The 21-year old Midtown mom killed it on American Idol tonight with her version of Aretha Franklin’s “Never Loved A Man.”

Even Simon Cowell was impressed, comparing Grace to Kelly Clarkson and calling her
a potential “dark horse in this competition.”

CA arts critic Christopher Blank caught up with the singer for an interview that appeared in today’s newspaper.

Said Grace, “My dad is a Memphis musician. I’ve been around soul and blues all my life. There’s always been musicians coming and going in my house. Ann Peebles is a big influence of mine. You know, and Stax records from back in the ’60s. I love that era. As far as my style, I’d say it is soul and a little bit of country in there too. A little twang.”

Go here for the rest of the interview.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Music Foundation is mounting a “Vote for Memphis Music” campaign to support Grace and Lil Rounds, another local American Idol finalist who is slated to appear on live TV later this week.

The Fox TV program is shining a light on Memphis in other ways: 28-year old Jackie Tohn opened tonight’s broadcast with her version of Elvis’ “A Little Less Conversation”, while 22-year old Nashville resident Ann Marie Boskovich weighed in with a take on Aretha’s “Natural Woman.”

The 2009 Folk Alliance Conference starts tomorrow at 11 a.m.  If you’ve never attended the conference, which will be held at the Downtown Marriott Hotel, it’s well worth the $250 per day (or $750 for all 5 days) admission — hundreds of musicians, including John Sebastian, Rodney Crowell, Kathy Mattea, Charlie Louvin, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Albert Lee, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, are scheduled to play. 

Go here to read CA writer Bob Mehr’s interview with performer/keynote speaker Roger McGuinn — pictured above with his 1960s-era group the Byrds. And go here to read my interview with 17-year old Pennsylvanian Brittany Ann Tranbaugh, who will be traveling more than 1,000 miles to appear at the event.  

While this is an international conference, with musicians from all over the world networking and performing, there’s plenty of Memphis in the mix, including: 

1. Screenings of the Memphis jug band documentary Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost, slated for tomorrow at 3 p.m. and Thursday at 2 p.m. 

2. An open mic set hosted by the Memphis Songwriters Association.

3. The Kids Show, on Thursday at 11:30 a.m., with Memphis host Darin Hillis and a performance from Valerie June and Jason Freeman.

4. An interview with legendary musician — and former Memphian — Charlie Louvin on Thursday afternoon.   

5. An interview with onetime Elvis sideman, guitarist James Burton, on Friday afternoon. 

Also: panel discussions with the likes of new Memphis Music Commission head Johnnie Walker; Memphis International record label owners David Less and Bob Merlis; producers Jim Dickinson,  Jeff Powell, and Scott Bomar; Oxford attorney Tom Freeland,  and performances from Valencia Robinson, Nancy Apple, Valerie June, Jimmy Davis, Blair Combest, Jed Zimmerman, Deering and Down, Holly Cole, Caleb Sweazy, William Lee Ellis, Cory Branan, Susan Marshall, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dan Montgomery, Andy Cohen, and more. 

In conjunction with the conference, The Folk Alliance will also present a number of concerts and events that will be open to the public at various venues around town.

The Center for Southern Folklore will host a free performance by Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart with special guests Act of Congress and Deering & Down on Feb. 20. On Feb. 21, the Center will welcome The Ebony Hillbillies along with Valerie June and Andy Cohen. Both shows start at 8 p.m. 

The Hi-Tone Café offers a pair of shows starting with a Feb. 20 bill featuring the Duhks, Hoots and Hellmouth and 2 Mule Plow. The following evening, Small Faces legend Ian McLagan brings his Bump Band in for a concert. The bill will also include a performance by Jack Oblivian & the Tearjerkers. 

On Feb. 21 at 3 p.m., Ardent Studios will host a creativity workshop featuring banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck and drummer Amir “?uestlove” Thompson of hip-hop band The Roots. The event is free. For more information, call 725-0855.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the boards of Live Nation Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. toiled through the weekend as they got closer to approving an all-stock deal to combine the two companies.

