New York, NY (CMA Awards) - To celebrate the 2005 CMA Awards in New York City, some of Nashville's finest songwriters will be performing at Joe's Pub during "Country Takes NYC," a week of activities leading up to "The 39th Annual CMA Awards."
"The incredibly talented writers who are part of these shows have had numerous, chart-topping hits and contributed on a wide scale to the success and popularity of the format," said CMA Executive
Director Ed Benson.
"As a member of the CMA Board, I view the songwriting community as my constituency and I wanted to make sure that songwriters had a voice in the upcoming CMA events in New York City," said songwriter/CMA Board member Bob DiPiero. "I brought the idea up to the Board and it was unanimously agreed to move ahead with an event to showcase Nashville's songwriters. The Joe's Pub series of shows grew out of that desire. Board members Pat Higdon, Brett James and Aimee Mayo provided a lot of positive energy and great ideas to help move the Joe's Pub series forward."
The CMA Songwriter Series will take place over three nights at Joe's Pub (Wednesday, Nov. 9, and Saturday and Sunday Nov. 12-13).
Each night will feature four to five successful songwriters from Nashville in the style of the Bluebird Café - Nashville's famous songwriters' Mecca. Each night, the songwriters will line up on the stage with guitar-in-hand and take turns telling the stories behind their hits and then performing the song (often with added harmony from the other songwriters). In addition to the songwriters, there will be special guest performances from Country artists who will be dropping by to sing a song or two. DiPiero will act as the host each night.
Country songs in New York City go back to 1922 when fiddler Eck Robertson and Civil War veteran Henry Gilliland recorded "Sallie Gooden," which is considered the first Country single, pre-dating the famed Bristol recordings of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers by more than four years. The first million-selling Country record ("The Wreck of the Old '97" and "The Prisoner's Song") was recorded by Vernon Dalhart in NYC in 1924. And Patsy Montana's "I Wanna Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart" was recorded in New York City in 1935 and went on to be the first smash hit, by a female solo Country artist.
"Music Row 2005 is not so different from New York's Brill Building and Tin Pan Alley of generations past," DiPiero said. "Hit songs will be performed and sung at Joe's Pub by writers of those songs, much like Carole King, Neil Diamond, Irving Berlin and Doc Pomus did in years past."
Songwriters scheduled to appear include:
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 6:30-8:30pm
Radney Foster ("Raining on Sunday," "A Real Fine Place to Start")
Rivers Rutherford "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You," "When the Lights Go Down")
Mike Reid ("Everywhere," "I Can't Make You Love Me")
Hilary Lindsey "This One's for the Girls," "Blessed") Saturday, Nov. 12, 6:30-8:30pm
Brett James ("When the Sun Goes Down," "Who I Am")
Matraca Berg ("Wrong Side Of Memphis," "Strawberry Wine")
Chris Lindsey ("Amazed," "Let's Make Love")
Aimme Mayo ("Amazed," "Let's Make Love")
Jessi Alexander ("Honeysuckle Sweet")
Sunday, Nov. 13, 6:30-8:30pm
Bob DiPiero ("Blue Clear Sky," "Take Me As I Am")
Jeffery Steele ("Gone," "These Days")
Tim Nichols ("Live Like You Were Dying," "Girls Lie Too")
Craig Wiseman "Live Like You Were Dying," "The Good Stuff")
"Everyone jumped at the chance [to participate in the showcases]," DiPiero said. "The Nashville songwriters' bench is so deep that the main trouble was not having enough time and space to showcase other exceptional talent. New York City will be seeing the very best of the best, make no mistake about that."
