The latest from Jimmy Carter in Nashville

Joe Nichols: My Military Diary Scores One Million Plus Viewers    GAC Set For Multiple Re-Airings In December And January   Nashville, TN  December 18, 2009 --   If you missed the first airing of the GAC Television special  Joe Nichols: My Military Diary , the network  has plans for multiple rebroadcasts in the coming weeks.  Viewers can watch the touching special on Christmas Day (9:30 pm EST), as well as December 26th (1:30 a.m and 11:00 am EST) and January 12, 2010 (9:00 pm EST).   The documentary style special was shot earlier this year when Nichols toured US military bases in Kuwait and Iraq. The initial airings of the special were viewed by more than one million people and drew solid ratings for the network.   "Getting to meet our men and women in uniform and hear their stories was an incredible experience for me," Nichols said. "I think this television special really drives home the point of what they're going through over t...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- County Mayor Mike Ragsdale and City Mayor Bill Haslam proclaimed Thursday, December 17, 2009, "Gretchen Wilson Day" in honor of her support and effort on behalf of Adult Education across the state of Tennessee. Wilson, a Grammy-Award winning country music singer and recent GED (General Equivalency Diploma) graduate in Knoxville for a concert to promote her new single "Work Hard, Play Harder" at Cotton Eyed Joe Thursday evening, was presented with a Proclamation stating "it is the goal of Knox County Schools Adult Education and Knox County governing bodies to enroll citizens without high school diplomas in GED programs." Gretchen Wilson has racked up numerous #1 singles, albums and videos and won virtually every award for which she has been nominated, but until last year she was one of millions of Americans who never finished high school. At the age of 34, she received her GED, and this past May she spoke in front of a Congressional p...

Musician Billy Burnette Undergoes Bypass Surgery              Nashville ,  TN  (December 18, 2009) - Legendary guitarist, artist, and hit songwriter  Billy Burnette  underwent a quintuple bypass surgery on Dec. 16.  Burnette, a former member and guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, had just returned from tour as a guitarist for John Fogerty when he felt short of breath and went to the hospital. Doctors admitted Burnette right away and successfully performed open heart surgery.  Billy is currently at  Vanderbilt   Hospital  in Nashville ,  Tenn.  where he is recovering. Burnette, born in  Memphis   Tennessee , is the heritage of classic American music.  The son of rock-a-billy pioneer Dorsey Burnette, who with his brother Johnny, blazed the trail for the birth of rock and roll with the Rock N’ Roll Trio.  Their music influenced everyone from Elvis Presley t...

LADY ANTEBELLUM EARNS PLATINUM STATUS WITH TITLE TRACK AND LEAD SINGLE “NEED YOU NOW”          LADY A ENDS YEAR WITH RECORD BREAKING FIVE WEEK NO. ONE HIT   iTunes “Countdown” To NEED YOU NOW Begins Mon., Dec. 21     NASHVILLE, TN –Dec. 17, 2009 – GRAMMY nominated trio and 2009 CMA “Group of the Year” Lady Antebellum’s smash lead single “Need You Now” has been certified PLATINUM by the RIAA for sales of over one million. The track is the lead single off their sophomore album NEED YOU NOW, out Jan. 26, 2010. “Need You Now” has also set a new record for the longest reign at No. one this year, spending five consecutive weeks in the top spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The song also cracked the Top Five on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and parked at No. one for eight weeks on the Billboard Canada Country chart.   Fans eagerly awaiting NEED YOU NOW to hit stores will be able to purchase new material off the album before its rel...

COUNTRY WEEKLY CELEBRATES 15TH ANNIVERSARY WITH SPECIAL ISSUE  ON SALE DEC. 21   America’s only weekly country entertainment magazine has been bringing fans un-matched coverage since Taylor Swift was 5 years old!   NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Garth Brooks was on the cover and Faith Hill was just launching her career on April 12, 1994, when Country Weekly magazine hit the streets for the first time. Since then, the Nashville-based publication has seen and covered pretty much anything worth seeing and covering in the country music world—from the highs of hit records, major award shows and stadium concerts to the sad stories of divorces, lost record deals and the deaths of beloved stars. Along the way Country Weekly has earned the rabid loyalty of fans throughout the U.S., as well as in several other countries, and has acquired a reputation as the “go to” source for country radio personalities who want the latest scoop on stars ranging from legendary icons to newcomers. In a spe...

STEVE MARTIN RECEIVES GRAMMY NOMINATION  FOR “BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM” Martin Named Billboard’s #1 Top Bluegrass Artist and CD For The Year; “The Crow” Continues Its #1 Chart Position This Week Having Been #1 For 25 Weeks LOS ANGELES, CA—December 17, 2009—Grammy® and Emmy© winning actor, comedian, author and musician Steve Martin has received a Grammy nomination for “Best Bluegrass Album” for  The Crow: New Songs For The Five-String Banjo  (Rounder.)  Billboard Magazine has named Martin as the Top Bluegrass Artist of 2009 and  The Crow: New Songs For The Five-String   Banjo   the top Bluegrass Album of the year.   The Crow   once again reaches #1on the Top Bluegrass Albums chart having been on the charts for 42 weeks and holding the #1 spot for 25 of those weeks. Steve wrote or arranged all of the songs on the album, plays banjo on all of the tracks and sings the vocals on the comedic “Late For School” track. This past fall Martin to...