Fans are also asked to take part in Willie’s 80th birthday celebrations by visiting birthday.willienelson.com/ and submitting a video talking about why you’re a fan of the country legend. The birthday submissions are being put together by Farm Aid,who is gathering up good wishes for Willie Nelson from America’s family farmers, and artists. They’ll round up your funniest, most heartwarming testimonials to make a video for Willie on his big day on April 30, 2013.

One of the artists helping to celebrate with a video message is Kenny Chesney. Check out his special birthday message for the icon:

Related posts:

1. Willie Nelson – Behind The Scenes
2. Willie Nelson’s Exclusive Performance & Interview With Yahoo! Ram Country
3. Bamajam Adds Willie Nelson & Uncle Kracker To Lineup

Make sure you vote in our other Grammy polls as well, and check back later to see the results!

The Grammys air on Sunday night at 8 p.m. EST. on CBS. Good luck to all the nominees! We’ll be watching.

Related posts:

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3. POLL: Grammy Best Country Solo Performance

The tour was scheduled to kick off on October 20th, with several stops in cities from California to Georgia. Willie and Jamey were to be joined by several different acts throughout the tour. No other information on reason for cancellation has been provided at this time. Were you planning on attending?

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2. Willie Nelson’s Tour Bus Up For Auction
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Artists appearing on the record include Asleep At The Wheel, Bobby Bare, Hank Cochran, Elvis Costello, Ronnie Dunn, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Leon Russel, George Strait, and Lee Ann Womack.

Jamey will shortly be revealing plans for a brand new tour.

Check out the full track listing below:

rack listing:

1. “Make the World Go Away” – Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss
2. “I Fall to Pieces” – Jamey Johnson and Merle Haggard
3. “A Way to Survive” – Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill and Leon Russell
4. “Don’t Touch Me” – Jamey Johnson and Emmylou Harris
5. “You Wouldn’t Know Love” – Jamey Johnson and Ray Price
6. “I Don’t Do Windows” – Jamey Johnson and Asleep at the Wheel
7. “She’ll Be Back” – Jamey Johnson and Elvis Costello
8. “Would These Arms Be in Your Way” – Jamey Johnson
9. “The Eagle” – Jamey Johnson and George Strait
10. “A-11” – Jamey Johnson and Ronnie Dunn
11. “I’d Fight the World” – Jamey Johnson and Bobby Bare
12. “Don’t You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me” – Jamey Johnson and Willie Nelson
13. “This Ain’t My First Rodeo” – Jamey Johnson and Lee Ann Womack
14. “Love Makes a Fool of Us All” – Jamey Johnson and Kris Kristofferson
15. “Everything But You” – Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson and Leon Russell
16. “Living for a Song” – Jamey Johnson, Hank Cochran, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson

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1. Jamey Johnson Playing Ryman
2. Willie Nelson – Behind The Scenes
3. Hank Williams, Jr.’s New Album Set For Release on July 10th

The record will be released on vinyl, CD’s, and digitally. The vinyl release will be a limited edition and is available for pre-orders right now. Fans who pre-order the record will receive an instant digital download of “Don’t You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me,” which is a duet between Jamey and Willie Nelson.

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2. Hank Williams Jr. Announces “Take Back America Tour”
3. Hank Jr Walks Out On Jason Aldean Mid-Taping

Regardless, this Virginia native knows his way around the entertainment industry. Although he might be most known for heading the rock band Godhead, Jason has travelled many paths throughout his life. His impressive resume includes writing, producing, voiceover recording and acting. If that wasn’t enough, Jason is busy overseeing his own recording studio, Central Command Studios.

We caught up with Jason today to talk about the release of his new single “Up To Me,” his recent signing with Render Records, how he feels about the music industry and what he has to offer.

We can promise you that this man has a mind and heart evident in both his thoughts and music that any country music fan could appreciate and love. Take a look for yourself:

Your single “Up To Me” was released to country radio today. Tell us about that song and what it means to you.
I wrote it with my friend Joe Doyle who is a pretty awesome songwriter. He’s had a 25+ year career as a professional songwriter. He’s had songs for Kenny Rogers, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw and everybody in between – even Alabama. One of the keys to his success as a country songwriter is that he doesn’t listen to the radio or pay attention to trends. He just loves to write. I really admire that about him because as a country artist and as a country writer, I’m always listening to the radio. Sometimes I get really frustrated, but it also may influence my approach to songs. Sometimes that can be a dangerous way to approach the way you’re going to write a new song (based on a song that’s on the radio right now).

