**** COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS ****

Country singer Mindy McCready may stay in jail until September

By ROSE FRENCH
Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Country singer Mindy McCready was in jail Thursday and could remain there until a September hearing on a charge of violating probation on her 2004 drug charge, officials said.

McCready, 31, was taken into custody Wednesday at Nashville International Airport and booked into the Williamson County jail just south of Nashville as she returned to Tennessee.

She was arrested last week in Fort Myers, Fla., her hometown, on misdemeanor charges that she scratched her mother on the face during a scuffle and resisted sheriff's deputies.

Williamson County Circuit Court clerk officials said Thursday that McCready is not currently scheduled to have a bond hearing. A hearing on charges for violating her probation is set for Sept. 7.

Deputy District Attorney General Derek Smith said McCready violated probation in three ways: by being charged in a new offense; not reporting those charges immediately to her probation officer; and by the nature of the new assault charges.

She could serve up to three years in prison if convicted of violating her probation.

McCready's previous attorney, Lee Dryer, said Thursday he does not represent her now and did not know if she had an attorney. The clerk's office said files didn't list any attorney representing McCready.

Dryer said he doubted McCready currently has a publicist or other representative who could speak on her behalf.

Dryer withdrew from representing McCready last month after filing a petition that said the singer failed to meet "contractual obligations" or effectively communicate with him.

"The attorney-client relationship has eroded to the point that counsel of record is presently unable to render effective assistance," court documents state.

Dryer declined to go into greater detail about why he stepped down as McCready's attorney.

"I wish her well, and I hope she comes out of this OK," he said.

McCready was on probation after receiving a suspended three-year sentence for obtaining the painkiller OxyContin at a pharmacy in 2004 by getting a prescription in another person's name.

Still pending is another probation violation charge against McCready resulting from a drunken driving arrest in May 2005.

McCready had a hit in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time," but has struggled in recent years amid personal problems that included a beating by her then-boyfriend and suicide attempts. She gave birth to a son in 2006.

The singer was found not guilty of the DUI charge in July 2006 but guilty of driving on a suspended license. She then pleaded guilty to violating her probation but has petitioned to withdraw that plea.

 
Country quandry

By Ron Wynn I Filed Under Music, Miscellaneous

Newsweek’s current issue (the one with Barack Obama on the cover) contains an intriguing, nicely written but sometimes oversimplified article by Brian Braiker railing about the absence of veteran performers from country radio.

Braiker’s right on point when he laments the fact Porter Wagoner, Charlie Louvin, Ralph Stanley, George Jones, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson among others are mostly recording for indie labels and can’t get played on contemporary country radio. But he’s off the mark when he barrels ahead and dismisses essentially any and all current country music as useless pop fodder without more closely examining some other key issues

While I’m no huge fan of either commercial country radio or a lot of what’s being made on Music Row, I know that there are plenty of people in town who idolize George Jones, Porter Wagoner, Loretta Lynn and Charlie Louvin, and would be thrilled to be involved in recording them. The problem is none of them today could make a CD that would justify the amount of money it would take for a major label to break even on the project, let alone generate the sales needed for profit status.

Such companies as Anti, Hyena (which recently issued a wonderful Dale Watson disc), Shanachie (home to Daryle Singletary and Tammy Cochran) and many others operate with far lower overhead levels, and can focus solely on cutting a great recording and reaching the dedicated but tiny (by mass market levels) fan base who’ll buy it.

In turn, you won’t hear these people being played in steady rotation on ultra-competitive country radio stations anxious to get even a tenth of a ratings point bump in their Arbitrons. They’re not going to get lavish spreads in People magazine. But they will appear as opening acts for truly hip rock acts, like the White Stripes headlining with Porter Wagoner at Madison Square Garden. Charlie Louvin might not be slick enough for the bottom-line types at the video channels, but he’s good enough to fill Music City places like Grimey’s New and Preloved Records or the Mercy Lounge.

However the real villain here is a music business that long ago perverted the commerce end while continually neglecting the creative side. Music Row’s competing with high-profile rock, rap and pop types for chart positions, magazine and talk show placement, etc. As Billboard’s Nashville director charts Wade Jessen laments in that same article “They’re (the media and advertising execs) looking for a younger demographic with disposable income.” That’s the ugly reality and operational procedure responsible for much of the garbage shown on television, featured at multiplexes and even being cranked out by publishing houses.

Plus the Wagoner and Louvin discs, both among the finest country dates issued thus far in 2007, aren’t among the top 75 sellers on the Billboard charts this week. That means zippo to the music faithful, but no one employed at a major label can afford to put tradition and history ahead of the bottom lime.

