Friday Snow Plows On Music Row

If you were really here in Nashville for this week’s Country Radio Seminar (CRS), you would be chilled to be here. You Northerners make fun of us, but it has been ice filled fun the past few days. Deadly and miserable for so many people in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and millions of others. But since we live in a virtual world, business rolls on in a busy week.

If the research flying around CRS meetings doesn’t make your head spin, then off to TikTok you go. Meet the rest of the A&R people from the Row there. A few established artists have toe dipped in TikTok, but some of the new ones have actually broken away from the pack through the app. It is certainly not something to be dismissed. Morning shows may be required to go TikTokking there sooner, not later.

When you sample the new talent revealed at CRS, it’s always a good gauge to see where the big labels think things are headed.

Alex Miller on the current season of “American Idol” is a teenage, Country as grits performer. He’s off to Hollywood. Maybe he will hook up with fellow contestant Claudia Conway and simply make the Earth fall off its axis.

The NBC Grand Ole Opry special on February 14th tanked in the ratings. No other way to call that one. Blame counter programming, the downfall of specials on anything, and the Daytona race on FOX, which beat it in the men demo.

With all that aside, the show had its moments, despite strange song selections, hurried archive clips, and a little history put in context. Without a live audience, electricity was missing. I wanted to talk to friends about it and I couldn’t find anyone who watched it. It was not “must see TV,” sadly. I love the Opry and I want everyone to love the Opry! May need -- as a group -- some more work on that subject.

We have the ACM Awards on the way via CBS in April. They’ll air from Nashville like they did last fall. Three hours is a big slot and needs huge star power to get the job done. Hope they find a way to get some electricity in between those coffee shop acoustic performances.

Nashville’s Exit/In is for sale, and hopefully it falls into the hands of someone who will keep it going as a cool performance place. Rotier’s restaurant up the block has closed. The unique parts of Nashville keep slipping away.

Are all eyes on Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth? What kind of deals have been cooked up to have just 1,000 reserved and 200 general admission for big payday stars like Hank Williams, Jr. and Miranda Lambert? I was told drive-ins didn’t economically work with a 1,000-2,000 people.

The saga of Morgan Wallen rolls on. The New York Times is all over this story. They are dumbfounded that he remains at #1 on Billboard’s all genre albums chart for a fifth week despite the bans. In fact, he increased sales and has a second, earlier album now in the top 10 as well. The Weeknd is at #2 and Foo Fighters only at #3.

Since this is CRS research week, how is that ban going? These are complicated times.

Two members of Country music’s family had difficult weeks. Ashley Judd could have died in an African rainforest recently. Her left leg was broken in four places with nerve damage, and locals, using everything they could muster, got her out of the jungle with no medicine, just hard work. She was 55 hours from accident to the ICU, a nightmare that could have ended very badly.

Sadly, Kenny Chesney’s helicopter pilot friend, Maria Rodriguez, was killed with four others in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands. Kenny posted pictures of the two flying, and the friendship shared over 15 years.

Let’s hope 2021 gets better … a lot better. The first two months have actually been worse than 2020 for some. You can feel the wild animals kicking at the starting gates. Cabin fever, bank accounts need refilling, whatever. Life is screaming at us to come back. These COVID vaccine shots are very slowly going in around Nashville. Hopefully after this winter freeze they will really get going.

If you’re still awake, go to Calm.com or download the app. Keith Urban just cut a one-hour song for them, “I Am Home.” A one-hour song to make you relax and go to sleep. The service costs $69.99 for 12 months.

Meanwhile, better go back and read all the Net News this week on CRS. Much to ponder.