Entrance to the annual lakefront festival remains free, but for the first time in the festival’s history, the City of Chicago will charge a $25 per-seat fee for those who prefer a pavilion seat.

But we need your help!

As fans of this blog, we’re asking you to think differently in 2012.  You see, we want to crowd fund this year’s guide vs. going out and trying to sell ads.  Keep in mind, we don’t charge our readers a subscription, we don’t have an annual fundraising benefit (Although we should) and we are a publication bringing you the hottest in Chicago’s country music scene since 2008.

How to Get involved:

We’ve launch a special crowd funding campaign on IndieGoGo.com to help sponsor this blog project. You can read up about this project on our special page and… this is where you come in… you can contribute directly to this project.  We’re offering 4 levels of sponsorship, several where you can receive an awesome CMC perk!

So this one time, we’re asking for your help in supporting Chicago’s country music scene.  Please join us in helping publish the 2012 summer concert guide and support some jobs, right here in the Windy City.

—– Contribute Right Now —–

Thank you very much,

Scott Winterroth
Editor & Publisher
Country Music Chicago

The Civil Wars: “Barton Hollow”

This is not a rockin, boot scootin’, stompin’ country music album. It does not have the big band sound that most mainstream country music performers have. This is an ethereal album that has an incredibly unique sound that creates a mood. This is Barton Hollow, the debut CD of the country/folk duo The Civil Wars.

The Civil Wars do not have a back up band. A back up band would destroy their refreshing unique sound which includes John Paul White’s vibrato, Joy William’s sweet innocent rich voice, incredibly blending harmonies and a haunting quality to each song. Listening to each song transports you to another place and time; and creates an ethereal experience which is almost surreal.

All twelve songs were written by John Paul White and Joy Williams. Chris Lindsey collaborated on Poison and Wine. In each song, White plays acoustic guitar with a bare minimum of back up. Each song has acoustic guitar, a blue grass Appalachian sound, blending harmonies and a haunting, whispering quality. The combination of White’s vibrato with Williams’ sweet innocent almost child like voice is amazing.

As much as each song has similar qualities, they are also very different. These tracks are not cookie cut copies of each other. One song The Violet Hour is pure instrumental. It is beautiful, and has that same haunting quality that all their songs have. The song ends with the sound of bells in a clock tower which adds to the soulful,mournful yet ethereal beautiful sound that comprises this whole album. Forget Me Not is a strumming on the back porch type of love song. You can picture him in a rocking chair strumming and singing to her as a gentle wind ruffles the corn stalks. In Birds of a Feather, they alternate lines which makes it sound like they are talking to each other. Then they sing together, his vibrato with her sweet harmony creating that beautiful effect again.

Artistically speaking, this album is superior. The acoustic nature of the music, blue grass Appalachian quality, the haunting whispering echos combined with White’s vibrato and William’s harmonizing create a musical experience that is not only superior but pure pleasure. It is so good to listen to something different than the usual yet still has the qualities of great country/folk music that we all know and love. Their second CD will be highly anticipated.

This in-theater concert and all-access event will feature new music from their upcoming album entitled Changed as well as exclusive concert performance footage of the group’s biggest hits. Additionally, fans will get a peek backstage for rare interviews with band members Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus.

Watch the Trailer:

Rascal Flatts’ new album, Changed, is due in stores April 3.  The upcoming release follows, Nothing Like This, which debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Country albums sales chart.

Chicagoland Showings:

Country Music Chicago recently caught up with the rising star to discuss life since signing a publishing deal and find out where he wants this journey to take him.

Thomas Rhett on iTunes: 

I know you grew up around the country music industry, but didn’t start playing country until high school. And even after that, you were focusing on careers that might have led to a more conventional future. What brought you back to country music?

Thomas: I’ve always been a huge fan of country. Especially because my dad did country in the 90′s and is still writing most of the hits that are on the radio today. But when I was growing up, I had a little bit of a rebellion phase. In seventh grade I started a band called the High Heeled Flip Flops that I played the drums in, so I was more of a punk rocker, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones kind of kid when I was younger. I still am, but more towards high school I started to get back to my roots.

Around tenth grade I picked up a guitar – not for the first time, but for the first real time. Dad taught me how to play a few basic chords and from there I started to teach myself how to play guitar and I would learn certain country songs that were on the radio. It still wasn’t a possibility for me to do country professionally, so I went to college wanting to be a physical therapist until I took my first kinesiology class and I hated it. I dropped that and I switched to a business major and finally ended up doing communications because it was the easiest thing my university offered.

