Oklahoma band Rush Springs competing in CMT’s Music City Madness
Rush Springs
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
An Oklahoma country band is hoping musical madness online will lead to a big break in the music industry.
CMT.com has kicked off voting for its fourth annual Music City Madness. The top 64 finalists for the annual online talent search have been revealed and must now compete for votes in a single-elimination tournament over the next eight weeks. The finalists are unsigned artists from 28 states across the U.S., and their song subjects range from honky tonks and Texas to loving and leaving.
Representing Oklahoma is the Ardmore-based band Rush Springs with the song “Chasing That Green Light.” The band includes Beckie Jo Spradling, lead vocals; Walton McMurry, drums and backup vocals; and Wenona “Nonie” Taliaferro, guitar and backup vocals.
The contemporary country trio entered the online contest on a whim, Taliaferro said, and was thrilled to be selected.
“I was like running through my office hollering. … You could have heard me a mile away,” said Taliaferro, who works for Warehouse Service Inc. in Ardmore. “(I’m) jumping for joy, but I’m definitely shocked.”
Rush Springs has been playing together for about four years. But Taliaferro and Spradling have been making music together for a solid decade; Spradling is Taliaferro’s daughter-in-law.
The bandmates see the contest as a big opportunity. They will find out Monday whether they have advanced to the next round in the fan-voted contest.
“We’d love to get signed. Music is definitely our passion,” Taliaferro said. “That’s what we’ve been shooting for, that big record deal.”
Music City Madness offers up-and-coming country artists a chance to showcase their talent and let fans narrow the field in an online tournament-style battle of the bands. One lucky winner will take home the title and win a chance to audition for label executives at The Valory Music Co. The victor also will earn a trip to CMT in Nashville, Tenn., to record “Studio 330 Sessions” and have a backstage experience with Valory artist and Oklahoma native Reba McEntire at one of her concerts.
McEntire serves as an online mentor and will provide exclusive insight for the contestants via CMT.com video blogs, offering up tips from how to create a music video to building a music career. CMT also has added star participants Jack Ingram, Jewel, Justin Moore and Jimmy Wayne, who will support contestants throughout the competition. Music City Madness is sponsored by Rhapsody.
Go online to www.madness.CMT. com to stream each of the top 64 contenders and vote, or to learn more about Music City Madness.
-BAM
3D’s Wednesday Video Spotlight: Episode 19
Well, loyal readers, this is it. This is the last episode of “Red vs. Blue: Recreation.” I’m sure there will be a mini-series or something to get us through the long winter months until the next Rooster Teeth series. If so, I will try to keep you posted here.
The DVD of this series is now available to order from Rooster Teeth and the “RT Shorts” that I have been posting here are also getting their own DVD. Rooster Teeth releases are always packed with special features, so I’m sure they will be a good deal for those of you who are interested.
Please enjoy, but watch out for flying obscenities.
—3D
Ardmore band Rush Springs representing Oklahoma in CMT’s “Music City Madness”
The madness begins as CMT.com kicks off voting for its fourth annual Music City Madness. The top 64 finalists for the annual online talent search have been revealed and must now compete for votes in a single-elimination tournament over the next eight weeks. The finalists represent unsigned artists from 28 different states across the U.S., and subjects range from honky tonks and Texas, to loving and leaving.
Representing Oklahoma will be Ardmore-based band Rush Springs with the song “Chasing That Green Light.”
Music City Madness offers up-and-coming artists a chance to showcase their talent and let fans narrow the field in an online battle of the bands. One lucky winner will take home the title and win a chance to audition for label execs at The Valory Music Co., as well as a trip to CMT in Nashville to record Studio 330 Sessions and a backstage experience with The Valory Music Co. recording artist and Oklahoma native Reba McEntire at one of her concerts.
In addition, McEntire serves as an online mentor and will provide exclusive insight for the contestants via CMT.com video blogs offering up tips from how to create a music video, to writing hit songs and building a music career. CMT has also added star participants Jack Ingram, Jewel, Justin Moore and Jimmy Wayne, who will support contestants throughout the competition. Music City Madness is sponsored by Rhapsody.
Visit www.madness.CMT.com to stream each of the top 64 contenders and vote, or to learn more about Music City Madness.
Since I really like “Chasing That Green Light,” I’m encouraging everyone to vote for Rush Springs in the contest.
-BAM
3D’s Wednesday Video Spotlight: Chapter 18
It’s time once again for your weekly Rooster Teeth videos. There’s a new “RT Short” this week, along with a new chapter of “Red vs. Blue: Recreation.” Please enjoy with caution.
—3D
Garth Brooks to come out of retirement?
Oklahoma star Garth Brooks performs at the “We Are One: Opening Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Jan. 18. Speculation is swirling that Brooks will come out of retirement to play a series of shows in Vegas. (Associated Press photo)
Oklahoma country superstar Garth Brooks may be coming out of retirement to become a Las Vegas headliner, according to multiple online reports
Celebrity blogger Robin Leach (of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” fame) started speculation swirling when he reported on his Las Vegas Weekly blog that the Oklahoma native will headline a series of concerts at the Encore/Wynn Casino and Resort in Sin City.
