Sam Bush will celebrate yesterday’s release of his latest CD, Circles Around Me, with a live radio show tonight (10/21) on WSM.

He’ll be on the second episode of Music City Roots, a new live concert venture broadcast each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) from The Loveless Barn, just outside of Nashville. Eddie Stubbs and Jim Lauderdale co-host, with live artist interviews conducted by Craig Havighurst each week.

Mike Farris and Miss Tess and The Bon Ton Parade will also be on tonight’s show. It will air from 7:00-9:00 p.m. on WSM AM-650 in the Nashville market, and online via live streaming.

The series launched last week with a performance from Emmylou Harris, and many of the upcoming episodes will feature bluegrass or grassy artists.

• 11/4 – Josh Williams and John Cowan
• 11/25 – John Cowan
• 12/2 – Dale Ann Bradley
• 12/9 – Donna Ulisse and Emmit-Nershi Band
• 12/16 – Cherryholmes, Mountain Heart and Nashville Mandolin Ensemble

WSM is also recording the shows and will make them available on their web site for on demand streaming.

Catch Sam tonight at 7:00, or check out samples from Circles Around Me at sambush.com.

This weekend’s Grand Ole Opry has some of the ladies of bluegrass scheduled to perform. Both the reigning Queen and a trio of upstart challengers will be strutting their stuff on the Friday and Saturday night broadcasts.

Rhonda Vincent will be on tonight’s (7/17) show in the 8:00-8:30 p.m. segment (EDT), and The Lovell Sisters will be on Saturday night’s show in the 8:00-8:30 and 10:30-11:00 slots.

Jesse McReynolds and Mike Snider will also perform on Friday night, and Snider and The Whites will appear on Saturday’s show.

CMT had a nice feature about The Lovells on their blog earlier this week, comparing them favorably to The Dixie Chicks. No pressure there…

The Opry is broadcast live on WSM AM 650 in Nashville, on XM channel 11 (XM Nashville), and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com. Friday’s show runs from 8:00-10:00 p.m., and Saturday’s from 8:00 p.m.-12:30 a.m. All times EDT.

The Springer Mountain Farms jingle contest we told you about a while back is in its finale stage. The judges have narrowed the entries down to their favorite ten.

Now it’s your turn to be the judge. Visit the contest website on WSMonline.com, listen to the entries, and cast your vote. Nine of the ten entries are basically bluegrass in nature. Judging by the banjo that chicken is holding, I suspect they anticipate a bluegrass theme to win. Help make that happen by going over and voting for you favorite.

The voting remains open throughout this week. The winner will be announced by WSM disk jockey Bill Cody on Monday, June 23, 2008.

Springer Mountain Farms is no stranger to bluegrass music. The company sponsors the Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman concert series. The company is located in the Blueridge Mountains of NorthEast Georgia.

Searching for a new jingle for the business, the company decided to partner with WSM to allow creative types to submit their creations for consideration. Here’s the deal.

You write, and perform, a jingle for Springer Mountain Farms Chicken and submit either an audio or video recording, by mail or electronically. Submissions are handled by WSMonline.com. Judges will choose 5 of the submitted jingles for the contest. These five will be posted on the WSM website and the public will vote on their favorite.

The submission deadline is June 13, 2008. The top five will then be posted for voting and the grand prize winner will announced on June 23, 2008.

The grand prize winner will receive the following.

• $1,000 Cash Prize
• A Year’s Supply of Chicken from Springer Mountain Farms
• A Season Pass to this year’s Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman (presented by Springer Mountain Farms)
• A Recording Session at 650 AM WSM’s studio

In addition to the prizes listed above, the winning jingle will, of course, be used in advertising on 650 AM WSM as the official jingle for Springer Mountain Farms Chicken.

For official rules, and submission instructions, please visit the contest page at WSMonline.com.