In The News - Merle's Tour Bus For Sale - Reba Hawking Chicken - Nashville Scene Winners

An old tour bus once owned by Merle Haggard goes on to the auction block in Texas; Reba McEntire got promoted to Colonel and is hawking Smoky Mountain BBQ chicken and weekly publication "Nashville Scene" asked over 90 country music critics for their best of 2017. 



Merle's Bus
Ever fancied on riding in a country music star's tour bus? What about owning one and taking it for a ride through the Texas Hill Country. On February, 10th Burley Auction Gallery in New Braunfels is putting a 2008 Motor Coach Industries (MCI) bus, once owned by Merle Haggard up on the block.

Besides the regular outfittings (master bedroom, bunks, lounge area) the bus also has some custom made features. The late Merle Haggard was a huge train buff, so the sides of the bus are adorned with Santa Fe Super Chief insignia and the bus, according to the Austin American Statesman even has a vintage train horn installed.

In 1969 Haggard released a tribute album to the "Singing Brakeman," Jimmie Rogers called "SAME TRAIN, A DIFFERENT TIME" and followed with another album lauding trains seven years later with "MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH TRAINS."
The cover of that album also depicts some of Merle's model trains and beside the Dolly Parton penned title track, contains Merle's lament about the disappearance of trains, "No More Trains to Ride".

The video below must have been filmed by the previous owner, it looks like they used Lago Vista airport outside of Austin for a backdrop.
Update: Today (1/29) I did get an update from Robb Burley from the Auction Gallery
 "The bus was ordered new by Merle in 2006 & was delivered in 2008. Merle toured in it until 2015 when he traded it in on a bus he only had a few months before he died on his birthday April 6, 2016. Photo of the original title to Merle is on the website. The bus has over 350,000 Merle miles on it. A custom seat has the armrest wear out there by Merle. Comes with a built-in authentic train whistle. The bus was acquired by the current owner & consignor of the bus when Merle traded it in. They tried unsuccessfully running it on eBay twice. Bidding will open at $100,000. It should land north of $200,000 easily even if it wasn’t owned by Merle. The bus shows road wear but is in excellent working order and in good condition. The custom tags were added when registered in Texas."
More info at Burley Auction Gallery




Colonel McEntire

Several firsts mark the new campaign for "Smoky Mountain BBQ" from Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). For the first time, it's a music star and a woman who will play the role of grey-haired and mustached KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders.

Beginning tomorrow (1/28) new ads featuring Reba McEntire will air on television and computer screens in the US to hawk KFC’s new Smoky Mountain BBQ line of fried chicken.

“With Reba’s southern roots and entrepreneurial spirit, she truly embodies the values of the Colonel and the crowd-pleasing flavor of our Smoky Mountain BBQ,” Andrea Zahumensky, Chief Marketing Officer for the fried chicken chain was quoted in the press release. ”

“I’ve held a lot of roles in my life – sort of like the Colonel himself – but this is certainly the most unique one yet,” McEntire iterated in the release.







Nashville Scene Country Music Critic’s Poll

For the 18th time, weekly publication "Nashville Scene" asked 94 guest music critics for their favorites of 2017. As no big surprise, most mainstream Nashville bubble artists got ignored, Jason Isbell and his 400 Unit came out as the big winner with "Best Album of the Year" for "The Nashville Sound," "Best Live Act," "Best Songwriter," and being "Artist of the Year." Isbell came in second behind Chris Stapleton as "Best Male Singer"  the female counterpart being Lee Ann Womack.

Midland was voted best new act in front of Tyler Childers and Carly Pearce; their Grammy-nominated song "Drinkin' Problem" also got the honors as "Single of the Year."  Little Big Town was the only mainstream winner in the Duo / Group category.

An interesting factoid mentioned in the publication is that "five of the top 20 singles on Billboard’s year-end chart (Kane Brown’s “What Ifs,” Dustin Lynch’s “Small Town Boy,” Dylan Scott’s “My Girl,” Florida Georgia Line’s “God, Your Mama and Me” and Jason Aldean’s “Any Ol’ Barstool”) failed to gain a vote from any critic."

For a full list of the winners, visit Nashville Scene's website.

Sources: Austin American Statesman, Burley Auction Gallery, YouTube, KFC Press Release, Nashville Scene

"Chances Are" Lee Ann Womack Surprises You

Quite as a surprise comes the "new" video by Lee Ann Womack of her fabulous 2014 album "The Way I'm Livin'." The featured song, Hayes Carll's "Chances Are" was already featured for almost a year and a half as a record studio performance video by record company Sugar Hill on YouTube and released as a single in October of last year, but with no remarkable chart action. The song and its album performance were also nominated for this year's Grammy Awards for Carll as "Song of the Year" (Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose won for Lady Antebellum's "Girl Crush") and "Best Country Solo Performance" (Chris Stapelton won for "Traveller".)

The record label, Sugar Hill got sold in March 2015 to the Concord Music group and that's where things get a little bit speculative, as the new video is released by user "ccountry93" and not a record label.

But by all means, that doesn't really matter, it's a killer song and Roger Pistole did a great job of capturing the singer in some really nice "high key" shots, with sun almost putting an eerie, blinding light to capture the lyrics of uncertainty:

I have watched the world go by, hand in hand
And wondered why I’m still so alone
Could I lay down my foolish pride
And maybe finally find my heart a home

That it was filmed at Texas oldest dancehall, Gruene Hall in New Braunfels helps too, instead of the flash and thunder this has become a calm, soothing video, putting the emphasis on the song and not on the surroundings. As an extra, it's cool to see Owen Temple's poster on the wall at Gruene.

On her website Womack is quoted: “Roger and I wanted to do something that was a departure, but also captured the essence of Texas, that vibe it has… and also how people can feel so isolated by their own decisions. We knew it was unconventional, but it really captures what the song is holding – and it shows the Texas that’s not so obvious, but has so much soul to it."

CMT picked the video up and premiered it for a week, before it's availability on YouTube. Let's hope that the video creates enough buzz to make that single finally crack the charts and being recognized for what it really is - a "classic" country song.



Here's the original by Hayes Carll recorded at 2010 Americana Music Festival