Music: Country singer: Goes "The Sound of Music" with Carrie Underwood playing/singing Maria von Trapp

Pix: Sony Music Nashville

GreatAmericanCountry Dec2,2k12)

Carrie Underwood will star in the coveted role of Maria von Trapp in NBC’s live broadcast of “The Sound of Music,” based on the original Broadway musical, it was announced today by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment.  The live telecast of “The Sound of Music” will be a three-hour event on a date to be announced near the holidays in 2013.

NBC is partnering with the acclaimed “Smash” producing team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (film versions of the Oscar-winning “Chicago” and “Hairspray”) for “The Sound of Music.”  The pair also is producing the upcoming “85th Annual Academy Awards.”

“Speaking for everyone at NBC, we couldn’t be happier to have the gifted Carrie Underwood take up the mantle of the great Maria von Trapp,” said Greenblatt.  “She was an iconic woman who will now be played by an iconic artist.”

“We’re thrilled to be presenting the Broadway version of ‘The Sound of Music’ live,” said Zadan and Meron, “and having Carrie Underwood as the star brings it to a new generation who will fall in love with it for the first time as many millions of people already have.  It’s a particular joy to us as producers to see this amazing artist stretch into new territory with this classic musical.”

“To have a star like Carrie Underwood perform Maria in ‘The Sound of Music’ – and in such a very special and unique production — is exciting beyond words,” said Ted Chapin, President, Rodgers & Hammerstein. “Part of the magic of Rodgers and Hammerstein is how their work has adapted itself to so many different incarnations, and I am certain the fresh spirit Underwood brings to her own songs will transition into exciting versions of the classic songs we all know and love.”

“The Sound of Music,” set in pre-WWII Austria, is based on the romantic true story of Maria von Trapp, an aspiring nun who leaves the abbey to become a governess for the widower Captain von Trapp’s seven children and finds herself falling in love with her employer and questioning her religious calling. It premiered on Broadway in 1959, where it broke box-office records and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The 1965 film version won the Best Picture Oscar.  Today it is an evergreen classic — as popular in opera houses and outdoor amphitheaters as it is in high school auditoriums. “The Sound of Music” features a libretto by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse and a score by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) that includes “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweiss,” and “So Long, Farewell.”

Music: Country Music USA: Top 20 Country Hits this week

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Great American Country (email newsletter) June14,2k11

GAC host Nan Kelley caught up with Carrie Underwood backstage at the Grand Ole Opry during their star-studded CMA Music Festival show on Tues. June 7, 2011. Photo courtesy of GAC Staff.

GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown went to the Grand Ole Opry with host Nan Kelley to catch up with Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Darius Rucker, Lady Antebellum, and Jerrod Niemann as the Opry kicks off this year’s CMA Music Festival. If you missed Friday’s premiere, check the schedule to catch a re-air throughout the weekend!

It’s a week of hellos and goodbyes on the countdown. We say hello to new videos from Brad Paisley, Jennette McCurdy and Dierks Bentley while we bid farewell to a few countdown mainstays likeSara Evans‘ “A Little Big Stronger,” Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson’s “Don’t You Wanna Stay” and Blake Shelton’s “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking.” Blake still has a video on the countdown, but “Honey Bee,” after a couple of weeks atop the charts, has fallen to No. 2 with Taylor Swift’s “Mean” taking the top spot.

This Week’s Chart:

1. Taylor Swift – “Mean”
2. Blake Shelton — “Honey Bee
3. The Band Perry – “You Lie”
4. Chris Young – “Tomorrow”
5. Keith Urban – “Without You”
6. Rascal Flatts – “I Won’t Let Go”
7. Brad Paisley – “Old Alabama”
8. Martina McBride – “Teenage Daughters”
9. Billy Currington — “Let Me Down Easy”
10. Luke Bryan – “Country Girl Shake It For Me”
11. Ronnie Dunn – “Bleed Red”
12. Justin Moore – “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away”
13. Sugarland – “Tonight”
14. Eric Church – “Homeboy”
15. Jennette McCurdy – “Generation Love”
16. Dierks Bentley – “Am I The Only One”
17. Brantley Gilbert – “Country Must Be Country Wide”
18. Darius Rucker – “This”
19. Due West – “When The Smoke Clears”
20. The Doobie Brothers – “World Gone Crazy”

GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown premieres every Friday night at 8/7c with re-airs throughout the weekend. Click here for a complete schedule.

Music: CountryUSA: Here's the latest chart of the Top 20 in the genre

Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley rehearse on Monday, Nov. 8 at the Bridgestone Arena in Downtown Nashville for “The 44th Annual CMA Awards,” which werewi broadcast live on the ABC Television Network on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 8-11PM/ET. Photographer: John Russell / CMA.

Top 20 Country Countdown counts down the week’s top country videos from No. 20 to No. 1 as voted by viewers on each week onGACTV.com. A new countdown premieres every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on GAC and airs again Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET; Sundays at 1 p.m. ET; and Mondays at 10 a.m. ET. Viewers can vote for their favorite videos, as well as purchase Top 20 artists’ albums and ringtones at GACTV.com.