We were talking about the subject of what we wanted to write about. This is actually the first song we ever wrote together. We realized there are hundreds, if not thousands, of songs about a bar. But we couldn’t recall any song that was actually taken from the perspective of the bar and the bar that you lean on and order your drinks from. What if we brought life to that bar and personified this thing? Anybody that has ever been to a bar has leaned on, has ordered a drink from, has spilled a drink on or has met someone at a bar. A lot of these things that happen in our lives happen while leaning on a bar – at least most adults. We decided to take that perspective and just go with it. I hope that people get it, enjoy it and like it because the challenge as a songwriter, especially in a genre like country music, is that there are certain subjects that are almost expected of you as a country writer. But it’s about finding how to stay within the parameters of what a true country song is and still give it a unique perspective and a unique way of presenting maybe a story we’ve heard before, but telling it in a new way. I hope that we did that.

How has living in Hollywood affected you as a singer, especially a country music singer?
It’s really interesting. I have to go to Nashville to find anybody that likes the kind of music that I do (laughs). Although, if you scratch the surface, you’ll find people that really like country music. As far as fans go, the largest country radio station in America is actually in Los Angeles. But as far as country artists and writers go, they’re harder to find. In a way, its kind of nice because that makes it a much smaller community and a much more manageable community. We all kind of know each other. But at the same time, most of the writers out here are obsessed with pop music and that’s the big business in music in Los Angeles. So it’s a challenge finding people that are really familiar with country music to write with and to collaborate with. People that aren’t familiar with the genre don’t realize how detailed it really is. Unless you have either really grown up in it or really studied it for a long time, you wouldn’t know that there are so many subtle nuances to all of the sub-genres of country music. It’s really refreshing when you do run across somebody that knows what you’re talking about and knows what they’re talking about because it’s just a lot harder to find here.

You’ve opened for artists like Toby Keith, Gary Allan and Eric Church. Who would you like to tour with in the future?
Jamey Johnson is my musical hero, so I would absolutely love to tour with him. On a larger scale, somebody like George Strait would be amazing. Have you heard of Blackberry Smoke out of Atlanta? They’re on Zac Brown‘s label. The thing I love about them is they have a really infused southern rock element within their country sound. I would love to tour with them. Those are just the ones off the top of my head. There are so many. The great thing about country music is that I love how so many artists that are pretty widely varied but still fit under that umbrella of country all sort of tour together. I would love to open for Merle Haggard. He’s still touring and he’s one of my all-time favourites.

You signed with Render Records last month. How excited are you about that?
I’m really excited. With living in Hollywood, I’ve probably made at least fourteen trips to Nashville in the last two years. I was a shock to a lot of the major labels in Nashville. Almost universally, I got the same message back that was “he’s too extreme for Nashville.” I don’t believe that because I think that there is a huge disconnect between “the powers that be” and the fans. The reason that I feel like I’ve proven that that’s true is I’ve opened for Toby Keith, Eric Church, Justin Moore and Gary Allan. I co-write with Toby Keith’s bass player and music director. I co-write with Eric Church’s guitar player. What I’ve discovered is that when I opened for these artists, their fans embraced me from note one. They were in to it right away. I think that the same fan that listens to Toby Keith also listens to The Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd or even Disturbed or Linkin Park. I think that especially now in the age where you can listen to anything in a second if you want to, everyone’s musical tastes are widening.

I feel that there is definitely a place for me in country music. So it’s a big justification to me to sign with a Nashville label that gets me, understands me, and will let me be who I want to be and won’t try to water me down or try to change me to fit into this small little mold. I think that the fans are sick of that. I think that they’re hearing way too many things that sound the same and I want to break that mold and expand people’s horizons that already are expanded – just the “powers that be” don’t know it yet.

You co-wrote or wrote every track on Uncountry, your first full-length solo debut. How important is it for you to have a stake in writing your songs?
I think it’s pretty important for me. Coming from my rock career and coming from a band, I think it’s important because it puts your personal stamp and your personal signature on it. When I do cover songs, I try to put my own spin on them. My new album is going to be called Natural Born Killer. That is coming out in July. I do one cover on there, but all the rest are either solo-writes or co-writes. I just think that if you’ve been a writer for as long as I have – cause I guess I’ve been a professional writer for almost twenty years – you want to have that personal signature on there. So for me, it’s important. But then again, if I hear a song that just blows me away, I’ll want to record it as well and put my own stamp on it.

