Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A new single and a star-studded tribute for George Strait

George Strait's next album -- titled, no kidding, Twang -- won't be available at fine stores everywhere until early fall. But if you simply can't wait for fresh Strait, check this out: "Living for the Night," the debut single from the King of Country Music's eagerly awaited CD, will be available to radio stations across the country tomorrow (May 28) at noon CDT.

But wait, there's more: A galaxy of country superstars will celebrate Strait tonight when CBS airs George Strait: ACM Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert. The two-hour special, set to begin at 7 p.m. CDT, will feature performances by Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Jamie Foxx, Faith Hill, Jack Ingram, Alan Jackson, Jamey Johnson, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Montgomery Gentry, John Rich, LeAnn Rimes, Blake Shelton, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Lee Ann Womack.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Happy Birthday, John Wayne!

Marion Robert Morrison -- a.k.a. John Wayne -- was born May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa. To commemorate the occasion, the Encore Westerns cable network is presenting a day-long marathon of The Duke's movies, climaxing tonight with a rootin'-tootin' double bill of Chisum (7 pm CDT) and The Cowboys (9 p.m. CDT). Coming soon to a newsstand near you: The July issue of Cowboys & Indians, which will showcase a tribute to John Wayne on the 30th anniversary of his death.

(BTW: Although many published sources refer to Wayne's middle name as Michael, Robert is what actually appears on his birth certificate. Honest.)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A duo of Duke double-disc DVDs



New in video stores this week: Double-disc DVD editions of two classic Westerns starring John Wayne, John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (co-starring James Stewart and Lee Marvin) and Howard Hawks’ El Dorado (with Robert Mitchum and James Caan). Released as part of Paramount Home Video’s “Centennial Collection” series, each film comes complete with photo galleries, souvenir booklets, optional commentary soundtracks, and behind-the-scenes documentaries. Director-historian Peter Bogdanovich contributes to the commentary tracks of both films – and, on Liberty Valance, shares archival recordings of interviews he did back in the day with Wayne and Ford.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sugarland snags five CMT nominations

Sweet news for Sugarland: The dazzling duo dominated the field Tuesday when Country Music Television announced nominees for the 2009 CMT Music Awards. Sugarland picked up five nominations, leading Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift with four each, and Rascal Flatts and newcomers Lady Antebellum with three nominations apiece. Winners will be announced June 15 during a live telecast of the CMT awards show in Nashville.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Honoring Heroes with Montgomery Gentry

Just in time for Memorial Day, Country music stars Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry -- a.k.a. Montgomery Gentry -- are teaming with Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores to help the Wounded Warrior Project help some deserving U.S. service personnel. For Our Heroes, a 12-song CD of new songs and familiar hits by Montgomery Gentry, will be available exclusively at all Cracker Barrel locations starting May 25. (You can pre-order your copy right now at the Cracker Barrel website.) A portion of the proceeds from each CD sale will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and enlisting the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured U.S. military men and women.

Like grandfather, like grandson

Thirty years after John Wayne galloped off into the sunset for the final time, his grandson, actor Brendan Wayne, will be be riding tall in Angel and the Badman, a made-for-cable remake of The Duke's 1947 Western classic. Set to premiere July 5 on the Hallmark Channel, the new film will star Lou Diamond Phillips as Quirt Evans -- the role originally played by John Wayne -- a wounded outlaw who gets a shot at redemption while taking refuge with a sympathetic Quaker family. Luke Perry -- who, like Phillips, has a passel of other Westerns to his credit -- plays Evans' lethal rival, and Brendan Wayne appears as the outlaw's ex-partner.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Hugh Jackman rides again

Hugh Jackman will be back in the saddle again, thanks to actress-turned-filmmaker Madeleine Stowe. According to the showbiz trade paper Variety, Jackman is set to co-star with Rachel Weisz and Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson in Unbound Captives, a Western about a woman whose husband is killed -- and whose two children are kidnapped -- by a Comanche war party in 1859. Jackman -- who rode hard and herded cattle in last year's Australia -- will play a frontiersman who comes to the distressed damsel's aid. Stowe -- whose credits as an actress include the feminist Western Bad Girls -- hopes to start production near the end of the year.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Kevin Costner rides again?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Costner is in negotiation with the A&E Network to produce -- and possibly co-direct, and act in -- a two-part, four-hour miniseries described as "a post-Civil War story covering a major conflict in the settlement of the West." Tana Nugent Jamieson, A&E's executive vice-president of drama programming, thinks the network has the right man for the right job: "Costner understands the Western better than anybody, and he respects the genre. He knows every bit of detail about the West; this is a genre he feels a lot of passion for. It's a perfect fit."

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

R.I.P.: Mark Landon (1948-2009)

C&I offers condolences to the friends and family of Mark Landon, son of Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie star Michael Landon, who was found dead Monday in his Hollywood home at age 60. (According to published reports, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident, though a police spokesperson has said there was no evidence of foul play.) As an actor, Mark appeared in three TV-movies during the 1990s, most notably Us (1991), the final project written and directed by and starring his father before Michael's death of cancer in 1991.

Friday, May 8, 2009

That's Doctor Dolly to you, pardner!

Still sassy and brassy -- and, of course, still curvaceous and flirtatious -- Dolly Parton never tires of joshing about two of her most prominent assets. On Friday, she received an honorary doctorate of humane and musical letters during graduation ceremonies at the University of Tennessee. Her first reaction: "Just think, I'm Doctor Dolly!" And then, with a saucy grin, she added: "So when people say something about 'Double-D,' they will be thinking of something entirely different." Well, maybe.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Lone Ranger rides again

After reviving the swashbuckler with his fabulously successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, producer Jerry Bruckheimer aims to reintroduce a classic Western franchise, The Lone Ranger, with Johnny Depp -- whose maternal grandfather, not incidentally, was Cherokee -- as Tonto, and, reportedly, George Clooney as the guy with the black mask and the silver bullets. Man, I am so there on opening day. My only question is, will they have someone as cool as Jason Robards to ask: "Who is that masked man?"