SCOTCOUNTRY MUSIC NEWS

To coincide with the Glasgow Country 2 Country Festival, UK Country Live! presents a 2 day afternoon event , Country on The Clyde, featuring the very best in UK Country Music. The event will run 12 Noon-4pm on March 11th & 12th at The Ferry, which is just up river from the SEE Hydro Arena.
Included in the line-up are recent British CMA Award winners Holloway Road, Outlander and The Southern Companion as well as local bands such as Ashton Lane and Kevin McGuire. There will also be performances from up and coming artists such as Simon James, Darcy and Jade Helliwell Music as well as an ‘In The Round’ style session hosted by multi BCMAwards winning songwriter, Luke Thomas.
The event is based around the line-up for the Buckle & Boots Country Festival later in the year, so this will be a great way to get a taster for the UK’s biggest outdoor Country Festival!
The venue will be offering an extensive lunch menu at a discounted rate for all ticket holders. Please contact The Ferry to pre-book your meal.

Europe's full time Counyry music TV service , Keep It Country TV has returned to TV screens after a temporary break in transmission due to a change in service providers.
Service is fully back on on Sky 389 and Freeview HD 87, although viewers on Freesat 516 are suffering problems getting the station back, without manually retuning.
Meanwhile, another TV station which has provided a number of Country music programmes, Irish TV, was reported to be in financial trouble. The station had been liquidated in the Irish courts, but has now been aquired by the Irish World newspaper, and continues to provide programmes on Sky 191.

For 22 years, the highlight of the Country music calendar in Scotland was the annual weekend at Butlins/Haven/ Wonderwest/Craig Tara holiday Camp at Ayr. This year there will be a reunion weekend, which will be held at the Adamton Country House Hotel, in Monkton, 10 miles north of the original venue.  It'll be held September 29-Oct 2nd, and feature old time favourites like Dez Walters, Frank Welshman, Lazy Dog, Nick James, The Landons and American visitor Sara Beth. Cost of the weekend starts at £189 per person.

Legendary Memphis born songwriter Bob Cheevers is celebrating his 50th year as a songwriter this year, The regular visitor to the UK has over 3000 songs to his credit, and has selected 83 tracks to feature in a 5 disc box set retrospective, appropriately titled "Fifty Years".
Bob is also back in Scotland next month with dates in Hawick (Feb 20th), The Green Hotel, Kinross (21st), Berets & Browns, Coatrbridge (24th), Greyfriars Perth (25th) as well as house concerts in Perth and Airdrie,

Jim Lauderdale flies in for the Celtic Connections Festival next month. He's part of Aly Bain's Transatlantic Sessions with Jerry Douglas, Phil Cunningham, Tift Merritt and Eddi Reader, which plays Glasgows Concert Hall on Feb 3rd & 5th, before touring London, Cambridge, Gateshead, Manchester and Birmingham.
To coincide with the visit Lauderdale releases "London Southern" on Feb 3rd. The album was recorded in London with producers Neil Brockbank and Robert Trehern.

Country music legend Reba McEntire has turned to the gospel for her latest albumn, which gets a Uk releae on February 3rd. "Sing It Now : Songs Of Love And Faith", includes "Jesus Loves Me", the first song that the redhead ever sung in public. She also features standards like "Amazing Grave" and "How Great Thou Art", alongside new songs from writers like Jessie Alexanfer, Sarah Buxton, Patricia Conroy and Randy Houser.
Reba will be in Glasgow, Dublin and London in March for the c2c Festival.

Iconic duo, the Bellamy Brothers, are embarking on their 2017 World Tour including Dubai, Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland and Faroe Islands. David and Howard Bellamy leave this week to criss-cross the globe and celebrate their 25th Anniversary of their own record label, Bellamy Brothers Records, which licenses products in more than 30 countries.

This years's Spring Into Country All-day festival will be held on Sunday April 30th. The annual event, held at The David Lloyd Leisure Centre in Renfrew, features Jolene & Barry, Stealway, Statline and Fool's Gold. Tickets are £16 from Iain on 07749 852305.

