(PHOTOS: Danny Clinch) Explore the May/June Issue On the day he moved to Nashville, Tim McGraw stepped off a Greyhound bus with a guitar and a suitcase. He arrived inauspiciously around 3 a.m. on May 9, 1989, and checked into small room at the Hall of Fame hotel, a few blocks off Music Row. The [...]

Tony Bennett Duets II (Columbia) Rating: The comparison certainly isn’t an automatic one, but Tony Bennett has lived the life of a big-time rock ‘n’ roller. Think about it. He created a multi-generational standard (“I Left My Heart in San Francisco”), covered a stone-cold country hit (Hank Williams’ “Cold Cold Heart”), spent years on top [...]

(Photo: Vicky McGehee accepting an award for Gretchen Wilson’s “When I Think About Cheatin’” from BMI CEO Del Bryant) Thousands of hopefuls come to Nashville each year in search of songwriting success, but very few who actually stay ever end up doing anything related to the music industry. But when Vicky McGehee came to Nashville [...]

It had to happen eventually. Chris Martin, husband of Country Strong actress Gwyneth Paltrow and leader of multi-platinum English rock act Coldplay, may soon be making waves in the country music world. Martin, who’s collaborated with Jay-Z and Kanye West, has written several songs with Faith Hill, Hill’s husband Tim McGraw told Chelsea Handler on [...]

BMI crowned Taylor Swift its Songwriter Of The Year Tuesday night at the performance rights organization’s annual awards ceremony. The 20-year-old juggernaut became the youngest songwriter to capture the honor in the organization’s history. Last week Swift dropped her highly-anticipated new album Speak Now, which moved more than a million units in its first week [...]

Last night’s Nashville Rising benefit concert, featuring country music’s biggest stars, was an epic affair, lasting five hours. Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Miley Cyrus, and Carey Underwood were just a few of the acts who took the stage at the Bridgestone Arena, supported by McGraw’s backing band the Dance Hall Doctors, to perform for victims [...]

President Obama has invited Paul McCartney to the White House next week, where he’ll be honored by the Library of Congress with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. McCartney will perform songs from his vast catalog, as part of a special tribute concert featuring Jack White, The Jonas Brothers, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, Faith Hill, [...]

Keith Urban To Headline Nashville 4 Africa Benefit