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Tag: Alan Jackson

  • Rare Randy Travis clips…

    Rare Randy Travis clips…

    I found a couple of rare Randy Travis clips on YouTube featuring his audition on You Can Be A Star…

    Hi everyone. Today’s post is going to be short because I just got back from Texas and have had a lot to do today. This morning, one of my friends at Pop Rock Nation sent me an email asking about pictures of Randy Travis on Star Search. Though I was a big fan of Star Search back in the day, I wasn’t aware that he was ever on the 80s era talent show Star Search. Nevertheless, I went searching for pictures or a video clip… and I came up mostly empty except for one thing. Back in 1983, young Randy Travis auditioned for You Can Be A Star, a talent show for would be country stars. The show aired on the now defunct cable channel, The Nashville Network. I saw a couple of episodes, but back in those days, I wasn’t a fan of country music.

    Here’s a very young Randy being interviewed by Florence Henderson and singing on his audition tape. This was obviously done after he was discovered, since the audition tape is from when he was just a regular guy hoping to launch a music career.

    TNN featured Randy Travis a couple of times. Here’s a very early interview and performance from when he was a rising star.

    Sadly, it’s been reported that Randy Travis is very ill right now with viral cardiomyopathy, a serious illness that has affected his heart. I know I’m not alone in hoping that Randy Travis makes a complete and speedy recovery.

    Incidentally, I also found a video starring a very young Alan Jackson on You Can Be A Star. He looks different today, but that voice is still the same.

  • Chart Check: 3/15/2008: Usher, Sara Bareilles, Ray J and More!!

    Courtesy of the good folks at Billboard, here are this week’s Top 10 singles and albums:
    Top 10 Singles:
    1) “Love In This Club” Usher feat. Young Jeezy
    2) “With You” Chris Brown
    3) “Low” Flo-Rida feat. T-Pain
    4) “Love Song” Sara Bareilles
    5) “Don’t Stop The Music” Rihanna
    6) “No Air” Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown
    7) “Sexy Can I” Ray J. feat. Yung Berg
    8) “Apologize” Timbaland feat. One Republic
    9) “Independent” Webbie, Li’l Phat & Li’l Boosie
    10) “Superstar” Lupe Fiasco feat. Matthew Santos
    Top 10 Albums:
    1) “Good Time” Alan Jackson
    2) “Sleep Through The Static” Jack Johnson
    3) “Discipline” Janet Jackson
    4) “Float” Flogging Molly
    5) “Warpaint” The Black Crowes
    6) “Thriller 25” Michael Jackson
    7) “New Amerykah: 4th World War” Erykah Badu
    8) “Little Voice” Sara Bareilles
    9) “As I Am” Alicia Keys
    10) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
    And now some observations:
    *Anyone notice that among the Top 10 albums, there are 3 Jacksons (and a Jack Johnson)? Now might be a good time for La Toya or Rebbie to start working on those comeback albums.
    *Sara Bareilles, with appearances on the singles and albums chart, is officially the first breakthrough album of 2008. With Alicia Keys and Erykah Badu joining her in the Top 10 (and Amy Winehouse just behind at #11), it’s a good time to be a female singer-songwriter.
    Video for Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song” here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MR5xv3pt7KI (explicit lyrics)
    *Proof that the gap between major labels and non-major labels is lessening, the two top debuts of the week (at #4 and #5) are both distributed independently. This is Flogging Molly’s first Top 10 album ever, and the Crowes’ first in well over a decade.
    *Usher spends a second week at #1 despite the fact that the video for “Love In This Club” hasn’t even been *shot* yet!! Who needs MTV??
    *And is Ush coming back to snatch the crown Justin Timberlake stole from him?
    *Jordin Sparks is the first “American Idol” champ to score two Top 10 pop hits from one album since…our very first “Idol”, Kelly Clarkson.
    *Backpack rapper Lupe Fiasco scores his first ever Top 10. His second album, “The Cool”, has already outsold his 2006 debut (in only 3 1/2 months of release).
    *Formerly known as Brandy’s little brother, singer/actor/adult film star Ray J. scores the first Top 10 pop hit of his decade-long career with “Sexy Can I”. The last time his big sister hit the Top 10 was back in 1999.

  • New Releases 3/11/08: Snoop, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, "Now 27" and More!!!

    Hey, what do ya know? A pretty decent-sized week for releases!! Sorry for missing out on last week, when Alan Jackson, The Black Crowes and Michael McDonald all released highly anticipated albums. But moving on…
    Remember when Snoop Dogg was just a young pup? Well, Long Beach’s #1 gangsta is releasing his 10th album today. “Ego Trippin’” is preceded by the smash hit “Sensual Seduction”, which finds the D-O-Double G singing T-Pain style over an Eighties-tastic groove (if you haven’t seen the video yet, hit YouTube now)! “Trippin’” features no involvement from Snoop’s longtime mentor Dr. Dre, but is executive produced by New Jack Swing founder Teddy Riley, so there’s a good chance that the results will be more interesting than 2006’s underwhelming “Blue Carpet Treatment”.
    Hip-hop fans will also delight (maybe) in new releases by NYC hardcore stalwart Fat Joe (the album’s called “The Elephant In The Room” and I refuse to make the obvious joke here) and similarly rotund Miami rapper Rick Ross (“Trilla”). Neither is my cup of tea, but hey, both guys sell records, so what do I know?
    With “American Idol” mania in full swing, it was only a matter of time before one of the judges released an album, and today brings the release of “Randy Jackson’s Music Club Vol. 1”. This compilation contains a who’s-who of pop music, from the long-awaited (I’m being sarcastic in case you couldn’t tell) return of Paula Abdul to “Idol” finalists Katharine McPhee and Elliott Yamin to pop royalty like Mariah Carey. Should be an interesting listen.
    “Now That’s What I Call Music” has become a musical institution in the past 10 years or so, and the 27th installment in the series arrives today. It features the latest hits by Rihanna, Chris Brown, Janet Jackson, Taylor Swift and many more. A wise choice if current Top 40 radio is your thing. As a companion piece, “Now That’s What I Call Music-80’s” also arrives today, bringing you classic smashes ranging from “Billie Jean” to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”.

    Also hitting stores today, singer/songwriter Kaki King, 2-disc greatest hits compilations from Barry White and The Cranberries, and the return of mid-Nineties two hit wonders The Presidents of the United States of America!! I’m in if they remake that “Peaches” song!!
    A full list of this week’s new releases can be found here: