THE BLUE CHIP RADIO REPORT
Country Music News, Charts, Show Prep, Sales Info
April 19, 1999
Bill Miller
Editor Publisher
The Blue Chip Song of the Week: "Bang Bang Bang" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt
Band. Writers: Al Anderson and Craig Wiseman. Producers: Josh Leo. Label:
Dreamworks. CDX: volume 209. Our first two-time pick as The Blue Chip
Song Of The Week. Last year we chose this song and the record label
promptly folded, but Dreamworks wisely picked up the album and
re-released this single. Hey, "Bang Bang Bang" is a lot of fun- and radio
should be fun.
Tammy Wynette's body was exhumed Wednesday (4/14/99) and an autopsy was
performed.
Wynette's widower, George Richey, requested the autopsy after a $ 50
million wrongful death lawsuit was filed by 3 of her daughters (a 4th
daughter joined the lawsuit this past week).
Results of the autopsy are expected in four to six weeks, according to
Nashville Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Levy.
Mindy McCready may not have had a big hit in awhile, but her ability to
grab headlines is second only to Garth Brooks.
The gal who was engaged to Superman, and then engaged the attention of at
least one pro hockey player, is now charming an an oil prince. According
to Brad Schmitt at The (Nashville) Tennessean, Mindy's stud muffin du
jour is Saudi Arabian prince Khaled Al Fahd. Khaled is the 23-year-old
eldest son of one of the world's richest families.
Trisha Yearwood's singing talent continues to grow. On TNT's "An All-Star
Tribute To Johnny Cash" Sunday, she sang Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday
Morning Coming Down" like she had just discovered the song. Although it's
hard to imagine her having a beer for breakfast and liking it so much
that she had another one for dessert, Trisha did a killer rendition of
the song.
By the way, Johnny Cash is feeling so good that he went back into the
studio last week. The Man In Black is getting excited about a doing a new
album.
Expect more rear-end collisions on Music Row in the near future.
Vince Gill's Volvo was involved in a 3-car accident on West End Avenue
just off the row a few days ago. Reports say that Vince was stopped for a
red light when he was rammed from behind and pushed into the car in ahead
of him.
After the usual swap of driver's license and insurance company numbers,
the guy who rammed Vince gave him the old by-the-way-I'm-a-songwriter and
slipped him a demo tape.
They say that Vince graciously accepted it.
Vince will skip the Academy of Country Music awards show on May 5th. He
has multiple nominations, but that's the day of daughter Jennifer's
birthdate. Daddy has promised daughter the evening, according to
Associated Press.
Fan Fair ticket sales are sluggish for the 2nd year in a row. In an
effort to move them faster, Ticketmaster has been added as an outlet for
the June 14-19 event. Your listeners may also call 615.255.9600 for
tickets.
Mark Wills was watching "Maury" on TV the other day. The theme was
"Beautiful Girls With Ugly Scars". One young girl, badly scarred from a
fire, told her story and then broke into the Wills' hit "Don't Laugh At
Me". Wills was so moved that he called the producer. He's now booked to
appear on a followup show next month with the girl.
Welcome to our new subscribers, including Mike Forrest from 101.9 The
Twister in Oklahoma City OK; Gary Murdock, PD/MD at Kix 96 in
Florence/Muscle Shoals AL; Greg Dorschel with Collins Music; Pontus
Lindroth with Radio Viking 101.4 in Svartsjo, Sweden; Ed Cohen with Clear
Channel Communications; and, Ted Stecker.
Johnny Paycheck is hoping to leave an Atlanta hospital after a nearly
six-month stay. Paycheck told WSM Radio in Nashville that he hopes to be
released within the next couple of weeks.
Shania Twain is scheduled to be the cover girl on the June issue of
Glamour magazine. She has already appeared on the covers of Cosmopolitan
and Rolling Stone.
Shedaisy is composed of 3 sisters: Kristyn Osborn, Kassidy Osburn and
Kelsi Osborn. They hail from Magna, Utah.
Who has the largest fan club in country music? Alan Jackson holds that
honor among no-fee clubs with 125,000 members. Among the fee-based clubs,
George Strait leads with 75,000 members.
Faith Hill says she started her Family Literacy Project because her
father never learned to read. To aid the project, she's collecting
donations of books at each of her concerts.
In a recent interview, Faith also disclosed that having children released
some of the stress of her career. She said that having her two daughters
made her realize that her career wasn't the most important thing in her
life.
Have you ever seen the Roy Minnie statue at The Ryman Auditorium? The
single, white female who posed as Minnie Pearl was Chely Wright.
Billy Ray Cyrus has recorded the Scooby-Doo theme song for an episode of
the cartoon.
A new Townes Van Zandt album is set for release on June 29th. "A Far Cry
From Dead" will be a 13-cut collection on the Arista Austin label. Van
Zandt left behind the
