Thank You Notes

.. to Florida Georgia Line, Dustin Lynch, Thompson Square and Brad Paisley, for standing up for country radio's place in their success on CBS This Morning.  You know that even more country superstars will do more of the same thing on the ACM Awards and we are endlessly in their debt for taking time to do it!

... to Arbitron and Edison Research for working together for the 21st time on their "Infinite Dial" studies, which not only give us a great help in future planning but also provides broadcast radio with credible, objective reinforcement in non-radio press venues of our compelling story, like this "Among Weekly Users, Online Radio Consumption Trounces Online Video."

It's nice to have friends like you and we never take your kindness and support for granted.

The Tennessean And The New Yorker

It's always terrific when country music's brightest stars pop up in places where you'd never expect to see 'em. Brad Paisley obviously gets The New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh (Profiles, “Man of Many Hats,” The New Yorker, August 2, 2010) seal of approval.

Paisley is thirty-seven years old and one of country music’s biggest stars; starting in 2006, he sent ten singles in a row to the top of the charts, something that hadn’t been done since the eighties. Onstage, he is never without a white cowboy hat, which has to be perfect. And, because he gives at least one hat away during every show, he requires a constant supply of perfect hats.

Kudos, Brad, on a terrific interview! (and, pretty fair cartoon captions too!)

PS: Last Saturday evening Paisley performed in Fairlea, WV as part of the PGA Tour’s Greenbrier Classic. The rains came but didn’t quench the crowd’s enthusiasm or Paisley’s. Mother Nature must be a fan of his "H2O" theme too. Paisley’s Water World Tour continues this week with three dates in Texas – Hidalgo, Houston and Dallas.

Neil Haislop: Brad, Miranda And Justin Rock LA

Friday night the second leg of Brad Paisley's American Saturday Night Tour filled up and sold out L.A.'s monster Staple's Center, Paisley received the Super Star treatment he's long since earned.

As he's been doing on this tour, Brad skips the big sound and light show, bang up, whip-em-into-a-frenzy opening that brings most big stars on stage. Instead, he appears in the darkened house, runs down the ramp to the center of the arena, picks up an acoustic guitar and starts the show alone. The crowd couldn't have been any more wildly enthusiastic if he'd kicked off the show any other way. That's because these true Paisley fans knew the singing, picking and solid, record-setting string of consecutive #1 hits this special, totally original performer was about to gift them. They were not disappointed.

One of the reasons Brad can jump into the action that way is because he's always been smart about who he invites to opening his shows, from Jack Ingram, Taylor Swift, Jimmy Wayne, Dierks Bently and Friday night's opener, fast rising star, Justin Moore, who passed on the growing energy to country's kick-butt diva-in-waiting Miranda Lambert.

Justin came on stage like he belonged there, and his well-received contemporary cowboy repertoire proved that he did. He's doing himself a lot of good on this sold out Paisley tour.

Miranda with her rockin', attitude-charged, Dolly-style, independence and irresistible country charm was...irresistible!.. as she was welcomed as the big star that she is...made so by her completely unique, self-penned repertoire, and high-energy, cool chick songs that appeal to chicks and Chucks alike.

If the American Saturday Night tour is coming your way and it's not already sold-out, run, don't walk, to your computer or ticket window and make sure you see it.

The pranks have begun on Brad’s tour as Moore was the first to be messed with this week. Apparently, Haislop reports, one of Brad’s crew guys came on stage during Justin’s set in Fresno wearing nothing but a big diaper, in recognition of Justin’s new baby girl, Ella Kole, who was born last week. In response, Justin decided to take that same diaper and wear it on stage during the encore song “Alcohol”.

Justin kept his clothes on under the diaper though. Clearly the major punches have yet to be thrown out on the road. We’re certain there’s more craziness from the tour to come!

Brad's Blog: Previews Of "American Saturday Night"

Brad Paisley will be kicking off his AMERICAN SATURDAY NIGHT TOUR with Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne as special guests on the Tour – and it will launch this Friday, June 5 in Charlotte, NC.

“There's something special about a Saturday. That is, you didn't have to work...you don't have to work the next day...you're getting over whatever happened at work or whatever happened in your week...and hopefully you're taking a little break from reality. And any time we fire up this show -- whether it's a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday -- it's going to be officially Saturday night when we start. And it's not 'not Saturday night' until you leave,” Paisley promises.

