Playlist

Well, it's actually one note, but Pearl Heart is all about three-part harmony. Anyway, the female trio delivered a sweet rendition of Restless Heart's poignant "I'll Still Be Loving You." That song remains one of the most beautiful country-pop ballads of the last 20 years. How wonderful to hear it again sung by members of today's young generation.

Photo: Pearl Heart (Courtesy of nbc.com).

Don't mean to sound like a cheerleader, folks, but Arlington's Melissa Lawson is by far the most talented singer-performer on Nashville Star. She was relaxed, zesty and hitting all the right notes during her rendition of Martina McBride's "This One's For the Girls." For her take on Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," she was warm and real. There's something authentic about her that translates very well on television. She's a country singer deep down inside, where it counts most. Big honorable mention goes to Lytle, Texas' Gabe Garcia, who showed rocking power and range during Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive" and then did his honky-tonking best on George Strait's "The Fireman." Alyson Gilbert, who had the least amount of viewer votes, was eliminated. Next week should be fierce as the competition continues with just eight finalists.

Photo: Melissa Lawson (Courtesy of nbc.com).

Hey, y'all! Take a peek at our New Music Tuesday disc debuts before they hit the paper tomorrow. We've got Big Blue Ball by various artists, Los Lonely Boys, Earlimart and Shinedown.

Sugar Hill Records, the respected imprint for bluegrass and old-time roots music, continues its Americana Masters Series with the releases of Ricky Skaggs: Best of the Sugar Hill Years and Doc Watson: Best of the Sugar Hill Years, both in stores July 8. Each CD features radio hits, fan favorites and frequent concert tracks.

Photo: Ricky Skaggs (Mark Humphrey).

Patti LaBelle, Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx -- better known as electrifying R&B trio Labelle in the '70s -- are back together again and ready to record as well as perform onstage. The always innovative and explosive group will take the Essence Music Festival platform Saturday, July 5, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Also, Labelle's first studio album in 33 years will be released Sept. 23 on Verve Records. Producing are Lenny Kravitz and the legendary team of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. Gamble and Huff worked with Labelle during the making of Laura Nyro's 1971 album, Gonna Take a Miracle, which features the trio adding their vocals to the respected singer-songwriter's tunes. Miss Patti also collaborated with Gamble and Huff during her solo tenure at Philadelphia International Records in the early '80s.

Photo: The cover of 1974's Nightbirds, Labelle's most successful album (Courtesy of amazon.com)

From Associated Press:

Tom T. Hall and the Statler Brothers were formally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame with a musical tribute.

Spokeswoman Tina Wright says the two-hour ceremony was held Sunday at the hall.

This year's two other inductees - Emmylou Harris and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman - were formally inducted in April.

Read more.

Mike Modano, Willa Ford and Mark Cuban were among the crowd in a full house at Palladium Ballroom tonight. It was the VIP party-portion of the Reebok Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game, a fundraiser for the Heroes Foundation (Saturday in Frisco). Tonight's party included a concert by Geffen recording artists Lifehouse.

Charlie McKinney, 46, of Dallas, started the Heroes Foundation seven years ago to raise money to enable inner-city youth, and kids at risk, to participate in sports and educational programs. The foundation has raised about $3 million over the years.

Aside from the $1,000 per couple ticket price to tonight's shindig, a silent auction was underway with phenomenal pickings, such as a jersey from the 1980 olympic champion hockey team, an autographed Sex and the City movie poster, a collection of seven U.S. president-autographed baseballs, a Muhammad Ali autographed boxing glove, a custom painted Bruce Springsteen acoustic guitar with an autographed poster and many other collectible items.

Photo: Dancer-singer Willa Ford (left) and her husband Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars (right). (Nancy Moore)

Erykah Badu lands on the cover of August issue of Veg News. Inside, she says she's been a vegetarian for 20 years and a vegan for two, but sympathizes with those who can't afford anything but fast food: "You almost have to have a record deal to shop at Whole Foods!"

