What to do in Oklahoma on March 31, 2011: Listen to Hayes Carll at Cain’s Ballroom
Today’s featured event:
TULSA – Listen to Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll, along with the duo Shovels and Rope, at 8 tonight at Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N Main. Doors will open at 7 p.m.
For more information, go to www.cainsballroom.com.
Carll also will play at 8 p.m. Friday at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Bricktown. Doors will open at 6 p.m.
For more information, go to www.wormydog.com.
He is touring in support of his new album “KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories),” and you can look for my review of it on Friday here at BAM’s Blog, on NewsOK and in the Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
In a recent phone interview, Carll gave me an idea of what people can expect from his shows:
“What can they expect from my live show? A lot of nudity, drunkenness, bad behavior,” he deadpanned. “We kind of run the gamut, really. I mean, a lot of stuff is singer-songwriter story songs, but we’ve got a big band that can cover a lot of ground. It’s definitely got a country vibe to it. But we rock out fairly hard as well. You know, it’s good time, fun music with some lyrics that’ll make you laugh and cry. And lots of nudity.”
To read more of my interview with Carll, click here.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Tickets for Taylor Swift’s fall Oklahoma City show go on sale April 8
Taylor Swift performs on the last night of her European Tour at London's O2 Arena on Wednesday. Swift will play Oct. 15 at the Oklahoma City Arena on the North American leg of her "Speak Now World Tour." (AP Photo)
Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. April 8 for country music sensation Taylor Swift’s fall Oklahoma City concert, the venue announced this afternoon.
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, who is in the final week of the European leg of her blockbuster “Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour 2011,” recently announced that due to strong fan demand she will extend the North American portion of her tour by 16 dates, including an Oct. 15 show at the Oklahoma City Arena.
Ticket prices are set at $25, $59.50 and $69.50.
Tickets can be purchased starting at 10 a.m. April 8 at the Oklahoma City Arena Box Office and all Ticketmaster Outlets, including participating Homeland stores, by phone at (800) 745-3000 or online at www.theokcarena.com
Swift, 21, sold out the Oklahoma City venue last March, when she brought her “Fearless 2010 Tour” to town.
With the added “Speak Now” shows, she will headline 78 shows in stadiums and arenas in 63 cities in 42 states and provinces in the United States and Canada this year.
As usual for Swift’s tours, tickets for concerts already put on sale were gone in minutes, including stadium shows in Detroit, Philadelphia, Foxboro, Mass., and four-night runs at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and Staples Center in Los Angeles. Her world tour launched Feb. 9 in Singapore and kicks off stateside May 27 with two sold-out shows at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. It now will wrap with two shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City just before Thanksgiving.
Swift spent most of the month of February playing to capacity crowds in Asia; this month she has headlined arenas throughout Europe. She has earned rave reviews on both continents.
During the show, she performs on two different stages and plays several different acoustic and electric guitars, along with the piano and the ukulele.
Australian star Adam Brand will warm up the crowds on Swift’s newly added September and November dates, while Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter David Nail will open the Oklahoma City concert and other added October shows.
Swift’s current world tour is supporting the October 2010 release of her third album, “Speak Now,” which topped sales of 1 million units in its first week, the biggest debut ever for a studio album by a country artist. Swift was named Nielsen SoundScan’s top-selling artist of 2010 based on her total album sales of 4.4 million.
Her career sales now exceed 19 million albums and 33 million song downloads, making her the top-selling digital artist in history, according to Billboard.com.
Swift is nominated for four trophies at Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards, including the evening’s biggest honor, the fan-voted entertainer of the year title. To learn more about the fan-voted award, go to www.voteACM.com. And plan to follow my live blog of the event Sunday night here on BAM’s Blog.
In addition, she will mark her second feature film role when she lends her voice to a computer-animated adaptation of Dr Seuss’ beloved children’s book “The Lorax,” which is due in theaters March 2, 2012, the anniversary of the author’s birth date. Swift made her film debut as part of the star-studded ensemble of Garry Marshall’s hit romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” in 2010.
