Stagecoach 2012: The wrap-up, stats, random moments

Final stats, thoughts and impressions from the 2012 Stagecoach Country Music Festival that took place Friday through Sunday at the Empire Polo Club in Indio:

• Indio Police spokesman Ben Guitron said his department and other city emergency teams overall were "very pleased" with new measures taken to alleviate traffic problems going in and out of Stagecoach. Shuttles to and from area hotels helped considerably, he said, even though far fewer attendees used shuttle buses than those who attended Coachella two weekends earlier. Close to 25,000 people used the shuttles during Coachalla, only around 3,000-4,000 did so at Stagecoach. But more Stagecoach-goers camp in adjoining campgrounds than at Coachella.

Guitron reported a total of 139 arrests as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the vast majority for alcohol-related offenses. That compared to 134 arrests on the first weekend of Coachella, and 102 on its second weekend, mostly for a combination of alcohol and drug issues. The most serious incident was a sexual assault on a 17-year-old girl, who was attacked by three men on her way into Stagecoach on Friday night. The girl was taken to a local hospital and treated. The three men fled, and Indio Police are investigating, asking anyone with information on the incident to call (760) 391-4057.

PHOTOS: The scene at Stagecoach 2012

• One key logistical change this year was the cordoning off of several “standing room only” sections of lawn near the stage but behind the reserved/VIP seating area immediately in front of the Mane Stage where all the big guns played, including Brad Paisley, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Sheryl Crow and Alabama. It allowed more fans closer access to the festival’s headliners. In years past, die-hard Stagecoach goers would arrive early, much like the homesteaders of yore, and plant blankets and lawn chairs, occupying in all areas close to the main stage. The new standing room sections allowed more mobile festival goers to check out performances on the Mustang and Palomino stages and still be able to get relatively close to the main stage acts after sundown. Goldenvoice capped the ticket sales this year at 55,000.

• Favorite instrument of the weekend: the gas-tank bass cobbled together and employed Sunday by Split Lip Rayfield member Jeff Eaton, a single string variation on the old-school washtub bass, the version used a day earlier by San Fernando Valley’s Old Man Markley.

• Favorite T-shirt slogan of the weekend: “Rehab Is for Quitters.”

• Festivals such as Stagecoach and Coachella often serve as weekend soundtracks for those who aren’t totally immersed in the music. One woman sat near the back of the lawn Friday night during Aldean’s closing performance, far enough that the audio from the stage and the video on the bank of screens near her were a couple of seconds out of sync, and happily read a book on her Kindle.

Stagecoach 2012: Some highlights -- Miranda Lambert, Dave Alvin

After a relatively low-key first day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival on Friday, with just a half-dozen acts on a single stage, the music kicked into high gear Saturday. On the second day, all three stages were up and running with 17 more acts representing country, pop-country, alt-country and every other type of hybrid country music under the desert sun.

That's downright modest compared to the total sensory and schedule overload of the 143 acts that played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival for the two previous weekends, but still enough to create some hard choices among simultaneously scheduled performers.

For instance, do you catch 85-year-old bluegrass master Ralph Stanley at the expense of a rare chance to hear singer-songwriter J.D. Souther, one of the architects of the Southern California country-rock sound that's been the template for much of what's been coming out of Nashville for the last two decades? And then miss out on rising Texas singer songwriter Sunny Sweeney, who was on the Mane Stage at the same time as Stanley and Souther?

PHOTOS: The scene at Stagecoach 2012

Such are the dilemmas of Stagecoach 2012.

One solution: in a music festival equivalent of culinary grazing, attempt to get a representative, if truncated, sampling of as many bands as possible.

Here are some highlights from the first two days:

-- Miranda Lambert: The sassy Texas singer-songwriter headlined on Saturday with a performance that firmly demonstrated why she’s become a full-blown star. All the elements are clicking for her: fresh and insightful songwriting, commanding stage presence and a wonderfully distinctive voice, all working together in service of celebrating and empowering the predominantly female crowd that makes up country’s core audience.

-- Dave Alvin & the Guilty Ones; You'd be hard-pressed this weekend, or any weekend for that matter, to hear songs that reach deeper or ring truer than Alvin's portraits of people who often struggle without earthly reward for their efforts. Whether on his old Blasters/X classic "Fourth of July" or a more recent song such as "Black Rose of Texas," Alvin unfailingly hits the mark.

John Fogerty's new album revisits Creedence classics with guests

For John Fogerty’s next album, due this fall, the former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman will revisit his old band’s deep catalog of hits in new collaborations with rock, pop and country duet partners including the Foo Fighters, Miranda Lambert, My Morning Jacket, Bob Seger, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley.