Braiker also aptly describes the oddball situation of classic country outlets that won’t play new music and contemporary ones who shun anything from an old-timer. Yet he takes things too far by dismissing any and all new country as “crisp production, pop phrasing and cheesy lyrics.” The current Top 20 on the country albums chart includes Brad Paisley at number 1, Alison Krauss at 10, Martina McBride at 15, Rodney Atkins at 16, Gretchen Wilson at 17, and Miranda Lambert at 19. None of those folks should be lumped in the same camp with Bon Jovi. Jason Aldean, Bucky Covington and Josh Turner are three more young stars who thoroughly know and respect the country tradition and aren’t worried about crossover appeal. While neither Taylor Swift or Carrie Underwood are Tammy Wynette reincarnated, they at least profess high degrees of reverence for classic country.

Country cannot be all things to all people, yet there remains one chart covering the genre. Just as jazz acknowledges that not many people who buy John Coltrane and Miles Davis albums also like those by Gerald Albright or Boney James, it’s time for a survey that realizes many Hank Williams listeners will never accept Kenny Chesney as a country vocalist, no matter how many awards he gets, or who he collaborates with on various projects. Certainly Chesney and Underwood are precisely what Music Row wants, young, popular performers who attract the attention of the entertainment mainstream without completely rejecting country’s roots or sensibility.

But there needs to be some mechanism in place that will allow Charlie Louvin, Ralph Stanley and Porter Wagoner to not only be the toast of rockers tweaking the music establishment and magazines reaffirming their cutting edge credentials, but also able to work and flourish in Nashville alongside those whose demographic appeal and age range satisfies the corporate set.


Country programming

Ron Wynn I Filed Under Television

Martina McBride will literally be all over ABC television for the next couple of weeks. She’s among the featured artists appearing on tonight’s CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock at 8 p.m. on WKRN-2, then she’ll be spotlighted July 30 in an ABC news special Six Degrees of Martina McBride, also at 8 p.m.. McBride is also the subject of a feature story in the current issue of TV Guide by Alan Light that outlines a hectic day spent with McBride during the recent festival.

This hasn’t been a particularly good summer for the networks. While much of the buzz and attention has gone to cable properties, viewing levels of network shows many weeks have set record lows. Lifetime’s Army Wives, TNT’s The Closer and USA’s Monk, Psych, The 4400 and The Dead Zone are the most talked about programs, while the debuts of new shows featuring A-List actresses Glenn Close and Holly Hunter are also on cable outlets rather than broadcast.

ABC clearly hopes to take some sting out of the debut tonight of Hunter’s program as well as the regular episode of The Closer by giving over the night to McBride and several other prime country performers who fit their youth demographic. These include Brooks & Dunn, Sara Evans, Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. With the rest of their network competitors heavy in reruns, and the CNN-YouTube Presidential Debate airing two hours earlier, it will be interesting to see whether the CMA Music Festival tops the night’s viewing, what type of rating it gets and whether the audience breakdown satisfies the advertisers.

Meanwhile, for country fans interested in seeing older acts and classic performances from other eras, there’s an outstanding new option available. It’s the six-year-old RFD television network, which is primarily dedicated to covering rural America. But besides their staple of farm and agriculture programs, RFD is airing a wonderful new weekly interview show featuring the legendary country host, author, broadcaster and DJ Ralph Emery.

Each edition has its first run on Monday nights at 6 p.m., then is repeated several other times during the week. There are also rebroadcasts of such magnificent programs as The Porter Wagoner Show, Gaither Gospel Hour, Pop Goes The Country and many others.

There’s just one problem for Nashville viewers. If you don’t have either Dish Network or Direct TV satellite dishes, then you’re out of luck unless you’re in the coverage areas for Mediacom, Charter, NRTC, Bresnan, or NCTC cable. Thus far Comcast has not chosen to add RFD to either its basic or digital lineup, a strange decision considering Music City viewers would seem the natural audience for these shows.

But until they make that addition, Nashville viewers without satellite are denied the opportunity to see the treasures being presented on RFD. Both CMT and GAC are fantastic in terms of what they offer, but watching new Ralph Emery interviews and vintage footage of the Wilburn Brothers on RFD is one of the few things (along with a lower price structure, HBO, Showtime, IFC, the super stations and Encore’s Westerns channel) that make having a satellite dish worthwhile.

**** Amy's Kitchen ****  

Sopapilla Cheesecake

2 cans Crescent Rolls
2 - 8oz packages Cream Cheese, Softened
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 stick Butter
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 365 degrees (right...like I have a digital oven- try
just a little over 350 degrees!). In a mixing bowl or food processor,
blend the cream cheese with 3/4 cup of sugar and vanilla until smooth.
Keep crescent rolls in the refrigerator until ready to use. Spray the
bottom of a 9 X 13 pan with Pam. Open one roll of the rolls and spread
them over the bottom of the pan (not separated). Spread your cream
cheese mixture over the crescent roll dough, then open the second roll
of the crescent rolls and place them on top of the cream cheese mixture.
Melt the butter, the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and the cinnamon until
mixed together and pour over the top of the crescent rolls. Bake for
25-30 minutes until golden brown on top. Great served cold, but
I.N.CREDIBLE served hot with Vanilla or Cinnamon ice cream!
Tracey in OK