Cranking out news for the geeks, music buffs and gossip junkies, my way. -Greg

Well it looks like Taylor is taking her ability to write to a different level. Taylor Swift and American Greetings are getting together to create a line of greeting cards, stationery, online greeting cards and more. Now, I know there is a joke in here somewhere, just give me a minute. Taylor says “My idea of a great song is a song that says how I feel better than I could. I feel the same way about greeting cards,” there it is, my idea of a great Taylor Swift song is one that she doesn’t sing, enter the greeting card, lol. She goes on to say “I’ve always been fascinated by feelings and how we express them to each other. Getting to write and design these cards is a wonderful experience.” Good for Taylor I like the idea of her using her talents for writing rather than performing. -Greg

 Knowing I’m a big Kenny Chesney fan I’ve had quite a few people ask me, “What’s the name of the Kenny Chesney song with Dave Matthews?” I didn’t realize I guess how popular Dave Matthews is and he’s actually pretty good too. “I’m Alive” is a very good song and I think the both compliment each other very well for that song. I’ll be joining the rest in looking forward to the performance at the CMA’s. Who am I kidding, I was already looking forward to it! – Greg

Dave Matthews will perform with Kenny Chesney on the 43rd annual CMA Awards, event organizers announced Monday (Oct. 19). It marks Matthews’ first appearance on the show that will include several previously-announced performers, including Jason Aldean, Brooks & Dunn, Billy Currington, Vince Gill and Daughtry, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, George Strait, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and the Zac Brown Band. Chesney co-wrote “I’m Alive” with Dean Dillon and Mark Tamburino. The song was first recorded by Willie Nelson, but Chesney and Matthews recorded their version for Chesney’s Lucky Old Sun album. It also appears on Chesney’s Greatest Hits II and has already climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard country songs chart.

I’m not sure if it’s because I never have so closely watched the end of someone’s tour or if it’s just Kenny, but it seems he is really taken it very serious about letting his fans know he’ll be back and why he is taking 2010 off. It’s really neat to see how much effort he is putting in to letting his fans know how much he cares. I know that I’m pretty disappointed that he’s taking next year off, but he has said several times now that he will still be putting on shows, just not the full blown tour. I know I will still get to see him next year, because I will for sure make it to one of the small venues! Looking forward to the new album Kenny and we’ll be seeing you soon enough! -Greg

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony BMG Nashville.

September 21, 2009 — Kenny Chesney said goodbye to fans last Saturday on the last night of his Sun City Carnival Tour as he takes some time off to rejuvenate and record another CD, due late spring, 2010.

“It’s hard to believe we’re putting this thing up on blocks,” Kenny said after the sold-out show at Lucas Oil Stadium. “The response from the fans, out in the crowd and the Internet, it makes [me] feel like people understand, and that they know we’re not gone for good, it’s just a breather.

“And I hope people understand, I’ve never been an all or nothing kind of guy,” he stated. “This doesn’t mean there will be no shows or no music. It means I’m not going to be staging a major tour – I’m not going to take two weeks off and be meeting with people to build a stage, to start thinking about how we can do the lights different and what the video’s gonna be.”

Kenny ended his tour surrounded by fans and fellow artists. Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles joined him on his hit “When The Sun Goes Down,” Miranda Lambert came out on “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” the Zac Brown Band performed Alabama’s “Dixieland Delight” and Steve Miller’s “Space Cowboy,” and Wailer Drummie Zeb did the reggae classic, “Three Little Birds.”

“This isn’t just a show,” said Kenny, who’s the 4-consecutive Academy of Country Music and 4-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year. “This is a major production … and it’s not just, ‘Decide what to play, rehearse for a couple weeks and get out there.’ I need a break from that, so I can get back inside from a fresh place – and I’m really looking forward to that, because I don’t know anyone who keeps their foot on the gas like this for 8 years.”

Kenny’s break won’t be all flip flops and island sunning. Next year he’ll be part of the Hard Rock Café’s international Ambassadors of Rock, and currently, his “This Is Our Moment” is the break-out song for ESPN’s college football games this season.