Describing the merger as “a move that would change the music industry,” the WSJ reports, “If final issues are cleared up, an announcement could come Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. The new entity is to be called Live Nation Entertainment Inc. — not Live Nation Ticketmaster, as previously reported — and is to be overseen by a combination of senior management and board members from each constituent company.”

What does this mean for us concertgoers?

According to this article on Wired, the deal “could lead to a dramatic change in how event tickets are sold: from the fixed price norm that often results in quick sellouts for popular shows to an auction-based model that legitimizes what scalpers have always done.”

Wired reporter Eliot Van Buskirk interviewed LiveStub co-founder/CEO Michael Hershfield, who said, “This deal is not in the best interest of fans. This deal would mean that Live Nation would have direct access to Ticketmaster’s ticketing solution, including its resale marketplace TicketsNow. Live Nation could potentially harness Ticketsnow and begin to offer performers the opportunity to list tickets on the resale system without ever listing in the primary market.”

From Wired: Last week, Ticketmaster weathered a storm that could be a sign of things to come, if the merger goes through. When it sold tickets to a Bruce Springsteen show through TicketsNow, rather than through its primary ticketing system, the company drew ire from both The Boss and the federal government.

Springsteen complained about his fans being subject to a “bait and switch.” When they went to Ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets at their $95 face price, many were directed to Ticketsnow where the tickets were priced as high as $2,000. As a result, Ticketmaster faces a regulatory probe — and that’s before it even gets the chance to try the same approach with all of Live Nation’s tours.

“At 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster they were all sold out, then at 10:01 a.m. the same tickets are on TicketsNow for double the price,” said Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York), who is looking into the issue, said in a statement. “We want to find out: how did they become available at TicketsNow so fast?”

Not only would the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster allow the combined company to expand this strategy of selling tickets only via auction, but it could also effectively rule out the rest of the secondary market for tickets (StubHub, LiveStub, eBay and so on).

Ticketmaster’s Ticketsnow service includes a driver’s license verification system, meaning that it could make itself the only place where the tickets can change hands.

To generate your own concert ticket, like I did above, go here.

The good folks at the Memphis Music Foundation are hosting a free workshop tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 10) at 1PM. It’s happening at the Musicians Resource Center, which is located downtown, at 431 S. Main, Suite #201. Lawyer/MouseRocket bassist Hemant Gupta and Ardent Studios’ own Elizabeth Montgomery are gonna be on hand to discuss music publishing, licensing, and copyrighting — if you’re an up-and-coming songwriter, producer, or artist, you can learn a lot from these folks. Seating is limited, so if you want to attend, email info@memphismeansmusic.com.

I just got an email from the folks behind the SXSW 2009 Music and Media Conference (which is slated for Austin, Texas on March 18-22), announcing the first round of scheduled performers. On the list: Memphis’ own Al Kapone, the Bar-Kays, Free Sol, and 8Ball & MJG, pictured above.

Over the last 20-plus years I’ve resided in Memphis, I’ve thought a scheme or two that the city leaders have dreamed up were failed Simpsons episodes plotlines. Stuff from Matt Groening’s cutting room floor. Ideas that were too stupid to fly even in Springfield.

You know, like the crystal skull that workers found bolted to an i-beam in the apex of the Pyramid. Jerry “the King” Lawler’s crusade for mayor, which culminated on election day with the wrestler driving around town in a dune buggy that towed a giant crown (no disrespect, Lawler — you know I love you). And yep, the giant Bass Pro Shop that may or may not open in the now skull-less Pyramid.

But as cool as it might’ve sounded to the Bill & Ted, Wayne & Garth set, I am relieved that Memphis never fell for as foolhardy a concept as the Hard Rock Park, 55 acres of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Eagles themed rides located on 140 acres of prime Myrtle Beach real estate.

According to this handy timeline, the $400 million rock’n'roll amusement park opened its doors on April 15, 2008 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy less than 6 months later.

