2007 in country music
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See also: 2006 in country music, 2007 in music, other events of 2007, 2008 in country music and the List of years in Country Music
Contents |
[edit] Events
- February 11 - It was a big night for country music artists at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, as they swept the awards in four top categories. The Dixie Chicks won three of those awards: Record of the Year and Song of the Year (both for "Not Ready to Make Nice," the latter shared with songwriter Dan Wilson) and Album of the Year (Taking the Long Way). Carrie Underwood took the Best New Artist Award.
- Both Underwood and the Dixie Chicks were winners in country-specific categories. The Dixie Chicks won for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (for "Not Ready to Make Nice") and Best Country Album ("Taking the Long Way"). Underwood won for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Jesus, Take the Wheel"; the song also earned a Best Country Song award for songwriters Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson.
- Also, country music pioneer Bob Wills - the longtime leader of the Texas Playboys - was a posthumous recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award. Wills was recognized 32 years after his death.
- Week of February 12 — Country music stars team with celebrities during a special celebrity week of Wheel of Fortune, which was taped in Charleston, South Carolina. During the game aired February 13, Julie Roberts and contestant partner Peter Buccellato won $124,250 after Buccallato solved the bonus round puzzle for the show's grand prize of $100,000. Roberts donated a matching amount to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
- February 17 - Hank Williams, Jr. filed for divorce from his fourth wife, Mary Jane, whom he married in 1990.
- March 19 – Days after an announcement that Lonestar had parted ways with longtime record label BNA Records, lead singer Richie McDonald announces plans to depart the group at the end of the year, in search of a solo career. [3]
- April 10 – The house where the music video for Johnny Cash's "Hurt" was shot is destroyed by fire. [1]
- September 4 – Sammy Kershaw enters the Louisiana lieutenant governor's race, running as a Republican.[2]
- September 15 – Garth Brooks' song, "More Than a Memory" becomes the first song to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Songs chart, since the start of the magazine's all-encompassing country chart in 1958.
- October 21 - Country music legend Porter Wagoner's publicist Darlene Bieber confirms that Wagoner had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Wagoner dies seven days later.
- October 30 - The Eagles release their studio album Long Road Out of Eden, their first compilation of all-new material in 28 years. The album sells over a million copies in its first two weeks.
[edit] Top hits of the year
[edit] Number one hits
(As certified by Billboard magazine)
| Date | Song Name | Artist | Wks. No. 1 | Spec. Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 6 | She's Everything | Brad Paisley | 3 | |
| January 27 | Watching You | Rodney Atkins | 4 | 1 |
| February 24 | It Just Comes Natural | George Strait | 2 | |
| March 10 | Ladies Love Country Boys | Trace Adkins | 2 | Adkins' first Number One since "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing" in April 1997. |
| March 24 | Beer In Mexico | Kenny Chesney | 3 | Chesney's first #1 single that he wrote himself. |
| April 14 | Last Dollar (Fly Away) | Tim McGraw | 1 | |
| April 21 | Wasted | Carrie Underwood | 3 | |
| May 12 | Stand | Rascal Flatts | 1 | |
| May 19 | Settlin' | Sugarland | 1 | |
| May 26 | Good Directions | Billy Currington | 3 | |
| June 16 | Moments | Emerson Drive | 1 | A
|
| June 23 | Find Out Who Your Friends Are | Tracy Lawrence | 1 |
|
| June 30 | Ticks | Brad Paisley | 1 | |
| July 7 | Lucky Man | Montgomery Gentry | 2 | |
| July 21 | Lost In This Moment | Big & Rich | 2 | A |
| August 4 | Never Wanted Nothing More | Kenny Chesney | 5 | Chesney's fastest-climbing Number One single to date, reaching Number One in its eighth chart week. |
| September 8 | These Are My People | Rodney Atkins | 1 | |
| September 15 | More Than a Memory | Garth Brooks | 1 |
|
| September 22 | Take Me There | Rascal Flatts | 3 | |
| October 13 | Online | Brad Paisley | 1 | |
| October 20 | Love Me If You Can | Toby Keith | 1 |
|
| October 27 | Don't Blink | Kenny Chesney | 4 |
|
| November 24 | Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go) | Dierks Bentley | 1 | |
| December 1 | So Small | Carrie Underwood | 3 | |
| December 22 | Our Song | Taylor Swift | 4 | A
|
- A - First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
- 1 - No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard magazine.
