Keepin' it Country Media & Radio » James Otto

James Otto to play at Billy Dean’s Birthday Bash

Lydia Picknell — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 02:11:14 +0000

Country music star James Otto will be on hand to celebrate a pretty special birthday for a fellow artist. He’s been asked by Billy Dean to perform at his annual Birthday Bash held on the Dean Acres. The best part? The event is open to fans who purchase tickets in advance! Billy’s Birthday Bash will be held on April 27th at 5 pm just outside Nashville in Liberty, Tennessee.

To celebrate his 51st birthday, Billy will once again open the Dean Acres to country fans. It’s become an annual event since 2011, which has sold-out every year since. Dean Acres recently went under renovations with their 100-year old barn for a stage that can fit up to 200 fans.

Ticket holders will be treated to a special Brunch with the Dean family the morning after the party back on the farm. You can’t get more country than that. Tickets are on-sale now at deanacres.com.

What’s the most unique event you’ve ever been to for a country concert?

Keepin’ It Country Presents…JAMES OTTO!

Jennifer Swirsky — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 03:57:45 +0000

No folks, your eyes did not deceive you! We are bringing you THE Grammy nominated, CMA and ACM award winning, James Otto!

Otto hails from the great Northwest, which hasn’t turned out a huge number of country stars, though it hasn’t been for lack of local interest. “Country music is actually really big up there. I know when people think of Washington state they think of Seattle, but the side of WA that I’m from, which is the high plains/desert side, is all straight-up agricultural.” Not that he isn’t equally proud of being a Nashvillian, which you might guess from his ability to pinpoint the date he made the move (“thirteen years ago, August 4”).

Otto was one of the cofounders of Nashville’s genre-bending Muzik Mafia, whose weekly club shows in the early and mid-‘00s were the springboard to stardom for pals like Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson. “I had been one of the original founding members of Muzik Mafia, from the very first show, and that was where I started thinking I might still get a shot at making music the way I wanted to make it,” he says. “It was very influential in my musical thinking, allowing me to be much more adventurous musically than any record label was going to let me be.” Anyone who attended those historic shows knew about Otto’s full range of influences. The most popular song in his set in those early days was perhaps the most R&B-inflected thing he’s ever written — “Good Thing’s Gone Bad,” which Otto never put on an album until now.

James has released three albums: Days of Our Lives, which was released on Mercury Records back in 2004; Sunset Man in 2008 released on Warner; and Shake What God Gave Ya in 2010. James also had a hand in writing Country Song of the Year, “In Color” (Jamey Johnson), and the multi-platinum selling country hit, “No Hurry” (Zac Brown Band). And, now, James is back at it, ready to bring the fans NEW MUSIC!

That’s right — James will be debuting BRAND NEW MUSIC on the Keepin’ It Country Presents StageIt Stage! James will be joining our team on March 14th at 9:00 p.m. EST/8:00 p.m. CST, and would love for you to be there to hear his new music first!

Make sure to join us for James’ show and shake what God gave ya by getting your tickets to KEEPIN’ IT COUNTRY PRESENTS…JAMES OTTO now by clicking here:

http://www.stageit.com/keepin_it_country_presents/james_otto/20921

2012 City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge Roster

Jennifer Swirsky — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:02:56 +0000

The 22nd Annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 9, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee, and the first several players on the roster have been announced! Suiting up for the cause are: Carrie Underwood, Scotty McCreery, Brantley Gilbert, Lauren Alaina, David Nail, James Otto, Robin Meade, Scott Hamilton, Chuck Wicks, Whitney Duncan, Bucky Covington, Sarah Darling, Billy Gilman, Kristen Kelly and Two Foot Fred. The AfterMidnite and Grand Ole Opry players rosters will be updated as more players commit to the event.

The City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge has raised almost $2 million dollars since its inception. The cause benefits City of Hope as it strives to find cures and more effective treatment for cancer and other diseases. Tickets to the game are on sale now at Ticketmaster. Come out and watch some of your favorite artists battle it out on the field in support of those battling for their lives!

EXCLUSIVE: Interview With James Otto

Lydia Picknell — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:49:17 +0000

James Otto has been one pretty busy guy the last two years. He took some time out of the spotlight to raise his new daughter Ava Katherine Otto. He’ll be back in a big way in 2012, which is already starting off big for the singer-songwriter: his friends in the Zac Brown Band are releasing one of his co-writes as their new single.

