature Kenny Chesney song...."

Now just out of curiosity... what do y'all think Kenny's signature song is? Because quite honestly, I'm going to be amazed if any of you name this one.

Tonight's the Night!

10pm Central time tonight the bidding ends for my own little YWCA auction. Thanks for all the bids so far!

Post Fan Fair Ramblings

Most people still call it Fan Fair

Jo Dee Messina is engaged. If you were at her Fan Club party you saw her fiancee. You just didn't know you saw him. Her new single is "Biker Chick."

After hearing Jo Dee go on and on about her former fiancee, our production guys (none of whom are from Nashville) all came back convinced she ain't over him yet.

Gretchen Wilson is going to be the coolest mom in America because they are going to write her into an episode of Hannah Montana. And that is exactly why she wants to do the show. Grace is going to be an extra.

I got a few "cool" points myself for hanging with Hannah Montana's dad. Who really needed to iron his shirt.

Billy Ray's Goal: A world tour in 2008

When I asked Josh Turner how the baby was doing he said "he's about as tall as you now." I'm 5'8" for the record. I'm pretty sure I have more hair and more teeth. (Hampton has 4)

Angela Hacker sounded VERY uncertain about this duo record she was supposedly going to do with her brother. The label has been doing some image work on her, and honestly, I liked her Nashville Star look better.

Jason Aldean's next single is probably going to be "Laugh Until We Cried" but the final decision hasn't been made yet.

Lots of artists don't know what their next single is going to be, including Bucky Covington and Rodney Atkins.

LeAnn Rimes remembers Taylor Swift coming to her concerts and being one of the girls in the front row trying to reach up and touch her.

Taylor Swift thought it was incredibly cool that LeAnn remembers her. Two years ago she volunteered as an artist escort at Fan Fair. Last year she played the Riverfront and handed out business cards with her name and upcoming single on it. This year she played the big stage and was presented with a platinum plaque.

Miranda Lambert doesn't have her ACM award yet. She said they walk off stage and the trophy girl said she didn't get to keep it and she was NOT happy.

On winning the bet with Blake (he lost, so he has to take her on vacation): "How could you really loose?"

Miranda also came to Fan Fair as a fan, back when she was in love with Bryan White.

Billy Currington has been getting tons of gifts for his new dog Poco. (sp?)

For all of you (and me too) who wondered if the ACM's were REALLY the first time Taylor and Tim met - it was, AND Tim had no idea that was going to happen. Taylor was most nervous about that flight of stairs, said she practiced going down them with her eyes closed.

I met Taylor's dad last week too. Very cool guy.

You know how her current single "Teardrops On My Guitar" is a true story about a guy named Drew she used to sit by in high school? She's gotten 5 voicemails from him, but isn't going to call him back. "Can you imagine how awkward that conversation would be?"

Little Big Town has written everything so far for their upcoming album, but it's not done yet. Expect a new single in the fall.

Professional wrestler Kurt Angle was at Fan Fair, and I have no idea why. He claims to be a Garth Brooks fan - because Garth went to a "wrestling college" and roomed with a friend of his, who was a 3 time National Wrestling Champion.

I didn't pay a lot of attention to what Kurt was saying. But I did write down the quote "We know the winner before you do, obviously, but it's NOT fake."

Brad Paisley's next single is going to be "Online." ON the bus the previous night he and the band came up with the slogan "Be all that you can't be." Seinfeld's Jason Alexander directed the video, in which he also stars.

Cowboy Troy is a new dad, which I knew was coming, having seen his very pregnant wife out at Nashville Star. When asked about fatherhood he just said it was great and moved on. Didn't mention whether he'd had a girl or a boy or give any details. It wasn't until after he left the room that I found out they'd had triplet boys!

I'm not a fan of women who wear spaghetti strap tank tops and choose to show the world their bra straps. They make those things strapless, you know. Especially annoying when the colors and strap lines don't match. All black is one thing. Every other color combination is another!

During CBT's press conference a blonde woman came in and sat right in front of me, dead center in the press room. I wouldn't have paid her any attention except that she had a bright green sundress on, the kind with the elastic scrunched top and I got a full view of the back of her bright pink bra, which was much higher than the line of her dress. She left, and came back for Big & Rich's press conference. At which point John Rich referenced who she was.

It was Jewel.

Got to see Big & Rich's new book. It's stunning. Full color, hard backed, tons of photos. Excellent quality. When asked "why now?" Big Kenny said "we might be dead 10 years from now."

"Lost in This Moment" is at #8 on the charts - their highest charting song yet.

Bachelor Bob was hanging out in the back hallway of the Titans stadium doing interviews. I never did get around to asking who for. In fact, I walked right by him and didn't realize it was him until someone pointed it out.

Kellie Pickler had us completely crying as she told a story that I could never do justice to retelling. Imagine Kelly on the floor, with one red high heel high in the air above her head. You fill in the rest. But the real story is still funnier.

Will try to get to pictures tomorrow.

Calling All Carrie Underwood Fans!

