Monday, October 15, 2012

You’re not on it either? The Blake Shelton and Friends Cruise set sail yesterday, and Blake says there’ll be shenanigans, and someone might have to go overboard: “Well it won’t be Trace—although he may put us over the weight limit. I don’t know, I’d say—Easton’s gonna be there. I don’t think any of us would miss him if we through him over.” Also along for the ride are Jerrod Niemann, Neal McCoy, Lee Brice, Brett Eldredge, Randy Houser and Jana Kramer. Jana’s got mixed feelings about going on a cruise: “I’ve never done a cruise before because I’m really claustrophobic and I’m afraid – or if I get motion sickness. I was like, ‘You know what I’m getting over a fear, and hanging with some of my buddies on a boat. I get to bring my mom – it’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait to play and then meet people and hang out – go swimming and tan!”

In the wake of video showing an admittedly drunk Jason Aldean flirting with American Idol contestant Brittany Kerr in Hollywood, Jason Aldean says that the situation, though tough, is taken care of: “You can handle it two ways, you can go hide and run from it or you can get up and face it and deal with it and that’s kinda what we tried to do and just kinda move on, you know? And the main thing is that me and my family are OK.” He talked with CMT Insider and that segment aired this past weekend.

Jason Aldean is planning to hit a few more stadiums during his 2013 tour, saying that the sellout at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio was pretty awesome. According to Jason, “This next year we’ll probably dabble in it a little more, try a couple places and really just try to build on that. There’s not a lot of people that can do that [consistently], and that’s where we’re trying to figure it out —can we do that in certain markets? Or can we do that on a consistent basis? That’ll be a little bit of a learning pro­cess for us over the next year.”
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s Soul2Soul show in Las Vegas kicks off in December, but preparations are in high gear now, and Tim says it’s pretty cool: “It’s different to think somebody offers you a ton of money to come do three years in Vegas or something, and they say ‘Here’s your theater and you can build it like you want it...’ For all we’ve done in our career past, and all we hope to do in the future with our careers, to have this sort of moment to do this thing for these ten weekends and then to turn the theatre over to us and build what you want is sort of rare.” 
Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss performed on the David Letterman Show Friday night. They collaborated on a song on his “Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran” album which comes out tomorrow. He’ll announce tour plans later this week. 
Luke Bryan announced some tour plans – he’ll kick off his first headlining tour on January 17th in Evansville, Indiana, with shows running through at least March. Thompson Square and Florida Georgia Line will open on the first leg of the tour. 
Taylor Swift’s new album, “Red,” doesn’t come out until the 22nd, but she’s working the publicity angle hard. She’s on the cover of the October 24th issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, presumably dishing some details of her love life, and has partnered with Keds to release a new, limited-edition line of “Red” footwear. But wait, there’s more – she’s also partnered with Walgreens, where you’ll find a Taylor Swift Store, with t-shirs, tour books, backpacks, journals and lots more. And of course, “Red” will be on sale one minute after midnight on October 22nd at all Walgreens stores. 
Keith Urban will receive the Harmony Award from the Nashville Symphony in a gala later this year. The award honors him for his work to help the Country Music Hall of Fame, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Habitat for Humanity. 
Trishia Yearwood is on The View and Josh Turner is on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight.

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