Cledus T. Judd is back with some great titles

These should be funny to hear. Cledus is a wacky and goofy music man who can make us laugh with his remakes of country hits. Below are some of his newest songs. Beverly Keel reported today that he was taping the video for his song "Waitin on Obama" which is based around the sound of "Waitin on a Woman" by Brad Paisley.
~Corey



Cledus T. Judd has recorded "Waitin' On Obama," to the tune of Brad Paisley's hit, "Waiting on a Woman." The lyrics include, "Waitin' to vote down at City Hall/Watchin' gas go up and the stock/market fall, when he asked me/You waitin' on Obama/I said I guess, how 'bout you/He said son, ever since George W./I've been waitin'/Waitin' on Obama."

The album will be titled Polyrically Correct" and contain "Garth Must Be Busy," a parody of Brooks & Dunn's "God Must Be Busy," and "I Saw Garth Today," a parody of George Strait's "I Saw God Today."

Beverly Keel's column has more on Cledus as well as Dave Pomeroy, Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts.

Metallica runs amock in Nashville before Bonnaroo

Metallica was spotted eating at Sunset Grill on this past Thursday, after the surprise show at The Basement and before going heading down to Bonnaroo for their show.
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See some real close-up videos HERE from the Basement show.

Robert Plant seems to be making the rounds in Nashville

Robert Plant was spotted on the patio at Batter'd & Fried in East Nashville on Wednesday. At least, it looked like him from 100 yards back, which is how far the restraining order requires me to be at all times.

~Beverly Keel

Read more from Beverly Keel's column.

Nashville Tidbits

There will be nearly as many stars on the streets as in the sky tonight because the 2008 CMT Music Awards' lineup includes virtually everyone who's anybody in contemporary country music.

Just look at who's performing: Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, Taylor Swift, LeAnn Rimes, Keith Urban and Brooks & Dunn. Presenters include Martina McBride, Julianne Hough, Reba McEntire, Sara Evans, Josh Turner, Miranda Lambert and John Rich.
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• Vince Gill will sing the national anthem at tonight's Predators-Red Wings hockey game at Sommet Center. This is Game 3 of the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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• Reba McEntire was joined by Martina McBride on "Does He Love You" at Divas Nashvegas Saturday night during the Oasis Center fundraiser at the Parthenon.

Read more in Beverly Keel's column in the Tennessean newspaper.

Kix Brooks wants to be paid for Fan Fair/CMA Music Festival

Here is a story from the local paper....

Kix Brooks has caused quite a stir.

Last week, Brooks — a CMA board member and half of superstar country duo Brooks & Dunn — warned Nashville business leaders that Nashville’s annual CMA Music Festival is somewhat of a house of cards. The success of the four-day event depends a great deal on its ability to draw big names during peak touring season, but artists who come to perform aren’t paid.


Read the rest of the story in the Tennessean newspaper.

Jeffrey Steele at the Bluebird Cafe This Friday

BMI Songwriter of the Year Jeffrey Steele ("What Hurts the Most") performs at the Bluebird Café Friday at 9:30 p.m. He'll debut songs from his new album, which hits streets in 2008. This is a rare solo Bluebird show for Jeff, and his last one sold out in three minutes. Tickets are $12.

Visit Beverly Keel's column to read more entertainment news from Nashville.

Natalie Grant To Perform Christmas Concert

Christian singer Natalie Grant loves Christmas, so she is having a hard time trying to fit all of her favorite holiday songs in one show.


She performs at Murfreesboro's World Outreach Church on Sunday at 6 p.m. and Monday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12, or $10 through the church.

" 'O Holy Night' is by far my most favorite Christmas song of all time," she said. "But I'm a kid at heart, so there's a lot of Santa songs."
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Read more in Beverly Keel's column.

Keith Urban is Finally Back Home in Nashville

~Keith Urban has toured internationally this year, but it's tonight's Sommet Center show that really makes him excited.

~As he begins what he says is a new chapter in his life, he can't help but reflect on his career.

