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'True Grit' remake proceeds apace

Look like all those rumors about a remake of True Grit... aren't just rumors. According to the showbiz trade paper Variety, filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (Oscar winners for No Country for Old Men) are scheduled to start production next March -- for a late 2010 release -- with Jeff Bridges filling in for John Wayne as grizzled lawman Rooster Cogburn. Matt Damon reportedly is "in talks" to co-star as the Texas Ranger played by Glen Campbell in the original 1969 film -- which, like the remake, was based on a novel by Charles Portis. And Josh Brolin may sign on to play the chief villain of the piece. No word yet on who will portray the feisty young woman played in the '69 original by Kim Darby. But the Coens insist their version will be “more faithful” to Portis’ novel than the film that helped The Duke win his one and only Academy Award. Maybe it will. But, dang, talk about having a tough act to follow…

Paisley plans to bring Nashville to prime time

Country superstar Brad Paisley is branching out into prime-time TV as the co-writer and co-executive producer of Nashville, a potential weekly dramatic series under consideration by the CW Network. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show would focus on two ambitious up-and-comers in Music City: A young female singer on the fast-track to success, and a young male songwriter whose career has yet to take off. Paisley is working on the project with One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn, and reportedly plans to contribute a few songs to the series’ soundtrack. There’s also talk that other Country stars might drop by for occasional guest appearances. We hope that works out better for Nashville than it did for Nashville 99.

Garth Brooks un-retirement update

It’s official: In a joint statement today out of Las Vegas, Garth Brooks, the No. 1 selling solo recording artist in U.S. history, and Steve Wynn, chairman of the board and CEO of Wynn Resorts, announced plans for Brooks to present a series of “special engagements” at the Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas starting Dec. 11. “Steve Wynn did what I thought was impossible,” Brooks said. “He has given me a chance to sing again for the people, while at the same time never missing a day with my children. I am naturally nervous, but it feels good to be out from under the low ceiling of ‘retirement’ I put on myself."

For Wynn, signing Brooks to perform at his Vegas is the fulfillment of a long-time ambition fueled by unabashed admiration. “Everything about Garth’s performances—his artistry, the range of his voice and connection with his audience—is something that I haven’t seen since the Rat Pack,” Wynn said, referring to the celebrated ensemble of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. “In show business, for a single performer to lift an entire audience emotionally to the point where they pray it doesn’t end, is an extraordinary and unique thing that only a few gifted people can do. But that is what I experienced when I saw Garth on stage, alone with his guitar, doing a history of his personal journey in music. I watched a man create instant love in real time, right before my eyes. Now we have the privilege at Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas to share this extraordinary, intimate experience with everyone.”

Tickets go on sale Saturday, Oct. 24, at 11 am. ET, 8 a.m. PT. The tab: $125 plus a $5 service charge and $13 tax. Confirmed concert dates: Dec. 11-13, Jan. 1-3 and 22-24, Feb. 12-14 and 26-28. Tickets can be ordered by calling (702) 770-7469, or on-line here.

Garth Brooks: Viva Las Vegas!

How are you going to keep Garth Brooks down on the farm after he’s heard from Las Vegas? Well, evidently, you can’t: The country music superstar announced Thursday morning that he’s coming out of self-imposed retirement, after years of spending quality time with his three daughters and wife Trisha Yearwood at their 2,000-acre spread just northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma. During press conferences in Nashville and Las Vegas, Brooks revealed that his first post-retirement gig will be “an extended engagement” at the Las Vegas’ Wynn Resort –- where, it’s safe to assume, the reservation-desk phones already are ringing off the wall. “We’re going to take the retirement roof off over our head,” Brooks promised. “And I already feel taller.” Even so, don’t be too quick to assume there’s a new Garth Brooks album in the offing. (There isn’t.) And there are no immediate plans for any cross-country tours. Indeed, during the Nashville press conference, Brooks sounded as though his Vegas gig might be his way of testing the waters before considering any future activity. "I know this is a young industry," he said, "so I'm not sure I'll be welcomed back. But, if the fans want me, I still want to pursue my music."

