Red Alert ... Going Or Staying?

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Pretty exciting sales figures from Music Row this week. When's the last time you had a pop singer who is an icon of her generation and two on-fire guys smoke up the sales charts"

You know the Taylor Swift "RED" story by now. Worldwide sales to the corner drugstore. Online to stand in line. An explosion of RED! From Target and Macy's TV to the airport newsstand to TV and radio. Amazing coverage. And a million physical sales to boot. Garth-like blitz.

Someone raised a slight warning flag. Like a wet blanket on a fire but worth saying. Playing in the traffic at pop radio is the most dangerous business of all. In the words of Mary Chapin Carpenter ... somedays you're the windshield and somedays you're the bug!

With a CD that abandons most pretext of being anything Country , how will this go over when the smoke clears? Should she have given Country radio its own toys to play with? Black and White albums ... pop and country? Or just full speed ahead? The answer is clear; the result long-term ... not so much.

But who cares? She is such a huge star and a good star. We all pray she never goes the path of so many white-hot starlets who burn across the skies.

Look at Aldean! 400,000 plus physical sales ... first week. For "Night Train" ... stadium shows. Big-time moves.

Look at Luke Bryan's single download sales! Six million for three songs! Double whoa!

This place is hot. Blake said that Country is the new pop. I agree. "The Beverly Hillbillies" all over again. Mainstream.

It may be regional somewhat, the pop thing and suburb over big city, but look at street concert crowds like Luke Bryan got in downtown Nashville recently. College kids galore.

When talking about smart. Real smart to blow off those streaming services. They are sales killers ... No Taylor Swift on those babies!

"Nashville" the TV show ... rolls along. Audience is steady week to week. I think it will for sure see a renewal for the full year. Beyond that, not sure. Full year like it's rival time-period show, "Chicago Fire?" Yep!

"The Voice" has singlehandedy changed the fate of NBC. Will it spawn any stars? Can't tell.

Inspiring to see cowboy hats and even lampshades on the heads of fans at the Brad Paisley Hollywood Bowl show last weekend. What a place and what a crowd. Beautiful people and great reviews from the trades and consumer press. Brad's working on new music and his fans will eat it up.

Lot to be hopeful about in a time where the big-picture economy is cloudy. The election is here. The dice are about to be given to the thrower ... the table is loaded with cash.

Pass or don't pass? Craps out or winner ... pay the line ... it's going down to the finish line...

Taylor loses another boyfriend? The Kennedy thing is over? Jeeeezzzzzzzz ... new CD out, but the boy is gone!