Nashville's
(runoff) race for mayor has captured Music
Row's attention- and wallets.
As
incumbent Mayor (CLIFTON) DAVID BRILEY (grandson of BEVERLY BRILEY, the first mayor of the
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County and brother of
former Tennessee state Representative ROB BRILEY) and JOHN COOPER
(brother of Tennessee's Fifth District Congressman JIM COOPER and
son of former Tennessee Governor [WILLIAM]
PRENTICE COOPER ) await the results of the September
12, 2019 general elections, we'll show you the money: MIKE CURB and his wife, LINDA have contributed $1,600 (the maximum
individual contribution allowed by law) each to Briley's campaign.
MARY ANN McCREADY has also donated $1,600 to
the Briley campaign, while Briley supporters JOE GALANTE and Brentwood's STACY
WIDELITZ have each contributed $500.
Contributors
to Cooper's campaign coffers include KIX BROOKS- who lists his occupation on campaign
contribution form (as required by state law), as "self-employed"- and BILL MILLER. Brooks has donated the max
(i.e., $1,600) while Miller's calculated contributions are credited to
the JOHNNY CASH museum ($1,600) and the PATSY CLINE museum ($1,600).
****
The 36th annual Nashville Home Show runs September
6-8, 2019 at
the Music City Center. LAURIE SMITH, YACHECIA HOLSTON
and TRACE BARNETT
will be on
hand, joining over 250 vendors offering services from A ( Aaron's
Garage Doors ) to Z ( Zingas Home Solutions
).
In addition to
the exhibits, the family-friendly event features seminars, lessons from
the cooking stages, interactive arts and crafts and activities for
children. Show times, ticket prices, directions and parking
information are available here.
****
As CRYSTAL
GAYLE’s publicist some 45 years ago, I was delighted to receive an
invitation
from the singer’s current team (JEREMY WESTBY and JASON ASHCRAFT)
to join the
trio for a listening party at the Grand Ole Opry September 5, 2019.
The
celebration spotlighted the release of the platinum-selling songstress’
new
album of country standards, You Don’t Know Me.
****
ZACH
FARNUM read off a list of RANDY TRAVIS’ lengthy career-long milestones
achievement faster than we scribes gathered in the Country
Music Hall of Fame’s
Ford Theater September 5, 2019 could write them
down, by way of (re)introduction
to the man of the hour. (2 p.m.)
The
occasion was a press conference announcing The Music of Randy Travis Tour; a
tour that, if you’re stateside, is hopefully coming to a city near you
beginning with an October 16, 2019 performance in Indianapolis.
Obviously,
with Randy’s voice having been largely silenced, with his gait unsteady
in the
wake of a massive stroke, this tour will not be anything like Travis’
most
recent tour, of some years back now.
But, in the tradition of “the show must go on,” accommodations
worth the
price of admission have been made.
As
Randy
and his wife, MARY took the stage, Mary, in her role as Randy’s
spokesperson,
disclosed the details of the 16-city tour.
No holograms, here, thank you.
Rather,
Randy’s personal appearances will be one of the highlights of
performance by
Travis’ biggest hits as performed by Randy’s
The Price costar JAMES DUPRÉ,
accompanied by Randy’s original band.
Mary
then
introduced Dupré, after which James
spoke about his relationship with Randy before
entertaining the members of the fourth estate with James’ version of Diggin’ Up Bones.
Q-A
session followed in which I asked a question about the length of the
tour: Was
it coordinated in such a way as to accommodate Randy’s physical
limitations and
to accentuate his stamina?
Historically,
and even with the advances in transportation over the decades, touring
is often
the most strenuous part of an entertainer’s job. Still,
Mary insists that from the first
concert to the last (in Green Bay, Wisconsin on November 2, 2019)
“James will
be doing most of the work.”
And,
“Will
the dogs be joining you?”
My
second
question, about the pets who had been a very special part of the
couple’s life as
of the last time I saw them only a couple of months before, was
prompted by
somewhat of an inside joke.
Mary’s
answer? “Yes, of course.”
****
Column's condolences to TOMMY CASH, Tommy's wife MARCY
and to MARK ALAN CASH on the passing of Tommy's daughter and
Mark's sister, PAULA.
Paula's passing comes not long after the death of her and Mark's
mother, BARBARA, who lived in Florida- two doors down from
Paula.
As is the case with many families of grown children, geography
separated Paula from her father and brother, but the Cash family was
fortunate to have seen Paula as recently as a couple of weeks before
her passing when she came to Hendersonville, Tennessee for a
visit.
A licensed pilot who once owned her own flying service in Winder,
Georgia (near Atlanta) and a graduate of Harpeth Hall,
Paula made a what would otherwise be called a midlife decision to
complete college.
A psychology major, Paula received an Associate of Arts degree.
