NashvilleHype!

If you’re in Nashville June 3rd you might want to head over to the Billy Block show at the Cadillac Ranch downtown as the fabulous Jaida Dreyer is going to be playing at around 8:30.  If you haven’t read the NashvilleHype! review of Jaida’s showcase for Sony and you’re wondering what to expect, you should read it — the short story is, she’s awesome and one day is going to be a big BIG star.

As readers know, Glenn Sweitzer from Fresh Design+Film is a great friend of mine and an incredibly talented designer/filmmaker.

Several months ago he released several videos on his YouTube site from his shoot with Reba’s DUETS album — since that time I’ve wanted to post a few here for you on NashvilleHype!

Enjoy.

Reba and Kelly Clarkson

Reba and Justin Timberlake

Reba and Ronnie Dunn

Reba and Vince Gill

Reba and Kenny Chesney

On the old NashvilleHype! I had a feature interview with Andy Fyne, owner of Chateau 541 (unfortunately it was lost in the move).  Andy is a great guy and his studio is a world class facility, brand spanking new in Franklin.  But I received a troubling email today and so I’m passing this information on to the readers here who have always helped NashvilleHype! raise money for various causes — and this is a good cause — so if you can help in some way, please don’t hesitate.

“Hello Friends,
As some of you already know, my wonderful husband Andy, had a mild stroke last weekend.  His sister Julie has sent this out to all of our friends.  Please take the time to read it & pass it along to anyone who might be interested.  Thanks everyone for prayers, love & support!
Andy & Six”

Julie Shelander <Juleeis@comcast.net> wrote:
From: “Julie Shelander” <Juleeis@comcast.net>
To: “Six” <Sixystar@yahoo.com>
Subject: Andy/Six( Elisa) Fund-raiser Information
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 11:36:32 -0500
“Happy Memorial Weekend! I hope this finds you well. 

We are so grateful that Andy’s prognosis is so positive.

Thank you  for your continued support, prayers and concern for Andy and Six ( Elisa ).

Most of you know that Andy is self-employed . Six is a massage therapist. She is in the middle of interviewing for a position at a local spa. If she does get the position, her income will be a help, but it won’t be able to contribute enough to touch their amount of bills that are increasing.

I’ve had several people ask if there was anything they could do, as my Mom and I have been pondering the same question. It suddenly struck me that I have a tool at my finger tips, literally! I will be heading up a fund raiser on eBay. We will be taking donations to list on eBay to benefit Andy and Six. If you are interested in donating anything for a fund raiser, please call Julie or Barb @ 615-591-8958. Email : Juleeis@comcast.net Donations can be dropped off at our home in Franklin or at Six and Andy’s home on Franklin Road. Please call or email for directions.

* I’m also in need of various sizes of boxes for parcel post shipping. ( I already have the free priority mail boxes offered by USPS ) If anyone has any extra boxes that they can donate, I would SOOOO appreciate it.
As I start listing these items, I will email you with the information as to where the donations/listings can be found on eBay.

We will also be having 2 garage sales to benefit Andy and Six . One will be next weekend, Saturday - May 31st in Franklin at Spencer Hall Subdivision. 3128 Millbank Ln. ( off of hwy. 96 west ) 8:00 .
The second sale will be at The Shelanders’ home, Saturday June 21. I will send a reminder with directions for that sale as time gets closer. If you would like to donate anything to these sales, please call the above phone or contact me through the email address.

If you have any suggestions or further ideas, please pass them along !

I’ve sent on your messages and emails to Andy and Six. It is such a comfort to have your love, prayers and support surrounding all of us. Thank You so much.

With Appreciation, Love and Gratefulness.
Julie and Barb Shelander”

Chateau 541 Recording Studio
541 Franklin Rd
Franklin, TN  37069
615.305.5747

!! UPDATE:  I just talked to my friend Glenn Sweitzer of Fresh Films, he told me that just last week he shot a special video for Rissi and CMT - look for this new video to hit the airwaves soon!!