[edit] Other major hits
[edit] Top new album releases
- 5th Gear — Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville)
- 22 More Hits — George Strait (MCA Nashville)
- American Man: Greatest Hits Volume II — Trace Adkins (Capitol)
- Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace — Big & Rich (Warner Bros. Nashville)
- Big Dog Daddy — Toby Keith (Show Dog Nashville)
- Bucky Covington — Bucky Covington (Lyric Street)
- Carnival Ride — Carrie Underwood (Arista Nashville)
- A Classic Christmas — Toby Keith (Show Dog Nashville)
- Cowboy Town — Brooks & Dunn (Arista Nashville)
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — Miranda Lambert (Columbia Records)
- Dwight Sings Buck — Dwight Yoakam (New West)
- Everything Is Fine — Josh Turner (MCA Nashville)
- Fall — Clay Walker (Asylum-Curb)
- Family — LeAnn Rimes (Asylum-Curb)
- For the Love — Tracy Lawrence (Rocky Comfort)
- Greatest Hits — Gary Allan (MCA Nashville)
- Greatest Hits — Sara Evans (RCA)
- Greatest Hits — Trisha Yearwood (MCA Nashville)
- Greatest Hits: 18 Kids — Keith Urban (Capitol)
- Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love — Trisha Yearwood (Big Machine)
- The Hits — Faith Hill (Warner Brothers)
- Home at Last — Billy Ray Cyrus (Walt Disney Records)
- A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection — Alison Krauss (Rounder Records)
- I'll Stay Me — Luke Bryan (Capitol Nashville)
- Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates — Kenny Chesney (BNA Records)
- Last of the Breed — Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price (Lost Highway)
- Let It Go — Tim McGraw (Curb Records)
- Live at Texas Stadium — Alan Jackson, George Strait and Jimmy Buffett (MCA Nashville)
- Living Hard — Gary Allan (MCA Nashville)
- Long Road Out of Eden — Eagles (Lost Highway)
- Morning Constitutions — Larry the Cable Guy (Warner Brothers)
- One of the Boys — Gretchen Wilson (Columbia Records)
- A Place to Land — Little Big Town (Equity)
- Pure BS — Blake Shelton (Warner Brothers)
- Raising Sand — Alison Krauss & Robert Plant (Rounder)
- Real Things — Joe Nichols (Universal South)
- Reba: Duets — Reba McEntire (MCA Nashville)
- Relentless — Jason Aldean (Broken Bow)
- Songs of Inspiration II — Alabama (RCA Nashville)
- Still Feels Good — Rascal Flatts (Lyric Street)
- The Storm — Travis Tritt (Category 5)
- This Is It — Jack Ingram (Big Machine)
- Totally Country Vol. 6 — Various Artists (Sony-BMG)
- The Ultimate Hits — Garth Brooks (Pearl)
- Waitin' in the Country — Jason Michael Carroll (Arista Nashville)
- Waking Up Laughing — Martina McBride (RCA Nashville)
[edit] Other top albums
- 15° Off Cool — Bill Engvall (Jack Records)
- After Hours — Raul Malo (Sanctuary)
- Beverley Mitchell — Beverley Mitchell (Daywind)
- Big Love in a Small Town — Sarah Johns (BNA)
- Black in the Saddle — Cowboy Troy (RAYBAW)
- The Bluegrass Sessions — Merle Haggard (McCoury)
- Boogity, Boogity - A Tribute to the Comedic Genius of Ray Stevens — Cledus T. Judd (Curb)
- Bring It On — Kevin Fowler (Equity)
- The Calling — Mary Chapin Carpenter (Zoë)
- The Chain — Deana Carter (Vanguard)
- Charlie Louvin — Charlie Louvin (Tompkins Square)