San Angelo's Los Lonely Boys lead the pack of new CDs in stores Tuesday with Forgiven, the three brothers' third studio album. Also on tap is a live album from John Mayer, Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles, Vanessa Hudgens' Identified, Alkaline Trio's Agony & Irony, My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade Is Dead, Relient K's The Bird and the Bee Sides, and a new studio disc by Night Ranger, Hole In the Sun.

Photo courtesy of amazon.com.

Speaking of Miley Cyrus, she just can't stop talking about her controversial Vanity Fair photos shot by high-profile celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. During Ms. Cyrus' recent Q&A with Billboard magazine, the subject once again rears its provocatively made-up head.

"I was embarrassed... but also it's like, every career thing that I do can't be perfect, and sometimes my decisions are wrong," says the Hannah Montana star. "I think that just makes me even more relatable. I don't think people will look at me any differently because they're like,'You know what, I'm going to do stupid stuff too, and I'm going to make mistakes, and that's fine.' It still hurts when I think about it."

The article also has Ms. Cyrus waxing about her upcoming "grown-up" CD, Breakout, acting in movies, being a role model and the Disney-Hannah Montana mania.

Photo: Miley Cyrus (Matt Sayles).

Just an innocent observation from my gloriously twisted musical mind:

Britney Spears' comeback album was titled Blackout. Miley Cyrus' upcoming "I'm growing up now" album (due out July 22) is titled Breakout. Coincidence? I theorize not ... after all, both became brunettes for their respective transformations ... hehe.

(Photo: Bill Kostroun, AP)

American Idol finalist Blake Lewis joins the growing pack of winners or runner-ups from the popular TV competition show to lose their recording contracts, it was announced Wednesday. Mr. Lewis' debut disc, Audio Day Dream, failed commercially and critically. So he's now in the same camp as Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Ruben Studdard, Diana DeGarmo, Justin Guarini and Bo Bice. So of the Top 2 idols from the first six seasons only five remain signed to a major label. They are: Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks.

Any thoughts on who you think might be next in danger of losing their recording contract?

Photo: Blake Lewis (Courtesy of Arista Records).

Wow....first he stops fansites from using his image, then he yanks his videos from YouTube and now this.

According to Rolling Stone, the Purple One and his legal posse are suing a Norweigan record company for releasing a 5-CD cover album of his songs.

"Shockadelica, an 81-track album featuring all Norwegian artists, already released its run of 5,000 copies when the label, C + C Records, sent a copy to Prince as a goodwill gesture. Instead, Prince's legal team swiftly requested that Shockadelica be pulled and all copies destroyed. All artists involved with the album weren't paid for their contribution, and Shockadelica is, for the moment, still available online.

To exacerbate matters, one band called Frost has made their cover of "Sex Shooter" available as a free download on their website.

Insert incredulous side-eye here The whole thing seems quite hypocritical of Prince, as the Coachella audience can attest Minneapolis' favorite son has no problem with borrowing other people's songs."

I would post a pic of Prince to go with my post, but I don't want to incur his wrath either. Good Luck, C + C.

Alabama lead singer Randy Owen will pen his memoirs with scribe Allen Rucker. Born Country chronicles Mr. Owen's life from poverty and share cropping in northeast Alabama to forming Wild Country, the group that would later become the long-running, influential Alabama. Without a doubt, Alabama is the most successful, most enduring country group in the genre's history. Born Country will be in stores Nov. 11, the same day that One On One, Mr. Owen's solo debut CD, hits the shelves.

Photo: Randy Owen (Courtesy of allmusic.com)

The inaugural "Barefoot at the Belmont" series ends tonight with Bob Schneider. That show's been sold out for ages, but if you want to get a taste of the scenic outdoor Belmont setting, here's video from a few weeks ago of Fastball doing an acoustic version of their hit "The Way." Now if only Miles Zuniga would move his tush, you'd see the Dallas skyline a tad better.