We spoke to James over the phone last week about his plans for the year, on sharing war stories about raising kids with Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, touring with Reba, his latest songwriting sessions, and how recording for his brand new album is going. Don’t worry James fans: he’ll be heading out to a city near you this summer!

Read our exclusive interview with James below and let us know if you’re planning on catching him on one of his tour dates this year.

One of the songs you wrote with Zac Brown is their new single “No Hurry”. That must be pretty exciting for you.

Unbelievably excited about it, it’s an incredible thing for sure. It’s a blessing for my family and I’m just truly proud to have this one out.

Is there a special story behind writing it?

There is, actually. It was the first time I’ve ever written with Wyatt Durrette, who is Zac Brown’s main co-writer. I think he’s been on every single Zac’s written and I think they were room mates in college. I can’t 100 per cent verify that but I think that’s it.

Wyatt came to my father-in-law’s apartment one day, which I was staying at the time. We sat down to write and brought in this idea which was the first verse for “No Hurry.” I loved it. He was like, ‘man, do you wanna write that? I just got this thing started.’

I thought it was great. We sat for the afternoon and sat and talked about all of it, and what all of it means. We thought we had a really great song and brought it to Zac to see what Zac thought. I was like, ‘I love that man, that would be killer to let Zac see it.’ Zac looked at it and re-wrote a lot of what we had done to suit what he wanted to say. The idea was all pretty much the same, but he said it the way he wanted to say it. You know, that’s what a collaboration is. That’s what I really love about co-writing. Everybody has similar experiences but we all want to say it our own way. I’m really, truly proud to be a part of that album and Zac is one of those artists that I really, truly do admire. It’s a cool thing.

You’re back in the studio working on some new music, right? How’s that going so far?

Oh man it’s going really well. I’m so excited about the music I’m working on right now. I’m feeling extremely creative, and with something like this – to have a single coming out – gives you a real boost of energy and confidence. It really helps songwriting wise and believing in what you’re doing. That’s what we’ve been doing; plowing along and writing songs for this record. We’re getting it finished up and I’ve been spending a lot of time here at the house which has been fantastic. I’m working on getting my studio together and writing and recording. I think this is going to pay big dividends on this next record.

You joined Steel Magnolia to fill in on Reba’s tour last year. What was it like working with Reba and how did that opportunity come around?

Oh man, working with Reba is an incredible thing. She’s one of country music’s true greats; a living legend. She’s one of the coolest, most down-to-earth people period. I’ve met a lot of folks out there, a lot of famous people, and I can honestly say not one of them was more down-to-earth than Reba is. She was kind to everybody on the tour. She was also incredible every night and performed amazingly every night. She’s a true professional.

The way it worked out was Josh, from Steel Magnolia, Megan’s partner and fiance at the time, went into rehab and they wanted to continue the tour. I wasn’t super busy and her manager and Scott Borchetta came and asked me if I would go out on the tour and sing a couple of my songs then a couple with Meg. I said that I’d love to and that she was a friend of mine. She has an amazing voice and is a great young talent. It was a great fit and a lot of fun. I spent almost eight weeks out on the road with them and had a blast.

You just got a new tattoo for your daughter. How is she doing?

You know, these last two years; she’s seventeen months now; I’ve spent a lot of time at home. That was by design and I wanted to have that time to bond, to be there with my daughter. I’m never going to regret having spent this time with her – to see her first steps. To get to spend some real time with her when she’s young, really impressionable, and growing. To help my wife when she needs it because it’s a hard time. It’s been real good to have spent these last years at home and be Dad and get that experience. I’ll never regret it.

Your fans are pretty excited that you’ll be heading out on a tour this summer. Are there still more dates coming?

Oh yeah. There’s going to be a lot more dates coming in. We’re still kind of putting a few things together. I’m not doing a whole lot this spring, I’m working on this record and writing songs. In fact, I have a writing session here in 30 minutes. You know, right now the most important thing to me is to get this record done and write songs, and get the right songs put together for the record. This summer get ready to roll and hit the road and go play some country music for the world.

And you’ve done a lot of shows in the past for troops overseas. Is it something you’d love to do again in the future?

