Praise For The Good Guys

We lost an underrated singer this week. Billy Joe Royal. What a rare talent that man was. A singer's singer and gentleman on top of that.

I was a fan of Billy Joe before I ever got to know him. His voice cut through the crowd with those well-written Joe South tunes. They were songs built to last. "I Knew You When" could be done again today. Maybe even "The Greatest Love."

Billy and that Atlanta music machine were as hot as you could get in the mid to late-'60s. Think of all the great Georgians who came to Music Row from that crop with Billy Joe and Joe South -- Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, Tommy Roe and even Ray Charles with his R&B Georgia Country. These folks changed music forever ... forever for the better.

Billy Joe was booked out of Nashville ... was to play this weekend, in fact. He was produced in his Country career by Nelson Larkin and made that very hard turn from Pop to Country -- or at least it was hard at the time. We will miss you Billy Joe ... Nice guys sometimes do finish first!

Another quiet Georgia boy who came here and made it big is still going strong, Alan Jackson. Legacy Recordings and Arista Nashville are releasing Genuine: The Alan Jackson Story on November the 6th. Check that track listing ... what a body of work!

While on the praise patrol ... Great job of Metro Police for sticking with it and making an arrest in the brutal assault of music producer Dave Brainard. It was an unusual case and we are all waiting on the "WHY did they do it" part.

The Blake and Miranda story still going strong with both seemingly doing well. Both will have an interesting CMA night. Blake signing up for season 10 of The Voice ... and Miranda getting a star on the Music City star walk and writing music like there is no tomorrow. The magazines still putting them on the front pages with whatever that latest thing might be. Like George and Tammy once upon a time, hard for that tabloid media to let go of a sure thing.

The CMA publicity machine heating up for the big show revealing the opening act this week. Eric Church and Hank Williams Jr doing a great Waylon song that led one of his albums, "Are You Ready For The Country." That should be an energy-filled few minutes. Award show overload has hit almost all the shows. Bet the CMA does well if it carefully balances the BRO Flow....

Too bad they cant televise the Hall for the Hall NYC fundraiser ... Paul Simon with Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood and Emmylou Harris. I think even the stars were impressed with that lineup.

The music business seems to be settling in with the rash of changes in customer buying habits. Radio changes seem to be coming along even more radically than the music business. This holiday season might be scary for all kinds of people who are not named Amazon.