It was towards my sophomore of college when I was in a cover band playing fraternity parties and I got a chance to open for Frankie Ballard in downtown Nashville. It was that night where I got signed to a developmental publishing deal. I started writing and started to have a little bit of success as a songwriter and getting cuts on records like the last Jason Aldean CD. I got a Joe Nichols cut and a Scotty McCreery cut and I’ve got a couple on the next Lee Brice record. From there I started shopping around for record deals. I went to almost every label in town and everyone offered me a record deal. It was blowing my mind at this point. My last visit was at Big Machine. I sat down and played for Scott Borchetta, the President of the label, and he signed me after three songs that I played for him in his conference room.

Now I’m on the Valory Music Company which is a branch of the Big Machine label group. So here I am with a song on the radio. I’m working hard trying to promote that song and I finish up the record in May. Its been a wild journey!

Your song “I Ain’t Ready To Quit” appeared on Jason Aldean’s album less then a year after signing a publishing deal. How was that experience?

Thomas: That was the coolest experience. Besides hearing my song on the radio, that was one of the coolest days of my life. I wrote the song with two other guys who also had never had a cut on a record before and we wrote this song not thinking anything really of it. I went and sang the demo and started pitching it around. I had heard the Aldean camp had heard it and I heard that a few people at the label liked it. I heard a few people at the label didn’t like it!

I got on a plane one day to fly to North Carolina to go to the beach with my dad . When I got on the plane I got an email from my publisher saying, “Hey man, I’ve got some big news! Call me when you can.” I had to get on a plane and I knew that it was something big because he would never say something like that. When I landed, they said that they needed lyrics for Aldean because he was cuttin’ my song in the morning. I celebrated that day and that night and when I woke up my dad came into the room and it was Jason Aldean on the phone. He talked to me and he said, “I just wanted to say thanks for writing me a great song for my record.” When the album came out, me and 40 of my best friends went to Walmart and we all bought a copy of the record and just jammed that song out the entire night. It was very cool.

You’ve been having a lot of success as a singer. Your single “Something To Do With My Hands” has been receiving a lot of great attention. What has the feedback been like from your fans when you play it live?

Thomas: People are loving it. “Something To Do With My Hands” has definitely got a lot of great feedback not only from fans, but also from radio stations that are spinning it. We made an in-house music video when we played in Wichita Falls, Texas. That video is rockin’ on YouTube and its going really well, so I think people are responding really well to that song.

Your album comes out soon. What can we expect from your debut album?

Thomas: We are going back to cut and finish the record in May…and we will probably release the record something in August or September. It is very different. I cut my record with a guy named Jay Joyce who produced all the Eric Church records. I’m a diehard Eric Church fan and he is a big influence in the way that I write, the way that I sing and the way that I perform. Some of my big influences are a bunch of rap dudes and a bunch of old school rock dudes and some country music people, so definitely all three of those influences leak through into some of my writing.

There is a song on there called “Front Porch Junkies” that I wrote with the Warren Brothers who wrote the “Red Solo Cup” tune that Toby Keith’s got out now. You can imagine the severe stupidity of the song called “Front Porch Junkies”!

The record just rocks. I think we are probably going to have one or two ballads on the record, but other then that its going to be pretty rocking, pretty fun, pretty groovy, pretty in your face. Its going to be fun.

We are looking forward to it! What else do you have in store for 2012?

Thomas: 2012 is going to be a lot of visiting radio which is what I’m doing now. We started in January and we’ll probably wrap the official radio tour up in April. We’re doing a lot of radio shows, a bunch of big festivals in the summer and we’re hoping to get on a big tour in the fall. I don’t really know any names yet, but there are a lot of tours that are possible for the fall. So it is going to be a very strenuous, exciting, long year. I’m looking forward to it!

I’ve read that you don’t really know where this journey is going to lead you and you are just along for the ride. 

Thomas: That’s right.

Where do you want it to go?

Thomas: I want it to go as far as God wants it to go. I’m a huge believer and my faith means a lot to me. I’ve just learned…there is no point in trying to plan out where I’m going to be because its just pointless. Everybody is going to end up where they are supposed to be anyways. Whether that means I’m a big country music star or I fail miserably and become a songwriter. I’m open for anything and I’m just keeping my options open and hoping this thing takes off. If it doesn’t, it happens. I don’t really know where its going to go or where its going to end up, but the journey is what it is all about anyway.

