CMT Blog: Can You Duet

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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Watching Joey & Rory sing together always catches my attention since the connection between them is so plain to see. When they first performed on CMT's Unplugged at Studio 330, they charmed me with the music from Life of a Song and stories about performing on Can You Duet, how they first met, and working in their restaurant, Marcy Jo's Mealhouse. But my favorite story is in "Heart of the Wood." It paints a picture and connects with the past, two things that this husband and wife do better than most. Watch the rest of Joey & Rory's Unplugged at Studio 330.

Joey & Rory got third place on CMT's Can You Duet, but it looks like things turned out all right for them anyway. People were excited to find out about their record deal, and now, according to The Tennessean, they will be featured in Overstock.com's national advertising campaign. English translation: two commercials with Joey & Rory playing on TVs all across the country. It seems Overstock's creative director saw Can You Duet and was pulled in by the couple's story. "I asked them why they didn't just hire actors," said Rory. "They said because people know the difference, they know the truth and they want people to connect with the company and connect with us and that's done by telling the truth." The two commercials will mirror Joey & Rory's real life, one about their everyday routine and one set at Christmas in Joey's restaurant.

Good things happen even when you're not the top winner of a TV talent competition. Kate and Kacey Coppola, who gained national attention on CMT's Can You Duet, have signed a deal with Big Machine Records. The Nashville-based indie company is the label home of Trisha Yearwood, Jack Ingram and a young singer-songwriter named Taylor Swift, among others.

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A bright, shiny six-pack of new videos was served up to the CMT video evaluation team this week. And they were all as different as could be from each other. There was a little bit of everything: an island mini-sermon, a white trash ho, a barroom descent straight to jail, A Star Is Born variation and more. Let's talk videos.

Artist: Kenny Chesney
Video: "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven"
Director: Shaun Silva

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