The members of Emerson Drive are shocked and grieving. While en route to a show in Nebraska, the band learned early Wednesday morning that their friend and former band member, Patrick Bourque, died suddenly Tuesday night at his home in Canada. No official details have been made available as to the circumstances surrounding his death. Patrick was the band’s bass player until he resigned in August. He had been living and working in Canada since leaving the group.
[via ArtistoMedia]
Gary Allan loves being on the road, and says he gets restless being at home for too long. Gary admits, however, that living on a tour bus isn’t easy, and reveals how he makes it work for him:
“The key to road life is to try to keep it as much a routine as you can because it is so chaotic. My typical [day]… I get up in the morning. I have a bowl of cereal. Me and my whole band go to the gym together. We get a good work out, come back and take a shower and go back and do a show. It’s all very typical. Yeah, we rage that night and we usually party in that town ’til like four in the morning, then we all go to sleep and do it all over again someplace else.”
Gary will have plenty of time on the road to look forward to very soon. He joins Keith Urban on his “Love, Pain and the whole crazy tour,” beginning November 1 in Columbus, Ohio.
* June 8, 2007 Phoenix - US Airways Center * June 9, 2007 Las Vegas - Mandalay Bay * June 10, 2007 San Diego - ipayOne Center * June 12, 2007 Sacramento - ARCO Arena * June 13, 2007 Fresno - Save Mart Center * June 15, 2007 San Jose - HP Pavillion * June 16, 2007 Los Angeles - STAPLES Center * June 28, 2007 St. Louis - Scottrade Center * June 29, 2007 Memphis - FedEx Forum * June 30, 2007 Atlanta - Philips Arena * July 2, 2007 Oklahoma City - Ford Center * July 3, 2007 Austin - Frank Erwin Center * July 5, 2007 Houston - Toyota Center * July 6, 2007 Dallas - American Airlines Arena * July 26, 2007 Milwaukee - Bradley Center * July 27, 2007 Moline - Mark of the Quads * July 28, 2007 Omaha - Qwest Arena * July 29, 2007 Des Moines - Wells Fargo Arena * July 31, 2007 Green Bay - Resch Center * August 1, 2007 Green Bay - Resch Center * August 11, 2007 Worcester - DCU Center * August 14, 2007 Wilkes-Barre - Wachovia Arena * July 15, 2007 East Rutherford - Continental Arena * August 17, 2007 Washington DC - Verizon Center * August 18, 2007 Philadelphia - Wachovia Center * August 19, 2007 Richmond - Coliseum * September 11, 2007 Salt Lake City - Energy Solutions * September 13, 2007 Spokane - Spokane Arena * September 14, 2007 Portland - Rose Garden Arena * September 15, 2007 Seattle - Key Arena * September 16, 2007 Vancouver - GM Place * September 18, 2007 Calgary - Saddledome * September 21, 2007 Edmonton - Rexhall Place
Sugarland is ready to take the stage as a headlining act. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush say in an online blog that they can’t wait for fans to see the show they are putting together. They share, “Every day, a new piece gets finalized and fits into the dream like into a giant puzzle. The lights, the video, the songs, the T-shirt, the poster, the programs…. We were simultaneously creating our headlining show while wrapping up the opening slot with Kenny Chesney. And no surprise, we were learning all we could from the reigning Entertainer of the Year.”
“CMT On Tour,” featuring Sugarland, with special guests Little Big Town and Jake Owen, kicks off on September 27 in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Win Tickets to see Suglarland on the CMT TOUR
The Eagles will make their first CMA Awards appearance at the 41st annual show, airing live November 7 on ABC from Nashville’s Sommet Center. The band’s decision to perform on The CMA Awards follows the success of their recently released country single, “How Long,” which has been embraced by country music fans and is climbing the country charts. “How Long” is the first single from the group’s soon-to-be-released double album, Long Run out of Eden, featuring 20 new studio recordings. The Eagles have sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, earning five #1 U.S. singles and four Grammy Awards. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
[via AristoMedia]
Reba McEntire told Larry King on his show Monday night that she believes she was a man in a former life. She explained to Larry, “Because I think it was kind of meant for me to be in a man’s world. I grew up on a working cattle ranch; I worked just like my older brother. I came into the music business, I was in the rodeo industry… all three men’s worlds, and I learned how to adjust to each one of those.”
So which era does she believe she was from? She shared, “The Wild West, I’m so drawn to the Wild West, westerns, cowboys, rodeo… everything like that.” Larry couldn’t help but ask if she might have been a villain like Jesse James. She replied, “I think I was a good guy.”
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE has returned to his Southern roots by writing and producing a new song for country music star REBA MCENTIRE. The Tennessee native has dedicated the track, The Only Promise That Remains, to his country-fan grandfather. Timberlake tells MTV, “I just wrote and produced a song for Reba MCEntire for her new record. I’m from Tennessee, so I’m making my grandfather very proud by working with someone like Reba MCEntire.”
[via Contact Music]
It is the biggest Country music festival in the biggest (contiguous) state—Texas. Just outside College Station, Texas, sits the glorious banked oval track of Texas World Speedway. Off the asphalt are about 500 fertile acres just perfect for the largest two-day hay stomp in the world. In addition to multiple music stages featuring Country superstars from Nashville and beyond, fans will be treated to spectacles like actual Nascar exhibition races with the Richard Petty Driving Experience, a Roadhouse Sports Bar, the biggest prize-purse Barbecue Showdown in the nation, a kids corral, and much more.
