Today's Country Tidbits

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were on Anderson Cooper 360 yesterday, showing him the devastation that the Nashville flooding has caused.



Brad Paisley also joined Anderson Cooper on the air.



Add Little Big Town and Terri Clark to the list of country music artists who have lost all of their tour gear in the Nashville flood. Brad Paisley, Toby Keith, Keith Urban and now Little Big Town are scrambling to beg/borrow/buy new equipment so that their shows can go on as scheduled.

Last night's flood relief telethon in Nashville raised nearly two million dollars for the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and the Second Harvest Food Bank. Billed as "Vince Gill and Friends," the friends included some of country music's top stars. Country stars, whether on the show or not, helped out, too - Reba donated 100 grand, Vince Gill and Amy Grand also donated $100,000 and Taylor Swift kicked in a cool half-million for flood relief. Dierks Bentley was on stage last night in Boston, and before he went on, he was trying to call in and make a donation. He couldn't get through - the lines were jammed. He even called Alison Krauss on her cell phone, which was busy, too. Most country artists took to their Twitter accounts, posting the phone number to call to donate. A national telethon is scheduled for May 16th on GAC. Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Rodney Atkins and more stars are already on board for the telethon, which will be held at the Ryman Auditorium, and will air from 8-10pm eastern.

The Country Music Association announced that half of the proceeds from the CMA Music Festival will go to flood relief, and the other half, as it always does, will go to music education.

Jake Owen and Jerrod Niemann took over a bar Wednesday night to play and raise money for flood relief efforts. They'd raised over three grand before they hit the stage, and took donations from the crowd in exchange for playing their favorite songs. Elsewhere in Nashville, other stars pitched in: Jake Owen served hot dogs and hamburgers to victims and work crews before he hit the stage, and Kellie Pickler helped a family move their non-flooded belongings to safety as looters tried to steal them.

Jimmy Wayne's walk to raise awareness about the problem of teen homelessness has gotten the attention of FosterClub, who has named Jimmy their national celebrity spokesperson. Jimmy's walked to New Mexico on his trek to Phoenix, Arizona from Nashville.

Dierks Bentley's Miles & Music for Kids motorcycle ride in Atlanta on May 23rd will feature Drivin' N Cryin', Josh Thompson, members of Cross Canadian Ragweed and a few more artists to be announced soon.

Willie Nelson has had to cancel and reschedule a bunch of tour dates because of a torn rotator cuff.

Miranda Lambert is on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Sunday night.