D-I-V-O-R-C-E

As the birds fly to Vegas for a few days, much to talk about among the label folks this weekend. Not a historian of label crossovers, but this one feels one of the biggest one in a long time.

Carrie Underwood is one of the biggest stars in Music City. She is at the top of her game any way you want to measure it. In her career she has seen big-time competition from other top female vocalists. In the awards world she had to overcome Taylor Swift ... a near impossibility. There was the Miranda Lambert career streaking up on the same label group.

Carrie going to a new label sounds like it will be renewing for her. There is no way to spin the loss for the partner left behind.

This must have been brewing for a while. We will let the cocktail lounges of Vegas collect all the scoop of why. Big news for sure. Great catch for UMG/Capitol.

The other great high school election is here. The Academy of Country Music Awards. Is Carrie going to win Entertainer of the Year to complete her week? She could. What a great year for her touring. International success and the hit songs. When you lay out the case, it’s hard to deny her.

Still, Keith Urban had a great year, too, as did Luke Bryan. All three had very big years. Oh yeah, they are all in the UMG family, so who knows how that family matter is going to turn out?
The buzz started about Shania showing up. Why not? The perfect place to debut her new music.
No-brainer really. In fact if she is not there, then that’s more of a story.

All the duets this year takes a page from The Grammy playbook. It’s three hours of contemporary Country msic. The young demos will be very well represented -- if that audience demo can DVR The Walking Dead season finale. CBS skews old but usually wins a regular Sunday night. Cable is the only real competition.

Reba will be singing on the ACMs as she finishes a week of shooting for her new ABC pilot. Reba was dressed like an “any County” deputy sheriff this week on set in Georgia. Sheriff Ruby Adair was on the scene. Won’t know for a while if this is going to be a go. Show had a title and now it doesn’t. The verdict will come down soon. I bet it’s a go.

Carrie, the ACMs … that’s enough for a week. Plenty of anniversaries this week, too.  The 50th anniversary of the Country Music Hall of Fame April 1st. Should be on everyone’s bucket list. What a fantastic showplace for Country music.

Amy Grant getting a star on the Music City Walk of Fame in April … The big wax museum opens up at Opry Mills in a few weeks. The big deal though … drum roll … the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame announced Wednesday April 5th. So many great possibilities ... If I was in Vegas and could bet on this: Dottie West … Ricky Skaggs or Alan Jackson. Who knows?
And the big Merle Salute in the coming week, too … Big national headlines for Country music in the next seven days!