“It now looks definite after weeks of rumors and speculation that country superstar Garth Brooks is coming out of retirement to become a resident headliner at the Wynn. He’ll play in the theater that was to have been the longtime permanent home of the late Danny Gans,” Leach writes on his Luxe Life blog.
It is believed that Brooks will perform a total of 16 weeks of shows at the hotel in 2010, according to Leach.
On GarthBrooks.com, a message on the main page informs fans that “Something exciting is coming …” Thursday and invites them to watch it live on the site.
In a subsequent post, Leach blogs that Brooks will make the official announcement in two press conferences Thursday, the first in Nashville, Tenn., and the second in Vegas.
“Garth will break the news first in the capital of country music, Nashville. Then he’ll hop on a private jet to do it all over again here. That’s right: Two press conferences in about three hours in two cities!,” Leach writes.
If Leach’s information is correct, it will be a quick jaunt to Nashville and Vegas for Brooks, who will be back in Oklahoma over the weekend for his alma mater’s homecoming celebration.
The music superstar, along with football great Barry Sanders and baseball star Robin Ventura, will be honored Saturday as the 2009 inductees to the Oklahoma State University Alumni Hall of Fame.
On Saturday, the trio will be grand marshals for the OSU homecoming parade at 2 p.m. in Stillwater. Brooks, Sanders and Ventura also will be recognized at halftime of the OSU-Missouri game, which kicks off at 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
In addition, a press conference is planned for Saturday, and if the rumors are true, Brooks is sure to field many questions about his decision to come out of retirement earlier than his original time table.
Brooks, who was born in Tulsa and raised in Yukon, announced in 2000 that was planning to retire from recording and touring after releasing and promoting one more album. He said he wouldn’t consider touring again until the youngest of this three daughters, Allie, then 4, went off to college.
He left the road in 2001 after releasing the album “Scarecrow.”
He and second wife Trisha Yearwood, who wed in 2005, live on an Owasso ranch near his ex-wife Sandy Mahl and Brooks’ three daughters with her, Taylor, August and Allie.
Although Allie is only 13 now, her dad’s music career hasn’t been completely idle the past decade: In 2005, Brooks set a trend by inking a deal with Walmart to become the exclusive retailer of his back catalog.
He has released through Walmart a couple of box sets of old material with a few new singles, including 2007’s “The Ultimate Hits,” which included the new track “More Than a Memory.” “More Than a Memory” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart that year, and Brooks performed a string of nine sold-out shows in Kansas City, Mo., to promote the set.
He also created some controversy in 2007 when he appeared at the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular but didn’t perform at the star-studded event.
But most of Brooks’ shows during his retirement have been for charity, including televised performances for Hurricane Katrina and California wildfire relief. He also sang in January at President Barack Obama’s inauguration and also performed for Obama’s first late-night TV appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
The Oklahoma native received his advertising degree from OSU in 1984, but before he departed Stillwater, he built up a following with gigs at local watering holes such as the Tumbleweed Dance Hall.
He moved to Nashville in 1987 and signed with Capitol Records the following year. His 1989 self-titled debut album was an immediate commercial and critical success.
In 1990, he reached superstar levels with his follow-up record, “No Fences,” which spawned the smash hits “Unanswered Prayers,” “Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House,” and “The Thunder Rolls.” His rock-inspired stadium shows changed the way country artists performed in concert.
He continued his multi-platinum success with subsequent albums “Ropin’ the Wind,” “The Chase,” “In Pieces,” “Fresh Horses” and “Sevens.” Even with the disappointing returns for “In the Life of Chris Gaines,” an album featuring Brooks performing as pop alter-ego Chris Gaines, Brooks has been affirmed by the Recording Industry Association of America as the No. 1-selling solo artist in U.S. history.
Brooks has sold in excess of 128 million albums and received practically every accolade the recording industry can bestow on an artist.
If the reports of a Vegas headlining job are correct, Brooks is sure to find runaway success there, too.
-BAM
3D’s Wednesday Video Spotlight: Chapter 17
3D is back once more for your weekly dose of Rooster Teeth madness. This week brings chapter 17 of “Red vs. Blue: Recreation,” which I believe should be wrapping up soon. So enjoy the comedy insanity while you can.
—3D
Carrie Underwood fans get early listens online of “Play On” tracks
Oklahoma country star Carrie Underwood’s new album “Play On” will release on Nov. 3, and starting today, a new track from the album will be available for purchase and download exclusively on iTunes every week for three weeks.
Each new song also will be available as a free 60-second preview on Billboard.com, according to a news release.
The exclusive iTunes Countdown pre-release tracks start off today with “Mama’s Song” and all count toward the purchase of the full album through iTunes’ Complete My Album feature.
The upcoming tracks include “Temporary Home” (available Oct. 20) and “Undo It” (available Oct. 27).
