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CountryMusicIsLove is proud to announce The 2nd Annual CountryMusicIsLove Concert Benefiting City of Hope, one of the nation's leading research, treatment and education centers for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The event will take place at 7:30 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm) on March 1, 2011 at the Hard Rock Nashville. This year’s concert will feature acoustic performances by Ty Brown, Chris Cavanaugh, Troy Olsen, Brett Eldredge, Thompson Square, Chuck Wicks, and Josh Thompson. Whitney Duncan will do double duty as host and performer for the evening. Chelsea Lena, Savannah Berry, and Ashley Gearing will appear between 6:30 and 7:30.
100% of ticket sales will benefit City of Hope. Tickets are $20. Click HERE to purchase tickets now. Fans can RSVP to the event HERE.
The 2nd Annual CountryMusicIsLove Concert Benefiting City of Hope is sponsored by Honky Tonk TV, Farm Boy Brand, Gibson guitars, I.D. Grafix, and H2O Spring Water.
About City Of Hope: City of Hope is a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center, the highest honor bestowed by the National Cancer Institute, and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, City of Hope's research and treatment protocols advance care throughout the nation. City of Hope is located in Duarte, Calif., just northeast of Los Angeles, and is ranked as one of “America's Best Hospitals” in cancer and urology by U.S.News & World Report. Founded in 1913, City of Hope is a pioneer in the fields of bone marrow transplantation and genetics. For more information, visit www.cityofhope.org.
Get To Know The Artists…
(listed below in alpabetical order)
Savannah Berry
At just 16-years young, Savannah Berry is a member of the new-generation of social media savvy country stars. Her personal YouTube channel, SavannahSings, has been viewed 1.4 million times in the past 12 months. Dedicated fans are tuning in over 2,000 times a day to hear Savannah's latest original or distinctive cover of hits by her new-generation country peers like Sunny Sweeney, The Band Perry or Miranda Lambert.
Whether on-line or in-concert, Savannah's ability to connect with her audience is second-nature and her authenticity keep people coming back for more of her rich and emotive voice. A native of Houston, she performs regularly throughout her home state and has appeared at the Pasadena Strawberry Festival, Star of Texas Rodeo, Nashville Palace and opry shows everywhere. She has opened for country legend Sammy Kershaw and has the shared the stage with some of the biggest stars of the Texas music scene – Cody Canada (Cross Canadian Ragweed), Wade Bowen, Sean McConnell, and Seth James.
People are taking notice. Honky Tonk TV featured her in its inaugural season, and exec producer Chris James says, “There's just something different about this girl. She stands out. We played one of her YouTube videos, which back then we rarely did, as we only really had time to play A-List artists in Season One. I'm glad we did and we're really proud to see Savannah grow day to day. We're excited for her.” And multi-platinum, Grammy nominated songwriter Stephen Allen Davis says, “Savannah is a very talented young lady. Not only does she have a tremendous voice, but at her age she already has the heart and soul of musician and songwriter.”
How do you get started in today's country music business? Savannah Berry knows and she's already making her own path to success with commanding live shows and an on-line audience that is growing by the day. Discover more and visit Savannah Berry's YouTube Channel and her official website.
Ty Brown
If you're a fan of ABC’s The Bachelor and the show's counterpart, The Bachelorette, you may recognize Ty Brown. Ty appeared on season six of the hit show and made it into Ali Fedotowsky's top five. While on the show, he serenaded Ali with a song called “Living In The Moment,” (which he wrote) on a group date in Malibu, CA.
After his stint on The Bachelorette, Ty made a life-changing decision.”Instead of going back to medical sales I took another chance and followed my dreams in music,” Ty tells CountryMusicIsLove.
Ty currently resides in Nashville and has spent the last few months writing songs with some of Nashville's top songwriters and playing gigs across the country. So, has life changed for Ty since the show?
“Well my life has definitely changed,” Ty says. “It's weird how a little TV will turn your life upside down. I have enjoyed every minute of it though.”
As for his music career, Ty says he's exactly where he needs to be.”I am proud to say that I have been very blessed with the team that is behind me and we are playing all over the country which is exactly what I want,” Ty tells us. “So I am very blessed to be in the position that I am in at this point.”
