Today's Country Tidbits

Taylor Swift made a video blog of her Asian trip, so when you have nine and a half minutes to watch, here you go!

Want to have a say in who's taking home some hardware at the ACM Awards? You only have until tomorrow at noon Eastern time to get your votes in. You can vote for Eric Church, Easton Corbin or Randy Houser in the Top New Solo Vocalist category, and The Band Perry, the JaneDear Girls or Steel Magnolia in the Top New Vocal Duo or Group category. They're all offering enticements to get your vote, so choose carefully!

Eric Church has a cute video, a free song and a shot at a trip to the 2011 CMA Music Festival.

Easton Corbin has a free song for you.

Randy Houser offers up an acoustic performance of his next single, plus shows off his celebrity connections.

The Band Perry has a free acoustic version of "Hip to My Heart" and wrangled Grandma Betty Lou into helping with their video.

The JaneDear Girls got YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill to help with their video.

Steel Magnolia got a thumbs-up from ACM co-host Blake Shelton in their video, but it could be one of those "with friends like that, who needs enemies" kind of thumbs up!

Congratulations to Garth Brooks, who will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at their annual dinner on June 16th. In reaction, Garth said, "To consider myself a 'songwriter' is something I find hard to agree with, for it is the songwriter that is the most gifted and most important ingredient in the music formula. I am humbled and flattered by this award and want to thank the songwriters I have written with in the past. I feel it is because of them I am receiving this award."

Keith Urban fans, here's a surfing alert for you: the free iTunes download of the week is "Georgia Woods," a song that Keith wrote on Waylon Jennings' guitar. Says Keith about the writing experience, "I wanted to use the guitar on some writing sessions and the riff that starts 'Georgia Woods' came straight out of that guitar. It’s like playing a holy grail." Follow the links for the content. While you're at iTunes, you might want to pick up the deluxe edition of "Get Closer," which includes several unreleased tracks plus live cuts from his "Love,Pain & the whole crazy thing" Atlanta tour stop.

Congratulations to Miranda Lambert, the first artist in history to sell out the legendary Billy Bob's Texas two nights in a row.

In case you missed Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson doing "Don't You Wanna Stay" on the Ellen DeGeneres show, here you go!

This Saturday, James Wesley will sing the National Anthem for NASCAR's Nationwide Series race at the Phoenix International Raceway. The Basha's Supermarket 200 will be broadcast on ESPN.

On tv today, catch Colt Ford on "The Teriot Family: Riot In The Bayou" on MTV and Kellie Pickler on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Happy birthday to Steve Holy, who turns 39 today.

The tweet of the day is from Kellie Pickler: "Be sure to watch @theellenshow today to see why my husband forbids me to go back on her show! ;)"

Today's Country Tidbits

Next week, the Grammy Awards will be handed out, and there's one person up for Best Female Country Vocal Performance who is shocked - Gretchen Wilson. Her song, "I'd Love to be Your Last," wasn't even supposed to be on the cd, "I Got Your Country Right Here." Says Gretchen, “We listened to the mastered version of the record and we thought it was missing something.” She thought of a song played for her by Rivers Rutherford during a writing session, and decided it would be perfect. “It’s an acoustic guitar and a vocal and we put one cello part on it later,” she said of the simple recording. “I believed the lyric was all it took to make that song. It just tickled me pink to know that the lyric carried it all the way to a Grammy nomination. It didn’t have to be dazzling, and it didn’t have to have a bunch of reverb or 400 tracks on it or spend 12 weeks at No. 1 at radio. It didn’t even have to be released as a single. It just amazes me. I’m just so shocked and overwhelmed.” The Grammys will be handed out on Sunday, February 13th.

Last night at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Keith Urban accompanied his wife Nicole Kidman. On the red carpet, they were bombarded with questions about their new baby girl. Nicole explained the name Faith like this: “We needed to have that through the whole pregnancy. That’s what it required was a lot of faith. Her name is Faith Margaret … People call her just Faith, but she’s actually Faith Margaret, that Southern double name. Margaret is my grandmother’s name. She had her last baby at 49, so she’s my inspiration.” Nicoles older children, adopted during her marriage to Tom Cruise, sent a basket of wonderful gifts for Faith Margaret, as well as for Sunday Rose.

Jay DeMarcus will be walking with a limp for a while. He was playing basketball Saturday and twisted it. No breaks, but no fun, either!

It's Superbowl week, and Faith Hill is busy prepping for her first CMT Crossroads appearance. The show will air live on Saturday as part of the Super Bowl Fan Jam, and features Faith and rock group The Pretenders.

Garth Brooks is throwing his hat into the Superbowl ring, teaming up with Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten to host the February 5th "SuperCamp II" football and cheerleading clinic for kids aged 7 to 14. The event includes a VIP experience with both stars for all of the families and kids involved, and proceeds benefit Jason Witten's SCORE Foundation, Garth Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation, Kids 2 Camp and the Jason Taylor Foundation. If you have deep pockets and a child in the age group, you can be part of it.

Dierks Bentley is in the studio working on his next cd, and as promised, hosted a live feed from the studio yesterday. It will pop back up all during the recording process, so serious Dierks fans might want to keep checking back in. There is no audio, though - Dierks doesn't want to spoil the surprise. You can watch him work, but not hear him work.

Remember the "fly across America" contest that Taylor Swift held around the release of "Speak Now?" She's posted video of the concert in New York at the airport, and film from the flight and all the rest of her crazy day.

Taylor Swift and Big Machine Records threw a big party in Nashville Friday night. Billed as "Heavy Metal at the Hard Rock" it was a gathering of Taylor's friends, family, bandmates and music industry executives. The heavy metal part? Big awards for the success of "Mine," and a plaque from the Recording Industry Association of America commemorating total shipments of more than 13 million records.

Didja miss The Band Perry on the Tonight Show? Here's the video, but the Tonight Show people make you sit through two commercials first...

Watch The Band Perry on the Ellen Degeneres Show today, Steel Magnolia on Tavis Smiley and the JaneDear Girls on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The tweet of the day is from Kellie Pickler: "If Kyle (my husband) doesn't tone down the snoring I'm gonna shove a tampon in his nose."