CMT Blog: Can You Duet

I met Joshua Scott Jones the summer of 2003. I was an aspiring journalist interning for the local television station in Charleston, Ill., and he was a hopeful musician and singer-songwriter. I saw him in passing several times in college, but we soon lost touch over the years. Unbeknownst to the other, in 2006, we both left that small town and headed south to Nashville. Josh moved here to perform country music. I moved here to write about it. Three years later, our paths would cross again.

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Can the freshly crowned winner of CMT's Can You Duet really perform immediately after being named winners? I mean, won't they be too overwhelmed to sing? I guess we'll find out Saturday (Aug. 8), right after the show's big season finale. It's down to two twosomes: JB Rocket and Steel Magnolia. And the winning duo will head straight over to Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon right after the announcement. The only problem is, if you want to see the winners perform live, you really should get in line early at the Wildhorse. Hopefully, you'll be through the doors in time to watch the broadcast when it begins at 9 p.m. ET/PT. And you'll have a spot up front for listening to all that good country music.

You might plan to have a box of tissues ready when you watch Caitlin & Will's latest video, "Address in the Stars," because the emotions that these two deliver are genuine, heartfelt and poignant. The song is about losing a loved one and wanting so badly to talk to them except there's "no address in the stars." Caitlin plays her role well in this video. So well in fact, that I felt like I needed to offer my condolences. Her tears, facial expressions and body language are so believable that you think she just underwent a loss. The black-and-white picture and the forest filled with paper lanterns add to the bleak, melancholy setting. I was impressed with these Can You Duet winners' ability to create a dramatic piece without making it cheesy and cliché.

Editor's note: Scott Borchetta is a judge on the second season of CMT's Can You Duet, which premieres Saturday (June 20) at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CMT.

The opportunity to do the show really wasn't about being a judge. We're always looking for new ways to break artists, and I felt that there was a huge opportunity. That if we were the label, that we'd have an opportunity to assist in the A&R, in the creative, and we've treated this just like we sign anybody else. I've had my VP of A&R, my VP of creative services, with me at every meeting, every screening, every show. There was no desire for me to be a judge. There was a desire to work with the platform and see if we could break an act out of it.

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Editor's note: Big Kenny is a judge on the second season of CMT's Can You Duet, which premieres Saturday (June 20) at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CMT.

I didn't want to do it. I turned them down three times. We had a meeting and all the executives and producers came over and hung out with me at my studio for a little while and we got to have a heart-to-heart, because I had to make sure that it was something I could put my heart into. If not, I had plenty of stuff to do. I've got way more jobs than I should have. But then they sent me a tape over of some of the talent that they had auditioned, and I saw in those tapes a few things that made me go, OK, the talent here is at a level that could really do something. And when I see something like that, of course I want to help them, I want to see them rise, I want to see other great entertainers out there. I want to see creativity rise higher, I want to see the beacon of Nashville rise higher. This is Music City, USA. Music City, the World.

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Editor's note: Naomi Judd is a judge on the second season of CMT's Can You Duet, which premieres Saturday (June 20) at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CMT.

This is one of the most fun things I've ever been involved in. One of my gigs in life is healing. I'm an RN and I was actually going to get my MD before Wynonna started singing, and when I see these young people who are just starting out on their journey, I see Wynonna in them. I see myself in them. And I know how impressionable and how critical this stage of their life is.

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The three new music videos visiting the screening room this week for the CMT New Video Evaluation Team took as their locale a luxury hotel in Paris, a tree house out in the woods and the CMT Crossroads stage.

Artist: Bryan Adams and Jason Aldean
Video: "Heaven" (CMT Crossroads Excerpt)
Director: Ivan Dudynsky

Jason Aldean takes the lead vocal in this rendition of the Bryan Adams hit, "Heaven," from their recent collaboration during a taping of CMT Crossroads. And Adams is clearly enjoying Alden's singing here. Note: This video will be available online June 12 on CMT.com.

Panelists' comments: "Jason can really sing!" "Awesome!" "This turned out to be great." "Jason and Bryan together developed a real chemistry." "Thumbs up!"

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If Kenny Chesney is going to play for more country fans than any other artist this summer, wouldn't it be a huge career boost to play your music for that same audience? Twin-sis country duo Kate & Kacey are about to find out. They will be hanging out and performing at the official tailgate parties (aptly named the Corona Sun City Tailgate Experience) before 11 of Chesney's shows starting in May. Technically the sisters, who came in second on last year's Can You Duet, won't be in the venue. But what's cool for a tailgating act is that they get to play for the fans when their open-mindedness is at an all-time high. And by "open-mindedness," I mean sobriety. Even Kate & Kacey themselves are thrilled to be doing this. "I have been listening to Kenny since I can remember!" says Kacey. "Our whole family is one huge Kenny Chesney fan! We go in packs of 30 to the shows ... so Kate and I have suddenly become rock stars!"

Can You Duet ? If not, can you at least go and watch other people duet? Yes, if you are free tonight (April 21) and live somewhere near Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon. That's where Naomi Judd will be holding court as the top-notch judge on CMT's Can You Duet music competition and spawner of acts like Joey & Rory, who will be performing at tonight's taping. It starts at 8 p.m. and is free of charge. So you'll get to hear some good country music, watch Judd impart her years of wisdom, see show host Lance Smith charm the contestants and maybe, just maybe, get your split second of fame during one of the audience shots. If you do go, report back here and tell us all about it.

These five new videos that are all over the musical as well as the visual map were considered this week by the CMT New Video Evaluation Team. We see Dolly Parton as Barbie, Jessica Harp as a tarty French maid, Caitlin & Will as earnest urban troubadours, Rascal Flatts as solemn storytellers of a sad song and Sheila E., as a glamorous urban country rocker.

Artist: Rascal Flatts
Video: "Here Comes Goodbye"
Director: Shaun Silva

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