While you may know him from The Bachelorette now, Ty is on a fast track to making a name for himself in country music. Ty has big plans for the new year. “In 2011 I am most excited about getting out and playing more than ever. We are already getting started this year and I am pumped about hitting the road.” Visit Ty’s official website for more info.
Chris Cavanaugh
Chris Cavanaugh picked up the guitar when he was 12 years old and hasn’t set it down since. Not long after he started playing, with just a few chords and a song, Chris performed in the talent show at his middle school. When the song was over, everybody rose to their feet, and from that point on Chris knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life…
Cavanaugh made the trip from his hometown of Springfield, Missouri to Tennessee just a few months after graduating high school. After spending a few years hanging out with writers and publishers he had no doubt that he wanted to make Tennessee his home. Shortly after graduating from Middle Tennessee State University Chris signed his first songwriting deal. Over the next few years Chris spent his time on music row honing his craft as a writer. During this time however, he says, “I always knew that deep down my ultimate passion was playing and performing, so I eventually had to get out and do something about it…I had to get on the road.” And so he did…
As of recently you can find Chris playing with his band throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and Missouri. And the road map is widening every day as far as touring. In the last year alone Chris has opened shows for Pat Green, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Jason Michael Carroll, The Randy Rogers Band, Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore, and Josh Thompson.
A few months ago a chance booking lead to Chris opening for Josh Thompson for the first time at the Neon Armadillo in Indiana. Josh loved Chris' music especially his song “Girls with Girlfriends” and they started writing together. Out of that meeting and those writing collaboration, Josh with the help of esteem Nashville Producer and label A and R person, Cliff Audretch are going to co-produce a project on Chris in late January 2011 with a record deal in their sights.
“I think everything happens for a reason and I believe the time I spent in Nashville digging in and learning how to write songs has built a platform for me and a body of work that I’ve been able to draw from when I go out on the road to play. I think if it’d happened any other way I wouldn’t have these songs. The songs have brought important people into my life and given me a live show that connects with fans everywhere I go. I am looking forward to completing this project with Josh and Cliff and seeing what the future holds.” To learn more about Chris, visit his official website.
Whitney Duncan
For Whitney Duncan, it’s always been about the right relationships. They helped shape her as a young girl nurturing her passion for music in a small Tennessee town. They were there to support her efforts to break into the upper reaches of the music business as a teenager. And, not long ago, when her path seemed uncertain, she knew she would find them again.
“I’ve been down a few wrong roads musically,” Whitney says, “but it all feels right now.”
Upon meeting producers Mark Bright (Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts and Sara Evans) and John Shanks (Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and Kelly Clarkson), the right relationships began to form and resulted in Right Road Now, a debut album that introduces Whitney as an intriguing new voice in contemporary country music, a woman who matches her vocal prowess with songwriting of real depth and breadth.
She wrote every song on the CD, in conjunction with Both Bright and Shanks, as well as top-drawer Nashville tunesmiths like Hillary Lindsay, Brett James, Chris Tompkins and Gordie Sampson. It finds Whitney celebrating love, both new, in the steamy “Kinda Crazy,” and well established, in the joyfully sensual “Fireflies”; chronicling love’s failure in the self-assured “When I Said I Would” and the moody “Burn It Down”; and doing justice both to pure sass, in “The Bed That You Made,” and to the raw pathos of “God Close Your Eyes.” With the title song, Whitney and co-writers Shanks and James perfectly encapsulate the roses-from-thorns dynamic that infuses both the relationship in the song and the musical rebirth Whitney has experienced. Visit WhitneyDuncan.com for more info.
Brett Eldredge
Some life-changing moments are only apparent in retrospect. Brett Eldredge recognized his as it was happening.
The Paris, IL, native was visiting Nashville for the first time early in his sophomore year at Chicago’s Elmhurst College. He was at the Station Inn when his cousin Terry, a veteran of Dolly Parton’s band and now a member of the Grascals, was playing with a band called the Sidemen, and a mesmerized Brett was in the crowd.
“There was something so real and truthful about the songs they were playing,” he says. “What happened next came as a shock.”
