CMT Blog: 2008 February

I took my first cruise this year, and everything went swimmingly. Since it was a music cruise with some of my favorite songwriters, I didn’t have a hard time getting acclimated, and making friends was easy. However, I’d offer these tips to anybody about to embark for the first time:

Save money for excursions. Off-boat adventures can be steep. I visited the Mayan ruins of Tulum on Playa del Carmen, rented a jeep in Grand Cayman and biked and dived in Jamaica -- setting me back $254. I don’t regret it, but I wish I’d known to save a little bit more cash. My excursions to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica didn’t allow time for leisurely shopping, so if that’s your thing, skip the guided tours away from the dock.

Talk to people. With so many specialty cruises offered, you may already have something special in common with your fellow passengers. If somebody looks friendly, walk up and say, “Did you enjoy the entertainment last night?” If they’re on an excursion with you, that’s an easy conversation topic when you cross paths with them later on the boat.

Formal night is optional. I packed a nice suit, which I wore only once to dinner. Meanwhile, some of my new friends just ate at the upstairs buffet in their swimsuits. I should have saved that room in my suitcase and brought back some more Tortuga rum cakes. Oh well. My cruise was probably more informal than others, so look into the standard attire on deck before you go.

Turn off the cell phone. It’s just like the good old days when the people behind you in the coffee line aren’t yammering away. Also, do not rely on your cell phone as a timepiece. Excursions run on ship time, but some phones automatically adjust to whatever time zone you’re in. Wear a wristwatch for the accurate time, because if you’re an hour late getting to the dock, the boat will be long gone.

Parents first, superstars second. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill prove their love and devotion to their daughter Gracie at an Ensworth School basketball game. Looks like Tim's got some advice for the ref.

Kris Kristofferson has officially given his endorsement to Barack Obama, saying that the presidential hopeful has the diplomacy our world needs now.

A rock 'n' roll walk of fame in Australia honors Keith Urban with his own plaque, for his part in impacting the international music scene.

Move.That. Bus. And make room for Toby Keith when he performs on "Extreme Home Makeover" on Sunday (3/2).

If Alan Jackson really was rockin' in his cradle to the crying of a steel guitar, as he claims in his 1990 hit "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow," then his mother must've known best. She must've known that Jackson, who will turn 50 in October, was destined for country icon status. And his new CD, Good Time, (out on Tuesday) stakes his claim to that upper echelon of Nashville heroes even more. This space isn't big enough for a proper review of the 17 tunes he penned himself. So I will try, desperately, to narrow it down to the top three reasons you should own this little slice of country music heaven:

One: A simple track called "I Still Like Bologna." It has a love it/hate it/love it message about the high-tech world we're in. But Jackson's bottom line is that bologna, a woman's love and a good cell phone are the keys to happiness. I'd like to add to that list the sound of the double bass you can hear in the background.

Two: "Good Time." Sounds cliché, I know. But this isn't just another let's-go-out-tonight song. It's a fast-talker, which gives Jackson a chance to show off the myriad talents he's got in his voice without a whole bunch of unnecessary instruments. But the sweet harmonica break towards the end does add to the infectious workin'-all-week anthem.

Three: Country music's good about taking a phrase and turning it around. That's what happens in the brilliantly written "Right Where I Want You," when Jackson sings, "You've got me right where I want you." Gentle vocals help him pull off this aching ballad about getting caught up in love. (This last one was a tie for third place with "Small Town Southern Man," the one on the radio right now. But the radio's already doing a good job pushing that one.)

It's obvious that Jackson takes his craft seriously. He sticks to relatable narratives without ever losing focus on who he is -- in life, and in country music.

Vince Gill gave the Washington Post some totally awesome quotes about Taylor Swift, and how she's like so completely seriously amazing or whatever.

Another teen who's super awesome? Miley Cyrus, for rescuing a lost dog and comforting him until his owner was retreived.

If you're a Kenny Chesney fan, you won't want to miss tonight's premiere of Biography on A&E. Even though Chesney didn't speak to the A&E crew for the show, his manager and songwriters did.

The soldiers in Fort Bragg better get ready to rock. Miranda Lambert's going to perform just for them and their families on Saturday (3/1) night at the Ritz-Epps center.

As if he wasn't busy enough educating B-list celebs on country music, now John Rich is going to conduct monthly talent contests at 12th & Porter in Nashville.

At this point in the digital age, why isn't every album ever released by a major label available either on CD or as a download? And why does it so often take a foreign record label to re-release classic music that's sitting in a corporate vault?