You own your own recording studio. Do you have any stories about recording sessions in the studio that you could share?
Most of them I try to put out of my head – all of the embarrassing ones (laughs). One of the cool things about owning the recording studio is coming up with interesting sounds. If my friends and I find something that we think is percussive and can make a cool sound, like a piece of steel or a box, we’ll take it into the live room and record it just to have our own samples of our own types of percussive instruments. That’s a lot of fun – finding new sounds and sampling that and adding it to recordings. With the stuff I’m doing now, I try to make it as organic as possible. I don’t want to have any kind of programming in there. It’s the opposite approach of what I’ve done in my spare time, which is create sounds from any kind of object. But any object has it’s own pitch so it’s fun to experiment with that.

What kind of experience do you hope to give your fans when they come out to see you play?
I want to give the kind of experience that they don’t forget. I want to play material that’s going to move them in some way. That’s really the key. I often get told that I don’t have enough party songs. But that’s not really my personality. I mean, of course I like to have a good time. It’s not that I take myself too seriously, because I really don’t. I’m a jokester just like everybody else. But I feel like the music that I’m trying to portray – I want it to have a bit of weight to it. I’m not going to sing about real party-party stuff. I want to make people think with my music. I want them to enjoy that part of it as well. I think with the live show, besides having a kick-ass band and everything else, I want to play songs that people remember and songs that will affect them in a positive way. Even if it’s not about going to the party, at least it’s something that will make people feel good.

I think that my problem with the party songs in general and me performing the party songs (which I don’t really do) is that I feel like you shouldn’t have to sing about having a good time – the music should just make you have a good time. The music could be about anything. I feel like there are too many songs about songs or too many songs about music. You don’t need to sing about music – you just need to play the music and play what has inspired you to write it. It doesn’t need to be about itself. I’ve seen that trend a lot and I’d like to break that trend. There are too many songs that are about themselves.

What has been your most memorable or rewarding experience during your career in the music industry?
There are a couple of things. The first time that my picture was in Rolling Stone Magazine with my band – that was a really awesome moment. That was something that I could show my dad. If your picture is in Rolling Stone, that kind of validates it to your parents. Another one was when I got my first gold record for being on the Queen of the Damned movie soundtrack with my name on it and able to get two more for my parents. Whether you know anything about music or not, everyone knows the term “gold record.” To be able to actually have two – I was also on The Punisher soundtrack – and be able to get both of those for my parents was pretty rewarding for me.

Is there anything in particular you would like our readers to know about you?
I’m pretty opinionated, but I don’t want to offend anyone. I’m not trying to say that there’s not a place for the party song. I’m just trying to say that there’s not really a place for me within that. But I think that any fan of music is going to appreciate different styles and different subjects within the music that they listen to. I don’t know anybody that just wants to listen to party songs all day. I think that music is something that drives us all and puts us in different moods. I want to be able to set the mood for different things. But at the same time, if I have a song that reminds somebody of a bad time but then helps them heal or get through that, to me that is more important and can have a more lasting impression on somebody and can be a more rewarding experience for me when that happens.

——

Connect with Jason:

Official Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

Check out Jason’s music video for his brand new single “Up To Me,” released to radio TODAY:

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1. Jason Charles Miller Signs With Render Records
2. Only 8 Dates Left For Jason Charles Miller’s “Uncountry” Tour…Get Your Tickets Now!
3. REVIEW: Jason Charles Miller – Uncountry

Hank Williams Jr. has been pretty quiet in the months following his controversial comments about President Obama that got his “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” removed from ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”  But fans should be hearing plenty about it on his tour.  We’re told he’ll be playing new material that was written within weeks of his 2011 controversial remarks.

Along with the new material, he’ll also be playing fan favorites.  With 20 gold albums, six platinum albums, 13 chart-topping albums, and ten #1 singles, how could he not?  “A Country Boy Can Survive,” “Dixie on My Mind,” and the already mentioned “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” are expected to be on the playlist.