“There are all kinds of things to explore within the music,” Kenny said. “I can’t wait to take the time to see where some of this will take me, and where I might turn up, Because, you know, I now have the time to maybe get into some interesting places. We’ll just have to figure it out.”

Kenny Chesney sent out a letter to all his fans. He talks about this amazing summer, his upcoming album in April, doing shows here and there in 2010, and unfortunately how he won’t be touring his “great big rock & roll tour” next year.. This sucks Kenny.. -Greg

It has been an amazing summer… and I can’t believe it’s almost over. So much has happened – whether it was watching all of you hang in there with us during that horrible storm in Dallas, and coming back the next week to finish what we started, having Key West close down Duval Street for our Keg in the Closet at Sloppy Joe’s, the almost too intense to describe stadium shows in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Columbus, San Francisco, Louisville, Seattle, kicking off No Shoes Radio live in Orange Beach, Alabama with everybody going out all over the world via the internet – and sitting here on my bus, it kind
of leaves me speechless.

You know, every year, I think it can’t get any better.

Every year, you guys bring a real passion for this music and enjoy the night with us. Me and the guys talk about that more than you’d ever guess: how great the audiences are, the way you sound singing our songs back to us, the smiles we see from the stage.

Because we see you. We REALLY see you… And none of that is taken lightly.

You guys are the best fans any entertainer could hope to have, You rock us, push us and make us better. I sometimes think you guys truly drive and inspire us to be the most we can.

And that’s just it. You guys deserve the absolutely best and most.

I start working on our next year’s tour almost a year before. It’s about what more, how can, where do… and in all of that, you can find yourself so lost in beating the year before that you miss the moments that make what we – you, me, the band and crew – so special.

Since we hit the road as headliners with the palm trees lit by a full moon in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2002, you guys have been there and been there and been there. And after eight years, it’s time for a little break… to exhale, to think about what next, to create something that’s truly different.

That all takes time. It should never be fit in amongst everything else.

I’ve said we’re like a baseball team: six months on, six months off. But honestly, we work straight through: both on making the music and creating the shows. With a record coming next April and a couple other projects that we’ll be telling you about soon, you’re gonna have more than plenty of me next year – but what you won’t have is a great big rock & roll tour.

Will I show up here and there? Absolutely. But I want to take that moment to really think about what next, to make my record and really get inside it, to create a show that’s something else… because you deserve no less.

It’s why I’m writing this letter…

It’s why I’m willing to have a summer where I don’t get to hear your cheers, hit the parking lot on stadium Saturdays, to listen to you sing these songs that are so much a part of my life back to me.

I’m gonna hate it and miss it, but I know when I hit the stage again, it’s gonna be even better, even more. Because I know you guys. You’re as good as they get, and we’re gonna get even better during the time we’re taking off…

So, this isn’t good-bye, it’s just we’re taking a break. And you’re still gonna see me… way more than you’d probably expect. But I always want you to hear it from me… that way it’s not rumors and speculation, it’s the real of how it is. And right now, the real is: I can’t wait to hit the stage in Bloomington, Illinois and Indianapolis this weekend – and I can’t wait for you to hear the new music.

Until then, I remain your biggest fan in the whole world. Absolutely.

- Kenny

Everyone needs time with their family, but this just plain stinks. I had plans to go to Tennessee and watch him perform, as well as watch him here in St. Louis again, that is if he would have came back. I’ve seen Kenny Chesney live more than a few times and every time it gets better. Oh well, I know that I’ll be able to catch one of his acoustic acts somewhere along the way.. Maybe while having a Beer in Mexico? -Greg 