I've been sorting through my "stuff" lately in an attempt to purge, and I've found some pretty cool things that have just been gathering dust in my den. I would LOVE to see some of this go into the hands of fans who would appreciate it, but quite honestly, I don't have the time to deal with ebay. I wonder if I could have a blog sale?

Anyway - I just had a brilliant idea of how to do something useful with a very cool thing I found.

As you may or may not know... I volunteer as the webmistress for the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, which operates a domestic violence shelter in Davidson County. The YW is the benefactor of Martina McBride's celebrity auction which happens during CMA Music Fest. As you may know, Martina's involvement with the issue of domestic violence stems back to the release of her career song 'Independence Day.'

Now check out how cool this all ties in together. I am going to hold a little blogger auction, to give someone the chance to make a donation to our YW. Bids will be accepted until 10pm Central Time on Thursday 6/16. At that time, the high bidder will get to send in a check or money order made out to The YWCA. Upon receipt of the winning bidder's donation, I shall send them my personal copy of Carrie Underwood's debut promo release, featuring "Inside Your Heaven" and "Independence Day" as a thank you.

Let the bidding begin!

The higest bid in the Comments section of THIS post timestamped by 10pm Central on Thursday wins. Donation must be received by 6/23 or opportunity goes to next highest bidder.

I survived!

Hell Week is over, and I'm still in one piece. It really wasn't as hard on me as some years - we had extra staff down here, so I spent most of the week in the studio editing instead of running all over town. I did get some time yesterday to wander through the exhibit hall - which I found severly lacking this year - and through the downtown vendors to the Riverfront stage.

Next year we **have** to have a meeting of my blog readers, so if you're planning to come back to fan fair, don't plan on leaving town until Monday afternoon, so we can get together Monday morning and share stories. I got to meet Sharon, saw Sally and Doug, Dave, Paula and her entourage, and wound up stopping traffic on 2nd Ave. to hug Pammy in the middle of the street. I don't know how I missed Leelee - I was at the entrance to Keith Anderson's fan club party handing out XM tote bags and specifically searched the crowd for her. SURELY she was there, right?

Lots of stories and photos still to come, but right now I must go catch up on my music logs for US Country.

Sources Tell Me..

That tonight's "Surprise Guest" at the stadium show is Rascal Flatts. I guess that's not really a secret, since ABC cut intros for them last night in front of 40,000 people.

Dang it. I was hoping it was going to be Hannah Montana.

13 Minutes With Carrie Underwood

Carrie strode into the press room tonight in what we guestimated to be 7 inch heels. And a 7 inch skirt. The guys in the room were horribly distracted. How much fun must it be to be her stylist? You have a life sized Barbie doll to dress up.

No one asked her about Tony. I think someone would have, because we had plenty of time with her, but there was a reporter from Oklahoma City that seemed to think she could ask lots of questions and not let others get a word in edgewise. What WAS covered in our 13 minutes included:

Fan Fair this year (her third) and how much more comfortable she was versus last year, when she was scared to death. You know, somewhere I must have audio from her first Fan Fair, when she was just giddy over the country stars she was getting to meet. I remember it very well, because we were all wondering why on earth they were pairing the American Idol winner with Phil Vassar.

Getting tackled at the softball game. She said she told some football players to take note, that that was how it was done - and then she quickly made sure to say that they were Tennessee Titans players. ;-)

She doesn't have any pre-show rituals, but does gather together with the band to hang before they go onstage and they say a little prayer.

There was a question about the Pretenders that I was lost what was being asked. (Pretty sure it came from the OK chick.) The answer was that no she hadn't heard from them.

She described recording the duet with Brad as being "pretty nervewracking." She said when they asked her to do it she agreed without even knowing - or caring - what the song was. It doesn't sound like they tracked together, but Brad was there when she did her part.

When asked if her sophomore album was going to be country or would be more cross over she said "Country is where my heart is - and it seems to be working out ok so far!" It's looking like 3-5 co-writes on the project.

Single late summer - no specific timeline for the single or the album because it isn't done yet.

She talked about fitness and diet and said she'd been slacking lately because she'd been home. Oddly, she said she was good when she was on the road. Personally, I blame all the traveling I've been doing for the extra 10lbs I'm carrying around with me. I think we need to road trip together so she can show me how it's done.

She is NOT going to be touring in the fall - not until 2008 when she has new music. I asked her that, and later someone else asked her if she would be headlining and she said it hasn't been decided yet. She also described that idea as "nervewracking" asking "what if no one comes?" My favorite quote of the night was "I will ride the opener wave as far as I can take it." She did mention that a co-headlining tour might be good - but didn't offer who she thought she'd make a good co-headliner for.

Completely editorial remark from me: Another female artist struck out on a headlining tour on her 2nd album, and really didn't have enough material to fill a full set. Give it time.

Someone asked her about the classic songs she's sung on the Opry and she said that was just due to the theme nights she's been invited to participate in.

She credited Dolly, Tammy and Loretta for doing what they'd done that allows her to do what she does. She also said she would like to see more successful women in country music today.

