LeAnn Rimes and Lorrie Morgan will be fighting their way up a different kind of chart later this year. Both singers are taking part in a relatively new country-music trend—book writing. It all started about seven years ago, when Ralph Emery’s Memories raced up the New York Times Bestsellers List. After the volume sold 400,000 copies, book publishers started singing a different tune about Music City. Since then, the success of Memories has been emulated by a second Emery book, and Reba McEntire, Naomi Judd, and George Jones have also done well with their own autobiographical tomes.
The activity only seems to be building. Travis Tritt, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings have all released autobiographies, and Tanya Tucker is currently promoting her new book, Nickel Dreams, published by Hyperion. Former Capitol Records president Jimmy Bowen will soon release his book, Rough Mix.
“The first book I did in 1989 was with Ronnie Milsap, and I could not find a publisher,” says Tom Carter, who has since coauthored books with Emery, McEntire, and Jones. “In 1988, I moved to New York City, where I tried to get a publisher. Their contention was, ‘Country fans don’t read.’ They don’t think that anymore.
“Publishers are very reactionary,” Carter continues. “[The publishing world] is like the TV industry; it’s in love with reproducing itself. Since Ralph had the hit, publishers have been storming the gates of Nashville trying to get country music stars to write their autobiographies.”
Carter says he gets calls weekly from publishers wanting to offer seven-figure advances to Garth Brooks. Carter and the William Morris Agency have both approached Shania Twain, but the singer says she isn’t ready.
“Alan Jackson and Vince Gill could sell a lot of books because each of them has a positive public image,” Carter says. “They’re family men. I think some members of the reading public are growing weary of the autobiographies that deal solely with decadence.”
Carter will collaborate with Rimes on a book-and-CD project called Holiday in Your Heart, about a young country singer who takes a break from touring to visit her ill grandmother during the holidays. Doubleday, which gave Rimes a seven-figure advance, will release the project this Christmas. According to Publisher’s Weekly, an audio recording of the book is pending.
In October, Ballantine will release Lorrie Morgan’s autobiography, Forever Yours, Faithfully, which will also include a CD of previously released songs. If this becomes a hit, look for more book-CD projects in the future. Morgan’s book will focus on her life with her late husband, country singer Keith Whitley, and the CD will contain songs from both Whitley and Morgan, as well as a duet. BNA Records will release a new Morgan album the same week as the book, allowing for dual promotion.
Already, McEntire and Tucker have both benefited from releasing albums and books at the same time. The additional output draws more attention to the acts and helps distinguish their records from other new releases. The books also give record-company publicists, promoters, and marketers more to talk about when pitching an act. “When there is more to talk about,” says Lorie Lytle, Capitol Records’ vice president of publicity, “people have more of a reason to write about you.”
For instance, Tanya Tucker spent the first half of this week in New York, appearing on CBS This Morning, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, The Charlie Rose Show, Access Hollywood, and NPR. She has already been on Oprah and Dateline NBC, and later this month, she’ll make appearances on Late Night With David Letterman, Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, and Larry King Live. In addition, she’ll be featured in People, Newsweek, InStyle, USA Today, and The Los Angeles Times. She’ll also adorn the covers of Country America and Country Weekly.
This media blitz is the result of yearlong planning by Hyperion, Capitol, and Tucker’s independent publicist. “We started planning a long time ago for these things to come out simultaneously,” Lytle says. “It made it much more of an event. Basically, book publishers roll out everything in the first 10 days of the book release, hoping it will become a best-seller. We were able to coordinate with them to try to do the majority of the media in these first two weeks, although we will certainly promote this album for quite some time.”
This onslaught of books about country music isn’t limited to volumes from the artists themselves. On the bookstands now is In the Country of Country, a Pantheon book by Nicholas Dawidoff that examines the historical roots of country music. Laurence Leamer will soon release Three Chords and the Truth, which will be published by HarperCollins. And Bruce Feiler will release Gone Country through Avon Books next year. All three men are nationally recognized authors who should attract significant attention to country music.
Clare Bisceglia is gathering information for her book, Eat and Grow Famous: Moms’ Recipes for Success, which will focus on the mothers of 20 singers, including Terri Clark, Joe Diffie, and Suzy Bogguss. The book will come out this fall on Cumberland House, which recently released Country Music’s Most Embarrassing Moments, written by Memphis journalist James Dickerson. Another country recipe book is in the works by Country America.
Last week, Crown Trade Paperbacks released The Cash Family Scrapbook by Cindy Cash, and Karen Will Rogers will release her book of photos of country stars and their pets in August. Finally, the Country Music Foundation will release its first-ever Encyclopedia of Country Music next fall.
With so many books coming out, it’s hard to believe publishers never thought of exploiting the country market before.
Brooks and Cook
Ronnie Dunn will soon step off the mic to join songwriter/producer Don Cook in producing Merle Haggard. They’re searching for songs now and will hit the studio in May. The project is being done through Tree Productions, a division of Sony/Tree/ATV, which is the publisher for all three men. The project will be shopped to the major labels.
Without a Trace
To the dismay of many journalists, Arista Records publicist Rhonda Forlaw is leaving the label to marry Trace Adkins in May. (Their engagement announcement ran in Sunday’s Tennessean.) Forlaw, who has been with the label virtually since its earliest days, was instrumental in landing Adkins a deal with Capitol.
