Holly Gleason's Book of Love Preparation Yes!
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September 25, 2017, Issue 567 Preparation Yes! Show prep, content curation and talk breaks go by many names, but whatever it’s called, the stuff between the records is the glue connecting fans to the music and sets radio apart from streaming and playlists. As communications and media changed at a blistering pace over the last decade or more, so has show prep. Country Aircheck reached out to some of the best in the business to find many commonalities, diverging approaches and some fresh ideas. The morning show at iHeartMedia’s WRBT/Harrisburg goes three places for prep. “First is Dr. Dave’s Ultimate Show Prep,” says APD/MD/co-host Newman. “It delivers pop culture with a Country emphasis. It’s where I find out what happened while I was sleeping. If I was sleeping.” He was particularly impressed with the way the service handled the recent violence in Charlot- tesville, VA. “They were honest,” Newman explains. “They didn’t know what to say. It’s so awkward Fire Away: Mercury’s Chris Stapleton backstage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas over the weekend. to talk about racism.” Pictured (l-r) are Morgane Stapleton, iHeart’s Rod Phillips, Newman’s other resources are John Sykes and Tom Poleman, and Stapleton. Premiere Prep and the Universal Comedy Network, which offers cre- ative audio bits. “Universal hits at Holly Gleason’s Book Of Love Nancy & Newman least three home runs a week,” he Writing about music can quickly become heavy on business, says. Co-host Nancy Ryan scours light on music, with spins, stats and streams overshadowing the prep services and socials for her hourly music reports, looking reason most people got into this crazy world in the first place – for artist TV appearances and new releases. As far as artist audio how the music made us feel. Journalist/edu- clips, “We prefer to use our own,” says New- cator/publicist/songwriter (Kenny Chesney’s man. “Because of our proximity to Philadel- “Better As A Memory”) Holly Gleason’s new phia and New York, we get regular visits.” book Woman Walk The Line: How The Women On the new-school side is KUZZ/Bakers- In Country Music Changed Our Lives is a col- field PDBrent Michaels, who is on the air lection of essays celebrating influential country from noon-3pm. “If I had to rank them, first females, written by influential female songwrit- place is socials – Facebook, Twitter, Insta- ers, publicists, musicians, artists and journal- gram and Snapchat,” he says. “I’m on my ists. Each essay answered the sole question Holly Gleason cell way more than I should be.” He uses Gleason posed to each contributor: “Who’s the those platforms not only for artist informa- Brent Michaels woman who grabbed you by the ears and pulled you to her – and tion, but to keep connected to what is (continued on page 10) the more you listened, the more you figured out who you are?” ©2017 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] September 25, 2017 Page 3 MY TUNES: MUSIC THAT SHAPED MY LIFE For publicist/former CMA exec. Wendy Pearl, it was Patty Loveless. “I’ve known Wendy since I was a summer transfer RCA’s Ryan Hurd discusses his most student into the University of Miami,” says Gleason. “She was my influential music: editor at the college paper. She would have editor meetings with 1. Jimmy Eat World’s Futures: That was a me [at restaurants] to make sure I was fed. She’s such a passion- very formative album for me. Sonically, there are ate advocate for the music. She’s won a Pulitzer Prize. She’s a a lot of things that we pulled from that onto my tremendous writer.” Pearl’s recollection of first hearing album, especially in the anthemic parts. Loveless’ music on a south Florida 2. John Mayer: Even from his first biker bar jukebox, at the urgent rec- Ryan Hurd album, he’s somebody who made me ommendation of a fellow patron – a interested in songwriting. Vietnam vet who carried around a pair 3. The End Of Tour: It’s a movie with Jason Segel and Jesse of breast prosthetics in a white plastic bag – reads like a scene straight from Eisenberg. The dialogue in that film made me dig deeper in a Fellini film. She found quarters in my songwriting. the bottom of her purse and selected 4. Coldplay: I saw them in concert for the first time when I was Loveless’ “I’m That Kind Of Girl” and 18 years old. It was amazing. Seeing the production, and the “On Down The Line.” lights