Inside Music Row

Each Fall, Capitol Records hosts a street party, where they shut down part of Demonbreum, right near Music Row, set up a stage and play some free music for their fans well into the night.  This year, the featured performers included newcomers Walker Hayes, Jenette McCurdy, and Troy Olson as well as established stars Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, and even a surprise performance from Keith Urban. Although the concert was free, fans were encouraged to bring supplies for the Pencil Foundation. Representatives were on hand to collect over five thousand school supplies for Metro Nashville Public Schools.  Kelly Lynn headed backstage to catch up with a few of her friends before thousands of fans packed the street for an evening to remember.

Nashville and Country Music News that includes Tracy Lawrence, Buddy Jewell, St. Jude, Darryl Worley Cancer Treatment Center, John Rich, Donald Trump Celebrity Apprentice, The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductees, Pat Alger, Steve Cropper, Pat Davis, Stephen Foster, Garth Brooks, T. Graham Brown, Jimmy Wayne, Jim Lauderdale, We go inside the song with Ben Hayslip as he talks about Joe Nichols song "The Shape I'm In."

With this week’s CMA Awards, we thought we’d give you an inside look into some of the incredible programs that are supported by the Country Music Association.  Each year with the CMA Music Festival, the CMA donates half of the proceeds to the Metro Nashville schools to help ‘Keep the Music Playing.’  This year, the organization decided to donate the other half to flood relief, to help those still recovering from the May floods. If you want to help support the CMA programs next year, and hear some great live music, you can get your tickets to the 2011 CMA Music Festival June ninth through the twelfth.  

we also have our weekly songwriter tip brought to you by the Nashville Songwriters Association International.  James Dean Hicks tells you why as a songwriter, you always need to set your sights high.    

After a fifty-year recording career, 37 Top 40 hits, countless awards and inductions, Smokey Robinson is no stranger to hit albums.  His latest effort ‘Now and Then’ teams him up with Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores in the restaurant’s exclusive music program. ‘Now and Then’ serves up smooth ballads and some of the classic Motown hits that made Smokey one of the most influential figures in the history of popular music. The new disc features twelve songs, half of which are live versions of his well-known classics and the others are from his 2009 disc ‘Time Flies When You’re Having Fun.’  

Multi-platinum country artist Dierks Bentley hosted his fifth annual ‘Miles and Music For Kids’ right here in Middle Tennessee.  The first four motorcycle rides brought in over 30-thousand fans and raised 1-point-2 million dollars for children’s hospitals across America, so expectations were high for this year’s ride.  Kelly Lynn caught up with Dierks and a few of his friends before the ride kicked off in Columbia, Tennessee.The 90-minute ride ended with a huge concert at Nashville’s Riverfront Park, and included many of Dierks’ friends, like Miranda Lambert, Jerrod Niemann, Del McCoury and more.  Together they raised about 250-thousand dollars, which will go to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. 

Nashville and Country Music News that includes Trace adkins, Craig Morgan, Garth Brooks, Phil Bredesen, Karl Dean, CMA Awards, People's Choice Awards, Kenney Chesney, Taylor Swift, miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Zac Brown, Keith Urban, The American Music Awards, Lady Antebellum, Eminem, Jason Aldean, American Country Awards, Las Vegas, Easton Corbin, ACA, AMA, PCA, CMA, We go Inside The SOng with Carrie Underwood as she tells us about the third single of her Play On Album "Undo It."

Matthew West is very well known in contemporary Christian music, but he’s also a Nashville resident, and very active in the music industry.  When he started work on his latest album, he put a call out for people to send him their life stories so he could write about everyday people.  You might say he was more than a little shocked with the response.

Luke Bryan hit the top of the charts recently with his second consecutive single, this time for ‘Rain Is A Good Thing.’  Now any chance to celebrate a number one hit is a good thing, but this number one party at BMI had a little more to it than that.  

Loretta Lynn has been singing country music now for over fifty years.  That’s quite an accomplishment to make a good living doing something you love so much for so long. This year especially has been a very busy year for Loretta.  She was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy and also has a new tribute album We headed out to her home of Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, for the big party to celebrate her golden anniversary in the music business.

Nashville and Country Music News that includes Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, CMT Artists of The Year, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Zac Brown Band, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Grand ole Opry, Guitar Center. We go inside the song with Lee Brice as he talks about his hit Love Like Crazy.