Music News 9/1/11

Pistol Annies

Pistol Annies Shoot Straight To The Top

The digital-only debut from feisty female trio Pistol Annies shot straight to the top of this week’s country album chart, debuting with 42K units sold.

Comprised of Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, the Sony Nashville group’s first project Hell on Heels marched to the No. 1 slot on the all-genre digital chart.

Also debuting this week is Sunny Sweeney’s Concrete, which lands solidly at No. 7 on the country albums list with 14K units.

Pistol Annies may have the hottest album on the country album charts, but another trio and Sweeney’s BMLG labelmate, The Band Perry, is still sitting at the top of the digital country singles chart with “If I Die Young.” It sold over 73K downloads this week, and at that pace will likely pass the 3 million mark in the next few weeks.

Bigger picture: Country album sales are up 6.4% over last year, and overall album sales are up 2.4%.

In other related news, Lambert was featured on Dateline NBC this week in a sit-down interview with Hoda Kotb. See clips here. And Lambert and Pistol Annies were both reassigned to new label home RCA, as previously reported in MusicRow’s breaking news.

Late songwriter Charlie Craig

Charlie Craig Memorial

Doug Johnson, Rob Crosby and other Music Row songwriters plan to celebrate the music and the memory of the late Nashville songwriting great Charlie Craig. The event will take place at Douglas Corner on Tuesday, Sept. 6 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

“It will be an informal gathering to raise a toast to Charlie and share our memories of his long and successful career and his wonderful character and friendship,” says Crosby.

Charlie Craig passed away at age 73 on July 1 following a long battle with cancer.

During his lengthy career, Craig had more than 300 recordings of his songs by the biggest stars in Nashville. Among his hits are “Wanted” (Alan Jackson, 1990), “I Would Like to See You Again” (Johnny Cash, 1978), “She’s Single Again” (Janie Fricke, 1985), “Between an Old Memory and Me” (Travis Tritt, 1994) and “Leavin’s Been a Long Time Comin’” (Shenandoah, 1992). All of these are BMI award winners.

“I think we will share the love and respect that Charlie deserves from Music Row,” says Crosby of the upcoming event. Among those planning to honor Charlie Craig at Tuesday’s gathering are Keith Stegall, Tim DuBois, Monty Allen and Jerry Crutchfield. Douglas Corner is at 2106 8^th Avenue South.

Gershon Joins Red Light

Tracy Gershon

As first tipped by MusicRow last week, Red Light Management has officially announced the hiring of longtime music business pro Tracy Gershon. She joins the Nashville office where she will continue to co-manage Big Machine recording artist Ella Mae Bowen, and Erin Enderlin, as well as manage the writing interests of Grammy-winning artist and songwriter Rodney Crowell. She will also take an active role handling A&R for the Red Light roster.

Gershon was most recently a Sr. VP at Warner Chappell Music, and has held executive posts at EMI and Sony Music publishing, Sony Records and Warner Bros. records.

“Returning to management makes perfect sense for me,” says Gershon. “I moved to Nashville from Los Angeles in 1988 and managed several artists. For the past two decades, I have worked as an A&R executive at both record labels and publishing companies. This experience, along with the vision and resources of [Red Light head] Coran Capshaw, make the transition to Red Light an exciting foundation for which to build my clientele.”

The management firm’s Nashville roster includes Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Alabama, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, The Lunabelles, Jennette McCurdy, Kip Moore, Jon Pardi, Tammy Wynette estate, Third Day and Kerrie Roberts.

Signing News: Bobby Terry and Rose Falcon

Bobby Terry

Southern Crossroads Music has announced the signing of producer/songwriter/musician Bobby Terry to a worldwide publishing agreement. Southern Crossroads will represent Terry’s futures and back catalog, which includes cuts on Brad Paisley’s Time Well Wasted, Faith Hill’s Fireflies, and Tim McGraw’s Live Like You Were Dying.

“Bobby represents the important first brick in building a publishing company from the ground up in that he is a prolific writer and talented producer,” says Southern Crossroads Nashville Partner Pat Finch. “We are incredibly fortunate to have him and look forward to adding to such a stable foundation!”

Southern Crossroads also represents Nashville singer/songwriter Jabe Beyer whose songs have been featured in HBO’s True Blood and the Fox-TV’s Lie to Me, among others. Also on the roster are UK-based Americana acts Danny and the Champions of the World and Owen James Harvey.

Show Dog-Universal Music has signed Rose Falcon to an exclusive recording contract. The Nashville-raised singer is the daughter of singer/songwriter Billy Falcon (“Power Windows”) and previously recorded a pop album (Rose Falcon) with Columbia in 2003. She is signed to Cal IV for publishing, and her songs have been featured in numerous television shows and commercials. Recently, “Give Into Me,” a song she wrote with her father and Elisha Hoffman, was recorded by Faith Hill for the Country Strong soundtrack.

(L-R): Manager Dan Harrell, Falcon, SDU label President Mark Wright and Cal IV Entertainment President Daniel Hill

George Green Passes

The Oaks had a major hit with "Come On In," written by George Green and Rick Giles. (Editor

George Michael Green, a hit songwriter in both the country and pop fields, has died at age 59 of lung cancer.

Green is best known for his collaborations with John Mellencamp on such hits as “Hurts So Good,” “Crumblin’ Down” and “Rain on the Scarecrow.” Over the years, Mellencamp has recorded more than a dozen of their co-written songs. The two were school classmates and boyhood friends in Seymour, Indiana, and Green spent most of his career in Bloomington.

He also often collaborated with Nashville songwriters. The Oak Ridge Boys scored a major hit with “Come On In (You Did the Best That You Could Do),” a 1985 song co-written by Green and Rick Giles. Ricky Skaggs recorded Green’s “My Father’s Son,” Gary Morris sang the songwriter’s “South December Road,” Dwight Yoakam recorded his “Common Day Man,” The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band did “America My Sweetheart” and Lacy J. Dalton recorded Green’s “This Ol’ Town” and “Up with the Wind.”

Kenny Chesney, who released a cover version of “Hurts So Good,” co-wrote “Hook in the Heart,” “Home Sweet Home” and “Girl in the Coffee Shop” with George Green.

Others who have recorded the late songwriter’s efforts include Nashville rocker Tom Kimmell, Barbra Streisand, Hall & Oates, Van Zant, Christopher Cross, Vanessa Williams and Melissa Manchester.

Singer-songwriter Jude Cole called Green, “a gifted and humble gentleman.” Mellencamp eulogized him as, “a dreamer.” In addition to Cole, Giles and Mellencamp, Green’s songwriting collaborators included Dennis Matkosky, Steve Dorff, Kent Agee, Dave Robbins and the late Van Stephenson.

On Sunday, August 28, George Green died in Albuquerque, NM, where he had lived for the past decade. He is survived by his wife Kathryn and children Nicholas Green, Carrie Evans, Ian Green and Sarah Bolivar, as well as 16 grandchildren. He was cremated in Albuquerque, and a memorial service is being planned in Bloomington.

Memorial contributions may be made to: Riley Hospital Foundation, 545 Barnhill Dr., Ste. 215, Indianapolis, IN 46202 or online at www.rileykids.org to the George M. Green Memorial Fund.