The Intern X-perience -- (Belated) Week 5

Is anyone still out there? I posted all those CRS pictures and didn’t get hardly any comments, so I haven’t been back here in a while, because I wanted them to stay on top. Sydney and I have been SLAMMED with shows lately… another day, another superstar dropping by, LOL. We’re spoiling her for life! But we’re working hard to catch you up on everything you’ve missed here in Music City. Lots of scoop and pictures coming. First up – her post-CRS blog, which complete and utter exhaustion prevented me from posting until now. My bad – sorry! Heeeeeere's Sydney!

Well, I don’t know where to start. In a nutshell, last week was Country Radio Seminar Week! For those of you who don’t know, CRS involves lots of seminars for people in the radio industry… for me, this translated into concerts all week! Country music singers and songwriters come in and give special interviews and performances.

I kicked off the week with a party at Fuel where Kate and Kasey opened for Justin Moore. Jack Ingram, Jimmy Wayne, Emerson Drive, and Adam Gregory were all there to hang out and listen to the music. I was able to see several acoustic performances… I really enjoyed David Nail’s music, and his new song Redlight is new on Sirius XM this week! Love and Theft were also amazing and they have a new single Runaway! Caitlin and Will came into the Music Row Happy Hour, and were also just as good in person as they were on Can You Duet.

Then came the Miranda Lambert Round Robin. I am a huge Miranda fan, so it was great to meet her and hear about her new album that is in the works. (J.’s note – Miranda spent a nice little bit of one on one time talking to Sydney about her internship and her upcoming show in Boise.)

A friend of mine had an extra ticket for the New Faces show (J. again… Sydney’s friend just happens to work for one of the country music trade magazines…), so I got to see the Zac Brown Band, Chuck Wicks, Kellie Pickler, James Otto, and Lady Antebellum perform all in one night! Amazing! Everyone but Chuck received a standing ovation from the industry crowd. These are the people who will be taking country music by storm (and they have already started) so watch out!

I would have to say the highlight of my week was going to see the Randy Rogers Band. I am a huge fan of these guys and they always give a great live performance! Plus Holly Williams (yes, part of the legendary Williams family) opened for them and I surprised how much I enjoyed her voice. Oh and we had Adam Gregory, Jimmy Wayne, and Gloriana live in the studios! The music industry people were everywhere as well, and it was very cool to meet the people behind the scenes in Nashville, and really all over the U.S. I know I am forgetting something… Did you know Adam’s tour manager is Jason Aldean’s dad? That’s the kind of behind the scenes scoop I’m getting here at Sirius XM!

Oh, and be listening to ShortCuts in the next few weeks… there are TONS of new episodes in the works!

Random Pics Around CRS

A few assorted pics from some of my CRS schmoozing. BTW the highlight of the week was discovering what a hottie Ryder is from The Lost Trailers (bottom right.)

Sony Music Nashville Boat Show

An amazing night, for sure. A couple things to note in this collage: Check out Kenny holding the lyrics sheet. It was the first time he'd ever performed the song which will be his next single. He seemed to really enjoy the looseness of it. That's Brett James with him, who co-wrote the song. That's John Kay from Steppenwolf with MG. (Look at me pretending to know rockers!) Martina's album cover is awesome, I think. And Gretchen's photo comes with a PG 13 rating.

Keith Urban at The Rutledge

This was a small club... 300 people... he played for probably an hour? Show started around 11pm... he joked about it being past his bedtime, that he has a baby in the house, so he needs all the sleep he can get. Treated us to some new music, including a song called "Kiss The Girl" that does NOT involve singing fish or crabs waiving conductor wands.

Blogging From The Boat

Greetings from the Sony Music Nashville extravaganza aboard the General Jackson. This is my favorite event of CRS week.

I was sent ahead to secure a table for 10... Which I have done. Now I'm fighting off grouchy radio chicks that can't believe I'm holding 'the WHOLE table?'

I smile sweetly. Sipping an amaretto sour and oogling Troy Gentry. There are worse ways to spend a Thursday evening, eh?

For those new to my CRS blogging, this should be an evening of heavy hitter performances. Carrie, Kenny, B&D, Martina... Usually a special guest too.

Updates on Facebook as I'm able.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Overheard On the Streets of Nashville

So Sydney and I are walking back from the Jamey Johnson thing, and we're behind this group of business suits, and they're talking...

"Hey who was that guy that did Beer For My Horses"

"Beer For My Horses.... ha ha ha ha ha..."

"Wasn't that Willie Neslon?"

"Yeah, but who was the other guy? There was some other guy singing with him."

...discussion...

"Oh! I've got it! Toby Keith!"

Sydney and I were definitely laughing... out loud.

Morning Came Way Too Early

Just spent about an hour with Miranda Lambert in a hotel suite. Love her. Not as much as Sydney does... But I do love her.

On the way back to the office we stopped in to listen to Jamey Johnson who is playing a concert in the middle of a downtown street.

Great Beer For My Horses story on the way!

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Hangin' With Reba

Just left Starstruck. We heard 4 of the new songs...one of which will premiere on the ACM's as Reba's new single. We got to rate them each on a scale of 1 to 5. She describes the music as ''sassy with attitude.'' Jay Thomas and I had a nice chat with Reba. She's hard at work on her dresses for the ACM's.

Off to the next party... Jack Ingram and the rest of the Vallory / Big Machine gang.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Testing Blog Publishing

This is a test to see if I can email a post to my blog…

 

The Intern X-Perience -- Week 4

Hello all! I'm here to fill you in on another week of happenings in Nashville! I have to say, it was pretty exciting. If you didn’t already know, Billy Currington’s song "Don’t" went #1, and that (apparently) calls for a celebration! In honor of the success of the song, I got to go to my first and second #1 parties in one night! This is because the song was the product of the collaboration between ASCAP and BMI writers. I guess they like to party in Nashville! There were two ‘round robin’ interviews, one with Billy and the other with the songwriters. They each told a little bit about the song and also on their own lives. Each party had food set up (I still haven’t decided who had the better food) and awards were presented to just about everybody who had anything to do with the song. While rubbing elbows with the elite of Music City, I got a better understanding of the songwriting process; it is an extensive and intriguing! I am looking forward to more songs going #1…

Another highlight for me was watching an interview with Sirius XM DJ Mike Terry and Ronnie Milsap. My grandma was a huge fan of Ronnie Milsap, and his music was always played while I was growing up, so it was an honor to be in the same room as him as he told some of his stories. The interview took place at Starstruck studios, which is owned, and also used by, Reba McEntire! Sadly, I did not get to meet Reba, or see her infamous quarters on the top floor of the building. Oh well maybe next time… This interview will be playing Thursday night at 6pm on The Roadhouse, so be listening!

I also had my turn at editing an interview of a Driver’s Ed taping, but I don’t really want to talk about it… it's still too painful... my only advice is to remember not to ‘over edit’.

Although the verdict is still out on whether or not I will be allowed to stay and work Music Fest in June, I am gathering info for all of the fan club parties, and I hoping that I actually get to go! I hope y’all can make it as well! If you feel the need to get in touch with me, or just want more info about Sirius XM, you can check out my NEW Myspace site . I’m looking forward to hearing from you! And check in all week, rumor is it is going to be crazy here in Nashville!