Nail is scheduled to release his sophomore album in the fall on MCA Nashville, and his current single “Let It Rain” is the first offering from the still-to-be titled release. His new album is the official follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut, “I’m About To Come Alive,” and will be the first release since his Grammy nomination for best male vocal country performance for his hit “Turning Home.”
In his native Australia, Brand is a veritable superstar, earning three platinum and two gold albums, nominated four times for Best Country Album by ARIA (Australia Recording Industry Association), and winning a dozen CMAAs (Country Music Awards of Australia) including multiple wins in the song of the year and male vocalist of the year categories. Brand is now taking on Nashville with his upcoming release on Arista Records.
The North American leg of the “Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour 2011″ is sponsored by CoverGirl, and produced and promoted by The Messina Group. Ticket prices start at $25. The CoverGirl sponsorship is an expansion of the partnership announced last year, when she was named the newest CoverGirl.
For more information on Swift’s “Speak Now World Tour,” go to www.taylorswift.com.
-BAM
UCO and Kyle Dillingham’s Mary Rose documentary airing Thursday on PBS
The documentary “Oklahoma, Music and the Mary Rose” is set to premiere at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on OETA,.
Produced by the University of Central Oklahoma’s Centre for Global Competency, which is celebrating its third anniversary, the documentary captures last year’s performance of the “The Mary Rose,” a musical tribute celebrating the 500-year anniversary of the sinking of the legendary British warship “Mary Rose,” by Kyle Dillingham, UCO’s Ambassador in Residence and world-renowned violinist, alongside the Oklahoma Community Orchestra. Edmond composer Callen Clarke wrote the tribute.
Landing the special interest of Brittan’s Prince Charles, two representatives of the Mary Rose Trust were sent for a special reception at UCO last year to display artifacts excavated from the Mary Rose.
-BAM
Wednesday Video Spotlight: Drake to receive Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Hal David Starlight Award
Oklahoma native and Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman Jimmy Webb announced recently that rising hip-hop star Drake will be the recipient of the prestigious Hal David Starlight Award, to be presented at the 42nd Annual Induction and Awards Dinner June 16 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
Drake is one of music’s brightest new stars lauded for his songwriting prowess, melodious hooks and emotionally transparent performances. His genre-bending singing and rapping abilities earned him a recording deal with Aspire/Young Money/Cash Money in 2009, the same year The Recording Academy awarded him two Grammy nominations (Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song) for his single “Best I Ever Had.” This opus, featured on his mixtape/EP So Far Gone, spent more weeks perched at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart than any other debut single this decade.
Drake’s platinum selling debut, “Thank Me Later,” landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart with nearly 450,000 sold during its first week of release. This feat led to four additional Grammy nominations this year for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance (“Over”), and Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group (“Fancy” featuring T.I. and Swizz Beatz). Drake’s skill of commanding a diverse audience through composition solidifies his position in the pantheon of great songwriters of this generation.
“Drake shines as a talented songwriter with a unique vision,” Webb said in a news release, “and we are pleased to honor him with the prestigious Hal David Starlight Award.”
And in honor of the aware, Drake is featured in the Wednesday Video Spotlight today here at BAM’s Blog.
Drake
The Hal David Starlight Award, created in 2004, was renamed in honor of the former songwriters hall chairman Hal David for his longtime support of young songwriters. Award recipients are gifted songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs. Drake joins the prestigious company of Rob Thomas, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, John Legend, John Rzeznik, Jason Mraz and Taylor Swift – the past recipients of the Hal David Starlight Award.
This year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees include Owasso resident Garth Brooks, Lawton native Leon Russell, John Bettis, Billy Steinberg & Tom Kelly and Allen Toussaint. The prestigious Johnny Mercer Award will be presented to Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
About The Songwriters Hall of Fame:
The Songwriters Hall of Fame celebrates songwriters, educates the public with regard to their achievements, and produces a spectrum of professional programs devoted to the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases and scholarships. There are fewer than 400 inductees who make up the impressive roster enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The list includes Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, Albert Hammond, Desmond Child, Paul Williams, Hal David and Burt Bacharach, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Richard and Robert Sherman, Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Sir Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Curtis Mayfield, Jim Croce, Phil Collins, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Webb, Van Morrison, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Diane Warren and Leonard Cohen among many others.
Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame event begin at $1,000 each, and are available through Buckley Hall Events at (212) 573-6933. Net proceeds from the event will go towards the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.
-BAM
Wednesday Video Spotlight: Behind the scenes of the ACM Awards with Reba and Blake Shelton
Oklahoma country music stars Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood will contend for trophies when the 46th Annual ACM Awards are broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas at 7 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
Reba, who hails from Chockie, and Shelton, Lambert’s fiance and fellow Tishomingo resident, will co-host the show.
Make plans now to follow my live blog of the event Sunday night here at BAM’s Blog.
Reba and Blake talk about the awards show and cut up in this promotional video. These two should be a hilarious combo, but the censors need to have their fingers on the bleep button with Blake helping to run the show.
Besides sharing the same native state and love of country music, Reba and Blake have the same management company, and it’s a family affair: According to The Boot, Reba is managed by her husband, Narvel Blackstock, while Blake is managed by Narvel’s son, Brandon.
-BAM
Miranda Lambert becomes country’s Grammy-winning golden girl, prepares for ACM Awards, OU show
From the March 30-April 16 edition of Look at OKC.
Still hot
Things just keep rolling along for Miranda Lambert
In the past 18 months, Miranda Lambert has turned from country music’s rabble-rouser into the genre’s Grammy-winning golden girl.
The Tishomingo resident made good on her bold album title, truly inciting a “Revolution” with the fall 2009 release of her third album. Designated the album of the year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association, the platinum-selling “Revolution” not only reaffirmed the Texas native’s reputation as a sharp-tongued firebrand with smashes like “White Liar” and “Only Prettier,” but it also bared her vulnerabilities with the singles “Dead Flowers” and especially “The House That Built Me,” the biographical chart-topper that won Lambert her first Grammy for best female country vocal performance.
She even has been dubbed recently “the Lady Gaga of Nashville.” Of course, since the meat dress-wearing singing sensation last week released “The Country Road” version of her hit “Born This Way,” maybe Gaga should be considered “the Miranda Lambert of pop.”
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert (AP file)
“I am not sure what that means actually, but I hope it’s a compliment,” Lambert said in an e-mail interview last week. “Lady Gaga is an amazing entertainer and very inspiring, however I am not nearly as brave as she is.”
“Revolution” may have propelled Lambert into a new orbit, but she will spin back to her adopted home state when she brings her new “The Revolution Continues” tour to the University of Oklahoma’s Lloyd Noble Center on April 7, just days after vying for a leading seven trophies at the ACM Awards and experiencing a “Girls’ Night Out” in Vegas with other “Superstar Women of Country.”
“We have a new set, very simple but with a great new video wall and we have new content for the songs. I usually work on the set list quite a bit and try to switch it up without forgetting the hits. I hope the Oklahomans will like it! I try to offer my fans a show where they can leave their problems at the door (and enjoy) just escaping for a few hours and having fun,” Lambert said by e-mail while recovering from a respiratory infection that caused her to cancel planned Australian tour dates this month with Alan Jackson.
“I am feeling better … and glad I am well again to be able to perform in Norman. As you know, Oklahoma has become my second home state. Plus, a few of my puppies were found in Oklahoma,” added the well-known animal rights advocate and pet rescuer.
Lambert, 27, will need plenty of stamina to navigate her busy spring. Along with touring, she is competing for the first time for the top prize, the fan-voted entertainer of the year title, on Sunday night’s 46th Annual ACM Awards. Lambert’s fiancé and Tishomingo neighbor Blake Shelton and Oklahoma native Reba McEntire will co-host the ACMs, which will air live at 7 p.m. Sunday from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on CBS.
Along with the other entertainer candidates — Norman resident Toby Keith, Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban — Lambert will perform on the Vegas awards extravaganza. In addition, she garnered the most ACM nominees of any solo artist, so she will contend for top female vocalist, single record and song of the year for “The House That Built Me,” video of the year for “The House That Built Me” and “Only Prettier,” and vocal event of the year with Sheryl Crow and Loretta Lynn for their rendition of Lynn’s classic hit “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
Lambert was amazed at the number of ACM nominations she received, but she knows she isn’t the only star hoping to glow a little brighter by the end of the ACMs.
