Thursday, April 15, 2010

Today's Country Tidbits

Sunday night in Las Vegas, the ACM Awards will be handed out, and some of the categories will still be open for voting as the show goes to air. During the show, you can vote by text on some categories, and also on which song Brooks & Dunn will sing. Details will be at the opening of the show, scheduled to start at 8 eastern on CBS.

As the recipients of the 2010 ACM Home Depot Humanitarian Award, Montgomery Gentry get a playground built in their honor. Home Depot wants fans to choose which city gets the playground, and the runners-up are Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando, Lexington and Toledo. With Montgomery Gentry's deep Kentucky roots, it's no surprise to see which city has a huge lead in the voting right now.

Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and some friends were fishing on Hudson Lake in Oklahoma on Tuesday, when Blake's line got a big pull. A really big pull, from a record-breaking spoonbill. Blake and his 40-pound fish will probably end up being featured on an episode of Outdoor Oklahoma. Meanwhile, here's the proud fisherman with the one that didn't get away.

Congrats to Dolly Parton, who celebrates the 25th anniversary of her Dollywood theme park this year. When she decided to do it, she envisioned Dollywood as a way to bring jobs and prosperity to her neck of the woods. Now Dollywood is Tennessee's #1 ticketed attraction and provides jobs for over 3,000 locals.

The Judds are the kick-off performers at the CMA Music Festival this year. They'll do the honors on the Riverfront Park Stage on June 10th.

Taylor Swift is featured in the May issue of Vogue magazine.

Toby Keith is profiled on the Biography Channel at 10 eastern tonight, then Kenny Chesney is on Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Happy 77th birthday to Roy Clark.