THE BLUE CHIP RADIO REPORT Country Music News, Charts, Show Prep, Sales Info April 26, 1999 Bill Miller Editor & Publisher The Blue Chip Song of the Week: "Nashville Casualty & Life" by Lee Roy Parnell. Writers: Kinky Friedman. Producers: Kacey Jones. Label: Kinkajou Records. Parnell's best-ever vocal, fine guitar licks and a splendid lyric. >From the excellent tribute album, "Pearls In The Snow (The Songs of Kinky Friedman)", which jumped 9 slots to # 15 on Gavin's Americana chart this week. BMG picks up distribution tomorrow. Ray Stevens has prostate cancer. The singer/comedian is optimistic about a complete recovery. Doctors feel they caught the cancer in its early stages. His summer series in Nashville, The Ray Stevens Show, has been cancelled as a result of the illness. Blackhawk's Van Stephenson told Country Weekly that his cancer treatments have been successful and that he's healthy again. Cledus T. Judd recently had a procedure to correct a defect in his heart. To celebrate, Cledus plans a parody of Chad Brock's "Ordinary Life" on his next album. The title will be "Coronary Life". George Richey has asked he be dismissed from the lawsuit filed by four of Tammy Wynette's daughters. The widower's logic is that he is not a doctor, so a medical malpractice lawsuit would be misdirected. Jo Dee Messina won Act Of The Year at the Boston Music Awards show last Thursday. Has Barbra Streisand gone country? New hubby James Brolin is said to be an avid country fan and has led Barbra to the light. Here's some inside skinny. You may remember when we reported that Streisand and Vince Gill did a session together a few weeks ago on the west coast. The great one was so pleased with the session that she looked for other country material. The grapevine says Barbra fell in love with a song off an old George Strait album, "We Must Be Loving Right" (written by Clay Blaker & Roger Brown), and called Tony Brown to L.A. to produce the tracks last month. Those who have heard the final mix say there's some fine steel guitar mixed in with the orchestra. It's expected to be on her fall album, along with the Vince Gill duet. Welcome to our new subscribers, including Lynn Stewart from WIL/fm in St. Louis; Gary Major, PD at WNAI/am in Louisville KY; Christophe von Goufein from R.P.L. Radio in France; Janet Bozeman with Sony Music; Jeny Duke with The Music City News; and, Freddy Fender. They say her Denver CO fans were shocked to see Faith Hill with long, brown hair and a ponytail a few days ago. Quite a change. Meanwhile, our Tattoo Police report that hubby Tim McGraw is sporting a new tattoo on one of his biceps. It says "Faith". The old standard of 3 single-for-radio releases from an album seems to have fallen by the wayside. These days one can expect four or five releases. For superstars, six releases seems to be the trend. The record companies lead the effort to get more gross dollar return out of each album investment. With the productive life of an artist becoming shorter and shorter, the labels want to squeeze out every dollar of profit before leading the artist to pasture. The upside is that smart producers and artists will be looking for more top-flight songs (read "not co-written by the artist") since they may have to go six deep into an album for releases. The downside is that the not-so-smart producers and artists won't go looking for 6 power songs. The result will be less competitive releases, less chart action, and a quicker contract termination from the label. Dixie Chicks will be doing some of the stops on the Lilith Fair tour this summer. Fund raising problems have slowed plans for the Country Music Hall of Fame's new building in Nashville. Shedaisy is composed of 3 sisters. They have performed in the past as The Osborn Sisters and