LeAnn Rimes' manager has posted a letter on the singer's official Web site (rimestimes.com), next to Rimes' own open letter to fans disavowing the Curb Records-released I Need You. Echoing Rimes' letter of apology, manager Tom Ross says that Curb compiled and released I Need You on January 30 independently of any input from Rimes. Ross also says I Need You includes several songs that have been available for some time. "I Need You" (RealAudio excerpt) is from the 2000 soundtrack from television's "Jesus — The Epic Mini Series"; "Can't Fight the Moonlight" and "But I Do Love You" are from the 2000 soundtrack Coyote Ugly; and the duet with Elton John on "Written in the Stars" was released as a single in early 1999. After Rimes posted her letter of apology on Thursday (February 1), Curb defended the album, calling it her best. ...

Dolly Parton will be inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in New York this summer, along with Billy Joel, Eric Clapton and Sting. ...

"Murder on Music Row" was named Song of the Year at this weekend's Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) awards show in Nashville. Rhonda Vincent won Album of the Year honors for Back Home Again and was named Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year. Dale Ann Bradley was honored as Traditional Female Vocalist, and Little Roy Lewis was named Entertainer of the Year. Larry Stephenson took home the Contemporary Male Vocalist of the Year honor, and Don Rigsby was named Traditional Male Vocalist of the Year. ...

A memorial service will be held for prominent Nashville songwriter John Jarrard at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 10, at First Church Unity in Nashville. Jarrard, who wrote such hits as George Strait's "Blue Clear Sky" (RealAudio excerpt) and Diamond Rio's "Mirror, Mirror" and suffered from diabetes, died last Thursday; he was 47. Donations can be made to the American Diabetes Association, 4205 Hillsboro Road, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37215-3339, or to Possibility Incorporated, P.O. Box 150005, Nashville, TN 37215. …

The drummer of the Grammy-winning Tejano band Los Palominos died Sunday after a bus accident near Port Lavaca, Texas. Police said Jesse Arreola, 31, died when the driver of the band's chartered bus ran a stop sign, throwing Arreola into a ditch, and then ran over him. …

Lucinda Williams and her father, Miller Williams, the 1997 Presidential Inaugural poet, are scheduled for a program of music and poetry together, presented by the International Poetry Forum. They will appear onstage March 30 at 8 p.m. at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh. ...

LeAnn Rimes will appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Tuesday (February 6). ... Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, the famous Nashville watering hole on lower Broadway next to the Ryman Auditorium stage door, is instituting live broadcasts from the club on WSM-FM and on www.wsmonline.com. They will present an industry showcase on Wednesday (February 7), Michael Peterson will perform February 13 and the Warren Brothers appear February 27. Showtimes are at 9 p.m. CT. ...

Garth Brooks — even in retirement — continues to set sales records. His two-CD, Double Live album has been certified by the RIAA with U.S. sales of 14 million, making it the best-selling live album in history. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in December 1998. ...

Ricky Skaggs and guest artists will stage an hour-long tribute to the late bluegrass legend Bill Monroe on the Grand Ole Opry's "Opry Live" segment February 10. Joining Skaggs onstage at the Ryman Auditorium will be Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Loveless, Travis Tritt, Steve Wariner and the Whites, to present such songs as "Cry, Cry Darling" (RealAudio excerpt) from Skaggs' Grammy-nominated Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe. The "Opry Live" segment is televised live on TNN at 7 p.m. CT. ...

Brooks & Dunn will launch their Neon Circus and Wild West Show on April 27 in Birmingham, Alabama. The tour, which will run through August, will include opening acts Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry and Keith Urban. Various sideshow acts, special effects and street performers will also be included. Brooks & Dunn's next album, Steers & Stripes, is scheduled for an April 24 release. ...

Tim McGraw's next album, Set This Circus Down, is scheduled for release April 3. It will include his song commenting on the state of country music, "Things Change," which he premiered on the fall CMA Awards show. McGraw's Greatest Hits album remains at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. ...

Sam Bush will make his ballet debut February 16 and 17 with the Augusta Ballet at the Imperial Theater in Augusta, Georgia. Bush and his band will perform "The Legend of the Hatfields and McCoys." Meanwhile, three country artists will perform with the Nashville Ballet on February 9 and 10. Nanci Griffith, Jonell Mosser and Hal Ketchum will perform with the Nashville Ballet for three ballets, featuring music by each artist at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville. Ketchum's, for example, will be based on his album Awaiting Redemption (RealAudio excerpt of title song). ...

Dixie Chicks member Emily Robison will appear on "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" in February and donate her winnings to the Nature Conservancy of Texas. The show's appearances by Robison, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, are tentatively set to air February 11 and February 14. ...

Robbie Fulks is on the cover of the latest Journal of Country Music. Inside, the poster boy for alt-country says his time spent on Geffen Records, which released his Let's Kill Saturday Night (RealAudio excerpt of title track), "was the worst year of my career, as the record that contained what I thought to be my best work and which I labored on without compensation for many months was consigned to oblivion." Fulks has a new CD available on the Internet, an homage album called 13 Hillbilly Giants, and he plans to release an eclectic work titled Couples in Trouble in August. ...