“Wrote a Song For Everyone” also is slated to include new Fogerty songs, set alongside Creedence touchstones such as “Fortunate Son” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain” from the band's most successful period in the late '60s and early '70s.

The new project shows Fogerty fully embracing his artistic legacy; for many years after Creedence disbanded in 1972, he refused to perform the group’s songs because of legal issues with his former record company. He famously refused to play with former band mates Doug Clifford and Stu Cook when Creedence was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. The fourth original band member, guitarist Tom Fogerty, John's older brother, died in 1990.

Fogerty eventually began performing Creedence material again during his live shows, and last September in New York played Creedence’s albums “Green River” and “Cosmo’s Factory” in their entirety over the course of a two-night stand.

The new album, which also will include duets with Alan Jackson, Dawes and other artists still to be confirmed, draws its title from Fogerty’s song that originally appeared on “Green River” in 1969.

Most recently Fogerty made his acting debut portraying himself in an episode of the Fox TV series "The Finder," for which he wrote and sang the theme song "Swamp Water," at the invitation of the show's creator, Hart Hanson, a longtime Fogerty/Creedence fan.

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--Randy Lewis

Photo of Keith Urban, left, performing with John Fogerty during the Recording Academy's 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year benefit concert salute to Neil Young in Los Angeles. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times.

Swift, Lambert big winners at Academy of Country Music Awards

The 47th Academy of Country Music Awards became a mini-reality show of its own on Sunday in Las Vegas: There was a bona fide onstage wedding, the surreal meeting of cartoonish hard rock band KISS and country trio Lady Antebellum, and Toby Keith singing a loopy love song to a plastic beverage container with help from Wayne Newton and Carrot Top.

The offbeat moments shared the stage with multiple award-winners Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson and the announcement of the night's top honor, entertainer of the year, which went to Taylor Swift.

“Thank you so much to the fans who voted for this, I am so happy about this,” said Swift, who also received the award last year. “I want to say to my fellow nominees: I respect you so much. I love you.”

PHOTOS: The 47th Academy of Country Music Awards

Texas-bred singer and one-time “Nashville Star” contestant Lambert added two more ACM Awards to her mantel, taking female vocalist and album of the year honors.

After her fourth album, “Four the Record,” was selected over efforts by Kenny Chesney, Aldean, Lady Antebellum and Eric Church, Lambert came to the stage in a floor-length gold lame dress and asked, “Seriously? I own every record in this category and I've been thinking ‘Man, I'm not going to get it.' … I am so thrilled, I will never take this trophy for granted. My albums are my babies.”

“Don't You Want to Stay,” the hit duet by Aldean and the first “American Idol” winner, Clarkson, won for single record and vocal event of the year. Aldean said Clarkson had been his first choice as a duet partner: “She made a great song and took it to a new place.”

ACM Awards: Album, song honors for Miranda Lambert, Eli Young Band

The first awards handed out during Sunday's Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas went to Miranda Lambert's "Four the Record" as album of the year and Eli Young Band's "Crazy Girl," named song of the year. 

Lambert's fourth album, “Four the Record,” was selected over works by Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Kenny Chesney and Eric Church. In her floor-length gold lamé dress, she came to the stage and asked, “Seriously”? I own every record in this category and I’ve been thinking, ‘Man, I’m not going to get it.’ … I am so thrilled, I will never take this trophy for granted. My albums are my babies.”

The Eli Young Band's affirmation of love through hard times topped a field that also included Dierks Bentley's "Home," Lady Antebellum's "Just a Kiss," Vince Gill's "Threaten Me With Heaven" and Chesney and Grace Potter's "You and Tequila." 

"Holy cow, I have dreamed about this moment my whole life," lead singer Mike Eli said, before thanking his wife and their soon-to-be-born child.

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-- Randy Lewis

Photo of the Eli Young Band performing during Academy of Country Music weekend in Las Vegas. Credit:  Jeff Bottari / Associated Press.

 

Miranda Lambert: Second Pistol Annies album coming soon

When The Times spoke to Miranda Lambert recently for a story in Calendar, in which she reflects on her two nominations for Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, she also talked about the Pistol Annies, the band she formed with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley. That album took off rapidly when their debut album, “Hell on Heels,” came out last summer.

She said the Pistols are already writing songs for a second album, which the band plans to record in the fall and put out next year. That means fans should expect a bit of a wait for Lambert’s next solo album, the follow-up to her “Four the Record,” which is in the running for album of the year in this year’s ACM Awards.

