Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Today's Country Tidbits

Trace Adkins' trip to Nashville to check on his family after fire gutted their home is a short one. He'll head back to Alaska tomorrow, where he'll do his concert in Anchorage, then fly back to Nashville for the CMA Music Festival. Can you say "jet lag?"

The Grand Ole Opry is celebrating CMA Music Festival week online, so those of us who aren't in Nashville for the fun can still play along. Like the Opry Facebook page? You can win the chance to meet Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina. Follow the Opry on Twitter? You could be part of Crystal Bowersox's audience, and also win meet & greets with Opry members. And of course there's an app for that - follow the fun no matter where you are with the Opry's CMAfest app, or check out the online updates.

There's an online charity auction supporting the Bama Rising tornado relief efforts. An autographed Sugarland guitar, concert packages from Martina McBride and Alan Jackson and lots more great items are up for bid.

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert are in LA digs while Blake wraps up The Voice. According to Blake, “We just rented a house out there and I’m gonna be living in L.A. for a month doing this show which should be a lot of fun, interesting. Probably p**s some people off when they catch me in the yard shooting pigeons and squirrels and stuff cause I know there’s a lot of tree huggers out there.” He's been tweeting about his experiences on the left coast:

"Ba! Ha! Just walked into a karaoke bar called Dimples in LA... me and #teamblake are about to blow the roof off this place!!!”

“How in the hell did I end up living in L.A. for a month?!!!!”

"This ain't no disco.. Ain't no club either.. This is LA.”

If you watch HLN's "Morning Express with Robin Meade" then you know she's beautiful and smart. She's also a talented singer and a huge country music fan, and is releasing her first country project on June 21st at Target and iTunes.

Brad Paisley's H2O II: Wetter and Wilder tour kicked off this past weekend with two shows, one in Virginia Beach and one in Hartford, Connecticut. Over 35,000 people showed up for the 7-hour-long party which featured two stages, an interactive Water World Plaza and performances from Brad, Blake Shelton, Jerrod Niemann, Brett Eldredge, Sunny Sweeny and Eden's Edge.

Brad Paisley is the king of one chart while Keith Urban is the king of the other. Brad's "Old Alabama" is #1 on the Billboard chart and Keith's "Without You" is #1 on the Country Aircheck/Mediabase chart.

Taylor Swift is the cover girl and featured article in this week's USA Weekend.

Ronnie Dunn is on The View today and Blake Shelton's on The Voice tonight.

Ronnie Dunn's self-titled solo debut is out today. It includes the hit, "Bleed Red." Randy Travis "Anniversary Celebration" duets CD is out today and it includes songs with Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Don Henley, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Willie Nelson, Zac Brown Band and George Jones.

The tweet of the day is from Miranda Lambert: "Favorite things Ashton Shepard said..... "if I wasn't pregnant I would haul off an get DRUNK" hahaha"