Country Pop

The Russians have landed!

  Nick Krewen GRAMMY.COM March 2003 Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchiakovsky the news: The Russians have landed! While recent breakthroughs of controversial Moscow pop duo t.A.T.u. and Grammy nominated country sextet Bering Strait may not be as prevalent as the British invasion that first introduced The Beatles, the message that North America is finally open for business is resonating throughout the former U.S.S.R.. And that gives new hope for…


Country’s Singing the Blues

Nashville In A Tizzy Over Sluggish Album Sales And Radio Airplay By Nick Krewen Special To The Star Saturday, April 17, 1999   NASHVILLE:   Music Row is in turmoil. As the heart of the country music business, this eight-block community of record companies, radio stations, music publishers, recording studios and management offices, located in central Nashville, Tennessee, is on the verge of panic. After enjoying a decade of unprecedented…


Shania Tours!

AS PUBLISHED IN KNIX MAGAZINE, PHOENIX, ARIZONA,  MARCH 1998   By Nick Krewen   The lights dim. The crowd erupts in screams and whistles. And from somewhere within the bowels of a small, sweltering hockey arena in Northern Ontario, concealed by the twilight of promise, hope and anticipation, a sweetly familiar voice asks a big sultry question: “Are you ready for me, Sudbury?” The crowd is confused at first, as…


The Mavericks Bring Out the Horns for Trampoline

  NICK KREWEN The Hamilton Spectator February 6, 1998   The Mavericks are expanding, and Hamilton concertgoers will be among the first to notice the difference when the Grammy-winning Miami band hits Copps Tuesday, sandwiched between Tim McGraw and Charlie Major. “We have a four-piece horn section traveling with us, and we have a friend of mine by the name of Jamie Hanna singing harmony and playing rhythm guitar and…


Garth Brooks: The Next Bill Clinton?

Versions of this article appeared in The Hamilton Spectator and Country Weekly. but this particular feature was written for Toronto on-line magazine Magnet in 1995, which lasted only one issue.       by Nick Krewen   Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the future President of the United States Of America….Garth Brooks. Okay, I’m joking. Garth Brooks hasn’t declared his candidacy, nor did he mention any political aspirations whatsoever…