“I was doing the announcement for the nominations with (former Tulsan) Ronnie Dunn and was very surprised that I was eligible in so many categories. Seems like it just keeps on going. Winning would be great of course, but there are a lot of great projects nominated in my categories, so we will see,” she said.
“Awards and praise mean a lot to an artist, it’s a validation that people like what you do. For me being nominated means a lot as well, as these awards are determined by my peers, folks in the music industry. My career is very satisfying, with or without all those nominations but (I) still like getting them! I love performing and I love writing and recording music, I sure hope I get to do for a long time.”
On Monday, Lambert, Reba, Lynn, Checotah native Carrie Underwood, Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles, Martina McBride and the Judds will be honored at the taping of a concert special “Girls’ Night Out: Superstar Women of Country,” again at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Several high-profile country gentlemen, including Shelton, Dunn and Oklahoma native Vince Gill, will help laud the ladies during the TV special, which will air April 22 on CBS.
During the show, Lambert will be recognized for being the only female artist in ACM history to ever win album of the year twice, for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” in 2007 and for “Revolution” in 2009.
“I love being part of a show that honors women in country, and what a great group of women. I am excited about this event. It’s about time that someone focuses on the great female artists we have in country music,” she said.
Awards show glory and superstar honors aren’t even the biggest items on the spring agenda for Lambert: On May 14, she and Shelton will marry in Texas after a yearlong engagement and six years as a country couple. Despite their hectic rising-star schedules, Lambert said all is prepared for the event, which is set to feature fun-loving country crooner Neal McCoy.
“I’ve hired a wedding planner and she’s helping me out with all the details. I’d never get it done without her,” Lambert said. “Is it May yet?”
Once they tie the knot, she and her beau will try to live “a normal life as much as possible” on their Tishomingo homestead, where they enjoy hunting, fishing and other outdoorsy activities. She reportedly has taken up barrel racing as her newest hobby.
“Living away from the activity and having made my home in Oklahoma is a plus,” she said. “I have a quiet life here and love spending time with my animals, family and friends. Its difficult sometimes to strike the perfect balance between working and making sure you have enough private time, but so far it seems I have managed.”
Still, fame and fortune have their drawbacks: Before performing and going on to win on February’s Grammy Awards, Lambert told the Associated Press that she and Shelton learned from experience that they couldn’t go Christmas shopping anymore without causing a sensation.
“I know that being in the public eye is a responsibility and I am thrilled with the success that I have with my music. I would prefer to sometimes just be a normal person, but I also understand that I can’t have it both ways. I love my life and what I get to do for living,” she said. “Living in the boonies is the great equalizer. When I get home and I see my dogs and my farm animals and just hang out, it reminds me of what matters, and that if the fame goes away I will still have people that I love and that love me back in my life.”
Naturally, the newly minted Grammy winner isn’t done making music. She is penning new songs for her hotly anticipated fourth album, and she said her team hopes to have it out in time for the Christmas shopping, even if Lambert won’t be able to hit the mall.
“I have been writing for the next project but its still in its infancy, so too early to tell what will happen. I guess (I) just take it one day at a time, to keep everything in perspective,” she said.
In concert
Miranda Lambert’s “The Revolution Continues” tour
With: Justin Moore and Josh Kelley.
When: 7:30 p.m. April 7.
Where: Lloyd Noble Center, University of Oklahoma, 2900 Jenkins, Norman.
Tickets and information: (800) 456-4668 (GoOU), www.lloydnoblecenter.com or www.soonersports.com/tickets/concerts.html.
ACM Awards
The 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 3 on the CBS Television Network. Reba McEntire, who hails from Chockie, and Blake Shelton, an Ada native and Tishomingo resident, will co-host the show.
Tishomingo resident Miranda Lambert, Shelton’s fiancée, has seven Academy of Country Music Award nominations, the most of any solo artist. She and Norman resident Toby Keith are nominated along with Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban for the top award, the fan-voted entertainer of the year title. Voting for entertainer of the year continues and closes during third hour of Sunday’s live broadcast. To vote, go to www.voteACM.com.