“He asked me to come up on stage and told me to pick a song to play with the band,” says Brett. I said, ‘Amarillo By Morning,’ and when I heard that fiddle intro, chills shot up my spine. I sang it for the crowd there and it was a magical experience. That was the point where I thought, ‘This is it. This is something I’ve got to do.’”
By the start of the next school year, he had transferred to Middle Tennessee State University and begun the round of writers’ nights and writing appointments that led him eventually to a record deal.
His first single, “Raymond,” is the poignant tale of a nursing home employee mistaken by a patient with Alzheimer’s for her deceased son, who was killed at war. It is a song whose inspiring reaffirmation of their mutual humanity is affecting listeners deeply. The single rings true for Eldredge as his Grandmother currently struggles through the disease.
“There are a lot of things I’ll play live where people will say, ‘I like that,’ or ‘That’s a really cool song,’” Brett says, “but when I do this one, I get the chance to tell people how special a thing it’s been in my life, and it always touches someone. A lot of people know someone with Alzheimer’s and people react in a really emotional way to it.”
Brett has earned a reputation as much for the strength of his writing as for his world-class voice. He and co-writer Pat McLaughlin landed a song called “I Think I’ve Had Enough” on Gary Allan’s latest album, Get Off On The Pain, and one of his frequent collaborators is Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry stalwart Bill Anderson.
As you know, Eldredge was recently named one of CountryMusicIsLove's “Ones To Watch In 2011.” Country Weekly and Roughstock also chose him as one to watch in the new year.
Ashley Gearing
Signed to Curb Records on her 16th birthday, Ashley Gearing made a bold decision when she elected to finish high school before making the move to Nashville and pursuing her music career full-time. Now, three years later, she is preparing to release her Curb debut, which features the album’s first single, “What You Think About Us,” produced by veteran producer Byron Gallimore (Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina). The project’s second single is due at Country radio in March 2011. Ashley is also enrolled at Nashville's esteemed Belmont University, proving that brains, beauty and talent certainly can go hand in hand. Visit www.AshleyGearing.com for more information. Fans can also find Ashley on Facebook and Twitter.
Chelsea Lena
Nashville based singer-songwriter Chelsea Lena is a big voice in a small package. Having attended the reputable Orange County High School for the Arts (OCHSA), her training began early in life. It was during her years at OCHSA that Chelsea realized that her hobby was her calling. Music was her passion.
Chelsea headed out to Nashville immediately after high school, immersing herself into the local music scene was her only choice. Chelsea quickly became a favorite at the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI), which allowed her to meet many well-known country songwriters. Last year Chelsea was featured at the ASCAP Presents Showcase as one of the “best up and coming songwriters of the year”. Chelsea has successfully licensed several of her songs to TV/FILM.
A hard work ethic and strong Nashville friendships landed Chelsea a spot working on the Country Throwdown tour (summer 2010), as a representative for the Bluebird Café, a Nashville staple. The tour features such acts as Montgomery Gentry, Jamey Johnson, and Little Big Town.
This past summer (2010) Chelsea toured the west coast to promote her debut solo effort Lost In The Middle. The EP was produced by Paul Buono and mixed by Grammy award winner Steve Bishir (Amy Grant). Chelsea is now in the studio working on her Debut full length album The Truth which has already started a buzz around Nashville. “The goal for me has always been about creating art. Music is art. I feel like the industry has strayed away from that over the past few years. I was put here to show them different!”
Fans can keep up with Cheslea on MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
Troy Olsen
Olsen was born and raised a hard-working rancher's son in his native Arizona. The work ethic ingrained in him as a child, along with his influences of his musical idols – Dwight Yoakam, Glen Campbell, Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen – have molded him into a truly unique and driven artist. The singer/songwriter got his first guitar at age 12 and after high school began playing in various roadhouse bands throughout the southwest, honing his live performance skills. Eventually he formed his own band, he has toured with his idol Dwight Yoakam, and even recorded an album with Yoakam's world-class band after a chance meeting with another legendary artist, Linda Ronstadt.
