Thursday, February 24, 2011

Today's Country Tidbits

Love Miranda Lambert? Love homeless pets? There's a party for that. The "4th Annual Cause for the Paws" benefit concert, hosted and headlined by Miranda Lambert, will be on April 30th in Tyler, TX. Also performing are Stoney LaRue and Josh Kelly, though if it's anything like last year, expect to see Blake Shelton make an appearance, too. Oh, and a comparison of Blake and Miranda's tour schedules shows that Blake has one show on May 6th and Miranda has no shows in May. Her first June show is on the 9th and his is on the 14th. Some time between May 6th and June 9th, expect the two to tie the knot.

Apparently LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian are scouting ranches in Montana, hoping to rent one in the May/June time period so they can be married there. No official word, but the rumors are swirling.

Now it can be told...the reason Kellie Pickler's hubby has forbidden her (jokingly, apparently) from being on the Ellen Degeneres Show ever again is because yesterday's show turned into a bachelorette party for Kellie, complete with buff, scantily-clad dancers.

If you want a momento of Kellie Pickler's wedding to Kyle Jacobs on January first of this year, head to iTunes for video of the event set to the song "Say I Do."

No momentos being offered, but Brad Paisley's oldest son, Huck, celebrated his 4th birthday with a party at the Nashville Zoo. Kimberly, Brad's wife, does a lot of work on fund-raising for the Zoo, and the party allowed the kids to have special access to some of the animals. According to Brad, the day was very smooth and fun, with no one getting scared at their closeness to the big animals. And also according to Brad, Huck already has his first crush: Carrie Underwood. He picked out roses for her and dictated a Valentine message for his Mom to write to go along with them. When he met Carrie for the first time last week, he demonstrated his amazing 4-year-old arm strength by holding couch pillows over his head and saying, "see how strong I am?" When asked, he says "I don't like girls." But when Dad Brad asked, "What about Carrie?" Huck's answer was "Oh, I like her music."

And Brad Paisley has a new pre-show routine this year: stretching. Last year during the H2O tour he suffered from intense lower back pain, which he thinks may have contributed to his fall on stage. He's had a cortisone injection in his spine and is working with a physical therapist, who recommended the pre-show stretches. According to Brad, “I realized, here I am going out cold for a two-hour show where I run around like an idiot in a pair of cowboy boots, without warming up or anything, carrying around a 10-pound guitar. It’s not good for you."

People.com has a photo spread of Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman and their daughter, Sunday Rose. Only an iPhone shot of Faith Margaret so far.

It's a star-studded weekend at the Grand Ole Opry this weekend. Grammy winners invade the stage, with the Doobie Brothers making their Opry debut. Also performing this weekend are Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry, Neal McCoy, Marty Stuart, Keb' Mo', Dan Tyminski and many more. You can probably still get tickets if you hurry.

Happy birthday to Sammy Kershaw, who turns 53 today.

The tweet of the day is from Jaron of Jaron and the Long Road to Love: "And on the 8th day God made coffee. The end."