iTunes Tutorial

I know there has been some confusion as far as iTunes goes, so I thought I'd give a little iTunes tutorial (with picures!) to help those out who have never used it and aren't familiar. It is very easy to obtain iTunes, all you need to do is go to apple.com/itunes and follow the prompts to download it. Once you get it installed, it is VERY easy to use. When you get it up and running, with music, it'll look like this...

On the left is playlists I have set up, the artwork of the music I am listening to at the moment (which you can also print out to look like a cd cover), an area for all my podcasts, and a link to the iTMS. On the right is my library of music, which can be organized any way you want, just by clicking on the tabs above (artist, album, song, etc).
Just click on "Music Store" on the left and you can access the iTunes Music Store (or iTMS for short).

Once you are inside the iTMS, you can browse and buy til your hearts content. It is also very easy to create an iTunes account. All you need is a credit card, even a debit card will work (that is what I use to pay for my account). Once you have an account set up, all you need to do is click "download" when you find a song that you want to purchace, and iTunes will automatically download that song (or album) for you.


As you can see above, you can either download by the song, or by the album. Sometimes if it is a special package, you'll have to buy the album to get some of the content and the song will be labled "album only".

Another misconception about buying songs from iTunes is that you need an iPod to listen to the songs you buy away from your computer which isn't true. You are able to burn songs you buy onto a cd that is playable in any cd player. I believe you can burn an album in the same sequence up to 10 times.

If anyone else has any other questions, feel free to email me and I'll try my best to help you. If you want to own the music, I want to make sure you have access!

Here In the Real World

Well, I'm back from a whirlwind vacation down to Austin for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Even though I am beyond wiped, I feel revived after seeing so much great music from a slew of bands....Spoon, Keane, The Frames, The Fiery Furnaces, The Walkmen, Bloc Party, Jet, Death Cab For Cutie, Robert Randolph, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis, Doves, Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, Franz Ferdinand, Jack Ingram, Wilco, Dierks Bently and Coldplay. Jack, Wilco and Dierks were holding it down for country in the crowd and did it well.

Now that I'm back, we have a little matter to discuss in the ways of a little CMT contest. Thanks to all of those who entered! Drumroll please......and the winner is....Greg Van Beek! Congrats to Greg, and your prize will be in the mail soon.

Sounds like things could be getting interesting around here....

iTunes Originals

Lee Ann recently sat down with the iTunes Originals crew here in a Nashville studio to talk about her career and record 6 original versions of some of her hit songs. Past artists that have done an iTunes Originals session include Alanis Morissette, Sting, Ben Folds, R.E.M., Moby and the Black Eyed Peas, with Lee Ann being the first country artist included in the series. Original songs recorded for the session include Never Again, Again, I May Hate Myself In the Morning, I'll Think Of A Reason Later, I Hope You Dance, The Fool and the Patsy Cline classic, She's Got You. Lee Ann introduces each song, and spends some time giving some history behind the song and her thoughts in general. It is a great intimate look into Lee Ann's career by Lee Ann herself, and a must for every fan!

Visit iTunes now to access Lee Ann's iTunes Original.

Last Chance Honey

This may be our last chance to get He Oughta Know That By Now up the charts. I think the song might be losing a bit of steam, which is where you guys come in. Call and email your local stations, as well as get the vote out as hard as possible over the weekend. I know you guys can do it....you've done it for months on end. I'll let you know where we stand on Tuesday.

I'm off first thing in the morning for something I haven't had in a VERY long time...a vacation! Headed to Austin for 3 days to enjoy a ton of great must at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Have a good weekend everyone! Request! Request! Request!

The Contest

Lee Ann will be performing tomorrow night on CMT's 100 Greatest Duets and I've got a great giveaway to go along with the show! Tune into the show tomorrow night at 8pm ET/PT and check out Lee Ann's performance. Afterwards, hop on her message board at CMT.com and let everyone know what you thought of the performance. Email me a copy of your post and I'll enter you into the contest for a GREAT prize....a poster from the Duets show signed by not only Lee Ann, but most of the artists that are performing on the show. Deadline for the contest is Monday, September 26, and I'll draw a random winner from all of those who enter. Good luck!

You Better Work, Covergirl!

Check out mom and daughter as they work it on the red carpet for Fashion Week in NYC. Hard to believe that is little Aubrie. I've known her since she was 9....they grow up so quick!

The single is still working its way up the charts this week and now sits at number 18. Have you called your local radio station today to request the song? How about voted for KZLA's top 7 at 7? Click over to the right and help us out!

