Eddy Arnold 1918-2008

Wow, a sad day for country music fans for sure. In fact, for all music. An icon of music died, just short of turning 90 years old. eddy Arnold will be deeply missed by the country music community, I know I will for sure.

Eddy Arnold holds the most charted singles of any artist. Thats an amazing accomplishment in itself. Eddy Arnold became one of the most popular country performers of our time. He spent more weeks at the top of the charts than any other artist. Arnold not only had 28 number one singles, he had more charting singles than any other artist. Notice, the "any other artist," not just country or anything like that.

In 1966, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 167 he was the first Entertainer of the Year named by the CMA. The ACM gave him the Pioneer Award in 1984 and in 1987, he was awarded the Songwriters Guild's President's Award. However, one of the most incredible accomplishments would be his record sales. He has sold over 85 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of the 20th century. His 100th album was released in 2005 by RCA Records. No, thats not a typo, 100 albums in a career. Pretty amazing...

It surely saddens me to hear the news of his death, however, what a better day than to listen to some of his music and think back on all the wonderful memories his music has given us.

For more information on Eddy Arnold:

Allmusic.com

http://www.eddyarnold.com/

CMT.com's Comments

Dierks Bentley is a Bud Light "Real Man of Genius"

You gotta love the "Real Man of Genius" commericals Bud Light runs on radio. I don't know about you, but when I hear that now famous tune playing, I turn it up a listen. They are just plain funny and well, a genius advertising tool for Bud Light.

Country music fans may want to listen a little closer starting this month. Dierks Bentley is featured in one of these commericals.

You can listen to it at this link:
http://www.thegreenroompr.com/dierksbentley.html

For the second year, Bud Light is sponsoring Dierks Bentley's tour, and is only the 3rd music tour they have sponsored. The other two were Tim McGraw and George Strait.

Dierks Bentley's "Greatest Hits: Every Mile a Memory" CD was released today that includes two brand new songs and five live songs selected exclusively by his fans for a total of 17 tracks. Dierks has given his fans creative control of this project, allowing them to handpick the content of the album, cover art, and the album title. How awesome is that, I don't think any other style of music would come up with this way of putting a greatest hits CD together.

Toby Keith CD Giveaway!

Remember, you have until noon tomorrow, May 6th to get in your e-mail to have your chance to win Toby Keith's new 2 CD set "35 Biggest Hits"

I have one (1) copy of Toby Keith's "35 Biggest Hits" to give away to 1 lucky blog reader in the United States. This will be posted here only, and not on the website. Send an e-mail to contest@countrymusicalive.com with your name and city/state by 12:00pm EST Tuesday May 6th and you will be entered. One entry per person, per e-mail address.

Toby Keith "35 Biggest Hits" (Win a Copy!)

Fan of Toby Keith? Well, May 6th you are in for a real treat. Toby Keith's "35 Biggest Hits" makes its way to store shelves. This is a 2 CD set that has 35 tracks, one of those being is current single "She's A Hottie." The other 34 takes you through Keith's career of hits chronologically.

One of the most interesting things is that from the first track you get a chance to listen to one of country music's talents evolve. For the positive or negative, country music has changed so very much since 1993 when Toby Keith's first #1 hit, Should've Been A Cowboy." Keith is one of the few artists that have been able to keep up with those changes and keep his music contemporary with the trends, yet at the same time stick his own personal style.

If you are fairly new to country music, this is an album for you, no doubt. It is the best way to get caught up on Toby Keith's music without buying his entire collection of albums. The album cover includes a listing of each track and what album it appeared on. If you hear a couple songs that you like from the same album, I highly suggest you pick up that one and dig deeper into that particular album. Greatest Hits packages setup this way are excellent for this type of further exploration of an artist. I always l tell people that the "hit" from the album isn't always the best song on an album.

If you have been a fan of Toby Keith from the beginning, this album is for you as well. First, you get one new song, "She's A Hottie," plus you also get a 2 CD set that has all those hits you dig through your collection to hear in one place.