Thomas Rhett – Something to Do With My Hands:

Country Music Chicago recently chatted with the country newcomers about how life has changed since releasing “Amen” and what the group has in store for 2012.

How did everything come together for you to form Edens Edge?

Hannah: We were all born and raised in Arkansas and we met there through family friends. The three of us moved to Nashville in 2007 and we worked with this amazing, historical songwriter named Kye Fleming. She wrote a bunch of amazing hits. She mentored us and developed us and got us in front of the wholemusic business when she got inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. One of the people that were at that dinner that night was a man named Scott Borchetta who owns Big Machine Records and that’s how we met with our label. We met in 2009 and signed with them in 2010.

This past year has been a whirlwind and so much fun. We got to release our first single to country radio and we were just so blessed by the support we felt through that. Now we are about to release the second single that we are really pumped about in about a month. We’re really excited for everyone to hear our new music.

A lot has happened for you since you moved to Nashville. What has changed most about your lives?

Dean: I think the thing that has changed the most is having to get used to being on the road all of the time. When we were playing back in Arkansas we traveled maybe once a week or twice a week and then we moved to Nashville and we were pretty stationary for the first couple years. We have been pretty much on the road the whole time for the past year or year and a half. Its really been amazing to get to the see the country and get to meet so many people and get to know all the people in country radio across the country. That has been a huge blessing, but it has been a big transition in our lives.

Let’s talk about the song that helped start it all for you, “Amen” – how does it feel to play it live every night in front of your fans?

Cherill: We are really loving it! It was our first single to go out to radio. We have been together eight years., so I guess it took us eight years to get to the radio, but we really enjoyed it. We got to be on three major tours this year – Brad Paisley, Reba and Lady Antebellum – and we have been to a lot of cities in the US. You could really tell as it was moving up the charts how more people at each show would know the song. You can’t really explain the feeling of how moving it is to see a big mass of people in front of you singing lyrics that you poured over. You are up there just jammin’ and having a good time and doing something you love, and people are into it and touched by it and singing along with you. It is an amazing experience!

You recently announced that you are going to go on tour with Rascal Flatts this summer – what are you looking forward to most about that tour?

Hannah: I’m really excited! I think all three of us are really pumped about all the things we are going to learn from just being on the road with such amazing musicians. We’re huge fans of everybody on the tour and we’re really excited that they’re all bands. We’re a trio group and then everybody else is a band as well, so its really going to be an educational experience for us because we are going to get to learn from the best.

We’ve already met all the people that’s going out on the tour, so it will be really fun to get together with friends and travel around like a little circus – it will be fun!

You will be playing Joe’s Bar on Friday (February 17th). Chicago is excited you will be here – have you played Joe’s before?

Cherill: Yes, we actually played it last year. We played a show with our label mates, The Band Perry and Sunny Sweeney. It was just when we were first getting rolling this past year, but we really loved the venue. We are excited to get back there and have some Chicago pizza and enjoy the city!

Absolutely. What else do you have in store for 2012?

Hannah: Right now, we are going around and playing in theaters and doing some festivals…and more intimate locations and venues. We’re so excited to be on the Rascal Flatts tour and we’re going to get to be in front of so many awesome country fans, but its really cool this time for us before we get on the Flatts’ tour. It is a cool time for us to get out there and play a longer set where we have a more intimate atmosphere with the fans we have already made. We’re playing longer sets now in those venues and we’re releasing the new single.

We are keeping busy for sure and then starting up the Rascal Flatts’ tour. And that is lasting for five months, they haven’t even posted all of the dates for the tour yet, so we’re really excited about the length of the tour. We’re going to get to go everywhere!

What advice do you have for singers and songwriters who are trying to break into the industry?

Dean: One thing that we all three did was we had a lot of great artists and great songwriters that we really looked up to and we studied what they did. You try to emulate your heroes when you are learning and eventually you kind of develop your own style after a while. Just playing as many shows and writing as many songs and learning about the business is also a smart thing to do.

There is a whole business side to the music industry that we didn’t really know about when we were playing in Arkansas, but when we moved to Nashville we tried to get as educated as we could. I think that really helps give you a leg up on the competition. And really having somebody that believes in you…I think that can really help you to develop and help you to not make a lot of mistakes.

Great advice. We are looking forward to you playing in Chicago! Good luck with the show.

Hannah: We can’t wait!

