Month: May 2008
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100 Greatest Women, #47: Felice Bryant
100 Greatest Women #47 Felice Bryant With husband Boudleaux, Felice Bryant was part of the greatest songwriting team of her time, so fine at their craft that they wrote themselves into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Felice was born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She grew up singing, but it was…
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Kenny Chesney's Not a Fan of ACM's Fan-Voted Entertainer Award
2008 ACM Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney has gone on record to protest this year’s change that made the category fan-voted: “The entertainer of the year trophy is supposed to represent heart and passion and an amazing amount of sacrifice, commitment and focus,” he said. “That’s the way Garth won it four times, that’s…
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ACM 2008 Live Blog
ACM Live Blog 11:02 From the comments: Jonathan notes that the AP says Tracy Lawrence won Vocal Event. That settles the final open question of the evening. All of you in the comments helped make a boring show interesting. Have a good night! 10:58 Any idea who won Vocal Event? 10:57 Kenny just mention what…
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100 Greatest Women, #48: Lulu Belle
100 Greatest Women #48 Lulu Belle The Queen of All Radio. Lulu Belle was born Myrtle Eleanor Cooper in North Carolina, the daughter of a convicted moonshiner. Her dad moved her family all around the country looking for ways to make big money, and when she was a teenager, they arrived in Chicago. They arrived…
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100 Greatest Women, #49: Olivia Newton-John
100 Greatest Women #49 Olivia Newton-John One of the biggest female country stars of the seventies became one quite accidentally. Her mere presence in country music infuriated traditionalists, but her pop-flavored country foreshadowed the boundary blurring recordings of future genre straddling stars like Dolly Parton, Shania Twain and Faith Hill. Olivia Newton-John was born in…
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ACM Awards 2008: Personal Picks
As has become our annual custom, Country Universe will be live-blogging this year’s ACM awards, which air on CBS Sunday, May 18 at 8 pm Eastern. The ACM’s are always an interesting show, with a bigger emphasis on commercial success than the CMA’s or the Grammys. Reba McEntire is back as host, and while she was…
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100 Greatest Women, #50: Jeannie C. Riley
100 Greatest Women #50 Jeannie C. Riley Her music was more outspokenly feminist than any of her contemporaries, but Jeannie C. Riley was on the receiving end of every sexist obstacle imaginable as she worked her way toward stardom, with the path not getting any easier once she obtained it. Jeannie was raised in the…
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100 Greatest Women, #51: Terri Clark
100 Greatest Women #51 Terri Clark When Mercury records launched Terri Clark in 1995, they billed her as country music’s first female hat act. Over the next decade, she’d show a lot more staying power than most of her male contemporaries, adapting to the big changes in country music along the way. Clark grew up…
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100 Greatest Women, #52: Juice Newton
100 Greatest Women #52 Juice Newton The cross-pollination between pop and country music in the early eighties provided an opening for Juice Newton and her undeniably infectious aural confections. By the time that the hits started rolling in, they had been a long time coming. Newton had found local success in a band she dubbed…
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Eddy Arnold, “To Life”
A heartbreakingly beautiful toast to life, given by a man humbled by the blessings he’s been given over the years. “Life,” he sings, “you served your finest wine. I drank it down to find my glass was always full.” Listening to this, I couldn’t help but remember watching an old clip of Eddy Arnold being…