It’s been another great year in country music…and as we get ready for 2009, we’re looking back at some of the highlights of 2008.
IN JANUARY…
• Brad Paisley hit number-one with his song, “Letter to Me,” from his 5th Gear CD. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Pat Green released his book, Dance Halls & Dreamers, sharing stories and personal recollections about the clubs he’s played in his home state of Texas. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Martina McBride kicked off the 2008 leg of her Waking Up Laughing tour. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Chuck Wicks released his debut CD, Starting Now, featuring the hit songs, “Stealing Cinderella” and “All I Ever Wanted.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
• Carrie Underwood kicked off her Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride tour with Keith Urban. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
008 HIGHLIGHTS: January" width="16" height="14" /> Pat Green talks about his book, Dance Halls & Dreamers. (:26)
“This book is really kind of a day in the life of a dance hall. We’ve got…I mean everybody from the guy who wipes the counters down, to the musicians — not just the singers, but the guys playing steel guitar — to the bartenders, to the owners to…everybody. We try to just give you a little glimpse of what it’s like in one of these places that I’m sure everbody from the big cities would just think is a fire hazard! (laughs)”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: January" width="16" height="14" /> Martina McBride talks about headlining her own tour. (:32)
“It’s amazing! I still pinch myself. To be headlining a tour and to be able to plan it and just to have that experience is amazing…and also to still be doing it! I still feel like it’s growing and it’s still exciting — my career is still exciting. I love looking out there and seeing my fans and people singing along and all that excitement and I think, ‘Wow, people are doing that coming to my show!’ It just makes me want to work harder. It makes me want to go out there and give them the very best show that I possibly can.”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: January" width="16" height="14" /> Brad Paisley talks about his number-one song, “Letter to Me.” (:39)
“This song is one of my proudest songwriting moments, because I’ve never written a song and then cried. And I did that with this. I tried to play it for my wife, and I cried the first time I played it. And it’s not really that kind of song! It doesn’t make everybody cry or anything, but it kills me because not everything’s true in it, but not everything had to be, to be as honest actually as it feels. That was the ironic part. By stretching the truth a little bit, you feel like I’m gonna tell you everything in this song. And that was what I wanted to do was to really get the point across that this is something that I wish I could say to myself.”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: January" width="16" height="14" /> Chuck Wicks talks about songwriting (Chuck co-wrote 10 of the 11 songs on his debut CD, Starting Now) (:28)
“It’s a good release, you know, to get feelings off your chest or get emotions that you kept locked up inside for a long time — to get it out through song. But I’m okay with that, because I think it not only helps myself, just as a stress reliever sometimes, but I think it will help other people that are in the same position that I’ve been in…or still am in…or was in. And maybe it will help them a little quicker than it helped me to get out of their situation.”
008 HIGHLIGHTS: January" width="16" height="14" /> Carrie Underwood was thrilled to go out on tour with Keith Urban. (:11)
“He’s somebody that I listened to before all this stuff happened. So it’s just really cool to think I’m on stage with him, I’m on a tour with him. It’s very exciting.”