About HaleighT

HaleighT grew up in rural Sallisaw, Oklahoma, completely immersed in the country music lifestyle. She works with CMNB as our field assignment journalist, gathering concert reviews and exclusive interviews from every artist she can. When she's not out on the road, she's in our web studio filming "Takin' a Break With HaleighT" a short weekly opinion and news segment that launched in 2011.

Festival On The Border!

Fort Smith Is Sure To Be Rocking Tonight! Tonight I will be heading to Fort Smith, Arkansas for a show at the Riverfront Amphitheater! Dierks Bentley and the Randy Rogers Band will be playing at the first ever Festival On The Border. Gates open at 6:00 and the show starts at 7:30! I am pleased to say I will be doing an in-person interview with RRB later this evening. Be looking for a show review and what the band had to say in the next few days! Coincidently, this will be the first time I have been back to the venue since I was 17 years old. In honor of that here is Cross Canadian Ragweed and “17“. This is an all-time favorite of mine so y’all enjoy! [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR6pkU-_MK4&]

Chris Young Performs On The Late Late Show

Chris Young To Perform New Single “You” On The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. Chris Young has been going non-stop with touring and promoting his latest album Neon. This coming Monday, September 12, he will take time out of his busy schedule to perform is new single “You” on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. This is Young’s fourth national TV appearance since Neon has been released and no doubt will be something you don’t want to miss! The show will air on Monday night at 12:35am/11:35pm central on CBS. We’d also like to say congratulations to Young on his fourth #1 song “Tomorrow“, the GOLD certification of that song, the GOLD certification of his sophomore album The Man I Want To Be and his recent CMA Nomination for New Artist of the Year!

Blake Shelton God Gave Me You Video

Blake Shelton’s New Video for God Gave Me You! Blake Shelton has debuted the video for his latest single “God Gave Me You” off his recently released album Red River Blue! It is such a touching song that has a great personal meaning to the singer. He first heard the song driving home to Oklahoma during a rocky point in his life. He knew he had to record it and now we have a country version of the Christian ballad. If the video doesn’t touch your heart then you must have a cold one! The song alone is beautifully written, but the video gives me chills! A person can take the song many ways and the video shows us a few of them. Not to mention, the home footage of Miranda before their wedding day gives an inside look at their strong relationship. The video is lovely so watch it now! =) [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCf2PoTuh4Q&feature=youtu.be]

George Strait Amarillo By Morning

Amarillo By Morning, Amarillo I’ll Be There. This week we are shining the spotlight on George Strait! In honor of his 39th album release, Here For A Good Time, and his love for team roping we decided to take you back to a simpler time with “Amarillo By Morning“. This song is a George Strait classic and one of my all-time favorites! Here we see King George in his younger days when he was just getting started. Who would have thought he would accomplish so many things and set so many standards for what country music is today…

JB and the Moonshine Band Interview

JB and the Moonshine Band Talk About “Chasin Rainbows”! Hayden McMullen, Gabe Guevara, Chris Flores, and JB Patterson make up what is JB and the Moonshine Band. I first heard of these guys after a small fishing trip this spring. A close friend and country music fan played me a couple songs and said I should check into them for work. A short while later, after hearing their whole album, I decided I had to see them live. Of course the first opportunity I had was a show at my favorite venue on Dickson, George’s Majestic Lounge (they know how to pick entertainment!) in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I sat with the band and asked some pretty generic questions, but was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t given generic responses! JB is very dedicated and passionate about his work and anyone who disagrees can just ask what he was doing a few years back. Even though he had a successful career in advertising, something was missing. Being more intrigued by music led him to take a chance and follow his dreams. The singer/songwriter held an open audition and had 3 people show up, it was obviously fate and the Moonshine Band was formed. Chris, Gabe, Hayden and JB have been rolling down the road ever since. JBMB is a fairly new band, they are around two years old and in what they call the “toddler” stage. They must have been watching some of those Baby Einstein videos or something because they seem to have their act together! They may not always have a packed house, but they always have a happy crowd and leave with a few more fans than they came in with. They love what they’re doing, have plenty of energy and fun on stage and this is what keeps people at their shows. JB writes all the songs for his band and helps out fellow artists when need be. Casey Donahew reached out to the front man a while back and together they wrote what is now the title track to the Casey Donahew Band’s upcoming album. JB said when you write with someone you never know how it will turn out, but he was thrilled with Casey’s excitement for their creation! “Double Wide Dream” can be heard now at www.caseydonahewband.com. I asked for some crazy stories from different shows and was told that there are plenty of stories, but sometimes its hard to keep them all straight. JB said it was more like “One big, huge, colossal show and that show is awesome!” Not only are these guys musically talented, but they are very polite and freaking hilarious! If you don’t believe me, pop on over to YouTube and check out their videos. Here is one that is particularly close to my heart (as you will see in this Friday’s episode of Takin’ A Break With HaleighT)… [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoToe8IXkgs] Their first album, Ain’t Goin Back to Jail, was released in 2010 and includes a collection of love ballads and comical, Continue reading JB and the Moonshine Band Interview

