Walker’s ‘Rumor Has It’ Most-Played Song So Far

Sun., Sept. 7, 1997

Clay Walker’s “Rumor Has It” has been named the most-played single of the first half of 1997 by Country Airplay Monitor.

Also, 11 of his career’s 12 videos have broken into the weekly Top 12 chart on the CMT cable network, and both of these accomplishments presumably have something to do with the fact that Walker has been selected to be CMT’s Showcase Artist for September. He will be featured in four different weekly interview segments to be broadcast Friday, Sept. 19 and 26 at 10 p.m. (Eastern).

Country celebrates auto racing

Surely a nomination for most ear-catching band name should go to Blue Miller & the Kick in the Asphalt Band, which is celebrating auto racing with musical shows at fairs, festivals, amphitheaters and nightclubs in the South, Southwest, Midwest and East.

Miller, formerly of the Gibson/ Miller Band, will do a one-hour performance with his new aggregation at each stop of the so-called “Winston Cup Road Show.” The one-hour show begins after fans have had a chance to (1) enter the Thunder Theater, a multi-media simulation of being in the stands at a Winston Cup auto race; (2) experience the Winston Cup Simulator, which gives the feeling of being behind the wheel of a race car as it circles a superspeedway, and (3) inspect a full-size 500-h.p. race car.

CMT to give fans more tradition

At 10 a.m. on Saturdays, beginning Oct. 4, and again on Sundays at 1 p.m., beginning Oct. 5, CMT will offer a new 60-minute series called “Stone Country,” which is to be devoted to broadcasting videos by such traditional-oriented stars as George Strait, Alan Jackson, George Jones, Mark Chesnutt and brand-new Lee Ann Womack.

“‘Stone Country’ is designed for viewers who really appreciate traditional country music and may find themselves wanting more of it than their radio station gives them,” explains Chris Parr, CMT’s director of programming. “We’ll feature current and classic country artists who present the music in its truest form. We arrived at the name ‘Stone Country’ because this series gets back to the basics of country music’s solid foundation.”