The first awards show of 2017 is the Hotdisc Awards, which were screened on Keep It Country TV on Monday evening, hosted by David Allan.  The Hotdisc is a monthly CD mailed to radio stations all over Europe, and a weekly chart is compliled from DJ's reactions, and broadcast on Keep It Country TV (Sky 389) each Monday night at 6.30pm.
Glasgow's Raintown were voted Top Video (UK & Ireland) for "Nineteen Again", whilst the sadly missed Jackie Storrar was voted Most Succesful UK act, following 2 No.1's in the Hotdisc Chart throughout 2016. Jackie lost her brave fight with cancer in September, but not before releasing her legacy album, "Behind Her Eyes".
Other winners included Ireland's Kathy Crinion as Top British single for "Rock'n'Roll Banjo", and Kerry Fearon won the Horizon Award. Denny Strickland won the International Video category, David Starr won International act, and the all important biggest Hotdisc hit of the year was "Sparks Will Fly", from Brenda Burch,

The Prairie Star are back in  their usual Weirs Club venue in Alloa this Saturday, January 6th, when local favourites Jolene & Barry will be the guests.

In a little more than two weeks after the wildfires that spread across Dolly Parton’s home area of Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton and the Dollywood Foundation launched the distribution of assistance from the My People Fund. During the four day cash distribution, 884 families received their initial support payments.
The Dollywood Foundation My People Fund provides $1,000 each month to Sevier County families whose homes are uninhabitable or were completely destroyed in the recent Smoky Mountain wildfires. Any family who lost their primary residence (renters and homeowners) due to the wildfires in Sevier County will be eligible.
Millions of people watched Smoky Mountains Rise: A Benefit for the My People Fund telethon on Tuesday, December 13 on Great American Country, AXS-TV, RFD-TV and The Heartland Network and during several rebroadcasts throughout the last week. As a result, donations continued to roll in and thanks to generous people from coast to coast and Parton’s friends, the total amount raised has climbed to $9.3 million.
“As, Dolly said, the response has been overwhelming,” David Dotson, Dollywood Foundation President said. “We will distribute all $9.3 million to the families affected. That will insure all of the money raised will go to where Dolly promised it would go.”

Three-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year and multi-Grammy-nominated super duo Dailey & Vincent have been invited to become official members of the Grand Ole Opry. The pair returned to the Opry at the Ryman Auditorium this past week to celebrate the kick-off of its 10th year as a duo, which began on the Opry at the Ryman stage in 2007. The night also marked the duo’s 100th Opry appearance. The duo will be formally inducted into the Opry on Saturday, March 11.

Three of Ireland's top male entertainment acts are heading for Falkirk this spring, as part of wider Scottish tours,
Robert Mizzell, originally from Louisiana plays The Town Hall on Saturday March 4th, Foster & Allen return on April 7th, whilst Jimmy Buckley comes to town on May 28th. Tickets for all three concerts are on sale now.

Harvest 2017, a new Country Music Festival will take place in 2 different Irish locations on Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 August 2017 at Westport House, County Mayo and Enniskillen Airport, County Fermanagh.  Weekend Tickets & Weekend tickets including camping are on sale now from all usual outlets.
HARVEST 2017 will be 2 days of live entertainment featuring over 30 acts performing at each Festival across 3 Music Stages.  The line-up will be the same for both festival sites. The artists playing Westport House on the Saturday will play Enniskillen Airport on the Sunday and vice versa.
There will also be dedicated Dancing sessions over the weekend.  For those country music fans who want to enjoy the full Festival experience, a food village, Glamping and campervan facilities including family camping area will be on offer.
International multiplatinum and award winning country superstar MIRANDA LAMBERT and country music singing sensation NATHAN CARTER have been confirmed as the headline Artists for HARVEST 2017.
Nathan Carter will play Harvest 2017 at Westport House on Saturday 26 August and play Enniskillen Airport on Sunday 27 August.
Miranda Lambert will play Harvest 2017 at Enniskillen Airport on Saturday 26 August and play Westport House on Sunday 27 August.
KIP MOORE, MO PITNEY & THE SHIRES are the latest additions to the Harvest 2017 bill. Also announced for the festival is WARD THOMAS - Twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas, who recently, top the UK album chart.
As well as Artists from USA and the UK, the Festival will also feature homegrown talent including CLIONA HAGAN, PETE KENNEDY and HURRICANE HIGHWAY.  Nathan Carter’s brother JAKE CARTER, who has been garnering a lot of attention with his single Trouble, has also been added to the line up with more Artists to be announced over the coming weeks…
Weekend tickets start at £130 and can be booked through Ticketmaster.