Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Today's Country Tidbits

Imagine the schedule-juggling necessary for the normal working mother, then add to it the demands of touring as part of your work, and trying to get home to spend special times with your kids. Martina McBride had a stressful day yesterday, trying to fly home from Memphis in order to go trick-or-treating with her girls. Nope - no flight would do it, so Martina rented a car and high-tailed it home on the interstate. She made it just in time, reporting that she had one happy devil in her back seat. Phew!

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are collaborating - not on a duet, but on a duo of fragrances. Soul2Soul is actually a pair of fragrances in one package, one feminine and one masculine. Faith tells Women's Wear Daily that the process of designing a fragrance is like baking, explaining that the different mixes of essential essences produce completely different aromas. The fragrance set hits stores in February and the price point is under $20.

The American Country Awards will be handed out on December 5th, with Trace Adkins as one of the hosts. Performing on the show will be Blake Shelton, The Band Perry, Eli Young Band, Thompson Square and Pistol Annies. The awards will be handed out live on FOX.

Speaking of award shows, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley and Keith Urban will gang up to perform a tribute to Glen Campbell on the CMA Awards next week (November 9th) on ABC.

Thompson Square's Shauna and Keifer are excited to be part of the CMA award show. “[Shawna] It has not sunk in with me yet. It probably won’t sink in until the red carpet and then I’ll be like ‘Oh, my gosh! This is really happenin’.’ [Keifer] Yeah, you know…last year to go to the CMAs as a, as a spectator, then be nominated this year, it’s pretty freaky. It’s pretty crazy.”

Today is the day that Brad Paisley goes from being a guitar hero to an author. Actually, the book's been written for quite a while, but today's the day it hits store shelves. "Diary of a Player" is a tribute to the musical influences Brad has had, and perhaps the major musical influence was his Grandfather, when he gave Brad a guitar at the age of 8. According to Brad, “It’s really an inspirational book in the sense—I don’t think I was destined to do this. You know, that could be argued. I don’t know what I’d be doing. I don’t know that it was a guarantee that I would have made my way to the Opry or country music at all if it weren’t for a grandfather that sort of said, ‘Don’t let this get away from you. This could be the greatest thing that ever happens to you in your life,’ as far as that instrument goes.”

Today is also the day that Jimmy Wayne, the country artist who walked across America last year, becomes a published author. His book, "Paper Angels," is fiction but Jimmy says the characters are based on people he's known in his life. He weaves his tough upbringing as a homeless child into the story.

Miranda Lambert is on the Today Show this morning, talking about her new cd, "Four the Record," out today. It's been two years since "Revolution" caused a revolution in her career. How is this new one different? “I feel like I’ve come a long way in my normal life, not just my career. I’ve grown a ton in my career, but I’ve also grown as a person, and I usually reflect where I am in life on my albums. And, this album has humor in it, and it has some sad songs and some happy songs. It kinda has a little bit of everything, and I think before I wasn’t open-minded enough to put a little bit of everything on an album, but I was ready to on this one.”

Congratulations to Blake Shelton, who has the #1 country song in America this week with "God Gave Me You."

Happy birthday to Big Kenny Alphin of Big & Rich, Bill Anderson, Lyle Lovett and Keith Stegall.

The tweet of the day is from Jake Owen: "Going to bed feeling safe about my neighborhood. Lot of little Superman and Batmans running around"