CMT Blog: 2008 September

Pretty soon, Kenny Chesney won't even know what his fans' faces look like. The tops of their heads, yes. But he and plenty of other big stars will be blind to their faces. Because their faces are constantly bowed down over cell phones, Blackberry devices and iPhones during shows.

Fans spend so much time texting throughout concerts, I can't help but wonder what the artists think? Are their feelings hurt? Do they want to harass those fans and yell, "Hey, you. Yes, you, little Miss Rapidfire Thumbs. Stop texting people and watch the damn show"? Or could they care less?

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When I heard that Carrie Underwood songs were being turned into lullabies, I thought the world had gone mad. What baby wants to hear about the vandalistic revenge of an ex-girlfriend? Or a near-death experience on a slippery patch of ice? I couldn't think of a less soothing way to tuck a little baby in at night. Then I read a little more and realized that these Underwood lullabies would just be instrumental, with a combination of fiddle, steel, banjo, Dobro and, of course, the glockenspiel. That makes way more sense, and actually sounds kind of nice.

Kellie Pickler's new, self-titled album is brimming with breakup songs. Considering that she's a favorite among young women, I asked her to share any advice for those girls with broken hearts.

"I think the best advice that I could give a younger girl -- and this is for someone in elementary school through high school -- I would just advise young girls to not get into serious relationships so young," she says. "I'm from a small town, so it's kind of expected of you. When I graduated, there were girls in my graduating class that were barefoot and pregnant walking across the stage and the guy was not anyone to take home. And it's already leading to a road of disaster."

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OK, maybe she didn't exactly use that word. But Taylor Swift and MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe hooked up to launch MySpace Music on NBC's Today. (Not that kind of hookup. He's just about old enough to be her dad.) But there they were, talking about joint ventures between MySpace and record labels that will have cool new features like user and artist playlists and the ability to get MP3s right there on MySpace. And then there was talk of how to make money from all these new opportunities. If anyone knows how to monetize MySpace, it's Swift.

Oh, to be in the right place at the right time. Like Saturday night (Sept. 27) when Keith Urban had the crowd at the Grand Ole Opry sing "Happy Birthday" to Marty Stuart to celebrate his 50th. Urban sang some other hits, too, like "Raining on Sunday" and "You Look Good in My Shirt." Dierks Bentley was there. And there was even a cake decorated like one of Stuart's extravagant embroidered jackets. They sang some more, joked around a lot, and it sounds like they all had a good ol' time. One more reason why I really need to move to Nashville.

Kevin Costner tells People magazine that he and his band, Modern West, have a country album coming out this November and plan to tour late this year and into 2009. Costner fronts the band and says he and some of the members have been playing together for 20 years. There are some song samples on Modern West's MySpace for you to check out, and the article says several songs will be available for country radio this week. He is far from the first movie star to make the jump. I really like Billy Bob Thornton's work with the Boxmasters, but Costner caught me off guard a little. Then again, he was pretty cool in 3000 Miles to Graceland.

When it comes to country music and the branching sub-genres, there seems to be a line drawn between the kind of country music coming from Texas and that from Nashville. Both are noteworthy in their own right, but the rowdier, edgier and raw Texas sounds rarely find the airtime of Nashville groups like Rascal Flatts, Sugarland and so on.

Recently, I had the chance to ask popular Texas country bands like the Randy Rogers Band and Reckless Kelly for their inside views. Here's what they had to say:

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Some readers have suggested that I need to open my mind a little more. You know who you are. The ones who tell me I'm too focused on mainstream pop country. So today, a day that the close-minded me would have reserved for talk of only Kellie Pickler's new album, I will also tell you what I think of a not-so-mainstream new album, Wade Bowen's If We Ever Make It Home.

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Waylon Jennings has a new album due out Oct. 21 on Vagrant Records. Waylon Forever is a collaboration between him, his son Shooter Jennings and Shooter's band the .357's. The project started in back in 1995, but was only finished recently when Shooter went back into the studio to record tracks to underscore his late father's vocals. The first single is an updated version of "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" and, for a limited time, you can listen to it free on CMT.com.
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It was just a matter of time before Kenny Chesney started concocting his own rum. And now, with the help of Constellation Spirits in Chicago, he will. It will be the company's first celeb partner, and Chesney will help in developing and marketing the rum, according to the Chicago Tribune. And while his name will not be on the label, the company says, "It's a brand that he will endorse, a brand that he will consume." No word on what this deal will do to his Corona beer tour sponsorship, although the Corona brand is part of Constellation Spirits' parent company. Can you endorse two boozes at once, without getting labeled as an over-the-top partier? If anyone can, Chesney can.