NashvilleGab - Country music news and Nashville celebrity gossip

Landon Pigg review and pics

I occasionally get offers for tickets to concerts  for people who aren't country.  I've generally just passed on these, but this time I offered the tickets to Sunday's Landon Pigg show to my Nashville correspondents and one of them took me up on the offer and went.  I'm glad that I offered the tickets because it sounds like Hannah had a good time.  Thank you to Sony Music for the tickets. 

RCA recording artist Landon Pigg opened for A Fine Frenzy on October 25, 2009 at 3^rd& Lindsley in Nashville as part of local radio station Lightning 100‘s weekly “Nashville Sunday Night” program. Promoting his recently released album, “The Boy Who Never,” Nashville-native Pigg entertained the sold-out crowd with a selection of melodic indie pop songs, including “Made for Glory,” “Rooftops,” from “The Boy Who Never,” and “Can’t Let Go,” from his first full-length RCA release, “LP.” Pigg also performed “High Times,” from the soundtrack for the movie “Whip It,” in which he played Ellen Page’s love interest. He closed out the set with “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop,” which most people would recognize from recent AT&T commercials. Thanks to RCA Records and Nashville Gab for such an enjoyable night. 

 

This morning it's all about the other people in the stars' lives

It's Monday which means not a darn thing is going on.  Generally it takes a couple of hours before I'm able to find any interesting news.  But this morning I did find two interesting things that aren't directly about the stars, but rather the people in the stars' lives so I figured I'd just add them to one post here.

First off is Miranda Lambert's parents, Rick and Beverly Lambert.  I found it interesting that they run a store called the Miranda Lambert Store & Red 55 Winery which is located in downtown Lindale, Texas.  But never fear, the parents aren't exploiting their famous prodigy's name - the store, which serves food, has live music and sells Miranda's used-just-once clothing, donates its proceeds to the Humane Society, a charity close to Miranda's heart.  

The store is also the headquarters for the Miranda Lambert fan club and online store sales so really it's a multi-purpose place. Coolest thing, though, is it also serves as a Miranda museum - which yes, I'd definitely visit if it was close to me. 

But the parents' venture isn't only a museum, store, live-music venue, and restaurant, it's also a Winery whose bottles of wine are named for Miranda's songs and other important things in her life, so you can buy yourself a big ol' bottle of Kerosene, Crazy Ex Girlfriend and Red 55 (the name of Miranda's pickup truck she received when she was 17).

And I must say that Crazy Ex Girlfriend is just what I'd be if I drank some of that wine since I'm seriously a lightweight in the booze department.  Yeah.  You can check out this article in the Tyler Paper to read a pretty cool biography about Miranda's parents whose lives kind of sound like a country song all their own. 

Next up is John Murphy (in pink above).  So who is John Murphy you ask?  Well only one of the most important people in Rascal Flatts' life...he's their stylist.  Yes, he's the man that keeps Joe Don, Jay, and Gary stylish in their sequined shirts, long-sleeved shirts, and jeans. 

John got a little face time (or at least word time) when he gave an interview to the Denverpost.com recently.  And let me tell you, he gave away all the boys' secrets.  It got pretty deep.  He talks about label awareness and designer recognition, color palettes and buying the guys some underwear.  The best quote comes when John says there's a certain Jonas line Rascal Flatts just wont cross...

"The guys have a unified look but individual style. If I were to put Rascal Flatts in scarves and the shirts with V-neck sweaters and jackets, it would be a bit much for them. There's definitely a Jonas Brothers line you can't cross."  

I may joke around about this, but I actually find it really interesting to hear from some of the people who make the stars who they are.  You can check out John's entire interview here.

Now, personally I'd like to see how John would dress Rascal Flatts after drinking a little bit of that Miranda Lambert wine.  Yep, that would make for very interesting viewing.  

A Prairie Home Companion host suffers minor stroke

Long-time radio personality and host of A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor, suffered a minor stroke over the weekend and was treated at St. Mary's Hospital at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. 