Craig Campbell Family Man Contest

Craig Campbell Helps Out Fellow Family Men In A Big Way! Craig Campbell’s first single, “Family Man“, hit close to home with people everywhere. After such huge responses from fans writing in, posting on facebook, and commenting on youtube the “Give A Hand To The Family Man” contest was created. The contest was advertised on CMT and several radio stations. To enter, fans had to submit an essay talking about the hero in their life. The CMT winner had their rent paid for an entire year and the radio station winners had their bills paid for a month. Campbell knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle and thought it was important to help in any way he could. Here is the touching video that gives us a peak of the families that were chosen. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyQUWaDmy6Y]

Neal McCoy New Album

Neal McCoy Records 12th Studio Album. Neal McCoy is doing what he does best, making music! The charismatic singer has been in the studio and will be releasing his newest album XII in January. There is an obvious reason for the title of the album…it is his 12th studio album, that will be released in the year 2012, and will include 12 songs! The collection is being produced by Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and Brent Rowan. “Having Miranda and Blake involved in this project is ‘Huge’ for me. Not only do they have great vision, but they know when to have fun and when to get serious along with being Fantastic musicians.” -McCoy The man who gave us classics like “Wink“, “No Doubt About It“, “They’re Playin’ Our Song“, “The Shake“, and “Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On” is sure to have some more hits up his sleeve! The first single “A-OK“, will hit radio in October of this year and was written by Barry Dean, Luke Laird and Brett Eldredge. This will also be McCoy’s first record with his new label, Blaster Records.

Blake Shelton God Gave Me You Video Preview

Get a Sneak Peak at Blake Shelton’s Upcoming Video for God Gave Me You! Blake Shelton‘s “God Gave Me You” music video is here! Well, almost. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9jbin1usr8] Yes, this video is only 30 seconds long, but it is called a TEASER for a reason! Hopefully it won’t be much longer until the full length video is available. It looks like it is going to be a good one, and how could it be bad with such powerful lyrics?! In case you can’t get enough of Blake, here are a few more short, funny videos! [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT67RZcJ1rU] [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNDZZbzlDJE]

George Strait Hits Collection

King George Set To Release Icon! George Strait is set to release an album of 11 of his biggest hits on September 13. Icon will be sold at a special price and goes on sale a week after his new studio album, Here For A Good Time, debuts. Be looking for a review of the new album in the next few weeks! Track Listing 1. “Amarillo By Morning” (1983) 2. “Ocean Front Property” (1987) 3. “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” (1987) 4. “Love Without End, Amen” (1990) 5. “I Cross My Heart” (1992) 6. “Check Yes Or No” (1995) 7. “I Just Want To Dance With You” (1998) 8. “Living And Living Well” (2002) 9. “Give It Away” (2006) 10. “I Saw God Today” (2008) 11. “River Of Love” (2009)

Josh Abbott Band Interview

Josh Abbott Band Comes To George’s Majestic Lounge In Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Josh Abbott Band headlined at George’s Majestic Lounge this past Saturday, August 27, where the Texas based band had the garden amped up for the first weekend of the college semester. I met up with the guys that afternoon for a short interview. Josh Abbott (vocals, acoustic guitar), Preston Wait (fiddle, electric guitar), Edward Villaneuva (drums), James Hertless (bass), and Caleb Keeter (electric guitar) all sat with me and graciously answered my questions. They told me how George’s was one of their favorite places to play outside of Texas and that this was their 6th time playing at the Dickson Street club. They have previously opened for the Randy Rogers Band and the Eli Young Band at the venue, both bands that JAB looks up to. Along with RRB and EYB, Wade Bowen is another veteran that they admire. Each has taught them different things, from business, to life on the road, to interacting with the fans. The guys all agreed that festivals with lots of bands are always fun because they feel more like family reunions. I asked each member what they would be doing if music hadn’t of worked out and each had very different answers. Preston would more than likely go into the family business of farming, James would work in computers or photography, Josh would finish grad school, Caleb might become a radiologist and Edward would be in law enforcement. Thankfully they are successful at what they do and proved that to Fayetteville Saturday night! The show went great! The college town was having a blast and singing along to every song. There were numerous “Hog Calls” which was a treat for guitarist Caleb, an Arkansas native. “Oh Tonight“, “She’s Like Texas“, “Good Night For Dancing“, “All Of A Sudden“, “If You’re Leaving (I’m Coming Too)”, “Miss You Again“, “I’ll Trust You“, and “Taste” were included in the set list. The last song of the night was their latest single “My Texas“. This song features another friend and leader of the Texas Music world, Pat Green. It’s kind of a late 90s, throwback, bucket list type of song. The guys said it is really awesome because fans will tell them what they have done and what they have left to do on the song’s checklist. “My Texas” will be on their upcoming album which is set to be released on February 14. Also on the album will be the sequel to their very talked about, racy “Taste“. The second part to the scandalous, yet passionate song is titled “Touch” and was written by Josh Abbott, Jay Clementi and Radney Foster and should be hitting radio towards the end of November or beginning of December. “We just like having fun with the fans.” These boys said it and they really do mean it! They have been known to buy a round for the bar, cheers to the fans, pass out free shirts or koozies, and Continue reading Josh Abbott Band Interview