©2009, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED news@musicrow.com

page 1 Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Honky Tonk TV celebrated its

100th show this week (8/17). The

Orlando, Florida-based country

music news program, operated by

Executive Producer Chris James

and Public Relations executive Elly

Liao, is currently syndicated across

162 markets and in over 61 million

households. In addition to the daily

TV news show, the company also

operates Honkytonkmag.com which

according to James, began on

Independence Day (7/4) in 2007.

"We are pretty much

across the CW network,"

says James who became a

U.S. citizen after moving to

the U.S. almost nine years

ago from the U.K. "But we

aren't in Nashville yet, and

of course really want to do

that. Honky Tonk TV is

currently a segment within a

show that has been going for

seven years called The Daily

Buzz, a three hour news show. We are

aiming now at expanding into our own

evening half-hour."

Honky Tonk Magazine was formed

with the idea of presenting more

detailed and thoughtful articles. "On the

magazine front we envision

ourselves being like a Rolling Stone for

country music," James says. "But because

the TV entity is daily and we are a small

operation there is only so much attention

we can devote to the magazine at this

time. We are hoping to make the TV

portion successful, get to the half hour

Honky Tonk TV Opens New Country Window by David M. Ross

(L-R): Honky Tonk TV hosts:

Creed Bowlen, Lauren Brown,

Autumn Alexander, Ben

Daniele and Crystal Louthan

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

©2009, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED news@musicrow.com

show and then be able to partner with a larger

entity to help us take the magazine national. Our

No. 1 goal was always to launch the TV show and we

got to it a lot earlier than we had hoped. We are

extremely blessed to be having so much fun with it.

The more live guests we have on, the more time we

get and the more we can help promote country music.

Having a daily show also means we are a lot more

in the know about what is going on."

James doesn't really see the show's Orlando

location as a drawback for artist participation, rather

it can become a stopping point while they are out

on radio tours, performing, or otherwise in transit.

"We aren't that far away from Nashville," James

agrees. "Just a short plane ride away. We can offer

almost ten minutes of exposure on national TV,

including a performance. It's a lot of fun, but we do

need help from the country music community to

make this work. The best way to arrange a visit is

to call myself or Producer Tony Persaud

(407-808-9882)."

The list of guests who have sampled Honky

Tonk hospitality include Trisha Yearwood, Trailer

Choir, Katie Armiger, Billy Ray Cyrus, James

Stroud, Deborah Allen and more. Justin Moore,

and James Otto are scheduled in upcoming weeks.

Honky Tonk TV, which can be viewed at http://

www.honkytonktv.com rotates among a group of

five hosts chosen from the Orlando area. "We didn't

want the show to be centered around just one

personality," says James. "It's more about the music.

Our brand takes the classic American terminology

'Honky Tonk' and updates it to our vision. Country

acts like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Rascal

Flatts and Gloriana are reaching a demographic

that includes the whole country. You can see it in

the sales, it's not just country music fans buying

the music. That larger group is our audience. If you

turn on the Daily Buzz and watch Honky Tonk TV as

part of that, you may not be into country music, but

will still get turned onto some of the acts because of

the way we are trying to promote it."

Last week ASCAP celebrated the success of Matthew West's "The Motions" written by West, Sam Mizell and Jason Houser. The song spent 14 weeks at No. 1. (L-R): ASCAP's Dan Keen; Chad Segura, Word Music Publishing; Mark Nicholas, Simpleville Music; Karrie Hardwick, Word Music Publishing; Mizell; ASCAP's Connie Bradley; Matthew West; Joel West, Method Management; Houser; and Michael Martin, Extreme Writers Group.

MCA Nashville recording artist David Nail kicked off the promotion of his

debut album I'm About To Come Alive with a visit to the Nashville chapter of

The Recording Academy and a trip to CMT's downtown Nashville studio to

showcase the record for staffers and to record footage that will be available

on www.cmt.com this week. Pictured: Nail (middle) and MusiCares staffers,

including South Regional Director Susan Stewart (middle).

page 2 Wednesday, August 19, 2009

©2009, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED news@musicrow.com

Get One Thing Strait Let's get one thing Strait about

this week's sales, it's all about King

George. The legendary Texas troubador

once again 'sales' to the No. 1 position

on both the Top 75 Current Country

and Top 200 current Album lists

scanning 155,049 units. George's

debut places him as the third highest

this year behind No. 1 debuts from

Rascal Flatts Unstoppable (4/7/09;

351,025) and Keith Urban Defying

Gravity (3/31/09; 171,525). Strait's

previous release notched about 11k

units higher with only 6% digital

sales. This year, his digital sales

almost doubled to 10%, adding to a

growing body of evidence that the country consumer is

transitioning to digital engagement much more rapidly than

most marketers anticipated.