American Saturday Night tour dates (Previously unannounced dates are listed):

June 5 - Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
June 6 - Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Pavilion at Walnut Creek
June 12 - Boston, MA Comcast Center
June 13 - Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre
June 14 - Gilford, NH Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion
June 18 - St. Louis, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
June 19 - Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
June 26 - Oshkosh, WI Country USA * **
June 27 - Cadott, WI Chippewa Valley Country Festival * **
July 10 - Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
July 11 - Fort Loramie, OH Country Concert at Hickory Hills Lake *
July 18 - Sarnia, ON Bayfest * **
July 24 - Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 25 - Bristow, VA Nissan Pavilion
July 26 - Harrington, DE Delaware State Fair
August 7 - Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
August 8 - Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
August 14 - Darien Lakes, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
August 15 - Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
August 27 - Meadville, PA Crawford County Fairgrounds
August 28 - Cleveland, OH Blossom Music Center
August 29 - Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Pavilion
August 30 - Essex Junction, VT Champlain Valley Exposition
September 2 - Halifax, NS Metro Centre
September 3 - Saint John, QC Harbour Station
September 5 - Allentown, PA Allentown Fair Grandstand
September 11 - Houston, TX Woodlands Pavilion
September 12 - Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center
September 17 - Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion
September 18 - Denver, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
September 19 - Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
September 24 - Bakersfield, CA Rabobank Arena
September 25 - San Francisco, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
September 26 - Sacramento, CA Sleep Train Pavilion
October 1 - Phoenix, AZ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
October 2 - San Diego, CA Cricket Amphitheatre
October 3 - Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
October 15 - Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Arena
October 16 - Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre
October 17 - West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre
October 21 - New York, NY Madison Square Garden
October 22 - Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
October 23 - State College, PA Bryce Jordan Center
October 24 - Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun

*Jimmy Wayne will not be appearing on these shows
** Dierks Bentley will not be appearing on these shows

Neil Haislop's Nashville IQ©

THE PAISLEY PARTY TOUR SELLS OUT, FIRST WEEK CRITICAL PRAISE

The Paisley Party was partying hard again this week as Brad launched the final leg of his tour that began to raves last year. The shows in Memphis, Little Rock, Pensacola and near capacity in New Orleans raved to with more rave reviews. Dierks Bentley and Darius Rucker are guests on the tour.

“Wit, showmanship, emotion, crazy great guitar pyrotechnics – if there was something Brad Paisley’s show lacked at Alltel Arena on Friday night it was hard to figure out.” Werner Trieschmann – Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

“And the tight band should be stressed, but most impressive among them was Paisley himself, a blistering guitarist who could stand toe to toe with just about any rock guitar god you can name.” Julio Diaz – Pensacola News Journal

2009 The Paisley Party tour dates:

1-22 Austin, TX Frank Irwin Center
1-23 Bossier City, LA CenturyTel Center
1-24 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
1-25 Lubbock, TX United Spirit Arena
1-29 Dayton, OH Nutter Center
1-30 Moline, IL iWireless Center
1-31 Omaha, NE Qwest Center
2-12 London, ONT John Labatt Centre
2-13 Hamilton, ONT Copps Coliseum
2-14 Ottawa, ONT Scotiabank Place
2-17 Winnipeg, MAN MTS Centre
2-18 Regina, SK Brandt Centre
2-19 Saskatoon, SK Credit Union Centre
2-20 Edmonton, ALB Rexall Place
2-21 Calgary, ONT Penngrowth Saddledome
2-24 Vancouver, BC General Motors Place
2-26 Spokane, WA Spokane Arena
2-27 Portland, OR Rose Garden
2-28 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
3-1 Yakima, WA Yakima Valley Sundome
3-14 Nashville, TN Sommet Center

KENNY CHESNEY BOOKS STADIUMS A DOZEN AT A TIME

Kenny Chesney's Corona Extra sponsored Sun City Carnival - which features Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum on all shows - expands to include Sugarland and Montgomery Gentry for the all day shows, which will happen in 12 cities overall. With initial cities being announced, the stadium dates will be in Dallas, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Illinois, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, San Francisco, California, Seattle, Washington, Salt Lake City, Utah, Foxboro, Massachusetts, Detroit, Michigan and Indianapolis, Indiana.

“Some cities - like Boston, where we've been four times - really want us to come back in that big way… and you know, I like changing things up, so some markets we're gonna play smaller venues and come back big… and a couple markets we're gonna throw the all-day party for the first time. But it's gonna be a really intense day of music, especially with the acts we've got this year! You take Miranda, who did some dates with us last year and really rocked out crowd, and Lady Antebellum and you add in Sugarland and Montgomery Gentry - and you've got a full day of some great songs, people who know how to engage a crowd and really have the kind of fun doing it I want to know our fans have when they come out to see us.”

