The Dispatch from Moline, Illinois • 60

Music G4 The DUimtch and The Rwk Island Arm Sunday, July 27, 2008 Country singer Sammy Sadler rebounds from near-fatal incident Uilpy I Songs 1. 'I Kissed a Katy Perry. Capitol. 2. "Take a Bow," Rlhanna.

SRPDef JamIDJMG. S. "Lollipop," Lll Wayne feat. Static Major. Cash MoneyUniversal Motown.

4. "Forever," Chris Brown. JlveZomba. B. "Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis.

SYCOJRMG. (Platinum) (From Billboard magazine) Albums 1. "Tha Carter III," Lll Wayne. Cash MoneyUniversal Mo-townUMRG. (Platinum) 2.

"Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," Coldplay. Capitol. 3. "Camp Rock." Soundtrack. Walt Disney.

4. "Modern Guilt," Beck. DGCIGA 5. "Rock Roll Jesus," Kid Rock. Top Dog Atlantic AG.

(Platinum) (From Billboard magazine) Music Talk NashvillebasH, married and had Just signed a recording contract with independent imprint Evergreen Records. He had a handful of singles that charted and was working on his debut album. But he had a spat with his wife on March 9. 1989, and wanted out of the house. So he called up his friend Kevin Hughes, chart director for music-industry magazine Cashbox, who usually worked late on Thursday nights.

Sadler drove to the Cash-box offices and met Hughes. They went to grab dinner and then to the Evergreen Records building on the famed Music Row. That's when they started to hear noises. "We heard something rattle the door," he says. "We walked out on the front porch, and we didn't see anything I walked around Kevin's car and opened the door, sat down and started reaching for the door and I caught something moving out of the corner of my eye.

When I turned around and looked up, the guy was standing right there between me and the door with his arms out, and I looked and the guy had a gun." Sadler was shot above his right elbow. The bullet ricocheted up his arm and lodged in his chest, in the muscle of his shoulder. It's still there almost 20 years later. By Mario Tarradell The Dalla Morning New ARLINGTON, Texas -Sammy Sadler survived. The Tennessee-born, Texas-raised country singer survived a Nashville shooting 19 years ago that de-railed his budding career.

He survived surgeries to repair the damage that a bullet left in his arm and shoulder. He survived the mental anguish from 13 years of waiting for answers and justice in a crime that killed his friend. The 41-year-old Sadler also made sure his country music dream survived. "Heart Shaped Like Texas," a warm, honest collection of country songs, is only his second full-length album since that fateful night in March of 1989. It's the follow-up to 2004's "Hard on a Heart," Sadler's debut CD.

"I don't want people to look at me as just a country music singer, because I'm a survivor, too," says Sadler while sitting backstage at Johnnie High's Country Music Revue. "By the grace of God I'm still here. God left me here for a reason, and he saved me, and I feel like it's to sing and entertain people. We're not going to go away. We're back.

We're trying to get our music to the people. I love singing. I love entertaining people. If my music and what I've lived through can help somebody else, that's what I hope that it does." McClatchy Newspapers Sammy Sadler has rebounded from a life-threatening accident to top the country charts. got closure," he says, "I mean, I just look at my arm and it brings me back to that night immediately.

It never goes away. It's always there." Sammy Sadler was 22, 1 Ron Sexsmith plants some more musical seeds ft 'When I was in an unhappy place in my life, I always wanted to be Mariah Carey I 'l-ll your community The killer went after Hughes, who ran. He caught up with him and shot him three times, twice in the head. Hughes died quickly. The case was cold until 2002 when new evidence pointed to an elaborate, illegal music-promotion scheme that Hughes wouldn't participate in.

It seemed he couldn't be paid to move songs up the charts. Sadler, meanwhile, struggled to regain footing. He was the guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. He toured for years after recovering from the shooting, which remained unsolved for more than a decade. When the strain affected him most, he worked with his father in a drywall construction business they still co-own.

Now single, he has no children and lives with his parents on a 58-acre farm in Bonham, Texas. He also self-financed "Heart Shaped Like Texas," which was released last month on his own Records. "They share the same passion for music as I do," he says of his folks. "They have supported me from day one. To have them still around hopefully they will be able to see some of the success that we can have.

We're going after the career we started when I was 20 years old. I never gave up the dream, never gave up the fire." II i.liHI 1 1 i i For more information: www.ronsexsmith.com www.myspace.com ronsexsmith salvaged two instrumentals that bookend the new album. He has also traveled to Nashville in an effort to break into the country music writing market. Teamwork is prized there, so a man who seems to consider songwrit-ing a very personal experience is asked to sit in a room with a stranger to see if they could come up with something together. He'd love to hit the jackpot so he doesn't have to do it again.

"As far as fame is, I'm fine with the level or lack of fame that I have," he said. "But if I had my way, my financial picture would be brighter, like most people. I'd love to not have to worry about that so much, especially these days." Sexsmith said his new disc almost felt like a gospel album to him, with some songs taking a spiritual tone. He usually maps out his songs carefully, but this time did more stream-of-con-sciousness writing. Sexsmith has always been proud of his work but felt out of sync with the times.

What sustains him are the chance; encounters a nice e-mail from a fan or being recog- -nized on the street. "It's always when I least expect it," he said. "People wilj come up to you in the grocery store and it will totally turn your day around." many a good country song, the title phrase plays a couple of ways. His career may be far from finished, but as for mastering his craft, Chesnutt arrived quite a while ago. Nick Cristiano Heybale! "The Last Country Album" (Shuffle 5) After seven years of gigging around Austin, Texas, and two live albums, this band of country veterans is still definitely in a "Honky Tonk Mood," to borrow one title from its first studio album.