By then, according to her dad, Paula so loved "the college life," that,
at the time of her death, she was pursuing yet another degree; this one
an Associates in Science with a major in business.
Paula Jean Cash's unexpected death after a brief illness comes only a
little more than a month before what would have been her 56th birthday.
****
From the Music Row
Report Los Angeles job bank: If you're an entertainment
journalist living/working in the City of Angels (and a few devils), I may have your
ticket to the big time.
UsMagazines.com
is searching for an experienced, goal-oriented senior editor whose
passions include celebrity and entertainment news. The successful
candidate will report to the online executive editor and will join
other senior editors in editing and overseeing all digital content.
If you maintain high standards for quality and accuracy, are
willing to work evenings, weekends, and holidays, and can be counted on
to cover special events and award shows, this job is for you!
For more specifics about this full-time Wednesday-Sunday position,
including hours, a full list of responsibilities and application
information, contact me.
Want a job like this one but don't live anywhere near La-La Land? Stacy's Music
Row Report premium subscribers regularly receive notice of
employment oppotunities closer to home, especially if your home is near
Music Row.
****
Key media have penciled August 30, 2019 on their calendars, courtesy of
BEV MOSER's invitation to attend EXILE's celebration of the release of demos they
recorded between 1979 and 1982 at Lexington, Kentucky's LEMCO
Studio.
Unearthed and unheard in the nearly four decades since, the big reveal
of Exile: The Garage Tapes will begin with a late
afternoon sound check, followed by media interviews, culminating in an
evening performance at 6th & Peabody.
****
The
Basement East will be the place to be August 27, 2019 when LOST HOLLOW takes the stage for a celebration,
launching its first full-length album since its 2013 self-titled release. CONNER
McKIEVER has issued an invitation to key media to join the wife and
husband songwriting duo, LORRIE and TOMMY HARDEN , as the two perform songs from Looking for Happy.
Lorrie and Tommy will be joined by special guests including JOHN FORD COLEY, PAUL OVERSTREET, TEDDY GENTRY, SUNKAT, JOHNNY REID. Tommy promises surprise guests (ARLENE HARDEN? ROBBIE HARDEN?) will also be on hand.
****
Attention house hunters: Have I got a bargain for you!
"RAYNA JAMES"' home, (in reality, owned by a trust
created by SYLVIA ROBERTS) has been on the market for nearly
two years. It was originally listed for $17.999 million.
Located at 1358 Page Road in Belle Meade (the swanky Music City suburb), Roberts' home was used for
filming of the ABC (and later CMT) show's exteriors. It boasts these
stats: 20,533 square feet, six bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
Annual property taxes are $93,496.
So where's the bargain? Sylvia Roberts has reduced her asking
price by $1 million. As of this writing she'll settle for a cool
$15,999,000.
How affordable! Still interested?
****
We posed the question (see below): How often are your local drug
dealers the sons of Music
Row royalty?
We didn't receive an answer, but if you ask if SIDNEY SINGLETON, SHELBY SINGLETON's 64-year-old son, and DONALD PRESTON, FRANCES PRESTON's 63-year-old son, are convicted
felons following their August 12, 2010 trial before Davidson
County General Sessions Court Judge GALE ROBINSON, the answer is no.
Were they acquitted? That answer is also no.
After the charge was amended to the lesser offense of "possession or
casual exchange," plea bargaining resulted in the two men
agreeing to plead guilty to a misdemeanor so as not to be stigmatized
and imprisoned as convicted felons. Each was then fined $500 and
given probation, meaning that, if they behave themselves, the 11 months
and 29 days they will otherwise have to serve in prison, remains a
suspended sentence they will never have to serve.
It was not Singleton's first brush with the law. He knew how to
work the system back in 1990 when, having initially received a DUI,
Sidney again avoided incarceration, pleading guilty to a reduced
charge of reckless driving and was fined $500.
****
As a book
reviewer of several decades, I really appreciate JAMES JACKSON
requesting my recommendations for the newly-published Boove's
list of the best songwriters' books.
****
From the Music Row
police blotter:
TONY BROWN's ex-wife
(due, in part, to well-publicized allegations of spousal abuse), JAMIE NICOLE BROWN recently found herself on
the other end of a domestic assault charge. Jamie copped (no pun
intended) to turning a verbal argument with her betrothed, TONY BATES, the married father of three at the
time of Jamie's marriage to, and breakup with, Tony Brown, into
domestic assault.
Brown admits to biting Bates' forearm. By Tony's account he was
bitten after Jamie threw his cell phone across the room of Bates'
Lebanon, Tennessee home.
Brown told Lebanon police that Bates (notoriously abusive TRACY LAWRENCE's buddy)
threw his own phone and, rather than trying to deescalate the conflict,
as Tony claims, Bates threw his own phone, proceeding to choke Brown
twice before she first hit his forearm in self-defense.
