Scott McCreery & More Set for FOX & FRIENDS Summer Concert Series – Fox News Channel’s annual FOX & Friends All-American Summer Concert Series kicked off this morning with American country singer Jerrod Niemann. The performance aired at 8AM/ET. The chart-topping country singer is known for hit songs including, “Drink to That All Night” and “Lover Lover.” JULY 31- SCOTTY MCCREERY – Read more at Broadway World
Panel and Performance: CMT’s Next Women of Country – No one can deny that men have dominated country radio in recent years. CMT highlights new female artists with its Next Women of Country campaign. Leslie Fram, CMT senior vice president, music strategy, will host this in-the-round showcase and candid discussion with some of the female artists involved in the program. Kelsea Ballerini’s debut single, “Love Me Like You Mean It,” is a Top Twenty radio hit, and she was a part of CMT’s first-ever Next Women of Country Tour this spring. After winning season four of The Voice, Danielle Bradbery scored a Top Fifteen hit with her first single, “Heart of Dixie,” and recently moved to Nashville to focus on songwriting and new music. Cam’s debut single, “My Mistake,” has been getting raves and climbing the charts. Angaleena Presley’s latest release, the album American Middle Class, was lauded by Billboard, NPR, and the Nashville Scene on their “Best of 2014” lists. RaeLynn’s gold-certified first single, “God Made Girls,” was the highest charting debut single by a solo female artist in 2014. Takes place in the CMA Theater. This program will be streamed live at http://countrymusichalloffame.org/streaming. Live stream powered by NewTek TriCaster. – Read more at Country Music Hall of Fame
Newly Crowned “American Idol” Nick Fradiani on Debut Album & Why He Won: “People Like to See Growth” – Nick Fradiani has been your new American Idol for just over a week, but the fact that he won at all surprised a few people. After all, he’s from Connecticut, and nobody from the Northeast had ever won the competition before. Not only that, but Clark Bentson, the eventual runner-up, had been the frontrunner all season. So how did Nick do it? With the support of his hometown, and the compelling nature of his Idol journey. “When I tried out, you start looking up all the Idol stuff and I remember telling my mom, ‘Mom…They say if you’re from where we’re from, there’s just no shot,'” he tells ABC Radio. “I’m like, ‘I just hope I can hang around a little bit.’…and I think what happened was Connecticut, especially my hometown, just got behind me so intensely. It was almost amazing. I mean, my hometown visit…12,000 people showed up in Guilford.” – Read more at ABC News Radio
‘American Idol’: Kelly Clarkson Taught Nick Fradiani To ‘Make Love’ To Cameras – Apparently, in order to win American Idol, you have to learn to make love to the cameras. Specifically, that little red dot inside the cameras! Thankfully for this season’s winner Nick, Kelly Clarkson was on hand to help with his electronics-serenading! “We sang Kelly Clarkson songs right in front of her which was stressful,” he said. “She suggested making eye contact and ‘making love to the red dot on the screen.’” “Top 12 [week], we came into our hotel rooms and saw Tiffany bags and [I was like], ‘what’s going on? I don’t have anything from Tiffany’s!” Nick said. “I opened it up and it was a handwritten letter from Carrie Underwood saying some really nice things, she personalized it and signed it… She sent us Tiffany’s bags with necklaces. It was totally nice.” – Listen to the Podcast at Hollywood Life
‘Voice’ Winner Sawyer Fredericks Explains Why There’s No Place Like Home – “It was definitely a really big culture shock for me, moving from a farm to the city,” Sawyer tells Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks, two days after his Voice victory and a day before he finally heads home. “Since I’m quite a bit of an introvert, it’s really hard for me to do interviews and that kind of stuff. The performing was really easy for me, just because I’ve always been performing; I do a lot of farmers’ markets and gigs like that. So that was the part where I was the least nervous, when I was up onstage singing. I was more nervous in the interviews, although I’m not as nervous now. I’m definitely getting more comfortable with all this stuff. I’ve come out of my shell through this whole entire experience.” – Read more at Yahoo.com
Meghan Linsey’s Second Act: ‘The Voice’ Runner-Up on What’s Next – It’s the day after The Voice finale and by 6 a.m., most of the Season Eight contestants had boarded a plane and were winging it back to their hometowns. But runner-up Meghan Linsey had one more day to cram in some press and take meetings in Los Angeles before heading home to Nashville. The same fire that fuels her passionate performances is also licking at her back. “I’m relevant right now because I was just on last night, but I’m only relevant for a few more weeks, because people forget,” Linsey says candidly. “I really think you have to move quickly.” – Read more at Rollingstone
‘The Voice’ singer: Home for the holidays ‘The Voice’ contestant Corey Kent White welcomed to Bixby for hometown concert – BIXBY — The last time Corey Kent White stepped on the green turf of the Bixby High School football field, he was a 16-year-old junior doing running drills with the wrestling team. That was a lifetime ago. “This will be a much better memory on this field. I can tell you that,” White told the crowd during his “Corey Kent White: Coming Home” concert Thursday night. White, who graduated from Bixby High in 2011, competed in Season 8 of NBC’s “The Voice.” He made it to the Top 8 before being eliminated in the show that aired April 28. – Read more at Tulsa World
Season 3 ‘The Voice’ winner, ascending country music star Cassadee Pope proud of debut album – Cassadee Pope, the 25-year-old singer from West Palm Beach, Florida, who won season three of “The Voice,” lives in the heart of Nashville. She’s one of country music’s ascending stars. Last month, Pope made her debut at Stagecoach, the country music festival in Indio, California. She earned great reviews. “That was incredible, really fun,” she said from Nashville this week. This weekend, Pope will make her Bayou Country Superfest debut in Tiger Stadium. She’s performing on the same day as her friends Kip Moore, Miranda Lambert and her “The Voice” coach, Blake Shelton. – Read more at The Advocate
Scotty McCreery: End of ‘American Idol’ is end of an era – Country singer Scotty McCreery is gearing up for a summer tour with Rascal Flatts and recording his third studio album. But the singer hasn’t forgotten where he got his start: “American Idol.” With the show coming to an end, FOX411 Country sat down with McCreery to talk about the show’s impact on his life. “The cool thing about ‘American Idol’ was that literally your next door neighbor could be the next American Idol,” the 21-year-old said. “I’m living proof of a guy who had a dream and decided, ‘Aw, what the heck, I’ll go out and try to sing 30 seconds for some judges and see if they like me,’ and it all worked out.” – Read more at FOX.com
Writer Chris DeStefano talks “Little Toy Guns,” a song about wishing “words didn’t hurt like they do.” – “I brought the ‘Little Toy Guns’ track into the writing session with Carrie [Underwood] and our good friend Hillary Lindsey. All the parts were there, but no song yet.” Veteran writer Chris DeStefano recalls how Underwood’s latest single originated as the song hits a chart milestone: “Little Toy Guns” becomes her 21st top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (dated May 30), rising 11-10. “Hillary heard this riff I was doing in the verse and thought it could be cool to open up the song with it. So after a quick edit, we began writing it.” – Billboard.com
It’s Nick Fradiani – American Idol Winner!
TMZ Snark
