July 2009 - ku, TV and CMA
June 25th, 2009
In April, KEITH URBAN gave a rare glimpse into the creation of his animated music video for his latest radio hit Kiss A Girl via his own website and the CMT.com site. It showed Keith and his band in front of a green screen performing the song - the first step in the creation of any visual that combines live action and animation. The full clip is now released and you can view it online.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNfuHFnUv1o
Here’s hoping that the servers didn’t crash from the demand last week as tickets went on sale for Keith’s Australian shows in December. If you missed the story On The Road with Keith Urban from Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program showing him at the "happiest place he’s ever been" life-wise, you can watch the replay at
au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/13970308/
Back in February we alerted you to Intune @ Tamworth, who brought us online festival footage, vodcasts, gossip and what was happening at the Tamworth Festival. Now the best of their second year of broadcasts has been compiled and begins airing on NITV (National Indigenous Television) from Wednesday 15th July at 9:30pm.
www.nitv.org.au/intune
RASCAL FLATTS recently used the US People’s Choice website to host its album-design contest. First, the band provided optional photos and design elements to aspiring designers, who then submitted potential covers. Then, the group chose a handful of favourites and let fans decide a winner. Chris Kubik, a senior graphic designer for Schumacher Electric Corp. and long-time Rascal Flatts fan, made the leap from managing artwork of battery chargers and jump starters to the cover of the superstar country trio’s new album. His design, which features the musicians sitting in high-back chairs with picture frames representing the group’s six albums behind them, won out from over 2,000 other submissions to become the cover of the album Unstoppable. Three other finalists had thumbnails of their designs inside the CD booklet. Expect to see a lot more fan interaction with musicians of all styles in the near future.
www.rascalflatts.com
NEW TECHNOLOGY AT CMA MUSIC FEST!
That was the publicity headline coming from Nashville last month. Amongst the featured technology available to country music fans this year was;
‘HotShots’, allowing fans at the CMA Music Fest to share all their photos with the world by emailing them to the website. www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/games/hotshots/
‘TAGs’, which meant fans could download info straight to their Blackberry, iPhone or other Smartphone to get the nightly line-up, shuttle routes, and other event schedules right on their mobile phone!
At the Microsoft booth inside the Exhibit Hall they could try out CMA Music Fest’s new Be This Close game. It was a virtual scavenger hunt with prizes and although the contest is over, you can still play the game online. You may need to download Microsoft’s new Silverlight add-on to your browser, but it is fairly small and quick.
www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/games/bethisclose/
And, bringing us back to where we started this month, check out the Desktop Wallpaper available from the festival, especially a great photo of KEITH URBAN and his guitar amongst the crowd.
www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/wallpaperIcons.aspx
Until next time, happy surfing!
they celebrated and revered not only American music, but the entire art and culture that went with it. Their ventures included Jazz, Folk, Blues and Country. DVD 2 in the series, LEGENDS OF SPIRITUAL & GOSPEL AND FOLK & COUNTRY contains, three monochrome television specials made during various tours. The first two contain not just Gospel songs, but entire Church services, imported lock, stock and hallelujah, as they would have been performed in the African-American churches of the USA. The third program is the Festival of American Folk & Country Music 1966 with very rare recordings of the Stanley Brothers & Clinch Mountain Boys, New Lost City Ramblers, Roscoe Holcomb, Cousin Emmy and Cyp Landreneau. Tracy Schwarz of the New Lost City Ramblers hosts the show, apparently because he spoke some German, and although the set-design is quite elaborate for the era, the presentation is somewhat stilted. The music however is exceptional in its honesty and rawness, particularly Roscoe Holcomb who was the inspiration for the term ‘high, lonesome sound’. An Appalachian coal miner and farmer, he is to old-timey country, what Blind Willie Johnson is to the Blues. The Stanley Brothers numbers are poignant to watch when you realise that Carter Stanley would pass away later that year. Cyp Landreneau and his band perform unadulterated Cajun music with the older school line-up of accordion, fiddle and triangle! Cousin Emmy was known as the ‘the first hillbilly to own a Cadillac’ and her outrageous musical abilities and singing style endeared her to the folk-revival festivals and Hollywood alike. These videos have never been released before and are lovingly presented with a 56 page booklet that includes all the historical information and reminiscences from some of the participants.