Shelton, Reba and Checotah native Carrie Underwood also will contend for ACM Awards.
-BAM
Wednesday Video Spotlight: Hayes Carll’s “She Left Me for Jesus”
Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll will be playing two Oklahoma shows this week in support of his new album “KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories)” on Lost Highway Records.
Carll earned national acclaim for his 2008 debut on Lost Highway, “Trouble in Mind,” which includes the subversive song “She Left Me for Jesus.” He also filmed an uproarious music video for the song, inspired by that horrific show “Cheaters.”
Here’s what Carll had to say about what he called the mixed reaction for “She Left Me for Jesus” in a recent phone interview from his home in Austin:
I think people for the most part people have got the joke or who it was aimed at and haven’t perceived it as necessarily a bash against Jesus, which is not what it was intended to be. Anyway, I’ve had a lot of ministers … who have given me their blessing on it, (laughs) which helps, you know, to know that they’re not taking it the wrong way. But then you know, I’ve had a fair number of people who 
didn’t get the joke at all and were quite offended by it. You can’t please everybody, and I went back and looked at it and thought, you know, it says what I’m trying to say. And if there’s some people that don’t get it, I can’t worry about that. I felt comfortable with what I’m saying in the song,” he said.
“I expected there would be some backlash. But it actually came off, has gotten better response than I expected. I didn’t think it would be as liked as it was. But it’s been a good song for me. I was reluctant to put it on the record at first ‘cause I just didn’t want a gimmick song to be sort of my claim to fame. But it’s opened a lot of door and brought a lot of fans to the party. And I figure as long as I can get ‘em to listen to the other stuff that they’ll become fans of that as well. And I can play whatever I want at the shows, you know.”
He added: “The song I wrote with a guy named Brian Keane who was kind of going through that in his particular relationship. And then the video, we were just watching that TV show ‘Cheaters’ … so we thought that would be in a funny mix-up, so we decided to make up our own TV show (for the video).”
Personally, I think the song is hilarious, despite the use of the word a –, which as the mom of three isn’t my favorite word, particularly since variations are becoming so commonplace these days.
Carll will play Thursday night at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa and Friday night at the Wormy Dog Saloon in OKC. To read more of my interview with him, click here, and look for my review of “KMAG YOYO” Friday.
-BAM
Hayes Carll shoots toward stardom with new CD “KMAG YOYO,” plays two Oklahoma shows this week
A version of this story appears in Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Songwriter Hayes Carll shoots toward stardom
Hayes Carll spins an array of twangy tall tales on his latest album, “KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories),” but none get higher than the rapid-fire narrative of a hapless soldier who takes a drug-induced rocket trip to the moon.
The celebrated Texas singer-songwriter is riding his own upward trajectory, and his career recent blast-off has boasted its share of surreal moments, too. Carll, 35, just charted his first album on the Billboard 200, recently made his first appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and this summer will play the prestigious Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Last fall, he earned the new/emerging artist of the year honor at the Americana Music Awards — “Yeah, “I’d been nominated five years earlier for the same award,” he said with a laugh — the same outfit that in 2008 awarded him the song of the year prize for his uproarious yarn “She Left Me for Jesus.”
Plus, he got to dance with Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Things have picked up for sure, and it’s been a gradual process. I mean, I put out my first record in ’02 and I’ve been gigging since ’98. But it’s been fun for me; you know, I’ve always been grateful that I didn’t have a lot of success early on ‘cause I think it would have been terrible for my songwriting and probably my personal life,” Carll said in a phone interview from his home in Austin.
“I went out and paid my dues and have built kind of a solid foundation for my career and fan base … And when the times were bad, I still loved what I did so much that I didn’t care that I was sleeping in my van or playing for two people or all the miserable stuff I was doing, it was all I wanted to be doing so it was great for me.” And then each step along the way, with each record, it’s gotten better and exposed me to a wider audience. And I just keep touring and it’s picked up. This one, it’s definitely so far gotten off to the best start of anything, and it’s coming together a lot of ways careerwise. So it feels good.”