- Cole Deggs & The Lonesome — Cole Deggs & The Lonesome (Columbia Records)
- Deuces — Charlie Daniels (Blue Hat)
- Easy Money — John Anderson (RAYBAW)
- Flynnville Train — Flynnville Train (Show Dog)
- Halfway to Hazard — Halfway to Hazard (Mercury)
- King of the Mountains — Rodney Carrington (Capitol Nashville)
- Live from Iraq — Charlie Daniels (Blue Hat)
- The Love Songs — Clint Black (Equity Music Group)
- My Kind of Country — Van Zant (Columbia)
- Right About Now — Ty Herndon (Titan Pyramid)
- Rissi Palmer — Rissi Palmer (1720 Entertainment)
- Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems — Emmylou Harris (Rhino)
- Straight from the Heart — Daryle Singletary (Shanachie)
- Translated from Love — Kelly Willis (Rykodisc)
- Unglamorous — Lori McKenna (Warner Bros.)
- The Very Best of Tracy Lawrence — Tracy Lawrence (Rhino)
- The Very Best of Travis Tritt — Travis Tritt (Rhino)
- Wagonmaster — Porter Wagoner (Anti)
- Washington Square Serenade — Steve Earle (New West)
- Whiskey Falls — Whiskey Falls (Midas)
- The Wolf — Shooter Jennings (Universal South)
[edit] Deaths
- January 1 – Del Reeves, 74, best known for his "girl-watching" novelty-type songs (e.g., "Girl on the Billboard"). (emphysema)
- January 6 – Sneaky Pete Kleinow, 72, pedal steel guitarist for the Flying Burrito Brothers. (complications from Alzheimer's disease)
- January 13 – Doyle Holly, 70, member of Buck Owens' Buckaroos; he also had a string of minor hits in the early- to mid-1970s. (prostate cancer)
- February 2 – Terry McMillan, 53, veteran Nashville session harmonica player and percussionist. (natural causes)
- March 24 – Henson Cargill, 66, country performer best known for 1968 smash "Skip A Rope." (surgical complications)
- April 17 – Glenn Sutton, 69, songwriter and producer best known for the hit "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden"; a chief architect of the countrypolitan sound of the late 1960s/early 1970s. (heart attack)
- July 3 – Boots Randolph, 80, member of Nashville's famed "A-Team" of musicians; he was the saxophonist (subdural hematoma) [4]
- September 25 – Patrick Bourque, 29, bass guitarist for Emerson Drive. (suicide)
- October 28 – Porter Wagoner, 80, rhinestone-suited country music icon, television program host of the 1960s and 1970s, duet partner of Dolly Parton. (lung cancer)[3]
- November 6 – Hank Thompson, 82, Western-swing styled artist best known for "The Wild Side of Life," 1960's "A Six Pack to Go," and others. (lung cancer)[4]
- November 29 – Jim Nesbitt, 75, best known for the hits "Please Mr. Kennedy," "A Tiger in My Tank" and "Runnin' Bare." (Extended battle with a heart condition)
- November 30 – Ralph Ezell, 54, bass guitarist for Shenandoah. (heart attack)
- December 16 – Dan Fogelberg, 56, Many pop hits with a few minor country hits, including "Same Old Lang Syne" (Prostate Cancer)
[edit] Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees
- Ralph Emery (born 1933), disc jockey and television host from the 1960s onward.
- Vince Gill (born 1957), singer-songwriter and musician who rose to prominence in the 1980s.
- Mel Tillis (born 1932), singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the 1950s.