THIS WEEK’S CHART:

1. Carrie Underwood “Mama’s Song”

2. Jason Aldean “My Kinda Party”

3. Zac Brown Band “As She’s Walking Away”

4. Taylor Swift “Mine”

5. Blake Shelton “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking”

6. Miranda Lambert “Only Prettier”

7. The Band Perry “If I Die Young”

8. Sara Evans “A Little Bit Stronger”

9. Reba McEntire “Turn On The Radio”

10. Keith Urban “Put You In A Song”

11. Chris Young “Voices”

12. Bo Bice “You Take Yourself With You”

13. Sugarland “Stuck Like Glue”

14. Trace Adkins “This Ain’t No Love Song”

15. Toby Keith “Bullets In The Gun”

16. Lady Antebellum “Hello World”

17. Joey + Rory “That’s Important To Me”

18. Kenny Chesney “The Boys Of Fall”

19. Eric Church “Smoke A Little Smoke”

20. Steel Magnolia “Just By Being You (Halo And Wings)”

-- Country Gal

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Music: CountryUSA: Here's the latest chart of the Top 20 in the genre

Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley rehearse on Monday, Nov. 8 at the Bridgestone Arena in Downtown Nashville for “The 44th Annual CMA Awards,” which werewi broadcast live on the ABC Television Network on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 8-11PM/ET. Photographer: John Russell / CMA.

Top 20 Country Countdown counts down the week’s top country videos from No. 20 to No. 1 as voted by viewers on each week onGACTV.com. A new countdown premieres every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on GAC and airs again Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET; Sundays at 1 p.m. ET; and Mondays at 10 a.m. ET. Viewers can vote for their favorite videos, as well as purchase Top 20 artists’ albums and ringtones at GACTV.com.

THIS WEEK’S CHART:

1. Carrie Underwood “Mama’s Song”

2. Jason Aldean “My Kinda Party”

3. Zac Brown Band “As She’s Walking Away”

4. Taylor Swift “Mine”

5. Blake Shelton “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking”

6. Miranda Lambert “Only Prettier”

7. The Band Perry “If I Die Young”

8. Sara Evans “A Little Bit Stronger”

9. Reba McEntire “Turn On The Radio”

10. Keith Urban “Put You In A Song”

11. Chris Young “Voices”

12. Bo Bice “You Take Yourself With You”

13. Sugarland “Stuck Like Glue”

14. Trace Adkins “This Ain’t No Love Song”

15. Toby Keith “Bullets In The Gun”

16. Lady Antebellum “Hello World”

17. Joey + Rory “That’s Important To Me”

18. Kenny Chesney “The Boys Of Fall”

19. Eric Church “Smoke A Little Smoke”

20. Steel Magnolia “Just By Being You (Halo And Wings)”

-- Country Gal

Music: Country: If I've got a celeb fave, it's country-music songstress Carrie Underwood

Guess who's up to bat in Nashville? It's one of my few celebrity favourites, Carrie Underwood. She's up to bat in another sense too, as she'll be "batting it out" when she takes the stage at the Country Music Association's festivel, opening on June 9 and continuing thru the 13th. (The pix is actually from a 2009 event but CMA sent me this in the RSS feed I get from them in my email ... thanks CMA!)

Country Music, by Countrygal

 In Nashville, she'll be joined on stage by dozens of established and rising stars, many of them young fellows, and young gals too. Many more will be in the audience. If you want to join in summer mass events of festivity and h+-jinks, you m+t want to ante up some cash and make a trip to one of the great centers of country music and other genres, like Gospel, and the general crossover Christian taste-and-market niche, which overlaps with many genres -- since Christian music is not defined by a musical genre as such.  

Many country-music singers and bands function in both festivals, or coud if they wanted to.  But it doesn't matter so much to what association you belong.  For me, it's more a matter of whether the Gospel comes thru sometimes in the music, a given song or a theme in the overall body of work, recordings, and performances -- when it reflects personal experience, especially.

While I've got your attention, here's the June 4 country-music chart:

1. Carrie Underwood “Temporary Home”
2. Miranda Lambert “The House That Built Me”
3. Kellie Pickler “Makin’ Me Fall In Love Again”
4. Reba McEntire “I Keep On Lovin’ You”
5. Lady Antebellum “American Honey”
6. Clay Walker “She Won’t Be Lonely Long”
7. Emily West “Blue Sky”
8. Danny Gokey “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me”
9. Luke Bryan “Rain Is A Good Thing”
10. Martina McBride “Wrong Baby Wrong”
11. Laura Bell Bundy “Giddy On Up”
12. Tim McGraw “Still”
13. Jewel “Stay Here Forever”
14. Brad Paisley “Water”
15. The Band Perry “Hip To My Heart”
16. LoCash Cowboys “Here Comes Summer”
17. Jaron & The Long Road To Love “Pray For You”
18. Kenny Chesney with Brooks & Dunn “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone”
19. Joe Nichols “Gimmie That Girl”20. Craig Morgan “This Ain’t Nothin"