Although highly successful as a regional act, in 2003, Olsen decided to leave his life on the road and move to Nashville. Olsen dedicated himself to perfecting his craft as a songwriter and singer. Along the way, his songs became hits and select album cuts for multiple country stars including Blake Shelton (“I'll Just Hold On”) and Tim McGraw (“Ghost Town Train”). All the while, he continued to stoke his own dreams of being an artist.
In the fall of 2009, he took six of his self-penned songs and performed them at a Nashville showcase packed with the industry's elite. His unique western sound, lived-in voice, and authentic delivery were unanimously well received. The following day Troy signed with the legendary EMI, home to Capitol Records artists as varied and successful as Frank Sinatra, Garth Brooks, and Keith Urban.
Olsen’s song “Good Hands” is at country radio now. Click HERE to visit Troy’s website.
Josh Thompson
Columbia Nashville recording artist Josh Thompson burst onto the country music scene with the release of his debut album, Way Out Here – earning the No.9 spot on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart. A native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, Josh began pouring concrete with his father at the age of 12, giving him first hand insight about the trials of hard-working people everywhere. Thompson's newest single, “Won't Be Lonely Long,” is a hell-raiser about being dumped as the gateway to a great Friday night. It follows his Top 15 single and the album's title track, “Way Out Here,” and his Top 20 debut single, “Beer On The Table.”
Way Out Here features ten songs written or co-written by Josh, and has drawn praise from countless critics, including NPR Fresh Air’s Ken Tucker and Billboard’s Wade Jessen as well as People Magazine, Country Weekly, AOL's The Boot, CMT.com and others. Josh was also nominated for a 2010 American Country Award for Single Of The Year: Breakthrough Artist for “Beer On The Table.”
Josh will embark on the Jagermeister Country Tour with Dierks Bentley this spring. For more information, be sure to visit www.joshthompsonofficial.com.
Thompson Square
Thompson Square isn't a real place, exactly-it's the musical territory staked out by the husband-and-wife duo of Keifer and Shawna Thompson. The two combine classic country and rock influences to forge a sound that's thoroughly modern but built on the bedrock of tradition.
Thompson Square was born several years ago when Oklahoma-born Keifer and Alabama native Shawna each set aside promising solo careers to join forces as a duo. “A lot of couples can't be together 24 hours a day-but for us it doesn't work unless it's like that,” Keifer points out. “So it's perfect. Singing together just completed the puzzle.”
When the two teamed, two promising solo careers came to an end in favor of a new entity whose collective diversity, range and reach only amplifies the talents of each of its members. Thompson Square is the result of two very different personalities and musical approaches finding a perfect match.”This combination, it's a cool thing,” Keifer says. “It's not two of the same, it's two different things coming together to make something better than what we can be apart.”
Thompson Square was recently named one of CountryMusicIsLove’s “Ones To Watch” in 2011. The duo’s self-debut album hits stores February 8.
Chuck Wicks
A gifted songwriter and vocalist, Chuck Wicks made a compelling impression with his Top 5 smash, “Stealing Cinderella,” the fastest-rising single by a debut country act in 2007. Expanding upon his musical talents, Wicks was a celebrity cast member of the eighth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, which premiered March 9, 2009.
By the time his first album, Starting Now, was released in January 2008, he had begun a year-long 750,000 fan-packed tour opening for superstar Brad Paisley. Wicks co-penned 10 of the 11 songs on his debut CD, including his 2nd hit, “All I Ever Wanted,” and the single, “Man of the House,” a touching story-song about a boy taking on beyond-his-years responsibilities as his father is on military assignment. Chuck’s latest single, “Old School,” is at country radio now.
A Delaware native, Chuck was raised on a family farm, where he grew up loving a variety of music – from traditional country to R&B – but his early career aspirations focused on his passion for sports. He attended Florida Southern College to play baseball, but by his senior year, he found that music had overtaken his athletic aspirations. Chuck began a series of trips to Nashville, and early interest from record label RCA Nashville inspired a permanent move to Music City, where Chuck spent several years paying his dues, honing his craft, and learning – earning his place within the city's songwriting community and ultimately landing a recording contract with RCA. For more information, please go to: www.chuckwicks.com.