For each new track every week, fans will be able to visit Billboard.com for a 48-hour sneak preview of the song immediately prior to its Tuesday release on iTunes, with each posting remaining on Billboard.com for a week from its debut.
In addition to the weekly online previews at Billboard.com, Underwood will be the focus of an online feature as well as a cover feature in the print edition of Billboard, on sale Friday.
Along with the ability to purchase the exclusive pre-sale tracks through the iTunes Countdown, fans who opt to purchase “Play On” through iTunes’ Complete My Album feature will also receive an exclusive free track: Underwood’s recording of the holiday classic, “O Holy Night.”
Already available online is the digital single for “Cowboy Casanova,” the smash first single from “Play On.” Purchases of “Cowboy Casanova” through iTunes will also count toward a purchase of “Play On” via the Complete My Album feature.
A four-time GRAMMY Award winner, the reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, and reigning, three-time Country Music Association and ACM Female Vocalist winner, Underwood is releasing her third album with ”Play On.” The project re-teams her with producer Mark Bright, who helmed her 2007 “Carnival Ride” album as well as seven tracks from her 2005 album debut “Some Hearts.”
To date, Underwood has amassed more than 10 million in U.S. album sales with “Some Hearts” and “Carnival Ride.” Along the way, she has consistently broken new ground and earlier this year became the first country artist in history and the only “American Idol” winner ever to achieve 10 No. 1 singles from her first two albums.
She also will appear in her first holiday TV special Dec. 7 on FOX.
-BAM
Vince Gill, Keith Urban hosting Country Music Hall of Fame benefit show tonight
Vince Gill and Keith Urban (Associated Press photo)
Oklahoma country star Vince Gill and Keith Urban will co-host a benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum tonight at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn.
The “We’re All For The Hall” concert will feature country stars Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Faith Hill, Little Big Town, Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift.
The show is part of the museum’s “All for the Hall” fundraising initiative created and led by Gill since 2005. Gill, who was born in Norman and raised in Oklahoma City, is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and museum board president.
The concert will open with a one-hour set by Urban and his band. Then, Gill will join Urban and an all-star band to bring out the special guests.
The event will be streamed live starting at 7:30 tonight at www.keithurban.net, www.VCASTLive.com and www.countrymusichalloffame.com.
Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova” still climbing charts, video now on sale digitally
Carrie Underwood sings “I Told You So” at the Academy of Country Music’s second annual ACM honors last month at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tenn. The ACM Honors celebrated Randy Travis, Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton among others. (Associated Press photo)
The excitement is building toward the Nov. 3 release of Oklahoma superstar Carrie Underwood’s new album, “Play On.”
The hot debut single “Cowboy Casanova” continues to vault up the charts, while the music video was released digitally this week. In addition, the Checotah native’s Web site, www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com, has undergone a makeover in honor of the new record.
After debuting last week with triple-digit digital single sales, “Cowboy Casanova” is sizzling on the radio as it leaps into the country Top 10 and makes Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” of “Top 10 Things We Love This Week,” as well as their same-issue music feature on fall’s hottest singles. EW cheers Carrie’s “gritty vocals” and the playful single’s “raucous guitars and a stomping ‘whoa-oh’ chorus.”
The song comes to life visually in the sassy music video that premiered over the weekend on CMT’s Big New Music Weekend event.
According to a news release, fans can now have their own copy of “Cowboy Casanova” with the video digitally available for purchase online for the first time.
Also online now is the redesigned carrieunderwoodofficial.com, featuring a more appealing news section, blogs, and fan photos, as well as official videos, tour dates, and the latest Carrie updates. Fans can also choose from one of three backgrounds via the skin switcher and shop for the first time for CDs and digital music in the official Carrie Underwood music store, which debuts with song previews and lyrics from her first two albums.
Available exclusively at www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com is a special pre-order bundle that includes Underwood’s upcoming “Play On” CD and a limited edition 11-by-17-inch print featuring new art from her album photo shoot. Printed on heavy stock paper, hand-numbered, and limited to 5,000 in all, the run will include 500 prints signed by Underwood that will be distributed at random to lucky fans who pre-order the bundle before the album’s Nov. 3 release date.
A four-time Grammy Award winner, reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, and reigning, three-time Country Music Association and ACM Female Vocalist winner, Underwood reunited with producer Mark Bright for “Play On.” Bright helmed her “Carnival Ride” album as well as seven tracks from her 2005 album debut “Some Hearts.”
To date, Underwood has amassed more than 10 million in U.S. album sales with “Some Hearts” and 2007’s “Carnival Ride.” Along the way, she has consistently broken new ground and earlier this year became the first country artist in history and the only “American Idol” winner ever to notch 10 No. 1 singles from their first two albums.
-BAM
3D’s Wednesday Video Spotlight: Chapter 16
Well, this week in Rooster Teeth videos there’s a new chapter in their ongoing series and a new “RT Short.” Chapter 16 of “Red vs. Blue: Recreation” features a very put upon Tucker, which is a special treat for my brother-in-law, who can’t get enough of the sauve blue team member. Please enjoy.
—3D