The arresting officer sided with Tony Bates. Jamie is set to
appear in Wilson County General Sessions Criminal Court on September
17, 2019.
Meanwhile,
JOSH HOGE, having provided Metro
Nashville officers two different explanations of how he found
himself charged with a DUI, was arrested and jailed for 45 minutes
before bonding out. It was not Hoge's first brush with the law.
****
From
the emailbag (and used with permission), JOHNNY COUNTERFIT writes "I was surprised by your
article concerning the 'songwriting Feller' and agree that the Nashville Public
Library should have added the book to its shelf (perhaps
designating) local writers; the library rejected my published book as well.
"As a comedian, I must ask, did DICK FELLER change his name for surgical reasons?"
****
ZACH FARNUM,
having provided media access to the Grand Ole Opry
on the occasion of SCOOTER BROWN's
July 30, 2019 Opry debut, put out the welcome mat to media mat
once again on August 6, 2019. The occasion? KARISSA ELLA's
release party celebration for her EP, Blossom
at The Local.
****
Fans packed the (KENNETH)
SCHEHERMERHORN Symphony Center, welcoming JOHNNY RIVERS back to Music City on July 24, 2019. At 76, Rivers (née JOHN HENRY RAMISTELLA) gave Nashvillians perhaps
a last chance to see him “live” on the Nashville leg of what is being
billed as Rivers’ “Farewell Tour.”
Johnny appeared sans the Nashville Symphony, though Rivers reminded ticket
holders he is no stranger to performing with symphonies, though
his last Nashville appearance was a guest spot on The Grand Opry. Johnny
noted that, at that time, he sang “two songs at the Ryman, which was
kind of cool. VINCE GILL played with us.”
Rivers’ brought another
bit of local color to the evening as he introduced his musicians and
backup singers, the best-known of whom is CACTUS MOSER. As
Johnny explained, he worked with Moser back when Cactus was a Los
Angeles sessions player, prior to Moser’s joining HIGHWAY 101 and, as Rivers added, Moser’s
marrying WYNONNA.
The evening’s music began
well before Johnny sang his first note. He
and the band kicked off the show with the familiar instrumental strains
of Summer Rain, saving the lyrics for a full
performance of the song later in the show. Those
first strains morphed from the song seemingly so titled to reflect the
showers Nashvillians have accepted as going hand-in-hand with heat of
summer, to instrumental excerpts of other songs fans were expecting
Rivers would sing,
The instrumental medley of
sorts segued into Johnny’s performance of an elongated, bluesy version (Big)Midnight Special that was a departure from
his energized hit version (not to mention WILMA LEE and STONEY COOPER's frenetic hit
recording of the song, the popularity of which predates the Coopers',
Rivers’ and PAUL EVANS’ memorable recorded performance).
This musical excursion was followed by Rivers’ performances
of songs the crowd came to hear- such as Seventh Son, Mountain of Love,
Summer Rain, Poor Side of Town, Slow Dancing- as well as Muddy River.
With some of Rivers' biggest hits being cover records (The Tracks of My Tears, Baby I Need Your Lovin', Memphis, Tennessee, Maybellene, The Snake, Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu ), it was easy for Johnny
to transition to hit songs associated with other artists he has not
recorded such as One Love, Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Kansas City, Route 66 and House of the Rising Sun.
While paying tribute to songwriters WILLIE DIXON and JIMMY WEBB, Johnny noted that he was the first to
record Webb's By The Time I Get To Phoenix (on Johnny's 1966
album Changes) but the song, which Webb wrote for PAUL PETERSEN, remained a buried treasure until GLEN CAMPBELL, heard Johnny's version, cut the
song and Campbell's single became a worldwide hit.
Johnny Rivers came stage banter to a minimum, but his dry humor was
evinced when the occasion to tune a guitar presented itself: "You
know why we tune, don't you?," Rivers rhetorically asked the
crowd, adding "Because we care."
That caring extended to Rivers throwing a few Secret Agent Man tee shirts into the crowd (before
he'd even sung the song) for the benefit of a few lucky fans and giving
every ticket holder the chance to join in as Johnny sang Baby I Need Your Lovin'. The latter lovefest
was a display of Johnny's humor at its finest, involving a brief,
PG-rated differentiation between "want," "need" and an artful
demonstration of how to persuade inhibited or otherwise resistant men
to join in on the chorus.
Only the encore seemed contrived, awkward in its execution as many
encores have become with rarity haven given way to expectation, the
predictability becoming evident when Johnny finally got around to
singing Secret Agent Man. But he added a fitting
benediction to the evening, mindful of who his audience was, by leading
his group in Will The Circle Be Unbroken.