Psst! I'm now #5 in the Sirius XM Fantasy NASCAR standings!

Mobile Blogging Test

Testing the ability to blog from my phone. What I've discovered is that it's a pain in the butt... I think it's going to be easier to update my facebook status on the go.

Unless of course... I happen to have a reader who works for...say... Google... that knows of any mobile blogging tips and tricks... ;-)

We've added a lot of events to the calendar this week... Faith, Dierks, John Rich, Billy Ray Cyrus...gonna be busy for sure!

Can You Figure This Out?

The invitation came from the General Manager of The Ryman Auditorium, and simply says..

Please Join Us on March 5th

On this historic date, please join us as we celebrate the return of a great country music legend.

You'd be crazy to miss it! We'll treat you to ham & biscuits. Then we'll take you to your seat for some breaking news and song. Bring your cameras!

Detective J. and her trusty assistant Sydney think they've figured it out. Go ahead and give it your best shot -- we'll report back on Thursday afternoon!

Here's to the Class of '89

I was a little baffled by the long winded explanation released yesterday by the Country Music Hall of Fame, and couldn't put it in layman's terms well enough to make the witty remarkes that I wanted to. Fortunately, Radio & Records boiled it down to this description:

The CMA Board met last week in Orlando and apparently spent a lot of time working on categories and voting procedures for the Country Music Hall of Fame. There will still be three inductees a year, each representing a different category. Starting with the 2010 selections, the redefined categories are: Veterans Era, where professionals have been in the industry longer than 25 years; Modern Era, 20 years in the industry, but no more than 25 years; and rotating categories, where every third year someone in the recording and/or touring musician, non-performer and songwriter designation will be selected.

Yeah... that middle category there looks just a tad transparent, to me. Just in case math isn't your strong point, allow me to lend you my fingers and toes. Starting in 2010... the Modern Era category will induct artists who began their career between 1985 and 1990. Hmm. I'm thinking that in about 10 years, that spot is going to get a little trickier to fill. Couldn't they have just done a special election and inducted Randy Travis and Garth Brooks and gotten it over with? Because with all due respect to other artists... once you get those 2 in, everyone that's left is pretty much... leftover.

Pre-CRS Late Night Ramblings

I wish I kept a diary. There have been some CRAZY days lately, where one minute I'm cleaning the kitchen, the next I'm editing a fabulous show, and the next I'm setting up the studio for a visit from the NHL commissioner. There was a 24 hour period last week where I worked with mainstream country and bluegrass artists, NHL radio, and covered the Gospel Music Association's press conference for the Dove Awards nominees. I should have kept a list of everything I did.

Actually this blog is the closest thing I've got to a diary... I can't tell you how many times I've come here and done a search to figure out what outfit I wore to which award show, or when I worked with a particular artist. I'm sorry I haven't been here much lately. Believe me, I'll regret it later when there are large gaps of my memory I can't fill in.

I am, however, gathering lots of good scoop for an upcoming edition of Protecting the Guilty. I just need to put a little more distance between the stories and the shows they revolve around. Hee hee hee.

A couple of things though I want to point out to you. First off... we've inherited this survey thing from Sirius, that polls Highway listeners about what they like and don't like about the channel, and what they think of the music. You don't get flooded with surveys, I promise. But because this came over from the legacy Sirius country channel, 99.95% of the participants are Sirius subscribers. So go boost the XM contingency for us, ok? Sign up here. I will tell you though, the results are NOT anonymous, so if you make comments like "ShortCuts is the most well produced show I've ever heard on the radio," the person who gets the survey results (my boss) is gonna know that you're related to me. LOL. But this is a cool chance for you to voice your opinions about the channel.

The channels all have new email addresses too, that they can take requests and comments. It's a very simple formula - channelname@siriusxm.com. Channels like THE Highway and THE Roadhouse do use the THE. Similarly catchy phone numbers are on the way.

Other recent events... a Ronnie Milsap interview that you'll hear on the Roadhouse next week... lots of in studio guests... and taking my intern Sydney to her first and second number one party all in one night - which included meeting the writer and photographer behind this article. She'll probably be too busy in her blog telling you about how Billy Currington gave her a personal shout out in the Round Robin to tell you that one of them had much better food than the other. It was Mardi Gras themed -- and it reminded me of Mary Ann. The king cake was awesome. That really was my Fat Tuesday too -- I've given up all sweets for Lent.

Next week is CRS - what my longtime readers affectionately know as Hell Week 1.0. (Stick around here long enough and you'll learn when 2.0 and 3.0 are!) Amongst the events I'll bet attending: a private show with Reba, Pat Green in a honky tonk, a Jamey Johnson street party, and the ever-fabulous Sony Boat Show. (Relive Amy Paige and I's 2008 double date, the 2007 extravaganza or 2006, complete with the debut of Chicken Fried, if you wish.)

I shall try to be better about blogging. I need to see if blogger offers mobile blogging from my phone.

So that's me. What have YOU been up to?

The Intern X-perience - Week 3

Yes… it’s me... Sydney the intern again! I hoped y’all missed me! It was a pretty good week here in Nashville, and the studios were as crazy… as usual.

Monday, although a holiday, proved to be a pretty fun day… the Zac Brown Band was in the studio recording a new Driver’s Ed show! They are very talented and it was great to see the guys perform live. Katie Armiger, an up-and-coming artist was in on Thursday for her own Driver’s Ed show, so be listening for new episodes!

I also got to go on a field trip to the legendary Music Row, where the music magic happens here in Nashville. The commissioner for the NHL did his live show for NHL Home Ice from our Nashville studios this week, which was especially exciting since there was a game that day (although sadly, the Detroit Red Wings were not playing). The other big event this week was the announcement of the Dove Award nominees at the Nashville Visitor’s Center., right downstairs from our studios. This was my first time at a press conference, and it was quite lively.

There was also the day-to-day fun of working in EPG, Dalet, and TracFiler, where all of the behind the scenes magic takes place (and I am just beginning to understand). There is never a dull moment…

Guest Blog: The Intern X-perience, Week 2

I’m back! I survived another week at the Nashville Sirius XM studios! What’s the theme from this week? Sound waves!

I got to listen to previous interviews of ShortCuts and Driver’s Ed and pick out audio clips that could possibly work for on-air promos. What’s so awesome about this? I actually picked things that Joyce liked! So be listening for new promos soon on The Highway!

Another extremely important event that has begun for the employees of the Sirius XM country stations: NASCAR. Yes, we are all in a fantasy NASCAR league. I have never done ‘fantasy’ anything, but I do watch NASCAR. Since the Daytona 500 didn’t actually end (the weather ended it early) I personally don’t think it counted… of course, I’m second to last in the overall group standings. (I won't mention who's dead last, or I may wind up reorganizing filing cabinets for the next 3 months...) There will be a comeback though; we are only one race in to this thing!

The Music Row Happy Hour has also been star-studded lately. Billy Currington, Ryder Lee and Stokes Nielson from the Lost Trailers, Heidi Newfield, and Jack Ingram have all been in for live interviews with Storme. I have to say that they were all very nice, and have a great sense of humor. Heidi- unlike every other star I've met so far - was only barely taller than me. She played cupid for the pre-Valentine’s Day show, which was a riot. Jack Ingram was great too, and nice enough to record promos for The Wild West Radio Show - my gig back at Boise State! Billy, Ryder, and Stokes were awesome as well. My photo album is really growing now… Be sure to stay up to date over the next couple of weeks, rumor is that the Zac Brown Band and Katie Armiger will be coming in for Driver's Ed tapings!

