CMT Blog: Travel

One of my colleagues once told me that he measured road-trip distances in beer. Like, Austin to Houston's about four beers. And Austin to Dallas? More like a six-pack. But I tend to measure distances in songs. And I know for a fact that a flight from Chicago to Nashville, which I'm taking tomorrow morning for the CMA Awards, is a 12-song flight, give or take a few tunes in the case of high winds and/or turbulence. From the time the pilot says, "Flight attendants, prepare for departure," to the time you hear, "Welcome to Nashville and thank you for flying with us," it takes me just a dozen songs to get through it. Well, music and Xanax. But I've already come clean on that one. The question is, which 12 songs?

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Last year at this time, the Bellamy Brothers enjoyed a surprising career resurgence in Europe when one of their signature songs, "Let Your Love Flow," was featured in a credit card advertisement for England's Barclay Bank. "Whoever the ad guy is there, I'd like to give him a big hug," says David Bellamy. "He just put it in the commercial and the thing came back on the charts. It was bigger than Beyoncé's record." Originally released in 1976, the instantly memorable song initially spread across Europe, and eventually the world, after they performed it on a popular television program in Amsterdam. Now it's a cornerstone of Anthology, Vol. 1, which is already available digitally, with a physical release in Europe scheduled for Nov. 23.

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I'm in New York City for the next few days to catch some music, take some meetings and reconnect with some friends who have recently relocated here. I also decided that I'd come up as a reward for my diligent marathon training so I started my celebration at a cool venue called City Winery. One of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters, Shawn Colvin, was wrapping up a three-night stand there last night, so I savored a glass of house Zin and a few hours of acoustic music. Now that's what I like: wine, women and song. She sang "Trouble" early in the set, then quipped, "And this is the most uptempo stuff I've got." Colvin used to live in New York City so it was like a quiet homecoming for her. I was also able to catch an opening set from Matthew Perryman Jones, who just happened to be accompanied by the musician I wrote about yesterday, Peter Bradley Adams. Of course, jubilant celebrations ensued much later in the night when the Yankees won the World Series and I have a feeling that the city will be moving slow this morning relatively speaking. I'm venturing out now for coffee, so I'm about to find out.

Could this contest possibly have any more prizes? This week kicks off the CMT on Tour With Jamey Johnson sweepstakes, and I just did some research on it. Even though I'm not eligible to enter, I can still pine for the grand prize, right? The winner gets a trip for two to see Johnson in 2010 in the city closest to him/her. (That includes airfare because the city closest to you may not actually be all that close.) Plus, you get two nights at a hotel, the two concert tickets AND an autographed guitar. I think the only way this sweepstakes could get any better is if they were giving away Johnson's actual guitar, which is autographed by Willie Nelson, George Strait and about 10 other artists he admires. The contest ends Dec. 6, so enter soon.

Carrie Underwood is performing a free concert on Dec. 5, but there are a couple of catches. One, you have to be a guest at the Atlantis, a resort in Paradise Island, Bahamas. And two, you still need a lot of money. Rooms for that weekend start at $246 a night, but then skyrocket up to the four-digit prices for the really nice luxury suites. That said, if you've been looking for a tropical vacation and some good country music, you'd probably have the time of your life. And like I said yesterday, I think Underwood herself could use some R&R after the November she's having. So who knows? Maybe you'll see her on the beach, scuba diving or plummeting down the 60-foot Leap of Faith water slide.

Growing up in the South -- and being brought up on country music -- made going to a show at the Grand Ole Opry House something I've always wanted to experience. On Tuesday (Oct. 27), I found out that's just what it is -- an experience, not just any old concert. I realized this during the introductory video just five minutes into the show. At 4' 11", Little Jimmy Dickens climbed a stepladder in order to stand eye-to-eye with 6' 6" Trace Adkins and invited Adkins to become an Opry member. It was obvious from Adkins' facial expression that he was elated. The audience doubled over with laughter at the first sight of Dickens on the ladder but the laughs quickly died down as Adkins' emotion apparently overwhelmed him, leaving everyone else with a warm sentiment and a big smile -- and the show hadn't even started yet.

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I'm planning a trip to New Orleans in the near future and there are several areas I would like to make sure and see while I'm there -- one being this beautiful tree in the opening scenes of Brandi Carlile's "Dreams." Her refreshing video leaves much to the mind's eye as you see her walking through a make-believe world of masks and characters. Directed by Roman White, the video was shot in New Orleans in a part of town called Mardi Gras World where old floats and masks are housed. As she sings of keeping her dreams to herself, she shows a glimpse inside her imaginary world. Appropriately, Carlile wakes up lying in the delightful shade of that magnificent tree. What a lovely place to live out your "Dreams."

I had a feeling that live music was sort of recession proof. And now I have proof. According to the Tennessean newspaper, concert grosses held steady and attendance even rose a little bit. That means 19.2 million people went to see some kind of live music during the 2009 concert season. I'm sure some of those are repeaters like me who go to multiple shows in a season, but still, that is a lot of people. Kenny Chesney makes up for a large part of that number, as does Taylor Swift. The story theorizes that the concert industry did OK this year because "many belt-tightening fans saw going to a concert as a less expensive alternative to going on vacation." I've never really thought of a two-or-three-hour show as a vacation, but I can kind of see the parallels. The sun is usually out, the beer is plentiful and typically everyone's pretty happy. So yeah. I guess concerts are the new vacations.

Photo credit: Ed Rode

Maybe he thinks one of his fans will be just the good luck charm he needs to win all the CMA Awards he is nominated for. Or maybe he's just nice. Either way, enter this contest if you want Keith Urban to foot the bill for you and a friend, spouse, sister or miscellaneous fan to come on down to Nashville for the CMA Awards on Nov. 11. You can win two really good tickets plus a gift bag with "apparel and commemorative merchandise." (There's no mention of airfare and hotel so I guess if you are out of town you'd have to pay for that yourself.) And it doesn't say this on the entry form, but if and when Urban goes onstage to accept any awards, I think you are obligated to hoot and holler the loudest.

For me, this Garth Brooks Vegas thing is a no-brainer. He's coming, so I'm going. There's no hemming and hawing whatsoever. But I made the mistake of suggesting to my friends that we make a fun, long getaway weekend out of it.

We picked a weekend in February, and I gave them all the information they'd need to make it happen. The Wynn Las Vegas link to buy tickets at 10 a.m. CT Saturday (Oct. 24), Southwest Airlines' list of Chicago-to-Las Vegas flights and some names of hotels near the Wynn if that was too pricey.

But then the questions start flooding my e-mail inbox and voicemail:

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