"It doesn't feel like it was that long ago that I was playing the Ace of Clubs and 12th and Porter.

To go from those little places up to this venue is just amazing. It's a great feeling; I certainly don't take it for granted."

The couple purchased a Middle Tennessee farm this year that they're currently renovating.

"Ironically, the first place I took her to was out near Leiper's Fork," he said. "That ended up being out in the general area where we will now call home. I just knew that she would love it for the exact same reasons I love it. There's a pace and a way of living that is much more spiritually satisfying to me than a lot of other places."

Of his farm, he says, "It's something that has quite a bit of room to walk around and grow some grass under our feet and have some privacy, but not feel like we're isolated. We don't want to live in a compound. It's the great thing about Tennessee and especially Nashville. The people are just real people, so they just accept you being neighbors.

He said the couple has a good rhythm here. "Nashville suited us as a couple very quicky. So having been away now for so long making this film, we are just both anxious to get back into that groove again."
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Read all about Keith being at the Sommet Center and loving Nashville in the Beverly Keel column in the Tennessean newspaper.

Jewel, Jessica Simpson and Beyonce Go Country

All three of these talented and incredibly beautiful women are working on country albums. I don't think anyone would have ever imagined country music being the music of choice for these ladies but now that it is selling as good or better than any other genre of music, here they come to Nashville and country music.

Am I glad to see these newcomers? I don't know and I'm not sure I will know until I hear what they sound like. I just hope they are doing this for a love of the art and of the music and not just another way to make money.

Ladies, welcome and welcome back to Nashville....make us proud and don't try to make light of our music and our city. This is a great and proud area so just do us right.