Today, after failing to attract a single offer, the Hard Rock Park converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, turning over all assets to a trustee for liquidation.

That’s right — attractions like Reggae River Falls, the Magic Mushroom Garden, Garage Jam! (an indoor foam ball pit), the Bohemian Rhapsody, and a truly hideous replica of Mount Rushmore featuring Elvis, Bob Marley, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix will be on the auction block soon.

Go to Myrtle Beach Online for the full story.

If it weren’t so serious, this would be like the plot of Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe…

In late December, a few weeks after guitarist Corey Osborne was killed in a 1-car crash, DJ Squeeky was injured in a car wreck.

On New Year’s Day, singer Ruby Wilson suffered a mild stroke.

And on Tuesday, Elvis co-hort — and former “Talent Party” host — George Klein got banged up when his car hydroplaned on this way to Tunica.

Be careful out there, folks. The world can be a dangerous place.

The Pig, Flinn Broadcasting’s adult album alternative station, which debuted in the summer of 2000 then disappeared a few years later, is back on the air at 96.1 on your FM dial. Or, go here to listen online.

Thanks, everybody, for the kind comments after my last post. Fortunately for me, 2008 ended with a whimper, not a bang — and I’m ecstatic to have made it to a new calendar year.

A few topics from the end of ‘08 are still lingering in my inbox:

First, Delaney Bramlett died on Saturday, Dec. 27. The iconic singer-songwriter was born in Pontotoc, Miss. in 1939, and worked with a wide range of artists including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, George Harrison, Dave Mason, Billy Preston, Jackie DeShannon, the Everly Brothers, and Etta James. He co-wrote “Let It Rain” with Eric Clapton, and “Superstar” with Leon Russell — my favorite version of the latter is by Sonic Youth. He and his first wife, Bonnie, a former Ikette, recorded their second album, Home, for Stax Records.

Second, the 30th anniversary of the death of Big Star founder Chris Bell was Sunday, Dec. 28. Go here to read CA music editor Bob Mehr’s piece, which includes interviews with Ardent Records founder John Fry and David Bell, Chris’ brother.

Third, Mehr and CA freelancer Mark Jordan compiled year-end lists. Go here and here to read ‘em.

Fourth, the students at the Stax Music Academy put on Go Down Moses, an apparently killer tribute to Isaac Hayes on Thursday, Dec. 18. Sorry I missed it! Go here for Jordan’s review.

Fifth, the legendary DJ Squeeky was hospitalized after a car wreck at the end of Dec. According to MemphisRap.com, Squeeky blacked out at the wheel after taking a dose of cough medicine. Snark all you want, but the man was genuinely sick — and now he’s faced with a broken hip, broken facial bones, and bumps and bruises.

A: So the musician would have a place to put his beer!

All kidding aside, in today’s paper, reporter Jim Masilak talks to Russell Coltharp, owner of Coltharp Piano World, located in Berclair. Service, not new piano sales, are what’s keeping this store, founded in 1968, open.

Reports Masilak: Not long ago, Coltharp’s would have sold from 20 to 30 pianos over the holidays. This year, Russell said, he has zero scheduled purchases.

Why buy a new piano for tens of thousands of dollars when you can buy a used or restored instrument — or for that matter, an electric keyboard — for a fraction of the price?

It’s on the service side where Coltharp’s present and future success lies. Besides being a concert pianist, Coltharp is also a master technician, and his business has developed a reputation throughout the Southeast and beyond for the quality of its maintenance, restoration and concert service.

“It’s a labor of love. It’s a passion,” Coltharp said as he tickled the ivories on his pride and joy, a Bösendorfer Imperial Grand, which is notable among other things for its nine sub-bass notes. “This is my life.”

Coltharp has built a formidable reputation as a traveling technician for Harry Connick Jr. and Jim Brickman, and he supplied all 37 pianos used (and, in a few cases, destroyed) during the making of the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire.

Go here for the rest of the article.