Strait talk from The King of Country

Coming soon to a newsstand near you: Country music icon George Strait, the focus of a cover-story profile in the December issue of Cowboys & Indians. In an exclusive Q&A with C&I, Strait talks about roping and ranching in South Texas -- and singing and songwriting for Twang, his 26th studio album. An instant No. 1 smash hit when released in August, Twang features four songs written or co-written by the King of Country’s son, Bubba Strait, who tells C&I that he’s very happy to be working in the “family business.” He and his famous father “like all the same stuff, so we seem to agree on music, too, for the most part,” Bubba says. “I’m writing a lot more than him, though, because sometimes he’d rather go play golf. But you can’t blame him. Besides, he needs the practice!” Look for the December issue of Cowboys & Indians wherever fine magazines are sold starting Oct. 20.

Greetings from Bandera!

I had a rootin’-tootin good time this weekend in Bandera, Texas, where they observed the National Day of the American Cowboy with songs and celebration, trick roping and quick drawing, and an induction of honorees for the new Texas Heroes Hall of Honor at the Frontier Times Museum. It was an altogether great excuse for me to goof off with some great and gracious people.

Return to the Valley

A big-screen version of The Big Valley -- the popular 1965-69 TV Western starring Barbara Stanwyck as the proud matriarch of a 1870s ranching family -- is set to start production next April on location in Michigan and New Mexico. Sound promising, doesn't it? But, really, who can they get to fill Miss Stanwyck's boots? Helen Mirren? Meryl Streep? Judi Dench?

Another ride for The Duke?

Everybody knows that John Wayne's last movie was The Shootist, right? Well, maybe not. Maybe the real curtain-closer for The Duke's career is a science-fiction Western -- no kidding! -- called Thunder Riders of the Golden West.

Western Writers tips their Stetsons to Gunsmoke, Lonesome Dove

According to members of the Western Writers of America, a nonprofit organization of more than 600 scribes, the Greatest TV Western Series of All Time is – drum roll, please! – Gunsmoke, the enduring popular drama starring James Arness as the slow-talking, straight-shooting Marshal Matt Dillon. But wait, there’s more: The WWA has also honored Lonesome Dove, the Emmy Award-winning 1989 miniseries based on Larry McMcMurty’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, as Best TV Western Miniseries/Movie.

Winners in both categories – voted by WWA members, with ballots tabulated at the WWA offices at the University of New Mexico – were announced Thursday, June 18, during the association’s annual convention in Oklahoma City. "Gunsmoke teleplays won six Spur Awards from WWA, and McMurtry's novel also won a Spur, so neither choice is a surprise," WWA President Johnny D. Boggs says. "Many of our members study Gunsmoke episodes and Lonesome Dove, both the novel and the miniseries, as examples of great writing."

Rounding up the top ten in the Greatest Series category was Maverick at No. 2, followed in order by Rawhide, Bonanza, Have Gun, Will Travel, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, The High Chaparral, Death Valley Days and The Virginian. Centennial was second in the Miniseries/Movie category, followed by The Sacketts, Conagher, Monty Walsh, Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett, The Last Stand at Saber River, Broken Trail, Riders of the Purple Sage and Into the West.

You can see the complete list of 50 titles in either category here. And you can see the WWA’s 2008 list of 100 Greatest Western Movies of All Time – topped by Shane – here.

CMA Music Festival news: Hot stars, big crowds

Taylor Swift and Jamey Johnson will be among the galaxy of Country music stars performing this weekend at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville. What sets them apart from the crowd? Music writer Chet Flippo insists that they're "the best things to hit Country music in recent history." And he makes a strong case for that claim here.

Looking elsewhere: The Tennessean notes that roughly 52,000 people a day are expected in downtown Nashville Thursday through Sunday for the various CMA festivities. But even more folks will be converging at another musical extravaganza nearby. And not just because Merle Haggard will be performing there.

