262 Five, Ltd., one of Nashville’s premier tour and event management  companies, has announced the title sponsor and the first round of concert dates on the multi-city, 2007 Nashville  Star summer tour. The 2007 Nashville Star Tour sponsored by Sonic is gearing up for as many as 40 shows  across the United States between July 1 and September 30 this year. The shows will feature Warner Bros.  recording artist and the USA Network’s 2007 “Nashville Star” winner Angela Hacker along with the three runners  up from the popular talent search television series: Zac Hacker, David St. Romain, and Joshua Stevens  respectively. The William Morris Agency is responsible for booking all dates on the tour. The tour will kick-off July 1  in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
 
Partners Brinson Strickland and Kyle Gustie of 262 Five, Ltd. bring the “Nashville Star” television series out to  music fans in the form of a live concert performance. “This is the fourth year our company has produced this tour,”  notes Strickland. “It’s been a great partnership with Reveille Entertainment and the Nashville Star brand. We want country music fans who watched and participated in voting during the USA Network’s talent search television series this year to be able to experience bits of the television show right in their own backyard.” 
 
Performers will appear in reverse order of their final positions on the television show. Winner (Angela) Hacker will close each show, preceded by (Zac) Hacker, St. Romain, and Stevens. Members of the Nashville Star Band, led by guitarist John Bolhinger, will be on the tour backing each artist. Each concert will run approximately 90 minutes. “We’ve assembled some of the most sought-after musicians for the Nashville Star Tour band,” says Gustie. “They’re really awesome. It’s a very, very entertaining show. Fans will see all four 2007 finalists performing together and in full musical sets individually.” All four artists will be available for media interviews and meet-and-greet autograph sessions in each city. There will be ‘Nashville Star’ merchandise available at every show, along with CDs and items from each individual artist.
 
Currently there are 25 shows confirmed (a complete list of dates appears below). “This year we’ve had our greatest response to the tour yet,” says Rob Beckham, the William Morris Agency’s responsible agent for the tour. “The television series picked up steam this year and we’re seeing the results of the increased popularity and viewership translate into concert dates. We’re still adding dates and look to top out the tour at approximately 40 shows with the intent to cover as many markets as possible.” 
 
 “Nashville Star” is a combination talent search and reality series that aims to find the next country music superstar. Contestants are judged by industry executives and artists. Fan viewers also help determine the weekly survivors through telephone and online voting. The show just completed its fifth straight season on the USA Network.
 
 
For general schedule and information updates regarding The 2007 Nashville Star Tour, please visit the www.2007nashvillestartour.com website.
 
For schedule and information updates regarding 2008 “Nashville Star” television season auditions, please visit the www.usanetwork.com website. 

 
Sonic Presents: The 2007 Nashville Star Tour 
 
July 1, 2007   Hershey, PA    Hershey Park Amphitheatre
July 4, 2007   Osceola, IA    Lakeside Casino & Resort
July 6, 2007   Robinsonville, MS   Gold Strike Casino-Millennium
July 7, 2007   Kansas City, MO   Ameristar Casino
July 20, 2007   Morrisonville, NY    Clinton County Fair
July 21, 2007   Verona, NY    Turning Stone Resort & Casino
July 22, 2007   Webster, MA    Indian Ranch
July 27, 2007   Bessemer, AL    Alabama Adventure
July 28, 2007   Ft. Myers, FL    Barbara B. Performing Arts Hall
August 1, 2007   New Paltz, NY    Ulster County Fair
August 2, 2007   Gallipolis, OH    Gallia County Fair
August 3, 2007   Fayetteville, NC    Crown Theatre
August 4, 2007   Winston Salem, NC   Joel Coliseum Annex
August 10, 2007  Mount Pleasant, MI   Soaring Eagle Casino
August 24, 2007  Oshkosh, WI    Leach Amphitheatre
August 25, 2007  Fremont, OH    Sandsky County Fair
August 31, 2007  Anderson, SC    William A. Floyd Amphitheatre
September 6, 2007  Las Vegas, NV    Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino
September 7, 2007  Jackpot, NV    Cactus Pete’s
September 8, 2007  Jackpot, NV    Cactus Pete’s 
September 14, 2007  Owensboro, KY    Executive Inn
September 15, 2007  Springfield, OH    Clark State Performing Arts Center
September 16, 2007  Altoona, IA    Prairie Meadows Racetrack
September 29, 2007  Lawrenceburg, IN   Bicentennial Park
September 30, 2007  Springfield, MO    Juanita K. Hammons Hall 

