50 Shades Of Country

It's Grammy weekend in Los Angeles. Sunday night Feb. 8th on CBS ... if you are reading this beforehand remember they only give out a few Grammys during the Grammys.

Many go out in the pre-award ceremony ... whoops, it's not called that anymore ... was the Grammy Awards Pre-Telecast Ceremony now the Premiere Ceremony. It will take place at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Sunday, Feb. 8th from 12:30-3:30p PT and will present the first Grammy Awards of the day in approximately 70-73 categories. The event will also be streamed live internationally at GRAMMY.com.

The Grammys are live on the East coast and taped-delayed on the West Coast. Social media is a big part now and the masses will tweet, Instagram and Facebook during the red carpet and show...

Nashville folks are there ... Belmont University students are helping behind the scenes. Miranda and Eric are the featured Country artists this year.

There are no Beatles or One Direction on fire .. .no Garth or Elvis ... no "British invasion" or the Eagles flying high. Sam Smith and Beyonce are the big shots and let's see if Madonna and Tom Jones are enough to get everyone tuned in. Won't be much competition on the other channels ... Whoops! The Walking Dead is up against the Grammys ... This shot across the bow from AMC will not be good for the CBS Grammys!

Competition seems strong everywhere ... no matter what you do and when you do it ... Girl singers can't get off the runaway in Country these post-Taylor Swift days. A few, but solo females -- especially if you are over 35 -- are rare.

They keep saying that will change. Waiting.

And in the everything old is new again column...

Moonshine: Hee Haw the Musical it opens in Dallas on September 2nd. Written by Brandy Clark and Shane McNally. Two great contemporary writers, so I can't wait to see if this gets off the ground and ultimately heads to Broadway ... and that's Broadway, NYC ... not just Broadway Nashville.

The Hee Haw image was huge for Country but a new take of the L'il Abner story might just be right place at the right time ... ( L'il Abner was considered to be one of the greatest comic strips in history ... it was also a musical)

The Eric Church road show story featured on the CBS Morning news was excellent. Try to find it online at CBSNEWS.com. $100,000 a week to rent the $3 million stage? Why would you not buy it? Reports said tour costs $19 million to put on the road for nine months.

Elsewhere in the business of Country, Hollywood Reporter did a feature on Scott Borchetta. Big Machine, one of the great stories in the history of Music Row. Toby Keith investing in the start-up sure paid off forhim! His 4% interest is the gift that keeps on giving.

Garth rolls on to California now ... still only putting his schedule out less than two months at a time. Sacramento in late March.

Big and Rich on The Bachelor? Monday night, Feb 9th... "Idol" doing Hollywood Week. "SNL" next weekend big show ... Taylor Swift guests on that, too.

See where the hot film, "50 Shades of Grey," is selling out next weekend already in hot Country music states. The Deep South women selling out Tupelo and Chattanooga already and The Deep South the hottest place for Fandango sales. The soundtrack is NOT Country. Someone missed a product placement opportunity.