Member Since: 3/2/2014
Posts: 14,961
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Quote:
Originally posted by Val
Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift and country's twang heard around the world
Country musician Brad Paisley's first tour of the United Kingdom in 2000 didn't leave him much to write home to West Virginia about..
Paisley and the other acts on the tour flew commercial airlines and saw their precious band gear stashed into the jet's regular luggage holds. The hotels were spartan, the venues were small and they were lucky if the promoters would give them a soundcheck before taking the stage.
"I remember thinking, 'What am I doing?'" Paisley said. "Knowing who I am in America, what am I doing here?"
These days, Paisley is finding a warmer reception overseas. He first noticed the thaw in 2010 when he booked a show in London.
"I was told, 'You'll be playing a small venue and it probably won't sell out,'" Paisley said.
But tickets went so fast a second show was added and sold out. When Paisley returned to London in 2011, he was booked at the O2 arena. "I said, 'Are you kidding me?' They sold 10,000 tickets. That's a good night in America. It feels like the tip of the iceberg."
For decades country acts rarely toured abroad, with exceptions for superstars such as Johnny Cash. But it's now one of America's hottest musical exports.
One measure of the shift: Of the 100 highest-grossing concert tours of 2011 worldwide, according to the concert-tracking service Pollstar, 11 were country acts. Two years later, 15 broke that threshold, selling more than 300,000 concert tickets outside the U.S. last year.
Another factor: Country music these days is a little less country, and a little more pop. Crossover superstars such as Taylor Swift helped make traditional country instruments such as steel guitars and banjos more accessible to foreign audiences.
It's a phenomenon that probably started half a dozen years ago when Taylor Swift emerged as a major international artist," said Bob Shennan, director of music for three BBC Radio stations. "She came to the U.K. being very much a country artist, then came back and came back and grew a real fan base and now has morphed into the biggest pop act on the planet at the moment."
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
Yup. I listened to the leaked version, and I had decided to save the bonus tracks for when I bought the album. That way I had something to look forward to upon album release. 
If LP5 leaks like RED did, who will listen to it?!  |
Me 
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@ me pronouncing it exactly that way 