I just got back from the Ernest Tubb Record Shop after learning that two of Chet Atkins' RCA albums from the mid ‘70s -- The Night Atlanta Burned and The First Nashville Guitar Quartet -- were finally released on CD. Not by RCA, of course, but by Raven Records, an Australian company that packaged them together on one disc. I gladly plunked down $24, but honestly, for the past decade, I would have paid twice that amount -- but that CD simply didn't exist and the download still doesn't.

Atkins recorded both albums with acoustic ensembles -- The Night Atlanta Burned with guitarist Paul Yandell, mandolinist Johnny Gimble and violinist Lisa Silver and The First Nashville Guitar Quartet with guitarists Liona Boyd, John Knowles and John Pell. Great stuff. While interviewing Chet Atkins in the mid ‘90s -- when he was recording for Columbia -- I asked if he thought The Night Atlanta Burned would ever be released on CD. He said, "All of that belongs to RCA. I'd love to see it released, but I don't have any control over what they do."

Raven made me very happy through the years with some of the titles they've been the first to release on CD, including an expanded version of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb's Reunion. Raven was also the first to offer CD versions of Michael Murphey's Geronimo's Cadillac and Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir, two excellent albums he made for A&M in the ‘70s.

If projected sales figures prohibit releasing CD versions of certain albums, how much does it cost to make a download available? No doubt, there are financial and legal factors at play in some situations, but it sure looks like the major labels are still sitting on a lot of music because they either don't know what they've got -- or don't care enough about it to make it available to the public.

I welcome criticism from other artists, as long as I ask for it, and I ask for it a lot. I'll go to other artists and say, "What do you think about that song I wrote? What do you think about an idea to do this, that or the other thing?" Some artists will come up and critique you without you asking them, and that can sometimes rub you the wrong way. But when the artists were working on Gone Country, it was a situation where these guys were fish out of water. They wrote a song and they had a work tape on it -- just them and a guitar or them and a piano. They really had no idea if they were close to hitting the mark or not. So for me to be able to critique those songs, I had to be able to tell them, "That part's good. That part's not. This works. That doesn't." They were wide open to it. I mean, they were soaking up everything I told them. It was a pretty big responsibility for me, though, to tell them the right thing. But it's no different then when I listen to songs that come in for records I'm going to produce or whatever. I'll listen to probably 100 songs a week from different people, and I'll know within the first 60 seconds if it's right or not.

To pair the cast members with some people who really know what they're doing, I called up a laundry list of the best songwriters in town, people I've been able to become friends with over the years. Most of them I've written with on one occasion or another, as well. And I put two writers per artist because I didn't know which artists would be good writers or not. Some of them might be great, and some of them might not be able to write at all. I teamed them up based on what I knew about their personalities and what would be the best combos. I think I matched them up pretty well because everybody wrote a great song. As far as the Nashville equation on how to write a hit song, I think I plugged them right in to that thing. It worked.

Maureen McCormick, of all people, exceeded my expectations. Now, Maureen is probably the weakest singer on the show. She's not really a vocalist or anything, but she wrote this song called "The Price I've Got to Pay for Being Me," that -- I swear to God -- is a hit song. It sounds like something Loretta Lynn would have written early on. It's just so direct -- three-chord country that just rips your heart out. When the cast heard her song, we all looked at her and went, "You've got to be kidding!" When I heard that, I said, "She went just way, way, way up on the totem pole as to who might win this show." I mean, that song is incredible.

Tift Merritt is sure to be traveling a lot this year, touring behind her brand new album, Another Country. To keep the creative juices flowing on the road, she has taken up a new hobby – photography.

"I became interested because I’m a fan. I think the same as songs can create a world or tell a story, photography can too," says Merritt, who nabbed a Grammy nomination for best country album for Tambourine.

"I need something creative to do on the road, but I need it to not be about myself. It’s really important to get outside of yourself when you’re going to a Tift show every night, so it was really wonderful for me to wander around and take photos," she says. "I think it’s really important to speak without words sometimes. I will get words stuck in my head to the point where I can’t sleep, so this was a great way for me to get outside of that. I’m a great admirer of visual art and visual artists -- and I’m jealous that I can’t do it myself. So this is the one way, because I have no eye-hand to paper coordination. I’ve figured out how to do it with a camera."

Armed with a 35 mm Canon and a Holga, Merritt is focusing her talent on capturing the moments on her life. Indeed, she has surrounded herself with beautiful surroundings lately – she vacationed in Paris after her last tour, then recorded the new album in Los Angeles. A native of North Carolina, she now lives in New York City. Clearly, she’s hard to pin down, and that elusive trait is evident in her pictures as well.

"If the photograph turns out well like I hoped it would, there’s a feeling of feeling invisible that is really nice," she says. "That’s what that person looks like, this is what they gave me and I just kind of got out of their way and caught it to show it to somebody else."

See photos by Tift Merritt.