Back in the early sixties, 
Shea favours many of the well-established and most useful sites such as iTunes (
They say a tree can wither if nobody tends its roots, so now we leave the young aspiring artist and look back at the superstar who was known as The First Lady of Country Music. From the Archive Series of the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum comes another DVD, this one entitled LEGENDARY PERFORMANCES - TAMMY WYNETTE (via 
From the Archive Series of the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum comes the DVD entitled LEGENDARY PERFORMANCES - MERLE HAGGARD (via Shock in Australia). This is the first chance for many of us to witness live USA television appearances by Merle Haggard and the Strangers dating from 1968 (Branded Man on ‘Country Music Holiday’) through to 1983 (San Antonio Rose on the ‘Johnny Cash Christmas Special’). Amusingly on the earliest clips, the band was almost stationary, like deer caught in the headlights of the television studio. It must be remembered that their sound however, particularly the interplay between guitarist Roy Nichols and steel-man Norm Hamlet, was revolutionising the country music scene. By the time they performed Workin’ Man Blues on ‘Pop! Goes The Country’ in 1974, both Merle and the band were pushing the boundaries again by incorporating improvisation and extended solos into their show. This harked back to the western swing style of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys whose music was undergoing a revival, spearheaded by Merle Haggard and The Strangers who by now included the legendary Tiny Moore on electric mandolin. Merle is the poet whose words championed the disenfranchised everyday man and The Strangers are the band that set the standards that still hold true today. This DVD is not to be missed.
It’s a good time to be a Hag fan because also out now is a DVD of Merle Haggard’s very first Austin City Limits performance, containing 12 different songs than the previously released 1985 show. LIVE FROM AUSTIN, TX ‘78 (via Shock in Australia) comes as a dual CD/DVD package. This is a wonderfully relaxed show with a large band (eleven onstage including three fiddles when Merle takes up the bow) and a fine mix of Haggard hits and western swing standards. This is not only a near-perfect record of their live show, but historically a significant snapshot of the best in country music, the way it was in 1978.
For a bit of light-hearted diversion, check out 
On a local note, our own 
MELINDA SCHNEIDER, JOHN WILLIAMSON, CATHERINE BRITT
) full of the latest news and exclusive festival footage. Each bite size video is available online and you also can watch for them to be screened on NITV (National Indigenous Television) via cable television. During the Starry Starry Night episode, Intune Interactive host EJ Garrett talks to 
Subtitled ‘Inspiration & stories flowing from the Macleay’, the documentary section intertwines film of the band’s reunion celebration with tales of Steve’s family and upbringing in Kempsey. Bush yarns and interviews with family friends sit alongside reminiscences of current and former band members and footage that includes Steve’s 2008 Golden Guitar win. Also included from his solo album are four music videos, each with an introduction from Steve. Amongst the light-hearted themes are some serious issues such as racism in the not too distant past, and also tolerance of those who are different, explored in the lyrics of the moving song Acceptance. The DVD rounds out with a Handpicked History Montage that runs through a series of photos that not only chart the growth of the band but also the length of Steve’s moustache! An excellent chronicle of a fine band and the era that created them.
There is rare and previously unseen footage plus live and studio performances from all eras of his career and the DVD is packaged with an 18 song CD soundtrack that includes 5 previously unreleased tracks. The dark-side of the music ‘business’ is exposed as Johnny Cash is dropped by Columbia Records in the eighties after decades of hits. Producer Rick Rubin (American Recordings label) is credited with the artistic rejuvenation of Johnny Cash in the nineties, much as June Carter Cash is recognized as saving his personal well-being and spirit so many years before. The film ends with his chilling version of the Trent Reznor song Hurt that sounds as autobiographical as anything Cash had ever written himself. Johnny Cash’s America is an engrossing story told with superb style.