Now let me refer you to a letter from Beverly Keel to Jessica Simpson, just to reiterate my point. She says it so much better than I do.
~~~~~~~

Dear Jessica Simpson,

Word of your desire to make a country album has become a frequent topic of conversation here.

First of all, let me welcome you to Nashville. I encourage you to spend some time immersed in our wonderful creative community.

There's nowhere else like it on earth.

As you embark on the next chapter of your young life, I encourage everybody to begin with a blank slate and no preconceived notions when they first meet you.

Few people can truly understand what it's been like for you to be constantly hunted by the paparazzi, and I'm sure more than a few erroneous stories have been repeated in the press. Few of us here actually know you, so we should begin by giving you the benefit of the doubt.

You are a lovely woman with a fine voice. My hope is that now you will focus on your artistry and work on developing an authentic, honest musical style. After your very public heartaches and disappointments, I'm sure you've got something to say.

Pair up with a few of our tunesmiths and pour those feelings into your songwriting. You'll get much more respect than if you quickly make an album of radio-friendly pop-country tunes. It's time to get serious, leave the L.A. flash behind and let your substance show through. Enough with using "dumb blonde" stereotypes as a marketing tool.

We take our country music and its heritage very seriously around here. I didn't take kindly to your lack of preparation for the Dolly Parton tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors. I found it unprofessional and disrespectful and was bothered that you wasted a spot that had been denied to many worthy country singers.

Given the wide exposure of that debacle, I'm sure you've learned your lesson. You're certainly not the first performer to make a mistake onstage.

It's time for all of us to move forward. If you treat us seriously, we'll try to do the same.

Be sure to visit the Tennessean and read Beverly Keel's column.

Nashville Tidbits with Beverly Keel

Marty Stuart

Jim Lauderdale

Emmylou Harris

From Tennessean music writer Peter Cooper:
With Marty Stuart's Sparkle & Twang exhibit as the sparkling, twanging background, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell, Mike Farris and other artists paid tribute to Porter Wagoner on Wednesday night at the Tennessee State Museum.

"We've been so inspired by him for so long," said Emmylou, who sang three Porter songs with Buddy before inviting Jim up for a resplendent version of "Satisfied Mind."

The event was a kickoff to the Americana Music Conference and a chance for Porter's friends, family and fans to remember the Wagonmaster


~Titans QB Vince Young not only gave away candy Halloween night, but he also signed footballs (which he provided) and photos for trick-or-treaters at his Sumner County home.


~Jessica Simpson will be in town next week to attend the BMI and CMA Awards.



Read Beverly Keel's column and read more of these stories PLUS read about Toby Keith, Carrie Underwood, Koinonia reunion and more.

New Members for the Country Music Hall of Fame

In a time when many bemoan the current state of country music, Sunday's night's Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony represented everything that's right with the beloved genre.

Dierks Bentley called the medallion event honoring inductees Mel Tillis, Ralph Emery and Vince Gill "the last link to the good stuff." True musical visionaries including Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Kenny Rogers, Michael McDonald and Bill Gaither got a deserving welcome on this red carpet, where even the arrival of noted guitarist Jimmy Capps was announced to the crowd by Bill Cody.


Mel Tillis


Vince Gill

Amy Grant was by husband Vince's side, but just barely. She had been booked for months to perform out of town, but was able to change the show from evening to afternoon. She slipped into her black dress in an airport bathroom. The night was also special for Vince because it was the 82nd birthday of his mother, who was there to witness his big night. "She's the same age as the Grand Ole Opry," Amy said. "You would think she was 60. He gets all of his good looks from his Mama."


Ralph Emery

Ralph put the finishing touches in his speech about four hours before the ceremony, but Vince and Mel decided to wing it.

"I have personally been flooded with an awful lot of years of memories," Vince said. "Every garage band I was in that got me here, every record I got somebody to buy got me here, every song I wrote with somebody else got me here. The thing that gives me great peace is knowing I did this with an enormous amount of help along the way."

Mel's thoughts turned to his train trip from Florida to Nashville 52 years ago. "I knocked on a few doors," said Mel, as his wife, Kathy DeMonaco stood nearby. "I wanted to be a singer and they said, 'We don't want any stuttering singers.' I said, 'Oh boy, what do you want?' They said, 'We need songs.' I said, 'I've never written a song in my life,' so I started writing songs."

Mel's "Stick With Me Baby" is included on the new Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album.

Little Richard has recorded Mel's "I Ain't Never" for an upcoming album benefitting Don Imus' ranch for sick children. Dierks said his version of the song delivered Sunday was a different than Little Richard's.

"I'm not going to dance on top of the piano!" Dierks said. "Mel's original version is pretty good, so it's hard to beat that, so that is what I'm going to do — same key, same everything."

Martina was delighted to honor Ralph, who was instrumental in promoting her career early on. I asked if she dared to dream that one day she might join him in that legendary circle.

"No," she said. "That is one of those things that seems so far out of your reach. It is the pinnacle."

Visit Beverly Keel's colum in the Tennessean to read more.

Keith Urban Takes Over the Ellen DeGeneres Studio

When Ellen DeGeneres abruptly canceled the taping of two shows in Los Angeles on Thursday, Keith Urban stepped in and delivered an impromptu set to her studio audience of 400 people.