Speaking of rowdy friends, Bocephus has some big ones joining him on the road.  Jamey Johnson, Chris Young, Josh Thompson, George Thorogood and 38 Special to will join him on select dates.  We have the current tour dates listed below:

3/03/12 – St. Augustine, FL – The St. Augustine Amphitheatre

3/04/12 – Plant City, FL – Florida Strawberry Festival

4/06/12 – Biloxi, MS – Mississippi Coast Coliseum (w/ 38 Special)

4/07/12 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Tuscaloosa Amphitheatre (w/ 38 Special)

4/13/12 – Duluth, GA – The Arena at Gwinnett Center (w/ 38 Special and Jamey Johnson)

4/14/12 – Charleston, WV – Charleston Civic Center Coliseum (w/ 38 Special and Jamey Johnson)

4/27/12 – Southaven, MS – Landers Center (w/ Josh Thompson and Jamey Johnson)

5/11/12 – Evansville, IN – Ford Center (w/ 38 Special and Jamey Johnson)

5/12/12 – Dayton, OH – Nutter Center (w/ 38 Special and Jamey Johnson)

5/18/12 – Bossier City, LA – Centurylink Center (w/ 38 Special and Jamey Johnson)

5/19/12 – Wichita, KS – INTRUST Bank Arena (w/ Jamey Johnson)

7/27/12 – Cheyenne, WY – Cheyenne Frontier Days (w/ Chris Young)

8/04/12 – Davenport, IA – Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds

8/16/12 – Louisville, KY – Kentucky State Fair, Freedom Hall (w/ George Thorogood)

8/17/12 – Des Moines, IA – Iowa State Fair, Grandstand (w/ George Thorogood)

8/18/12 – Sedalia, MO – Missouri State Fairground (w/ George Thorogood)

Ticket information, on-sale dates, and fan club promotions will be available at www.hankjr.com.

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The album marks his debut for Blaster Records and is being backed by some of country’s biggest names.  It’s produced  by CMA’s reigning Male and Female Vocalist of the Year, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert (who had McCoy perform at their wedding), and renowned guitar-slinger, Brent Rowan.  Shelton and Lambert even contributed background vocals for the album’s lead single, “A-OK.”

“Neal is not only a friend of mine, but my hero,” commented Blake Shelton about working with McCoy on XII. “Our first priority with this album was that Neal only cut songs that he truly loved and was excited about.  That was very important to us.”  Miranda Lambert added, “It was a blast seeing Neal and Blake together…had the place laughing all the time. I think fans will hear three different artists coming together on this album with their individual takes on the music.”

Fans will also be hearing the writing styles of many well-known artists who were all eager to be part of McCoy’s XII.  Tom Douglas, Rivers Rutherford, Jamey Johnson, Allen Shamblin, Rhett Akins, and newcomers Luke Laird, Brett Eldredge, Geroge Terren and Barry Dean all made contributions.

“It’s like my shows, a little bit of everything that makes music special,” said McCoy. “XII has a little bit of church, a little bit of bar-room, a couple ballads that’ll encourage, and a real Texas thing about finding your groove in the midst of heartbreak with a cold beer and a good jukebox.” Blake and Miranda had definite ideas about what this should be – you almost couldn’t hold ‘em back.”

Here’s the track listing for XII (fittingly there are 12 of them!):

1.  A-OK

2.  Real Good Feel Good

3.  Judge A Man By The Woman

4.  Mouth

5.  Shotgun Rider

6.  That’s You

7.  Crazy Women

8.  Lucky Enough

9.  Every Fire

10.  That’s Just How She Gets

11.  Borderline Crazy

12.  Van Gogh

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3. Neal McCoy Releasing New Single Digitally Tomorrow

The tour is the latest part of the party celebrating Travis’ milestone.  In June, Warner Bros. Records released of the Anniversary Celebration album.  The 17-track album features guest artists who teamed with Travis to cover his classic tracks and some original offerings.   The guest singers include Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Kris Kristofferson, Carrie Underwood, George Jones, Zac Brown Band, Lorrie Morgan, Jamey Johnson and many more.

Travis has had 18 #1 singles and 29 top-10 hits.  His lifetime sales are more than 20 million, making him one of country music’s biggest sellers of all time.  His honors include seven Grammy Awards, 10 Academy of Country Music statuettes, 10 American Music Awards, two People’s Choice awards, seven Music City News awards, eight Dove Awards and five Country Music Association honors.