Rivers also proved a man of his word as he promised fans who had the
time to wait once the show concluded that, "after I get cleaned up,"
he would be glad to sign copies of his albums, posters and other
memorabilia available in the lobby as well as to briefly chat with them.
Clearly anticipating the line of loyal admirers vying for his time and
personal attention, "I don't want to hear your life story," Johnny
chided.
****
In case you missed it, my initial quest to find out whatever happened
to DICK FELLER, and then to find out why a noted
songwriter's first book gets no love from the Nashville Public
Library, culminated in a byline; the Tennessean column published online July 22,
2019 and made available to home subscribers and on newsstands two days
later.
****
How often
are your local drug dealers the sons of Music Row royalty?
SIDNEY SINGLETON, SHELBY SINGLETON's 64-year-old son, and DONALD PRESTON, FRANCES PRESTON's 63-year-old son, are scheduled
for trial before Davidson County General Sessions Court Judge GALE ROBINSON August 12, 2019.
On May 7, 2019 Singleton and Preston were arrested and charged with
selling pot, marijuana extract and liquid THC vials from a parked car
in a a grocery store parking lot, after making arrangements for the
sales on a website whose visitors included an undercover
officer.
The ill-fated deal went down at Osborne's
Bi-Rite, at 3116 Belmont Boulevard, less than 1,000 feet from Christ the King School
(at 3105 Belmont Boulevard) where Preston and Singleton offered to sell
an ounce of marijuana to an undercover detective for $300.
According to the arrest report, after Donald Preston exited the
passenger side of the red Chevy Volt and got into the police vehicle to
complete the transaction, the "deal" was considered sealed and both
Donald and Sidney were taken into custody. A further "Carroll
search" (so named following a Supreme Court ruling establishing that probable
cause is sufficient- i.e. it is not necessary for police to first
obtain a warrant- to justify the search of a lawfully stopped vehicle
and its contents) revealed another 353 grams of pot, 2 cards of
marijuana extract and 19 vials of THC liquid. Total weight: 2
grams.
Singleton
and Preston were each charged with selling drugs in a drug-free school
zones, which is a felony. Each posted a $10,000 bond.
Following a June 14, 2019 settlement hearing, the case was set for
trial in August.
****
CONNER
McKIEVER is
alerting media that Austin-based, southern rock group COPPER CHIEF "will be performing at the High Watt" July 10, 2019 "and you're invited to a
special meet & greet prior to the performance."
****
"Hi, STACY,
you're invited!"
So read an invitation from JEREMY WESTBY and JASON ASHCRAFT's invitation to J.D. SHELBURNE
July 2, 2019 "full band and industry showcase at Ole Red Nashville."
J.D. performed his past releases, some covers, and songs from his
current album, Two Lane Town, including She Keeps Me Up Nights during an extended
first set of the four-hour event.
****
Anyone
who's read my
review of JOHNNY LEE's most recent book knows I'm a big fan
of Lee's (and my fellow) ghostwriter, SCOT
ENGLAND's writing.
Recently,
Scot was kind enough to send me two of his earlier books, as well as
his newest collaboration. As I look forward to reading another of
those books, (RONNIE MCDOWELL: Bringing It To You Personally) I've just
completed reading Lucky Me (MOE BANDY: The Autobiography)
and The Man in Back (JIMMY CAPPS: The Autobiography ).
The Moe
Bandy book, notable from its first pages that include a foreword
by late Bandy buddy BARBARA BUSH, inspires with its acknowledgment
that Moe's career took off just as he was quitting music out of
frustration. Readers learn that Moe has a niece with Down's Syndrome.
Bandy's ANSLEY FLEETWOOD story is not to be missed.
Same can be said of why, when BOY GEORGE sued Moe and JOE STAMPLEY, only Stampley (who refers to the
British singer as "that little pecker head") had to pay.
More?
How about the time Moe says he beat up ANITA BRYANT's second husband, CHARLIE
HOBSON DRY at Dry's invitation?
My book
reviews are limited to current books, hence the abbreviated references
to England's collaboration with Moe Bandy and a few of the highlights
from England's Jimmy Capps book that follow.
Significantly,
in addition to being a world-renown acoustic (and electric) guitarist
and session player, cemented his future as a Grand Ole
Opry staff band member after first appearing on the Opry at age 19!
Anyone who
has ever spent any time at corporate Christmas parties (as they were
then called) in general, and around Nashville's WLAC-TV (now WTVF) in particular, will get a laugh out of
Capps' chocolate coat story.
Trivia
buffs will also learn that Jimmy's son, MARK is the
stepfather of ROY ACUFF's great-granddaughter and that Jimmy
turned down opportunities to become one of ERNEST TUBB's Texas Troubadours and PORTER WAGONER's Wagonmasters.
Look for my
review
of Scot's newly-published hardcover, This Is My Story; This Is My Song: LULU ROMAN, The
Autobiography here soon.