Keith performed "Everybody," which will air Oct. 22, and "Once in a Lifetime," which will air around Nov. 20. Since his equipment was all plugged in and sound-checked, the generous soul just kept on playing, so the audience would still see a show. He wished Ellen well. "We all love her, and God bless her," he told the audience.

I Just Love Beverly Keel for Her, "open letter to Jessica Simpson"

An open letter to Jessica Simpson


Dear Jessica Simpson,

Word of your desire to make a country album has become a frequent topic of conversation here.
First of all, let me welcome you to Nashville. I encourage you to spend some time immersed in our wonderful creative community. There's nowhere else like it on earth.

As you embark on the next chapter of your young life, I encourage everybody to begin with a blank slate and no preconceived notions when they first meet you.

Few people can truly understand what it's been like for you to be constantly hunted by the paparazzi, and I'm sure more than a few erroneous stories have been repeated in the press. Few of us here actually know you, so we should begin by giving you the benefit of the doubt.

You are a lovely woman with a fine voice. My hope is that now you will focus on your artistry and work on developing an authentic, honest musical style. After your very public heartaches and disappointments, I'm sure you've got something to say.

Pair up with a few of our tunesmiths and pour those feelings into your songwriting. You'll get much more respect than if you quickly make an album of radio-friendly pop-country tunes. It's time to get serious, leave the L.A. flash behind and let your substance show through. Enough with using "dumb blonde" stereotypes as a marketing tool.

We take our country music and its heritage very seriously around here. I didn't take kindly to your lack of preparation for the Dolly Parton tribute at the Kennedy Center Honors. I found it unprofessional and disrespectful and was bothered that you wasted a spot that had been denied to many worthy country singers.

Given the wide exposure of that debacle, I'm sure you've learned your lesson. You're certainly not the first performer to make a mistake onstage.

It's time for all of us to move forward. If you treat us seriously, we'll try to do the same.

Be sure to visit the Tennessean and read Beverly Keel's column.

Gretchin Wilson is All Jacked Up

Tennessean reader Larry Mullins responded to Wednesday's item about Gretchen Wilson's bad behavior on an airline. He sat three rows behind her. "…To say that she was verbally abusive is putting it mildly. Her attitude, loud profanity, disregard for airline rules and treatment of the airline employees has eliminated our family from her fan base." Gretchen's rep couldn't be reached for comment.

Be sure to read Beverly Keel's column.

Everyone's at the Palm Restaurant Recently

John Rich was there with Jessica Simpson..wait...wrong John Rich.

This John Rich was there with Jessica Simpson.


The rock group Styx had lunch there.


Kenny Chesney stopped by Tuesday night.




Found all these little morsels in Beverly Keel's column.

Jimmy Buffet at the Exit/In Will Be The Coolest

If Buffett again includes Nashville on his summer concert tour, he has already picked out the venue.

Sommet Center? Naah. Ryman Auditorium? Think smaller.

Buffett likes the Exit/In.

"I played there the second weekend it opened (in 1971), the Friday and Saturday night shows," said Buffett, who was in town for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremonies Sunday night. We were inclined to think he was kidding, until he added, "I just played a show at a 400-seat club in Paris, so the Exit/In is not out of the plan." Buffett played 10 shows at Exit/In during a tour in 1974.

Buffett was in Nashville to help induct songwriter Mac McAnally, a longtime Buffett band member, into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Buffett is also a Hall of Fame member.

Buffett has not performed in Nashville since April 2003, partly because Starwood Amphitheatre, his previous venue of choice, has been sold and closed.

Visit Beverly Keel in the Tennessean for the entire article.

Bilde

Can't Keep Bucky Out of the Bars

Jason Michael Carroll and Bucky Covington are teaming up for the 20-city bar tour that begins next month and stops in Nashville on Nov. 17.



"Every time I go back into a bar, it takes you back to when you first got into music," Bucky says. "I played bars eight years or so. I think anybody who gets into music got into it because they went to a bar, played music and people liked it. It's about the music, but it's also about the attention in the bar."

"It's called Raisin' the Bar tour.

Read more Nashville news in Beverly Keel's column today.

Vince Sings to the Undies

In a new song and video, serious musician Vince Gill sings the praises of underwear with so much passion that you'd think he was crooning about a doughnut.

In "Daddy Was the Apple of My Eye," Vince sings, "No castle in the South of France/but what we had were underpants/That made us feel like royalty." Duet partner and mono-monikered Apple then sings, "his hands were hard/his waist band soft." The video also features several other grown men dressed in fruit costumes playing instruments.

Read the Beverly Keel article in the Tennessean

Blackbird Studio produces top 3 albums in nation

The top 3 albums on this week's Billboard Top 200 albums chart all have something in common: They were recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

Bon Jovi, The White Stripes and Brad Paisley all chose the Berry Hill studio owned by Martina and John McBride to record their albums that were released last week.

Big & Rich, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Trace Adkins and Rascal Flatts have also recorded there, but it's not just for country anymore. "We've been so busy and we're getting a lot of crazy rock stuff," says John, citing The Raconteurs, Kid Rock and Altar Bridge. "It looks like Staind is coming here."


Read more and everyday in Beverly Keel's column in the Tennessean.