Not that long ago, most Americans thought of yoga as an obscure practice, the province of health nuts and quirky hippies. Athletes and cardio-junkies never considered yoga serious exercise.

How times have changed! Yoga is now one of the most popular forms of exercise in the country. If you still think yoga is a lot of sitting around in pretzel positions and chanting, with very little heart-pounding or sweating, you don’t know yoga.

"I believe the biggest challenge [in yoga] is just getting the courage to try something different or new," says Kristian Bush of Sugarland. "Try to forget the stereotype in your mind. Yoga is for everyone -- children, athletes, moms, dads, accountants, truck drivers, even country stars."

He’s right. LeAnn Rimes, Little Big Town’s Phillip Sweet and Bush’s bandmate Jennifer Nettles are just a few of the major believers in the benefits of yoga, including increased strength and flexibility, stress relief, and improved overall fitness.

"I've been doing yoga for about nine years," says Shannon Wright, of The Wrights. "I can honestly say that it is my favorite type of exercise. It's a 'one-stop-shop.' You're working out your mind, body and spirit. I walk away feeling stronger, more focused and with more energy every time I practice. What more could you ask for in a workout routine?"

If yoga seems too tame for you, maybe you haven’t taken the right classes. Some are gentle Hatha-style yoga, and others are variations of the more vigorous Vinyasa style. Ashtanga yoga is fast-paced, and is sometimes the basis for "power yoga" classes. There are dozens of variations of these, mixing different styles or combining yoga with Pilates or some other exercise. Every yoga instructor is different, using his or her own eclectic mix of poses at his or her own pace. If you sample a few, you’re bound to find one that meets your needs, including weight loss, if that’s your goal.

"The change in my body was quite a surprise," says Bush. "I have the waist size back that I had in college, and the mental benefit is tremendous. To take an hour or even a half-hour every day helps to keep my mind clear and make space for new things."

“Yoga is great for me on many levels, not only as a way to stay in shape on the road, but also as a great way to meditate,” says Sweet. “I started doing it in earnest about three years ago and have never looked back. It takes great strength and balance to hold the positions, and it also requires you to still your mind, your breath, and stretch at the same time. It is challenging, and I can do it almost anywhere.”

Read more about Sugarland and yoga.

Maureen McCormick (better known as Marcia Brady) recently admitted to having a bit of a girl crush on Gretchen Wilson on Gone Country. Then CMT.com columnist Hazel Smith was raving about Crystal Gayle's skin, eyes, smile and hair. And Miley Cyrus had some mildly suggestive pictures taken with another girl a few months ago. Is everyone everywhere having these girl crushes, and if so, shouldn't someone write a song about the new trend?

Back in 2006, Willie Nelson released a song called "Cowboys are Secretly, Frequently (Fond of Each Other)." I think it might be the time for another tune about homosexual tendencies. Not a straight-up lesbian love song, but more of an exploration of the crushing craze, because it really has less to do with actual, physical lust and more to do with an infatuation of another girl's mind, body and soul. (Although McCormick's forthcoming book reportedly reveals a girl crush that actually progressed to sexual play with Eve Plumb, who played younger sister Jan Brady.)

I'm not suggesting country music's on the verge of a girl-on-girl kiss a la Madonna and Britney. However, a Jennifer Nettles/Carrie Underwood awards-show kiss would certainly give us something to talk about, wouldn't it? But I do think the phenomenon of girl love doesn't seem to be as taboo as it once was. In the new book, Sexual Fluidity, the author reports that women are more fluid with their emotions when it comes to other women -- that it's not as black and white as it is with men, and that the occasional attraction to women is natural.

Maybe in the conservative world of country radio, the potential lack of spins might be holding songwriters back. But radio has crossed some lines in the sand before, and the timing may be right for a little more flirtation with controversy. Just think of the untouched lyrical territory. Fans always want music they can relate to. And who can't relate to a page out of Marcia Brady's life?

Sounds like Garth Brooks should be the one up all night, cleaning his gun. Now that his daughters are growing up, he had to set down some ground rules for dating.

Even the highbrow Wall Street Journal can't help but hear the soul in the SteelDrivers' bluegrass. Music they themselves call "something with a little dirt under its nails."

With the Cyrus daddy-daughter duo tapped to host the 2008 CMT Music Awards, tickets are long gone. Was that the plan all along?

From the my-roots-have-been-country-all-along files, Eddie Money is producing a country album with revamps of his own hits like "Two Tickets to Paradise." No predictions on how long he'll stay country.

Pizza, pot stickers and a private show. That's what Julie Roberts fans are vying for in the contest to win a private concert, thanks to Red Baron Pizza and Asian Sensations.

Mindy McCready's trial date has been set for August, where she'll be tried for battery and resisting arrest. Expect a country song about her imprisonment to follow.