JO DEE MESSINA BECOMES A MOTHER

Monday Jo Dee Messina and husband, Chris Deffenbaugh, welcomed their first child, Noah Roger Deffenbaugh. Their baby boy weighed in at six lbs, 15 oz. The couple married in October, 2007.

Meanwhile, Jo Dee is readying her sixth studio album entitled Unmistakable for Curb Records and will begin a solo tour in April. Deffenbaugh owns and operates Deffenblaster Enterprises, which builds custom road cases. Also a wood worker, he built a stunning crib and changing table for baby Noah.

JIMMY WAYNE COMES TO AID OF RESORT STAFF IN CHICAGO (ST. CHARLES)

Country star Jimmy Wayne sprung into action Saturday morning after below-zero temperatures in St. Charles, IL, caused overhead pipes to suddenly burst, flooding the lobby of Pheasant Run Resort where Wayne was scheduled to perform later that night at Mega Winterfest.

Multitudes of guests and concertgoers were checking into the resort before the show when the overhead pipes in the lobby suddenly burst, spewing black-tinged water across the room and flooding the lobby ankle-deep. Wayne, who was chatting at the front desk, helped the resort staff remove tables, couches, chairs and rugs from the contaminated area and into an adjacent room as fans gathered, taking photos with their cell phones. Wayne continued to help, evacuating guests from the lobby, as firefighters arrived. Fans posed for pictures with Jimmy and the firefighters after the ordeal was over.

Neil Haislop: "Paisley Party Tour" Off To Rousing Start

The Nashville Answerman says:

"We don't know if Brad Paisley's tour had any rust to shake off during its first 3 shows last week, but it was a smooth-running, kickass fun machine by the time it made its fourth stop of the year at Irvine, California's Verizon Amphitheater Saturday night, featuring three strong opening acts, Julianne Hough, Chuck Wicks and Jewel."

Paisley's 2007 tour was hands down one of the top live shows of the year with high entertainment value (that featured Taylor Swift, Jack Ingram, Kellie Pickler, and some of the best hi-tech big screen visuals out there last year. At ACM Nominations press conference during CRS, Brad told us that he'd worked on making his show bigger and better in terms of visual content and musicality...and that he did.

It's such a unique experience that, if you saw last year's show, you need to see it again this year just to see how much cooler the experience is visually...and how just how his it-don't-get-any-better-than-this band and musical experience, is better than ever.

Highlights: Always the main highlight of the Paisley portion of the show is Brad's magnificent picking and his growing list of unique hit songs, all supported by just about the tightest bunch of pickers out there. "Party" was the right name for this experience.

Brad likes to show off how good his guys are by bringing them out the ramps with him for kick ass guitar pulls and guitar and fiddle jams eventually letting them all show-off from steel-to-drums on numbers that brought fans to their feet to hoot and holler even louder.

VIDEO -Paisley and company are so at the forefront of developing, high tech computer visuals (Paisley's self made animated bits have made quantum leaps technically and sheer fun), and synchronizing recorded video performances with live live music, he should title next year's show the "Paisley iTour Party." Wait till you see the 70 ft wide (estimate) panoramic HD computer screen (that replaces the multiple screens of last year) running recorded and live visuals, including singers in perfect sync (like Direks Bentley on "Celebrity," and Alison Krauss on "Whiskey Lullabye." A lot of clever stuff is going on as the band members physically interact with the screen. And, yet it remains one of the best country music experiences you'll have this year.

PAISLEY PARTY OPENERS all do themselves good on this tour. Julienne Hough has put together a very country set and worked all three of the big ramps. The show was about her and country music not the famous Dancing withe the Stars Champ she is.

Although, for Julianne it was family night with her mother, sister and brother Derek all attending the show. She, invited Derek, who she once sang with in a group back in England, to sing a number with her.

CHUCK WICKS SHOWED THAT HE WAS more than just a "pretty face" as Brad jokingly referred to him. He turned in a cool, brief set that turned the women in the crowd that were already in their seats.

LEADING INTO BRAD'S SHOW, JEWEL showed that she is doing what she hoped, that her previous fans would follow her into country, and that country fans would except what she's doing as she received multiple standing O's during her set. A couple of those were inspired by some her truly unique, and powerful vocalizations.

Watch for a Brad Paisley on Tour Special Feature coming soon at www.countryforever.com.