September 15, 2009

Kenny Chesney will not be touring next summer, Entertainment Weekly reports. Chesney, who routinely launches his annual tours in the spring and closes them in late summer or early fall, is one of the most successful touring acts in any musical genre. “I’m not quitting,” he told the magazine. “It’s just a short pause. It would be easy to keep doing it, because it’s fun and the fans are unbelievable. … Then you realize that at some point you’re missing a part of your life. … I need to recharge creatively and get off the clock of having to be somewhere … and having to keep juggling all these things. And people needing answers. I just felt like this year it finally hit me that I need to get reconnected with my family.” Although he doesn’t plan a major tour, he didn’t rule out the possibility of occasionally performing acoustic concerts at select venues. “Something to feed my soul,” he said. “I’ve given a big part of my soul for this for so long, and nothing has really been filling that up. It seems like in the last couple of years, I’ve been on an empty tank. And that’s gotta change.” His 2009 tour closes Saturday (Sept. 19) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Nominations Announced in New York and Nashville

September 9, 2009; Written by Calvin Gilbert

Brad Paisley

With six nominations, Brad Paisley emerged as the frontrunner when the nominees for the 43rd annual CMA Awards were announced Wednesday (Sept. 9) in New York and Nashville. Keith Urban, Jamey Johnson, George Strait, Taylor Swift and Zac Brown each received four nominations.

Darius Rucker and Lee Ann Womack announced the final nominees in five of the 12 categories during a telecast Good Morning America at the ABC News studios in New York’s Times Square. Randy Houser announced the candidates in the other categories at CMT’s studios in Nashville on Insider Special Edition: 2009 CMA Awards Nominations, hosted by CMT personalities Cody Alan and Alecia Davis.

Rucker, once primarily known as the lead vocalist for Hootie & the Blowfish, picked up his first CMA nominations as a solo country artist. He’s nominated in the new artist and male vocalist categories. Womack and Strait share a nomination for musical event of the year for “Everything but Quits,” a duet featured on her Call Me Crazy album.

In addition to nominations for entertainer of the year and male vocalist, Paisley received an album of the year nomination for American Saturday Night and single and song of the year nominations for “Then,” the single he co-wrote with Chris DuBois and Ashley Gorley. Paisley’s collaboration with Keith Urban on “Start a Band” netted a music video of the year nomination for them and director Jim Shea.

Urban’s other nominations include entertainer of the year, male vocalist and album of the year (for Defying Gravity). Urban could potentially win a second trophy in the album of the year category for co-producing the project with Dann Huff.

Strait also received nominations for entertainer of the year and male vocalist, along with music video of the year for “Troubadour,” directed by Trey Fanjoy. Strait and Womack won the CMA’s musical event honor in 2005 for their collaboration on “Good News, Bad News.”

Swift’s four nominations include her first for the coveted entertainer of the year prize. She is also nominated for female vocalist and music video of the year (the latter for “Love Story,” directed by Fanjoy.) Aside from an artist nomination in the album of the year field, Swift could receive a second trophy for co-producing Fearless with Nathan Chapman.

Johnson, a new artist nominee, is also up for single and song of the year for “In Color” and album of the year for That Lonesome Song. He won a CMA song of the year award in 2007 for his work with co-writers Bill Anderson and Buddy Cannon on Strait’s hit, “Give It Away.”

Brown received his first CMA nominations Wednesday. The Zac Brown Band is included in the new artist and vocal group categories. The band’s hit single, “Chicken Fried,” is nominated for single of the year, and Brown garnered an extra nomination for co-writing the song with Wyatt Durrette.

This year’s CMA Awards will be broadcast live Nov. 11 from Nashville’s Sommet Center. Paisley and Carrie Underwood will return for a second year to host the ABC telecast.

BOSTON, Aug. 21 (UPI) — A woman claims country music star Kenny Chesney snatched her camera’s memory card as she was taking pictures during a concert in Foxborough, Mass.

“(Chesney) was like a person in front of me and he reached down, grabs the camera, shuts it, goes down the walkway and throws it on the stage,” Susan Mazar told WCVB-TV, Boston.

Mazar said her camera was returned to her, but the memory card, containing photos from her family vacation, was missing.

Although video cameras are banned at Gillette Stadium, the concert’s venue, Mazar insisted to NewsCenter 5 she was only taking still pictures of Saturday’s gig.

Photo Copyright Getty Images

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