Charles Kelley from fast-rising group Lady Antebellum was a recent guest on "2 Music Geeks," a podcast produced by ... well, two self-described Nashville-based "music geeks" named Matt Collen and Travis Richards. The Geeks' policy is to only promote artists they believe in, and they're very enthusiastic about Lady A. Check out Charles talking with Matt and Travis here. If you're a Lady A fan you should also head over to their site to check out their "webisodes," posted every week on "Webisode Wednesday" (which even has its own theme song).
Collin Raye’s new single, “Quitters,” has only been out for three weeks, but fans have already played it more than 160,000 times on his MySpace page—and it’s still being played more than 18,000 times a day. “Quitters,” which is available for sale as an individual download or on Collin’s new Selected Hits EP, has been played another 25,000-plus times at the MySpace page of his label, StarPointe Records.
The satirical website The Onion recently took aim at the wave of hyperpatriotic country songs released after Sept. 11 with a parody news broadcast announcing the creation of an all-star benefit song urging terrorists to go ahead and destroy New York City. The tune features fictional country singers Wayne McMurtry and Tanya Bertram (the latter pictured in the clip on a mock cover of Country Weekly) joining forces to sing the rousing “Go Ahead, Bomb New York.” Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden “could just reduce New York City to a pile of rubble,” offers “Tanya.” “It ain’t gonna affect us much.”
Jamey Johnson, who enjoyed a Top 15 hit last year with “The Dollar,” is selling his new album directly to fans without the help of a record label. That Lonesome Song is available for download through digital retailers like iTunes, or you can buy it from Jamey himself at myspace.com/jameyjohnson. The Alabama native, who says he’s been buying his music digitally for years, has no plans to press physical CDs of That Lonesome Song. Jamey, whose hits as a songwriter include George Strait’s “Give It Away” and Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” had a hand in writing 11 of the album’s 13 tracks.
You can relive the 41st annual Country Music Association Awards minute by minute at the music blogs Idolator, The 9513 and Country Universe. Each of the sites “liveblogged” the show, offering commentary on the performances, speeches and even the commercials in real time. Idolator editor Maura Johnston, whose site focuses mostly on rock and rap, wound up comparing the ceremony favorably to the recent MTV Video Music Awards. “What's great about this show is how sincerely thankful everyone seems,” she wrote at evening’s end, “instead of just, you know, drunk.”
Up-and-coming singer Rick Monroe is taking an innovative approach to getting his new album, Get Loud Get Lit, to fans—he’s doing it over the Internet, one track at a time, as he records it. The first offering, a country version of Motörhead’s heavy metal classic “Ace of Spades,” is available now. Rick plans to release a new song every month, along with extra content like video footage and remixes—and he’ll be gauging fan reaction to the songs along the way. “It’s so interactive,” he says. “It’s one of the best situations you can have.”
To encourage listeners to get involved in the process, he’s holding a competition with prizes like a Peavey acoustic guitar and a signed Resistol cowboy hat. Fans earn points by accomplishing the weekly tasks Rick sets out on his MySpace blog, which so far have included posting advertising banners on their own MySpace pages, leaving comments on the cmt.com message board and pages, asking fans to send in photos of themselves posing with a Country Weekly magazine (see below), and tracking down puzzle pieces (left). To learn more, go to myspace.com/rickmonroe.