-- Sydney

Public Apology to Connie

As anyone who knows me knows, I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong. And with regards to my earlier post about Billy Currington, I owe Connie Smith an apology.

When Billy was in the studio yesterday, I asked him about the story, in front of someone from his management office (who had also read the story and thought it was Connie Smith.) Turns out, it not only wasn't Connie Smith, it was apparently bad journalism.

The couple in question aren't married, nor is she an Opry member. In fact, it's not anyone any of you will have ever heard of. They completely got the story wrong.

So my most humble, sincere apologies to Connie Smith, who undoubtably knows the difference between Billy Currington and Dierks Bentley. On behalf of myself AND the bad journalist who led me to think otherwise.

Guest Blog: The Intern X-Perience

Hey y’all! My name is Sydney and I am the lucky new intern for Sirius XM radio. I am not a native to the south, so I am trying to work on my southern accent. I guess I should start with a general introduction of myself… I am a senior at Boise State University (yes, we have the blue football field, and yes, we did beat Oklahoma with an amazing Statue of Liberty play to win the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma a few years ago) and I am majoring in Mass Communication and Journalism. I am also the host of the Wild West Radio Show for Boise State’s student run radio station, The Pulse. The show is on hold while I am in Nashville - my 5 fans were ok with this.

Although I was born in Michigan, I feel that I have lived in Idaho long enough to claim it as my home state. Enough history though, I bet you want to hear about the glamour and glory that accompanies the intern lifestyle!

I must say that I had a pretty fun first week in Nashville. I am shadowing Joyce to learn the ins and outs of satellite radio, and I have learned a lot already. I have worked with (or at least observed) Dalet, Team News, Track Filer, and Alfresco… which I think makes me pretty important. Oh, and I am also an expert at getting the mail, activating Opry songs, and general housekeeping. Also, if anyone is interested in seeing my work I will be updating the Highway Traffic Report every week.

I think the highlight of my week was meeting Jake Owen. He came in to do a GAC interview with Storme Warren, and followed up by joining Storme live for the Music Row Happy Hour, heard live on The Highway. Being a huge fan of Jake, I had a blast watching his interviews and talking with him (just as cool in person as I had hoped). I can’t wait for Billy Currington and The Lost Trailers next week!

I thought she was hanging up her dancing shoes?

So much for focusing on the music... she's stealing our artists!

Nashville, TN – RCA Nashville hit recording artist Chuck Wicks is among the celebrity competitors poised to take to the dance floor for the eighth season of the enduringly popular ABC series, Dancing with the Stars. The new cast was revealed this evening as series host Tom Bergeron presented the “All Night Name Drop,” announcing this season’s competitors throughout ABC’s Sunday night prime-time programming.

ABC also announced in a press release this evening that Chuck’s dance partner in the competition will be his girlfriend and fellow country recording artist, two-time Dancing with the Stars champion, Julianne Hough.

Is it just me, or does this seem like a bad idea on many, many levels?

Jewel and Ty Murray also on this season.

The Taylor Obsession

Like all other girls, my 10 year old daughter went through the Hannah Montana phase. She watched the TV show, went to the concert, bought the junk that was hawked everywhere, and sang along with the CD's.

Hannah, however, was merely the Opening Act. Because as an 11 year old, the Hannah Infatuation made way for the Taylor Obsession. And I'm beginning to think it's getting out of hand.

We sat down tonight to watch TV, which is something I haven't done in... WEEKS. At least. And I'm flipping through the TiVo, I watch "Headline Country" and then we check out the stuff in the TAYLOR SWIFT category. You know... you tell your TV to record anything that Taylor Swift shows up on. And guess what? You show up on a lot of things when you're the best selling musical artist in the universe.

So first we watch the Grammy special. Fast forwarded through Lil' Wayne and Katy Perry, but I did watch Justin Timberlake. Then we watched a ridiculously old episode of GAC Nights that apparently repeated recently. However, the Taylor fix was not yet met... and as soon as I flipped back to Live TV, guess what? The GAC show with the making of the Love Story video was on.

And for 30 minutes all I heard was "She's SOO funny! Oh my gosh she's funny. I love Taylor, she's so funny. Isn't Taylor funny mommy?" And then my favorite, when they did the little sketch at the end of the show, and Delaynie is on the living room floor laughing hysterically:

"Oh. My. Gosh! She's so funny! She's the funniest teenager that's famous that I've ever met!"

Ok kiddo. Reality check. She's the ONLY famous teenager that you've ever met.

So THEN she says... "Hey, how about I go upstairs and get the Beautiful Eyes DVD and we can watch some more videos?"

Stop the madness! I swear... I was never like this over Van Halen.

The week that was....

This week was incredibly productive, and it flew by! It was quiet at the office, with Kyle, Jon & Amy all out all week. I'm getting settled into a nice little routine with the Roadhouse programming I've been doing for Kyle, and I actually make it home in time to have dinner with my family a couple of nights this week! Life is good. And it's getting better -- because my Spring intern started on Monday! Woo hoo! Her name is Sydney and she's here from... Idaho.

Gary is teasing me that I keep going further and further for interns. So far I've had Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Florida, and now Idaho. Now accepting applications from Hawaii....

Someone needs to remind me on Monday to ask Billy Currington about the little story below. He'll be on the Music Row Happy Hour around 4pm ET. My other big projects for next week are editing a Jake Owen World Premiere and writing a Zac Brown Band episode of Driver's Ed. I brought the CD home with me this weekend.

First though -- I have to get through a 12 year old's birthday party. We've got like 12 kids coming over to the house... I have no idea where we're gonna stash them all. And about half a dozen haven't RSVP'd, so I really don't know how many to expect.

Guavaberry Coladas by dinner time, I promise you!

I know this is a pretty uninspiring blog entry, but I just wanted to say hey to everyone. I think Sydney might start guest blogging soon... then you'll get the real scoop!

The Class of 2009

The newest inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame are...

Charlie McCoy
Roy Clark
Barbara Mandrell

Protecting the Innocent, Revealing the Guilty.... husband

I'm not sure I can tell this story while protecting the innocent while I expose the guilty, but in this case it's my husband who's guilty, and it's so funny... I just have to try. He's going to be the only one I name by name. Feel free to email me if you can't stand not knowing the artists involved... I just don't want it to show up in some Google alert that their children gets, ok? So here we go...

My husband was a fan of an artist who died tragically at a young age... and he's always blamed the artist's wife for his death. Artist's wife is also an artist, and my hubby can't stand to hear wife on the radio, because... in his mind, the wife killed him. Even though it was not any sort of murderous circumstance, and Gary was no where near Nashville at the time, and therefore, has no evidence of such a thing. He just knows....it was her fault.

Ok, let's give everyone names. We'll call him Allen Artist, and his wife Susie Singer.

So Gary went out of town last weekend, traveling by car with several other managers from his district. And Donna Driver put on some music. The conversation then went something like this.