I haven’t had a chance to write about Rissi Palmer in a while. As long time readers know, I love Rissi and I’ve had her on site from the beginning (really, NashvilleHype! was a very early supporter of Rissi!). A few minutes ago I actually saw an ad on MySpace for her and I thought I should go over to her site, like you should, and get caught up.

Rissi, I’m happy to say, is doing fantastic. I’m not in Nashville right now but on her site I see she was mentioned in the Tennessean for being a knockout on the red carpet at the ACMs. That’s pretty cool… but this is cooler:

This is pretty cool!  I’ll tell you why:

I’m a little tired (though I understand it’s all a part of the process of allowing people to know who ’you’ are) of the stories about Rissi’s race and influence in country music.   I HEARD Rissi and I knew she was country to the bone and is awesome (just like my friend Miko Marks who’s fantastic).  In fact, I had first written about Rissi in an article about Charlie Pride - and in a really ironic twist, I even mentioned that fully 25% of NASCAR fans are black – making the point that just as NASCAR is missing a great opportunity to expand it’s audience, so is country music.

Now admittedly I haven’t read the accompanying article in the magazine here, but I’m pretty sure it’s about Rissi and her Dog - not about how a black female is singing country music.  And I find THAT cool!

P.S.  as a bonus pic (and to drive home the NASCAR point) - here’s another pic on Rissi’s site:

Rissi with Jr.  — That Rocks!

post sponsored by:

Okay, so it is getting close to Summer where everyone seems to be getting busy. We have decided here at NashvilleHype! to make a few changes slowly and add a few new things to see how our readers like and accept it. If you might have any suggestions for something new just let us know, it might be something fun!

So, what we are wanting to do is to showcase some of our new, unsigned artists that are in Nashville or have a connection to Nashville. In this world of YouTube we want to be able to provide you with pretty much the same type of free video service. We have had the same opportunity on the site since the beginning but I am not quite sure that everyone who has visited us has taken the chance to use it. On the right side of the page you will see a box that states “Submit Your Videos to NashvilleHype!” click on that, then proceed with the directions.

We will then choose an artist to showcase for the week. We want to write about that artist, and hopefully get them some attention that maybe they don’t get on YouTube or MySpace. We’ve had over 100,000 hits on the site since February and can you just imagine if the right person at the right time clicked on the video you posted? Our goal is to help you. This is a free service that we provide for you and how in the world could you go wrong with using it right? Free is good! We look forward to many of you adding your videos especially with CMA Music Fest coming up right around the corner! Keep in mind, it does not have to be just Country, it can be any genre.

You know last night I was thinking over and over again about something that was said to me about someone else, “in all that time they had never had anything negative said about them” and in my quite frank opinion maybe it should have been. Of course as far as I am concerened it is just that, “an opinion”. I could repeat the same old tacky phrases we have come to know and hear over and over again but I promise to not make our readers go through that agony! My thoughts are thoughts that have been tossed and turned all day long. Being in the medical field people are asked when they come in with pain to rate that pain on a scale of 1 to 10. One being the least of the pain and ten being the greatest most intense pain of thie patients life. Well, to me in all truth of the matter, it would depend on one’s pain tolerance as to where you would rate any type of pain. That pain scale is almost silly to a certain degree. What might be a general headache to me maybe a 2 or 3 might be excrutiating to someone else therefore a pain rating of 8 or 9. This brings me to my point in telling the truth of one’s music and personal opinion’s.

Wikepedia defines an opinion as a person’s ideas and thoughts towards something, an assesment, judgement or evaluation of something. Now, we here at NashvilleHype! are all for loving our artists we write about……nope, we are ecstatic about loving them!  When we choose to write about them, let me stress that “choose”, it is something that we have really thought long and hard about. We do not just write about anyone. Now, I have to say, we can be picky, but I think in this industry you have to be. What Paul or David might like, I may not. What I may absolutely love, Paul may shrug his shoulders and raise a brow. Then there are the times when we have the bell’s and whistle’s going off cause there is a round table agreement! This is a good thing! It all comes down to a difference of opinion. Some might like a little more “twang” or some might like a little more “rock” or even some might like a group sound. Whatever the case may be, Nashville has many different sounds to choose from and many rising artists to fit the perfect “taste”.

