In a ceremony on May 21, 2011, Nashville based vocalist Carolyn Martin was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame. A Texas born swing singer, Martin received the honor during her headlining performance at the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame Show in the San Marcos Plaza. Festival organizer Al Dressen, assisted by 2010 Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame inductee Billy Mata and former Asleep at the Wheel vocalist Maryann Price, named Martin an “Ambassador for Western Swing” and presented her with a Texas shaped plaque to celebrate her induction.

Martin was the recipient of the Academy of Western Artists’ Will Rogers Award for Female Western Swing Vocalist of the Year in 2008 and 2010 and received nominations for Song of the Year for her composition “That’s What I Call Cookin’” and for Western Swing Album of the Year for her CD “Cookin’ With Carolyn”. The Western Music Association also nominated Martin for Outstanding Female Vocalist, Western Swing Album of the Year and Song of the Year in 2010.

Martin’s success comes, she said, from her belief that “the only difference between big band swing and western swing is the instrumentation; big bands use trumpets and saxes while western swing features fiddles and steel.”

Carolyn has spent the last few weeks on tour with a show called “Country Royalty”, a tribute to the music of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline. The tour began in Greenville, AL and wound up seven states later in Bridgeport, WV. The fall Country Royalty tour was great fun and the performances were extremely well received. We’re all looking forward to the next Country Royalty performance (currently scheduled for February 2011 in Pell City, Alabama). If you haven’t seen Country Royalty yet, you can at least hear Carolyn singing those classic songs. To order “The Songs Of Patsy Cline”, go to: www.carolynmartinmusic.com/products.html where all of Carolyn’s albums can be purchased. 

Carolyn will be sticking pretty close to Music City for the rest of the month; on Wednesday, October 20, Carolyn Martin’s Swing Band returns to the legendary Station Inn for a 9:00PM show. The band for this show will include the fabulous Johnny Cox on the steel guitar, along with Rory Hoffman, Jerry Krahn, Billy Contreras, Tommy Wells and Dave Martin.

On October 29, Carolyn will bring her trio back to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts from 6:00-8:00. Come out, see the exhibits – including “Chihuly at the Frist” and the recently opened exhibition “The Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay” (which includes the painting known as “Whistler’s Mother) – then come back down to the lobby and enjoy some fine swing music.

Looking ahead, Carolyn and the Swing Band will be playing at the French Quarter Café at 6:00 on November 5 – a convenient location for our East Nashville friends – and we’ll be leaving for shows in Texas (Nov. 13 in Weatherford at the Texas Opry Theater and Nov. 16 at Cowboy Gelato in Amarillo) and a few days of playing and singing with our friends at the Western Music Association convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In other news, Carolyn has been nominated for the 2010 “Outstanding Vocalist Female” award by the WMA, while her latest CD, “Cookin’ With Carolyn” has been nominated for both Western Swing Album of the Year and Album of the Year. The WMA has also nominated “That’s What I Call Cookin’”, written by Carolyn and her husband Dave, as Song Of the Year! These nominations are in addition to the Academy Of Western Artists nominations, which are for Female Western Swing Vocalist, Western Swing Album and Song of the Year – Carolyn is thrilled that so many talented people like the new record and is both honored and humbled by the nominations.

Finally, we’re thrilled that the video from the September 1^st Music City Roots show is online – to see Carolyn’s Swing Band, Erika Chambers, The Gypsy Hombres and the legendary J.D. Souther, go to: http://livestre.am/p41 and enjoy the show!

Until next time, keep on swingin’!