CMT's Carter Twins visit area school March 30, prep kids for Country Music Marathon

Brothers Zach & Josh will visit a Nashville school March 30.

Pop-goes-the-country newcomers the Carter Twins, along with the students and faculty of Nashville’s Julia Green Green Elementary School and the Country Music Marathon, will team with the local school Monday, March 30, to help its students prepare for the upcoming YMCA Country Music Kids Marathon.

The Music City-based school has the most students--some 220--among the Metro-Nashville Public Schools participating in the YMCA Country Music Kids’ Marathon on April 24, and in honor of that distinction, Zach and Josh Carter, Nashville’s newest country duo, will pay an afternoon visit to the K-4 elementary, 3500 Hobbs Road, to encourage the young marathon participants.

The Country Music Marathon wanted to honor our school for having so many students participate in the Country Music Marathon," said Dr. Eileen Wills, principal of the local elementary. "Running in the CMM children’s race is part of our physical education running program orchestrated by our P.E. teachers, Dr. Amy Caulkins and Ms. Sheree Lavender."

With musical inspiration derived from country’s Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunnand Keith Urban, as well as pop's John Mayer, the Everly Brothers and Gavin DeGraw, the Akron, Ohio-reared brothers snagged a chance meeting with an MTV executive in Los Angeles in 2008. That encounter dropped them in the lap of CMT, and as soon as they finished high school, the pair hoofed it to town to launch a full-time music career under the development of CMT Music and Meteor 17.

Residents of Nashville since last year, the Carter Twins logged six months in ’08 writing songs with Music Row tunesmiths and currently await the summer '09 release of their debut record. The offering will  features the brothers' freshman radio single, "Heart Like Memphis," which was written by award-winning musical wordsmiths Blair Daly, Ashley Gorleyand Lee Thomas Miller.

We get asked a lot what the meaning behind 'Memphis' is, and it's really open to interpretation," Zach said. "We've enjoyed hearing what our fans think it means. To us, it's a story about a girl who has gone through some touch times, but it makes her a stronger person in the end."

So far, the more pop-than-country duo (at least in this writer's opinion) has moved 12,000 or so units of the brothers' debut "Memphis" single in under six weeks via Rhapsody, iTunes and CMT.com, making them one of the fastest-rising artists on the digital charts to date.

For more information about the Carter Twins, please access the links in the below info box and view the duo's debut music video, which is posted at the close of this column.

About the YMCA Country Music Kids' Marathon: The  upcoming youth will be held Friday, April 24,  beginning at 5:30 p.m. at LP Field. Officials from the YMCA and Bridgestone Americas will join NFL Head Coach Jeff Fisher at the finish line to congratulate all of the finishers.

Each year, the YMCA-sponsored event gives Nashville-area students, grades K-6, the opportunity to complete a modified marathon. Kids have five weeks to complete 25.2 miles on their own or through school by running, jogging or walking. (Teachers or family members should supervise all participants.) Then, on race day, the kids run the final mile of their marathon, starting at mile 25.2 on the course.

According to organizers, participation in this year's children's marathon has sold out, with 3,500 youngsters registered. Nashville schools that have previously turned out in large numbers include Julia Green, Edmondson Elementary in Brentwood, Percy Priest Elementary and Tusculum Elementary, as well as Johnson Elementary and Poplar Grove School in nearby Franklin and Tulip Grove Elementary in Hermitage.

"Heart Like Memphis" music video by the Carter Twins, Josh and Zach.