Kellie Pickler Releases New Album, ParamountSong X-Writer/Vocalist Has Cut No. One
January 20th, 2012
It’s always nice to see talent move up in this business, and we are pleased to see Don Poythress, who used to co-write and sing on demos for ParamountSong, credited with co-writing one of the songs on Kelly Picklers upcoming album release. It’s like we always say, some of the best up and coming talent in Nashville works to turn out the demos we record for songwriters and lyricists around the world.
These days, Don writes for peermusic (they don’t capitalize it either), one of America’s largest independent music publishers. He co-writes with some of the best on a wide variety of songs including Country and Christian. The artists who’ve recorded his songs could be listed as a who’s who of Country and Christian music. For the Pickler album, he co-wrote a tune called “Where’s Tammy Wynette.” Talk about an idea! How many of us would have thought of that? The song is the first cut on the album.
Release date for the work is January 24. Our congratulations to Don, and may he have many more!
Megaupload Shut Down by U.S. Prosecutors; Kim Dotcom, Three Others Arrested
January 19th, 2012
As the controversy rages over SOPA and PIPA, federal prosecutors have taken down a huge piracy site. After all, folks, stealing music and movies, like stealing anything else, is illegal and should be prosecuted.
Billboard.biz reports that “MegaUpload, one of the worlds largest file-sharing sites, was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy. The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.”
Of course these clods were reachable because their servers are in the U.S. But hundreds of creative content pirates are in other countries, and so the new bills in Congress are needed to get at them.
via Megaupload Shut Down by U.S. Prosecutors; Kim Dotcom, Three Others Arrested | Billboard.biz.
Paisley Starts Tour With Sold-Out First Weekend
January 17th, 2012
Brad Paisley’s Virtual Reality World Tour 2012 completed its first weekend by playing three sold-out shows before a total of over 39,000 fans, with stops in Grand Rapids, Milwaukee and St. Paul.
On Saturday afternoon 1/14, Paisley performed before an intimate crowd at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul on Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. He sat in with Guy’s All Star Shoe Band, performed in a Guy Noir Skit and performed two of his own songs along with “Life’s Railway to Heaven” with Keillor. Paisley tweeted following Prairie Home Companion, “It’s surreal opposites day. Intimate live radio with pal Garrison Keillor at Prairie Home Companion, then over to the arena for my big circus.”
Country star Keith Urban schedules first performance since vocal cord surgery
January 13th, 2012
Missing Keith Urban? You’re not the only one. He’s been out of commission for months now with a vocal cord problem. And that’s a really tough one for such a high-energy entertainer.
Keith will return to the stage on the Feb. 3 Grand Ole Opry. It’ll be his first performance since undergoing vocal surgery. The country superstar had a polyp removed from a vocal cord at Vanderbilt University Medical Center late last year and has been on vocal rest.
Scotty McCreery’s Debut Album Goes Platinum
January 11th, 2012
When news was released that Scotty McCreery would be recording in Nashville, we received tons of requests from writers we work with to pitch their songs to him. Problem was, by then, he had already locked up the songs he would record. That’s the way it goes. By the time the popular press and sites start talking about such things, it’s already done.
Now, as reported by Music Row.com, his debut album, Clear As Day, has been certified platinum in just three months after its Oct. 4, 2011 release.
McCreery says the platinum certification marks a major milestone in his career, “It means the world to me,” he explains. “It’s one of the highest honors you can get with your album and it’s a huge testament to the loyalty of country music fans and how great they have been to me this year. 2011 was absolutely an incredible, life-changing year for me. I want to say a huge thanks to the fans for this.”