You’d think that after 25 years in the business, there wouldn’t be anything new for Travis to experience.  Not true.  What you’re about to read is from a first for him:  His first interview session via conference call!  It may have been foreign territory for Travis, but he sounded relaxed as he talked about the upcoming tour, changes in the making of music and if he’s finally embracing technology:

On if the tour is something they had to plan as part of the 25^th Anniversary celebration:

With the exception of maybe three-quarters of one year, I’ve been on tour for the last 25 years.  It’s just another year of doing the same.  I’ve had people ask me about retiring and my answer to that is, “What would I do if I retire?” (Laughs)  I think most people in country music, maybe all music, I think we start touring and we keep doing that until we die! (Laughs)

Comparing the emotions he felt heading into his first tour 25 years ago and the one he’s now about to start:

Well, I wanted to be in this business and I wanted to be a writer and a singer.  I had been turned down by every label in Nashville for just a little over ten years.  So when I finally got signed, things started happening to such a degree I was kinda shocked, to be honest with you.  I’m sure I had that deer in the headlights look quite often.

It was kinda hard to keep up with it at that point.  I few years had to go by before being able to look at it and see exactly everything that had been going on.  I look at it now, as compared to then…I’m always and always have been grateful to be in this business.  But at 25 years I’m probably even more thankful than I’ve ever been to have been able to make a living in this business, doing something that I love this much, I’m probably more grateful now than ever.

I’m still shocked at the fact that I can continue doing this at his far into it and have an audience to play for as we go out and tour and still be able to record.  I’m just extremely grateful – probably more so than ever.

On if he enjoys playing shows in Canada (where this tour might have up to 10 stops): 

Years ago the first trip up through Canada, the guy at Warner Bros. in Nashville said, “You probably won’t get quite the response from an audience in Canada that you might get in the United States.  After the first night it was like, “Boy!  Y’all missed that a long ways!” (Laughs)  We had to do, I believe, it was two encores the first time!  We’ve been treated like we’re at home, basically, and I appreciate that.

With so many special guests appearing on the Anniversary album, will any them be making appearances on the Anniversary tour:

Nah!  After the recording was over, they all told me to leave them alone! (Laughs)  There are dates throughout the year when we are, for instance…Like last year we worked some on some dates with Josh Turner, then a couple of times with Carrie Underwood.

So throughout this year it would be the same.  There’s a date here and there with Josh and others.  I don’t have my itinerary with me.  But it won’t be a nightly thing that’s happening.

On whether it’s tough putting together a set list for his shows with so many great songs in his catalog:

Definitely. I think that for anybody who’s been in recording for any number of years, you come to that point and you realize that you can’t do them all.  I try to keep those songs that were the biggest hits that I think people naturally expect to hear – like On The Other Hand, like 1982, like Forever and Ever, Amen, and no doubt Three Wooden Crosses.  I try to stick with what would be a “greatest hits” package, I guess would be a good way to put that.

On if he gets the chance to out and visit and experience the towns he plays in:

Obviously in certain areas you’re going to go out and look.  For instance, I don’t know why this comes to mind, but when we were out in South Dakota for the first time, you want to go out and see the Black Hills and you want to see Mount Rushmore.

Yeah, you just go out.  Sometimes, to be honest with you, I’m just going out to go shopping for something I want to put on the bus.  So I’m pretty much out every day and every place that we play.  And, yeah, get a flavor for the folks when we’re there.  Sometimes they don’t recognize you, sometimes they do.  But I always make it a point to get out pretty much daily.

On how the recording songs has changed in the last 25 years:

It’s a different world now, there’s no doubt.  Recoding, to begin with, you had to walk in the studio and sing the song.  There was no tuning; there was no shifting anything around.  You basically walked in and sang the song and that was your record.

Now we’re sitting in the place where you can tune and move it around.  All of that’s pretty amazing to me.  I know nothing about doing it, but when I watch an engineer in the studio do these kinds of things, it’s like, “Are you kidding me?  You just moved that vocal, those two words, from that spot in the track to the next spot?  Or you can tune one string on a guitar when you’re hearing eight, ten other instruments and six strings on that guitar.  So, yeah, it’s changed a lot.

It used to be this simple:  We’d make a record, promotions staff calls radio, “This is your single; play this.”  They play it, you have a hit and go out on tour.  Now if you don’t get airplay on radio you all the Internet things and ways of advertising and selling.  It’s changed so much.  At times I feel quite lost.

On whether he’s finally starting to embrace a bit of technology:

Yes and no. (Laughs)  I was 50 years old before I owned my first cell phone.   I jokingly say to Jeff Davis that my cell phone holds a battery charge longer than any phone I have ever seen!  (Laughs)

I won’t say “embraced” it, but I have come to use it a little more.  As far as the Internet, no.  I still have not sent anything out on a computer or a laptop.  And, to be honest with you, I still have not sent a text on phone.  So I’m still fighting it as much as I can!  (Laughs)

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