Sound & Speed Press Room
Tickets On Sale Friday (Nov. 9) for Nashville’s Third-Annual Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust
Posted: Thursday November 8, 2007
Alan Jackson, With Special Guests Taylor Swift and Jason Michael Carroll to Headline Jan. 11-12 Racing and Music Extravaganza
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 9) at 10 a.m. for the 2008 Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust festival, which for the third consecutive year will bring together stars of country music and NASCAR and concludes with a concert extravaganza headlined by Grammy-winning, multi-platinum-selling recording artist Alan Jackson, with special guests Taylor Swift and Jason Michael Carroll, and other top country music performers at Nashville’s Sommet Center.
Fans of country music and racing have two blockbuster events on Saturday, Jan. 12 in the Sommet Center: the annual Backstage Garage Pass festivities, where they can get up-close-and-personal with NASCAR and country music stars for autographs, story-telling and question-answer sessions from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST, and the concert at 8 p.m. headlined by Jackson and special guests Swift and Carroll. Tickets, available Friday through TicketMaster (www.ticketmaster.com) and the Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust website (www.soundandspeed.org), are $39.50 for the concert, $20 for the Backstage Garage Pass event, or $54.50 for both events.
Jackson is one of the most compelling performers/songwriters in country music – a favorite of critics and fans alike. Jackson has sold more than 49 million albums, has penned 21 of his 31 No. 1 records, and is the most-nominated artist in Country Music Association (CMA) history. As everyone in Nashville knows, Jackson is an avid car collector with a garage full of classic cars, including his first set of wheels, a 1977 Thunderbird. His 1997 video for “Who’s Cheatin’ Who” was filmed at the Concord (N.C.) Motorsports Park and featured some of NASCAR’s hottest drivers such as Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Brett Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Jeremy Mayfield, Bobby Hillin, Jr., and Bill Elliott. The three-time CMA Entertainer of the Year topped the album charts not once, but twice, in 2006, with the success of Precious Memories and Like Red on a Rose.
Swift was named “Country’s Hottest Female Artist of 2007” by AOL Music. She burst into country music at the age of 16 with her smash top-five debut single, “Tim McGraw.” She is the first female solo artist in country music history to write or co-write every song on her platinum-selling debut CD, which produced three straight top-10 singles and remained at the top of the Billboard Country Album Chart for eight weeks. She won the Country Music Association’s Horizon Award, as well as the American Music Award for Favorite Country Female Artist.
Carroll’s first Arista Nashville album, Waitin’ in the Country, has launched back-to-back top-five singles with “Alyssa Lies” and “Livin’ Our Love Song.” Released Feb. 6, the album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s country album chart and No. 8 on the pop chart, with a whopping 57,608 units of first-week sales.
Celebrities already scheduled to participate in autograph and question-answer sessions during Spring Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust are country artist and recent inductee into the Grand Ole Opry, Josh Turner (Long Black Train sold over a million copies, garnering multiple nominations from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. Your Man attained double-platinum status and earned two Grammy® nominations), Diamond Rio (over 10 million albums sold to date, whose hits include “Meet in the Middle,” “Norma Jean Riley,” “Unbelievable” and “One More Day”), Danielle Peck (most-played debut female country artist of 2006, whose hits include “I Don’t,” “Isn’t That Everything,” “Findin’ a Good Man,” and the new single, “Bad for Me,” impacting radio now), and Bucky Covington, whose self-titled CD opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with not only 2007’s biggest unit debut from a new country artist, but also the best first-week sales and highest Top 200 debut for any new male country artist since Billy Ray Cyrus in 1992. Covington’s new single “It’s Good To Be Us,” is climbing the country radio charts on the heels of the top-five success of his first single “A Different World.”
Among the NASCAR celebrities already scheduled to appear at the third-annual Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust are Richard Petty (seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the winningest driver in series history), Kyle Petty (third-generation NASCAR competitor, eight-time winner and founder of the Victory Junction Gang Camp along with his wife, Patty), Darrell Waltrip (three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, third-winningest driver in series history, and current member of the NASCAR broadcast team on the FOX network), Ryan Newman (nicknamed “Rocketman” for his penchant for winning pole positions with regularity as driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge for Penske Racing; 12-time Cup Series winner) and Jamie McMurray (current driver of the No. 26 Crown Royal Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, won July’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona). Joining them from the sports car racing ranks will be Max Angelelli (2005 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series champion as driver of the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Daytona Prototype) and Wayne Taylor (three-time sports car racing champion who co-drove to the 2005 Rolex Series title with Angelelli). More drivers and country music performer appearances will be added to the star-studded line-up weekly.
The blockbuster event also will feature show car and sponsor displays, as well as a charitable auction with memorabilia from the racing and entertainment industries. The first two Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by SunTrust events drew an estimated 25,000 fans and raised more than $500,000 for its designated charities, Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.
For more information, fans are welcome to visit www.soundandspeed.org. Media can find a complete rundown of event information and backgrounders, performer and racer bios, and information regarding event sponsors and charities in the Media Center at www.truespeedcommunication.com.
ABOUT SPRINT NEXTEL – Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks serving 54 million customers at the end of the second quarter 2007; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and a global Tier1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.
ABOUT SUNTRUST – SunTrust Banks, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the nation’s largest banking organizations, serving a broad range of consumer, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. As of September 30, 2007, SunTrust had total assets of $175.9 billion and total deposits of $115.9 billion. The Company operates an extensive branch and ATM network throughout the high-growth Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states and a full array of technology-based, 24-hour delivery channels. The Company also serves customers in selected markets nationally. Its primary businesses include deposit, credit, trust and investment services. Through various subsidiaries the Company provides mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage, equipment leasing and capital markets services. SunTrust’s Internet address is suntrust.com
ABOUT VICTORY JUNCTION GANG CAMP – The mission of the Victory Junction Gang Camp is to enrich the lives of children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses by providing life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun, and empowering, in a safe and medically sound environment. Founded by NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and his wife Pattie in honor of their late son Adam, the Victory Junction Gang Camp is a year-round facility serving children, age seven to 15. Victory Junction is an independent not-for-profit organization. Each camp in the Hole in the Wall Gang Association has its own board of directors and founders including actor Paul Newman. In 2002, Victory Junction Gang Camp was named the proud charity of NASCAR and now is joined by other charities as part of the NASCAR Foundation Family of Charities. The NASCAR Foundation continues to pledge their support through a comprehensive media campaign. In addition, many of the teams, owners, drivers and track owners support the camp with individual contributions.
ABOUT THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM – Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501©(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print. More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.com or by calling (615) 416-2001.
