Nobody Does It Like Taylor ... Still!

I know she's not a Nashville act anymore ... The world is her playground. She was a graduate of the Garth Brooks School of Country Stardom. She may be the only act to do it better than her mentor. She remains amazing and so does Garth, for that matter. Both out of the Country award show spin machine and working in their own zones. Study them both students and learn. They cover all the bases. Natural, viral superstars.

Taking a page from the Taylor "debut a song" chapter, Carrie Underwood took a late summer afternoon and made some noise. It was an excellent choreographed event complete with Internet and broadcast components. The song is strong and the promotion accomplished the mission. "Smoke Break" is solid and will add to her 56 million sold column. Carrie's new album, Storyteller, is out October 23rd.

Meanwhile, Miranda Lambert on Instagram ... Very blonde and captioning her new look picture. ... what doesn't kill you only makes you blonder"....

Mrs. Urban talking a lot in the Australian edition of Vogue ... Says she wishes she had met Keith earlier and had more children with him ... Add to the girl power grid with The McGraw gals ... Faith and Gracie singing with Tim at his huge Nashville show last weekend and proving there is no shortage of Girl Power in Music City.

The war against women on radio really would be crazy if true. The brightest and most powerful singers in this town are the ladies. The most diverse and interesting, too. Pick a bro, any bro and put their lyrics and styles against the top women and it's not much of a contest. The men have the numbers for sure ... no shortage of dude singers these days, old and young.

If radio consultants want to be preaching, "All bro all the time" ... rock on to your own peril. Change the tone like you changed the audience a few years ago. Remember it was older? You forced it young. Now force it beyond this myopic sound.

Do any of these folks actually listen and not just put the stuff down in the computer in the form of a list? Monotonous! Keep the vibe and broaden the sound ... widen the appeal ... Get away from this streaming jukebox ... who sits through six minutes of commercials? You have to get back to the basics of ad-paid-for radio ... contests, interactivity, information. Radio has to be an event, otherwise put all your stations in a closet and automate. Take a Smoke Break and listen ... not just type in titles ! Radio can be fun! Some places it actually is!

Tim McGraw threw a huge party and showed how it was done on stage. The special guests were fun and Tim shows every night he is the best song man in town. He knows a hit when he hears it ... his producing partner, Byron Gallimore, tunes the engine and they make hit after hit despite any current flavor of the month. Tim has remained a good guy as well as an improved showman. If you get a chance to see the show, it's a singalong much like the Garth shows.

Brad Paisley's Country Nation College tour is going to win a lot of new Country converts this fall. It will be a win for the team and Brad. Generating new fans ... impressing the streaming college listeners that Country is exciting and very cool. Keep an eye on this tour...

End of Summer ... Fall and cooler weather ahead ... we hope.