Country Stars Sizzle at the ACMs in Sin City

Kenny Chesney Goes 3D

Gloriana Walks With Purpose Into The ACM Awards

By CAITLIN R. KING, Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The four members of Gloriana are walking into this year's Academy of Country Music Awards with a sense of purpose.

They were there last year, but they weren't nominated for anything, and since they were just starting out, very few people knew their music.

But a year changes things. They had the country hit "Wild at Heart" have distinguished themselves with their debut album and captured anAmerican Music Award.

And at Sunday's ACMs in Las Vegas, they are up for overall top new artist against Luke Bryan and Joey + Rory after winning top new group last month.

"I think that we've waited a really long time to feel embraced and welcomed, and it's starting to happen, and that's just the most rewarding feeling ever," said singer Rachel Reinert, 21.

"We're going to be (at the ACMs) with all of these country artists that we've toured with and gotten to know, and they're good friends of ours now," added singer and mandolin player Cheyenne Kimball, 19. "It's just going to be really amazing if we're able to get up on the stage and win one. We're the babies. We're very new, so I think it would be very special for us."

The four members share vocal duties with each other while brothers Tom and Mike Gossin also play guitar.

One thing's for sure, their fans know how to vote. Gloriana upset heavily favored nominee Lady Gaga at theAmerican Music Awards last year to win breakthrough artist of the year. That unexpected win, along with a yearlong stint opening for Taylor Swift, might make it seem like their success has come overnight, but the group sees it differently.

"We've all had our own different paths," said Reinert. "The guys were playing in bars and Cheyenne had a record deal as a solo artist when she was like 13. For me, I moved out here to Nashville when I was 15 and was playing songwriters nights and doing all this. And when we got together, we all lived together in this apartment."

She added: "That transitioned into us being in a van and playing in these dive bars and clubs just trying to get our name out there, playing as many shows as we possibly could. It's been a really long journey for all of us and we've definitely worked really really hard."

"For 10 straight years we played for tips in bars in North Carolina," said Tom Gossin, 28, of time spent performing with brother and bandmate Mike Gossin, 26.

"We were doing like 250 shows a year," Mike added.

It was all leading up to the moment when Taylor Swift called.

"I don't know if we would've been able to just jump onto the Taylor Swift tour had we not had the experience we had," Tom said. "Because I mean going from playing in bars to, 'OK, ready? Go!' and walking out to 20,000 people. You've got to really know your stuff."

They will continue to tour with Swift until her tour wraps up in June.

As for the future, Gloriana's goals include someday winning a Grammy and hosting "Saturday Night Live," but this year, they just hope to build on the momentum they've created.

"We would love to have a top 10 hit at country radio and I think just to continue to play as many shows as we can, meet as many fans as we can and just keep doing what we're doing, and just get the word out there about who we are and get people to come to our shows," said Reinert.

"And bring home an ACM," added Kimball.

___

On the Net:

http://www.gloriana.com

http://www.voteACM.com

Dolly Parton Celebrates as Dollywood Turns 25!

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Dolly Parton seems to live her life by the motto "Go big or go home." With her signature theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., she did both. Parton opened Dollywood in 1986 on the site of what had been the Silver Dollar City theme park. The first year, 1.3 million visitors came. Now at the start of its 25th anniversary season, Dollywood has more than doubled in size to 150 acres, and over 40 million people have passed through its gates, with 2.5 million guests in a typical season. "I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area," said Parton, 64, in a recent interview. "Sure enough, I was lucky, and God was good to me and things happened good. We started the park and 25 years later, we're still at it." Parton expanded her brand locally to include the Dixie Stampede dinner theater in 1988 and Dollywood's Splash Country waterpark in 2001. All three together employ 3,000 people. When asked why she thinks Dollywood has been so successful, Parton didn't hesitate. "Location, location, location. It's a great place to be going right into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park," she said. "We've got plenty of stuff to be entertaining for anybody that wants to come to this area, and all the beautiful things that are not mine, that are in this whole area. This is a wonderful place to visit, whether you get over to my businesses or not." Dollywood is Tennessee's No. 1 ticketed tourist attraction and has been for over a decade. "They've created a lot of economic benefit for that entire region, which then sends an enormous amount of state and local tax to pay for education and keep other expenses to the community down," said Susan Whitaker, Tennessee's tourism development commissioner. Whitaker says over 88 percent of tourists drive instead of fly to attractions in Tennessee, particularly to Dollywood, and that leaves ripples throughout the state as visitors arrive. "People come in and they may spend one day or two days there, but they're in the area and they're going to spend money all over the place," she said. Matthew Lambert from Knoxville, Tenn., has been a season passholder to Dollywood since 1995. There are many reasons he keeps coming back. "I love the atmosphere," he said. "Everytime you come here it's like coming home. You see people that you know that are working there. Everybody's friendly. The shows are amazing. The food is wonderful. The rides are great. It's the whole experience. It's the way a park should be, not a giant mega-conglomerate, corporate run park." That, and "They still have my favorite wooden coaster in the whole wide world, The Thunderhead," he added. "I've ridden it over 1,900 times." Theme parks, with their relatively high per-person admission, do not always fare well in recessions. Six Flags is struggling to emerge from bankruptcy; Cedar Fair saw a 7 percent drop in attendance last year; and even Disney has offered incentives in the last two years like free admission on your birthday and free tickets for volunteers. Dollywood saw a 6 percent drop in attendance last year, but spokesman Pete Owens says the park attributes the decrease more to bad weather than the recession. Online ticket prices for one-day admission this year are $56 for adults, $45 for kids. New this season at the park is the Adventure Mountain challenge course, which cost $6 million to build. "We definitely want to expand with new things every year, eventually with a resort," said Parton. "We may eventually have Dollywoods in other parts of the country, where we can kind of be true to whatever's going on in that part of the world." No matter what, Parton's pride for Dollywood will always exceed its size. "I would honestly say that with all the awards and all the other things that I've done in my life, Dollywood is one of the greatest dreams that I've ever had come true. I am so proud of that I can't even begin to tell you," she said. "Dollywood is real special to me." ___ On the Net: http://www.dollywood.com

Busy Busy

Hi everyone! It's been a busy couple months, sorry for my lack of posts. I will try to do a few updates, so things may be out of order chronologically, but just bear with me. Here is a fun picture to keep you entertained in the mean time. John Mayer and Keith Urban filmed a "CMT Crossroads" episode about a month ago. Stay tuned for an article about it next month.

Also, I just realized that the links I've been posting to my print articles expire after about a month, so I'm going to start posting the actual text here.