as The Violets. Travis Tritt expects to be touched by a couple of angels in the coming months. Tritt filmed an episode of the TV show "Touched By An Angel" in Salt Lake City last week. Closer to home, he and Theresa are expecting to paint the baby's room blue before he enters the world in June. David Letterman's stage manager, the legendary Biff Henderson, has been in Nashville taping some stuff for a May episode of Late Night. BR5-49 will be one of the artists featured. In a deft casting move, Jo Dee Messina is scheduled to play a musician on this Friday's (4/30/99) episode of "Nash Bridges" on CBS. By the way, when is someone going to do a radio parody of the show and call it "Nashville Bridges"? Rumor has it that David Ball is about to re-enter our cosmic orb. Garth Brooks has sold 4.4 million copies of "Garth Double Live", according to the New York Daily News. John Michael Montgomery's new album, "Home To You", is due May 25th. It marks the first time that JMM has worked with producer Garth Fundis. Also due May 25th is Mary Chapin Carpenter's next release. "Party Doll and Other Favorites" is being billed as a 17-cut "career retrospective". She'll support the album with a 40 city tour starting in June. As promised several months ago, LeAnn Rimes has recorded an album of country classics. She laid down 17 songs for the collection, including tunes from Patsy Cline, Kris Kristofferson and Hank Williams, Sr. LeAnn also plans to record a pop album this year. And whatever happened to Jann Browne? BLUE CHIP SPOTLIGHT ALBUM: "Chalee Tennison" by Chalee Tennison. Produced by Jerry Taylor. Label: Asylum. Fifteen seconds into cut 1, my first thought (clean version) was "Gee, not another Reba clone". But fifteen minutes into the album, you realize that this is a solid collection of tunes by a fine vocalist. Besides, the song selection is better than any Reba album. Good stuff. Best radio cuts: "Someone Else's Turn To Cry" (Chalee Tennison/Jim Robinson), "Just Because She Lives There" (Dale Dodson/Billy Lawson), "I Can Feel You Drifting" (Bat McGrath/Billy Kirsch), "I Let Him Get Away With It" (W.L. Burnette/Brett Beavers), "It Ain't So Easy" (Marv Green/John Bettis). CROOK & CHASE musical guests: (afternoon shows repeat the next morning) 4/26........Steve Wariner, Tareva Henderson 4/27........Sherrie Austin 4/28........Candy Hemphill Christmas, Tareva Henderson 4/29........T. Graham Brown 4/30........David Ball TWANG T.V.: 4/26...........Lorrie Morgan & Sammy Kershaw on "Prime Time Country", TNN 4/27...........John Anderson, Merle Haggard and Trisha Yearwood on The George Jones Show, TNN 4/28...........Jo Dee Messina on "CBS This Morning" 4/28...........Dolly Parton on Howie Mandell 4/28...........Hank Williams Sr "Century Of Country"/"Honky Tonk Nights," TNN 4/29...........Sara Evans on Donny & Marie 4/30...........Jo Dee Messina on Nash Bridges, CBS 5/3.............Jo Dee Messina on Donny & Marie 5/4.............Collin Raye on "Politically Incorrect", ABC 5/5.............Jo Dee Messina on "CBS This Morning" 5/5.............Academy of Country Music Awards 5/5.............Dixie Chicks on Jay Leno, NBC 9/22...........CMA Awards, CBS * Check local listings for all shows, especially syndicated programs and "Austin City Limits". Special thanks to Katie Pruett at SuperStar Country KYNG/fm in Dallas/Ft. Worth TX and her work on the station's website, http://www.superstarcountry.com , a source for many of the Twang TV listings. THE BLUE CHIP ADULT COUNTRY CHART (25-49 demographics) 4/26/99 LW TW Title Artist ----- ----- ------- -------- 1 1 I'll Think Of A Reason Later . ..Lee Ann Womack 4 2 Gone Crazy . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alan Jackson 5 3 Wish You Were Here . . . . . .. Mark Wills 3 4 Ordinary Life . . . . . . . . . . . .. Chad Brock 6 5 You Won't Ever Be Lonely . . . Andy Griggs 7 6 Everytime I Cry . . . . . . . . . . Terri Clark 9 7 Two Teardrops . . . . . . . . . . .. Steve Wariner 10 8 Please Remember Me . . . . .. Tim McGraw 11 9 Anyone Else . . . . . . . . . . . . Collin Raye 15 10 Write This Down . . . . . . . . . . George Strait 12 11 Hands Of A Working Man . . .. Ty Herndon 13 12 Can't Get Enough . . . . . . . . . Patty Loveless 14 13 Maybe Not Tonight . . . . . . . . Kershaw & Morgan 16 14 Drive Me Wild . . . . . . . . . . . . Sawyer Brown 17 15 I'm Leaving . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aaron Tippin 18 16 Stranger In My Mirror . . . . . .. Randy Travis 19 17 Hillbilly Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . .Montgomery Gentry 2 18 How Forever Feels . . . . . . . . Kenny Chesney 22 19 With You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Lila McCann 21 20 She's Always Right . . . . . . .. Clay Walker 25 21 One Honest Heart . . . . . . . .. Reba McEntire 26 22 Man! I Feel Like A Woman . ..Shania Twain 29 23 Whatever You Say . . . . . . . .. Martina McBride 27 24 Your Own Little Corner . . . . . .Blackhawk 30 25 A Night To Remember . . . . . Joe Diffie 34 26 Tonight The Heartache's ..... . Dixie Chicks 33 27 Hello L.O.V.E. . . . . . . . . . . . John M. Montgomery 8 28 Love Ain't Like That . . . . . . . . Faith Hill 35 29 Little Goodbyes . . . . . . . . . .. Shedaisy 31 30 I Was . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...Neal McCoy 32 31 I Will Be There For You . . . . . Jessica Andrews 37 32 Who Needs Pictures . . . . . . . Brad Paisley 36 33 Single White Female . . . . . . .Chely Wright 40 34 Angels Working Overtime . . . .Deana Carter 39 35 I Know How The River Feels . . Diamond Rio *** 36 Somethin' 'Bout A Sunday . . ..Michael Peterson 38 37 Slave To The Habit . . . . . . . . Shane Minor *** 38 Fool, I'm A Woman . . . . . . . . Sara Evans *** 39 Boy Oh Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Wilkinsons *** 40 Amazed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lonestar DROPPED: Brooks & Dunn, Clint Black, Warren Bros., Vince Gill NASH-ROCK (a.k.a "Young Country") (Teens, 18-24 demos) LW TW Title Artist ----- ----- ------- -------- 1 1 I'll Think Of A Reason Later . . .Lee Ann Womack 4 2 Gone Crazy . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Alan Jackson 5 3 Wish You Were Here . . . . . . ..Mark Wills 3 4 Ordinary Life . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Chad Brock 6 5 Drive Me Wild . . . . . . . . . . . ..Sawyer Brown 8 6 Please Remember Me . . . . .. .Tim McGraw 7 7 Hands Of A Working Man . . . Ty Herndon 9 8 Every Time I Cry . . . . . . . . . . Terri Clark 10 9 Anyone Else . . . . . . . . . . . ....Collin Raye 16 10 Man! I Feel Like A Woman . ...Shania Twain 11 11 Two Teardrops . . . . . . . . . . . .Steve Wariner 12 12 You Won't Ever Be Lonely . ... Andy Griggs 14 13 Hillbilly Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . Montgomery Gentry 19 14 Write This Down . . . . . . . . . . George Strait 15 15 Can't Get Enough . . . . . . . . . Patty Loveless 17 16 I'm Leaving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aaron Tippin 18 17 She's Always Right . . . . . . . ..Clay Walker *** 18 With You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lila McCann 20 19 Whatever You Say . . . . . . . . Martina McBride *** 20 Maybe Not Tonight . . . . . . . . Kershaw & Morgan DROPPED: Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill Letters To The Editor (Please indicate your permission to publish your letter online by writing "Letter To The Editor" in the subject line of your e-mail. Letters subject to editing. Keep 'em short and to the point. 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