Brought to the Brazos Valley by the producers of Lollapalooza in Chicago and Austin City Limits in Austin, Texas, Big State Festival will deliver a one-of-a kind music and lifestyle experience, as well as an unmatched standard in patron care. THE 2007 EVENT Where: Texas World Speedway; College Station, Texas When: October 13 & 14 What: 50+ artists on five stages Who: 50,000 music-fans per day BigStateFestival.com
Check out the full lineup: Tim McGraw Willie Nelson Lynyrd Skynyrd Lyle Lovett and his Large Band Trace Adkins Dierks Bentley Gary Allen Robert Earl Keen Jack Ingram Los Lonely Boys Drive-By Truckers The Wreckers The Flatlanders Miranda Lambert Kevin Fowler Eli Young Band Chris Cagle Craig Morgan Bruce and Charlie Robison Heartland Reckless Kelly Eric Church Leon Russell Billy Joe Shaver Charlie Louvin Willis Alan Ramsey Kelly Willis Luke Bryan The Geezinslaws Ashley Ray The Wrights Matt Caldwell Whiskey Brown Mice & Rifles Monte Warden Rodney Hayden Drew Kennedy Sunny Sweeney Blue Mother Tupelo Granger Smith Jerrod Niemann Kevin Gordon Colin Gilmore The Gougers Mark McKinney The Ginn Sisters The Paul Green School of Rock All Stars Farmer Jason Buck Howdy The Bummkinn Band
Click here to buy tickets.
When Dierks Bentley wrapped up his last headlining tour in April, he had a lot of memories to take home with him, thanks to his own trusty video camera. Dierks explains that he wasn’t just taping the shows to see himself perform:
“I wanted to really just tape the live shows, not so much me and the band, but I wanted just the audience and the interaction between us and the audience. It was all live, there’s nothing staged, just the show. You know, everyone always talks about how you feed off the crowd, but we really do try and break down that fourth wall as much as possible, whether it is pulling someone up or jumping off into the crowd. And I think the video really captures how special our audience is.”
No doubt Dierks will have cameras rolling on his fall tour, “Throttle Wide Open,” which kicks off in Georgia on October 4.
Martina McBride will be taking a full camera crew to her upcoming show at the I Wireless Center in Moline, Illinois on September 29. Word is her performance will be included in an upcoming television special. So far, no details about which network will air the special, or if there are any guests slated for the show.
[via Artisomedia]
NASHVILLE – Sept. 5, 2007 – The series that proves great music knows no boundaries returns, bringing together multiple Grammy winners, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and Trisha Yearwood. Known for his smooth voice and prolific songwriting, Edmonds joins country superstar Yearwood for a magical evening that was taped before an invitation only audience in Nashville. The two soulful voices will join as one on the latest episode of CMT CROSSROADS: KENNY “BABYFACE” EDMONDS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD premiering Friday, Sept. 21 at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT. CMT CROSSROADS: KENNY “BABYFACE” EDMONDS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD will be re-telecast on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 23 at 10:00 a.m.; Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 2:00 p.m.; Saturday, Sept 29 at 10:00 a.m.; and Sunday Sept. 30 at 2:00 p.m. All times are ET/PT.
Singer, songwriter, movie producer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and 10-time Grammy award-winner Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, whose work on his own music and others’ has resulted in more than 100 million career sales, has been a dominant creative force for nearly two decades. He hooked up with partner Antonio “L.A.” Reid in the late 1980s, first in the Indianapolis R&B group the Deele, and later as co-founders in Atlanta of BMG’s LaFace Records, one of the most successful labels in R&B history, home of Toni Braxton, OutKast, TLC, and Usher. Babyface’s countless honors, which include Grammy awards for Producer Of the Year in 1992, ‘95, ‘96 and ‘97 (the only one in history to win three consecutive years), plus numerous NAACP Image Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and American Music Awards, established him as the greatest hitmaker of the ’90s. In addition to his work with Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lionel Richie, and TLC (to name a very few), Babyface’s own string of pop and R&B crossover hits is equally impressive: “It’s No Crime,” “Tender Lover,” “Whip Appeal,” “When Can I See You,” “This Is For the Lover In You,” and “Every Time I Close My Eyes” topping the list. In 2007, Babyface’s signing as the first major artist on the Island Def Jam Music Group’s Mercury Records label takes flight with Playlist (in stores Sept. 18), a collection of new compositions and cover versions of some of his favorites, including the first single, James Taylor’s “Fire & Rain.”
Hailed as “one of the finest interpretive singers ever” by Entertainment Weekly, Trisha Yearwood is one of the highest-selling female artists in country music history with over 10 million records sold. The three-time Grammy Award winner has nine No. 1 hits and 20 Top 10 hits under her belt. She was named one of RedBook Magazine’s Women of the Year in 2005, has performed at the Olympic Summer Games, the White House, Clinton’s inauguration (per his request), and has dueted with Pavarotti in Italy. The Grand Ole Opry member is a three-time Country Music Award winner and a two-time Academy of Country Music Award winner. In addition, Yearwood has been honored with an American Music Award, a Pollstar Concert Industry Award and was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2000. Yearwood’s first studio album since 2005, Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love, will be released on November 13 and the single of the same name is one of her fastest-rising singles to date. The highly-anticipated album will be her first on her new label Big Machine Records.
CMT CROSSROADS pairs country music stars with popular artists from other genres—pop, rock, R&B—to play together, swap stories, and share their common love of music. Recent episodes of CROSSROADS have included Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs; Lindsey Buckingham and Little Big Town; Steve Earle and Rosanne Cash; Bonnie Raitt and Lyle Lovett; Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers; Bon Jovi and Sugarland; John Fogerty and Keith Urban; and Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire.
[via Think Tank]