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The peal of wedding bells was once again heard in the Little Big Town camp, this time for band member Phillip Sweet. The artist married Rebecca Arthur earlier this week in an intimate gathering of family and friends at Cedar Vine Manor, a romantic bed and breakfast located in Lebanon, Tennessee, just outside Nashville. The bride is a business owner and wardrobe stylist here in Nashville.

Fellow band mates Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook, who married last May, and Kimberly Roads, who married Stephen Schlapman last November and is expecting her first child, were, of course, in attendance.

“Because neither of us wanted to be in a serious relationship, we tried to avoid each other for a long time. But once we got together, we were inseparable,” said Sweet. “Sometimes I feel like we are five years old and each others best friend.”

The bride and groom will reside in Nashville. 

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It's said that everyone has their "six degrees of separation" and ABC's Primetime is set to prove Martina McBride is no exception.  From small town Sharon, Kansas singing in her family band, moving to Nashville, recording demos and soon after signing a record deal. Who are the people who helped Martina McBride fulfill her dreams?  Correspondent Jay Shadler visited with Martina in Nashville this week to trace back the early days of  "wanna-be-country-singer" and how knowing one person who knew another person led to McBride's lucky break.

To further prove the theory, Primetime has selected six people who have three things in common – they do not personally know Martina McBride, they live in small towns and remote places around the country and they have the desire to sing and be heard.  Primetime and Martina McBride are giving these six hopefuls the chance to use the process of six degrees to meet the country music superstar and have her produce their very own professional demo at one of the top recording studios in the country – Blackbird Studios.  Primetime and Sony BMG have teamed up to allow those demos to be heard by music executives – something Martina can attest to is no easy feat.

"To get the chance to be heard in this business, it takes talent first and foremost but it also takes a lot of determination and even more luck," admits McBride. "Looking back, the naiveté it took for me and my husband John to move here with only a few contacts was crazy but one connection led to another and I think you have to believe it will happen and take that chance." 

ABC's Primetime will capture the journey from their most immediate connection through each step leading them closer and closer to the superstar. They are not allowed to call anyone at random but must use the six degrees of separation concept (made famous in 1967 by social psychologist Stanley Milgram whose experiments suggested that two random US citizens were connected on average by a chain of six acquaintances).  ABC's Primetime aired an earlier episode entitled The Human Chain proving the theory using people in the New York and Philadelphia area who were not directly related and from very different backgrounds.  All were able to connect.

Filming will also include Shadler and McBride retracing the beginning steps of her musical career in Sharon and Wichita, Kansas, McBride on her 2007 national tour, the meeting of one or all of the six contestants who make the connection as well as the demo recordings in Nashville.  An airdate for the two 1-hour specials has not yet been scheduled.

Martina's new album Waking Up Laughing will be in stores April 3rd.  Her multi-city arena tour with openers Little Big Town and Rodney Atkins kicks off April 12th in Kansas City. 

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Seventeen-year-old Taylor Swift has reached another milestone in her exciting music career. On Monday, April 9, 2007 the music sensation will perform a live concert with her full band to kick off the Los Angeles Dodgers brand new season.  The 30-minute concert will be held Dodger Stadium and precede the traditional stealth fighter jets, fireworks and first pitch.  Taylor will also perform the National Anthem for the event.

The opening game has the Dodgers playing host to the Colorado Rockies and will start at 1:10 p.m. PST. Last year's season opener concert drew more than 40,000 people and entertainment was provided by two-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Hootie and the Blowfish.

"I can't believe I have been given the chance to perform at the Los Angeles Dodgers opening day! The Dodgers are such a great organization with so many talented players and it is an honor to share a part of the season with them. I am also excited to play in front of thousands of fans on the west coast who might not otherwise have the opportunity to see me perform. I have so many happy memories of going to baseball games as a little girl. I am really looking forward to it!"