Edens Edge is playing at Joe’s Bar tonight, Friday, February 17th. Tickets are still available on ticketweb.com or at Joe’s box office.

Edens Edge with Thomas Rhett

Joe’s Bar: 940 W. Weed Street, Chicago, IL (21+)

$8 on ticketweb.com

Museum Founder Bill Miller at a press conference announcing the museum.

The new museum will also feature innovative digital displays that are being designed by Nashville based Griffin Technologies. As the museum expands, it will also include a performance space, onsite food venue, and a functional archive. John Carter Cash may have said it best, noting that many of the items to be featured in the museum have gathered dust in many different ways over the years, and deserve to see the light of day again to continue Johnny Cash’s legacy.

For more information on the museum, visit www.johnnycash.com.

Dierks Bentley introduced himself to us with What Was I Thinkin’ which became so much of an anthem that women still wear little white tank tops to his concerts. He then revealed his love of Bluegrass music with Up on the Ridge an album that received critical acclaim across several genres of music. That album allowed us to hear the bluegrass and roots of country music that led to his wanting to become a country singer.

Now there is Home his sixth studio album and while the title song is a patriotic tribute to America, the rest of the album goes in a different direction. It is a consummate country album with a well crafted mixture of love songs, rowdy drinking songs, longing and missing you songs as well as loving, leaving, and love of America songs.

The album has two bonus tracks both written by him which were not included in the orginal play list. It was a stroke of genius to add both songs. Cold Cans is destined to be come an anthem to country music. Who doesn’t identify with “Gotta have some cold beer with my country music.” ? As the little white tank top always makes one think of Bentley, cold beer with country music will too.

He is a very real performer. Usually dressed in torn jeans and a t-shirt his songs are very honest and true to life. Although, in my mind, he isn’t just a country performer but rather one of us. And we’re just like him.

This album has fun and rowdy songs like the tongue in cheek Diamonds make Babies, Am I the Only One, Gonna Die Young and 5-1-5-0. It also has songs about heartbreak, love and longing such as Breathe You In, In My Head, and Heart of a Lonely Girl. Thinking of You is another song that speaks of longing but at the end he has his daughter Evie sing with him which was unplanned and makes this song even more heart wrenching and beautiful. The song Home is a patriotic ode to America and being American. Along with that is the song Line#7 which addresses the troubled auto industry in Detroit.The proceeds from that song are being donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Detroit.

With this new album aptly titled Home, Bentley shows us many facets of himself and essentially brings us right back Home, exactly where we want to be, listening to him.

Download Home on iTunes:

Watch Home the the music video:

Taking the stage before Edens Edge is Big Machine artist, Thomas Rhett. Thomas is the son of country singer Rhett Atkins and was introduced to music at a young age, but didn’t start playing country music until his senior year of high school. In 2010, he signed a publishing deal and soon after landed his first cut on Jason Aldean’s platinum album, My Kinda Party, with his song “I Ain’t Ready To Quit.” A year later he signed a record deal and has recently spent time opening for artists such as Blake Shelton and Pat Green while working on his debut album.

The music starts when Thomas Rhett takes the stage at 9:00PM, followed by Edens Edge at 10:15PM.

Tickets are available on ticketweb.com or at Joe’s box office.

Edens Edge with Thomas Rhett 

Joe’s Bar:  940 W. Weed Street, Chicago, IL  (21+)

9PM – $8 on ticketweb.com

Edens Edge on YouTube:

In the House- This week, the Ryman Auditorium is undergoing a facelift! The floor of the historic venue, and most famous home of the Grand Ole Opry, is being replaced in order to withstand the increased weight of modern sound equipment. The work will be finished just in time for the Band Perry’s debut Ryman performance on February 20th! For more on the Ryman, check out www.ryman.com!

On the Air- This Thursday, be a part of an awesome, FREE radio broadcast. Janie Fricke, Indiana girl and country star from the 80s, will be performing as part of a live broadcast on WSM, the radio home of the Grand Ole Opry. Take a seat in the Station Inn and listen to this country legend sing some of her biggest hits… and who knows, if you clap loudly enough, you could be the next radio star yourself!

Local Legends- The Steel Drivers are a group of seasoned studio players that have combined forces to create an all-star bluegrass band. This Saturday, you can catch them in concert at the Franklin Theater in Franklin, TN, just south of Music City. In this performance, they will not only play their own music, but back great local songwriting talent as well. Writers this week include Pat McLaughlin, David Lee, and Casey Beathard.