Faith Hill has been nominated for four Blockbuster Entertainment Awards — Favorite Female Artist, Favorite Female Country Artist, Favorite Internet Pop Female and Favorite Internet Single for "Breathe" (RealAudio excerpt). Public voting began Tuesday (January 30), and the presentations will be shown April 11 on Fox. Other nominees in the Favorite Female Country Artist category are Lee Ann Womack, Jo Dee Messina and Reba McEntire. Favorite Male Country Artist nominees are Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw and George Strait. Favorite Country Group nominees are SheDaisy, the Dixie Chicks and Lonestar. ...

Dolly Parton, who has two Grammy nominations, including Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Travelin' Prayer" and Best Bluegrass Album for The Grass Is Blue (RealAudio excerpt of title track), will perform a duet with Brad Paisleyon the Grammy Awards, airing February 21 on CBS. Paisley is nominated in the Best New Artist category. ...

Terri Clark has been nominated for two Juno Awards. The accolades, given by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, will be presented March 4 in Hamilton, Ontario. Clark will compete with Shania Twain, Tara Lyn Hart, Michelle Wright and Carolyn Dawn Johnson for Best Country Female Artist. Clark also received a nod in the all-genre category for Best Female Artist, in which the other nominees are Jann Arden, Isabelle Boulay, Lara Fabian and Lynda Lemay. Nominees for Best Country Male Artist are Paul Brandt, Julian Austin, Chris Cummings, Adam Gregory and Jason McCoy. Country Duo or Group nominees are the Wilkinsons, Farmer's Daughter, the Johner Brothers, Lace and Prairie Oyster. Clark has just launched her first acoustic tour and will play Canadian dates through late March. ...

The Bellamy Brothers will mark their 25th anniversary in music with a two-volume CD series. Volume I will be released in March with a single and video titled "What'll I Do," with Volume II to follow in August. ...

Jo Dee Messina will appear on "Hollywood Squares," along with Bette Midler, the week of Feb. 12. ...

Naomi Judd of the Judds broke up a male-striptease act in a Nashville restaurant on the evening of January 24. According to a police report, Judd was walking to the restrooms when she spied "what appeared to be a nude male straddling a young girl. The subject was sitting in the girl's lap facing her and simulating intercourse." Judd gave a stern lecture to the stripteaser and the 18-year-old woman for whose birthday party the stripper had been hired. Police were called in the ensuing fracas and no charges were filed. ...

Chris Cagle and other artists on Virgin Nashville will be switched to the Capitol Nashville roster, according to a statement issued by parent company EMI Recorded Music. News of Virgin Nashville's impending demise was leaked to news organizations January 24 by company employees. EMI's statement, issued late Wednesday, said that Virgin's artists — including Cagle, Clay Davidson, Tom Mabe, Roy D. Mercer and River Road — would join Capitol Nashville on February 12 when Virgin Nashville is officially shuttered. The EMI statement said that Virgin Nashville president Scott Hendricks would be leaving and that the company would seek to absorb Virgin Nashville's 16 employees into its other Nashville operations. In addition to Capitol Nashville, EMI has several Christian labels in Nashville. ...

Willie Nelson, Flaco Jimenez and Van Cliburn are among the first 13 winners of the new Texas Medal of Arts Awards. Medals will be presented in a March 20 ceremony at Austin's Paramount Theatre, with Lyle Lovett headlining the entertainment lineup. The awards, which honor outstanding Texans in the arts, are patterned on the National Endowment for the Arts' Medal of Arts Awards, given each year by the president. ...

Roots legend Sleepy LaBeef will head up an eclectic roster at "Rockin' at the Ryman," a benefit presented by the Rockabilly Music Foundation at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on April 5. Also appearing will be the Jordanaires, Ronnie Dawson, Gene Vincent's Blue Caps, Rosie Flores, D.J. Fontana, Janis Martin, Jack Scott and Jerry Naylor. ...

Martina McBride will headline the post-race concert at this year's Country Music Marathon on April 28 in Nashville. The charity event drew 8,500 runners in its debut last year, and more than 10,000 are expected this year. ...

Clay Walker, a hometown favorite, kicks off the 69th Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on February 13 at the Astrodome. Alan Jackson performs February 14, followed by Hank Williams Jr. on February 15, Alabama on February 17, Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen on February 19, Neal McCoy and Rascal Flatts on February 20, Lonestar and Brad Paisley on February 22, Kenny Chesney and Phil Vassar on February 24, Brooks & Dunn on February 26, Jo Dee Messina on February 28, Martina McBride and Lee Ann Womack on March 2 and LeAnn Rimes and Billy Gilman on March 4. Non-country artists appearing will include Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Duran Duran, Barry Manilow, Def Leppard, Destiny's Child, 98° and Patti LaBelle. ...

Nashville songwriter Bob DiPiero will host "MADD About Bob," a series of concerts to benefit Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The first show, featuring Vince Gill, Jeffrey Steele and Al Anderson, is set for Thursday (February 8) at Nashville's Belcourt Theater. ...

— sonicnet.com staff report