Carll has earned rave reviews for his new album “KMAG YOYO” — the 12-song record and the amped-up title track both are named for the military acronym for “Kiss My A- – Guys, You’re on Your Own” — which debuted last month at No. 63 on the Billboard 200.
“My first SoundScan of my first record, I remember getting it back and it had sold 56 copies in the first week. And I didn’t know anything about the record industry but I imagined that probably wasn’t very good. And then I think we did like 10,000 in the first week of this record, which was more than my entire first record. So it was a pretty excellent kind of reminder that I’ve come a long way since the start of it,” he said.
The Houston-born troubadour and his five-piece band The Poor Choices, which includes Chickasha guitarist Travis Linville, are coming off a club tour of Carll’s home state that wrapped with a show at Austin’s South By Southwest Conference and Festival, and they are headed for Oklahoma, with shows Thursday at historic Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa and Friday at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Oklahoma City.
“Oklahoma, I haven’t hit as much as I should but we’re gonna correct that this year,” Carll said. “Travis has done his own thing in Oklahoma … so he’s been lobbying for me to get back that over there. But it’s odd, I’ve played I think 46 of the 50 states and like 11 countries, and I’ve only played Louisiana once in my life and I lived an hour from there.”
Raised a sixth-generation Texan in a Houston suburb, Carll received his first guitar when he was 15 and immediately began penning songs, inspired by Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan. After earning his history degree at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., he honed his craft playing Texas coastal towns like Crystal Beach and Galveston. His first two indie albums, 2002’s “Flowers and Liquor” and 2004’s “Little Rock,” along with his engaging live shows, earned him a fan following and his deal with Lost Highway, which released his acclaimed national debut “Trouble in Mind” in 2008. He has written with his songwriting role models Guy Clark and Ray Wylie and has often been likened to his musical hero the late, great Townes Van Zandt, a comparison that makes him somewhat uncomfortable.
“You know, I have mixed feelings about it. I mean, I think for the most part they’re intended as compliments, and I think sometimes they’re just something that people use to describe me and I don’t think they’re necessarily always accurate,” he said. “You know, the Townes thing I’ve been getting since my first record, which Townes was a huge role model or hero of mine musically. But I don’t really find what I do to be particularly similar to Townes; you know, I think there’s other people that that comparison would be better suited. … But it’s awkward for me because I consider Townes to be one of the two greatest songwriters that ever lived and such a profound artist that I always feel like it’s sort of unfair to him and to me. Like I’m not worthy of that comparison,” he said.
“Again, I know why people do it. But I used to run around town pulling down posters that would say ‘Hayes Carll: the next Townes Van Zandt.’ It was embarrassing to me because I was not. There’s not and there never will be another Townes. And if there is, it’s not gonna be me. But I think everybody has somebody people compare ‘em to; you know, there’s been a hundred of the next Bob Dylans whether it was John Prine or whoever. That’s just something you have to go through until I guess you establish your voice enough to just call you by your name.”
Carll’s first album on Lost Highway,” Trouble in Mind,” made strides toward establishing Carll as an exciting new voice on the Texas country scene. It landed on “year end” lists at Esquire, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and more.
“I was fairly nervous for ‘Trouble in Mind’ because … I’ve been touring for a long time and had staked out some kind of career going into that. It was sort of my first, debut record on national label, and I knew a lot more eyes were going to be on me than had previously been. So I felt some pressure with that. With this record, I didn’t really feel the same at all, I just kind of wanted to make a record that I felt good about and that I enjoyed doing and something that I’d want to listen to,” he said.
“I took my road band at the time — you know, we’d been out for a couple of years going pretty hard — and I took them into the studio, and we just worked up most of the songs, or at least the music for ‘em, and went in and recorded all that in four, five days. And then I sat down and wrote to that, or at least for a good part of the record. On some of them I had finished writing, but a lot of it I just had kind of ideas and melodies in my head, and so I kind of fleshed ‘em out with the band and went in and approached it that way. But it was fun.
“You know, I cut this record in Austin so I could sleep in my own bed at night. And using my own (road) band for the first time was a different experience. I don’t know, I just went about it as something that should be fun and enjoyable and not something to get, you know, wrecked about.”