Gary: "Susie Singer? Ugh, I hate her!"
Driver: "How can you hate her, she's great! I have all her CD's."
Gary: "She killed Allen Artist you know."
Driver: "What? Shut up."
Gary: "I'm serious. She drove him to [what lead to his death] and if it wasn't for Susie Singer, Allen Artist would still be alive today."
Driver: "I'm serious too. Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about."
Gary: "Ask anyone. They'll tell you. Susie killed Allen."
Driver (getting very upset): "You need to stop that right now. I mean it."
Gary: "Fine... but I'm right. Susie killed Allen."
Driver: "You know my cashier, Candy?"
Gary: "Yeah..."
Driver: "Did you know her last name was Singer?"
Gary: "No..."
Driver: "She's Allen and Susie's daughter."

They listened to Susie's music.

And of course... I had to go look at photos from a charity event we did a couple of months ago that "Candy" was with us at... she doesn't really look like either of her parents... but in this town, you can't make that kind of thing up...

Protecting the Guilty?

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.)

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!

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.

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.

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

- 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 painkillers

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!

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.

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

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.

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...

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.

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

The 2008 Year End T-Shirt

Producer J.'s World Tour 2008

District of Columbia
Georgia
Illinois
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Missouri

North Carolina

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Virginia

Bahamas
St. Maarten
St. Thomas

2009 looks to be a much smaller tour schedule with corporate travel gone and no foreign vacations planned. I do need to make a Disney run though, we've got a zillion Disney Dollars saved up. And I have a free SW ticket I need to use by May. Where to go? Stay Tuned!

Christmas Triva

The holidays are normally a slow time for scoop, but I have some for you tonight! I'm posting this in the form of a question... the really interesting part will be whether or not we get a press release revealing the answer!

Which country artist got engaged this Christmas?

Christmas Eve at the Rizer House

My Christmas Gift to You

I wanted to give you something that could be enjoyed the world over....and probably seen around the world too.

Lights...
..... Camera.....
............Enjoy!

The Facebook Addiction

At night, when I can't sleep... I kill time on Facebook. Mostly I like to have the time to look through people's photo albums. Usually that's so I can see kids grow up in a matter or moments, or swipe decorating ideas. But sometimes there's some funny stuff too.

For instance, tonight. I have a friend who is a Titans cheerleader. She also works for another media outlet. (Sandi you may have met her in Vegas... we did the Orange Carpet together.) Her longtime boyfriend is the nephew of a Country Music Hall of Famer. This much I knew. So I'm flipping through photos of parties, and ball games and superstar-laced family events, and I crack up laughing, because of all things... her boyfriend-with-the-famous-uncle who grew up half a country away, had a babysitter as a kid... who I know now as a record label publicist here in Nashville. And not for the famous uncle's record label! Small world, eh? And getting smaller by the click.

So... what's the funniest thing you've learned or seen on Facebook or MySpace?

Delivery from Santa!

UPDATE: Lady A being hand delivered on Thursday!

Just was serviced Christmas singles from Trisha Yearwood (My Favorite Things) and Darius Rucker (Winter Wonderland.) Merry Christmas to all the Highway Road Crew!

If you got here by googling something like...

Nashville internships
Country music internships
radio internships
I want to intern with the coolest company in radio
Internship where I don't make coffee
Hanging out with the country stars internship
Sommet Center internships
Best internship in Music City
How can I intern with cool people?
Where can I apply for the most awesome internship in Nashville?

Then Click Here

THIS is the Worst Christmas Song Ever

Go to You Tube and search for Red Sovine's "Billy's Christmas Wish." Oh. My. God.

We're blaring bad Christmas music through the office this morning. I was very proud of my contribution -- Joey & Rory's Sleighbell Mix of "Cheater, Cheater" -- which had me laughing until I was crying.

But to lay your hands on a married man's about as low as you can go..
Hey I wish her well as she rots in hell
You can tell her I said so.
Cheater, cheater, where'd you meet that no good white trash
(Santa comes in) Ho, ho ho!

That above little gem was completely trumped by Kyle's Red Sovine contribution. Which actually plays on Roadhouse.

I shall await your reaction.

Was Bob not available?

It's Midnight, Cinderella: The staff of the CMA kicked up their heels yesterday for the company's annual Tree Trimming Party, with a Garth Brooks impersonator serving as the special guest.

This photo and caption ran in Country Aircheck. Of course, the picture is small, so it might be hard to tell, but I'm thinking our buddy Bob could teach this guy a thing or two about being a Garth impersonator! It takes more than a black hat! Anyway, I found it amusing that the CMA -- who probably could have gotten a real artist to come to their tree trimming - had the cowboy in mind instead.

For those who don't know, the "Bob" I'm referring to is a Garth fan who looks so much like Garth (especially when he dresses the part, which he likes to do) that he tends to cause quite a ruckus when he shows up at Garth / Trisha places.

Worst Christmas Carol Ever

At some point in the past couple years of my blog life, we had a discussion about the worst Christmas carol ever. And someone and given me a song that was pretty much Music to Slit Your Wrist By.

I'm trying to find that... I remember I banned it from Music City Holiday... I have it in my head that maybe it was Dwight Yoakam... but a lot of his music has sad depressing suicidal tendancies, and I'm getting depressed just trying to find it. Or was it Travis Tritt?

Anyone remember that conversation?

More Cool Mom Points

I have found a new way to impress my daughter. It turns out, one of my new country co-workers is the voice of The Disney Channel. I've been listening to him for years on tv.

There's got to be a way I can use that to my advantage.

Back to the Real World

Happy Monday everyone! Back to the grind today.

One of the things I got done on my (very relaxing, peaceful, refreshing) vacation was most of my Christmas shopping. I'm one of the nuts that goes out on Black Friday. I got my neices and nephews and Delaynie all done, and Dave & Jen mostly finished. Brad's probably going to get gift cards, LOL.

Other than shopping, it was a lot of munchkin time. One thing I learned though... next time, bring earplugs! Everyone else in the house was up before 7am (that was EASTERN time) talking, watching tv, banging dishes, doing laundry. Even when I'd try to take a nap, someone would start up the washer, which was right outside our room. Fortunately, we came home Saturday, so Sunday I slept in all the way until 8:30!

I didn't have any satellite radio this trip... we put my XM in Gary's truck, which decided to blow it up or something a few hours into our journey. So it really was a week without work. (Of course, most of the music world wasn't working Thursday or Friday either.) I'm looking forward to getting into the office today and catching up.

Keith Anderson is coming in today... he's filling in for Storme all week -- hear him from 4-8pm Eastern on The Highway! Sirius 60 / XM 16 / DirecTV Channel 814 / DISH Network Channel 6060.

Future Superstar

Someday, when my niece Maddie - already an expert drama queen who has wrapped her daddy around all 10 of her fingers at the age of 4 - is a superstar, you can say you knew her when.

She and I were frosting brownies at the beach house last week, and she composed a lovely song about how the brownies were for dessert, not for dinner. (Which is a very important thing to know.) Of course, once the camera came on, she clammed up, but I did capture a glimpse of her child brilliance:

Blogging from the Ocean

Technically, I'm a block from the ocean. It's cold here... we saw snow in the mountains. (Paula and Sandi... remember our trip to Pigeon Forge, and my "love" of driving through the mountains at night? Yeah... multiply that times Gary driving... )

However, our trip to the Western North Carolina Nature Center was a success.