Justin Moore's chart performance triggers a second

outburst of "ooooh, wow" as his debut places smiles on

Valory team faces ringing up a very healthy 34,024 units

(11% digital).

Moore's debut also makes for an interesting comparison

with newcomers Gloriana who debuted last week at 44,388

units (19% digital). Two new artists, a traditional solo male

and a contemporary vocal group each attracting perhaps a

somewhat different audience. To properly analyze the 30%

sales difference between the two debuts one would need to

consider factors such as airplay—both audio and video, the

musical style, touring opportunities (Gloriana opened on

Taylor Swift's tour) and other marketing events. Also one

week is not a career. Each artist is different and the real

story will take many months to play out.

Bill Young Productions Opens Nashville Office Bill Young Productions, a company with superstar clients

which creates concert advertisements, has opened a Nashville

office with the addition of Beth Torroll to its staff. Torroll will

serve as Director of Client Services, acting as the company’s

first locally-based Music Row liaison in its 30-year history.

Bill Young Productions serves the concert and touring

industry with advertising media products, including radio

and TV ads, print, animation, multi-media and web-based

media. Country clients include George Strait, Keith Urban,

Reba, Brooks & Dunn, Tim McGraw, and other artists like

Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney, The Eagles, Elton John,

Billy Joel, and Britney Spears.

Torroll’s music business resume is extensive and includes

work in public relations, management, agency, editorial and

label positions. During the last seven years she managed

page 3 Wednesday, August 19, 2009

©2009, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED news@musicrow.com

creative projects for William Morris Agency, Creative

Artist Agency, Universal Music Group and Walt Disney

Records, working with artists like Kenny Chesney,

Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon, Big & Rich and Sugarland.

She can be reached at the new Bill Young Productions

office in Nashville at (615) 746-7440 or via email at

beth@concerts.com.

Songwriters Headed To Martha’s Vineyard The inaugural Martha’s Vineyard Songwriters

Festival will inhabit the famous East Coast playground

September 18 and 19. Staged at hotspots in Vineyard

Haven and Oak Bluffs, MA, the festival will combine

pop and country BMI hit makers in a format similar to

the successful Key West Songwriters Festival. It is

designed to introduce top pop and country songwriters

not only to a wider audience, but to one another as

well.

The eclectic list of performers includes Kim

Carnes (“Bette Davis Eyes”), Scotty Emerick (“As

Good As I Once Was,” “I’m Just Talkin’ ‘Bout

Tonight”), UK pop singer/songwriter Lucie Silvas,

Hugh Prestwood (“Hard Rock Bottom of Your

Heart,” “The Song Remembers When”), Natalie

Hemby (cuts by Miranda Lambert and Lee Ann

Womack), alt-pop singer/songwriter Daniel Tashian,

New York-based Jeff Cohen (co-writer behind Big &

Rich’s “Holy Water,” Evan & Jaron’s “Crazy for this

Girl”), James Slater (“In My Daughter’s Eyes”),

lauded Key West singer/songwriter Scott Kirby,

Chris Barron (former frontman for the Spin Doctors

“Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”); and five-time BMI

Country Songwriter of the Year Paul Overstreet, the

pen behind standards including “Deeper than the

Holler,” “Forever and Ever Amen,” “Love Can Build a

Bridge,” and many more.

Advance tickets for each show are $25. Admission

for both nights of performances is also available in

advance for $45. To purchase tickets, visit

ticketsMV.com.

Last week Valory Music Co. artist Justin Moore visited Wal-Marts across the

Midwest celebrating the release of his self titled debut album. On Wednesday

(8/12) he stopped in Frankfort, KY and performed and signed autographs for

over 500 people at an in-store supported by WFKY (Froggy 104.9). (L-R): T.J.

Stigers (James Pond), Valory's Jon Loba, Jeremy Beam (Davey Croakett),

Stephanie Young (Cricket), Amanda Young (Holly Hopkins), Brett Waford

(Jumpin' Jim Beam), Aaron Glass (Gator Glass), Moore and Valory's George

Briner.

RCA Nashville songstress Sara Evans brought the good feelings of her new

single, “Feels Just Like a Love Song,” to her tour stop at metro-Atlanta’s

Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre. (L-R): Sheri O’Malley and her husband,

Citadel Regional Pres. Paul O’Malley; Evans; WKHX Atlanta Operations Mgr.