Taylor's self-titled album debuted in the Number 3 spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart based on the Top 5 success of "Tim McGraw" and was RIAA certified Gold after just 13 weeks.  The single landed inside the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, where she joined platinum-plus superstars Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood as one of the only three country artists in the all-genre Top 40 listing at that time.

Taylor's second single from her Gold album, "Teardrops on My Guitar," is the most added single on country radio for the 5th week in a row. The accompanying video, which she filmed with One Tree Hill star Tyler Hilton, is receiving heavy rotation on both CMT and GAC. Her MySpace page is one of the most popular in all genres and has reached more than 10 million hits.

Taylor has appeared on National TV programs "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "Good Morning America", "The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet", "Fox & Friends", and "Access Hollywood".  She was also recently featured in CosmoGirl and Us Weekly as well as numerous other national publications.

Taylor is gearing up for her tour with country music superstar Brad Paisley, which kicks off in April.

Taylor Swift has already achieved so much as an artist, and her future looks just as bright. Be on the lookout for more exciting news from this sensational teenager! 

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Toby Keith may be one of country music's reigning superstars as well as, with the movie Broken Bridges, a budding film star, but the music still comes first with him. That's why when it came time to release the next music video from the soundtrack to his movie debut, Keith's Show Dog Nashville label chose "Thinkin' 'Bout You," written and performed by Fred Eaglesmith, one of the most respected artists on the North American alt-country music scene.
 
The Toronto Star declares Eaglesmith as an artist who is "without doubt, relentlessly true to his craft, to his world view, and to his fans." With 16 independent albums to his credit, Eaglesmith has won a Juno Award — the equivalent of a Grammy in his native Canada — for Best Roots and Traditional Album – Solo and the Canadian Independent Music Award. He is the subject of not one but two tribute albums of Eaglesmith's work that have been recorded, and his devoted coterie of fans, known as "Fredheads," follow him from show to show. In addition to "Thinkin' 'Bout You" in Broken Bridges, his songs have also been used in films by noted director Martin Scorsese and actor James Caan.
 
Having grown up working on a series of family farms in Southern Ontario and known for writing songs about genuine people living real (and often picturesque) lives, Eaglesmith is actually a natural for the country charts. The video for "Thinkin' 'Bout You" featuring Eaglesmith performing the song interwoven with scenes from Broken Bridges debuted on CMT as its Wide Open Feature Clip and is already in rotation on both CMT and its Pure Country Channel.
 
"It is nice to be recognized by an artist of Toby's stature," says Eaglesmith. "He didn't have to support me but he did. I appreciate it."

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Florida won’t be just waking up to orange juice and sunshine this Friday, instead platinum selling artist DARRYL WORLEY will bring his version of ‘sunny delight’ to The Daily Buzz, a nationally syndicated morning show, to perform two songs and chat about his new album Here & Now. The show will air live on Friday, March 30th.

The Daily Buzz is the hippest and trendiest early morning show on television featuring news, weather, special guest appearances and the latest in entertainment news, music, travel, fashion, pet care, home fix-ups and more. The show begins at 6:00AM and airs in 141 markets including Cleveland, Columbus, Charleston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Seattle. Darryl will visit with hosts Kia Malone, Andrea Jackson, and Mitch English as well as perform two songs.

On Monday, April 23rd, DARRYL will stop be the studio of the new daytime talk show Daytime, where he will perform and continue the promotion of his latest album. Catch Darryl’s appearance on NBC stations in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Daytime is not the same with one of NBC’s newly syndicated mid-day talk shows – ironically named Daytime! The show is geared towards daily lifestyles and entertainment content, featuring top chefs, fix-it tips you can do yourself, all while Daytime takes you on the road to some of the hottest travel spots. Look for their very own spin on trends, fads and fashionistas with Daytime Diva segments, Wear It Out concepts, an so much more.

Worley’s latest single on the 903 Music label, “Living In The Here And Now” is currently shipped to radio.

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