Some country fans heard two of his new songs before the album even dropped. “Hard Out Here” and “Hide Me,” along with three of his previous tunes, were featured in the music-driven drama “Country Strong.” starring Oscar winner Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund. Hedlund played an aspiring singer-songwriter who gets involved with an alcoholic country star (Paltrow) and sang Carll’s in the film, which is due on DVD and Blu-ray April 12.
“If things had gone differently and the movie was better received or it had stayed out longer, it could have done a lot of big things for me, I think. But as it was, it was just a fun experience and I maybe made a few new fans out of the deal,” he said.
“I was actually recording my record when they were filming the movie, and they invited me to the wrap party,” he added said. “And I met Garrett Hedlund, who does all the singing on my songs, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and Leighton Meester and then met Gwyneth. So she came up and asked me to dance and then we were dancing and Garrett was singing ‘Hard Out Here,’ one of my songs. So it was this really surreal thing: I’d been in Nashville like an hour and next thing I know I was dancing with Gwyneth Paltrow while Garrett Hedlund sings my songs. So it was a fun night.”
Carll apparently likes to keep his work a bit weird and wild.
“What can they expect from my live show? A lot of nudity, drunkenness, bad behavior,” he deadpanned. “We kind of run the gamut, really. I mean, a lot of stuff is singer-songwriter story songs, but we’ve got a big band that can cover a lot of ground. It’s definitely got a country vibe to it. But we rock out fairly hard as well. You know, it’s good time, fun music with some lyrics that’ll make you laugh and cry. And lots of nudity.”
In concert
Hayes Carll
With: Shovels and Rope.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Where: Cain’s Ballroom, 423 N Main, Tulsa.
Information: (918) 584-2306 or www.cainsballroom.com.
When: 8 p.m. Friday. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Where: Wormy Dog Saloon, 311 E Sheridan.
Information: 601-6276 or www.wormydog.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on March 30, 2011: See Lyric Theatre’s production of “Boeing, Boeing”
Lyric Theatre is staging the '60s sex comedy "Boeing, Boeing," about Bernard (Matthew Montelongo), a womanizer keeping company with three flight attendants, from left, Gabriellla (Kristi Forsch), Gloria (Kristy Cates) and Gretchen (Lexi Windsor). (Photo by Wendy Mutz)
Today’s featured event:
Revisit the 1960s with Lyric Theatre’s production of the sex comedy “Boeing, Boeing,” opening at 7:30 tonight at Lyric at the Plaza, 1725 NW 16. The outrageous comedy follows the antics of an American architect who is based in Paris and keeping company with three flight attendants.
Performances continue through April 16.
To read Fine Arts Editor Rick Rogers’ preview of the play, click here.
For more information, go to www.lyrictheatreokc.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Rihanna and Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles to perform together on ACM Awards
Rihanna (AP file)
Pop superstar Rihanna, along with country sensation Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, will give a special performance of Rihanna’s latest single, “California King Bed,” at the first-ever ACM Fan Jam.
Jennifer Nettles (AP file)
The performance will air live from the ACM Fan Jam during the 46th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at 7 p.m. Sunday, on the CBS Television Network. Make plans to follow my live blog of the show Sunday night here at BAM’s Blog.
ACM Fan Jam is the fans-only live concert taking place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center during and after the ACM Awards.
With the global release of “Loud” in November 2010, Rihanna continues to dominate popular music. Her multiple Grammys and multi-platinum sales have earned her the coveted title of international superstar.
Recently, Rihanna wrapped up filming Universal’s “Battleship” directed by Peter Berg. She will make her feature film debut alongside Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgard. The film is set to be released May 2012.
As previously announced, country duo Sugarland will headline the inaugural ACM Fan Jam, which gives country music fans the ultimate opportunity to be part of the live telecast. Additional performers include Eric Church, The Band Perry, Randy Houser, Little Big Town, David Nail, Steel Magnolia, Laura Bell Bundy, Sarah Darling, Bradley Gaskin and Casey James.
Throughout the three-hour live awards show from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, performances by top-tier music acts will take place from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, some of which will be broadcast into the live telecast of the ACM Awards.
-BAM