[edit] Major Awards
[edit] Grammy awards
(Presented February 11 in Los Angeles) [5]
- Best Female Country Vocal Performance -- "Jesus, Take the Wheel," Carrie Underwood
- Best Male Country Vocal Performance -- "The Reason Why," Vince Gill
- Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal -- "Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks
- Best Country Collaboration with Vocals -- "Who Says You Can't Go Home," Bon Jovi with Jennifer Nettles
- Best Country Instrumental Performance -- "Whiskey Before Breakfast," Bryan Sutton and Doc Watson
- Best Country Song -- "Jesus, Take the Wheel," Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson
- Best Country Album -- Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks
- Best Bluegrass Album -- Instrumentals, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
[edit] CMT Music Awards
(Presented April 16 in Nashville) [6]
- Video of the Year -- "Before He Cheats," Carrie Underwood
- Group Video of the Year -- "What Hurts the Most," Rascal Flatts
- Male Video of the Year -- "You Save Me," Kenny Chesney
- Wide Open Country Video of the Year -- "Love You," Jack Ingram
- Johnny Cash Visionary Award -- Kris Kristofferson
- Female Video of the Year -- "Before He Cheats," Carrie Underwood
- Video Director of the Year -- "Before He Cheats," Carrie Underwood (Director: Roman White)
- Duo Video of the Year -- "Want To," Sugarland
- Breakthrough Video of the Year -- "Tim McGraw," Taylor Swift
[edit] Academy of Country Music
(Presented May 15 in Las Vegas) [7]
- Entertainer of the Year -- Kenny Chesney
- Song of the Year -- "Give It Away," Bill Anderson, Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson
- Single of the Year -- "Give It Away," George Strait
- Album of the Year -- Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood
- Top Male Vocalist -- Brad Paisley
- Top Female Vocalist -- Carrie Underwood
- Top Vocal Duo -- Brooks & Dunn
- Top Vocal Group -- Rascal Flatts
- Top New Male Vocalist -- Rodney Atkins
- Top New Female Vocalist -- Miranda Lambert
- Top New Duo or Group -- Little Big Town
- Video of the Year -- "Before He Cheats," Carrie Underwood (Director: Roman White)
- Vocal Event of the Year -- "Building Bridges," Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill and Sheryl Crow
- ACM/Home Depot Humanitarian of the Year -- Brooks & Dunn
- Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award -- Dolly Parton, Don Williams and the late Harlan Howard and Waylon Jennings
- Jim Reeves International Award -- Buck Owens
- Max Boren Axton Award -- Jack Lameier
[edit] Country Music Association
(Presented November 7 in Nashville)
- Entertainer of the Year -- Kenny Chesney
- Song of the Year -- "Give It Away", written by Bill Anderson, Jamey Johnson and Buddy Cannon
- Single of the Year -- "Before He Cheats", performed by Carrie Underwood
- Album of the Year -- It Just Comes Natural, George Strait
- Male Vocalist of the Year -- Brad Paisley
- Female Vocalist of the Year -- Carrie Underwood
- Vocal Duo of the Year -- Sugarland
- Vocal Group of the Year -- Rascal Flatts
- Horizon Award -- Taylor Swift
- Video of the Year -- "Online", Brad Paisley (Director: Jason Alexander)
- Vocal Event of the Year -- "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", Tracy Lawrence with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney
- Musician of the Year -- Jerry Douglas
[edit] Further reading
- Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry: History of Country Music. 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Villard Books, Random House; Opryland USA, 1995
- Kingsbury, Paul, "Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947-1989," Country Music Foundation, 2003 (ISBN 0-8118-3572-3)
- Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music," HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-273244-7)
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition." 2005.
[edit] References
- ^ Fire destroys Johnny Cash home. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
- ^ Associated Press, "Country singer Sammy Kershaw enters Louisiana lieutenant governor race," September 5, 2007
- ^ [1] Gerome, John, "Country star Porter Wagoner dies at 80", via Associated Press
- ^ [2] Curry, Matt, "Hank Thompson dies of lung cancer at 82," via Associated Press