I asked her about singing "Alone" at her fan club party. She explained that it was a thing the fans voted for online out of cover songs she'd previously done, but didn't have anything to comment about it being accoustic. Acknowledging that it went over well she said "We may have to add it." (in reference to the set list, not the album)

She hasn't listened to any new music in a couple of months, but says in her CD player there's everything from country to rock.

She was surprised to hear she was in the running for the World's Sexiest Vegetarian ("Again? Really?") She says she doesn't preach to people about what they eat and doesn't want them to preach to her, but that she has several lines of food that she really enjoys and that she loves Whole Foods and Wild Oats.

After they took her away her record label PR guy told us that Joe Galante was going to make a special presentation to her on stage during the show. Soundscan has her at 5,578,325 units sold, so I'm guessing it's a 6 million plaque (she's singlehandedly keeping the Nashville framers in business!) but I didn't stay to watch the show tonight, so someone is going to have to fill me in.

Stadium show must be over - I can hear the fireworks, and my dogs are going crazy.

Now, my little Carrie Fans - who's your favorite blogger?

You are welcome to share links to my site with other country music fans the world-wide-web over, but please don't copy and paste my info or photos elsewhere. Thanks!

The View From Above

This is where I took my afternoon break today. I was working though - listening to the Chely Wright concert replay on the built in XM system. Nothing like blasting your work 31 stories in the air. It's a tough gig somedays.

While I was up there, I took this photo for my Carrie Underwood fans. I'm assuming I'll get to talk to her backstage at the stadium tomorrow night. Um... it's 1:05 in the morning. That would be TONIGHT. Anything y'all need to know from our favorite Idol?

Misc. Notes to tide you over until I have more time: Kelly Clarkson showed up and did 2 songs with Reba. The Wreckers said they were going to be stalking Reba tonight - the first concert Jessica ever went to was a Reba show. Dierks shot some segments for the ABC special with some fans today including playing for tips on Broadway. I asked him if he made any money at it - he got $8. Jason Michael Carroll has a 19 1/2 month old baby with his fiancee, Wendy. He's going to be opening the Brooks & Dunn / Alan Jackson tour. Arista Nashville believes in packaging their artists together, eh? Trace Adkins had us all in stitches, but most of what he said can't be printed.

If a picture's worth a thousand words -

what is a camera full of pictures worth?

Throughout the day I'm constantly making mental notes to come home and write about. I've done that for years in my various writing gigs around the internet. Mental blogging. And I try whenever possible to take photos to go with my mental ramblings, because, quite honestly, I think it just makes my blogs look better.

So tonight, at the Chely Wright Reading Writing and Rhythm Benefit Concert, my goal was to get as many photos of the XM Logo as possible. Both to send to our corporate folks as well as to spice up our two blogs. I shot the lines that curled down the block waiting to get in holding XM tote bags, I shot people using XM totebags as rain hats, I got every artist I could from assorted angles on stage that included an XM logo. I got 5 of us in our XM t-shirts with Chely backstage, I got banners all over the Wildhorse Saloon, and I got a whole lot of pictures of Keith Anderson, even when he wasn't anywhere near an XM logo, because I really needed the photography practice.

And then, I lost my camera. Somewhere in the Wildhorse Saloon, after the show was over. And somehow, it isn't nearly as fun to blog about Taylor Swift wearing her ACM performance dress or Kelly Pickler's standing ovation or Tanya Tucker needing a teleprompter to sing her biggest hits, when you don't have the photos to go with them.

You know the saying about having "one of those days" ?? I'm having one of those weeks.

And it's only Tuesday.

Crowded House

To put it mildly... our studio was a little crowded today.

It could have been the 2,500 XM tote bags sitting there waiting to be handed out.



Or it could have been the 6 extra staffers on hand for the week's festivities. (L-R is Jon Anthony, Jason, Megan, Jim, Dave, Daryl, and Adam.) I had to stand on a chair to get them all in.

Actually, that should be 7 extra staffers - Jay Thomas is also in town, he just wasn't in yet when I took the photo. Jason is my new intern, who spent his first day on the job stuffing XM brochures into tote bags, then handing them out to everyone who walked into the Ryman Auditorium. Change the venue, and that's pretty much how he's going to get to spend his week.

More pictures from the day at the the official XM Music Fest Blog.

Happy Fan Fair Week!

Here we go! To get you ready for the week's adventures, please stop in to our brand new XM Country Blog!

First up on my week's adventures - meeting my new intern. What a week to start, eh? Unlike my past interns, XM Corporate recruited this one for me, so I've not even met him. Poor guy doesn't know what he's gotten in to...

Tomorrow night is the IFCO show from the Ryman Auditorium - first time it's been broadcast on the radio - EVER! I don't think I get to go, but I can't wait to hear it on my XM Radio! Remember -- the full schedule can be found on XMRadio.com.

Delaynie on the Radio

I forgot to tell y'all... Delaynie is co-hosting my Sunday night show on America tonight.... now until 10pm Eastern. Tune in and listen to her giggle. ;-)