Too Hot To Think!

It's Summer and it's supposed to be hot ... but this hot in July? 100-plus heat indexes, Canada is hot, a chunk of ice the size of Delaware broke off at one of the poles.. Winter in the Southern Hemisphere almost sounds good right now ... Good thing I'm sure folks are writing summer songs at writing session on Music Row.

Used to be this time of year they recorded Christmas albums ... it would take a lot of pretending to do that these days.

I was looking that the guy most capable of withstanding 100-plus degrees on stage is playing inside this weekend. Figures! Tim McGraw and wife in L.A. at the Staples Center for two nights.

Outside in the dry heat, Brad Paisley in New Mexico and in the Mile High City. Look for his new Nationwide commercials with Peyton Manning coming this Fall.

The first round of voting for the CMA awards is underway. If you go by the PR push, Thomas Rhett should do well. Beyond that it's anyone's game. Will the voters go Chris Stapleton-like wild again or what?

How about those Rascal Flatt boys? In the top 5, Jay is producing a movie and they have a Hollywood restaurant in the building stage. What a great career! They just keep going despite the ever-changing youth movement.

Chris Janson signed now with William Morris ... Been watching him since before the first day. He has always had the live act thing going ... songwriter, too. Now the hit songs. Fun to watch this grow.

Is there a breakout act? Jon Pardi, to me, is the closest thing in that area. Plenty of new people, but he feels like all the pieces may be in place for a growth cycle. Energy with some tradition.'

The tradition part is in bad need.

With rock folks more and more in control of the Nashville sound, the more pop it goes. There is usually a balance at some point. When the pendulum swings too far one way, it goes back the other. The male vs. female artist ratio is still out of whack!

There is far too much rap-infused Country. The sound is not moving toward Chris Stapleton as implied.

You can hear the influence of the '90s rock and hip-hop for sure. We shall see where this takes us.

The downtown Nashville club scene is on fire! Alan Jackson's place on Broadway now working on all four floors ... The list is too long of the builds in progress for Dierks and Blake and others. There's a five-block strip that changes by the day. The party in the summer is almost non-stop.

The price of living in Nashville has gone crazy. The rents, the housing prices are insane. Houses sell in three days, if not faster.

Traffic grows worse by the hour. Thursday rush hour started in the 3pm hour today in South Nashville.

If you are coming to visit, get ready for sticker shock ... The hotels, parking ... you name it. The party is fun for the out-of-towners. To be seen: How much fun for those of us living here.

Nashville the TV show on ABC might have lit a fire that was already smoldering. Now it's in full burn.

Like the old Ted Mack Amateur used to begin: The wheel of fortune spinning ... round and round she goes, where it stops nobody knows. We are spinning ... When the music stops ... and it will at some point ... who gets caught with their pants down?