Jack Ingram -- the subject of a "Live From" Q&A in our June issue -- is looking forward to signing autographs and performing for fans at the CMA Fest. "Only in country music do the artists come together to celebrate the fans," Jack says. "To see all the stars coming together in a place and throwing a party for the fans, well, that's cool. I love being part of letting the people who love this music know how much they mean to us."

R.I.P.: David Carradine (1936-2009)

David Carradine worked with everyone from Ingmar Bergman to Quentin Tarantino, Charlton Heston to Rob Schneider, Tom Selleck to Mel Gibson, in movies and TV series of wildly uneven quality, in just about every conceivable genre, during a screen acting career that spanned five decades. But it’s the role that made him a ‘70s icon – Kwai Chang Caine, the mystical martial artist adrift in the Wild West of Kung Fu – for which he remains, now and likely forever, best known. He seemed to be a good sport about being so closely identified with Caine, even to the point of more or less reprising the character in an updated ‘90s spin-off series (Kung Fu: The Legend Continues) and frequently spoofing it in various movies and TV commercials. But he also demonstrated his versatility in an impressive variety of roles while amassing scads of credits as a steadily employed character actor. That he often appeared in Westerns -- Heaven with a Gun (1969), Macho Callahan (1970), The Long Riders (1980), and Last Stand at Saber River (1997), among others -- seemed altogether appropriate for an actor who made his first major breakthrough as the lead in Shane, the short-lived but fondly remembered 1966 TV series based on George Stevens' classic Western film. He also played the bad guy who tried to get medieval on Chuck Norris in Lone Wolf McQuade, which you can watch here.

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

After rounding up some rave reviews at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo -- Bradley Beesley's close-up look at cowgirl convicts who compete in the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo -- has been lassoed by HBO Documentary Films. The film is tentatively set for a September broadcast premiere on the Cinemax cable network. Director Beesley talks about Sweethearts in the July issue of Cowboys & Indians. And he can be seen (and heard) along with producer James Payne in this video clip.

Patrick Wayne remembers his dad, The Duke

While recalling life with his famous father during a recent interview with Cowboys & Indians, Patrick Wayne noted that, even though he appeared opposite The Duke in several films – most notably, The Searchers, Big Jake and The Comancheros – John Wayne seldom offered his son much in the way of acting tips.

“My father wasn’t big on advice,” Patrick says. “In fact, I would say that anything I gleaned from him, or learned from him, were lessons given by his behavior rather than what he said.”

Patrick remembers getting an invaluable opportunity to learn by example while watching his father on the set of Hondo, the gritty 1953 Western based on Louis L’Amour’s novel. By the time The Duke had to shoot a key scene in which he shoed a horse while conversing with leading lady Geraldine Page, “My dad had worked out every detail of how you actually shoe a horse – how you handle the horseshoe, how you approach the horse, all that – so he could just do it all without thinking about it, and just carry on the scene, which is the important thing. See, if you have to do something like that, but you hesitate at any time because you have to think about what you’re doing, the audience is going to know that something’s wrong. They may not be able to put their finger on it, but they’ll know something is not right.”

Unfortunately, Patrick recalls with a laugh, he had to have that lesson reinforced while acting opposite his father in The Comancheros, a 1961 Western that cast him as a Texas Ranger.

“We had shot this scene where there was a camera moving alongside me while I’m riding on a horse. And I was bouncing up and down all over the place. And it was even more exaggerated because the camera was so close up. Well, we watched the scene dailies, and my dad got kind of mad, and he told me: ‘Man, you’re going to have to learn how to ride a horse, or you’re getting out of this business.’ It was a humiliating experience.

“And so I spent a lot of time of time over the next few days on my skills. So when they shot the scene again later – I was much better.”

Patrick joins his siblings Ethan, Melinda and Marisa Wayne to pay tribute to their father in the July issue of Cowboys & Indians, on sale June 9 at fine newsstands everywhere.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.