Feb. 19-21 is the Country Radio Seminar (CRS), the world’s biggest annual convention for music executives and air personalities involved in the genre of country radio. As well as many business seminars, CRS is an opportunity for labels to promote their artists to radio programmers and disc jockeys.
Country music is continuing to grow overseas, particularly in the U.K and in Ireland. This is thanks in large part to new fans finding country songs via streaming even when it isn’t playing that much on radio in Europe.
- Morgan Wallen is taking his music (and his curly mullet) to a series of club dates and has added a second night to his appearance in London.
- Kane Brown played Dublin on Feb 2 as the first date of his Worldwide Beautiful Tour.
- The annual Country2Country tour goes to Amsterdam (Netherlands), Berlin (Germany), Dublin (Ireland), Glasgow (Scotland) and London (England). Artists on that tour include Luke Combs, Darius Rucker, The Cadillac Three and Old Dominion.
- The CMA also has a number of shows set for ‘Pacific rim’ countries with a tour named Introducing Nashville. The tour will make stops in Australia, New Zealand and Japan with artists that include Cassadee Pope, Abby Anderson, Niko Moon, and Mitchell Tenpenny.
Country artists are known for their charity work. Toby Keith recently was awarded Golf Digest’s Arnie Award at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Golf Tournament to recognize his efforts at raising charitable funding through golf. One of his charitable achievements: raising $13.7 million for his OK Kids Korral charity.
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“I Know Country” Q&A from www.IKnowCountry.com
QUESTION: Name the country duo whose video for the song “Gone” debuted on CMT on February 10, 2005.
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At Chris Lane’s recent No. 1 party for “I Don’t Know About You” I spoke with Chris about his early attempts at songwriting. His comments should be encouraging for aspiring songwriters who think they are getting nowhere! When you start out, each song you write will be better than the previous one. As Chris Lane said, “I sat down and wrote twelve terrible songs, but that eventually led to me getting a publishing deal and a record deal and all that kind of stuff.” It took years of getting better at his craft. You can find the article at my blog https://www.nashvillemusicline.com/
Ashley Gorley, one of the writers of “I Don’t Know About You,” has now achieved 47 No. 1 hits, but success did not come fast or easily. He said, “I was here about eleven or twelve years before I had a song that was doing well at radio.”
As you know, I work with aspiring singers and songwriters with my College of Songology in Nashville. I always tell them – and their parents – that they can’t expect to achieve success in six months or a year. And if they get to Nashville and someone tells them they’re ready to record an album and be a star (and pay lots of money), don’t do it! Keep away from the song sharks! More details at https://www.collegeofsongology.com/
Billboard Country Airplay chart Top Five for week of Feb. 15 (Last week’s position in parentheses)
- (2) “The Bones” Maren Morris
- (4) “Kinfolks” Sam Hunt
- (3) “10,000 Hours” Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber
- (1) “Heartache Medication” Jon Pardi
- (6) “Make Me Want To” Jimmie Allen
- “The Bones” is Maren Morris’ 4th 1 on Billboard Country Airplay, and is the follow-up to her previous No. 1, “Girl” making her the first female artist to top the Airplay chart with consecutive singles since Kelsea Ballerini who did it with “Dibs” (March 2016) and “Peter Pan” (Sept 2016).
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“I Know Country” Q&A Answer:
Montgomery Gentry – Eddie Montgomery and the late Troy Gentry – for whom “Gone” was the third single from their album “You Do Your Thing.”
- Troy died in a tragic helicopter crash, September 8, 2017, in Medford, NJ, where the duo was scheduled to appear.
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On this day in Country Music
Feb. 15, 1972 Charley Pride’s album Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs, was No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album charts. (Charley was RCA’s best-selling artist since Elvis.)
Feb. 15, 1993 Toby Keith released his first single, “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” from his self-titled album. It went on to be a No. 1 hit and became the most-played song on Country radio in the 1990s.
Feb. 15, 2008 Tom T. Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Hall wrote eleven No. 1 songs including “Harper Valley PTA. (Tom was born May 25, 1936)
Feb. 15, 2018 Daryle Singletary passed away, age 46, apparently from a blood clot.
This week’s Country Music Birthdays
February 9 Travis Tritt, 1963
February 11 Sheryl Crow, 1962
Jon Jones (Eli Young Band), 1980
February 12 Moe Bandy, 1944 (often dueted with Joe Stampley)
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Preshias Harris is the author of “I Know Country” with 366 daily country music questions and answers. You can buy and instantly download your e-book copy at www.IKnowCountry.com.
Harris is also a music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Visit www.collegeofsongology.com for more details. Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com.