Yeah, it’s a great experience to be able to give back to those men and women that sacrifice so much for us here. They are us. When you talk about the military they’re men and women just like all of us, except they’ve chosen to sacrifice on our behalf to go do the jobs that others won’t do. I think it’s an amazing thing and to be going and playing for them is a heartening feeling. My Dad was military, my Grandfather was military, and I joined the service when I was 19. I can definitely identify with what they’re going through and they’re always very thankful to enjoy what we do. I don’t think anybody enjoys it as much as I do to get to go over there and do these things. I definitely plan on doing as many USO tours and playing for those men and women as I can.

I saw on Twitter last week that you wrote a ballad with Trent Tomlinson.

I did! I wrote a new ballad with Trent the other day that I’m really excited about, I think it’s a really good song. It’s the first time that we ever sat down together to write. You never know if somebody’s writing style will suit how you write songs, but I was pleasantly surprised when we sat down to write a song within 15 minutes of him being in the house. We knocked one out in about an hour and a half, and it was really good and powerful. He’s a fantastic songwriter.

Is it for your album?

I don’t know yet if it will end up on my record or if it will go to somebody else, or his, or what. At this point it’s definitely in the stack of songs that I’m looking at for myself so we’ll have to see!

Do you have a guess when you’re album might be out at all or is it too early?

It’s too early to say. Hopefully in the next year or so.

You’ve been one of the most active artists on Stage It.

I think it’s an opportunity when I’m not out on the road for my fans to come and see what I’ve been doing. It’s also really cool for me because I do a lot of new songs on Stage It. I’ll do a lot of old songs too and fans can request whatever they want. What I like about Stage It is that they can ask you questions and you can interact and have a dialogue with your fans. Like I was saying, I play a lot of new songs on Stage It and I get to see how my fans like my songs and my writing. It helps me see which songs are shining and which ones don’t necessarily move the dial that much. It’s an invaluable tool for me to get to give my fans exactly what they want. That’s exactly what I want to do – to make music that I love that they love too. It’s a really great symbiotic relationship in that way with Stage It.

You do a lot of songwriting, but is there one song out right now that you wish you wrote?

There’s a lot of songs out there right now that I wish I had written. This last year I think my favorite song was “The House That Built Me” by Miranda Lambert. It was just an amazing, great song and Miranda did a great job of covering it. It was an amazing piece of work and I think that’s just one of those songs that everybody wish they had written and been a part of.

There’s songs every year that I wish I had my name on. Luckily, here and there, my name gets on something that gets heard by the public and I’m really proud of that.

This last one is from a fan on Twitter. You’re going to be an uncle again, and have you and Jay [DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts] been giving each other tips on raising your daughters?

No, I think we just exchange war stories. Diaper stories and surviving crying babies. We don’t really exchange that kind of stuff, but we definitely tell stories and joke about stuff like that.

James Otto Celebrates Release Of Zac Brown Band Single

Lydia Picknell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:47:41 +0000

James Otto is pretty excited about another artist’s single this week. Zac Brown Band will be releasing “No Hurry,” a song James co-wrote with Zac Brown and Wyatt Durrette. It’s the fifth single off the ACM/CMA and GRAMMY-nomined album “You Get What You Give.”

“When I got the call, my wife and I stopped what we were doing and started dancing around the kitchen of our house, we were so excited.”

The slow-down-and-smell-the-roses themed song is special to James, who recently welcomed the birth of his daughter Ava Katherine.

“When she came along, I realized it was time to slow down and focus on what really mattered to me in this life — and that was being there for those unrepeatable moments of her first steps, words and discoveries…and I’m still in ‘no hurry’ to let those little moments go.”

James, who always puts family first, is planning to return to touring in 2012 to promote his new music and album “Shake What God Gave Ya.” Right now, however, he’s still celebrating the release of his song with the Zac Brown Band.

“There’s nothing like the feeling of knowing one of the most successful bands in country music right now is going to release your song,” he said. “I’m simply blown away, and utterly humbled.”

Danielle Peck and Friends Online Charity Auction (Ends 12/22)

Ted Efron — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:51:10 +0000

In this season of giving, Danielle Peck and some of her fellow country music stars are doing their part to help the homeless. Last month, Peck held her 4th Annual “Danielle Peck and Friends Concert” which supports the Nashville-based Safe Haven Family Shelter. She’s now following it up with an online auction featuring an awesome assortment of autographs, guitars and other collectables.

