Author Archive: Sarah Skates
Sarah Skates has worked in the music business for more than a decade and is a longtime contributor to MusicRow.
Songs Score Big With Soundtracks: “The Climb,” “Southern Voice”
Songwriters Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe had stellar success with their song “The Climb,” which spent an amazing 15 weeks at #1 on Billboard‘s AC Chart. As the lead single from Hannah Montana: The Movie, “The Climb” was also voted Best Song from a Movie at the 2009 MTV Music Awards. It was published by […]
Category: Artist, Featured, Publishing
Country On Oprah’s Christmas Show Today
Sugarland and Tim McGraw are among the superstars set for Oprah’s Holiday Music Extravaganza, airing today Monday, November 30. The episode focuses on duets, pairing Sugarland with Oscar winning actress, Jennifer Hudson for a Christmas standard. Sugarland is promoting their new holiday album Gold And Green. McGraw will sing the John Lennon classic “Happy Christmas” […]
Category: Artist, Featured, Sales/Marketing
Urban Down Under: Awards Show, Tour
Keith Urban opened Australia’s Aria Awards over the weekend with a performance of his hit “Kiss A Girl.” Next up he launches his “Escape Together World Tour” in Melbourne, Australia on Dec. 11. The entire production set-up used on the U.S. leg of the tour—two stages, lighting, video screens, etc.—will make its way across the […]
Artists Thank Troops: Lee Ann Womack and More
Lee Ann Womack was in Hawaii last week to visit with Wounded Warriors and perform for troops and their families at Schofield Barracks. Visiting the island of Oahu as part of “A Tropic Homecoming,” sponsored by the USO, Womack welcomed home more than 3,500 troops returning from a year-long deployment in Iraq. Keni Thomas, Mark […]
Combustion Promotes Chris Van Belkom
Combustion Music has promoted Chris Van Belkom to Sr. Creative Director. He previously served as Creative Director and has spent five years with the publisher, helping oversee the careers of songwriters including Blair Daly, Ashley Gorley and Gordie Sampson, as well as local major label rockers Kings Of Leon and American Bang, and duo Sam […]
Category: Featured, Publishing
Lifenotes: Dene Hallam
Lifelong radio man Dene Hallam is being mourned by friends in the industry following his death on Friday night (11/20) following a brief illness. The veteran programmer was currently working as PD for the Moby In The Morning show in Atlanta. Hallam had been in radio since the 1970s, and through the decades earned the […]
Jimmy Wayne Webchat; Dolly Opens Nashville Store
It’s release day for Jimmy Wayne who is back with his Valory Music Co. album Sara Smile. To mark the occasion he’s hosting a live Ustream video chat with fans tonight beginning at 7 PM/CT which will include an acoustic set and will be accessible via his MySpace, Facebook and Twitter pages as well as […]
Category: Artist, Featured, Sales/Marketing
Lance Smith And CMT Part Ways
After more than eight years on CMT, host Lance Smith is leaving the network to focus on his acting career. Smith joined CMT in 2001 as the network’s first VJ and went on to host over 400 episodes of the CMT Top 20 Countdown. He has logged countless hours on camera and hosted dozens of […]
Category: Artist, Featured, Sales/Marketing
Griggs Suffer Devastating House Fire
Country singer Andy Griggs and his family lost their home in a devastating fire this past Saturday. Thankfully, they all escaped without harm, but sadly, the house is being called a total loss. An official statement released by publicist Vanessa Davis says, “Andy and his family are strong in their spiritual faith and they are […]
AMA Photos, Swift Big Winner
Taylor Swift was the top winner at last night’s American Music Awards, receiving five trophies at the all-genre fan-voted show. Country as a whole was well-represented at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, snagging several awards as well as performances by Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood. Gloriana lovers voted via text to give them the […]
Country at Sunday’s American Music Awards
Fans will see a lot of country faces on Sunday’s (11/22) 2009 American Music Awards, taking place at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The show starts at 7 PM/CT on ABC with Taylor Swift leading the nominations with six nods. Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban scored performance slots on the show. Swift is up […]
