Big Country Notes

TROY GENTRY PLEADS GUILTY TO MISDEMEANOR CHARGE IN BEAR HUNT

The “Pioneer Press” says Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry pled guilty in court yesterday to a misdemeanor charge of falsely claiming the bear he shot on a Minnesota Farm in 2004 was wild. Troy says, quote, "I did participate in improperly tagging the animal I shot, without realizing the seriousness of what I was doing. For that, I am truly sorry.” Gentry says he relied on the experts around him for guidance and says he regrets that because, quote, “… it appears that I don't have respect for the law. This has been a humbling experience for me." Gentry, who appeared in a U.S. District Court in Duluth, MN, struck a plea bargain with federal prosecutors last week. In return for his plea bargain, the felony charge of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits possessing or transporting illegally obtained wildlife, was dropped. Subject to court approval, the singer may have to pay a 15-thousand dollar fine and cannot hunt in Minnesota for five years. He may also have to return the bow and the mounted bear to authorities, which in turn would put the confiscated items up for auction. Gentry and Lee Marvin Greenly, the owner of Minnesota Wildlife Connection where the bear was shot, were charged last August with conspiracy and falsely tagging the bear after shooting it with a bow and arrow. Gentry and Greenly must appear for sentencing when a date is set.



RASCAL FLATTS NOMINATED FOR MORE CATEGORIES IN PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS

Rascal Flatts are nominated in two more categories in the People’s Choice Awards. The group has a nod in the Favorite Song from a Movie category for “Life Is A Highway,” which was in the animated movie “Cars.” Other contenders are “Crazy” by Alanis Morissette from “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Real Gone” by Sheryl Crow from “Cars.” The same song is up for Favorite Song Remake against Morissette’s “Crazy” and “Save The Last Dance For me” by Michael Buble. In other country nominations for People’s Choice honors, Carrie Underwood is up for Female Singer and Country Song for “Before He Cheats.” Joining Underwood in the Female Singer category are Faith Hill and Shakira. “What Hurts the Most” by Rascal Flatts and “When the Stars Go Blue” by Tim McGraw are also nominated for Country Song. Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith received Male Singer nods. The 33rd annual People's Choice Awards will be broadcast on CBS Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on January 9th, 2007.



COUNTRY SINGERS CONTRIBUTE TO SOUNDTRACK OF “AMAZING GRACE”

Martina McBride and Marty Stuart both offer recordings for the ‘inspired by’ soundtrack for the film “Amazing Grace.” Martina sings “How Great Thou Art” and Marty Stuart duets with gospel singer David Crowder on “Rock of Ages.” The album will be released January 13th, a month prior to the movie. Songs for the project were chosen because they are favorites of William Wilberforce, the man the movie is about. Wilberforce championed the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Elected to Parliament at age 21, Wilberforce led a diverse coalition of believers in a decades-long struggle to end the lucrative but dehumanizing slave trade. Others on the album include Gospel Music’s 2006 female vocalist Natalie Grant, award winning Christian singer and songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman and Christian group Avalon.



BRAD PAISLEY DUETS WITH HIMSELF ON CHRISTMAS SONG

Martina McBride duets with the late Dean Martin on the winter favorite “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” but Brad Paisley takes the concept one step further by recording with himself when he was 13 years old. No, he didn’t go back in a time machine to achieve the feat -- but he did find someone who had a tape recording of him singing “Born on Christmas Day” when he was 13. Paisley sang the song on a live radio show back in West Virginia and a fan of the young man was listening in and just happened to record it. When Brad went in to record the song for his “Brad Paisley Christmas” project he thought it would be cool to start it off with a few lines of the 13-year-old Paisley singing. He says, quote, “It’s bigger than just having folks see how I sounded then and now … it’s more about this kid who did what he wanted to do and became a singer.” <>



SARA EVANS WANTED TO WRITE SONG ABOUT UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Sara Evans says when she co-wrote “You’ll Always Be My Baby” she just wanted to write a song about unconditional love. The singer says, quote, “I just think it’s so important for us as human beings to know and feel that we are loved.” She adds, quote, “We need to know … that no matter what kind of mistakes we may make in life, there’s always somebody who will love us.” Evans wrote the song with Tony Martin and Tom Shapiro and says she hopes people catch the idea of the song. “You’ll Always Be My Baby” has been turned into a book. The gift book is about family and friends and unconditional love being passed from generation to generation. <>