Running away to the ocean

Next month, my parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. They told us last year that they wanted to do a family vacation with all the kids and grandkids. In throwing out suggestions (mine being the ocean, somewhere warm, and somewhere Southwest flies) we wound up in Myrtle Beach, SC for all of next week.

I've never been to Myrtle Beach (probably because it doesn't have a major airport and it's 10 + hours away) so it should be quite the experience. 4 of the 13 of us are under the age of 4.

The Zoo there doesn't look very good, but there's a big one on Asheville, NC on the way there that has not one, but TWO kinds of wolves, and there's an aquarium in MB that I've got media passes into.

Other than that, it's going to be a lot of laying around and being lazy. I'm ready for that. We're leaving tonight after work and driving to Knoxville, will be at the ocean by Saturday night.

What are your Thanksgiving plans?

Here's how much Gary loves me

My husband, the rocker, who doesn't listen to country music with the exception of George Strait, bought himself a little ringtone package for his phone, which includes a bunch of Nickleback songs... with the exception of my ringtone.

When I call, it plays the Statler Brothers' "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine."

I have phone envy.

I am shopping for a new phone / pda. (Note to self... get one that will play real music when people call.) I'm very intrigued by this new Blackberry Storm that comes out on Friday.

Last night we tried to go phone shopping and I was overwhelmed by all the options. Slide out keyboards... touch screen or not... smartphones... mobile web...

Do you have a PDA that you love? I'm a Verizon customer... looking for something that will let me check email, open Word and Excel docs and take pictures. Suggestions?

592,304

Well over HALF A MILLION people went out and bought Taylor Swift's CD the first week. By comparison, that's TEN TIMES what last week's #1 country cd, Brad Paisley's Play, sold at 53,697 in it's first week. HUGE.

The second most popular country CD at the cash register this week -- Rascal Flatts Greatest Hits. 38,812. Just a little bit of a gap.

Go Taylor! This girl WORKED for it, she was everywhere. And obviously it paid off. Which reminds me, I didn't share the story I got on CMA day when I walked in with Taylor's mom.

We were both at the check in place at the same time, getting our bags searched, and I started chatting... she was telling me how excited Taylor was about the night. Then I told her I'd seen the pictures of Taylor at Walmart in Hendersonville at midnight the night the CD was released. (Check The Tennessean if you haven't seen them.) Andrea said that was a 21 hour day for them... they'd been up in NYC doing one of the morning shows that morning... did some press appearances in NY... then flew back home and went straight from the airport to the Walmart, because she wanted to go buy the cd at home. (Very cool!) We laughed though, because Andrea was with her the whole way, but she didn't quite have the 18 year old energy for it that her daughter had! I hope she's now had a chance to get some rest. She's earned it!

Road Construction

At last, I have a little time to take you behind the scenes of creating the single biggest country music radio channel in North America -- The Highway. (Although I should note, we were already Top 3 at least before the merger.) I'm so excited about what's been created, and how all of our jocks have this massive audience to talk to every day.

This is part of my personal journal, entitled "The Journey" that I wrote while in the middle of a very long, stressful month that at one point didn't look like it would have a happy ending for me. Technically, my ending is still unwritten, but I'm happy to have made it through the complete lifespan of XM as it's own entity. I was contacted by one of the country music trades last week asking if I was ok and saying they'd be happy to help put out my new contact information. (Which is what they do when someone loses a job.) What's that line about 'reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated?' I tell everyone - I'm going to keep working until someone tells me to stop. LOL So far they haven't. So here's a little peek into my world lately.

This was written 11/5 - a week before convergence.

- J.

From the outside there's a lot of "oh this channel is staying, that channel is going" assumptions about what it all is going to mean. The reality is, 98% of the rumors are wrong. Most of the music channels switched over to our programming system, so even though a channel name (Prime Country) came from Sirius, the music database carried over from US Country, so on that channel, it's exactly the same except for new production. As many of you know, I never liked the USC name, so I was particularly pleased with that decision.

EVERY channel had to have their entire production library re-done. Bluegrass Junction might still be around, but nothing could say Bluegrass Junction on XM... or Track 14... or use our nifty, 7 note audio logo. (There's still hope it will be back, but there are copyright issues that still have to be cleared.) I worked on production for a solid week... and even after I'd gone through everything and wrote, re-wrote, dug up soundbites, and tasked it to the production team, I'd discover pieces that I'd completely overlooked.

Obviously, my vantage point only encompasses what I see in the country neighborhood. I can't begin to imagine how they dealt with things - and continue to do so - in the talk world. There are still contracts to be worked out, shows that have gone away that may or may not return based on whether a deal can be worked out, and every channel continues to be a work in progress.

As I've mentioned here, the message board rumors on what was supposedly happening with The Roadhouse provided nightly entertainment for me.

The Roadhouse has been completely rebuilt. This is what Kyle Cantrell has put hundreds of hours into over the past several weeks. He has built, completely from scratch, the classic country channel that neither satellite service ever had. It is incredibly pure. For those who don't know, Kyle spent years at WSM-AM and the Grand Ole Opry, so this is a labor of love, but also a matter of reputation and personal pride for him. I'm so excited for everyone to hear the end result!

I've saved the best story for last - the naming of The Highway. Early on in this convergence process, Jon pledged to keep the Highway 16 formatics... not only was this his baby, but it was the better brand, the stronger shows. However, we thought we were going to have to move to a new channel number, possibly Highway 60.

One night, I had a dream... and in my dream, I told Jon that a great name for the new channel would be "The Highway" because that way if it had to move again as this merger stuff shook out we wouldn't have to rename the channel again. So the next day at work I told him about my dream. He wasn't too crazy about the idea, he liked identifiying the channel name with the channel number. A couple of weeks later, he learned that the channels would NOT be numbered the same on both services, and voila, The Highway was born.

The funniest thing to me though, is how very unobservant our listeners (YOU GUYS!) are. For the past couple of months, going back as far as the Darius Rucker Driver's Ed, and everything since, we've dropped the "Highway 16" out of our specialty shows, as well as references to the "XM" studios or the "XM Nation." It's JUST been "Driver's Ed" or "ShortCuts"... with casual references to hearing things "here on the highway." In reality... that was so those shows could run again... "here on The Highway!" It forced me to completely re-think my writing... and no one even noticed. Yet the new channel name was right under your nose!

So... where do we go from here? UP! I'm crazy giddy excited about the possibilities. We are the biggest outlets for our respective formats anywhere. Our audience almost doubled overnight. For the Sirius gang, it more than doubled. For the air talent that survived, it's an incredible opportunity to be heard by more people than just about anywhere else, including most syndicated radio. When we encore a Highway 16 show... it's brand new to half the people hearing it. It's been a tough road, and is probably going to get tougher for a while, but I'm so proud to be a small part of this awesome team of programmers. I hope you love what they've put together for you half as much as they've loved creating it for you.

I'm exhausted - and it's Taylor Swift's fault

This weekend, for the first time in the past few weeks, I didn't have to go in and work on Saturday. I had a real day off. I didn't even have a show or two that I had to write on Sunday. In fact, I didn't even bring home any production to write, shows to edit or photos to caption. I was merely going to relax and think about anything BUT mergers, new channels or websites that need to be updated.