Learn about the auction, register and bid by clicking here.

We’re making this posting with a little bit more than a day to go before the auction ends (8pm Central Time on 12/22). That still leaves you with plenty of time to get your bids in. For example, at the time of this writing, there is a Kenny Chesney package featuring items from his 2009 Sun City Carnival tour (including two t-shirts and an autographed picture) that had a high bid of only $9! Now that would make a fine (and cheap) Christmas gift!

Other artists with items in the auction include: Loretta Lynn, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Kellie Pickler, James Otto, Travis Tritt, Jerrod Niemann, Jamie O’Neal, Bo Bice, Josh Gracin, Clint Black, Heidi Newfield, Rodney Atkins, Toby Keith, Joe Nichols, and Keith Anderson.

Along with the country music items, the auction also offers many sports-related items.

Again, this online auction is to support homeless families as they receive the necessary tools to return into a home of their own with stable employment and secured housing. Safe Haven Family Shelter is the only shelter-to-housing program of its kind in Middle Tennessee that accepts the entire homeless family.

James Otto Spends Halloween With His Little Lamb

Lydia Picknell — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:38:08 +0000

Here’s one of the cuter pictures from Halloween this year. James Otto, home from spending the weekend filling in for Josh in Steel Magnolia, turned Halloween into a family affair. His daughter Ava, who turned one this past August, and her parents dressed up in her favorite nursery rhyme “Mary Had A Little Lamb” for Halloween. James took Ava on a hayride around their neighborhood to celebrate the evening before going trick-or-treating in Nashville.

From left to right in the picture is Amy Otto as Mary, Ava Otto as the Little Lamb, James Otto as a farmer, and their dog Izzy Otto as the Farmer’s Dog. How cute is this picture?

VIDEO: Reba & Tour Acts – Rolling In The Deep

Lydia Picknell — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:15:05 +0000

Adele has one of the catchiest songs of the year, and it’s found it’s way into country music. Reba McEntire brought out all her opening acts on her “All The Woman I Am Tour” to perform a group number of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep.” Watch Reba, The Band Perry, Eden’s Edge, James Otto and Steel Magnolia perform a country version of the rock/pop single:

James Otto Filling In For Steel Magnolia’s Josh

Lydia Picknell — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:50:21 +0000

Looks like Steel Magnolia’s Meghan Linsey won’t have to worry about being a solo act for much longer. James Otto has stepped up to the plate and will fill in for her duo partner, Joshua Scott Jones, while he spends time in rehab from alcohol and substance abuse treatment. James Otto tells GACtv.com that he was excited to be able to join Meghan on select dates of Reba McEntire’s “All The Woman I Am” tour:

“When I got the call from Meg, I thought it was a great idea,” he said. “I thought our voices would blend really well. I know that our musical tastes are very similar and we’re coming from the same place. Man, who wouldn’t want to be out on tour with Reba McEntire? That was one of those things that’s a no-brainer.”

James will perform with Meghan at the October 27th tour stop in Sioux City, Iowa and again at the October 28th concert in St. Louis.

James Otto Wants To Honor Your Heroes

Lydia Picknell — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:28:35 +0000

While the tenth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks may be over, James Otto wants to make sure that the sacrifices of the day won’t be forgotten. He’s inviting fans to honor their heroes with him for the entire month of September. He’s asking his fans to post personal stories about people they consider to be their heroes. He’s already had over 200 entries on his website, ranging from first responders to nurses who have positively changed lives.

James released a personal statement on his website about the effort:

“For several months since my USO Tour in April, I’ve been thinking about what we can do as a community to show our gratitude to our military and civil personnel who sacrifice their lives for us every day… therefore my vision is for this [website] to be a place for your heroes to be publicly honored and shown proper gratitude for their self-sacrifice. Thanks in advance to everyone who takes part – can’t wait to read your stories.”

To help honor the heroes and their stories, James has promised to select a winner from each city he plays in to give them tickets to his show for sharing their story with him. This will happen throughout the month of September, and winners will be selected randomly. He’ll personally dedicate his new song “Solders & Jesus” to the individual and their hero on-stage.

“I know it’s not much,” he said. “But I feel it’s the least I can do to show my sincere thanks to those who make the ultimate sacrifice, in memory of the Sept. 11th victims.”

To submit your story about your hero, head over to James Otto’s official website: jamesotto.net.