"He is up and moving around, speaking sensibly, working at a laptop, and it's expected he'll be released on Friday," spokesman Karl Oestreich said.

"He plans to resume a normal schedule next week."

Keillor has said that he got the idea for A Prairie Home Companion by watching the Grand Ole Opry and the show has been host to many country stars. You can find out more info and listen to recorded broadcasts here.

Here's wishing you a speedy recovery, Mr. Keillor.

It's a Ross the Intern scavenger hunt

Hey all you Nashville-ites or Nashvillians or whatever you call yourselves, I have a scavenger hunt/stalking quest for you. 

My very favorite-ist person in the world - Ross the Intern (like from The Tonight Show) - is in Nashville for one reason or another and I want you to get a picture with him.  You'll get extra points if you have a sign that says Nashville Gab but that's not required. 

If you succeed and send me a picture with him you'll get an awesome prize out of the prize vault (i.e. something I have laying around like an autographed CD or book or something equally awesome). 

No worries about being weird, Ross actually wants people to find him.  Here's what he said on his website...

I'm at a mall in Nashville somewhere (I seriously have no idea where I
am - Opry Mills something?) shooting stuff for Big Saturday Night, but
I took this picture from my hotel room earlier this morning.

I woke up on the best freakin' mood for some reason and I am having a
great day so far.

I'm gonna spend the rest of the day ambushing people all around
Nashville and playing games with them, so I think it's gonna stay a
great day.

:)

If YOU'RE in Nashville, come find me & play!
:)
Ross

My only question is....why does he look constipated?

I love Steve Martin.  Always have.  Always will.

Well the original Steve-O made his Grand Ole Opry debut Saturday "in front of a  sold-out crowd and was greeted with a standing ovation."

Seems everyone loves Steve Martin.  He performed songs from his first music album, The Crow – New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, and had help from John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), with Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Stuart Duncan, Tim O’Brien, and others.

Sounds like a great night for Steve.  So why in the world is it that every picture I've seen he looks constipated?  Is that his serious game face?  Never thought I'd have to suggest to Steve Martin to lighten up.  

 

And you call yourself a music lover?

 

I have maybe 50 CDs floating around in various places - my car, my living room, kids' rooms, my office.  They're spread all over the place.  Honestly I'm not much of a CD buyer because there aren't many CDs I'd want to sit and listen to all the way through.  If I find a song I really love then I buy it from Amazon or iTunes and add it to my iPod and then I'll burn a CD. 

So how many CDs do you have laying around?  Is it anywhere near 17,000? 

I'm guessing not. 

Well meet Neno Sartini.  He says he's not a music collector but rather truly appreciates "the diversity of music, from different categories and countries.”

He appreciates it to the tune of 19 years (not) collecting, 17,000+ CDs and about $700 a month. 

Amazing!  Read his whole story here.

Meatloaf does Nashville but not country

When I read that Meatloaf had went to Nashville to record his next album I was a little scared.  Okay, I was more than a little scared, more like terrified.  I remember listening to Meatloaf as a kid as my mom blasted "Bat Out of Hell" on her record player while cleaning house.  I soooo couldn't imagine him recording country music. 

Well never fear, he's just found that all the best song writers are in Nashville but he definitely doesn't plan on singing country music. 

"I have to say this, and it has a connotation, but it's a new world now," Meat Loaf said. "I went into Nashville. Everybody goes, 'Oh, Nashville, country,' but no. All the songwriters have moved into Nashville. All the rock writers, everybody. I work with writers. I don't pretend to be a writer. I've written, but I hate everything [I wrote]. In fact, that's what I would tell them down in Nashville. They'd go, 'Oh, we want to write with you' and I'm saying, 'No you don't, because if you do, it's not going to get on the album because I'll hate it.' That held true. I'd sat down there and worked on three or four songs and they demo'd them, sent them back to me, and they're not going to be on the record. When we get into the studio and start doing tracks and things, I will change lyrics and write lyrics. I always do that. But that's a different thing. I just can't stand anything that I do."