“I’m not going to think about that for a while,” she said. “This one barely got in under the wire” to make the eligibility period for ACM Award consideration. “It’s always so much work — I’m glad to do it, but I feel so relieved when it’s done.”

In addition to her own album, the Pistol Annies collection and her current “On Fire” tour, which includes a stop next month at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, Lambert also managed to squeeze in her wedding to longtime beau Blake Shelton, who will be co-hosting Sunday’s award show once again with Reba McEntire. The CBS telecast begins at 8 p.m. Pacific time from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. The show is tape delayed for the West Coast.

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-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Miranda Lambert. Credit: Randee St. Nicholas.

Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean lead country music awards nominations

Kenny Chesney has come roaring back in terms of industry recognition with a field-dominating nine nominations for this year's Academy of Country Music Awards.

The runner-up for most nods was Jason Aldean, who collected six, ahead of Lady Antebellum with five, Brad Paisley with four and Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, Grace Potter and the Eli Young Band with three apiece, academy officials announced Thursday.

Newer-vintage performers such as Miranda Lambert and Zac Brown scored the most nominations last year, but Chesney this year is up for entertainer of the year, male vocalist and song of the year, plus double dips under the ACM's rules recognizing performers who also are producers, for his album "Hemingway’s Whiskey," his hit single (with Grace Potter) "You and Tequila" and vocal event for the same song.

Chesney, Swift, Aldean and Paisley are joined by Blake Shelton vying for the ACM's top trophy, entertainer of the year, which went to Swift last year.

Swift also is in the running again in the female vocalist category, along with repeat nominees Sara Evans, Lambert, Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood, while Aldean, Chesney, Paisley, Shelton and Chris Young are up for male vocalist honors.

Stagecoach Festival 2012 is sold out

The Stagecoach Country Music Festival for 2012 has sold out more than three months in advance, a first for the gathering, which  marks its sixth anniversary this year.

Promoter Goldenvoice announced the sellout, more noteworthy as the festival has been expanded from the usual two days to three this year, for only the second time in its history.

This year’s event is slated for April 27-29 at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif.,  and features the usual mix of contemporary and classic country, veterans and newcomers, mainstream and alternative performers, including Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Martina McBride, Alabama, the Band Perry, the Mavericks, Kenny Rogers, Luke Bryan, Sara Evans, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers and Chris Isaak.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Brad Paisley plays during his headlining performance the 2009 Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times.

CMA Awards: Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Band Perry win top honors

Nashville’s Country Music Assn. has a well-deserved reputation for déjà vu, having doled out the same awards to the same performers year after year across much of its nearly half-century history. But this year the CMA apparently decided that it’s time to bring some new blood into its ranks, heaping multiple awards on relative newcomers Jason Aldean and the Band Perry, yet saving its top award for Taylor Swift, naming the 21-year-old singer and songwriter entertainer of the year.

Aldean, country music’s unrequited best man for several years -- he's had just one previous CMA nomination -- finally made it to the altar himself as his “My Kinda Party” was named album of the year Wednesday at the 45th CMA Awards. It was a decisive vote of confidence for the Macon, Ga., singer, who got the nod over Swift and her blockbuster “Speak Now” album, which last fall became the first collection in 5½ years in any genre to sell more than 1 million copies during its first week of release. 

“My Kinda Party,” however, is the top-selling country album of 2011 with sales of more than 2 million copies to date; Swift’s album, which has logged nearly double that figure at 3.8 million, was released at the end of 2010.  Aldean, whose four studio albums have sold more than 5 million copies collectively, also received the trophy for musical event for his duet “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with the first “American Idol” winner, Kelly Clarkson.

PHOTOS: CMA Awards 2011 | Red carpet arrivals

The Band Perry won for new artist, and its hit single “If I Die Young” picked up single and song of the year honors for its heart-tugging exploration of youths who feel overlooked or taken for granted, something the young sibling trio doesn’t have to worry about now.

Album review: Miranda Lambert's 'Four the Record'

Country firebrand Miranda Lambert took a quantum leap forward, artistically and commercially, with her third album, “Revolution,” which ushered her from promising newcomer to the front lines of contemporary country music. This successor represents a further evolution of her talent as both creator and interpreter.

She may never get entirely away from the hell-bent-for-leather persona that first brought her to attention with such hits as “Kerosene” and “Gunpowder and Lead,” a character facet that resurfaces in “Fastest Girl in Town,” a feisty but somewhat obligatory-sounding declaration of independence she wrote with her Pistol Annies moonlighting partner Angaleena Presley. It's also there in “Mama's Broken Heart,” a music video-ready song written by Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally and Kacey Musgraves.