Mark Richards; Evans’ husband Jay Barker; and WKHX midday personality

Sari Rose.

page 4 Wednesday, August 19, 2009

©2009, MusicRow Communications, LLC—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED news@musicrow.com

Music City Networks Adds Managing Partner Local businessman Paul McCulloch

has joined Lang Scott as a managing

partner of MCN, Music City Networks,

the web design and new media firm.

The move immediately replaces Jon

Wright from day-to-day operations,

but he will remain on as a consultant.

McCulloch joins MCN armed with

years of experience in business and

online development to help identify

growth opportunities and products that

will offer a competitive advantage in

the marketplace. He recently spent eight years as President

and CEO at Goldleaf Technologies, where he led the financial

services technology company to develop specialized software

solutions, as well as website and online marketing products

for hundreds of banks and businesses nationwide. He is also

a part owner of recording studio Vibe 56, on Music Row.

Ryan Bitzer To Launch Sparkart’s Local Office The full-service digital agency

Sparkart Group has hired former RPM

staffer Ryan Bitzer to launch and run

its Nashville division. Sparkart’s

services include web design,

development, branding, and digital

marketing. As former Chief Strategy

Officer at rpm management, Bitzer

managed the web presence and

marketing of Tim McGraw and

Julianne Hough. In addition, he was

responsible for company operations,

digital strategy, and brand partnerships including Hough’s

Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit campaign. Bitzer was instrumental in

planning and executing the strategy for McGraw’s online and

mobile efforts, which were built and operated by Sparkart.

He can be reach at ryan@sparkart.com or 615-967-7010.

With revenue increasing 42 percent in the last three years,

Sparkart provides digital services for a number of musicians

and entertainment brands, including Linkin Park, Carrie

Underwood, and UFC.

Nielsen Getting Competition? The major television broadcast networks are leading the

charge to find a competitor for Nielsen. One of the

advantages of the new system would be tracking audience

measurements over TV, the Internet and mobile devices.

The New York Times says NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox are

working on the project with “cable channel operators,

including Viacom and Discovery; three of the country’s

biggest-spending advertisers, Proctor & Gamble, AT&T and

Unilever; and two of the biggest advertising agency holding

companies, GroupM and the Starcom MediaVest Group unit

of the Publicis Groupe.”

Musical Chairs And Signings• Airplay Specialists Radio Promotion has hired Abby

Montgomery, previously of RowHouse Records and One

Mile South radio promotions, as General Manager. She

replaces Kelly Bolick, who made the move to BMI.

Airplay Specialists promotes singles to 400 stations

including the MusicRow reporting stations and 290

Secondary non-reporters. Montgomery can be reached at

615-321-0033 and abby@airplayspecialists.com.

• Dan Herrington and Mitchell Fox have signed 19-year-

old developing artist/songwriter Morgan Tobias to

Herrington Fox Management.

• Paul Revere and the Raiders have signed with Buddy

Lee Attractions for appearance booking. In his fifth decade

in the music business, Paul Revere continues to tour

extensively.

Lifenotes Former Confederate Railroad member Warren

"Gates" Nichols died Friday, Aug. 14 at Hospice Tranquility

in Austell, Ga. after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The 65-

year-old musician played steel guitar in Confederate

Railroad in the early-'90s, appearing on hits like “Queen of

Memphis” and the Grammy nominated “Trashy Women.” A

multi-instrumentalist, Nichols also played bass guitar on the

1976 pop hit “Shannon,” by Henry Gross.

Tidbits• Belmont University will host “On the Blvd” Aug. 28 from

4-11 PM. There will be four stages on Belmont Boulevard

featuring student performers and local band Modoc. The

event is sponsored by The Mike Curb College of Entertainment

and Music Business and BMI. Admission is free. For more

information visit www.belmontcemblog.com.

• The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), announced yesterday

that leading online music services such as Microsoft,

RealNetwork’s Rhapsody, la la, Last.fm, and Slacker are

using their services as the primary mechanical licensing

provider for interactive streams and limited and

permanent downloads at the new statutory rates.

The B104.7 Morning Crew hung out with Keni Thomas at Ft. Riley,

Kansas after his performance at The Big Red One's Victory Week

Celebration in Manhattan, Kansas. (L-R): Lindsey, Thomas and Drew.

Ryan Bitzer

Paul McCulloch

page 5 Wednesday, August 19, 2009