New Country Star News Archives October 2007

A Celebration of the Life of Patrick Bourque was held to honor the former Emerson Drive bass player who passed away suddenly at his home in Montreal, Quebec on September 26th. The memorial service was held on Tuesday, October 9th at 11:00 AM at the Belmont Church located at 68 Music Square East in Nashville, TN. The service was open to the public, and in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to the Mental Health Association of Middle Tennessee

(2416 21st Avenue South, Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37212) were requested. All gifts received were designated to support the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network.

New Country Star has seen plenty of growth since it's birth almost four years ago, including a sister publication Canadian Country Star, which splintered earlier this year. During this time both E-Magazines continue to surprise readers with new fun features, contests, giveaways, "Exclusive" audio interviews with the hottest artists in country music, and daily country music news. As a result, readership of both publications has grown dramatically. With a larger audience has come a need for a larger team. Just this year, the publications have brought on board new artists for graphic design, writers, and one of the finest photojournalists in country music, Ron Keessar.

Now, we at New Country Star are happy to announce the addition of yet another talent,

Mitch McCracken, to our family of writers, contributing stories and news items of interest to our daily readers. You may have already read his first piece on Sugarland's recent video "Stay". The following is a bit about Mitch and his impressive work history before joining the New Country Star team. Mitch McCracken has a varied and interesting background in the radio and entertainment field. We look forward to hearing more from Mitch, and are sure our readers will enjoy his column Crackin' Country!

My relationship with music started like everyone else's, back in Junior High. I was listening to Top 40 on AM radio when I was supposed to be doing my homework or sleeping, or at least doing something productive. My 9th grade Drama teacher suggested that I pursue a career in broadcasting -- I think because I used humor in my first speech. I took that advice and started at WMC/FM100 right after high school.

It wasn't long until I got the chance of a lifetime to work for one of Rock & Roll's legends -- Sam Phillips of Sun Records. I took advantage of that and learned a lot about Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Sam himself.

At the age of 22 I had my own trade magazine, and got to interview some pretty impressive people like Bob Pittman who later became the Program Director at WNBC in New York, and later created MTV and AOL. I returned to Memphis and worked for Stax Records legend Estelle Axton, and there promoted "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees, which won the 1977 People's Choice Award. While at WRNO I got to go out on the road with Lynyrd Skynyrd before the plane crash, and also interviewed Jim Morrison of the Doors, although three years after his death.

Let's fast forward to my interest and love of country music. I first did Country radio in Vegas at KFM and KWNR right after Garth hit the scene. It was a great time to be in Country radio, and I have been into Counry, if not working in it, at least listening to it ever since. I have to borrow a line from Trent Tomlinson and admit now that "Country is My Rock." I love Country music, and I'm proud to be a part of the team at New Country Star. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Swift's

New Video

"Our Song"

Photo Courtesy of Big Machine Records

Big Machine Records President

and CEO, Scott Borchetta has

got to be thanking the man

upstairs every day for his top

selling artist, Taylor Swift.

The label, which was basically

built around seventeen year old

Swift, is now home to Jack

Ingram, Danielle Peck, and

Trisha Yearwood. Swift has

earned nothing but one success

after another and taken

Big Machine Records all

the way to the Major Leagues.

Her MySpace site is one of the

most heavily hit online, with

comments coming in by the

second from young passionate

fans. Taylor Swift has Nashville

thinking younger, and has

definitely made even

the major labels sad they let

this one go. Swift's songwriting

skills continue to rock the charts

and now with the release of her

latest music video "Our Song,"

the industry buzz is bigger

than ever. Director Trey

Fanjoy seems to be most

inspired when working with

the young artist. Making all of

Swift's videos fresh, fun, and

breathtakingly beautiful.

Check It Out Now on CMT!

"OUR SONG" VIDEO

Meet Joanna Cotten...

She's Hot, She's New

and Waiting For You on iTunes

Funkabilly was released just

last week and is a whole new kind

of music. Joanna Cotten is Julliard

trained, with a unique sound all her

own. Think Joss Stone meets

Natalie Maines, meets Amy

Winehouse. Quite a combination

you say? Well, Cotten has

quite a sound...check it out!

Listen Now!

New

Sugarland

Video

"Stay"

Review By: Mitch McCracken

What can I say about

Jennifer Nettles that hasn't

already been said? She has one of

the best (if not the best) female

voices in Country Music.

It's the blend of her gospel

background combined with that

southern soul that makes her

such a standout talent.

Sugarland's new video

"Stay" is one of the most unique

videos I have seen in years.

From the opening lines of the

song, you can see it's going

to be different just by looking

into Jennifer Nettles eyes.

It's not the happy,

fun, and lighthearted scene

that we've all grown accustomed

to from the duo's other videos.

The subject matter is something

that we have all felt at one time

or another. You can not only see

the pain of the lyrics Nettles delivers

in her eyes, but even her lips start

to quiver as she looks up to keep

the tears from welling up in her

eyes. The first sign of what a

great performance this is going

to be is when the tears she is unable to

hold back start to appear. She has

you mesmerized as she puts the

words together that we all

wish we could have said at

some point in our

own lives in a similar situation.

You hang onto her every word as

you feel the pain that she was

feeling when she wrote this song.

"I'm down on my knees"…"Don't

I give you what you need?"…"We

don't have to live this way". How

many times have we all felt that

way as a relationship that we

desperately want to hold onto,

comes to a painful end?

As she sings

"Baby why don't you stay?" it

seems so easy to make the

pain go away.

Even when the camera pans to

Kristian Bush strumming on

his guitar, his demeanor is so

solemn and respectful of the

pain that Jennifer is singing

about. The mood of the video is

flawless. Just as we the viewer

are consumed in the heart

wrenching pain that Jennifer is

feeling and watch her being

overcome with emotion to the point

of not being able to sing all the

words, she does what every woman

we love and respect does, she starts

to pull herself up. The song turns

from desperation to empowerment and self esteem as the lyrics change

to "I'm up off my knees"…"You can't give me what I need"…"I (instead

of we) don't have to live this way."

Is it brilliant acting or true pain?

Nettles is the only one who knows for

sure but I did see a side of Jennifer

Nettles that I have never seen

before. I see a major superstar in

the making, the likes of which

we haven't seen in years.

Kristian Bush talks about the

power and emotion behind

the video for

Sugarland's "Stay."

"For the making of the 'Stay' video,

what we wanted to do was just about

literally stand there and play the song.

We didn't want anything else going on

other than the performance because

that's going on when you listen to it.

I get really anxious, and Jennifer was

finding the emotion in the song while

she's singing it, and I started freaking

out in the control room because she's

starting to cry. Everyone had to hold me

back from going out and saying 'cut'

because I wanted it to stop. It was a

pretty powerful thing...if this doesn't

make you cry, nothing will. Go ahead

and burn your copy of 'Old Yeller'

because this is all you need."

Click Here To Watch Now