by Brad Schmitt
Brad Schmitt is a longtime Nashville entertainment journalist, having shared the goods on Music City’s most interesting people in the newspaper, on TV, and online for more than 15 years. Every week, Brad hits country fans with the latest news from Nashville and the lives of their favorite country artists.
Keith says he would’ve started on reality TV if he could’ve
So you’ve probably heard Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland wrestling with this whole idea that singers can get started these days on shows like American Idol.
After all, Jennifer has said to reporters, she had to start by playing club gigs in a van full of sweaty guys. That’s why she hesitated at first when asked to be a mentor for ABC’s Duets.
But Keith Urban says he had no such hesitation to be on the Australian version of The Voice.
“A lot of people are so quick to say that’s a cop-out, you have to work the pubs and clubs to pay your dues, but honestly, if we didn’t have to, would we?” he tells Australia’s Herald Sun, laughing.
“Nobody wants to go and starve for 10 years. Nobody chooses that,” he said. “That was just my lot. That’s what it took for me. And if some other bugger comes along and does it in a year, you know what? Fantastic.”
Keith says that reality TV contestants face challenges that he never did in getting started.
“These guys aren’t getting an easy ride. I don’t know what sort of courage it takes to get up there – the idea of doing that is something I find so intimidating and nerve-racking. I don’t think anyone gets out of paying their dues – you just do it in different levels,” he said. “Maybe it’s in front of an arena full of people instead of a pub full of people. Wherever it is, you’re still learning in the trenches. For me the trenches were tiny little pubs and clubs in front of very few people and it slowly got bigger and bigger and bigger. Nowadays it might be just on television in front of millions of people – that’s where you are going to fall on your a— or you are going to rise to the occasion.”
Keith remains supportive of all the contestants on his show, even those that Keith didn’t work with.
He was quite gracious to winner Karise Eden, mentored by British pop singer Seal.
“Huge congrats to Karise and Seal. SOOO deserved . Love you Australia!!!!” Keith tweeted Monday (June 18).
Taylor works with rapper and well-known video director
OK, so we all know that Taylor Swift loves to collaborate with rappers, pop stars and rockers.
And it’s no surprise that a rapper named B.o.B was in Nashville to shoot a music video with Tay-lo last week (June 14). B.o.B. and Taylor got together to make the rapper’s latest single, called “Both of Us.” And it’s actually kind of a sweet summer song.
In fact, the picture that B.o.B. tweeted is a sweet shot of him and Taylor sitting in chairs outside a country house. MTV even posted a pic from the video of Taylor in a field of flowers.
How sweet!
The video director, Jake Nava, hasn’t always been country homes and fields of flowers.
Nava also put together the sexy-but-safe video for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” which has had an amazing 179 million views on YouTube!
Not quite as popular — Nava also made a controversial video for Kanye West’s song “Monster,” which included images of dead women hanging by chains from a ceiling. Whoah!
That was a little much for MTV, which banned the video.
So far, though, with this video – all sweetness.
B.o.B. says it’ll come out later this month.
Kenny tells his mom he’s sorry for “disappearing on her”
We all know Kenny Chesney as the fun-lovin’, feel-good country artist, who is now on a rowdier-than-usual tour with longtime friend Tim McGraw this summer.
But Kenny put down the beach balls and the beer for a minute to get serious with The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.
Kenny admitted that he has grown apart from those closest to him. And he’s hoping to fix that.
“In the last 10 years of my life, the people I was closest to, I’ve also had this indefinable sense of disconnect with,” he says.
“I had a long talk with my mother this past Christmas and told her I was sorry for disappearing on her, and that was a hard, tough, good conversation to have. It wasn’t that I was intentionally disappearing, I was just busy. And she and all of them knew that. But I got to a spot in my life where that’s not OK.”
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