It isn't often that we get such a complete package of greatest hits. I compare it to Alan Jackson's first greatest hits package, and I have a feeling like Jackson, Keith will have a second greatest hits package one day as well.

I have one (1) copy of Toby Keith's "35 Biggest Hits" to give away to 1 lucky blog reader in the United States. This will be posted here only, and not on the website. Send an e-mail to contest@countrymusicalive.com with your name and city/state by 12:00pm Tuesday May 6th and you will be entered. One entry per person, per e-mail address.

Win A Trip to the CMA Music Festival!

Its getting close to the country music fan's favorite week of the year, the CMA Music Festival.... This year it is June 5-8, 2008. 4 days, 30 hours of autograph signings, 100 hours of live music, 400 Country Music artists and celebrities come together with thousands of country music fans to create one of the most special musical experiences you will ever have.

If you are a country music fan, and haven't experienced the CMA Music Festival... well, all I gotta say is you are missing out. 4 nights of all your favorite country music artists performing in one venue, plus concerts all day long. Also, the convention center is open with a lot of artists signing autographs, a family fun zone, and other special events ongoing throughout the City of Nashville all for country music fans

Country Music Alive has a special opportunity to give the readers of my blog and visitors to the website a chance to win a trip for two with airfare from anywhere in the continental US to Nashville and two four day passes to the CMA Music Festival including concert tickets to the Stadium show each night. Plus, 5 Runners-up each get a CMA Music Festival Hoodie & T-shirt.

Now, dont wait to enter... click the banner below to enter now, the contest deadline is 5:00pm CST May 12,2008 and you can enter once a day.

Tim McGraw Spicy Jalapeno Fritos!

Dwight Yoakum has is Bakersfield Biscuits, George Jones has his sausage, and other country stars have their own branded foods, but only one country artist can say they have a flavor of Fritos. Yep, thats right country music fans...Tim McGraw's Spicy Jalapeno Fritos should be stocked in your Wal-Mart store.

In addition, a DVD of McGraw's backstage footage from his upcoming tour will be sold at Wal-Mart in September. Tim McGraw will also appear in TV and print ads for Fritos as the "official snack" of McGraw's new tour which begins on May 9 in Tampa, Fla.

After you get snacked out on his Fritos, wait til August and you will also be able to find a cologne called "McGraw by Tim MCGraw" in stores as well.

Colgone, Fritos, gesh, whats next.... Gotta love the so many ways to support your favorite artist. I'll have more on this topic soon.

If you have first hand accounts of how the Fritos taste, I'd love you to leave a comment.

Sharing Country Music Excitement

What really excites you about country music? Think about it for a moment. Is it a concert? Particular artist? A certain sound/type of country? Award shows? CMA Music Fest?

Country music is so special to so many of us, but so many fans don't seem to express their love to the music. There plenty of fans that do, but many don't, or refer to it in the since of an insider type conversation when it is talked about. Think about it, if you talk about a song, artist, or anything related to country music, when someone asks about the artist, its referred to as a "country singer" or something that refers the person to think if you aren't into country, you won't understand. Next time you are in this type of situation, think about it and refer to your conversation that may get the person involved and not as some secret society or niche interest.

Keep this in mind even more when mentioning something that excites you. Get the passion in your voice and dive on in talking about, you will be amazed how quickly a friend, co-worker, or anyone else asking will want to learn more. You could easily make a country music fan and not even know it. I know I have doing just that.

People ask me all the time what excites me about country. I dig into so many thoughts to them; the history, the artists that excite me to hear new music from, the Grand Ole Opry, the real-to-life lyrical connection, and more. After a (good) concert, there is nothing like sharing pictures and thoughts about the performances.

Its really cool to talk to people that share common interests, but try talking to someone that doesn't know much about country music and giving them a little spark to get them to look a little more into country music is awesome.

Don't forget to love and share your love of country, its always good to be reminded of this at times.

Want to share something that excites you about country with fellow fans? Jump on over to the Country Music Alive Message Board and post about it, I'd love to hear from you all!
Link: http://board.countrymusicalive.com