Friday night I took a couple of benadryls after dinner (I'm sick again... or maybe still... I can't keep track) thinking I'd be going to bed nice and early. However... I made a fatal error in judgement that caused that plan to fail.

I gave Delaynie the new Taylor Swift CD Fearless.

Now... this in itself wouldn't have been a bad thing. She was listening to the music while she was cleaning her room. She cleans better to music, she tells me, so I'm thinking this is a win win situation.

After a while Delaynie comes downstairs and starts talking to me about the music. She loves lyrics where the girls aren't like everyone else, when they laugh at the girls who think they're so cool. This is the kid who had me custom order the phrase "Dare to Be Different" from Uppercase Living for her bedroom wall, because it was her "motto." Taylor is the poster child for daring to be different, after all how many high school freshmen were going to Music Row writing appointments? Delaynie can sense all this, and she love love loves Taylor.

It was after a nice musical discussion about the content of the album, accompanied by looking up lyrics and sharing some scoop (thanks to ShortCuts!) I knew about the pictures that I made my fatal mistake.

I told Delaynie about the secret. Secrets.

Secret codes. In the lyrics.

Big mistake.

Big, BIG mistake.

Not that she couldn't know about the secret codes - the actual revelation that they existed was not my mistake.

Telling her about them at 9:30 at night was the big mistake. BIG. Silly me thought it could be a "hey, here's something for you to do tomorrow, now go brush your teeth and get ready for bed" kind of factoid. Because after all... I was going to bed early. Catching up on some sleep.

Ha. Ha ha ha HA!

Not.

1 o'clock in the morning. That's when I finally insisted that she stop the madness with just a couple of songs left to decode. And that is why I was completely exhausted the rest of the weekend.

I do have to admit... her enthusiasm about trying to find all the letters was adorable. And a little contagious. She'd get so excited when she'd get one figured out. For those of you who don't know, Delaynie has really bad eyesight - even with her glasses, due to a defect that can't be corrected. And those lyrics are in little bitty letters. After a while I made her go get her magnifying glass, but even then, those capitol "I"'s were tricky!

I have to admit, there are worse ways to spend a Friday night then giggling with your daughter as you google "Love and Theft" because you can't stand not knowing what that means. It was probably the most fun I'd had in a month. And Delaynie's already planning to write Taylor a letter about it all.

But get this... in the process of this detective work, she of course decided that she had to get her best friend Hope the CD for her birthday the next day so that Hope could decode all the secret messages too. We had already gotten her a Hannah Montana shirt, so I casually asked who was cooler - Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus.

"Well I've never met Miley, but I feel like I've got a connection to Taylor because we've talked. So other kids probably think Miley is cooler, but I know that really, Taylor is."

Delaynie told Hope about the secret codes, so I'm sure one night soon, my friend Dianne is going to lose sleep while her daughter tries to find all those capitol I's. And she too will be exhausted the next day.

And it will be all Taylor Swift's fault.

CMA's... the Morning After

As much as I'd love to go back to bed... I must grab a shower and go in for at least a half day of work.

Much to chat about later... for now let's go with some overall recapping. I didn't get to watch much of the last 45 minutes or so of the show because it was busy in the press room, so I'm hoping my husband recorded it.

I didn't think there were any major surprises in the winners... with the possible exception of Lady A... that category could have gone several different ways. I liked the dual host format. Was pleased with the number of artists who did press... (although I'm shakin' my finger at Sugarland.) Jay Thomas has done a great job of using my audio on the air this morning.

I have to give huge props to Chris, my intern, who was back in the studio activating audio and putting the display information on just as fast as I got it edited and uploaded. He saved me from having to go upstairs and work after the show, or worse yet, be in at dawn this morning.

Yay for interns!

So, overall -- what did you think of the show?

Dress #9

... has appeared in the press room.

She got all sappy!

No Sugarland or Strait at the winner's mic. Interesting.

I'm off to party hop!

About to get slammed!

Ok, Eagles, then Shania with the EOTY... then I'll get the big batch of winners....

Sugarland
Brad
Carrie
Entertainer

Going great so far, my intern is up in the studio activating audio as I upload it.

In Walks Lady A

Hillary looks gorgeous

Ok... she's gonna make me cry.

Hootie in the House!

And in the press room.

Ok.... I just LOVE him. He went on and on about how he couldn't believe he got a performance slot, even though he wasn't nominated... about all the artists in the audience watching him... how thrilling it all was for him...

Love him.

Barbie Doll Carrie

I swear, she gets more beautiful in every outfit. They could do a whole line of dolls off her outfits tonight.

Strait sent his producer Tony Brown back to the press room. Maybe he'll come back later.

T H U D

Rascal Flatts just walked in.

They made history tonight... tied with the Statlers for most consecutive Vocal Group of the Year wins.

8:29 New Barbie Outfit

Love this outfit on Carrie.

My Reba prediction came true... not much of a surprise by now. Haven't we been here, done that by now?

Cheering in the Press Room!!

Yay for Lady A! Look at Mike Dungan looking like a proud Papa.

Hillary a second generation CMA winner. Not a lot of those I don't think.

Cruising Through the Blogosphere

Ok you MUST go read The Tennessean's blogging. I love Peter Cooper. From here on out, I'm just going to link to their blogs.

I am intrigued that Kid Rock came off more country than Jason Aldean... despite his song having "Country" in the title. Did they edit the "smokin'" reference on tv the way they do on FM radio?

Barbie Doll Carrie

2nd outfit lasted 27 minutes. Carrie is now wearing a pink toga.

I'm not sure about Justin (former Nash Star contestant / current Miley Cyrus boyfriend) playing Prince Charming to Taylor Swift.

I need to watch the tape of her performace. I shouldn't blog during performances.

So far, Joe The Strummer is the highlight of the press room.

Rodney Atkins...

... had no special guest. So much for the "narc." I do like this song though.

The Tennessean staff is in the row in front of me... I need to go check and see what they're blogging about.

(Beverly Keel is the blonde... Peter Cooper right in front of me... winning the award for Journalist with the Best Hair.)

Rascal Flatts won Best Vocal Group. They haven't come back to the press room in years, so looks like it's going to stay quiet back here for a while.

Odd that they're not teasing the Special Guests in the show, after all the promo hoopla in advance.

Miscellaneous Backstage Trivia

XM's Production Company - Effanel Productions - is doing the sound on the awards show again this year. So far it sounds great. These are the same guys that did Artist Confidential.

Mary Kay is all over the backstage. The ladies room has perfume bottles on the counter... I just tried some "warm amber" or something. It's quite lovely. I don't normally wear perfume, but I do like this.

Still no winner in the press room. It's crazy dark back here, by the way. We need desk lamps. The boxed lunches have arrived.

Carrie's first outfit lasted 35 minutes. Look for her to be wearing some ridiculous multi-million dollar amount of bling at some point tonight. I can't remember... diamonds... emeralds? Someone google for me.

Lady A rockin' the house. Look for their CD sales to skyrocket this week.

Jona - Brad is doing a fabulous job. He looks very nice in a dark suit. I hate that you can't see it. Martina on stage now (Not crazy about her outfit!). Rodney Atkins up next. There is ZERO Springsteen buzz backstage.