Human Behavior

I have a lot of things to talk about today, but I wanted to get something out of the way first. Last night when I finally tracked Lee Ann down to tell her congrats (around midnight! she never stops!), she congratulated me as well, saying that the nominations are as much mine as they are her's. If anything shows what a great person the LAW is, that certainly does. Nice, eh?

Ok, let's get down to business. Since there is so much going on, I'm going to bullet this out. You know how much I like it!

-The press release I put excerpts up on here yesterday has run at just about every major online entertainment portal. I'm even getting IMs from friends in LA who say they came across it every 5 seconds. Great to see all the exposure!

-This year for the first time ever, fans will be able to purchase tickets to the CMA's. Tickets are $250 a piece, and are available through Ticketmaster starting September 17. There will be other various activities going on that week so if you've always wanted to visit NYC, this would be the week to go and take it all in. And take it from me (a former NYC resident!), you'll have a blast.

-The CMT 100 Greatest Duets show will air on September 17. I can't say yet who LAW sings with or what she sings, but she does sing 2 songs. Tease, I know! I've also got a great prize to give away from the show. Stay tuned for details.

-LAW wrote a diary entry last night while we were talking, and it is posted now. Sounds like even though she isn't feeling 100%, she's still having a good time. I'm picturing her and Aubrie on the front row at a fashion show, and laughing out loud.

That's all for today's installment of "Crazy Busy Week!". Join us next week after we catch our breath and recap all of the excitement surrounding the CMA nominations.

Morning Bell

Well, it has been quite the busy morning here in Camp LAW. A quarter til 2 and I'm just now catching my breath from it all. I have spoken with a few folks from the camp who are with Lee Ann and they said that while she is feeling under the weather, she's a trooper and is giving many interviews throughout the day. I'll keep you posted where she pops up. For now, the standard press release is circulating the web and the more important parts read as follows....

Brad Paisley and Lee Ann Womack led the nominees for the Country Music Association Awards Wednesday, snaring six apiece, including single of the year for their hits "Alcohol" and "I May Hate Myself in the Morning." Womack, who returned to her country roots with the retro album, "There's More Where That Came From," was on hand to announce the nominations along with Urban in New York, where the awards will be presented for the first time on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at Madison Square Garden. Womack was nominated for single and music video of the year for "I May Hate Myself in the Morning," album of the year, female vocalist of the year, and also got two nominations for musical event of the year for her duets with George Strait and Willie Nelson. Urban joked about Womack's many nominations. "You were not available for this one, apparently," the singer said as he read the nominees for vocal group of the year.

Also announced today was a concert benefiting the American Red Cross featuring Lee Ann and various other country artists pairing up with some of Broadway's greats during CMA Week in NYC. Full story can be found here. Sounds like it is going to be an amazing night!

CMT Live!

9:40 CT - Brian Mansfield and Robert Ormann are weighing in on the nominations. According to Brian, Lee Ann's 6 nominations is the most by a woman since Faith Hill in 2000. Read that sentence again, and marvel with me.

9:35 CT - Katie just interviewed Sugarland and went to commercial. After the break, they are going to be interviewing a few "music insiders" (funny, they didn't ask me....). Will be interesting to see what they say about the LAW. 6 nominations though! Wow!

9:30 CT - Video Of the Year! Single Of the Year! Song Of the Year! Vocal Event Of the Year! (for both Good News, Bad News and I'll Never Be Free) Female Vocalist Of the Year! Album Of the Year!

9:25 CT - Lance Smith fills uncomfortable amounts of time until the director of the CMA Ed Benson announces Lee Ann. She looks beautiful as always. Fingers crossed everyone!

9:15 CT - Katie Cook is introducing the show. She kicks it to Lance Smith, has some odd technical difficulties, and now we're headed to commercial.

From CMT.com

CMT will televise the announcement of the final nominees for the 2005 CMA Awards live on Wednesday (Sept. 7) at 10:15 a.m. ET during a special edition of CMT Insider. Keith Urban and Lee Ann Womack will reveal the final nominees in all 12 categories during a press conference at Time Warner Center in New York City. CMT's Lance Smith will cover the event live from New York City while CMT's Katie Cook will be joined in Nashville by one of country's hottest new bands, Sugarland. The announcement will air exclusively on CMT. The 39th annual CMA Awards will be broadcast live from New York City's Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15 on CBS.

I'm going to do my best to live blog the announcements tomorrow for those who aren't able to tune in. Here's to hoping Lee Ann calls her name out many times!