While Meat Loaf's most popular songs were written by Jim Steinman, Nashville offered a whole new crop of talent to scribe for the singer. "When I do deal with writers, I guide them. I tell them storylines and I tell them what I need, this is where I'm going. I changed management this year and I went with Ken Levitan so I met with them and they said, 'Well, we have to get the next record together.' Ken looked at me and said, 'Look, why don't we get Rob Cavallo?' So I said, 'If you can get Rob Cavallo, then hey, fantastic.' I met with Rob Cavallo and he just had a lot of projects stacked up in front of me, so I've been waiting for him."

So thank God Meatloaf hasn't gone country, he's just discovered the best writers come from Nashville. 

Now that Jessica's gone I guess I could talk about Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton has a band.  I've never listened to their music and have no idea if it's classified as country, but I've seen them mentioned on other country sites (one of which was CMT if I remember correctly) and they toured with Willie Nelson so I guess I'll take my chances and report on Billy Bob's radio hissy fit.

After all, I do have to be on the look-out for the next train wreck so I can keep things interesting around here now that Jessica's went "home" to Epic Records. 

So anyway, Billy Bob and his band, the Boxmasters, visited CBC's Q Show in Canada this morning and someone apparently pissed in BBT's post toasties because he was in a really foul mood.  Check it out. 

Ted Nugent will hunt you down

Throughout a typical day I will read literally hundreds of headlines for the same story and it sometimes gets a bit mind numbing.  If it's something that doesn't interest me I'll just skip all the stories and not read any of them.  Then occasionally a story will come along that I've skipped a hundred times but then all of a sudden one headline will catch my eye and I'll finally read the story and wonder why the heck I didn't pick up on it earlier. 

This is one of those stories.

I'd seen a bunch of headlines about Ted Nugent getting a new show on CMT but really I could care less so I didn't bother to read any of the stories about it.  Then I saw this headline "Ted Nugent Hunting Show  - with humans as his prey."  

Whoa, what?  See what I mean?  A hundred headlines saying "Ted Nugent gets reality show on CMT" couldn't stop me in my tracks like one headline that mentioned humans as prey. 

So now here's the rest of the story. 

Rocker-turned-outdoorsman Ted Nugent has landed a new reality TV contest, where he’ll hunt down three wannabe survivalists.

Runnin’ Wild… From Ted Nugent will debut on cable network CMT in August. Each week, Nugent, a leading hunter and conservationist, and his 18-year-old son, Rocco, will teach three competitors survival rules.

The competitors then try to survive on their own while Nugent and Rocco attempt to hunt them down.

Ted Nugent is one crazy MoFo so I'm a little scared for the contestants.  He's one of those guys my husband likes to watch on his outdoor channels and let's just say Ted's overly zealous and more than a little passionate about his hunting.  I just hope he doesn't get wrapped up in some hunting frenzy and forget he's on a show and not actually hunting wild animals or else he may end up having Bob Kabobs for lunch or something. 

Simon Cowell has an opinion on everything

Not country but still amusing.  American Idol judge, Simon "the meanie" Cowell, has apparently decided to turn his keen observation and critic skills on Twitter and made me laugh in the process. 

He says about the micro-blogging site,  “Why would you want to talk to people like that? It’s like phoning someone randomly whose number you don’t even have and saying ‘Hi, it’s Simon, I went out with my family this weekend.”  

I must say I totally visualized what he was saying in my head and it made for a funny picture. 

I use Twitter almost like a feed reader and give a link to nearly all my posts on it.  It's handy and I've found that a lot of people come to the site from Twitter so it's obviously working.  I also love the stars (like Jake Owen) who post random pictures and videos and updates about what they have going on, even if it's something silly like I'm getting ready to have a beer.  Just another way to get to know people I guess.  But I can see Simon's point.  If I didn't have the blog here I don't know that I'd use Twitter very often, at least it wouldn't be near as much as I use it now. 

I guess it all boils down to different strokes for different folks.