Heybale! features three standout front men in pianist Earl Poole BalL a longtime Johnny Cash sideman who wrote and sings "Honky Tonk Mood" as well as two other terrific saloon anthems; singer-guitarist Redd Volkaert, formerly of Merle Haggard's Strangers; and Gary Claxton, a real find as a singer and writer he wrote or co wrote four of the 12 songs, highlighted by the cheating ballad "House of Secrets." The last country album? Not really, but with their effortless blend of barroom rowdiness and musical sophistication these guys sure know their way around real country N.C STATE farm is here to help you with your claim. Sadler speaks freely and calmly about the incident, which is known around the world as the "Murder on Music Row." "Even though we finally SERVICE, STYLE SELECTION yiatKpA Flower Shop 3900 14th Ave, Rock Island "Teleflora 788-7658 internet services: weather news entertainment classifieds jobs venules 'homes auction marketplace Quad-Cities Online' www.QCOmmaxon, BW Services By David Bauder AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) Every so often, Ron Sexsmith runs into the music executive who curated Bob Marley's "Legend" disc the prototype for a phenomenally successful career retrospective and the man asks if it's time to give the Canadian singer-songwriter the same treatment. It might not be a bad idea. Sexsmith, whose ninth album is out this week, does just well enough to fly under the music business radar with work that is respected by peers and a devoted cult audience, yet not successful enough to keep him from scuffling. Put together 15 or 16 of his best songs and people might better appreciate him.

Sexsmith has resisted, in part because of a lingering prejudice that such sets are for people at the end of their careers (or worse, dead). But he admits that if he could afford to, he wouldn't mind sit- -ting out a few years to see how time affects his reputation. "I'm getting all my groundwork in," he told The Associated Press. "I'm planting the seeds so that hopefully in my lifetime there will be a full garden that people will see." Sexsmith, 44, is best known for his songs "Secret Heart," "Hands of Time" and "Gold in Them Hills," the latter a duet with Coldplay 's Chris Martin. His songs have been covered by Rod Stewart, k.d.

lang, Feist and Raul Malo. But he's found the music business circa 2008 can be tough to navigate. "I know that people don't listen to albums the same way The Philadelphia Inquirer Alison Moyet "The Turn" (Decca) YAZ "In Your Room" (Mute) Before there were British white girls like Amy and Duffy with big husky voices and soul for days, there was Alison Moyet the biggest and grittiest of them alL And before there was Moyet, there was Yaz, her Spartan electro-duo with Vince Clarke that existed for three years at the beginning of the '80s. While Clarke perfected his swishing electro-pop sound with Erasure, Moyet started a solo career in 1983 that landed her where she started before Vince: belting blues, jazz and in stunningly diverse tones. Like "Whispering Your Name," which managed the beauty of splashy disco and balladeer folk.

On "The Turn," Moyet does much the same thing use her warm, rough-hewn voice for zippy pop purposes Guy like grandly emotive love songs More and tango-inspired dramas in which her raw silken tone is the center. Though Moyet's tone is rounder and richer throughout Turn," it's the setting in State Farm is aware that the recent severe storm has caused extensive property damage. If you are a State Farm policyholder, and your home or car has been damaged by the severe storm, please contact your State Farm agent, or call 1-800-SF CLAIM (1-800-732-5246) to reach our catastrophe operators. Helping people recover from the unexpected is what being a good neighbor is all about. Associated Press In this image released by Yep Roc Records Ron Sexsmith is shown during the recording of his CD, 'Exit Strategy in but I still do," he said.

"It's kind of sad to see some of the label people you meet. They're all excited about ring tones or' whatever. Music's not meant to be heard on a cell phone or an iPod commercial." Fellow Canadian singer Feist, with whom Sexsmith writes a song that appears on his new "Exit Strategy of the Soul" disc, saw her career explode when her song "1234" was chosen for a memorable iPod commercial. He doesn't begrudge her that success; his managers work for similar magic placements. One of his songs was considered for a soft drink commercial overseas and he even rewrote it at the sponsors' request before it was ultimately rejected.

Sexsmith wrote music for a Deborah Winger movie, but all of it was cut out due to a feud between producers. He CD mini-reviews which her gut-bucket vocals were placed within Clarke's spare synth-pop that made Yaz unique during its two-disc tenure. Expanded into a boxed set of its best, its B-sides and some rump-shaking rarities, the low, grinding blues of "Situation" and "Don't Go," and the threadbare soul of "Ode of Boy" and "Winter Kills" still conjures chills. A.D. Amorosi Mark Chestnutt "Rollin' With the Flow" (Lofton Creek) When it comes to his music, Mark Chesnutt has never been one to just go with the flow.

Through varying commercial fortunes the Texan has steadfastly maintained his neotraditionalist approach, and the result here is another strong, satisfying collection of straight-up country "Rollin' With the Flow" showcases the singer's range within that style It starts off with some smooth ballads and mid-tempo numbers, including the strings-shaded title song, before heading to the barroom for the raw-boned honky-tonk of "Live to Be 100" and "(Come On In) The Whiskey's Fine" "Long Way to Go" references Chesnutt's own life in music, and as with STATE FARM INSURANCE LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, STATE FARM IS THERE. Providing Insurance and Financial statefarm.com State Farm Bloomington, Illinois.