during songs like “Yellow,” the whole thing was so cool. It Pearl Excerpt: I had never con- made me interested in conceptualizing performances. nected with a singer or a lyric in such an immediate and personal way. I was 5. Current country: It’s a really cool time for country right genuinely enthralled. The bartender now. I love artists who are making their own way, like Kacey and my biker Svengali seemed immune Musgraves, Sam Hunt, Eric Church, Maren Morris and Old to my reaction, carrying on a new con- Dominion. They don’t sound anything alike – I just love people versation while I stared at the jukebox, slack-jawed. I was hearing who go their own way within our genre. It’s really inspiring. my life played out in neon and grit, sawdust and sass, like I had • Highly regarded music you’ve actually never heard: I never heard it before. Imagine a reporter, someone who tells other people’s stories never dove in to Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. for a living, hearing her story, her life, her heartache. It didn’t even • “Important” music you just don’t get: Neil Young is seem possible, but there it was. I’d found meaning in the words an incredible activist who uses his songs for what he wants to and music of a coal miner’s daughter from Pikeville, Kentucky. accomplish socially, but musically, he’s always gone over my head. Gleason asked Atlantic/WEA’s Aubrie Sellers to write an • An album you listened to incessantly: John Mayer’s new essay and was impressed with Sellers’ recollection of how Alison album The Search For Everything, Ryan Adams’ Cold Roses, and Krauss (specifically, Krauss and Robert Plant’s 2007 collab- oration Raising Sand) emboldened her own musical choices. Eric Church’s Carolina and Chief. “I’ve known Aubrie since she was a little girl on the ‘I Hope You • Obscure or non-country song everyone should listen Dance,’ video,” says Gleason. [Sellers is Lee Ann Womack’s to right now: My friend Andrew Dorff, who passed away in daughter and Gleason is Womack’s former publicist.] “Aubrie December, wrote a song called “Kiss Me When I’m Down” and was home schooled at that point, and I spent the entire cycle of Gary Allan recorded it. It’s one of the most creative “come over” that record negotiating with her to behave at photo shoots,” she laughs. “And almost always, it was a trip to a bookstore. She’s songs I’ve ever heard and I’ve always been obsessed with it. one of the few people who didn’t have to do any re-writing. That • Music you’d rather not admit to enjoying: The new essay came in almost perfect.” Blink-182 record, California. It’s so good. And I’m a huge Sellers Excerpt: There I was, a sixteen-year-old girl in my all- Rihanna fan, which I’m not ashamed to admit. white shabby-chic bedroom, more concerned with procrastinating ©2017 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] Shano & Swano’s Midwest Sock BlockSeptember 25, 2017 The sixth annual Shano & Swano Monsters of the Midwest Tour made its swag-dispensing, Page 5 cheese-curd imbibing, beer-drenched way across four states over nine days and all anyone has to show for it are these stupid pictures. And socks. You know our heroes as Columbia’s Shane Allen and Red Light’s Chuck Swaney and you can probably pick out their radio welcome parties. In fact, you have to, because we don’t have the space for full photo IDs. The stations are KEEY/ Minneapolis, KMNB/Minneapolis, WEBG/Chicago, WUSN/Chicago, WMAD/Madison, WWQM/ Madison, WMIL/Milwaukee, WNCY/Green Bay (actually, the market is Appleton, but we’ll list it that way for Packers homer Allen), WBCT/Grand Rapids, WITL/ Lansing and WYCD/Detroit. There are also appearances by Country Radio Hall of Famer Mick Anselmo, Townsquare’s Doug Montgomery, Mercury’s Charlie Dean and Sony’s Lauren Thomas (Shano, Swano, Lano & Deano?). Anyway, have at it with the IDs. Think of it like a game. Pin the name on the Swane. Or, pin the sock on the .... You get the idea. until the weekend when my friends were out of school than doing anything constructive. I was thinking I would listen to this unexpect- ed record once before forcing myself to attack the huge pile of dirty couldn’t outrun my genes, and no clothes in my closet. What would one more hour hurt? I popped matter how much I resisted follow- the CD into my unremarkable but glossy supermarket stereo; what ing in the footsteps of my family, there was always a record inside came out glued me to the floor for several listens.