All in all, music is a wonderful gift that has been given to many wonderful people here in Nashville and we look forward to promoting so many you that continue to put forth all that hard work and effort - it does pay off. Just never let anyone stop you.  One persons opinions may be a tear rolling down your face, but it very well could mean the ink drying on that contract!

We love you guys and keep up the great work!

It seems at every turn today I was thinking about Jaida and her showcase tonight.  If I said one small prayer for her I probably said a dozen.  That things would go well.  That the sound would be right.  That the place would be packed.

I just got back home from watching one of the most exciting (and packed!) showcases in Nashville in a long, LONG time.  Jaida Dreyer absolutely lit up the place from the minute she took the stage - - and the standing room only crowd ate it up.

Jaida is beautiful, but that’s not where her real strength lies - it’s in her completely unique voice.  As long time readers know, one of my favorite quotes is from Quincy Jones who said, ”Listen to ‘We Are The World’ - you don’t hear the best singers, you hear the best voices”.  Quincy knows about singers and what it takes to cut through the crowd here.  Jaida does as well.

It’s not that Jaida couldn’t be classified as a great singer - she’s certainly always on pitch, has her breathing down to a science, and knows when to push and when not to — it’s more that when you hear her sing, you immediately know who’s singing.  If she were on ‘We Are The World’, just like Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, and others who had a verse of their own - you would know it was Jaida singing.

Here in Nashville and on myspace there are about 1,000,000 pretty girls who all sound the same.  After a while even I have to admit to getting tired of listening to them — but Jaida stands out, and in a big way.  I love her sound.  A couple of weeks ago I told her, ‘love or hate, people are going to be talking about you and you’re going to be a huge star because of it.”  I’m more convinced than ever.

The Rutledge was packed for this showcase.  I actually haven’t seen a more packed, more enthusiastic showcase in about 10 years.  Generally speaking industry folks are burned out.  I am too.  There’s only so many showcases you can go to.  There’s only so many artists you can listen to.  And there’s only so many times you can hear that “XX is going to be the next big thing”.   Maybe at NashvilleHype! I’ve been guilty of it too — (but if I may, I do have a real track record over the last couple of years of getting it right). WHEN Jaida signs her deal, I’ll be at 8 artists featured on NashvilleHype! to be signed, pretty unprecedented for a weblog/news outlet. 

One thing that really impresses me about Jaida is her work with Carolyn Dawn Johnson.  There’s not a person in the industry that doesn’t either personally like or respect CDJ, and she’s playing and writing with Jaida.  CDJ has been through about everything in the industry - from writing hit songs for others, having hit songs of her own, being on the radio, having a major label, being dropped from it, signing to an indie and leaving it before an album dropped - - she’s seen it all in this town.  And yet, she’s fully behind and fully encouraging to Jaida.  CDJ knows talent when she hears it. 

And then there’s simply the sheer love of doing music.  Jaida moved to Nashville (the last in a long line of 7 different states) to write songs - never thinking in a million years she would be singing.  It wasn’t until some of her co-writers began encouraging her to sing that she decided to give it a try.  When I saw her a couple months ago it was one of the first times she had ever even performed with a band - and though I knew it because I could tell, I don’t think anyone else did.

Tonight, you would’ve thought she had been performing with a band from the time she was born.  Completely comfortable onstage - it was like night and day.  But more, that just says to me that Jaida doesn’t choke under pressure (and having a major label showcase that’s packed out IS pressure!).  Like I said, she totally rocked it out.

Jaida Dreyer is a star.  In every way possible Jaida is a star.  For those that missed out this time, be sure to catch her the next.  You won’t be disappointed.  My only disappointment of the night was the fact I left my camera in the truck — and I wanted pictures.  (Jaida was gorgeous in her little purple dress and cowboy boots)  Hopefully I’ll find some before long to post.

I’ll keep everyone up to date on what happened for her professionally tonight.  I’m positive Jaida is going to be signed.

post sponsored by