Today, Montgomery Gentry performs at the first ever "USO Homefront Concert" in Kentucky for the USO and the Kentucky National Guard. The show is free to U.S. military families and the volunteers who support them. It'll be broadcast live on the Pentagon Channel and the Armed Forces Radio Network.
Over the weekend, Rascal Flatts delighted a bunch of their fans by crashing their own party. Whaaa? Before the Flatts Fest shows, there's a lot of interactive fan fun, and Gary, Jay and Joe Don decided that the fans shouldn't have all the fun. They wandered through the fan zone, stopping in to be witnesses to the wedding going on in their "Why Wait" wedding chapel, and joining a stunned singer on the karaoke stage to give her moral support as she sang, and then delighting those gathered with a song of their own. For those of us who weren't there, GAC will cover the fun Thursday on "Headline Country" and CMT's "Insider" will have the story on Saturday.
There are blogs about tech stuff, blogs about music and now there's a blog about the lyrics Taylor Swift writes on her arm for concerts. For Taylor fans, this is a must-read each day.
Alan Jackson's new video for "Long Way to Go" was shot in Florida, in some of their famous liquid sunshine.
Joey+Rory have been dreaming of a white Christmas - and singing it, too. October 11th is the drop date for "A Farmhose Christmas." In a bid to do something fairly unique, 10 of the 12 songs on the project are either new songs or cuts never before released as Christmas songs. The standards are "Away in a Manger" and "Blue Christmas." They also took on Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December," a song that was never meant to be a holiday song. Joey said, “We can’t begin to tell you what an honor it is to have Merle singing on it with us. There are some dreams that even when they come true, you still think you must be dreaming… and this is one.”
Some amazing items and experiences are up for grabs from your favorite artists, and they would make great Christmas gifts, if you want to start shopping early. An on-line auction benefitting The Grammy Foundation's "MusiCares" features a guitar signed by Kenny Chesney, cds signed by Lady Antebellum, a chance to get up close and personal with Sugarland and Keith Urban, and more great music-related things. The auction only runs through Friday, so hop on it.
It was six years ago today that Jason Aldean landed on the country music scene, releasing his self-titled debut cd. What was he doing before that? Working at a Pepsi plant and trying to get noticed as a performer. Balancing the two was tough, but he had a friend that hooked him up. According to Jason, “My friend that was workin’ there, you know was cool enough to uh…to kind of let me do that. You know, basically kind of let me work when I wanted to and he uh, he understood my situation. So, it was pretty cool and I worked there for a few years. But, I love Pepsi. You know, it’s cool. But, I think I drank so many of them that now I’m kind of over it and Coke’s my favorite!” In 2005, "Hicktown," "Why" and "Amarillo Sky" took off, ensuring that Jason wouldn't ever have to work in a plant again.
The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "Busy week. Just got finished negotiatiing the NFL lockout deal, now I'm headed to Washington to work on the debt deal."