GRETCHEN WILSON IN SHOPPING DILEMMA

Last year Gretchen Wilson slept on one-thousand-count sheets and fell in love. Wilson slept on the sheets somewhere on her travels last year and quickly decided she had to upgrade her bed linens when she went home. In fact, she says sleeping on such luxurious sheets was, quote, “amazing.” The result of her new love affair with higher quality linens was that she went out and bought family and friends similar sheets for Christmas. Her dilemma this year is how to top that gift. Wilson says, quote, “I don’t know what I’m going to do – it’s hard to top a gift that gives a good night’s sleep.” <>



ALABAMA INCLUDES “SILENT NIGHT” ON GOSPEL ALBUM

Alabama has recorded three Christmas albums but it took a compilation of gospel standards for them to cut the Christmas song “Silent Night.” The holiday carol is on the group’s new release “Songs of Inspiration” and the group’s Randy Owen says he didn’t even think about it being a Christmas tune when they cut it. Owen says, quote, “I was looking at it because of the words – it’s a total classic.” Fans don’t seem to mind that there’s a Christmas song in the midst of such Christian standards as “In the Garden,” “Jesus Loves Me” and “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” <>



STEVE AZAR TO OPEN ADDITIONAL DATES FOR BOB SEGER

One month apparently just wasn’t enough, so now Steve Azar will open four additional shows for rocker Bob Seger. Azar toured with Seger and the rocker’s Silver Bullet Band in November and has now been booked to open four sold-out shows near Seger’s hometown of Detroit. The shows, December 20th, 22nd, 28th and 30th, will be at the Palace of Auburn Hills, MI. Azar received rave reviews for his previous opening performances, with the “Milwaukee Journal” saying, quote, “Opening act Steve Azar is a country cat who might seem like an unlikely warm-up for Seger on several levels…On stage, however, he proved to be a whole lot closer to Bruce Springsteen than George Jones, winning over the Bradley Center crowd with high energy rockers like ‘The Underdog’ and ‘Goin' to Beat the Devil.’"

Seger, who recorded his new album “Face the Promise” in Nashville, has other connections to the city. He recorded a duet with Kid Rock on the Vince Gill song, “Real Mean Bottle,” for the disc. Word is he may release the track as a country single next summer. Seger brought in one of his favorite singers, Patty Loveless, for vocals on “The Answer is in the Question,” which is also on the new project. Plus Eric Church is opening dates for the rocker through mid-December with shows in Minneapolis; Kansas City, MO; Nashville; Louisville, KY and Cleveland. Church says, quote, “When I think about Bob Seger, I think ‘rock star.’ For me, he’s in that category – the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Bob Seger.”

QUICK BITES

Alan Jackson has a fan who’s not worried about the long arm of the law when it comes to taking home a souvenir. Someone took four highway signs near Newnan, GA, from the stretch of the interstate named for native son Jackson. Two signs on Interstate 85 were reported missing Tuesday and two more were reported missing on Thursday. A spokesman for the Georgia Department of Transportation said the missing signs are considered an act of vandalism and will be replaced as soon as possible

John Anderson will make his debut tomorrow night with the famous MuzikMafia at Nashville's Mercy Lounge. Joining Anderson on stage will be Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich, the ‘grandfathers’ of the MuzikMafia organization. John Rich of Big & Rich produced Anderson's upcoming album, “Easy Money.” Rich says they are gearing up for a jam session for the ages because quote, "We want to welcome John into the MuzikMafia family with a big bang!"

Vince Gill is supporting the Country Music Hall of Fame by auctioning off tickets and an exclusive meet-and-greet to his show in Las Vegas in December. To bid, http://stores.ebay.com/Universal-Music-Store. Proceeds from the auction benefit the Hall of Fame’s “All for the Hall” campaign.

Justin Timberlake is the man behind the plan for the new Johnny Cash video "God's Gonna Cut You Down." Producer Rick Rubin says, quote, "We [he and Timberlake] were in the studio and we took a break to listen to the new Johnny Cash album [‘American V: A Hundred Highways’] which had not been released at that point. When we got to that song, Justin said, 'Stop!'" Rubin tells MTV that Timberlake then laid out a plan for the video featuring an array of musicians dressed in Cash's signature black.

Gigtours is offering fans the adventure of getting to go on tour with their favorite entertainer in a luxury entertainer coach complete with road manager, tour itinerary, and driver. Winners can travel with artists including Travis Tritt, Montgomery Gentry, Hank Williams Jr, Loretta Lynn, or Gretchen Wilson. A recent winner chose to spend time on the road with Tritt and got to meet the singer in Nashville when he performed on the Grand Ole Opry. Overall, the prize is valued at over 46-thousand-dollars.