Names and faces
Country star Jason Aldean rarely has time to be a tourist when he’s touring, but during a recent trip to New York, he and his wife, Brittany, found some downtime to walk around the city. The crowds afforded the Georgia- born singer a little anonymity that he doesn’t always get back home. “I can go wherever here and you just kind of blend in with everybody else,” said the reigning Academy of Country Music’s entertainer of the year. “When there are a hundred people walking down the street, you just kind of slip on in there.” A couple of nights later, Aldean and Kid Rock headlined a doubleheader at Boston’s Fenway Park in front of tens of thousands of fans. As one of country music’s biggest digital artists, Aldean decided to keep his new album off streaming services for a month, including Tidal, where he is one of the artist- owners along with Jay Z, Beyonce, Madonna and others. He doesn’t think songwriters, producers and musicians are being compensated fairly through streaming services. “Instead of people paying $ 10 an album, they are paying $ 10 for a million albums,” Aldean said. “You can only split $ 10 so many ways until there is really nothing left.” Although he says he understands why music fans are drawn to streaming, he said the practice has devalued music. He removed all of his music from Spotify for a year, but he felt as if he was the only artist in Nashville to take a stand that “sort of backfired.” “In reality, I am trying to look out for everybody else,” Aldean said. “And I turn around I am the only guy holding the flag.”
A life-size bronze tribute statue to the late singer- songwriter riter Glenn Frey of the Eagles has been installed in the Standing On The Corner park in Winslow, Ariz. The statue depicts a long- haired, mustachioed Frey — the way he looked in the early 1970s. It joins a statue that many feel looks like Jackson Browne that has stood in the city’s downtown area since the late 1990s. Browne and Frey co- wrote the Eagles’ song “Take it Easy” in 1972. Two morning- radio personalities from Phoenix classic- rock station KSLX — Mark Devine and Paul Marshall — helped fund the $ 22,000 Frey statue, along with the Standing on The Corner Foundation and the city of Winslow. Last weekend’s installation ceremony kicked off Winslow’s annual Standing On The Corner music festival.