OH -- they just showed Darius.... which reminds me. Jon Anthony saw him at a restaurant last night and asked if he'd had a chance to hear his Driver's Ed episode yet. He said "yeah, it was on again today!" Pretty funny. I put him on so our new Sirius listeners would have a kick ass show their first week on The Highway.

Song of the Year

Stay -- Jennifer Nettles, songwriter

She's sitting with their manager, FYI.

1st Award

Single of the Year -- George Strait "I Saw God Today."

Hmm... will George come back to do the press room?

Most years he doesn't. But he did last year, so we'll hope.

Next award to be given out after Kellie Pickler and Alan Jackson sing (and 100 people line dance!) IS Song of the Year. More often than not... Single and Song go to the same tune.

Stay tuned.

Pre Show Awards **SPOILERS**

Pre-Show winners... don't read further if you want to be surprised when they flash this up on your screen for 3 seconds.

Musician Of The Year - Mac Macanally
Video Of The Year - "Waitin' On A Woman"
Musical Event of the Year - "Gone, Gone, Gone" - Robert Plant / Alison Krauss

Shania has been spotted, as has Reba. Billy Ray and Miley are here, as is Miley's squeeze, Justin Gaston.

Rundown

<--- Here's the view from my seat.

Brad and Keith kick off the show.

Rodney comes about 45ish minutes in... not listed with a special guest -- sorry.

Brooks & Dunn have a special guest about half way through, on their performance of "Cowgirls Don't Cry." Hmm.... who would be a cowgirl special guest?

Kid Rock comes after Taylor Swift. Someone make sure he stays away from that lovely young lady. They're going to sweep through the top of the first hour.

Keith performs solo after Album of the Year... then Carrie. She should hit around the top of the 2nd hour. Then Female Vocalist.

Eagles close the show -- I'm shocked it's not Kenny. He's 3rd to last.

Sharon -- Trace is next to last performance.

A special guest is presenting the Entertainer of the Year -- you know that has to be Shania.

Any questions I can answer?

Checked Into the Media Room!

Yikes... I forget how many media people show up for this thing. I went early and got my spot (since it's right downstairs in my building!) and am back upstairs getting ready to change.

There has to be 80 media outlets in this room. I'm estatic with my position -- 2nd row right on the aisle, so I'm dead center. The whole rehearsal hall area of the arena has been turned into a maze of media stations, places for the artists to sign things, goodies to be picked up... and there are more people running around wearing headsets than are in the Secret Service.

I walked in with Taylor Swift's mom, who's every bit the doll her daughter is. Got a great story for you, but first, I have to go roll my hair in curlers and change clothes.

I have a pre-show party... will be back around 6:30 Central Time.

The Lights Are Out, But Everybody's Home

Complete madness has consumed Music City today.

First off... there was a gas leak downtown... a couple of city blocks are completely filled with fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances. This is taking place about 2 blocks from the Sommet Center, where the awards show is being held.

Completely unrelated, we think... an NES substation has blown. Downtown is without power for the most part, including the bat building and the Hilton. You can't get food anywhere. Fortunately, the arena has some serious backup power, so the lights are back on here, and sound check is still running.

It's also raining.

More news as it happens.

Happy CMA Convergence Day!

LOL - that's what I've been calling it around the office.

Any questions, comments, or concerns about the day, the new channel lineup, the weather in Nashville (supposed to rain) leave them here and I'll check in as I can.

I should be able to blog from the press room tonight.

Johnny & June

Up late listening to the switchover.

Last song to play on America -- Johnny Cash "We'll Meet Again"
Last song to ply on X-Country - June Carter Cash "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"

A neat fact I discovered today after I posted about the September 12, 2001 postponed channel launch... I looked up when the national launch actually happened.

November 12, 2001. We were on the air exactly 7 years. Very cool.

Chevy CMA Kickoff Concert Is Underway!

Soundcheck Update

Lady A, Kid Rock and a female I didn't recognize have soundchecked so far today... Keith Urban on now. Amy Paige and I disagree on whether Kevin Costner did his own sound check on the Chevy stage this morning. She thinks he had a stunt double. If so, he sure fooled all the little old ladies lined up taking his picture.

It's very overcast out there, but so far, no rain. It's gonna be a COLD show out there in the November night!

WOW -- Mega Breaking News

Superstar Reba McEntire has signed with the Valory Music Co. The move reunites McEntire with Scott Borchetta, president & CEO of Big Machine Records and the Valory Music Co.

11/11/2008

FIRST OFF -- Do not forget the Chevy Kick off to the CMA's - heard live on Highway 16 today beginning at.... 5pm Eastern.

Checkin' in from Music City.... busy day at the office yesterday! Listened to Kenny, Jason Aldean, Carrie, Trace and Miranda do sound checks through the arena walls. No sound of special guest, unless you count the spirit of Bob Marley, whom I presume was there on video tape.

Trace came by the studio to cut a Release Day Rest Stop. He's such a great voice to put on the radio... his reads were perfect the first time, his soundbites were funny or poignant, or both.

Jon cut a Driver's Ed with Randy Houser yesterday, lots of great programming coming your way. Today my first project is building a Taylor Swift ShortCuts.... her record label didn't release the music in advance, so we had to put the show off until after the album hit stores. No worries, I'll get the show built -- nothing else going on this week right?

Lots of parties last night -- Kenny did a "surprise" show at Tootsies, Kevin Coster was a few doors down at The Stage, and Blake Shelton lit the fire to showcase his upcoming CD Startin' Fires. I went to Blake, and then came home and helped Delaynie with a school project. Good BBQ, probably the best meal I'll have all week.

Just between us... I'm a little sad today. I remember watching satellites go up via webcasts... I remember the launch that was supposed to happen on September 12, 2001 and had to be postponed... I remember the list of first songs played on each channel... and I remember hundreds of guests that have come through our studio when we were a brand new company, from Willie Nelson, John Conlee and Loretta Lynn to Pat Green and Jack Ingram (before they went mainstream) and Bruce and Charlie Robison.

As excited as I am about what we're going to unleash tomorrow, today I'm listening to people do their last shows and I'm a little sad to say goodbye to the past 7 1/2 years of Radio to the Power of X.

Reporting in from the Sommet Center!

Happy CMA Week! Things are bustling here as they build the Chevy Stage before our very eyes... cardboard figures of Rodney Atkins, Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum are leaning against brand new Chevy vehicles, and 5th Ave. South is partially blocked, so I don't recommend driving by.

I've put the staff here on alert to be listening for a "Special Guest" to be soundchecking. Not 10 minutes after we have that conversation, we hear familiar music start blaring through the arena... and then those well known words...

It's 3:30 in the morning... not a soul in sight...

My intern, who knows almost nothing about country music, exclaims "Oh my God is Garth the special guest?"

Umm... no. He was just the warm up act... on CD... testing the sound system. He was shortly replaced by Kenny Chesney and The Wailers, doing their run throughs.

More news as it happens.

It it was in the newspaper... it must be true

Now that there's a 3 page full color ad in USA Today talking about our new programming lineup, I can tell you for certain that you're getting new music channels on your favorite satellite radio service next Wednesday. And I can't WAIT!