Well look at this. According to a news blip by The Associated Press, country superstar Tim McGraw doesn't seem to need any help in ejecting an overzealous fan. Read on:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- If Tim McGraw isn't looking for trouble, it must've been looking for him.
Fan video shot Tuesday in Auburn, Wash., shows the country singer help eject an unruly fan.
McGraw shouts "Get rid of this guy," summons security and helps arriving crew members haul him onstage. When the heavyset fan moves toward McGraw, the singer threatens him with a cocked fist as he's hauled away.
The band's performance of "Indian Outlaw" never stopped. And as if on cue, McGraw steps to the mic and picks up with the line "I ain't lookin' for trouble ... ."
A statement from McGraw's representative says he witnessed the man rush up and attack a female, and he intervened when security couldn't respond quickly enough.

Photo: Tim McGraw (Evan Agostini)

Jewel, Jessica Simpson, Bon Jovi ... Mario takes a look at pop and rock artists who are making the leap to country or who have dabbled with the switch in the past, and I'm interested about what you think. Is it diluting the value of good country music, or is it opening it up to more audiences? Also, tell us of any pop/rock-to-country cases we didn't mention. Here's one to start off: Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish has a country single, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" and has a self-titled album for Capitol coming out this year.

• Also online: Jessica Simpson winning over country music listeners

So the publicist for Sony Legacy, the reissue arm of Sony Music Entertainment, sent a super-hyped press release trumping the reissue of the late Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue. The two-CD set gathers the Beach Boys founder's solo debut, Pacific Ocean Blue, as well as tracks from Bambu, the second solo effort that was never finished. Here's how the release begins:

# 4 ROCK RELEASE ON AMAZON.COM DAY OF RELEASE!
# 8 DEBUT ON BILLBOARD'S CATALOG CHART!
# 2 BEST SELLER AT AMEOBA RECORDS IN LOS ANGELES!
# 16 DEBUT ON THE UK ALBUM CHART!

I admit I need to listen to my copy of Pacific Ocean Blue. So has anybody heard it? Is it that special?

Photo courtesy of pacificoceanblue.net.

That Ol Possum George Jones did a little summer cleaning on his musical playhouse and uncovered 12 duet performances never released before. Most of them were originally recorded for either 1991's Friends in High Places or 1994's The Bradley Barn Sessions. So come Aug. 19, Nashville's Bandit Records will issue Burn Your Playhouse Down: The Unreleased Duets. Included in the disc are: "Rockin' Years" with Dolly Parton, "Selfishness In Man" with Vince Gill, "When the Grass Grows Over Me" with Mark Chesnutt, "I Always Get It Right With You" with Shelby Lynne, "Lovin' You, Lovin' Me" with ex-wife, the late Tammy Wynette, and "You and Me and Time" with daughter Georgette Jones, among others. These recordings span from the mid 1970s to 2007.

Photo: George Jones at Bass Performance Hall (Louis DeLuca/DMN)

After 31 years, Poor David's Pub has gone smoke-free. In an email to the music club's customers, owner David Card said it's "time to read the tea leaves of the city council mutterings'' - a reference to the plans of some council members -- including mayor Tom Leppert -- to ban smoking in all Dallas bars and taverns. Nicotine addicts can still light up on Poor David's patio.

From the Associated Press:

"Viva La Vida" will debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week, the second-best opening week of 2008, according to the trade magazine's Web site. Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" was the top album debut of the year after it sold a spectacular 1 million copies earlier this month.

Read more.

Read Thor Christensen's CD review.

Did you go? Tell us how it went and your favorite part.

Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss and Little Big Town take on songs by Disney films Dumbo, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and CARS on Country Sings Disney, a 15-song CD to be released July 8 on Nashville's Lyric Street Records. Also on the disc are: Phil Stacey singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," Bucky Covington interpreting "You'll Be In My Heart" and Trisha Yearwood crooning "Blue Beyond."

Photo courtesy of Lyric Street Records.

"Hotter than blazes and all the long faces" isn't just a Tom Waits lyric: It's an apt description of his show Monday at a sweltering Palladium Ballroom. Why so little A/C? Staffers told angry concert-goers the singer insisted on it, although his spokesperson Tresa Redburn couldn't confirm that. "I can't get a straight answer from Tom's camp," she said Tuesday. Scott Strong of AEG Live wasn't sure who was to blame for the heat, but said Mr. Waits' management OK'd the lack of seats (all other shows on the tour had seats). Ms. Redburn blamed the standing-only situation on miscommunica