99.5 WYCD, Detroit's Best Country Music!

99.5 WYCD Birthday Bash

August 5th there is going to be a great party at DTE Energy Music Theatre, and you are invited! The 99.5 WYCD Birthday Bash 2007 is featuring Gretchen Wilson, Eric Church and Trent Tomlinson!

Tickets at $39.50 pavilion and $15 lawn are on sale now at Palacenet.com, The Palace and DTE Energy Music Theatre Box Offices and all Ticketmaster locations.

Stay tuned in to 99.5 WYCD for your chance to win those tickets during our "Summer of 10,000 Tickets!" Be sure to wear your WYCD to the Birthday Bash for your chance at ticket upgrades or backstage passes!

In late May 2004, Gretchen Wilson's debut single, "Redneck Woman," became the first by a solo female singer to top the Billboard country singles chart in over two years; it also reached number one faster than any single in the previous decade. At the same time, her debut album, Here for the Party, entered the country album chart at number one and the pop album chart at number two with sales of 227,000 copies, the biggest opening week for a new country artist on record. Given the overtly country style of her music at a time when much country had been leaning toward pop, Wilson was immediately hailed as the latest in a long line of country artists leading the music back to its roots.

Her own roots went back to the tiny town of Pocahontas, IL (36 miles east of St. Louis, MO), where she began singing as a child. Her mother was 16 when she was born on June 26, 1973; her father left when she was two. She grew up poor, living in a succession of trailer parks. She went to school only through the eighth grade, and at 14 was working as a cook and bartender in the same club where her mother worked. By the age of 20, she was singing in two different bands in the area. She moved to Nashville in 1996 and tended bar while singing on demos and in clubs for the next seven years. During this period, she became part of an informal group of singers and songwriters known as the Muzik Mafia who met once a week to try out new material. She and John Rich wrote "Redneck Woman," an autobiographical song in which she celebrated her redneck, white-trash background.

In 2003, she auditioned for and was signed by Epic Records. "Redneck Woman" was released in the late winter of 2004 and immediately began its march up the charts. Here for the Party, originally scheduled for release in July, was moved up to May 11 because of the quick success of the single. As it, too, became a hit, Wilson agreed to opening spots on tours with Brooks & Dunn and Montgomery Gentry in the summer of 2004. All Jacked Up, her follow-up to Here for the Party, appeared in September 2005 and hit the top of the Billboard charts. One of the Boys, the first album in which Wilson had a hand in writing most of the songs, was released in 2007.

Country singer/songwriter/guitarist Eric Church grew up in Granite Falls, NC, and began singing as a child. He recalls being 4 years old, standing on a table at a local restaurant, singing "Elvira" to a waitress and a handful of patrons who would reward him with change.

He was 13 when he started writing songs, and he bought a cheap, hard-to-tune guitar and taught himself to play, influenced by his parents' eclectic tastes, which stretched from Motown to bluegrass.

While attending college at Appalachian State, he formed a band, the Mountain Boys, that played around at little bars in western North Carolina. He recalls the first night they knew just 14 songs, but they faked their way through a four-hour set and held onto enough of the crowd to help launch them as a regional act. In a year or so, Church was throwing original songs into the set mix and not long afterward was selling CDs of his own material. They were playing four or five nights a week in bars, as well as frat and sorority parties in Asheville, Hickory and Boone.

After graduating with a degree in marketing, he moved to Nashville, TN, to pursue a career in country music. In return, his father paid for his first six months in Music City. The financial cushion his father had given him gave him time to make contacts. Six months in, he had to take a day job, but six months after that, Eric got a song publishing deal with Sony/ATV Tree, after which he started getting his songs recorded by other artists, an example being Terri Clark's version of "The World Needs a Drink." He met producer Jay Joyce, who took an interest in him as a recording artist, and they began making demos. That led to his being signed by Capitol Records Nashville. His debut single, "How 'Bout You," was released in early 2006, and it had reached the country Top 20 by the time Capitol released his first album, Sinners Like Me, on July 18, 2006.

Trent Tomlinson grew up in Kennett, Mo., which is also the hometown of Sheryl Crow. His 6-foot-8-inch father is a former basketball star who set scoring records at the University of Missouri and was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers before knee
surgery knocked him out. He was also the basketball coach and biology teacher at Tomlinson's high school and a tough taskmaster.

Though Tomlinson was a star basketball player in school too, he chose to pursue music instead. He took up guitar, then began sneaking into bars in his hometown for gigs, starting out with rock but moving to country. As a junior in high school, he auditioned locally for TNN's talent competition You Can Be a Star, eventually reaching the finals in Nashville. However, he lost the title by two-tenths of a point, winning only a denim jacket for his efforts.

Tomlinson tried college but left after six months and moved to Nashville. There, he took a job with Stanley Steemer and began hanging out at a club called Barbara's in Printer's Alley, making money there and at other clubs by winning talent contests. He landed a cut on a Johnny Rodriguez record and began looking for more opportunities.

He signed a deal with a Nashville publishing company and then a record deal with Polydor. However, the publishing company soon went bankrupt, and Polydor closed its doors as well. After Tomlinson retreated to Missouri, he learned that publishing executive Buddy Killen had bought his song catalog out of bankruptcy court and offered him a publishing deal. A year and a half later, Tomlinson landed a deal with MCA Publishing for his highest salary yet but parted ways after a corporate takeover. After these close calls, he was parking cars at the airport.

However, another publishing deal with Cal IV Entertainment helped him secure three cuts on an Emerson Drive album. Lyric Street Records signed him at the end of 2004. Sara Evans included one of his songs on her album, Real Fine Place, in 2005. Tomlinson released his debut album, Country Is My Rock, in early 2006.

concerts

Westland Summer Festival
July 2nd through the 6th, 99.5 WYCD invites you to a star studded All American Weekend in Westland at the 2008 Westland Summer Festival…starring Danielle Car, Yankeeville, David Shelby, and plenty more music and country fun! Come out for the Westland Parade, rides, and fun for the whole family! Live Country Music in the park, at City Hall park in Westland!