On one hand, I've been in more meetings in the past month than I've been in the past year. But I'm really excited, because there are things being done that are long overdue, and I think the country fans are being served INCREDIBLY well by this new offering.

I can't speak to things outside of the country neighborhood (I got anything I know from reading the ad - they didn't release the new lineup to the staff, oddly enough) but I'm really excited for y'all to hear everything we've been working on. And working, and working, and working on!

I do want people to take into consideration that this new lineup really is a merger - and it's working well. Even though a channel may take the name from one company, it's often being programmed by someone new, 100% of the production had to be redone, the best shows survived, the best air talents were kept, we're making new friends and most everything is being programmed out of the XM databases (thank goodness I didn't have to learn a new system on top of everything else!) So give it a listen before you draw any conclusions. We're excited that our listener base will almost DOUBLE (more than double when coming from the Sirius side) and everything is new to half the audience.

For the record, the Sirius staff that have come over to the XM facilities and had to learn a new system and work for a new programming team have been great. Nice group of guys that have been fun to hang out with, and they take turns making the coffee.

By the end of the day tomorrow, I plan to have everything I'm involved with ready to go for the big rollout on Wednesday. Then on Sunday, I HAVE to find something to wear to the CMA's!

Yet another reason why Taylor Swift ROCKS.

You must spend 5 minutes checking out this awesomely adorable Taylor Swift video clip. It's being heralded because she has this funny littlle Barbie doll moment where she slips in some 411 about her celebrity breakup, but for country fans, it's more impressive for all the people she gets to promote her upcoming album. Alot of those were done backstage at the CMT Giants show. Anyone who can get George Strait and Alan Jackson so do liners for them clearly has something going!

Check it out - and don't forget, we've got Taylor on ShortCuts the weekend of November 14th!

Joy to the World

Now that Halloween is over, I've decided I'm going to decorate the studio for Christmas. It's about time, don't you think?

Ok, I have a good reason for listening to Christmas music tonight, and stringing up Christmas lights tomorrow... Faith Hill is coming in to record a ShortCuts for her new Christmas CD, Joy to the World.

As my husband (who deep down inside I'm quite certain would have preferred that I'd taken the merger severence package) was grumbling tonight over my coming home only to work some more, I blared the title track through the house. "Joy to the World" (the church organ version, not Faith's) was our wedding recessional, 15 years ago next month.

Soundscan for last week

#1 - Toby Keith - That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy (90,617)
#2 - Rascal Flatts - Greatest Hits Volume 1 (88654)
#3 - Kenny Chesney - Lucky Old Sun (41,228)

Delaynie's Quote Du Jour

"Tonight will be in the textbooks someday."

Cue the Brooks & Dunn!

Late Night Ramblings

It's been a while since I late night rambled. Lots to ramble about, if my brain can unscramble enough to ramble.

I sat in NINE channel meetings today. Nine. (Not all of them country.) My eyes began glazing over, I know it. I tried to figure out a way I could secretly be writing a Faith Hill ShortCuts while Jon was reading channel descriptors to us off of PDF's, but I figured I'd get busted.

Saturday I went in to the office and worked a few hours, and Kyle Cantrell was there. Not much of a surprise, I'd stopped in the previous Saturday after doing my 5 Mile and he was there then too. I don't know how long he was there the previous week, but this Saturday he was AT the office at least 10 hours that I know of, and then he went home and knocked out some more work. Have I mentioned that I just can't WAIT until I can tell you what he's been doing?Y'all just would not BELIEVE how painstakingly he's been dedicated to this. Oh my goodness I'm so excited - for all of you out there that will soon get to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

My project of late is something called EPG. Would you like to guess what that is? Nothing related to EPT's. Electronic Program Guide. If you go look at, say the Highway16 Web Page, you'll see the scrolling guide that talks about what's on at specific times tonight. I update those with the episodic show information normally (like ShortCuts / Driver's Ed for 16 or Studio Special for 14) which is a very simple process because the bulk of the work was already done for me. Well this week I've been building those grids from scratch... I've got 4 of them done so far... 2 more to go I think. I saved the 2 channels I know the least about for last, LOL.

I also do the top of the page info with the schedules / show highlight information on them. I updated those today with upcoming SC / DE information, they will go live tomorrow. It's funny, because I read on one of the fan message boards today how we'd outsourced our website. Not only are the same in-house people building it that always have, but the programmers have a lot more control over it now than we did even a year ago! In fact, one of the things I did not long ago was add the Taylor Swift and Sugarland photos to the Highway 16 rotation -- and moved Keith Urban up to the first position, just because I wanted a little change.

Ramble, ramble, ramble. Jason Michael Carroll was in our studio last week... I served him and the A&R guy from his label a beer. New ShortCuts on the way from Mark Wills, Taylor Swift, and Blake Shelton. We recorded Taylor FOREVER ago. In fact, I need to go re-edit it, because she talked about how on election day she'll be voting, but she actually wound up voting early, because she'll be in LA tomorrow. Storme Warren hosts that show, which airs the weekend AFTER the album hit stores. (Her record label told us no one was getting the album in advance, so we couldn't do our usual XM WORLD PREMIERE before the CD was released. So if y'all hear the music anywhere this weekend, please let me know and I'll storm 16th Avenue.)

It actually wound up working out better for us that we held it, because that meant we had a spot open for Mark Wills... although it pushed Blake Shelton back a week late too.

What else can I tell you? What else do you want to know? Kevin Costner has a new country CD out... I've gotten it in the mail but haven't had a chance to listen to it.

OH! Oh oh oh. OH! CMA's are next week. Here are some things you need to know:
Chevy CMA Kickoff Concert -- live on Highway 16
Tuesday November 11th.
Hell. I updated our website today and completely neglected to put that on it. Ok, just sent a note to our web team.
Any way -- Rodney Atkins, Heidi Newfield, Eli Young Band, & Kevin Costner & New West. I'll get the time and put it up on the website tomorrow. ;-)

AND... if by chance you are traveling and can't watch the CMA's, you can hear them LIVE next Tuesday night on XM 11 -- Nashville. I guess I need to try to get that on their webpage too... although I'm not sure I have access to that one.

Crap! I just realized I don't have anything to wear to the CMA's yet.

Delaynie doesn't have school tomorrow... so it's going to be a "take your daughter to work" day for me. She does have to go on Veteran's Day (which my husband has off) but not on Election Day. What's wrong with that picture?

I've pretty much decided I'm not voting. Let's face it... the way our electoral college is set up, the popular vote doesn't count anyway. Tennessee is a red state, so if I vote for Obama it won't matter, and if I vote for McCain, it won't matter. So why stand in line?

Go ahead, sling arrows if you must. But I'm not passionately for either candidate and I'm throroughly disgusted by the whole political process. We can raise millions of dollars during a rotten economy to pay for negative political advertising, while people go hungry and live under bridges. The whole country is messed up.

Here's an idea for the next president: Reform election laws, make every vote count, and make this whole process much shorter and cheaper.

I'm Producer J. and I approved this message.

And I'm gonna delete any comments that bloviate negatively on any political candidate, so don't.

UPDATE -- Ok, I voted. And it was kind of a cool feeling to vote in such a historic election, so I'm glad I did. No lines at my polling place, walked right in and did it.